We made it!

Kirby's first view of Costa Rica!

Here we are. The adventure has officially begun! We're sitting on Kirby's bottom bunk in our hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica!! After we finish this blog we're planning on heading down to the bar, offering "the best selection and cheapest beer in the city!".  Alcohol isn't really included in our budget, though, so we're hoping to stretch one drink into a couple hours of conversation with our fellow travelers.  Kirby's sister even gave us little umbrellas to put in our drinks, so even though its just one it will be a very special one! Thanks, Ki!

Our travel days were both long, which made it all the more exciting when we finally arrived! Kirby left LA last night and flew to Atlanta, then out to Costa Rica this morning. I left Sac yesterday afternoon, spent the night at the Texas airport, then got up with the sun to fly to Miami.  I felt totally out of place there, all tired and mussed up with people walking around looking like they popped out of magazines. Then, 20 or so hours after leaving Pollock Pines, I was finally on my flight to Costa Rica!

Katie's first view of Costa Rica!

Kirby's smiling face was waiting for me at the end of the hallway past immigration and she was doing little mini hops of excitement. I felt like we should have been running in slow motion down the hallway towards each other.  At the airport we were bombarded by taxi drivers trying to take us to San Jose. They couldn't believe we were planning on taking the bus "with all that luggage" (1 big bag and a backpack each). One of them shook his head and called us crazy Americans.  We got to the bus just fine and the locals continued to advise us on how best to make our way into town. The driver had decorated his gearshift with red and yellow fringe - our first exciting taste of Costa Rican flavor! We made our way into the city, pumping up our adrenaline a little as our bus driver zoomed right up next to the other cars with only an inch or so to spare.



When we got to the city we walked our way to the hostel and were met with possibly the most excited hostess of all time. Mer, from Chicago, was really nice and so welcoming, giving us the tour of our kitchen, bathroom, lounge area, computers, bar, and finally our room which is probably smaller than most of your closets. It fits a bunk bed with a foot and a half of space on 2 sides, but its nice to have our own room. Especially when we wanted to take a nap a little while ago.  We mentioned to Mer that we're not sure where we will live and work and she told us that they're hiring here, so there ya go. Job offers on day 1! When picturing our move to Costa Rica we were picturing more of a rainforest/jungle/monkeys kind of environment, not the middle of the biggest city here, so we're not sure about taking her up on the offer. It gave us lots of peace of mind though, just knowing that jobs may not be as hard to come by as we'd thought. Or maybe we just got lucky...




Wow, this blog is going to go on forever if I keep it up at this rate. Sorry, I'm just so excited about all the little details. Plus we have free wi-fi here so I'm indulging.  Anyways, after we dropped our stuff off we went out into the rain and had our first meal at a cute little spot right by the hostel. It was delicious, but Mer tells us that after a few months we wont want to see another bean for the rest of our life.  After eating, we came back and napped and now here I am talking with all of you! Mer told us that the rainy season will end in December and until then it will probably rain every day starting between 2-4 and going for a couple hours. It's really nice and sunny January through June, so it gives us even more incentive to find a job and a place and be able to return after Christmas!



Before I go, let me share a couple quotes on the wall of our room that we love: "Life is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" and "Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going". What travelers we are, huh! ;)

P.S. We're new to this blog stuff, so forgive us for the bad spacing. We didn't mean to do that but we can't figure out how to fix it, and we're done trying.  We'll work on our blogging skills!