Hola! It´s day 9 here in Costa Rica and the last few days have been absolutely crazy, very tough and extremely challenging! On Sunday we met up with our i-to-i rep Nikki, who collected us and the other volunteers from the airport and took us all back to a hostel in Alajuela. Sunday evening was spent getting to know the 15 other volunteers that were also doing projects in and around our area. We had a great night chatting to people and it was nice to be around others who were in a similar situation as we were all wondering what to ecpect!

Monday morning we went to the i-to-i offices for our four hour orientation where we were shown lot´s of boring videos and they went over and over lot´s of info about how the Projects would be run etc. Josh and I are the only two volunteers in our area working at the Orphanage. There are two other girls in the town next to ours also at an orphanage and the remainder of the group were either off to do Turtle Conservation at the beach or a building Project in the neighbouring town of San Roman. All the Volunteers were awesome and in the two days we spent together as a big group we had already built some great relationships! There were a couple of guys from Oz, an american girl, a girl called Becca from Leicester, some girls from London, many of whom were travelling alone and a girl from Denmark.

That evening we were all take for a traditional Costa Rica meal...rice and beans! For the others in the group it was there first few days in Costa Rica so eating rice and beans wasn´t as much a chore for them as it was for us! After five days here rice and beans gets very tedious! ...but I shouldn´t moan!

After the meal Nikki took us out for the night to a Casino just outside of town where it was ´Ladies night´at the bar. It was our first proper night out in Costa Rica so I was definetly ready for some rum and dancing! The girls all propped themselves up at the bar as it was free drinks all night for ladies! Ha!! So as you can imagine we were all very very drunk and the entertainment that night was a salsa band, which meant plenty of dancing and then to our suprise...and disgust, a Costa Rican version of the Chippendales! Five very greasy, overly sleazy Ticos dancing half naked on the roof of the bar grinding their hips and dry humping the floor! From the roof they then started tipping rum from a tin kettle into the mouths of all the drunk women! How cheesey! but...of course a drunken Jen chose to participate! When in Rome and all that...and it was pure rum after all!

After an amazing night dancing with the gang, we all stumbled back noisely to our hostel ready for our early 5am start! I got roughly four hours sleep that night and had a hangover from hell the next day! Once on the bus Josh and I were the first to be dropped off at our Village to meet our homestay family. It was sad having to say goodbye to some of the group as we all got on so well and had had a fun couple of days in Alajuela. Luckily a few from the group were being based in San Roman, the town five minutes away from ours, so we have all swapped numbers and plan to spend the next three weekends travelling together as a group.

As I am writing this we have been at our homestay for three days, and it has been so hectic and such a lot to take in we haven´t even had the time to get on the internet. The family we are staying with are lovely, but speak no English what so ever, so in the three days we have been there my Spanish has improved so so much that I now keep slipping in and out of two languages, and pissing Josh off! The house is stunning, though very rural! We are living on the edge of the rainforest in an annex on the side of the house that is made entirely of wood and have a huge balcony looking out over the mountains and rain forest. It really is truely stunning! We have eaten some yummy food...all variations of what can be made with rice and beans! and are woken up each morning by chickens and howler monkeys! We have alternate shifts at the orphanage and work a morning, then an afternoon and so on. It is so so hot here that it is difficult running around with the kids, but so far we absolutely love being at the orphanage and Josh has been mowing the lawns and doing some DIY for them! I have been feeding the babies...awww! And it is great to be with the children as although the orphanage is run to the best of its ability, they have very few toys and the Tias that run the orphanage also have little time to spend with them, and that is where we come in! So...today Josh and I are off to buy some facepaints, and crafts to keep them occupied this afternoon! Some of the older children are very eager to learn English, so the English I have taught so far has been very rewarding and of course they are teaching us spanish too!

I apologise for boring you all with this long blog! This is the first time in a few days I have had the time to update you all, although our experience so far in Palmares has been fun we haven´t slept much and have found it quite tough getting used to everything being so different. It is Friday tomorrow so after work we plan to go away for the weekend with the volunteers in San Roman to let off some steam and see some more of Costa Rica.

Hasta Luago amigos! x