Drum roll, please.
I'M BACK!! Well, more aptly, I'm back to blogging and back to leaving everything I've ever known in search of some adventure and some new experiences. Over the next four months, I'll traverse four continents, five countries, and four oceans for play and study. I have never been more excited in my entire life. The journey ahead of me will be one I recount for decades to come, and it will influence every decision I make, every thought that flits through my head, and every action that I carry out for the rest of my life. And hopefully, you'll all be reading along with me every step of the way (:
Last night, January 1, 2016, the Stoddard family embarked on its first ever international trip to... COSTA RICA!
Wooooow. So most of you probably don't know my dad, but he is a bargain hunter if there ever was one. Our last family vacation was in the summer of 2014, and it was a week-long road trip up the Californian coast. (Moment of peace for the sanity of us five family members that hated each other after seven days in a confined space together.) To give you an idea of our budget, we stayed in single hotel rooms in places like Travelodge, and due to the inadequate space in the beds, one of us was forced to sleep on the ground every single night. One of us even got a rash from the nasty floor (just to clarify, it wasn't me). Basically, though the family bonding and timeless experiences were wonderful, the trip itself was a bit of a NIGHTMARE.
So, when my dad asked our family out of the blue if we'd like to go to Costa Rica and spend five nights on a premiere resort in a condo with three huge bedrooms,a kitchen, three balconies, and a flat screen TV, we were like--
But then... I started to get suspicious. WHY exactly were we going on a grand vacation in a foreign land? Out of Dad's generosity? OR is he escaping from the law/selling the house while we are gone/involved in a crazy Mob scheme? The latter seems a little more likely to me.
I trepidatiously confronted my dad and inquired about the truth, but he insisted it was just out of the goodness of his heart for my mom's birthday. He was like--
And I'm like--
So we may come back to the United States to find that my dad skipped on bail, or that we are homeless, or that he is wanted by the Mob, but my sisters, Mom, and I have made a pact to just enjoy ourselves while we are here.
We left last night on a midnight flight, and because of some weird mix-up, we happened to be the last ones on the plane even though we'd arrived two and a half hours early. All of my transportation mishaps in Israel made a little bit of tardiness practically inconsequential, and I stayed pretty calm.
me: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But Sierra and Miranda (my sisters) were slightly less patient.
Them
Landing, customs, and baggage claim were all extremely uneventful (thank God). My dad converted $100 into the local currency, and it ended up amounting to 36 MILLION COLONES.
Us: WE'RE MILLIONAIRES
It was a rush, let me tell ya.
We hopped in our van-taxi thing with Angel, our driver, and embarked on our hour-long drive to the Westin Resort.
A few views
A few observations:
- SO many animals. It was like heaven for me, the animal lover. Dogs and roosters and cows all over the place. Miranda's goal by the end of the trip is to pet at least one cow--good luck, Moo (lol that's her nickname AND it's what a cow says, what a coincidence). These cows don't look like cute little American milk-producers--they have gigantic horns and almost look like African water buffalo. Don't think you'll see me getting anywhere near those things.
- It is fantastic to be in a Spanish-speaking country. Not only are the signs more intelligible than those in Turkish, or Hebrew, or Arabic, but my mom actually majored in Linguistics in college and is practically fluent in Spanish. HOORAY FOR COMMUNICATION!
- The areas we drove through were unbelievably lush and green. Pastel-colored shacks hid shrouded in leafy palm trees and foliage, and we zoomed past jungles and creeks and acres of thick vegetation. It felt like we were toeing the boundaries of an untamed wilderness, and it seemed as if all of the secrets of the world could be hidden just a few yards into the trees, and no one would find them. Which sort of leads to my last cab-servation (cab and observation, keep up!!!)
- I will forever remain in awe of the diversity on this earth. The lush green jungle of Costa Rica seems as if it could be on a different planet than the barren, sandy, apocalyptic deserts of Jordan, or the mosque-riddled harbor of Istanbul, Turkey. I consider myself the luckiest person alive to have the opportunity to explore these vastly diverse environments and to appreciate the whole of what the world has to offer. Regardless of geographical difference, however, the men and women I meet and talk with here in Costa Rica have similar, if not identical, concerns to those in the United States and the Middle East: they care about their well-being, and their children, and their futures. And perhaps that is most incredible of all.
We got to the resort around 9:30 AM to find that our rooms wouldn't be available until 3 PM. I didn't care--more time to stuff our faces at the complimentary breakfast and tan on the beach.
We each tried granadilla, a citrus-y fruit whose pulp kind of looked like slimy caviar. Eek. We decided to be adventurous, though, and try it out. Dad was not a fan--
But hey, I liked it quite a bit!
We headed down to the beach for a few hours to bake in the sun and soak in the ocean.
We had a fantastic afternoon as a family, then relaxed at lunch until our condo was ready. It's basically the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.
A full kitchen, a family room and dining room, three gorgeous bedrooms, and a beach and jungle view.
STUNNING!
We've been napping, eating, and chillin' out for the past few hours, and we're getting ready for an amazing day tomorrow. I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm going to check on out. So happy to be back on the blog and back on the road to adventure.
So much love and joy and YAY!
On the Road Again Aubs
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