TGIF in the city

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Today is our second and last field trip with USAC. We are going to San José for the Museo de Arte Costarricense (art museum) and the Teatro Nacional (National Theater) with our professors, how cute lol. We had to leave USAC by 7:30AM. We had an early start today. But it makes sense, the ride to San José is about an hour and 45 minutes or more. Since it was so early, I didn't go to the soda for breakfast. Instead, I just bought chocolate chip cookies and later ate that on the bus.

Everyone dressed really nice because it was going to be a lot cooler in San José LOL. I finally got a chance to wear my maxi skirt, yay! Our first stop was the art museum. We spent no longer than an hour and a half there... We saw a lot of art by famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (although I've never heard of her lol oops). Her paintings were definitely full of raw emotions and messages. They were quite captivating. Aside from artists' paintings and pictures, there was a beautiful outdoor garden which had some neat statues and structures. Many of the students went out to take pictures, including myself haha. And before we can even go explore the second floor of the museum, the professors were announcing that it was time to get back on the bus. So much for "visiting" the art museum.

When we got back on the bus, the driver drove for another half hour until we arrived at San José, woohh! It's the capital of Costa Rica. It definitely is a lot cooler here than in Puntarenas. He dropped all of us at the Teatro Nacional. The admission was $10 each so that meant it was optional. Of course, many of us didn't want to pay the fee and would rather explore the city and go shop for souvenirs (haha). I think only a total of 3-4 girls went LOL. It did look beautiful in my Lonely Planet Costa Rica travel guide book but we were here for a limited amount of time so I chose to go shop instead.

It definitely very different here of course. A more urbanized area: people are either dressed formally, fashionably, or with brand-name clothing. We see more tourists and the streets are a lot busier with cars and pedestrians. The cars driving by were crazy....no traffic lights PLUS speeding vehicles of different sizes, oh gosh. I wonder how NYC would function if we didn't have traffic lights. Anyways, there were tons of shops, restaurants, and cafés lined up down each street. Saw McDonald's, fried chicken, and bakeries. And found out that there's a Chinatown here so of course that means Chinese restaurants as well. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to try any out nor did I have time to walk through Chinatown 😞 It would've been interesting to see how the Chinese cuisine is like here in Costa Rica. Oh well, I'll be back again one day 😊

Taylor and I went to the Mercado Central, which is a huge market that sells many souvenirs. It's equivalent to the Canal Street in NYC haha. Many vendors selling more or less the same things so you bet the competition is going to be intense. They actually "haggle" with you, giving you the "best deals" LOL, which was awesome. The minute you walk through the market, you get greeted by each vendor owner, asking you to come in to take a look and quite frankly, it was overwhelming. Taylor and I bought some stuff from the first shop we went in. I bought a couple of cute bracelets. After our purchase, we stopped by a bakery to grab a quick brunch snack. Then, we came back.

We had another hour or so 'til we had to leave the area. There were so many cool shops that I didn't get a chance to go through all of them :/ But I'm super glad I finally got the chance to buy a tank top that says 'Pura Vida' without the long-ass paragraph explaining what it means lol. Also got a couple more shirts for my brother and friend for a great deal -- score! That's pretty much what I was able to buy from this market. Wish we had more time!

Our next stop was the mall called MultiPlaza. It was huge and very Westernized. Many brands like Forever 21, Zara, Mango, and other brand-name designer bag stores. It was clean, brightly lit, and neat. I saw a mixture of people: locals, tourists, and business-people coming here for lunch break (lol?). Elisha, Madison, Taylor, Bryan, and I went to the food court to grab lunch. Some of us went to get tacos from El Fogoncito. It was quite yummy Mexican fast food. Lol the cashiers have been looking at us for a while and smiling because we are obviously foreigners / gringas. With my limited Spanish, I ordered tacos con pollo with a side of guacamole and chips and bottled water. Mmmm, I haven't had guac in so long. There were toppings on the counter which was really cool. It had two different salsas (red and green), raw onion, cilantro, and pineapple! Yum. When we got our food, we found a table to sit and eat at. The tacos were great. The shell is soft corn tortilla. The guac was more chunky than creamy but still good. Chips were a little too salty. Overall, I enjoyed the meal.

