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Published: October 12th 2010
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Four weeks in and San Jose feels like a totally different city to the one I arrived in on the 12th September. In the last few weeks we've visited a few of the markets, the Teatro Nacional, a few bars in the city centre, (I still haven't got the hang of this idea of 'downtown'. I don't know if downtown is a place like an actual area of a city, or if it's more of general thing like 'down the road' or 'over there'. Can you ever actually be 'downtown' or is more of a fluid concept than that?) a brilliant cafe/cake shop and various other places around here that so that now I feel like I know it a bit more and it feels a bit more like home.
One of things that scared me the most (and I daresay this goes for anyone who moves to a new city where they don't speak the language) was the transport side of things. The minimum you have in an English speaking city is the ability to read directions and signs to get home. Even if you have no job or friends, you have that and it takes some getting used
to be in a place where that isn't the case. I've mentioned the driving side of things before - you couldn't pay me enough to drive a car here, largely because I wouldn't last five minutes - but trying to work out bus routes, recognise shops and other landmarks to make sure you haven't missed your stop and just trying to get a handle on the geography of the city so you don't go into a blind panic mid-journey when you see the bus you're on take a slightly different route than the one you were on the yesterday takes some doing.
It's when you start to get used to the things that you usually take for granted at home that you start to feel like you're properly settling in I think.
One other way to settle in, and this may be personal preference rather than a universal thing, is to find a favourite bar/cafe/restaurant. In my case, preferably one that serves cakes. Lots of cakes. In England this is one of the first things I have done in almost every new house or flat that I've ever moved in to and moving out here was no different. The cafe I found is called Spoon, and it's a five minute walk from my house. I reckon it's probably a large American chain rather than a labour of love by some eccentric Costa Rican baking billionaire, but I don't care because the cakes are unbelievable. In addition to my usual cheesecake and cafe con leche, they quite often bring free cakes round when I'm finished with the one I've bought. If it wasn't my favourite place to go before, then that would have sealed the deal.
The Teatro Nacional is in the centre of San Jose. Situated, as it is, between the chains of sport shops and fast food places it looks like a library or a museum from the outside. From inside, however, it is an amazing looking building. A proper theatre. It has boxes up in the dress circle that almost look directly down onto the stage, making the people in them look a bit like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show. There are beautiful ornate designs everywhere you look, the seats are comfortable enough so your arse doesn't go numb, but uncomfortable enough so you know you're somewhere fancy and you should act like a grown up and not slouch. And on the ceiling there's an incredible circular drawing (probably 20 feet in diametre) of a group of angels playing various musical instruments (harps and pan pipes rather than a bass guitar and a synthesizer - that wouldn't fit in at all). The theatre itself probably holds between 900 and 1,000 people and the stage is wide so even the people at the back feel close, giving it a nice intimate feel. As I say, a proper theatre.
The show we saw was a Latino Percussion and Dance combination, where between three and six percussionists were onstage, giving a backing track for the dancers to jump around too. The dancing didn't interest me in the slightest but the musicians were fantastic. The guy playing what appeared to be a big version of a xylophone (about the size of a piano) played with four sticks, two in each hand, and you couldn't take your eyes off him. I think he might be the most talented person I have ever seen doing anything. If it was the 1600s he'd have been burnt as a witch. A really good evening and really nice to get back to seeing some live music, even if it wasn't the kind of music that I would usually go to see. And as if that wasn't enough, I also met a man with the best moustache I have ever seen. Bushy, dead straight with a slight turn up at the ends and perfectly trimmed. He also had the facial expression and the walk of a man who knows that everyone in the theatre is looking and thinking "that man has the best moustache I have ever seen". If I was him, I'd have been strutting around the place too.
The two markets I have visited so far are the Artisan Market and the Central Market. Loosely, you would probably say that the Central is for locals buying everyday things and the Artisan (as the name suggests) is for presents or tourists. The latter has quite a range wide range of stalls and products ranging from well made, good quality stuff to utter tat. I bought a wooden iguana glued to some tree bark there - I'll let you decide which category that falls into. They also sell plenty of clothes (again with the aforementioned range in quality), local football kits, carved statues, mugs and caps with Costa Rica written on them, hand painted pipes, juggling balls, hand-made chess sets and fridge magnets. The whole spectrum.
The Central Market is a different prospect entirely. As I said, it seems like the kind of place a local would shop when they need groceries, clothes or more general day to day things. It is a very old looking, claustrophobic building, with narrow passages where dawdling or aimless wandering is not encouraged. That said, it's a good place to go to get a feel of what it's like to live and exist in San Jose, which was the main thing I wanted to do when I moved here.
There are quite a few places to eat in the Central Market and if you don't mind the hustle and bustle around you, then, again, it's a good place to get a feel for everyday San Jose. Most of the eateries appear to be a mix of the American Diner and British Cafe, and as long as you don't mind the not entirely clean conditions around you then you'll be fine. That rule probably applies to most of San Jose though to be honest. The other day we watched a pigeon fly through the window of a well-known fast food chain, eat some nuts that were being used as toppings for the ice-creams that were on sale and then fly back out again, unnoticed. On that occasion we decided to go somewhere else - although if the offer of free cakes had been on the table, our decision may have been slightly different.
Pura Vida.
Dave
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