The Beginning

It's begun--my adventure of a lifetime, my trek around the world, my fulfillment of a life-long dream. It's happening!!! It seems so surreal, partly because I have been looking forward to this experience for a full year and it's finally here, and partly because I only got an hour and a half of sleep last night due to some long goodbyes.

I flew out of Orange County (love that place), and the two flights to get to New York were comfortable enough, even with the guy sitting next to me that was whistling on the flight.

me: too early for this sh*t

Upon arriving in New York, I grabbed an Uber to the hostel I'll be living in for the next two weeks. It's a cute enough hostel, but the area around it isn't exactly... safe. There are zero streetlamps; every store and shop is completely boarded and locked up; and the streets are deserted.

me on the outside

me on the inside

However, I was in desperate pursuit of some Chinese food, and I wasn't going to let a little bit of darkness scare me off. Until I heard some man yelling to someone on the phone: "I'm not scared, I was in for ten years for nailin' a cop, that (expletive)'s nothin', you tell him that."

I was pretty sure I was not the intended messenger, so I decided to run the opposite direction as quickly as I could.

bye

While my inherent instinct was to keep my eyes down and shuffle along without disturbing anyone, I tried to fight it. Instead, I channeled my SoCal sunniness and some fake confidence and have small interactions with every individual I passed. Whether it was a smile, or a greeting, or the exchange of pleasantries, I felt it was important to hold exchanges with the people in whose neighborhood I'll be living for a few weeks. I want to ingratiate myself into the environment, even in minuscule ways, and I'm hoping to combat my shyness that I usually resort to. Plus, I felt a little bit safer with every "hello." I was making friends (kinda).

I didn't dally, though, and I was back to my hostel within thirty minutes. I plan on finishing my book and getting almost 12 hours of sleep before the official beginning of my program tomorrow.

Can't believe this is real (:

Excited beyond belief,

AubStod

The Last Day

Can't believe that my time in Costa Rica has come to an end. It's been an absolutely lovely trip with my family, and today only added to the fabulousness.

We got up early this morning to drive on out to a river boat cruise. Before getting into the van, we fed some adorable birds that came to our balcony.

Ritz are their snack of choice

I felt like Snow White

Along the way, we saw some pretty hilarious sights--the kind you can only really experience outside the United States.

First, we saw numerous cars passing another car on the main highway--a police car to be exact. Can you imagine ever passing a police car back in the States!? Those cops could be going only 20 miles an hour, and we'd be like, "take your time, we are in no hurry, wow look at that view out the window!" When our van passed the police car, we were all like--

ohgodohgodohgod

Don't even worry, though--the cops actually pulled over to the side of the road for us so that we could get around. What the heck is this place?

Then, we saw a fire smolderingon the side of the road. "What is that???" we asked our guide. He looked at it nonchalantly. "Oh, somebody probably just threw their cigarette out the window."

It was absurd!!! I guess people just kind of start fires??? Craziness.

A few minutes later, we stopped for some breakfast at a bakery. 

The bakery

With our incessant questions and obnoxious American accents, we were already annoying af. Then, in trying to describe to us one of the muffins, our server pulled out a pen and a pad of paper.

OH OH OH OH!!!

We were so excited--we thought we were going to play Pictionary! We all gathered around, cheering her on as she drew on the pad. She just looked at us like we were crazy and wrote the word "vanilla" on the paper. 

Whoops. We are such aggravating Americans.

We then stopped at a small community center for some souvenirs and coffee. I enjoyed a small cup of Costa Rican espresso with Golden Cream--or what they call "Costa Rican Bailey's."

Delish morning pick-me-up

Right before we got to the river, our guide asked for our names and ages. "19, 17, 14," we rattled off. As we enumerated the last age, the guide looked to me. Nope. I'm the 19 year old.

Aubs was unamused.

Anyway, we finally got to the river and clambered aboard our boat. Though the rules about interacting with the wildlife were very clear--

Our guides chose to ignore them. They threw raw beef and chicken to all of the crocodiles that we encountered, as well as lured monkeys onto our boat with assorted snacks!! So fun.

I've also decided that crocodiles are about the scariest freaking animals on this planet. Watching a six-foot reptile eat raw meet then stare at me with scary, lethal eyes basically made me realize that I was going to die by crocodile. I just know it. IT WAS MADNESS.

We saw monkeys, crocs, a multitude of birds, itty bitty bats, iguanas, butterflies, and dragonflies. It was an absolute adventure.