Afterwards, Madison and I went to McDonald's to try their chocolate cone and strawberry cone vanilla soft serves. It looked so pretty and it tasted great. Or maybe it's because I haven't had McD's ice cream or McD's in general for a long, long time. Once our eating was over, we walked around the mall to explore and shop. Elisha went to buy her own things. Madison and I were looking through shops to buy souvenirs. We came across a neat, artsy shop. She bought a lot meanwhile I bought a packet of seeds for a type of Costa Rican flower. I immediately thought of old co-worker and how I had to get it for her. She loves gardening haha. We went into Mango store afterwards to meet back up with Elisha. The clothing here is definitely more expensive than it would be in the US.

Our last stop was Britt Coffee: one of their top brands in Costa Rica I assume. I bought an organic whole bean (by accident) coffee blend bag and a bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans, which taste so bomb. But sadly, none of these are for me. Just souvenirs for others haha. Forgot to mention expensive 😞 but it's okay I'm already here so it'll be nice!

When we were all ready to leave, we all met up and waited at the front of the mall (at the parking lot). Everyone was talking about all the purchases they made and the plans they have for the weekend. Some are staying overnight in San José, some are going to Jacó, and some are going elsewhere. Majority of us though (the people in my Marine Bio class) will be going to the island Curú, located in the peninsula of Nicoya for our weekend field trip :D so excited!!

After approximately 2 hours, we got back to Puntarenas... and it was scorching hot once again lol. You'd think we'd get used to it by now. We probably did but that sweat still pours out non-stop. We got back around 5PM. I went home to find some of my parents' relatives from San José were visiting and staying. How coincidental, since I just came back from there. I told my parents I had fun in San José and showed them the Pura Vida shirt I bought. They sensed my excitement LOL. I was also telling the relatives in broken Spanish how I just came back from San José and it was a lot cooler than here (of course that was obvious but gotta make convo somehow aha).

Fast forward to dinner time: today was a full table. It was my host parents, a grandmother, the woman I met when I first came home, and two kids (one boy, one girl), and me. Today's dinner was fried fish, fries, and rice. My host parents introduced the little girl to me. Her name was Fiorella, and it was their nieta (grand-daughter). In my head, I'm like "woah another one? I thought I met all their family on New Year's Day LOL guess not." And I lost them when they continued introducing the other people.

Luckily, the woman knows some English. I was so happy when I heard those familiar words come out of her mouth. But throughout dinner, I was mainly listening to the family interact with each other and catch up because I sensed they haven't seen each other in a long time. Towards the end, I started making conversation by asking them if they were staying here overnight. And I was telling them my weekend plans with my class. The grandma started complimenting on how much Spanish I knew. I started laughing and saying "no no it's muy mal" haha.

After dinner, the woman was washing dishes and we started talking. It was very entertaining because we'd speak with a mix of English and Spanish since each other's first language is each other's second language. She also said my Spanish was good and that I knew a lot of vocabulary/she understood what I said. When I told her that I don't think so because it's so broken and my grammar is not correct, she reassured me it's okay, that the my host parents know I try. And that honestly made me feel a lot better. It made me realize she's right: at least I am trying to communicate with them.

Anyways, it also became clear to me who these new members were. It turns out this is my host parents' son's daughter with his ex-wife. The grandma is the ex-wife's mother. The woman speaking to me was her aunt. Lol, oh the complications. What struck me the most was that Fiorella was such a happy and sweet little girl. She was smiling the whole time during dinner and kept looking over at me, smiling even wider when we made eye contact. I can tell she was super excited to be here. Her aunt was telling me how every year, she is always full of energy, asking when they can come visit grandma and grandpa, regardless of their circumstances. That just melted my heart. So precious, so positive, and so full of love and innocence. And I thought it was awesome how the grandparents got along just fine, like there was no tension at all.

It was really nice talking to the aunt. She was also a sweet woman. I was telling her about what I did in San José (how I went shopping instead of the National Theater). And she politely said I messed up because it's such a beautiful site LOLOL. I was like oh crap, and explained to her I would've liked to see it but there was limited time so I wanted to shop haha. Ooops... next time, hopefully! Our conversation was interrupted when she had to help her niece out with something.

A little later, the whole family was getting ready to go to the beach and asked if I wanted to come. I thought about it. I actually did want to go with them and bond with them. But I was just so exhausted from being up so early. And I also have to wake up early tomorrow morning too so I politely declined and told them to have fun. When Fiorella found out I wasn't going, she seemed a little disappointed 😞 Made me feel kinda bad. What a darling.

As they went off to the beach, I just chilled in my room with my new friend/pet baby mouse that always comes in at a certain time lol. Even Mr. Rodent doesn't phase me anymore. I guess this study abroad experience is building hella character out of me (y).

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