Sniffly nose

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 less intimidating to walk around. I also feel pretty lucky because the place that I am staying is really secure and I am near the back of the property behind two locked doors. I usually have a lot of anxiety in the night about burglaries, but I have not really experienced that here yet and I am so grateful. Back to the grocery store, I walked there, and it was in a mall, so it was cool to see a Costa Rican mall. Then I went to the grocery store, and it was much larger and nicer than the other one that I had been to. There was a whole bakery section as well as lots of cheese. I also took a picture because they had plant-based meat alternatives like Impossible. I was not expecting that at all! Eating those is how I get a lot of my protein, so it is good to know that they exist here. This grocery haul was much more expensive than my previous one, but I need to eat, and it is cheaper to buy groceries than eat out all the time. 

                                    My groceries                                                         Plant-based section

Tonight, I made it to a yoga class that they offer at my Air B n B. People who are staying here get to go for free and it is run by other residents. I was a bit nervous going, but the girl running it was so nice and she tried her best to give me instructions in English. I could understand a lot of the Spanish instructions but sometimes the English ones were necessary. We did some really funky group stretches that I had never done before, and we had to balance on one another which was really fun. I am so glad that I went because now I met two more people who live in the house! I was not that awesome at yoga, but the instructor said that I did a good job, so I am not going to be embarrassed. I did get really sweaty though so that's a good sign. Also, I am already sore. 

After yoga I made myself dinner and I started thinking about where I was a year ago today. Grace and I had just left Ireland and one year ago today was our first full day in Amsterdam. I remember we had such a nice hostel by a park, and we walked around so much because we could not figure out the public transportation. Remembering this makes me feel so grateful for these adventures that I get to go on and how vast this world is. There are so many interesting places to explore, and I feel so lucky that I am getting to do just that. Also reflecting on that Amsterdam experience, Grace and I had no idea what was going on ever but somehow, we made it. That crazy travel experience laid some good groundwork for future travel because now as long as I don't get kicked out of a country, I am all good. And tonight, I am not in Amsterdam so I am going to try to go to bed early in hopes that will help my immune system fight whatever is going on in there.