Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 18

Day 2 started with a great improvement. I realized I have an alarm clock on my iPod, so I am now set in that regards. Today was filled with more planning and orientation. I am now all set up for excursions on the weekends. I am really excited to see the rest of the country! I tested into Spanish 101. I am glad for this because there is only room for improvement :) A group of us tried a small Tico restaurant for dinner. The food consisted of chicken, rice, beans, fried plantains, and some type of vegetable mix that we still are not sure what it is. It was all delicious except for the beans. I'm not sure what it is, but I just don't like the taste/texture of them. We also ventured to the ... read more

Today we headed out early, planning to visit two of Costa Rica's prisons. The goal of this trip was to get a grasp of the contrasts between this justice system and the United States justice system. There were absolute contrasts! We first visited an elderly prison. This prison was designed to keep the more vulnerable elderly population segregated from a general population. Upon entering the prison, I immediately noticed the lack of security that we were put through upon entering. We were briefly screened for weapons and then let into the prison in a large group. We were given a tour of the prison and then led to a classroom where a few of the staff spoke with us about the country's view on prisons and the actual prison itself. In viewing the prison, it seemed ... read more

Mai and Daeng´s first week in San Jose Costa Rica. Thus far, the fruit expedition has been...fruit-less. It seems it´s not quite the right season except for sandia (watermelon) and papayas. unless you know of illegal fruit sellers who can hook us up with rambutan, please don´t hesitate to connect us. Otherwise, we´re having a great time and will write more when the keyboards don´t stick so much :-)... read more

well im here.i got here about 1230 in the afternoon yesterday after being at the airport by 330 that morning for a 530 flight :( to be honest yesterday was rough.first of all i got into the san jose airport and was bombarded by spanish and people offering taxi rides and not leaving me alone but i survived.i didnt really like it idk if it was that i was up for 36 hours and i was irritable or what.my host mom, kathy, picked me up with her 3 kids esteban-12, mariana-8, and santi-6.their house is beautiful and not at all what i expected.i have my own room and i can see a volcano from the kitchen window.its very modern and i played wii tennis with santi last night and watched cheaper by the dozen 2 in ... read more

We crossed the border of Penas Blancas into Costa Rica just before lunch on December 27th leaving Nicaragua behind after four months on its territory. So we feel a moment for a little reflection about this place and its people. When we meet and chat with other travellers and they ask us our thoughts about Nicaragua our normal opening gambit is something like ‘we really don’t understand the country, particularly the culture’. Awareness of our ignorance is important as our four month stay doesn’t qualify us to be anything more than vaguely trained observers. Interestingly those amongst the long serving expat community there don’t seem to have much clarity in their cultural diagnosis either. A large proportion of travellers who we’ve spoken to who’ve seen a good sweep of Central America place Nicaragua as their favourite ... read more

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, of course I had to work, but last night Sabrina and I made a turkey and most of the trimmings and had a bunch of people over at our house, it turned out really fun. It was the first Thanksgiving that I ate outside!!! Enjoy the pictures, and I also took a very amature video. Hope everyone is well!... read more