Exploring San Jose

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I gotta stay away from falafel because I don't think it quite sat well with me. So that's how my day started. Sleep was great last night. In the morning a kid came in from the night and we discovered that we were at UCC at the same time, with the same major only his was there as an Irish student. Poor guy had his backpack stolen which had his passport in it.

I left the hostel and checked out Parque La Sabana, San Jose's largest park, it was very nice. The national stadium is there and it is currently being renovated, or something. Then I went to the central market and that was really cool--had lunch, arroz con pollo. Didn't find a hammock I wanted so I went to the artisanal market and bartered with a guy from 10,000 to 7,000 colones--successful but I wonder if really I could have got it for less. I've never bartered before. From there checked out more parks--Parque Nacional was quite nice. Went to the bus terminal where I have to be tomorrow, bought my ticket so I'm set to go and I'm quite excited. Touched base with my loved ones in Colorado--I'll be out of contact for the next week.

I needed rope to hang my hammock. The owner of Galileo (My hostel) said to take the bus to the Costa Rican Walmart, Hiper Mas. I was sitting in a higher seat in the back and the windows were pretty dirty so when I saw the store I knew my stop was next. The bus stopped so I got out with another man. We were on the highway. I walked to the next exit and back to Hiper Mas. They didn't have any rope strong enough for a hammock. Oh well. Adventure tourism. I bought a banana and some mixed nuts.

A man here from Toronto is very nice and pleasant to talk to. He is going to live here for a few months and teach english for business. He is a neat man, I interupted him writing his blog. He says he finds travel blogs boring so is focussing his blog on experiential learning. http://larryeasto.blogspot.com/ I wonder if he'll find mine boring. I'll have a lot to say when I can update this blog later. I mentioned how nervous I was for this trip and he talked about a book about addressing fear and living through it, just to harness the present and walk on.

Can't wait for the beach. It's going to be quite the experience seeing Kendrick there, with a week of service under his belt. I'm excited to get to work with the turtles.

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