We then drove to a very authentic Costa Rican place for lunch. 

Yum!!!

Our view from the restaurant that was actually a family's backyard

Then, we headed back to a town right outside the resort to look around and walk on the beach. Honestly, we were all so exhausted after this past week in the sun that we just passed out back in our house. We've been hanging out together, enjoying our last few hours of family time before we head back to California tomorrow. 

It's been an absolutely incredible trip and a wonderful way to start 2016. Couldn't be luckier to have such a loving family and the opportunity to travel to a country as stunning as Costa Rica. I can't believe this is only the beginning (:

Puda Vida (or, Pure Life/a Costa Rican saying),

Aubrey

Bright, Bright Sunshine-y Days

It's been *quite* an amazing past two days--especially because I'm about 29 shades darker than I was on Sunday, hallelujah. Lots of adventure and lots of sun for the Stoddard fam!

Yesterday, we awoke early in order to take full advantage of the beautiful weather. Moo, my dad, and I trekked down to stuff ourselves with a hot breakfast--only to find that THERE WAS NO FULL BREAKFAST ON WEEKDAYS. JUST FRUIT.

me tryna keep it together

So, I had some more granadilla like the ~local~ that I am plus tons and tons of sweet pineapple that tasted almost Hawaiian it was so delicious, then three-fifths of the Stod clan walked on down to the beach. We tanned and read our books until Si and my mom joined us an hour later.

Si, Moo, and I were desperate to go paddle-boarding (even though we aren't exactly experts or the best balancers), so we rented a few out from the hotel. We were super excited!!!--until they warned us about the sea snakes.

wut

THEN some of the beach-goers pronounced with all-knowing looks that these snakes were deathly poisonous.

WHAT

Absurd!!!! I wasn't about to die for some physical exertion, so I was all ready to check those boards back in. Just as I was dragging the board back up shore, when we got the "all clear" on the sea snakes. Apparently, they're so tiny, the only place they can latch on to you is the skin between your thumb and forefinger. As long as you don't let them grab on, you'll be fine.

basically

We honestly all thought that keeping our hands out of the water wouldn't be too difficult; however, our terrible balance meant we were constantly falling. Our fear was not assuaged at all by Si and Moo's spotting of a snake in the water next to us!!!

one of the few moments I was able to stand up

We ended up getting distracted by a vendor walking along the street selling homemade bracelets and anklets with seeds from the beach and imported turquoise. We each bought two.

the babe of a seller himself

We ran up to the beach club's restaurant to get some lunch before going snorkeling. Although our waiter promised our meal would only take twenty minutes to prepare, it ended up taking more than an hour to get our food. We were like--

Especially when my dad realized his lasagna didn't even have noodles--it was just cheese and veggies.

After lunch, we headed out to a catamaran (this cool raised boat thing) that would take us to the coast of a small, uninhabited island to snorkel. Honestly, though, I think my favorite part of the entire day was just laying on the deck of the boat with my sisters, soaking in the sun.

Snorkeling, though, was pretty fun, too. We saw a stingray, a lionfish, and a prickly fish, and we even got to pet a blowfish! Fun stuff! 

We rode back to the mainland at sunset, and I think it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

The gold and the navy--stunning combo

The sky was perfectly violet!

Tan or tomato, you decide

This has probably been my favorite part of the trip so far. I don't know if it was growing up in a close-ish proximity to the beach, or perhaps it was playing water polo for four years, but I feel most at home on the water. I think I may just retire onto a boat, or sail around the world in a few years, or maybe just live as a mermaid. Any of those options would work for me.

The night finished perfectly with an early screening of The Bachelor #TeamOlivia

This morning, we woke up bright and early to go white water rafting!!! It literally took three hours of driving in four different vehicles to get to the river--but it definitely ended up being worth it. Rivers are scaled from Category 1 to Category 5, and the river on which we were travelling was about a Category 3--didn't stop me from screaming like a lil child at every slight turn.

However, my anxiety was validated when our raft flipped going over some giant rapids--TWICE IN A ROW. 

Me, Si, and Moo

The ride was such a blast, especially with our awesome guides. It took us another few hours to get back to the hotel, and we just about passed out after our return. We've been relaxing and watching TV as a fam for a few hours, and Moo and I are now watching my fave movie in the whole wide world.

Tomorrow is our last full day in the country--should be an amazing one!!!!

