Buenvenidos a San José!

I arrived in San José yesterday after a long but very rewarding day of travelling. Although I've only seen most of it from a bird's eye view I can already confirm that Costa Rica is a beautiful country. The terrain is varied, sometimes flat and sometimes with mountains so high they passed through the clouds. And it's so green! I can't wait to get out of the city to see more!

Yesterday I met my host family: the parents are Beatriz and Romeo and I have three host siblings, Tiare (15), Mariana (4) and a new baby brother Isaac (1.5 WEEKS!). Also there are two other American girls from my program living here and a male Peruvian student who I have yet to meet as he is on vacation. Beatriz's sister lives about a block away and is also hosting two Americans.

Last night we all went out together to "Las Fiestas de San José," a week long festival starting the day after Christmas. It was insanely crowded and was the biggest festival I've ever seen, with hundreds of booths selling all kinds of food, every ride imaginable, and even bull fighting!

Today Brenda, Jessica and I ventured into the city to do some sightseeing. We took a bus there and walked around and window shopped for a few hours. The city wasn't too busy today because it's the Sunday after a holiday, but we had plenty of opportunities to practice our Spanish. We saw the Teatro Nacional,

Parque Central,

and the beautiful garden and building of the Catedrál Metropolitana.

I'm loving San José already!