Our Last Week

It has been cloudy and rainy off and on for a couple weeks now.  It's strange because one day it'll be warm and sunny and the next it'll be pouring!  The thunder is louder than anything I've ever heard.  Scary!

It's hard to get a picture of the rain, so I took a video: Check it out!

That tapping sound is actually a bird.  There are so many birds here and each makes a different sound.  The soundtrack of my Costa Rican life.

Even though it's raining a lot, that doesn't mean it's cold.  It's actually more humid when it rains, if that's even possible!  

We're now on our last week in Costa Rica and it's a sad time.  We've gotten acclimated, made friends, learned our way around and thoroughly enjoyed it here.  It's hard knowing we'll have to start all over again in a new place, but that's what we've signed up for and we're ready.  However, I'll leave a piece of my heart in Costa Rica.

I've already made arrangements for us to stay in Alajuela on the night of the 27th because it's nearest to the airport.  Our flight is in the afternoon on the 28th.  I've also made arrangements for us once we get to Lima, Peru.  We have a shuttle picking us up from the airport (our flight lands around 8:45pm) and we're staying in a hostel near the airport overnight because at 10am we're flying to Cusco, Peru and heading to Machu Picchu.  TAD has arranged our 3-day tour of Cusco and Machu Picchu and then we fly back to Lima and from there fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Whew!  It's going to be a whirlwind, but I'm sure it'll be fantastic.  Once in Argentina, I've already found us an apartment in Palermo Soho, which is a hip, upscale neighborhood near lots of bars, restaurants and shopping.  The apartment itself looks amazing, and the owner seems very accommodating.  Here are some pictures I got from the Airbnb website:

I'll take more pictures once we're there, of course.  I know you're wondering, so I'll tell you: we paid $981 for 30 days.  If we like the place and the neighborhood, we'll extend for the second month.  This was definitely one the cheaper places we found in the neighborhood we wanted.  Palermo seems like the place to be and since we won't have a vehicle, it's worth it to be nearer to everything.  We're actually pretty happy with the price.  Our budget was to try to stay under $1000/month, so yay!  Success!  

*Disclaimer about using Airbnb: Airbnb actually charges a hefty fee for booking through their site (in my experience so far, about $90-$100, depending on the place), so check other sites like Craigslist first.  I just like the convenience of searching on Airbnb and I know they make sure no one is scamming you, so it just makes me more comfortable.  However, if I were smarter (or cared more), I would probably find the place I liked on Airbnb and then tried to re-find it on Craigslist to avoid the fee.  Whatever!  Just know I'm not publicly endorsing Airbnb because I think they're exorbitant fee is just RUDE!

All that's left now is to enjoy the rest of our stay in Costa Rica!  Today we plan to relax and maybe shop a bit, if the rain dies down.  Today is my Grandma's birthday, so I just wanted to wish her a very Happy Birthday!  Love you, Grammy!  Happy Monday everyone!