COSTA RICA
Leaving Costa Rica was really hard. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I have such a deep love for the people of Costa Rica. Not even just my students and the other teachers and such, but for the country as a whole. This will absolutely not be my last time in Costa. We got up (not-so) bright and early Saturday morning at 2 am and departed from La Montana to the airport. We sat in the airport for many hours before taking our 9 am flight to Toronto, Canada.
CANADA
Our route this year is an entirely warm and sunny route. Going to Canada in the winter was a relief for about three minutes and then I was cold and miserable again. Our layover in Canada was 26-hours so we got a hotel. It was a realllly nice hotel that was very close to the airport. We took the train to the central station and then walked about 10 minutes to Canada’s tallest Christmas tree. It was very large. It was in a mall so I did lots of shopping and bought all the things (sorry, mom). I loved being back in a big city again. I am truly a city girl at heart. Our flight from Canada departed at 9 pm to Frankfurt, Germany.
GERMANY
Initially, we didn’t know if we would be able to get into Germany because their visa costs roughly $70. However, because we only had a layover and we were going to be in the country for less than 12 hours, we were allowed a pass. We had an 11-hour layover, and leaving was a lot of fun. Elyse, Brooke, Hannah, and I took an Uber (keep it hush because they’re illegal) from the airport to a Christmas Market about 15 minutes away. The market was very very cute! There were little wooden shops set up across like 3 blocks. There were also quite a few coffee shops (holla). I got coffee, souvenirs, and more coffee. Very typical amirite. They had tons of cool food in Germany but oddly enough I wasn’t hungry the whole time I was in Germany. Our flight departed at 10 pm to Johannesburg, South Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA
Just a heads up, I might refer to South Africa as ZA because that’s how the locals do it and I’m trying to convince them I’m cool. I think it’s because of the Afrikaans translation, but I’m not sure. Anyways, we arrived at the airport in the morning at some point in time that I don’t remember. At the airport we said goodbye to two of our teams: Relentless and Salt and Light. They are staying in JoBurg right now doing ministry. From there we took 2-3 trains to a very crowded bus station. We hung out at the bus station for 5 hours. FINALLY, we got on a bus and traveled 18 straight hours to Port Elizabeth. I got to see the beautiful landscape of ZA and watch the sunset AND sunrise! However, it was the worst 18 hours of my life. I got VERY carsick about 6 hours in and continued to be carsick for the remaining 12 hours. I could not sleep AT ALL and I kept sweating. I also threw up twice while on the bus and not a soul noticed. I was sitting next to Elyse and there were other racers surrounding us and I threw up into my water bottle (because it was easily accessible) and not a single one of them noticed. It was so terrible. Our ministry host picked us up in Port Elizabeth and we drove 1-2 hours to JBay. JBay is my home.
