Pics

An uneventful day on the 28th of May

Today was a pretty dry day where nothing really happened. It was kind of boring, but at the same time, not the worst day. I was able to make some phone calls, and get to school early. The bus ride is becoming a lot more relaxed and I’m not constantly looking out the window for my bus stop. The walk to school is getting a lot more enjoyable and seeing the city is becoming a lot more pleasant. I am noticing the mountains and the clouds, and how the buildings contrast with the background and create almost a storybook picture. I never thought that I would say this when I first got here, but this is a pretty beautiful city…Even with all of the poverty and decay, it is still very beautiful. When we got to school we paid off the bus ticket for Manuel Antonio and headed off to the calle central to find a restaurant to have lunch at. After walking for about ten minutes, we decided to go to calle 2 and walk our way back up to the school. We ended up at the “Sultan” which was extremely weird. First walking in, there was no one there but the owner at a table. We sat down and he gave us a menu that looked more like a drink menu than anything else. He stood over us like a creeper while we looked at the menu and didn’t say a word. Kayla ordered the Batido fresa (strawberry smoothie) but they didn’t have any. So I decided to get a diet Coke, which again they didn’t have. So then I decided on Coca Cola, which they still didn’t have. Finally I settled on a Pepsi…in a glass bottle. I ordered the spaghetti volagnaise which was not at all like I expected. The spaghetti was sautéed so it was kind of crunchy and the sauce was extremely weird tasting as well. I can’t even explain it but I can tell you that I was given 2 pieces of white wonder bread to soak it up…The meal was a bad choice. We got caught in the rain again, but it wasn’t as bad as it usually is. By Costa Rican standards, it didn’t even rain at all (hahaha). The class was long and kind of dragged on today but we ended the hard studying kind of early and just talked about going to the beach and the class. We got assigned homework that requires us to see el Museo de Oro Precolombiano and el Museo Numismática in downtown San José. That should be pretty fun. I am meeting up with Kayla at the school at 9h00am and then we will walk down to the museum from Intensa. Then we will have lunch with Tammy, have class, meet up with Tammy, take a taxi to la Coca-Cola, and then take a bus down to el Parque Manuel Antonio! It’ll be nice to have a vacation (haha). Going to be at the beach/in the rainforest from Friday to late Sunday night (Monday in Rhode Island) so I won’t have my computer or internet…going to need to write my journal entry on paper for once =P

Los Hombres Equis and the Restaurante Hamburgo: 27 May

After waking up, and studying a little, I made my way down stairs to a breakfast of cornflakes with Hershey’s chocolate syrup, watermelon and orange juice. I have eaten more fruit than I think I have before this trip combined. The school called the house today and told me to come in early for a forum between all of the students in Intensa. I walked up to the city center and then took a bus down to San José and got to Intensa just in time to buy a newspaper and read a little. It started to rain early today, around eleven, but not hard until like two o’clock (luckily while I was in class). I was paired up with two girls from San José and from the Mountains surrounding the city. They spoke English extremely well with almost perfect grammar…I was kind of jealous. We only spoke for about thirty minutes about the beach, driving, their periods, and where we lived, but it was an interesting experience. Then Kayla, Tammy and I met up and walked down to the bar down the street that Kayla and I visited yesterday called the Restaurante Hamburgo. It is extremely bright and clean there with a nice bar tender and is covered in German memorabilia. They had a chicken curry special with a side salad (which I replaced with “German potatoes”), a drink, and a little ice cream with fresh fruit on top for 3400 colones (about $6). I tried the other national beer called Pilsen, but it was really bitter and kind of gross. We then went to class. After we reserved a bus trip to Miguel Antonio (I think) for the weekend (Friday night to Sunday night). It is a very popular beach about 4 hours south of San José and with the bus and hotel for two nights it will cost a little less than $60 per person for 3 people! Even though it was still raining when class ended, we walked down to the mall San Pedro. I grabbed some Szechwan chicken and headed off to the movies to see X-men. Today was 2-for-1 miércoles so my ticket only cost 1000 colones (a little less than $2). The movie was pretty good and we left at about nine. Kayla and her roommate walked back home while Tammy and I took a taxi back to Moravia…I am used to giving directions now and kind of proud of it. Then William (the father) and I walked her back home and for the rest of the night I went upstairs and watched tv/facebooked for the rest of the night with William Jr…who I’m going to call Willy from now on. Only two more days until my vacation!!!

