Aug 24-Aug 30: Last Clubs and a Trip to La Fortuna

The week started off with my birthday on Monday. Since I celebrated on Sunday evening with my girlfriend, Keily, and her family, I didn't do too much to celebrate that day, although over the weekend we did celebrate some more. Rather, I just went to the colegio, wrote a reference for a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, and took it easy. On Tuesday, I had a busy day. I facilitated 6 PE classes and then met a friend in the Peace Corps for coffee in San Jose. Wednesday, I was back at the colegio to work on some community service projects, and then Thursday was a jam-packed day. I hosted my final youth clubs at the escuela where students celebrated with cake and a pizza party. Both of these clubs were new to the elementary club that accompanied my arrival, so I'm really proud of them. Later in the day, I went into San Jose to say good bye to a lot of my friends in the Peace Corps who officially closed their service on Friday.

On Friday, I took off with Keily for a mini vacation to celebrate my birthday. After a quick stop in Ciudad Quesada in San Carlos to change buses and eat breakfast, we arrived in La Fortuna around lunchtime. La Fortuna is one of Costa Rica's biggest tourist destination and is known for its volcanic views, rainforests, thermal springs, adrenaline activities, and more. I went there briefly with some Peace Corps friends early in my service, but Keily had never been, so we thought it would be the perfect place to travel to celebrate. After arriving, we ate at a soda and checked into our Airbnb before going to the La Fortuna Waterfall, where we did a rain-soaked walk to the cascade.

Saturday called for some rest and relaxation. We slept in a bit before we went to a resort known for its thermal pools. We spent the entire afternoon there unwinding. That evening, we had my birthday dinner at a restaurant called Don Rufino. We enjoyed some delicious cocktails, entrees, and desserts, and Keily had the wait staff surprise me by singing "Happy Birthday" in English. It was a really nice evening. 




On Sunday, we checked out of our airbnb and headed back to San Jose. The bus schedule was a little confusing, but we ended up on a nice detour on the way home. The route from La Fortuna to Ciudad Quesada was stunning, passing through an area of dense rainforest known as Chachagua. We had a nice sit down lunch at a restaurant near the bus terminal in Ciudad Quesada and then bussed the rest of way home to San Jose. This route was also jaw-dropping where we passed through the mountains near Zarcero and captured some amazing sunsets. This was a special trip and a great week. I'm getting increasingly sad for saying goodbye to my life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica in a few weeks. 


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