Everything since January

Hey guys, me again.  

This is gonna be a long one, so much stuff has happened since January, so hang in there.

This year hasd flown by so quickly, I have to really think hard about what is worth writing about!, There are so many things!
The first part of the year, was pretty relaxed in terms of extra curricular stfuf, from Jan 'till about mid february, it was mainly academics. As I mentioned in my last post, I have really come along leaps and bounds with my subjects since i made some changes, im getting top marks in almost all my tests and quizzes for maths now, something I was far from achieving at the beginning of last year. This period of concentrated academics really allowed me to focus and improve my grades.

February arrived along with a buzz of excitment about "Project Week". Project week is a week, where all students and staff members on campus, head off to all different parts of Costa Rica, and Central america (Panama, Nicargua etc) to take part in a project concerning the locals of that specific area. This year, there was a hugely diverse range of projects to choose from, i.e. from clearing rainnforest trails and conseration of rainforest, to teaching sex education int he run dwon area's of San Jose.
The project I chose to take part in was incredible, Me, along with roughly 15 other students, set off into the hills of central Costa Rica, to take part in a prject, building  a vocation school for a small village. The prject, was set up by a Canadian, his wife and 2 children, who moved to the area sometime ago, to live with this village and support them. The village is located in a province of Costa Rica known as Providencia, and is famous for its extremely good bouldering and sport climbing, and people from all over the workdcome to try its infamous routes routes and problems. Our week consisted of waking up every morning at 9am, Building and renovating the vocation school, by painting, building walls, making cement, putting up parts of the roof, hauling gravel and sand, welding the fences etc,  all hard manual labour,   it was awesome!  thenin the afternoon, from 2pm onwards, we went climbing, getting taught by a group of volunteers working on the school and in the village, were expert climbers from all around the world, and they showed us the techniques used to navigate tricky rock faces and how to manover and use your body to grip the rock. it was amazing. Im hooked for life on free climbing and bouldering.
After doing this for a whole week, and gining such strong bonds between each other, and between the volunteers, is was sad to leave, as the country side was beautiful and the people so kind and welcoming. As a donation towardst he project we handed over $345, that we had remaining fro our budget as a sign of appreciation and support for what the voluteers and the family were doing out here.  I am really hoping to return next year, to see how they  have got on, and to help out some more,  with the amazing people and surrounding of what makes Providencia.

After returning from project week, spirits on camous were mixed, we had had such an amazing time so we were really excited to share it with other students returning from their projects, and to find out how theres was too. but also, me included, alot of us were very sad to leave behind such an amazing place, and amazing expericances such as the ones we had just encountered so some of us were a little glum for a few days. Nothing serious.  :)


