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Published: November 16th 2011
Waking Hostel: Nomadas Backpackers
Cost: $12 USD/night
Waking up this morning with a beautiful view, the first thing I did was look out the window. Yep, I'm still in paradise! Even though I had no plans when coming down or when I arrived, I luckily had a friend that had a cousin that lives close to San Jose. I called her up to meet later in the afternoon, but I had about 3 hours to kill and my stomach told me that breakfast needed to be included in whatever plans I made. Since there was nothing to be had in my hostel (I'm not too sure how this works yet), I decided to grab something while I was out touring a bit of the city. Figuring I only had time to hit a couple of blocks, grab some food and get back, I headed to the first site that was recommended to me- the nearby park located by the stadium. The stadium was pretty cool (of course, I'm skewed by being from Dallas and being a stone's throw from the Cowboys stadium in Arlington), but I was quite disappointed in the park- it was basically an open field with trees.
Life Everywhere...
Carpenter Ants Carrying Away their LeavesGranted, it was very beautiful, well maintained, and contained a jogging trail that was being used, I wasn't floored as much as I thought I'd be (little did I know the park was on the other side of the stadium)!
For all my fellow frequent travelers, you know it takes a while for the views and the sites in a foreign country to kick in- well after looking down and seeing the carpenter ant formation, and looking up and seeing the mountains in the background it kind of just hit me- this place is beautiful. The pics don't do it justice, but I decided to take a few anyway.
Time to eat! Where to go? I figured as I explored the city, I'd figure it out. That led to good things and bad things. The good thing is that I did, in fact, run into breakfast. Hosted by a Costa Rican that was very friendly (sorry, forgot to take a pic), very funny, and also very racist, she saw me and asked me what I wanted. When I told her in my broken spanish that I wanted a typical 'Tico breakfast,' she told me that I didn't. After
View from the Park Downtown
Views like are normal! I hope to never get so used to sights like this that I cease appreciating God's creation! looking at her confused, she told me that I wanted friend chicken. She then proceeded to tell me that because I'm from the States (I told her this previously), and I'm full black, that I must want fried chicken...all the time. She told me that she spent some time in Philidelphia recently so she "knows" black people. I thought she was joking until she became a little belligerent about it. Luckily, I didn't end up having fried chicken for breakfast- but sadly, it's only because it was early in the morning and she hadn't prepared any yet. In instances like this, she told me, it was ok if black people don't get fried chicken because black people also love breakfast sandwiches. At this point, I realized, this lady was reading my mind - Jack-In-The-Box, McDonalds, Burger King, - I LOVE breakfast sandwiches. Again, she insisted that I must have this instead of a typical 'Tico Breakfast.' Laughing and going along with it, I told her to just bring me out whatever "us black people" eat at this time of morning.
I don't know what she did when she went to the kitchen, but what she came out with was
pure gold. The eggs were scrambled just right...the tomatoes were soo fresh, and the beef was incredibly succulent. I'm not sure what other concoction of delicious ingredients made their way onto my sandwich, but it was all heightened by the Costa Rican hot sauce that she already knew to bring to my table. It was literally enough for me to ask to move in with her...which I did. Now that I think about it, I feel kind of bad because although I did make her laugh, I think I further enforced the stereotype lol.
One thing I did learn while here was that Costa Rican's really enjoy sharing life with others. She gave me excellent service, talked to me about her life and asked about mine, and even turned down my tip at the end of the meal. I'm not sure how long I was there, but time seemed to fly just sitting down to a meal with a genuine and authentic person.
Upon leaving, my internal compass said "turn right to head back to the hostel"...so I did. After crossing about 5 streets and not running into my hostel, I looked around a little confused. I looked
Costa Rica National Museum
This museum used to be the main bunker back when Costa Rica was at war [internal]. That's why it looks like a fort! for the stadium, which was my point of reference as soon as I left and saw it on my right...then I realized how stupid it was to use something that big and detail-less as my P-O-R. "No worries," I told myself, "I'm an effin backpacker, I got this!" Forgetting the stadium I said "Ok Juleon, what do you remember?" Remembering the mountains were to my North and were immediately visible when I walked out of the door, I looked up to find the mountain and guide myself home from there. It was then that I learned my first fact about Costa Rica- Costa Rica is surrounded by mountains! Sooo...yeah, that didn't help. Trying not to panic at this point I told myself to start taking note of street signs...maybe I can draw a mini-map and at least not cross myself when I start the official search to get back home. Then I learned my second fact about Costa Rica- Costa Rica doesn't have street signs! -_-
Explitive.
I tried to recall any tips I could about being lost from my extensive research with Bear Grylls...but he, to date, hasn't done anything about surviving and finding your way out
Banco Central de Costa Rica
1 of the 3 major banks in Costa Rica of a big city. Crap! What next? As a last resort, I told myself, I can just go back to where I was and start making concentric circles around the city that gradually get larger by a 1 block radius. But if you know me, you know I hate inefficiency and that is sooo inefficient. Groaning aloud at my fate I guess a local across the street heard my dismay and called me over. Salvation! He asked me where I was going. Forgot how to say hostel in spanish, so I said hotel instead. He then names off every major hotel in the city in a rapid-fire pace in spanish. Ok, wrong avenue. I told him it was a house that many 'mochilladores' stay in- so now he knew I meant hostel. He asked me the name. Forgot the name of my hostel. He then laughs and says he didn't know the names of any hostels in town anyway. That's really funny sir.
