Puerto Viejo

I will try in my best ability to describe this next area we traversed to, but I fear that there is no real way to properly describe this small beach side surfing town. There is one paved road that runs down the main drag, and the off shoots are all gravel roads with numerous pot holes, and few cars. Every local seems to have either dreads or some crazy amount of hair, or something about them that makes you say, "there just a bit off" but at the same time everyone was very nice and inviting.

So first for the hotel we stayed at, it was nice, safe and comfortable and as the story goes I was locked out of my room and forced to sleep in a hammock outside on Friday night, but I'm not really complaining about that. There was an abundance of what appeared to be stray dogs, and the one that we had following us around and potentially saved me from absolutely nothing, we coined the name Doctor Good Friend as a compromise between my ambitions and Will's. Another note here, Dr. Goodfriend just hacked things up all day but never once did she fail to follow us to where we were going, not even to see the Reggae bands every night.

The town is obviously in horrible shape and a rather poor community, but I wouldn't say unhappy or in any sort of real danger. Thats what I think makes the atmosphere so strange, because there is obviously a feel of almost a seperate state originating out of this village because of its sharp split with the rest of Costa Rica. This place seems to operate more under a socail agreement made between the citizens inhabiting the area rather than any government operation. I say this because drugs are about as easy to obtain here as gum is back in the states. You are approached with offers of countless things, and obviously you don't just go grabbin that stuff. So this is not a family friendly little town, but definately an experiece.

There is a black sand beach which was pretty epic. The surf was much better except not really more fun because it had recently flooded and the water was super dirty, so real gross there in the water, yet these waves were probably the most dangerous waves I've ever seen mainly because they were massive, I tried to surf them but since I haven't mastered reading the waves so that I could ride with the wave and blah blah blah it was a short ride.

But overall this was the weekend I decided that I will come back and live here someday, hopefully teach English as a second language to some kids down here and just chill out and live in Costa Rica, just gotta get that spanish down.
Video of the area... maybe it will help, probably not

Sorry... I've been slacking off

Anyways... so beginning back with last weekend. I started with a night on the beach in a small tourist town. I always imagined tourist towns in foreign countries would be crazy weternized, and not that there are quick a few more western esque things, really if you didn't know any Spanish, it may be quite difficult to get around. Costa Ricans practically all know some English it seems, at least at the younger ages. So its not a huge issue but still the town was still very much rooted in Costa Rican culture.

So beach night was fun, next day was surfing all day. I some how managed to get up on the first try which was the point where I really never came out of the water except to make a sand castle, which lasted all of an hour until a naked baby used it to play Godzilla. And then just to add insult to injury here, another kid had a miniature ATV and just ran over it even more.... AHHH

So after that we had dinner on the beach, and it was maybe $6 a meal roughly, so not bad, well if you order cheap, I could easily get up to near $15 if you went for the seafood. But that was a good dinner, sunset everything right there on the beach at a small hole in the wall resturant. And there was a homeless guy there too, how apparently was from New York and had lived in Costa Rica for 16 years.

That night was a little beach time and then we all went dancing, which was a blast just because I love to dance. But basically I was up on the stage doing my irish jig kinda dancing and Im pretty sure people were impressed, I hope. And then there were some swim races and I got a massive sunburn and am now peeling.

School is school. The idea of time down here is only strict on classes, everything else is like 30 minutes late, always. Food down here is fantastic. Im mastering finding the $4 lunch still and finally got rid of all of my travelers checks. Those things were impossible to get rid of. I went to 3 different banks until I could find someone to cash them out, and I had to go to the main national bank in San Jose. This bank is huge, its the tallest building in San Jose, and you walk in and its got all of the refreshing sights and sounds of a government run building. You can also imagine how slow and inefficent it was as well, but as I have learned Costa Rica faced no internal financial troubles during the hit to most the rest of the worlds economies. Basically they lost a bit in the tourism industry and some of the other exports such as bananas and pineapples, the more expensive of the fruits. But as for everything else they were fine. There banks I guess have essentially 0 risk but then also very small gains. But ya cashing these travelers checks took 3 days and over an hour of standing in lines and waiting at windows. So it was probably the worst experience of my life, I hate my banker.

Tamarindo (Sorry I forgot to post this one, may repeat some stuff)

First excursion out, crazy weekend. It was full of injuries via a coral reef, surfing, and of course dancing. I'll begin without to Tamarindo because it is definatley worth mentioning.

We took two private bus/van's (hard to distinguish what they really were) and were told we weren't taking public because it would take 9 hours instead of 7. Keep in mind we didn't travel more than 250km. So that being a little over 100 miles or so just imagine our average pace in this trip. Costa Rica is a very small country but to drive across it is quite a experience. At one point we were stuck in a traffic jam for roughly an hour as a result of road construction. It was rather strange because they would never have done such a thing in the States. The roads really aren't in horrible condition at any one time, except for the last maybe 8 miles before Tamarindo where they become unneccesarily bumpy, even for a gravel road. As for sights along the way, you see quite a bit, such as mountains, rolling hills, lakes, etc... Very pretty.