Pizza, Beer, and Rain: 26 May

26 mayo 2009
I woke up at around seven this morning to the man who shouts over the megaphone about his fresh eggs. I reviewed last class’s notes, took a shower and then headed downstairs for breakfast. I was given a banana about half the size of the ones I am used to and Jenny (the mother) cooked me four tortillas filled with different stuff: two with the smashed up black beans, one with the tasteless cheese, and one with the potatoes I ate on the first night. I tried Costa Rican coffee but it was too bitter for me so I stuck with my orange juice and cookies (sweet, dry, tasteless cookies). At around 11 I left the house and walked up the street, past the bank and supermercado, and around the church to get to the central bus stop of Moravia, alone. After waiting about ten minutes a big green Daewoo bus pulled up with San José permanently written in huge letters at the top and a black Moravia sign by the entrance. I gave my 245 colones and looked out the window onto the city that I am starting to recognize. The mountains and volcano bordering the city looked amazing even though the city itself does not. I am getting used to this dystopia and decrepit city and what first shocked me and made me never want to step outside of the school and house has turned into something less scary, more approachable and even normal. After hearing the buzz from someone pressing the stop button, I noticed the white church and got off the bus and crossed four lanes of traffic. I walked up and around a yellow building onto a new street and followed the train tracks and the walls filled with graffiti and topped with barbed wire to my school. I found Tammy in the café and Kayla found me as I found her. We took a walk down the train tracks even farther to end up in downtown San José and went to Pizza Hut for Lunch. We split a Pizza Brasileña and had three drinks for 10900 colones (about 19 dollars INCLUDING tip and tax for all three of us). The pizza was topped with cheese, tomato sauce, hamburger, jam, “Brazilian spices,” fresh and spiced tomatoes chunks with three pieces of lime on top to squirt on the pizza. It was amazing! One of the best pizza’s I’ve had! We left and was hit with the afternoon downpour…even with my umbrella I was soaked to the bone after just 2 minutes of walking. My shoes were filled with water even though they are waterproofed, my pants got really heavy, and my sleeves were soaked. Ten minutes later we arrived at Intensa in our uncomfortable wet clothes, struggled with tedious memorizing exercises and dealt with black outs and the deafening rapid booms of the thunder outside. Our first break was at 2h30. Still soaked, and still raining, Kayla and I were feeling pretty crappy so we headed over to the bar for our 15 minutes. I ordered “Imperial” the local beer that is advertised on every street corner, and we drank it outside since there was no power in the bar. We returned to class, and by 5 we left…in the rain. I walked back to the bus stop in San José, and took the bus back to the center of Moravia and got home by 6…in the rain. The two kids were over again and we had fried plantains, fried green beans, white rice, and mashed black beans. Like always the food was great.

Classes and Arkansas

I woke up at 5h30 this morning to take a shower and to get ready for my first day of classes in el barrio Escalante in San José. William made me a breakfast of warm date bread with four slices of papaya, the worst fruit I have ever tasted in my life. It had the texture of a rotten carrot with a very weak sugar water taste that was hard to swallow. I was able to manage all but half of the last piece so I wrapped up my date bread and threw out the rest of the fruit. William and I left for Tammy and walked down to the bus stop in front of my house. After five minutes it came down, I paid my 245 colones (about 50 cents) and rode the bus through the broken down sections of San José into the area near the school. After leaving the bus we walked along the train tracks for a while until we came onto the little side road with Intensa, my Spanish school. I was tested and put on the spot with an interview from the director and then placed back in the waiting room with Tammy, a guy from Canada, and Kayla from Arkansas. Both Kayla and me were pulled aside and told that our class did not start until 1pm since there were no teachers to teach our level. So we were given a map of the city and we went to explore. From hardware shops to a bank, to a side café and to the parque central we walked and walked around San José and really got to know the city. In the day time, on a weekday, minus the hobos on every street corner, homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks, trash on the ground, the barbed wire, crazy driving, pick pocketing, stealing, and the dirtiness of the buildings and streets, San José could somewhat be considered a nice city! Everything is cheap, everyone is hot and extremely well dressed and takes care of themselves, some buildings are impressive, and it’s a big city. After walking around for about 6 or more miles and about four hours later we ended up on our way back to the school to start our class. Of course the daily winter down pour didn’t decide to skip a day and we got caught in the “aguacero” but we were able to get to Intensa in time to avoid the lightning and flooding. The rain was so bad today that the power went out numerous times during class and even back in Moravia. I was put in the 10th and highest level of Spanish class with Kayla and that was it…our entire class. I was kind of disappointed but at the same time it makes you talk more and learn more. I really struggled with the grammar portion while she struggled with the speaking portion so we kind of balanced each other out. Four hours later I was on a bus back to el centro de Moravia, got home to chickpeas and pork with rice and avocado slices sprinkled with salt, and talked with my host parents about my day and where I should go on the weekend. I bonded with Johanna, the daughter, today and spoke to her in Spanish and then in English so she could practice too. The night ended on a conversation of UFO’s and Williams experience as a child seeing one in front of the moon. Hopefully tomorrow (if Kayla got my facebook message) we can take the bus to San José and go for lunch with Tammy when her class lets out. Then hopefully we can rent a room this weekend down by the beach! Who knows what’s next: Zip-lines, volcanoes, rainforests, the beach, more BEAUTIFUL San José (lol). Whatever it is I’m sure I’ll make the best of it.

