Hello! its hard to believe my few days in San Jose are already coming to an end. Even in this short little period, I've gotten somewhat attached to the living arrangement at Hotel Cacts. I'm rooming with three girls: Elizabeth, Lizzie, and Johanne, and our beds (two of them double-sized) are crammed awkwardly into a very tiny living space so that basically 3/4ths of the room is covered with mattress or sheets. In order to get to my bed I must crawl across Johanne's and Lizzie's (which inexplicably has dinosaur bed sheets). The rest of the space is pretty much occupied by our luggage. The other EAP-ers are all similarly accommodated throughout the hotel. We pretty much have run of the place, although there are a few other families, who never seem very happy when they run into us around the hotel.
We've had several orientations/lectures over the past few days regarding everything from the upcoming field trip, to preventing snake attacks, to local fruit culture. I'm already totally crazy about the teachers. My favorite assignment so far has been for Pati's fruit lecture. The morning we arrived, we were all assigned an exotic fruit that we were to buy at the central market or in local fruit stands and give a presentation on its natural history and uses. I was luckier than most, and was assigned Papaya, which is plentiful pretty much everywhere you turn in San Jose. I accompanied a large group however to the central market just to experience a little local flavor. The San Jose Central Market is similar to central markets I've been to in Mexico and the Bahamas, except there are far less American tourists. We bobbed and weaved our way through packed aisles of merchants selling souvenirs, food and clothing, getting some irritated glances whenever we slowed or regrouped to try to find the coveted fruit stand. I've heard the Ticos are the friendliest people in the Americas, but I think a group of wandering, giggling English-speaking twenty-somethings from the United States can annoy just about any self-respecting local. We did finally find the fruit stand. A lot of the produce I had never even seen before. We all had to make the purchases completely in Spanish. Needless to say, many of us did not get our change. This afternoon/evening was spent cutting and preparing all of our fruits (with Pati’s help) for our presentations. As each person presented, the class feasted on some of the freshest, sweetest, most amazing fruit I’ve every consumed. My favorite was a giant spiny berry about the size of your head, nicknamed “nature’s ice cream”. I can’t remember the real name of it now, but it was incredible. My papaya was also a hit. I am hoping to consume food like this every day of my stay here from this point on.
The rest of our time in San Jose has been spent wandering around the town. We went to a museum on Costa Rican currency and the history of gold in the country, which helped me to get caught up on a little of Costa Rica’s background that I’ve been feeling awful about knowing nothing of. We’ve eaten at a few colorful, local restaurants, including a surprisingly good Lebonese place near our hotel. Our wanderings have included some close encounters with very friendly pigeons, one ATM-eaten debit card, lots of me having no idea where I am, lots of me getting sunburned, and most importantly, learning to base all directions around the area’s geographically central Pizza Hut.
While I’ve liked the experience of San Jose, I cannot wait to get out of here and start on the first real leg of our journey. Starting tomorrow at 4:30 am we’re packing into vans and taking off up the coast to Isla Violines where we’re seeing crocodiles and camping on the beach. After a few days there, snorkeling and taking night hikes, we’re bussing to Murcielago to partake in more adventurous activities. I won’t have any access to computers or phones for the next few weeks so I’ll be journaling to fill you all in later. Reading the itinerary gets me more excited than I can tell you. I’ll be thinking of all you guys and wishing you were here to experience this with me. I love you. Talk to you in a few weeks. La pura vida!
