{The Tranquila Archives}

Over a year and a half ago I woke up at 3:00 am and grabbed a cold pancake from the kitchen.  I brushed my teeth, grabbed my bag, and walked out the door towards the highway outside of my homestay.  I walked down the road to the corner of my study abroad school and called a taxi to the bus station.  At 5:45 am as the sun rose over the San Jose skyline, my friends and I took a 13 hour bus ride to the oldest city in Nicaragua. At Customs on the Nicaraguan side of the Border When I first arrived in Granada, Nicaragua, I was immediately surprised at the size of the buildings and the spacious streets, both of which were twice as large as in the city we had just left.  Everything is pale pastels and there are horses carrying carts down the historic streets. As we dismount the charter bus and make our way towards our hostal, we cross through the main square of the city, filled with locals in the park, selling street food and homemade crafts, children blowing bubbles and running thro

It is amazing what you discov er when you travel; the very moment you leave you start to find yourself. Taken by Macey Hallstedt I love going to new places.  Setting my feet on foreign soil where I am instantly forced to take in everything around me.  Earlier this year when I returned home from Costa Rica I was instantly ready to leave again.  I traveled to Haiti two months later, and am preparing to head out to Costa Rica once more, hopping over the border to Panama to taste and smell and see the culture that they have to offer.  I  was eager to taste every experience I could get my hands on.  " Most likely we are each setting positive intentions for our lives all of the time. It comes from our innate desire to grow as human beings. But it’s simply not possible to do it all. This is why many of us end up overwhelmed and feeling like failures when we don’t achieve them." -Camille Willemain    See more about her travel experiences on her blog  here .

Friday I got up really early and took a bus downtown at 8:00 a.m. to meet my Tico friend Mariano at the edificio de correos so that we could catch a bus to one of his favorite mountains he wanted to show me.  I wandered around aimlessly for a while when I got there until I see him sprinting towards me in full-on tour-guide gear.  I'm talking cargo vest and cargo pants, sun hat, and backpack;- all khaki colored. I don't have time to laugh though because he grabs my arm and continues running to the next street, we are about to miss the last bus for a while and we really need to hurry if we want to enjoy the hike without a lot of heat; so here I am sprinting through the streets of San Jose until we hop on the bus for San Isidrio and fall into some seats, panting and laughing at what just happened.  Here we go again, I have hopped on a bus to God knows where and I'm about to embark on another adventure in Costa Rica ! San Josecito We get off the bus less than an hour lat

Grace and I decided to be wild children and go get my nose pierced and her ear at the San Pedro Mall.  I can't believe I really did it, but it hardly hurt, it never turned red, and I ABSOLUTELY love it !  Then we took a bus from San Pedro to San Jose and got helado rico at Pop's ice cream.  I am OBSESSED with their café ice cream, it is devine.  I'm not gonna lie, I have had their ice cream just about every week since I've been here, starting with Day 2 when we had our city tour and Maggie bought us ice cream.  It is that. Good. We met everyone at the Teatro Nacional and went to see The Odessey.  It was a puppet play in spanish, but I read some of it in high school (good Lord, how long ago was that ?) and it was comically geared towards a younger audience, so I was able to understand it for the most part.  My favorite line was at the end, when his wive sees him again: "Mi corazón sabe que vos sos vos!"  In Costa Rica they have ANOTHER conjugation for

The week literally flew by, and before I knew it I was leaving my last day of our month-long Spanish class and saying goodbye to the most gorgeous professor ever (we call him Enrinque Iglesias haha).  We had our last oral presentation explaining recipes, and because I was literally obsessed with the Agua de Sapo from the last weekend, Anita and I chose to make that for our presentation.  It was dericious, and it felt good to have Tico approval of our rendition of this Caribbean Treat!   Caribbean Food accompanied by Agua de Sapo, a sweet ginger drink that is a favorite of the locals After class, Anita and I walk downtown and check out the Museo National, which starts out with a butterfly garden, and has tons of historical trinkets from the native Colombian era all the way to Italian Wars, and even some random Japanese Dolls which were pretty gorgeous.  After being wowed by some Costa Rican and Latin American History, we walk to this restaurant to have our goodbye dinner to Ani

The last weekend in January was literally packed with things to do.. Friday O ur spanish class randomly took a field trip to a local wood factory called Sr y Sra Ese where we toured the factory and had the option of buying different souvenirs and jewelry made of local woods from Costa Rica.  In Spanish   But it was interesting.  The other classes got to go to the Cartago market and the Children's Museum.  But I'm not bitter... That afternoon we explore the city with Anita, Macey, and Grace.  The city is full of old repurposed buildings like in Charleston, and covered in grafiti.  We walk around San Jose until we get to Parque España.  It is a beautiful park just beside the Jade Museum, which boasts the largest collectin of Jade in Central America.  Why ? I don't know, but apparently it's beautiful ? Graffiti is all over the city, and it gives it character. Spanish Park: A Biological Project in downtown San Jose This is s