Once we reached Tamarindo it was 9 but still the beach called our name and we quickly ran over there and did that whole thing till who knows when and we left. The next day was a surfing madness showdown. I have to say it is one of the more exhilarating deals I've ever done, well not quite but still real fun. I happened to stand up on the 2nd wave I caught and rode it in, which was a pleasent suprise, so after that I was pretty much hooked. By the end of the day I improved none and now have sunburn worse than ever before, so look as to what I have accomplished.

That night we went dancing, and that was quite the experience. I went up on a little stage deal and threw my legs into something weird, I guess it looked kinda like some sort of Irish dancing but whos to really know, but for whatever reason the locals seemed to love that, so needless to say I did that quite a bit. After maybe 3 or so times of me doing this a German dude, a huge guy, came and started to jump on the stage, stompin his feet, really pounding the ground only to find the stage shatter underneath his feet. Lesson learned, not really sure what it is.

Being in a tourist destination everything was pretty expensive once again, and honestly it all kinda disappointed me. There was very little actual culture in Tamarindo, mostly just a giant tourist destination, fun, but not really a cultural experience.

Oh dinner, I forgot, we had a tabel set up on the beach at some hole in the wall resturant and totally did the sunset dine thing. That was crazy awesome. We met a homeless dude from the states who had been living in Costa Rica for 16 years. This one girl kept going, "Hey do you know Spanish" and he'd say back "Well, I've been here for 16 years" only to find her asking the same question again, "But, do you know Spanish?" and on and on that cycle went for a few minutes. I just started laughing after a while.

6 de Enero

So today was pretty average until the bars were hit up that night, which was really fun. It wasn't anything crazy or anything of that nature, but it was fun, very laid back. Everyone seemed to get screwed out of some money somehow in someway, which was exactly what they warned us about. For starters the taxis are a fun game to play. First you have to find one which is actually pretty easy. Then when you get in you have to say "Tiene una maria" or "Ponga la maria" which tells them to use the meter and not just charge some obscene price for your taxi ride. Oh also when choosing a taxi you have to make sure its one registered with the state otherwise you could get driven out to the middle of nowhere and robbed. Anyways the indicators of a "legit" taxi are a yellow triangle on the side along with the other signs typical to a taxi as well as numbers on the side, and you need to remember those numbers so that you can report them if they screw you over. Anyways I actually was fine all night because as long as you don't open up a tab or draw alot of attentin to yourself everythings fine. You just always have to be careful and very skeptical with people. On the way home from the bar is when people got really taken advantage of. One taxi told someone that they didn't know where the college is, because Costa Rica doesn't use street signs, just landmarks and directions from there, there are no street signs. So basically this driver took him and the two people he was with for all he was worth. 4200 colones, or a little over $8, which doesn't sound bad, but the cab fare for me both ways was 1500 colones, or $3.

Anyways on the way home I had to walk home alone in the dark because my roomate got lost via taxi, so on my walk home I was fine, but theres always the small concern in the back of your mind that your gonna get robbed, but it was 3 blocks and I had this. So I was walking down the street, confident long strides, eyes straight ahead, giving the apperance that I know whats up. So after about a bolck and a half I was approached from the year by a man boy. I was deciding whether or not I should run, but I chose to face it, I had no money on me at all, so he couldn't have stollen anything from me. Ended up he just wanted a cigarette, and I just "lo siento" and "adios". But a succesful conversation in Spanish was achieved.

Also yesterday I went shopping all by myself for all the ingredients for quesodillas and other mexican dishes of sorts. Anyways basically while I was doing that my roomate went to get his haircut, I dropped him off at a really sketchy barber that we passed on the way to the supermarket. Apparently while I was chillin out at the super market he was getting his haircut by recovering crackheads and a random dude from Manhattan. So interesting.

Also at the supermarket this worker started talking to me and I had no idea what was going on so I said, "No comprende, Necesito queso" which translates into, I don't understand, I need cheese. So that was really funny, we just laughed at the fact that I can only talk and Spanish, not really understand unless your talking really slow.

5 de Enero

Today was good. Had only one class and it was drawing, so ya didn't do much. Well I did a lot during my 4 hours of nothing. Almost read the entire Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway) and got my classes worked out, paid for these trip deals. Anyways not important.