Exploring Moravia: 24 may

The 24th of May marked my official independence in the Costa Rican area of Moravia. I woke up with a breakfast of eggs, bread and butter, and orange juice and walked over to Tammy’s house to go for a walk. I gave my obligatory hugs and kisses to her family and then both and Tammy and I went off to the center of Moravia: a quick walk around the park to my house, and up the steep street to el Banco de Moravia and el JUMBO supermercado. We stood in line for the ATM guarded by an older man with a reflecting hunting vest on with his dog who freely walked around the area (it seems like there are no leashes in Costa Rica or mean dogs for that matter). I took out 20,000 colones (about $38) and waited for Tammy who left her debit card at home. From the bank we crossed the street and entered the orange and red JUMBO supermercado filled with fruits, snacks, booze, a café and everything else in between. One water, Fanta Kolita, orange Fanta water, and Jack’s picaronas queso nacho picante tortillitas de maiz later we left and walked towards el centro to the parque de Moravia and the church. On the way a man from Texas stopped us who owned a small pizza shop with his Costa Rican wife. After talking about chess, his times in Alaska, and the upcoming soccer game we left Michael with an open invitation to eat pizza or just talk whenever we felt like it. We crossed the church and went up the street for two blocks and came across the internet café that Tammy’s host mother told us about and then walked about a block down to this building with a giant bird on the roof that her host father told us about. I entered it in total shock and disgust when realizing that it was a tourist trap. The walls were decorated in over-priced souvenirs and there were at least five older American women wearing their big hats, fanny packs, white shorts, and stereotypical tourist wear. We decided to keep on walking into the store and followed it all the way to the café which was just amazing. It lead outside to this secluded area with couches covered with pillows looking out onto a tropical garden filled with trees and birds that I would never expect to find in the city. It was only us two and the owners so we sat and enjoyed a small lunch while letting daily afternoon rain pass. We left the café and walked further down the street to the “Mega Super” which was almost like a K-Mart crossed with a CVS and Stop and Shop so I could look for a phone card to call home. I had no luck so we left and walked back outside to the half-raining weather and walked back to el parque robles (in front of my house) and we went our own ways. I entered my house and was greeted by the music of Tango, an old Spanish singer, and William who gave me some sweet bread with dates and some of that herb water that we always drink. I really liked sweetness and chewiness of the dates. We talked for a while and then we went to church with Tammy at four. To my surprise it was nothing like what I had seen in Latin American Catholic culture. There was no Meringue church music, no dancing, no overzealous offering of the peace, or anything exciting. It was the same as a white Catholic mass only in Spanish. After leaving disappointed, Tammy and I took a cab to el Mall San Pedro for around 2000 colones ($3.50) to go see Angels and Demons…unfortunately it was sold out by the time we got there so we got Subway and just walked around the crowded mall filled with three stories of food courts, shoe stores, and even sex shops. After a couple of hours we took a taxi back home which was a disaster. I argued with the guy because he didn’t start the meter. I had to say “ponga la maría” and he responded by saying that it was broken. I then tried to set a price for the trip of 1500 colones but he wouldn’t negotiate so I just gave up. He weaved in an out of traffic, passed through red lights, and drove on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic to pass by cars at the stop lights. I also had to tell him where to go when we got to the center of Moravia since there are no street addresses in Costa Rica. After the fast and dangerous ride Tammy and I went into my house and were served arroz con pollo y frijoles which is a chicken fried rice with mashed up black beans on the side. It was also followed with a homemade Tamarind juice which was also amazing. We watched Day of the Dead: the Extinction (I think that was the name) with William and his brother and then walked Tammy back home through the park with our night sticks on this warm winter (yes, winter has just begun in Costa Rica) night. And now I’m going to bed so I can pick up Tammy to go to school…at 6h45am!