From the end of february onwards, it was academics again, unitl mid march, when our easter break  arrived, or what is known as Semana Santa out here. Almost everyone on campus went somewhere for the week, except the econd years as many of them are getting nervous about their final exams starting next week, so alot of them stayed behind, on campus to study. I was invited to join a group of 4 other friends on a trip to the south west of Costa Rica, to a place called Corcovado national park. Rated by national geographic as the most boilogicaly diverse place on earth, it certainly lived up to its  reputation. It was incredible. We left campus aty 3am on the sunday morning, to catch a bus in San Jose, bound for sea side port on the Penisula Osa, where the National park is located. the bus journy was an expericance in its own. It was exhausting, we didnt manage to get seats, for the whole 8 hour trip, almost the length of the country, and sleeping in the isle of a coach isnt comfortable at the best of times, so when the coach is packed, to twice is stated maximum capacity, and your sharing the floor with 30 other people, on one of the worst roads in history, it becomes a bit of a bore to be honest....
However, it was totally worth it, we arrived at about 5pm in the town of Puerto Jimenez, and set out finding a place to camp, first stoke of luck,  we found the only campsite  in the whole town, within 15 mins. The bloke was extremely kind, and let us camp for $3 a night!  We set up our tents, and set about cooking our meal. and then we just chilled until about 9pm where we decided to get an early night. We woke up the next morning at 4 am, to the sound of macaws... yes,  not black birds, macaws,  beautifully coulored in red,blue and yellow plumage, squawking and screeching. It was an amazing way to wake up in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We were catching a bus to the cluster of buildings, that they call a town, on the other side of the peninsula, called Carate at 4pm. So after waking up so early, we had  a lesuirely breakfast, on the beach, after which we sunbathed and swam for an hor or so, before getting dressed, packing up the tents and going to catch the bus. the journey took us 2 hours, in what can only be descrbed as a cattle lorry, with seats int he back. The seats were padded, but it didnt help much, it felt like being in a washing machine with 10 other people for 2 hours,  great fun for the first 10 minutes, we couldnt stop laughing,   but it soon became quite uncomfortable. But again, upon arriving, we soon discvered that it was totaly worth it. Again we camped for around $5 a night. (we were staying two nights in Carate, as it was from here that we would hike into the park) we set about cooking our dinner, and relaxing again,  taking in the sounds of the rainforest at night, was incredible. we sat up until about 9pm singing songs and talking and having an amazing time with some amazing friends. The next day was going to be a long one, so we went to bed early.
We were up just after dawn at 5am, to cook breakfast, and prepare our things. after which we set off. for what was to be an incredible day of sights sounds and experiances. we walked out of the forest ans onto the beach to begin out hike, and my god.  what a sight. Let me tell you, a tropical beach, at 6 in the morning, where the only tracks in the sand are yours and that of the turtles that had come up to nest at night, with a thick cloud of mist drifting in from off the sea....  really leaves you speechless.
We walked for the whole day, covering roughly 16 km, through rainforest and jungle, walking along the beach,a nd wading through rivers, swimming in the sea.  It was amazing,  we saw so much wildlife it was amazing. One thing we did trip up on though was water.  we only took a water bottle each,  and we had run out by about 2pm,  and had to walk half the return journey without any. It wasnt really bad  but it was just a reminder how hot and humid the rainforest really is, and how much water you do need to drink. The next day we definatley took more than enough. We got back and shorted everything out, and desided to cook over an open fire out ont he beach,   so we collected everything we needed and took blankets and sleeping bags and went out on to the sand where we sat and cooked and talked and played games and relaxed some more.   It was the perfect end to a perfect day.
The second  day we hiked the  same route as before but our aim was to stop by a river we had found on our first day. We made good time and spent about 2 or 3 hours by a big tidal pool at the mouth of the river, swimming and having lunch and sunbathing. Enjoying everything around us.  It was incredible.  We had to leave by lunchtime though as we were catching the bus (lorry!) back to Puerto Jimenez at 4. We arrived back at 6 just in time to get a soaking. It poured down the minute we got off of the bus. We ran back to our camp site getting drenched. thinking man, i reeeeaally dont wanna put up a tent in this. So  we decided to just dump our rucksacks and tents in the bar on the beach front and play cards and socialise untilt he rain stopped. We were waking up early at 5 am the next morning to catch the long 8 hour coach ride back to San Jose so we were just enjoying our last day in paradise.
The second bus journey was a bit better than the first,  it wasnt as packed and we managed to get seats, so i slept for most of the way. Arriving back in San Jose to get a cab back to school.
All in all we had had a 5 day trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth, had the time of our lives, for only $130 a head. Totally worth every penny.

And now, with everyone being back on campus its back down to work again, studying for our end of year exams, which start on monday.  Joy. But hey,  im on that long 10 hour flight home in 29 days so nothing to complain about.  Lets just make it a flight home with a bunch of nice results in my pocket.   My maths text book is a'calling.

I'll post again,  after exams, to let you know how they went. In the meantime,  i'll pst some pictures of everything since January.

Ciao for now.