The 15th of September was the Independence Day of Costa Rica, a national holiday. It was a Tuesday and the school had decided to postpone it to Friday. This meant an extended weekend of three days!, or long weekend as ticos<\/em> call it.<\/p>\n On my first day in Academia Tica I had received a list of interesting and fun promising tours and activities you can book with the school. Those excursions are convenient because the school does all the reservation stuff for you. But this time I decided to do a different trip.<\/p>\n In the cafeteria of the school is a calendar which shows the seasons and places where you can observe different kinds of animals like turtles, dolphins and whales. I had seen that the whale watching season goes until the beginning of October. So, if I wanted to see those beautiful animals (which I had never seen before in nature), I had to take the chance of this weekend.<\/p>\n Like always, with all my weekend-planning-questions, I went to Elsa to pester her with all my questions: \u201cWhere should I best go to see them?\u201d, \u201cHow can I get there?\u201d, \u201cWhat else does this location offer?\u201d. She told me about a marine National Park called Marino Ballena, <\/em>which is located in Uvita in the pacific coast. This of course meant beautiful beaches, and yes, I could surf there too. She explained me which bus I had to take at which time and where it left (this varies with your travel destination, there is not only one big bus terminal, and finding these informations on the internet is not always easy. After I knew all this I searched for a hostel to stay in. I did this using booking.com; they have special offers every day.<\/p>\n When I came to my hostel that Friday afternoon, I checked in, brought my stuff into the room and already booked the whale watching tour which would take place the next morning. After having done this most important booking (seeing the whales had been the main motive to come here) I went to the big, open communal room where I got to know students from Canada.<\/p>\n They were traveling around in Costa Rica together without having planned a route before. When they got bored of a place, they decided to leave it and discussed their next destination spontaneously. My whale watching tour would not be until the next day, and for this day, they neither had a plan. So we discussed a little bit and decided to go to the beach together. Like often, the hostel front desk was helpful with our questions were we could find a nice spot. A transportation was organized (because walking there would take quite a while) and together with some other guests the hostel’s driver took us to a spot where we didn’t have to pay an entrance fee. In addition, it was an unknown section so the beach was empty, and it was gorgeous! We enjoyed the big, warm waves, jumping into or ducking under them. I was happy to be able to spend such a nice day with great people.<\/p>\n In the evening we ate casados <\/em>at a soda and afterwards played card games. The Canadians would leave the next day to continue to Panama so we said good bye and exchanged our Facebook contacts in case that our travel routes would maybe coincide some day and we could spend a few days together again.<\/p>\n The next day, I started with the whale watching tour. A bus took me to the beach where a boat was waiting for the tour group. It was a nice, sunny day and I enjoyed the pleasant airflow. While driving out to the sea the guide explained us different things about why the whales would come to such a warm place, when you could see them, why only mother and baby whales were here and so on.<\/p>\n We were lucky and saw some whales, mostly the back when they came to the surface to breathe. For me it was the first time seeing whales in nature. My tour highlight was definitely the moment when I saw two baby whales jumping out of the water!<\/p>\n Back at the hostel, I prepared my lunch: corn tortillas with refried beans paste, cheese and some vegetables. I had just left the kitchen edge and sat on a table next to it when a group of German speaking girls entered it to prepare their lunch: corn tortillas with refried beans paste, avocado and cheese! Apparently, this was a popular meal for tourists on a budget\u2026 We saw our almost identic meals, found it funny and started a conversation. They were roommates travelling around together. And they had heard about a nearby waterfall were you could swim in. That sounded nice to me, so I accompanied them after lunch.