Better Together - A Guest Blog

So... my best friend Rachel moved to Costa Rica for the semester. You should already know where this story is going.

Naturally, I had to go visit :) 

I'm learning lately that it's pretty impossible these days to move overseas and not share your journey online in some form or another. So with some personal motivation (and a little encouragement on my end), Rachel started her own blog about  her Costa Rican adventures. 

I hate to admit it, but she totally puts me to shame. Now that I'm back in my home territory and not living overseas, I rarely blog anymore. Rachel, on the other hand, is pumping out like three fantastic blog posts a week! The only time I can find anything to write about anymore is when I take awesome and exotic trips... like my most recent one to Costa Rica. Determined to blog again, I came home from my trip with every great intention to write about my time there. But after procrastinating for a few days, I received a message from Rachel excitedly sharing with me her new blog post about our vacation together. After reading it, I knew there was no way I could write it any better, and no details I could have described more perfectly than the way she did.  

But of course I still want to share about my Costa Rican adventure, so I told her I'm stealing her blog, and she gets to be a "guest-blogger" on mine. So here's a chance for you to experience some world-traveling through a new set of eyes (probably a little more realistic too...) and to enjoy a wonderful blog post by my talented and hilarious friend Rachel!


Last week I was so excited to have the beautiful and talented Sarah Hetrick come to visit me here in Costa Rica! Even though she could stay for only about 3 ½ days, we definitely made the most of it.  Jack Johnson was right when he sang, “It’s always better when we’re together.” Granted, he was referring to those romantic lovers sort of relationships, but I think it still applies. Having a friend to laugh with, adventure with, dream with, travel with, and talk about life with makes everything much more worthwhile.



We started out our little adventure spending time in the city center of San Jose.  Just walking down the Avenida Central was a feast for the senses – the smell of produce, the feel of “light” rain, and the cacophony of people shouting out their prices, playing music, and trying to get a glance at those foreign gals. {ya, I mean us. }.  After being here for almost two months, I was used to coming downtown so I started at my usual pace heading thru the street – though I learned very quickly that going anywhere with a professional photographer {ie: Sarah} means stopping every two feet or so for a photo shoot.  Let me tell ya, getting anywhere just became a whole new ballgame when you are looking at everything literally through a lens.  I realized how taking a gazillion photos – as touristy and cliché as it can be- is such a wonderful point of connection to meet people and really is a unique way to travel {And who I am foolin? We’re tourists. So we get to look like ones}.  It made me slow down, take in the moment, and meet all kinds of people to take pictures of or to have ours taken by them – people I probably would never have talked to before.  We made our way to the National Theatre and got to tour inside, which was gorgeous. Since it started to pour outside, we decided to spend some time in the café inside the theatre. It felt like we just stepped into Europe.  We ordered a light lunch and I tried my first cup of Costa Rican coffee that would turn any committed tea-drinker to the “dark” side {Guilty!}. A couple hours passed as we talked and shared with each other for the precious time that we had.  You know you have a good friend when you can forget where you are and just get lost in conversation.  It was one of those talks that I will remember forever.



The next day, we woke up at 4:45am {WHOA, what?! Yeah, ya heard me. 4:45am!} so that we could catch the 6:15 bus to La Fortuna.  You know it had to be worth it to get two people like me and Sarah up at that forsaken hour.  And dare I say it, it was worth it.   The drive was stunning with beautiful, endless green that gave creed to why Costa Rica is referred to as the Switzerland of Latin America.
 

We finally made it to La Fortuna – famous for its volcano, Arenal {which happened to just start smoking two days before we got there after zero activity in the last two years. Yahoo!}.  And what do you get with a hot active volcano? Hot springs! After waking up early and sitting on a bus for nearly four hours, spending time relaxing and sitting in God’s natural Jacuzzi all day was the perfect plan.  We ended our trip the next day heading out early to go swimming next to the waterfall “Cataratas.”  Again, this was a famous tourist spot to go to – but for good reason. It was breathtaking. I can just let the picture speak for itself.




So 3 1/2 days, one capital city, two 4-hour bus rides, volcano, hot springs, earthquake, {oh yeah, did I mention there was a 6.6 earthquake while we were there? no big} and a waterfall later, Sarah’s visit had ended. And what a wonderful time it was!! Cuz it’s always better together.
{Note: when you’re with a photographer and the storage on your camera is full, you get about four pics to show for your end of the trip. haha. If you want to check out some of her photos though, {she is suuuper talented} you can go to Sarah Hetrick Photography on Facebook. It’s worth a look!}
 
And there ya have it! My exciting and quick trip to Costa Rica... and I couldn't have recounted it better myself! (And I promise - I didn't pay or bribe her for any of those endorsements :-P) If you want to read more from Rachel, check out her blog - it's really fantastic!