For lunch we decided to find some a little resturante called a "Soda" which I guess is just a small little sit down place, hard to compare it to anything in the United States. It's like a sit down resturant run by one person, they had 4 tables inside and no menu or anything. We had to ask what she had and the kitchen was like a normal household kitchen, no commercial oven or anything, just straight up home kitchen that cooked legit homemade food. It was delicious, but expensive and slow. We sat down around 12:15 assuming a good 45 minute to an hour lunch, and it went easily till 2. Everything just moves so much slower down here, which I guess I should have expected. The food was also more expensive than I expected, 3000 colones, 6 dollars, and it really didn't fill me up, but it was delicious. Also besides simply eating some legit Costa Rican quisine, which is really any at least central american dish, pretty general, I walked into a new part of town today, which I was told was the bad part of town. Which was pretty obvious. I mean we were surrounded by people so it was legit, but at night, no bien. Also if you were to go off the main drag, as we did, you probably were like, should I be here, which I was. I mean it was my first encounter with a begger, which was just like America, honestly in America I feel there are more beggers, which is weird since the conditions are worse here, at least relative to America.

The walk down was fine, it was the walk back where I got scared because my little hijo acted like we were lost, and maybe we were, I can never tell with that boy. Also my roomate bought swin trunks for $8 and that was in a mall, so ya, muy barato.

Now for dinner, probably the funniest experience of my life, even if my Spanish wasn't firing on all cylinders. Like the little boy, the 4 year old was doing stuff, then he locked his older brother out of the house and the parents were cool with it. I mean honestly, the little boy was getting into all kinds of stuff and the parents just let it slide, they didn't even punish him or anything. It was strange, but also refreshing, hard to explain. But ya so overall today was filled with just lots of new things.

First day of Classes

So apparently in Costa Rica, time is extremley relative. Basically we were given all of these times to be places, like 8:00, 10:30 and 12:30 and we get there at about that time and always we waited around for at least like 20 minutes before anything happened. They even explained to us (American Students) this wicked theory on time and how cultures are with time etc... Basically in Costa Rica it seems there is a good 30 to 45 minute window were you can be "on time". No bien en America. Anyways, basically today was one of those days that any plans you had made got destroyed instantly because they didn't let us out of orientation until 4 and we all wanted to go to the tienda to buy things, such as beer and sunscreen but that didn't really work out, well we did get to the store and everyone filled their carts with only beer.

Dinner was fantastic tonight because I understood at least 80% of everything said, unlike every other meal before this. Still loosening up and what not, but its all good.

Day 1 (3 de Enero)

So I'll quickly begin last night. The airport was quick, not crowded, walls had that particular look of being dirty I guess, much as everything is down here. Getting our passports stamped was nothing as well as customs. Currency exchange was also very easy. On the airplane, Tyler (mi amigo) and I both talked to some local Costa Rican buisness owners who helped us fill out our customs forms, which was nice. They told us to put down their addresses because we didn't know where we lived. Still don't quite understand how addresses work down here. No one has mail delivered to their house, it all goes to the post office and then I guess you pick it up once a week, we may want to try that in Los Unidos, because its pretty much obsolete now. Driving through town I saw more poverty than I expected, if Costa Rica is the most well to do country in Latin America, I fear for the rest of Latin America, although it is safe, at least is my perception. Arriving at the house was terrifying. I rang the door bell and was answered by a very nice man who spoke no English, and I speak very little Spanish. He conveyed some very basic information until I soon got to my room and was greated by a fellow American from Mizzou. It seems he and I are splitting this small apartment with another guy from Montana, esta bien.

So today, Alfredo Junior (hermanito) took us around with his limited English and obvious mastery of Spanish to las tiendas (stores) and other resturants and things of that nature. I brought 5000 colones with me (10 dollars) and was able to purchase a six pack of beer, chicken for a week, and a bottle of water. After dropping off our things we found Tyler creeping around the front of the house and said Hi invited him in all of those little formalities we all know and love. After much deliberation (actually none) we decided to go and try to join a pick up game of futbol in the park. This was actually really fun, despite my inability to really play well, I held my ground. First misconception that was destroyed, all Ticos (Costa Ricans) can play soccer well, ok this wasn't entirely destroyed, but I scored like 2 of our 10 goals, and the American team did win, which was impressive to say the least, only by a goal or two, no importa.

Then it got a little weird, my brain fried from already attempting to speak and understand Spanish for an entire day, I sat there as the locals we played with and mi hermanito talked in extreme Spanish, as well as Will (my roomate). So basically they were apparently talking about alot of things, I understood basically zero. They invited us to the bars, and we kinda ditched them only because we have no idea what their intentions were, not that Will and I couldn't hold our own against them, we just honestly had no idea what was going down, so we let that one slide until we could group up with our gringo brothers and really hit up the
town.

So dinner destroyed me in terms of conversation, just as breakfast did, but I can feel my mind slowly switching over to Spanish little by little, so soon enough, within a week or so I should be doing alot better.