A Day In The Life: Costa Rica: Day 1 and 2

So for those of you who follow my instagram account you have seen that I spent the last week and a half in the beautiful land known as Costa Rica. It was kind of crazy finally embarking on this adventure seeing as I had signed up for the trip last October. I went with the same program I went to Europe with (EF College Break) only this time I decided to go alone.

The first day consisted of flying to Costa Rica, and dinner with the group to get to know each other. I arrived by myself after the majority of the people had already arrived and been taken to the hotel. I got to ride to the hotel with just my tour guide, which was actually quite cool. I was impressed with how much he knew about his country, and I knew that we were going to have a blast with this guy. Good ol' Walter!

We arrived at the hotel to find that all the other group members were out exploring the city, so I went up to my room and relaxed for an hour before everyone came back. It was there that things really started to sink in. I was actually in Costa Rica! Not only was I there, but I had made the trek alone. I just stared out the window at all the locals passing by on the busy streets, and smiled to myself that I was able to have that moment alone to really let everything soak in.

The view outside our hotel window. Not the best photograph, but you get the idea.

This was my morning view at breakfast on day two.

Day two started off with a bang! We backed up all are stuff in the bus and headed over to INBioparque. This place was unbelievable. It had areas of all the different types of forests found in Costa Rica. I swear not two minutes in we found a baby sloth hanging in a tree! The amount of wildlife I saw on this trip is unreal you guys. UNREAL!

I had a battle with myself about taking crappy and blurry animal photos, sooo I didn't. I am sorry fellow humans, I just couldn't do it. You are just going to have to take my word for it.

Now I will just show you all the wonderful photos, because no words can do it justice. Here is day two everyone!

Alright, so I have one picture of an animal. Haha enjoy! Iguanas were everywhere! You know how we have deer crossing signs? Well over in Costa Rica, they have iguana crossing signs. Haha It was pretty hysterical.

Isn't this just the prettiest duck you ever did see? At least I think it's a duck.... doesn't it look like a duck??

This is Neon the butterfly. This little guy hung out on my backpack for a good 15 minutes. Long story short, we are best friends.

Oh I forgot to explain the reason for the crummy iphone photos. I brought my beautiful Nikon with me all the way to Costa Rica only to find out I left the handy dandy memory card back home in Utah... *palm to face*

After exploring the wonderful park we were on our way to Poas to see the Poas Volcano! This volcano apparently has one of the biggest craters in the world! Can't you tell...

Yeah, that's it. Haha luckily there were a few times when the fog moved so we could actually see the crater, and it was definitely worth the wait.

Did I mention there were two other Shelbys on this trip? Yeah, it was very confusing. In order from left to right.

Shelby "Queso", Shelby Black, Shelby "Utah"

After hiking back down the crazy volcano (which we later found out erupted the next day) we headed by bus (our form of transportation) to the Arenal Region were we would spend the next day. That is pretty much it for day one and two my lovelies! Oh yeah, we stopped to see this one the way to Arenal.