Futbol!

Since soccer (futbol) is the national sport of Costa Rica, we went to see Saprissa, San Jose's main soccer team. The players were pretty amazing, but the fans were insane! The stadium seemed to come alive with yelling, screaming, and sometimes fighting fans. Kerry and JoJo painted their faces purple (the team color),but the rest of us didn't want purple stains on our faces for the rest of the week.

Here is a picture of the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá (the Saprissa stadium):

It is named after the team's founder, Estadio Ricardo. The stadium seats 23,112 people and is the largest stadium in the country.

Suprima the Brujas, a team from Desamparados, Costa Rica. I honestly didn't care who won (and most of the time, I couldn't really tell who was winning), but some fans took the game really seriously.

Even though I didn't really care about the game, I was just as excited as everyone else when Suprima won. The energy running through that stadium is definitely contagious.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We're enjoying Christmas here in Costa Rica. Here, the season is all about religion and family.

To celebrate, we attended the Tobe Caballo! It's the countries largest horse parade and a good traditional way the Ticos celebrate Christmas. Horse riders bring their best horses from all over the country to downtown San Jose to participate in this parade. There were SO many horses, and it was really cool to see them cover the streets.
A carnival celebration follows this and Festival de la Luz lights up the night. It was truly beautiful.

YUM

Today we decided to get a taste of Costa Rican culture by trying some traditional local food (bad pun intended). We ate at a small, casual restaurant called Delicias de Mi Tierra. The name means "Delights of my Land," and we all agreed; the food was delightful.

I hate spicy food, so I was relieved to hear that Costa Rica has relatively mild cuisine, compared to other Latin American countries. The many of the dishes included tropical fruits and vegetables, rice and beans.

I had a traditional meal called a casado. It included rice, black beans, meat, salad, a tortillas, and fried plantains. We were given agua dulce to drink. It is a sweet beverage made out of boiled sugarcane and water.

I would recommend Delicias de Mi Tierra to any visitors in the mood for some local cuisine. The prices were very good, and although it wasn't flashy, it was definitely delicious.

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! I'm seeing nativity scenes everywhere, and I can just feel the excitement!

-Nicole

AAAAHHHHHHHH

Last night we slept great! Kerry-Ann and I couldn't believe how incredibly comfortable the pillows and sheets were!! OMG!! Nicole and Nadia liked their bed too, but LeeAnn had to sleep on the couch. I felt bad, but not bad enough to give up my comfy bed!

Since we (well . . . most of us) were well rested, we were ready for some skydiving! Skydiving is a pretty new thing in Costa Rica, but it's catching on quick, and we were ready to join in!

We had a lesson on skydiving first. It was pretty boring, but I guess it can help avoid death.

We took off from Quepos Airport, and my stomach started churning. No one said a word, as we flew over Manuel Antonio National Park. We would be jumping tandem with experienced instructors who actually know what to do. That way, we wont die from not paying attention during the lesson.

My instructor basically had to push me out of the plane, because I just couldn't jump. Falling was TERRIFYING and I just knew I was going to die. Fortunatly, I didn't, and parachuting down felt great. We landed over a beach, and we could see people staring and pointing at us; that made me smile :-).


My parter and I were the first to land. We watched the other girls land, and they had they all were wearing the same shocked smile. As scary as this adventure was, I almost want to do it again.


~Jojo :D

Plane Ride

After picking up all the girls, we headed to the airport around 1 pm so we could make our flight at 3:40pm. Our plane was Delta 1299 and boy was it crowded!

Jojo had to sit all the way in the back near the bathrooms of Coach; I felt really bad for her but I got stuck with a a 400 pound man that had WAY to many carrie-ons. At one point, I thought he would elbow me in the face when he tried to tie his shoes!

LeeAnn was stuck sitting next to a little kid who was about 5 years old, and kept crying every time he ran out of juice. She thought he was cute, but I wanted to hit him so bad!

At 5 o'clock our plane made a stop in Atlanta, Georgia; therefore, we went out to dinner. Then we went back to the airport and got a bunch of terminal food. They had giant lollipops that are the size of my head!

Nicole was so lucky; she got the best seat when we got on our next plane at 7. She got to sit next to this dreamy Austrailian guy, Lukas, who was visting South America for a photography contest. He kept taking Nicole's picture (I think he likes her)!

Nadia had a pretty normal flight, except for one incident. We hit turbulence when she was in the bathroom, and now she has a giant purple bruise on her head!

We're not supposed to land untill 10, but I can't wait!

~Kerry-Ann

Getting Ready

OMG! I can't believe we're leaving for Costa Rica TOMORROW! I've been so exited; I started packing three weeks ago! We will be staying there for Christmas and New Year. It will be AMAZING!

We each have $5000 to spend on the trip. Even though we have a lot of money, we're going with cheaper flights and hotels so that we will have tons of money left for activities and shopping.

You can find our travel itinerary and a spreadsheet of our expenses at this link:
sites.google.com/site/funwithcostaricaticos/getting-ready