Thank you saints for having a week.  Thank you for having not only a week, but the hottest week in April which is deemed a holiday by Costa Rica and many neighboring countries.  Thank you for throwing this week long party where the Ticos are still downing beers as the sunrises and the lines of cars block all the highways for hours on end.  It is things like these that make the adventures grander and the stories better.

During Semana Santa USAC students set out to different countries ready to wreak havoc and create memories.  I went north and then south first to Guanacaste and then to Manuel Antonio.  Backed with just a few friends, different from the normal large herds we tend to travel in, we met people from all across the world.  I was told the tale of a 200 pound marlin by a Californian around a tequila-soaked campfire.  I sang songs in Spanish and spoke about life with a wonderful group of people from all over Central America, who now reside in Miami.  I heard about lantern festivals in Thailand with a lovely couple from Canada.  I talked about unicorns with a sweet little Costa Rican girl named Stephanie.  I learned about a life under the sea from Jackson, the world’s finest Scuba Diving Instructor.  I exchanged life stories and later enjoyed free mango sorbet from the former manager of the Bubba Gump Restaurant in Times Square New York.  I listened to two young women, one a videographer and one a photographer, from New York talk about traveling about together as they observed and captured stories.  These people have not only opened my eyes but they have opened my mind to all that the world has to offer.

The sun touched my eyes and the rolling ocean tides touched my heart.  And this trip is forever burned into my soul.  Pure Vida.