Sunkissed and Content,

Aubrey

Zippin' Along

An adventurous day for the Stoddard fam! We woke up early in order to take full advantage of our free breakfast buffet before our crazy day plans. Si and I decided to be ~authentic~ Costa Ricans and ate some more granadilla--

Alien or fruit? You decide.

While we were waiting for a taxi to pick us up and trek us to our destination, we watched this hilarious bird snatch packet after packet of sugar from a coffee station. "Some people have drugs, some have alcohol," a hotel worker commented, "this bird has sugar."

Our thirty-minute ride to the locale took us through numerous little towns and on bumpy roads that seemed to be one way until a few cars managed to squeeze by us.

tryna be calm as we hurtle towards our deaths

We arrived at our zip-lining start point, and Miranda and I immediately ran to some cages where we found some adorable monkeys. Best part of all--we were allowed to feed them!!! Sometimes it pays to have a pretty younger sis.

I was super stoked to give this lil guy some sunflower seeds, and I was even more excited when he grabbed my finger like he wanted to be my friend. And then... THE GDDAMN THING BIT ME!!!

I may have used slightly more ~expletives~

I was like, da fuq lil monkey, I'm just trying to love you!!!! I'm scarred for life--mentally not physically; pretty sure the freak didn't break skin. But ya I figure there are two potential outcomes.

One, I die a slow painful death of rabies aka the one illness for which I did NOT get a vaccination in order to study abroad.

me in three days

Two, I turn into Monkeywoman or something and will be able to swing from trees.

Neither are ideal.

We drove up some gigantic hills in order to get to the beginning zipline in a rackety little car with someone HOLDING ONTO THE OUTSIDE OF THE CAR.

wut

This guy literally was just grabbing the inside of the car through an open window while we were gunning it up some Indiana Jones-type mountains. It was absurd.

But hey--we got to the first line safely and paired up. Si and I traveled together down 600 meters of line; my mom and Miranda followed; and then my dad came next, solo. It felt like flying, and it was amazing!

We each went alone for two more lines and had a fab time.

Hi it's me!!!

The Stoddard fam above the canopy

One of the guides was interested in the Stoddard girls and wanted to know our names/ages. I asked him to guess which of us was the oldest. 

"Hmmm..." he squinted. "Her?" He pointed towards Miranda.

Me and Si:

Wrong. Answer.Don;t

I alerted him to his mistake and he looked shocked. "Really?!! But you're..." and he made a hand motion meaning short/midget-sized.

How dare you

I couldn't deal. Bye.

After our three zipline adventures, we rappelled down a super tall tree (I screamed quite loud) and did this crazy, amazing Tarzan swing. As I was being pulled up to the platform by the rope contraption, one of the guides jokingly called, "Oh no!"

Don't even joke about it.

It was amazing, though. Unfortunately, there's no video of me swinging, because Miranda (the girl that was supposed to be taking the video) saw an iguana and focused the camera on it. Thanks, Moo.

Costa Rica has a ridiculous number of animals. There are iguanas--

And monkeys (hate those b*tches)

Doggies (lost this pic in an unfortunate Snapchat tragedy)

And COATIS!!!

Look at those dudes

So cute!!!

We ate pizza for lunch then conked out for a few hours then ate MORE. I got sangria, because I'm an ADULT (and because my parents gave me permission since I'm legal in Costa Rica).

Moo and I are watching Life As We Know It together and chilling out while Si acts like a loner in the other room.

 Last night, I felt quite restless, consumed by thoughts and worries I'd tried to leave behind in Massachusetts and California, so I stepped onto the balcony for some warm fresh air. My breath caught almost immediately, for I found myself entranced by the stars. They glittered across the great expanse of black, like scattered jewels from a torn astral necklace. They shimmered in my peripheral vision, but as soon as I attempted to gaze upon just one, I was distracted by the flitting light of those to my right and left. It was almost enough to make me believe in magic, and in the Greek myths behind the constellations; for the first time, I understood the concept of stars as living and breathing, as objects with depth. I was enthralled.

I lied down on the balcony and stared at the sky and felt m worries seep out of my pores. All of my concerns and stresses about school, and image, and my future seemed to slip away with the realization of their inconsequentialness in relation to the stars above me. I felt at peace for the first time in a while.

I love this place already.

Excited for another beautiful day tomorrow.

With Love,

Aubs

Hello, It's Me

Ladies and gentlemen,

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