Sage Blogs

Yesterday and today have been really rainy. Usually, it is just in the afternoons but for the past two days it has rained on and off for the entire day. Today I went for a walk at the University of Costa Rica, and it was so cool! I walked around the entire campus, and everything was so green. I am going to go back for sure. There is an insect museum as well as a butterfly garden that I want to explore. After that I went to lunch and spent some time making plans for upcoming travels! Exciting things.      

Heyyyy. I went to a mall today! I walked there and it was super close. The mall had three stories and there were food courts on two of the floors. There was a Taco Bell, KFC, Quiznos, Pizza Hut, and many more. I got pupusas and they were so good. I think pupusas are one of my favorite foods. The stores in the mall were all very standard. There were some clothes shops, shoe stores, cell phone kiosks. There also was a movie theater.                                                                     After the mall I went to a Walmart-esque store. It is called Pequeno Mundo, and someone told me that they bought pillowcases there. I was intrigued by what the store was like, and it was close to the mall, so I decided to go in. There were three levels. The entry level had food, the level underneath had clothes, and the top level had a bunch of random stuff like TVs, tables, and towels. I bought a couple of things and then headed back home. For dinner I decided to make stir fry and had to cal

Hello! I know after my last post I had expressed that I was feeling a bit low. It can be really challenging to exist as a human, let alone a human exploring a new country without any familiarity. I don't think that I was feeling bad per say but I guess just low.  With that being said, I am feeling really good! I have had a really fun weekend with some people from the place that I am staying. I walked to a local market with a couple of gals. It was all organic and there was jewelry and lots of food options. I got a delicious caprese sandwich as well as a chai. I hope to return to the market because there are so many cool products, and it is also along a river which I love. It was about a 45-minute walk from where I am so it was fun to walk through part of the city and see a lot of things that I hadn't yet.                           We got back and I talked on the phone and ran to the grocery store. Right when I got back from the store, I ran into one of the girls that I went to

Alrighty. Here is what I have been up to the past couple of days: - I have been looking into where I want to go when I leave Costa Rica. This is fun but also a bit nerve wracking because deciding where to go as a solo female traveler includes a lot of considerations. - I got McDonalds for the first time yesterday at Grace's insistence. My order consisted of a McFlurry Tapita (it was chocolate and vanilla ice cream with Rolos and some Rice Krispy type things), derretido (it was basically a grilled cheese), postre de pina (a pineapple pie), and a medium French fry.  - The past couple of days I have been going to a park and just hanging out. I have found that it is weird and kind of hard for me to be in a city. It also is hard to adjust to not having a house that I feel totally comfortable in. I have my room and then a little area, but I have grown accustomed to having more room. I have found a nice park where it is really quiet, and it is very close by. I have been going there to sna

I didn't write last night because the power went out and by the time it came back on, I was too sleepy to write. It is not much of a loss because yesterday was not too exciting. I went for a walk in the morning and then in the afternoon I did some research on where I want to go after this. It rained on and off all afternoon, so I felt alright just hanging out. Also, yesterday was Reese's birthday so we did a family call and sang him happy birthday. He is 20 years old! I am so grateful for technology to be able to see my family and talk to them so easily.  This morning, I woke up and went for an adventure walk. I was looking on Google Maps and found a park that looked interesting. I decided to walk there, and it was really fun. It was a nature trail that went through some really nice greenery. During the walk I ate an orange, and I saw a lot of spiders which was a little bit spooky. I sat down on a bench near the playground at that park and did some journaling. It was really nic

I went to a farmers' market today! I woke up at 7:45am and then met some people from the place that I am staying. We had made plans to go together to the farmers' market. We walked to the market and when we got there, we got some food. I got a tortilla de queso which was almost like a flattened pupusa which is not what I was expecting. My dad and I were talking about all of the different tortillas and the different definitions of tortilla between cultures. Spain has a tortilla with onion, potato, and egg, this one that I had at the market, and the tortillas in the US are flour and used to wrap things up. So interesting! After the group ate, we walked around the market and there were so many vendors. It was pretty much all produce and there were so many options. I got onions, lettuce, strawberries, potatoes, and garlic. After the market we walked back and hung out for a while.                                    A glimpse of the market                              A view from the

This morning, I was awoken by the sound of a cat yowling outside of my window at 6:50am. It sounded as if the cat were in an epic battle with some worthy opponent because the kerfuffle went on for a shockingly long time. I could not fall back asleep after this, so I was awake for the day. I checked my phone and saw that my neighbor at the Air B n B had sent me a voice message. I listened and she told me that a poisonous slug had been found in their room last night. This slug is poisonous in the sense that where it leaves its trails becomes infected. So, for instance, if it travels over your apple and then you eat that apple, you will get sick. Also, in the audio message she told me that she was staying in a different place for the night because she did not want to be in that room for the night. So, I am going about my morning when the house manager comes in and decides he needs to clean the entire floor of that room this morning. He also asks me to watch him do it so I can attest that