<\/p>\n The waterfall was located in a little forest. It came down an overgrown, green rock face. And it fall into a little, beautiful lagoon with clear, cool water. We were the only persons there and this place offered us a marvelous picture-book landscape. I’d never swam in a lagoon at the foot of a waterfall before. Another first time experience! Back at the hostel, we cooked together, exchanged our travel experiences and sang well known songs with another Canadian who had a ukulele.<\/p>\n For me this had been a really nice weekend, including great first time experiences and new encounters. Everything had gone more than well and I was wondering, how much one can experience in the short time of only one weekend? You see, with all the help of the school, the planning and getting all the necessary information it gets really easy. And travelling alone doesn’t mean spending your trips alone \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As\u00ed es un fin de semana t\u00edpico, desde los consejos serviciales de la escuela hasta la realizaci\u00f3n del viaje.<\/p>\n El 15 de Septiembre es el D\u00eda de Independencia en Costa Rica, un feriado nacional. Fue un martes y la escuela hab\u00eda decidido aplazarla al viernes. \u00a1Esto significaba un fin de semana prolongado de tres d\u00edas!<\/p>\n El primer d\u00eda en la escuela recib\u00ed una lista de actividades que parec\u00edan interesantes y divertidas y que puedes reservar a trav\u00e9s de \u00a0la escuela. Estas excursiones son bastante pr\u00e1cticas porque la escuela hace todas las reservaciones por ti.<\/p>\n Pero esta vez, decid\u00ed hacer otro viaje. En la cafeter\u00eda de la escuela hay un calendario que indica las \u00e9pocas y lugares donde puedes observar\u00a0diferentes animales como tortugas, delfines y ballenas. Ah\u00ed hab\u00eda visto que la \u00e9poca de las ballenas contin\u00faa hasta el inicio de octubre. Por eso, si quer\u00eda ver estos animales tan bonitos (nunca los hab\u00eda visto en la naturaleza), ten\u00eda que aprovechar la oportunidad de este fin de semana largo.<\/p>\n Como siempre, antes de planear m\u00ed fin de semana, fui a consultar todas mis preguntas con Elsa: \u00bfD\u00f3nde deber\u00eda ir para ver ballenas?, \u00bfC\u00f3mo puedo llegar all\u00ed?, \u00bfQu\u00e9 m\u00e1s hay para hacer en este lugar? Me cont\u00f3 del Parque Nacional Marino Ballena, <\/em>que est\u00e1 en Uvita, y de sus bonitas playas. Y s\u00ed, tambi\u00e9n podr\u00eda surfear all\u00ed. Me explic\u00f3 qu\u00e9 bus tendr\u00eda que tomar, a qu\u00e9 hora y de d\u00f3nde (esto cambia con cada destino en tu viaje, no hay una sola terminal grande, y encontrar estas informaciones en Internet no es tan f\u00e1cil). Despu\u00e9s de que sab\u00eda todo esto, busqu\u00e9 un hostal para pasar las noches. Yo uso la p\u00e1gina booking.com que tiene descuentos especiales cada d\u00eda.<\/p>\n Cuando llegu\u00e9 al hostal el viernes me registr\u00e9, llev\u00e9 mis cosas a la habitaci\u00f3n y reserv\u00e9 la excursi\u00f3n para observar ballenas para la pr\u00f3xima ma\u00f1ana. Despu\u00e9s de hacer esta reservaci\u00f3n importante (observar las ballenas hab\u00eda sido la raz\u00f3n principal de ir all\u00e1) fui a la sala com\u00fan donde conoc\u00ed a unos estudiantes de Canad\u00e1. Ellos estaban viajando por Costa Rica sin haber planeado su ruta antes. Cuando un lugar les aburr\u00eda, decid\u00edan dejarlo y discut\u00edan el pr\u00f3ximo destino.<\/p>\n Mi excursi\u00f3n para observar ballenas no era hasta el pr\u00f3ximo d\u00eda y ellos tampoco ten\u00edan un plan para este d\u00eda. Entonces discutimos un poco sobre qu\u00e9 hacer y decidimos ir a la playa juntos. Como muchas veces la recepci\u00f3n nos ayud\u00f3 con nuestras preguntas de d\u00f3nde podr\u00edamos encontrar un lugar bonito. Ellos organizaron un transporte (porque tardar\u00eda mucho tiempo ir caminando) y juntos, con otros hu\u00e9spedes, el conductor nos llev\u00f3 a un lugar donde no tuvimos que pagar la entrada. Adem\u00e1s, era un sitio desconocido y vac\u00edo. \u00a1Y fue maravilloso! Disfrutamos las olas grandes, saltando o agach\u00e1ndonos. Estaba feliz de poder pasar un d\u00eda bonito con gente amable.<\/p>\n En la noche comimos casados <\/em>en un soda y despu\u00e9s jugamos juegos de cartas. Los canadienses se iban por la ma\u00f1ana para continuar hacia Panam\u00e1, por eso nos despedimos e intercambiamos contactos de Facebook, en el caso de que nuestro viaje coincidiera otra vez y as\u00ed podr\u00edamos pasar unos d\u00edas juntos otra vez.