The last thing he did before I left in a crappy mood was tell that I need to not walk around with that camera in plain sight because I may get robbed. I laughed at him
Banco Naccional de Costa Rica
1 of the 3 major banks in CR... and said in spanish "I'm sure I'll be OK, it's like 10:00 am. Well, you know in movies when the director wants to highlight something the music get scary or stops all together, the screen gets darker, and narrows in on the character's face or eyes? Yeah, well the equivalent happened to me as he stated, "You don't know San Jose...you WILL get robbed. Sometimes, people will pull up in a car, snatch your stuff, then speed off before you know what happened." Explitive; now I'm paranoid.
Paranoid, lost, and in a crunch for time, the most logical thing to me at the time seemed to be starting a flat-out jog in the direction I figured I should go. So I started jogging what I thought was southxsoutheast making turns where I thought I saw landmarks. After I passed the same daycare with screaming kids THREE times, I realized that this wasn't working. So I stopped jogging, shed about half a tear, and just meandered aimlessly. 30 minutes later, I finally stumbled, albeit accidentally, on the hostel. The problem was, it looked EXACTLY like all the other houses in the area, which were highly recessed, painted plainly, and fronted
by either 1 or 2 gates or fences (many with barbed-wire). I could have sworn I took a picture, but now I can't find one...Apparently, I began to realize, the crime rate in San Jose is pretty high. Anyway, as I collapsed back onto the couch in my hostel to relay the last 2 hours of my life, a fellow backpacker reminded me that I was given a map with the routes highlighted in bright pink before I left. I check my back pocket. It was right there the whole time -_- After review, I realized that at any given time, I was at most 3 blocks away from the hostel lol
Third lesson learned: Before panicking and running through the city like a madman because you're lost and scared, check your pockets to see if there's something in there that might help. Thanks for nothing Bear Grylls!
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So now its about 11:00am and my ride, Laura Gomez, comes to pick me up. The funny thing is, she speaks absolutely NO english and as my adventures this morning taught me, I don't speak that great of spanish. The problem though (as many of my bilingual friends
Teatro Naccional
Me outside the theater. It was very VERY beautiful on the inside. I believe it's one of the oldest theaters in CR. know), is not necessarily speaking the language, but knowing how to
think the language before you speak it. Unfortunately, I'm not there yet because she keeps asking me where I want to go and I keep saying "I don't know, I just booked my flight here 5 days ago and I have no plans," and she's not understanding. Somehow, we managed to agree on starting downtown and taking it from there. In short, downtown was a run-down beautiful mess. Of course, I had to see all the basics- the banks , the post office, the museums, the many parks, the three theaters downtown, as well as the street with vendors selling anything from flip-flops to fruit. It kind of has a 5 points (Atlanta) feel to it actually. Laura made me take tons of pictures (and I'm so glad she did)! I uploaded a few of the pics, but I'm not in charge of where they are placed on the page layout, so you'll have to scroll back up. Sorry!
After we left the city (touring downtown for about 2 hours), Laura
Laura Eating a Mamonchino in the market
These fruits are AWESOME! There's really nothing like it in the states, but after you break apart the outter layer, you suck out the inner fruit without eating the pit. It's similar to a plum, but much smaller and with a different taste... took me up into the hills and mountains outside of the city. What a great time I had there too! Coffee plants and bananas grow abundantly along the countryside. Since coffee is one of the country's main exports, it seems like many people that live in the mountains grow their own bushes in their backyard. In addition to the bananas and coffee, a lot of the people looked like they were growing their own crops for consumption. The lifestyle up here is a lot like that of a village. People are very close and friendly, everybody knows their neighbor and looks out for them and their property. After the tour of the country-side, it was time for lunch. This time, I insisted on typical Tico food and Laura happily obliged. The food, I quickly learned, consisted almost ALWAYS of rice and beans. Throw in some meat , some salad, and some plantains, and you've got a meal. These meals, which vary by what meat is included, are called "Casadas." The coffee, which is super fresh, is ground to a fine powder, and hot water is poured over it.- resulting in really delicious coffee.
The food was great, the company
Bananas and Coffee Plants
Nearly every available space was used growing plants was great, and we even had fun running through the DAILY downpour that occurs at 3pm! After my whirlwind tour of the city and the mountains, Laura took me back down to the city (San Jose) to drop me back off at Nomadas Backpackers. Now that I actually had a little down time, I decided to explore the place. The digs were pretty simple, but comfortable. In all actuality, this was a house-turned-hostel business owned by a family. They had wifi so I could catch up on some work, and 2 rooms, with dorm-style bunk beds (10 beds total in the mens room). The kitchen was simple and the backyard was lush with tropical plants and a hammock. Not much more to say about that, but I've included a few pics. The story doesn't end there, however. I was tired, but I was determined to see as much as I could before I left, so off to another hostel it is!
30 minutes later, my stuff had been packed and I was being dropped off by taxi at some seedy looking hotel on the mid-west side of downtown. According to the reviews online, this place was supposed to be
My typical Tico meal
Gallo pinto (rice and beans), meat, plantains, and salad. pretty decent, but the review was outdated by 6 years lol..I've attached a picture of what the outside of this place looked like. It was called "Costa Rica Backpackers."
More details in the next post!
-Juleon
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