Today I felt much better than yesterday which I am very grateful for. I slept in this morning and woke up without electricity. I had been notified a couple of days earlier that we would not have power from 9am-4pm today because they are doing construction nearby. I sat outside this morning and did some journaling. Then I went out to lunch at a nearby vegetarian restaurant. The people who run my Air B n B recommended this restaurant, so I figured that was a good sign. It is a 10-minute walk from where I am staying, and I got to walk by a new area. The restaurant was pretty busy, but I got a table easily (one of the benefits of being a solo diner). I ordered a chai frio and a "bowl tipico". The chai was not iced but it was blended. It was so thick because apparently there's almond butter in it. Very interesting, not necessarily my favorite chai that I have ever had but still good. The bowl tipico was pretty tasty. A very nice experience, and I will go back. My yummy lunch A

Unfortunately, things did not improve today in the way of health. I woke up and was so stuffy and I remained that way all day. I know that I should have gotten up and gone for a walk and moved my body because that usually helps me feel better but that didn't happen. I really just laid around today and watched TikToks and did some work on my computer. I felt so guilty for being in some a new and exciting place and just laying around. I know that not every moment has to be exciting, but every day should have something cool happen. Tomorrow I am going to get out of the house and go to a restaurant or doing anything at all to try to make myself feel better. There is a cat that lives in the main house, and it came and visited today so I guess that was my cool thing for today. 

For the past couple of days, I have had a bit of a sore throat and this morning I woke up with a runny nose. I am not too worried because being in a new environment with new food and people along with lots of humidity, I bet my body is just working through some things. Still, it is not very convenient to feel icky in a foreign country. Hoping that I will feel better soon. (Don't worry Mom I have been drinking lots of water and eating Vitamin C). Today I went to a different grocery store from the one that I had visited previously. This one was described to me as similar to Whole Foods and so I wanted to check it out. The walk was about 15 minutes, and it is so crazy walking here. When I first arrived, I noticed that all of the buildings just looked a little bit scary because many have huge fences around them and then barbed wire looped around the fences and some of the buildings are also very run down. As I am walking around, I realize that this is more the norm, and it is becoming

Today my plan was to go to Parque del Este because I wanted to do some walking and exploring. I woke up and went to a French cafe this morning. I got a chocolatine and a mocha. I haven't had coffee this year because one of my resolutions was to not drink coffee. It just makes my tummy feel bad, makes me feel anxious, and I have a hard time sleeping any time I have it. BUT this morning I just decided to go for it and it was so tasty. My tummy hasn't hurt yet so hopefully I can fall asleep tonight.  My breakfast I got picked up by an Uber from the cafe and I went to Parque del Este. I got dropped off outside of the park entrance and then just walked myself in. It was 1000 colones to get in which is less than USD$2. One of the guys working at the entrance asked if I spoke Spanish and I said a little bit and then he tried to say some stuff to me that I could not understand. Then he looked down at my feet and I was wearing my Chacos. In Colorado it is so normal to hike around in Cha

Yesterday after I did my blog post I really did not do too much. I do not want to stress myself out or do anything too crazy, so I really just spent yesterday hanging out. I talked to my parents, grandma, and Grace and this time I didn't cry at all during the phone calls. Since it was a Sunday, I wasn't sure what the hours of different places would be so I decided to do a late lunch/ early dinner so I would be able to eat somewhere. I went to a cafe that was about a 5-minute walk from where I am staying. They had a full menu as well as a bunch of sweets and coffee options. I wanted to get something like fajitas, but they didn't have any vegetarian options, so I ordered "una hamburguesa vegetariana." I sat there and waited for my food and while I am waiting another table came in and they order some cute coffee drinks and some pastries and then out comes this huge burger with fries with a huge steak knife coming out of it. I felt like such an embarrassing American f

I have safely arrived in Costa Rica and I am now in the place where I will be staying for the next month.  Yesterday after being in the DFW airport for 6.5 hours, I finally boarded my plane to get to San Jose. The middle seat next to me was open which was incredible, so I didn't have to feel super smooshed. The flight was 4.5 hours and when we arrived in San Jose it was very rainy and dark. I wasn't expecting it to be so dark at 6pm but it was so we will have to see if that is the norm or if it was because of the storm. Getting off the plane and through customs was so easy! If you know anything about my trip to Ireland last fall you know that I have a lot of anxiety associated with customs, so I am very grateful that it was so simple. I grabbed a taxi from the airport, and I really did not care how much it was going to cost because I needed the ease of that taxi. I got dropped off outside of my hostel and the whole block was pitch black. There had been a power outage I guess be