Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 31

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August 20, 2008 Training today was good, but also hard, there is so much information, and you have to figure out how to introduce new words to the students. I really like the group that I am in training with; we all seem to help each other out. I had lunch with another one of the students, she is Costa Rican, but she just got back from spending 5 months in India, so we talked about that while we were eating. We ate at the supermarket around the corner, it has a lunch counter that I thought was really good, I ate cooked veggies, some sort of cucumber salad and rice, it all tasted good to me. After training Priscilla helped me with the bus again, I know I could find the right one but I ... read more


August 19, 2008 Okay I didn’t get a chance to write yesterday, I didn’t think it would matter too much since I still haven’t really gotten on the net. Hopefully tomorrow morning! Yesterday’s training went really well; the 1st person I met was Danny from Illinois, amazing how someone who speaks fluent English can make things so much easier!! I hate it that I don’t know Spanish that well; I know, give it time and I’ll get it. The next person I met was the only other person in our training session that is not Costa Rican; Ian is from Romania, he seems pretty interesting. There are 11 of us all together; most are from here, but I’m glad to meet new people. The training is going pretty well, Lilly and Silva (who is from China) ... read more


After a relaxing few days (except for the surfing, of course), it was time to head back to San Jose for one last night out with the group before we all part ways. We ate at a wonderful Thai restaurant that had wonderful infused teas. To eat I had curry in a hallowed-out pineapple, and it was very good! As we walked back to the hotel that last night, I took time to soak in the Costa Rican lifestyle. The Costa Ricans have a saying they are proud of: "Pura Vida." This translates to "Pure Life," the idea that life is yours to enjoy. It's a kind of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" sort of lifestyle where even when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. You hear this phrase from everyone, not just tourist guides or ... read more


August 17, 2008 Day 2 Today I went with my roommate and her boyfriend (Roger-and yes the g is silent) to his family’s house in Colon, west of San Jose. It was great, but a long all day thing. 1st we went to his parents house and had breakfast, I was served by his step mom and she seemed to think it was great, she served me cut up watermelon and papaya and then put a yogurt drink over it and then granola. It was very good. I tried the rice and beans - which is a staple at every single meal for Costa Ricans - and I thought it was good, just strange to have it for breakfast. Roger’s family was really nice and everyone treated me great, as one of the family, Roger speaks ... read more
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Hi all, I thought to add a special blog with some of the artwork I have found around the place. Some of it is included because they can be a little ´out there´. Plenty of mosaics too. I have also added the cows of San Jose. I still can´t figure out the significance of the celebration of the cows however they are what they are...... read more
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Mosaic and stained glass
Wall to the stairs


Today is my last day of an amazing trip. We had a rough start to our morning since our hostel had no rooms for us tonight. I hate having to move hostels, but we did. We traversed across town with packs in our backs to find a hostel closer to the airport. That was a mess. Went to one hostel and it only had dorm rooms and was looking for a private room so that I would not bug anyone when we had to get ready to leave at 3 AM. Decided to try another location and got lost. Directions were given but they were not very clear. So we finally found the hostel just in time to leave for the canopy/zip-line tour at Vocan Poas. I thought we should take a taxi to Alajuela since ... read more


Got up early this morning to head back to Costa Rica. The mother and two boys were going to the border as well so we all went together. Immigration was terrible and took a very long time to get through. This began a miserable day. Due to the lengthy wait at the border, we missed the bus to Liberia. We did get on a later bus but we missed the last bus that would have taken us to Monteverde for the zip line tour. In the meantime, while we were in Liberia, Talonya was supposed to go on to her next destination but decided to join us for the zip line before we found out it was not possible. While we were talking to the bus personnel about what to do, Latonya´s bag was stolen with ... read more


I made it here in San Jose a few hours ago. What a culture shock! I feel REALLY out of place walking down the street, and buying things, etc. In fact, this keyboard is in "Spanish Mode," so it took me a while to find the right buttons for apostrophes and stuff. It was a mad house as I left the airport, with all these taxi drivers trying to get me to go with them. It was scary at first, but I found the right taxi, and I was off to San Jose. The great thing about Costa Rica is that the people are very patient and understanding, as they obviously know that my Spanish is very bad. I now know how non-English speakers feel when they come to visit. I first meet the peole on ... read more
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I left Puerto Rico on saturday. I want to say thanks to everyone that made my stay so awesome and interesting. I hope we all keep in touch, and I'll see many of you in September or in November when I go back to Puerto Rico. I already miss it! There was a going away party for me on friday night, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Thanks to Maria for hosting us, for better or worse. On saturday, I got all the way to Fort Lauderdale, and then they cancelled my flight. Eh! They put me up in the airport Hilton and gave me tickets for food. It wasn't so bad. I got some work done on my grant, which I sort have been putting off due to my extreme travel stress right now, ... read more
Market
fort and billboard and rain


I cant believe I'm nearly moving on already! It feels like I've been here for weeks, in a good way, but then again it's flown by. I spent yesterday flying through the canopies in the forest. It was an real adrenaline rush and I loved every minute and the scenery made it that much more exhilarating. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, just imagine me in a rather unattractive helmet, wearing a harness strapped to a zip wire flying past tree tops in the most stunning forest although how a plastic helmet was going to save me if I fell 300ft but still...It was a great day and I'd highly recommend it if you have a fear of heights this'll cure it! Today I went to see Poas volcano. We drove through more fabulous scenery and ... read more
Oxcart
The metal church,Grecia
Poas




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