Settling in: 23 May

Today started with a quick breakfast of gallo pinto (a dark rice with black beans), bread with some type of tasteless soft cheese in the shape of a stick of butter, and chocolate milk made with milk out of a paper carton and Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Country Crocker margarine spread was also on the table for the bread if I liked but I figured I’d try the cheese. After breakfast I took a walk with William (the father) and his dog Ruffo. We walked around the park on the side of the house and showed me a bunch of weird trees and plants. I ate some reddish-purple berries that were sour and kind of like a super-bitter orange while Ruffo sniffed every tree. I learned a new word today “¡fíjase!” as in “¡fíjase la caca!” or “watch out for poo.” He also showed me banana plants and hallucinogens. There is a plant called “la reina de la noche” which is a type of datura and only blooms at night. He said they grow everywhere and could knock someone out for three days and that it is a heavy drug and a really pretty flower. After walking around the perimeter of the park and stopping to talk to various “regulars” we reached the feria de la agricultura which was a block of local fruit and vegetable vendors that set up their stands every Saturday. William bought me an enormous mango and we both had a piece of this wrinkly tiny green apple with the toughest “edible” seeds I’ve eaten in my life. The “apple” was terrible, but I walked with the mango to find Tammy, the other girl from RIC. We walked about a block and arrived at a large gate and William rang the doorbell while telling me he didn’t know which house she lived in. A woman shouted out the window and then sent for Tammy. William left and I went inside the house. The first thing I saw was a Chinese decoration on the wall. As I walked into the house I noticed that everything was Chinese. The pillows had designs of a phoenix and sat in front of a table with dragon and lion figurines. Then I met her host parents who seemed extremely nice. The father spoke extremely slow while the mother spoke normally. I later found out she speaks English very well. I felt kind of bad for Tammy because there was also a girl from Nicaragua living with them and Tammy isn’t as good at Spanish as she should be after 6 years of classes. Everyone tells me I speak Spanish very well but while the mother was talking to both of us in the kitchen she said right in the middle that Tammy didn’t understand anything that she was saying and just looked disgusted. I don’t think Tammy understood that. She seemed a bit off when I met up with her but still in good spirits. We then went for a drive into downtown San José which everyone tells me is ugly. I bought myself a pai de coco which was a mini coconut pie for 400 colones ($0.70) and realized that I was in huge trouble. As I walked down the streets and looked in the windows I noticed that everything was cheaper. I saw shoes for 9,000 colones ($15) and less and shirts for less than $3. I either can’t shop or I will need to send everything home in the mail! I got home and had a fever so I took a long nap in my room. I woke up for a snack of bread and that weird cheese with some type of Kool-Aid like drink. I watched bull-riding on the TV and then ate supper at 7h30. I think I insulted Jenny (the mother) because she served gallo pinto (the rice with beans that I like…thank God because that’s all they eat) and pasta salad which I didn’t eat. She remembered that I said that I liked pasta and didn’t understand why I wouldn’t like pasta salad. She kept on bringing it up but I couldn’t bring myself to eat something with mayonnaise and tuna so I only had a little of rice. I’m getting excited for school to start so I can meet new people and do stuff. It’s been kind of boring here since it is just a suburb and because I don’t have my bearings. Tomorrow I will make it a point to hang out with Tammy all day and do something interesting.

