My First Taxi Ride Ever!

Today was quite a busy day! Again, I woke up pretty early and had breakfast with my house mates and host mom, "Mama Tica". We had pineapple, bananas, and strawberries as well as frosted flakes. I believe Mama Tica was telling us that she was going to start making rice and beans for breakfast, but since my Spanish is not good, I can't be certain about what she said. We had orientation at Universidad Veritas today which included a walking tour of the college and some safety tips. We munched on pizza and then went to a cafe called La Musa Confusa with our program director. We talked about all of the excursions we want to go on and had questions about our homestays answered. I was able to get some colones, the local currency, out of the ATM at the school which was exciting. The ATM gave me what is almost equivalent to twenty dollar bills, and I encountered a problem when trying to get change back from buying small items. The money Costa Ricans use is what I like to think of as pretty, much prettier than USD. I mean one of their bills has a monkey on it!

5 million colone bill (about 10 USD)

Later on, after we received our class schedules, Bailey (my floor mate), Jill (another girl in the program), and I took a taxi to Walmart. It was my first time being in taxi. It is kind of confusing to pay in foreign money, but we managed, especially since Bailey is pretty fluent in Spanish. Walmart was similar to how it is in the states, but somethings were less expensive and others were much more expensive. Beer is cheaper than water here, and the price of chocolate is crazy.Taxis are very affordable. It was only about $3 a person for a little under five miles round trip. We got to see a little bit of our neighborhood at night while riding in the taxi. I bought some snacks to eat after lunch since my family is accustomed to eating around 9 pm. I thought I bought Belvita biscuits, but they might actually be cookies. Who knows! Well I'm off to bed since classes start tomorrow at 8 am!

Pura Vida.

Walmart Snack