Puerto Viejo is a small, cultural town on the Carribean side of Costa Rica. When my mom explained we were going to Central America, I had no idea what to expect. I mean I had traveled to Mexico before, but that was different… right? As a back story, my mom’s boyfriend, Joe, was building a house there and we had come for vacation, and to check on the progress of the other houses. He had a daughter named Jada, who was 16 and had cerebral palsy, but she was the sweetest. The four of us landed in the city, I breathed in the humid air and took in all the bustling, city lights, and many people yelling in different languages I couldn’t understand. As we got near the hotel, however, it was peaceful. The van led us down a mysterious dark path. I whipped out my camera and took a few shots. The next day we woke up early, and we had a ton of driving to get to the Purto Viejo. As we drove and drove, I saw so many little towns with so much culture. We passed lots of green land, it was so beautiful, and I saw so many things I would have never gotten the chance to see anywhere else. I think when I looked around at all the people in those little towns, and how happy they were with absolutely nothing, I started gathering an appreciation for how much I did have. We drove and drove that day, passing town, after LOTS of land, after town. With my spare time, I listened to music, and enjoyed the view, thinking about what it would be like when I got there. When we finally got there, It was cloudy. Our house was nice, and the property manager showed us around. Her name was Xiogeidy but we called her Xio she was the sweetest and helped us so much. We explored the town, which was super amazing, and the cutest. Our house was right on the beach which was amazing, however, it rained for four days :(( As the sun came out, it felt amazing! Jada and I would relax by the pool, or go into town and hang by the cute shops and bakeries. At night, we went out to restaurants because we didn’t have much in the food at home and all the restaurants we delicious. every night when we got back, we found a little cat hanging out at our house (half of it was open) so we named it Mr. Gato (I came up with it of course) He would snuggle up in our laps and he was the cutest. In the last few days, we savored up all the nice heat and relaxation we could. Jada went horseback riding on the beach, and I went surfing, a lot. I loved it so much! After every “sesh” all girls and guys I surfed with, would go to the cute hangout place for a delicious smoothie. After our last day came and passed, I was very sad to be leaving such an amazing place and decided I NEEDED to come back. As we drove back that night and stayed at the hotel, of course, something in our amazing vacation had to go wrong! My mom and I got food poisoning and were up all night, running to the bathroom every other five minutes. The food poisoning had definitely taken a big toll on me as the nest day arrived and I couldn’t even sit up to get to the car to go to the airport. When we got there, of course, I was in public humility throwing up all over the floor and a big group of teens looking at me and trying to avoid me with everything they had in them. GOD WHY!?! I kinda wanted to laugh at how sad this situation was for me. It couldn’t get worse, turning out I had the same flight as them and me throwing up right and left was clearly not making a good impression. But I survived and I got better and I wasn’t throwing up anymore. Even though I was sad to be leaving, I was very happy to get home and relax in my bed. When I got home I thought over my trip and how amazing it had been and what a great experience it was.