El Primer Día, 22 mayo 2009

May 22 2009
I sit here on this awkward feeling bed with even harder rectangular shaped pillows listening to the shrilly call of the birds in the park across the street this early morning. Yesterday was a long day of achy travel, meeting new people, and experiencing a city that had no resemblance to the one in my head. I woke up at 3am to catch my flight that boarded at 5h40. The flight to Washington DC was kind of long and dragged on. Of course Amanda, my travel buddy, did not show up and I had to travel alone but I am writing this now so everything went well, sort of. Washington was a disaster. I walked into the terminal and had to find my next flight without a boarding pass (from the change of United Airways to Taca). I walked down the long hallway and made it to the shuttle trains to each of the gates and where the flight screens are, luckily I didn’t have to take a shuttle. I walked up the stairs into the B section of the Airport and walked for what seemed like a half mile to my gate, B47, only to realize that my cell phone fell out of my pocket on the plane. After about an hour of backtracking and walking between A1 and B47 I was fruitless in my search and just accepted this as the bad thing that was going to happen to me on the trip.
The flight from Washington DC to El Salvador was the best flight of my life. I was towards the back of the plane and sat with an American, Kevin, and a girl from El Salvador, Sarai. Sarai spoke little to no English but we connected immediately. She was my age (our birthdays just eighteen days apart) and just came back from a Coldplay concert wearing her Viva la Vida t-shirt and playing her recorded video on her camera. Of course, as an icebreaker, I took out my laptop and we watched my bootleg “Reno 911: Miami!” together and we were both cracking-up for that hour and a half on the plane. The movie was hilarious and I think she laughed even more than I did. There were awkward sex scenes and many topless scenes, but overall the movie was a good choice. Right away she noticed “Ojos que no ven” by Alexis y Fido on my computer and we started talking about music. We both had a love for reggaetón, Bachata, and some American stuff. The flight then landed, we danced to the techno music playing over the speakers in the plane (or at least I did) and we walked into the airport together and said goodbye and promised to be Facebook friends.
The airport wasn’t that bad in El Salvador but had a weird mixture of trees, birds, and wii that seemed bizarre. One girl was wii bowling while another played Mario kart. We boarded the plane and this time I sat next to Gerardo Muyshondt, a native of El Salvador and the advertising director who created the Taca airlines commercials. By the end of the plane ride we were talking about Central American politics and walked together to the longest immigration line I had seen in my life. An hour of waiting and talking later I grabbed my bags and I met up with my driver who didn’t know the meaning of safe driving. It was drizzling out and the sky was a dark color while everything else looked damp. The streets were packed with 3 lanes of traffic while my driver did up to 130 kph on roads weaving in and out of traffic in a speed limit of 90. The constant wetness of Costa Rica rusts everything metal giving it that broken down look. The drive through the city made my heart drop when all I saw was shacks and pieces of metal creating “homes” the city looked like the rural portions of Mexico where homes were made of scrap metal but in Costa Rica they are placed back-to-back. The cars were basically the same as in the states with Toyota Corollas, Hondas, and even the French Peugeot. At one point there was a truck of cows that pooped in the middle of the street in front of us. I started to get worried, though, when the metal shacks and barbed wire and dirtiness of the city didn’t disappear. It just seemed to get worse as we drove farther down these potholed roads weaving dangerously between buses, motorcycles, and pedestrians at stressful speeds.
Finally I arrived in Moravia and walked into my new home. It literally took my breath away. I was greeted by William (the husband) and was glad to know that I understood his accent and almost one hundred percent of what he was telling me. He brought me inside to a beautiful home that seemed just like the ones we have back in the states. There is a big screen TV and a nice patio overlooking the park. I got along great with William but I didn’t seem to hit-it-off with Enrique. Later, his Señora showed up and I met her. Unfortunately I cannot understand her 80% of the time for some unknown reason and I feel helpless when she talks to me. But after a while I started getting used to it and her son William came home and said hello. She made some sort of potato and meat dish with plain white rice and black beans. It sounds tasteless but was actually pretty amazing. The rice, though plain, was kind of crispy which was weird but also so much better than what I was used to. The beans tasted vinegary and added some flavor to the rice while the potatoes were just amazing. I drank some type of iced tea or flavored water that was also pretty good. (The water in San José is 100 percent drinkable William kept on telling me). Then Johanna came in and she seemed pretty nice. They pulled out the American Atlas and roadmap and I showed them where I lived and William showed me the television and talked about the super and hyper markets. He seemed very interested in me and loved sharing things about his country. We connected the most, I think. Then we watched television and fixed my internet WiFi connection and now I can go on the internet when it’s not being temperamental. At around 9h30 I went upstairs to my room and saw William Jr. watching the WB with Harry Potter, he called me in and we sat and watched it together. I shared some chocolate rocks from Newport and a whoopee pie from a gas station and we bonded. Finally I fell asleep and here I am right now.