Back to grind from a week in Costa Rica

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

After a hiatus I have returned to blogging. A common occurrence in my world of blogging. To fill you in on the happenings of the past weeks I will summarize a bit. I took a trip to Costa Rica to visit my girlfriend, Caitlin, after weeks/months of anticipation to see her. I had sent her off to study abroad in Costa Rica at the end of December and as you know it is now March. Needless to say, I was so excited to see her. So up to time I was supposed to take off I couldn’t focus on much else. When the day finally came I actually had a project in the office that I was working on and excited about. I was putting together a special enewsletter to highlight a few of a our new upcoming products and in doing so I got to use some of designing creativity. After rushing to get everything to go I scrambled back to finish packing and just barely get everything ready before my bus came. I would take a shuttle 4 hours to Guatemala City and then stay with a friend until early the next morning when my flight would take off. As that sounds simple, it really did not happen as said. Yes, I did take the shuttle to the city, but after a stop in Antigua I was informed that they would not drop me off at my specific requested address but would rather drop me off at the hotel with the others going into the city. Ok, no problem, I’ll just take a taxi. I figured I’d give Sara a call and everything would be cool. I try to do that only to find that the number I have does not call Sara. The number calls a man that becomes very agitated after many wrong number calls. So with that predicament I call every resources that I have in trying to find the correct number but have no such luck. I could carry on this story and my agitated frustration but I’ll cut it short by saying that thankfully Sara texted me to check on my whereabouts (since I arrived much later than I had planned). From there everything was good. I arrived at Sara’s place and found that being an English teacher in Guatemala has its perks. She and some other teachers were put up as they described “a very posh” apartment and indeed it was. It was HUGE. They had the top two floors of a building that overlooks the city, the volcanos and all that madness with a perfect view through huge windows in every room. Anyway, I made my flight the next day with more excitement of running around the airport, flight delays, and the works. I was relieved and exhausted when I arrived in Costa Rica and was absolutely thrilled to see Caitlin. I met her good friend Emily and we stopped by their favorite pastry shop to get some sweets. We then went back to her host family’s place for lunch and to relax. The following week of vacation was fantastic. We went to Montezuma, which is on the Pacific Coast, and just relaxed. It was so nice. The beaches were beautiful, the water was warm, and the company was great! One day we went snorkeling at Tortuga Island and swam with some really colorful fish (which none of them bit me!). Another day we hiked to some waterfalls in the mountains and had a delightful time swimming in non salty water. I also jumped off the big waterfall and it was a rush! The last day we went surfing and took lots of pictures. It was such a nice vacation!

Now I’m back to work and sad that there is a big distance between Caitlin and I. Work has been interesting in that there is a new coordinator down here and she has been helping me get started on more and more marketing projects. I am enjoying it but do miss everyone back home. Semana Santa is coming up soon and I am excited for that. Antigua has a big celebration. Well, sorry for all the scattered thoughts. Off to work!