Exploring Costa Rica and Celebrating a Birthday Abroad

by Justin Box, Greenheart Travel high school student and scholarship winner in Costa Rica

It’s been a while since spring break, but it was so much fun that I just want to start this blog back from there. For much of the time I spent the week relaxing at home. Near the end of the break, I met a friend in San Jose who invited me to take a trip to the waterfall.

This trip took five buses and two taxi’s to arrive at the “Los Chorros” waterfall in Grecia, Costa Rica, but it was worth the trip. The last few days of Spring Break, I studied for the upcoming exams. As an exchange student, my exams are not counted towards my grade, just for the experience of testing, which takes some of the stress out of studying. I am glad that they made me take these tests and I’m also glad that the tests don’t count towards my grade. It helps me know where I stand and also lets me know that I should put more time into studying these classes. I look forward to doing that in the future.

On my birthday, my friend Derek took me to one of the most well- known places in San Marcos called “El Cerro de La Cruz.” I was told that the mountain was originally thought to be a volcano, so the people of the town put a cross on top of the mountain- the reasoning behind it I’m not entirely clear on.

The next day, Derek and I played basketball in San Pablo along with his brother. Afterwards I got home and had birthday cake with my parents. We celebrated both mine and my host father’s birthdays, because his birthday was the nineteenth. Later I went to my friend Oscar Mario’s house where we watched the two most famous Costa Rican soccer teams “La Liga” and “Suprisa” and ate pizza.

This was the most eventful and enjoyable weekend that I have had yet.