<\/p>\n El pr\u00f3ximo d\u00eda comenz\u00f3 con la excursi\u00f3n de ballenas. Un bus me llev\u00f3 hasta la playa donde un peque\u00f1o barco estaba esperando al grupo para iniciar el tour. Era un d\u00eda bonito y soleado, perfecto para disfrutar del viento. Mientras navegamos por el mar, el gu\u00eda nos explic\u00f3 diferentes cosas sobre por qu\u00e9 las ballenas llegan a un sitio tan caliente, donde podr\u00edas verlas y por qu\u00e9 solo las madres y las cr\u00edas llegaban.<\/p>\n Tuvimos suerte y pudimos ver ballenas, sobre todo, su espalda cuando sub\u00edan a la superficie para respirar. Fue la primera vez que vi ballenas en la naturaleza. \u00a1M\u00ed “highlight”<\/em> de la excursi\u00f3n definitivamente fue cuando vi dos cr\u00edas saltando del mar!<\/p>\n Despu\u00e9s de regresar al hostal, prepar\u00e9 mi almuerzo: tortillas de ma\u00edz con frijoles molidos, queso y verduras. Hab\u00eda dejado el \u00e1rea de la cocina y me hab\u00eda sentado en una mesa cerca cuando un grupo de chicas alemanas entraron para preparar su almuerzo: \u00a1Tortillas de ma\u00edz con frijoles molidos, aguacate y queso! Al parecer esta era una comida t\u00edpica para turistas con poco presupuesto\u2026 Vimos nuestras comidas casi id\u00e9nticas, pensamos que era divertido y empezamos a conversar. Ellas eran compa\u00f1eras de piso y viajaban juntas. Ellas hab\u00edan o\u00eddo de una catarata cercana donde pod\u00edas nadar, esto me pareci\u00f3 bueno y por eso las acompa\u00f1\u00e9 despu\u00e9s del almuerzo.<\/p>\n La catarata estaba en un peque\u00f1o bosque. Baj\u00e9 por una pared de roca verde y ca\u00ed en una laguna peque\u00f1a con agua fr\u00eda y clara. \u00c9ramos las \u00fanicas personas all\u00ed y este lugar nos ofrec\u00eda una vista maravillosa. Nunca hab\u00eda nadado en una laguna al el pie de una catarata antes. \u00a1Otra primera experiencia!<\/p>\n En el hostal cocinamos juntas, nos contamos las experiencias de viaje y cantamos canciones conocidas con un chico canadiense que ten\u00eda un ukulele<\/em>.<\/p>\n Para mi esto fue un fin de semana bonito que incluy\u00f3 primeras experiencias, estupendos encuentros. Todo hab\u00eda sido muy bueno y me sorprendi\u00f3 cu\u00e1nto pod\u00edas experimentar en un tiempo tan corto como un fin de semana. Ves, con toda la ayuda de la escuela para planear y encontrar toda la informaci\u00f3n necesaria, es de verdad f\u00e1cil. Y viajar solo no significa pasar solo \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is what a typical weekend trip as an Academia Tica student looks like. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,146,31,145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-places-to-go","category-costa-rica","category-student-life","category-travelling"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2015-11-24-05.29.15-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ppNc8-eN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1029,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions\/1029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On the Spot<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
A nice day with the Canadians<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Processed](\"https:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2015-11-24-05.16.35-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Processed](\"http:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2015-11-24-05.15.12-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhale watching <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"unnamed\"](\"http:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/unnamed1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"unnamed(1)\"](\"http:\/\/www.academiatica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/unnamed11.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSwimming in a waterfall<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Read it in Spanish!<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Planeando el viaje<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nEn el lugar <\/em><\/strong>
\nUn d\u00eda bueno con los canadienses <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\nObservar ballenas<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Nadar en una catarata<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n