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Sunday, December 30th Sunday, December 30, 2012 Hola Amigos,Today, in our last full day in Costa Rica, it turned out to be a pretty eventful one. This morning we left the hotel (Costa Rican Tennis Club) around 9:30am and headed towards the Irazu Volcano. The trip up the volcano was a rough ride with a lot of twists and turns for the majority of the hour trip that it took from San Jose to reach the summit. Once we arrived at the National Park at the top, the view was breathtaking. The volcano was a crater that you looked down into that was very very big. Also, our guide, Josh, informed us that the admission to get to the National Park is 5 times more expensive for tourists compared to native Costa Ricans. The weather at the top of the volcano was also an experience in itself. It was windy with very strong gusts and the wind chill was probably around the mid to low 40's, compared to high 70's in San Jose. Also, when we arrived the weather was clear and you could see every inch of the crater, but that did not last very long. It took nearly two minutes for the wind to blow cloud cover over the volcano, and once that happened you could no longer see any part of the crater, so luckily we were able to arrive 10 minutes earlier when the weather was cooperating. We left the volcano and headed back down, towards town and ate at a restaurant about half way to a third down. This was a very nice restaurant that seemed to do very well with receiving tourists visiting the mountain and looking for something to eat afterwards. One side note about Costa Rican cuisine is that every meal has essentially two things, rice and beans, and of course this was no different at this restaurant. The meal that I had included a thin steak with onions, rice, diced potatoes, soft tortilla shells, and a side of black bean dip that came with a couple tortilla chips. Another aspect about the cuisine is that all-natural fruit drinks that are native to Costa Rica are very common with every meal as well. The three drinks this restaurant was offering was blackberry, mango, and cas (a fruit native to Costa Rica). All of them are very delicious and sweet juices, that tend to be thicker than normal fruit drinks in America. After we ate at the restaurant we were on our way to Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles. This is a church that is located outside San Jose in Los Angeles. The English title of the church is Our Lady of Angles Basilica. The church is famous for the pilgrimage that Costa Ricans take to the church every August. Usually around 1.5 million people will travel to the church on foot from anywhere they are in the country. It takes some people around 2 weeks to make it the church by foot. Another tradition about the church is that visitors who want to pray will walk on their knee to the alter to show their piety. The rock that the church was founded on it also on display in the church and those who made the walk to the church will bring small medallions to put in front of the rock. These medallions are shaped like certain body parts in hope that a miracle will happen for either themselves or a loved one. Lastly, the church was natural water springs that flow under the rock and visitors of the church drink and bath in the water (it is considered to be extremely holy water that has miracle capabilities). Because of this many people will bring large water containers to fill up to bring back home to a loved one. After we left the church we headed back to San Jose and the hotel. We then had an hour and a half practice at the court in the hotel. After practice we had diner that was a traditional Costa Rican dish that is found on the Caribbean side. It was, believe it not, rice and beans that was mixed together. You the had the choice of either steak, chicken, or fish, and I chose the chicken. It was very delicious that had curry and a bit of a kick to it. That was today, a very exciting long day that was a good way to end a nice 5 days in the beautiful country of Costa Rica. Our flight tomorrow leaves at 7am, so we're waking up at 3:30am, and I couldn't be any more excited for that!     Unknown / 4 comments |
About the Adventure When: December 26-31, 2012 The Greyhounds, who are currently 6-2 overall and 2-0 in Landmark Conference action, have three community service activities scheduled. The squad will also be touring San Jose, Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve and Arenal Sky Tram. On the 27th, Moravian will practice and play a controlled scrimmage against Coopenae USJ Arba San Ramon, the 2012 Costa Rican National Champions. Blog Archives |