All posts by Maria Sims

Coronavirus in Costa Rica

Buenas todos! I hope you all are doing well. I felt like it was finally time to sit down and address the topic that is sweeping the entire globe. Coronavirus. Now you may be thinking, Maria, why are you talking about this? How does this even relate to Costa Rica. Well, you see, Costa Rica ...

Puerto Viejo and Exploring!

Hola gente! This past weekend, my friends and I finally traveled to the Caribbean side of the country to experience it before we leave. It is another long bus ride, but we arrived and headed straight to the black sand beach. That’s right. Black sand beach. It was wonderful. It was literally like black fairy ...

~Paradise~ (Bocas del Toro)

Hola personas! Hope you’re all doing well because I definitely did! This past weekend, we finally went on our Panama Field Trip. I know nothing about Panama before going, all I knew is there was a canal somewhere and it was a pretty big deal at one point. However, we traveled to Bocas del Toro ...

Solidarity in Costa Rica

Hello people! Back again with the Costa Rica blog! The first picture is a view of ULatina, and the neighborhood I live in. This week, my morning classes on Monday were cancelled, so I went to shower in the morning at around 9:00AM (when I would normally be halfway through my first class) and there ...

Quepos and Manuel Antonio

Buenas todos! First, this picture is of Manuel Antonio beach, which is a little more touristy, but still beautiful; I will get into it more a little later. This past weekend, my friends and I finally went to one of the prettiest beaches in all of Costa Rica…Manuel Antonio. Where do I even start? My ...

Pura Vida vs. The American Sprint

Hola mi gente! Hope you’re all doing well, as I understand it is Week 8 at Drexel at the time I am writing this and my thoughts and prayers are with you all. This post will focus more on the Pura Vida lifestyle I have faced here compared to what I will refer to as ...

Parents Weekend, Kind Of!

Buenas todos! If you remember from my last blog post, I had a weekend (Friday and Saturday) with the program (ICDS), and then we went home. Well, when I went home I had plans to bring my real parents to my host family’s house for dinner. My parents are fantastic people who love to travel, ...

Hospital/Clinic Tour with ICDS

Hola! (real quick, the first picture is a picture of my group at the clinic, reviewing the material we learned in our Healthcare in Latin America class). This past weekend, my entire group and I had to go on a field trip with ICDS to a hospital and a clinic in an area called Alajuela. ...

Playa Uvita with my Host Family

Hey hey! So, after the coffee tour, I went home and took a nap, and then got up to pack because I was spending my first weekend at the beach with my host family. Was I excited? Yes! Was I nervous? YUP. My Spanish is subpar at best and my host family speaks to me ...

Costa Rican Coffee Tour

Buenas! This past Friday, we had a cultural activity with the program coordinators (International Center for Development Studies (ICDS)) and obviously being in Costa Rica, it was a coffee tour. I don’t know about you all, but I am not a coffee fan, sue me. I just never could get past the bitter taste. The ...