Arrival in San Jose, Costa Rica


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Published: November 10th 2006
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We were pretty sad to leave the US of A after five busy weeks; what an amazing place, well continentally sized place, to travel around; in particular in a Ford open-top Mustang. So many options, so many landscapes and so much to do. And although from time to time the hospitality folks get on your wick, it's generally tops for service and easy-going, chatty people who want to know all about you. A bit like Oldham :-)

So after the most ridiculous fiasco in the world regarding actually getting our ticket from Los Angeles sorted out with TACA (they lost it, at least twice), we arrived somewhat rueful, on 7th November in rain-deluged San Jose, ugly capital of CR (what is it about Latin America that generally, you are advised to avoid the capital cities? Seems at odds with the so-called Developed World).

Luckily I´d booked a place in advance called Hotel Aranjuez which, despite having reception management with degrees in Personality Removal and Customer Alienation, was a great and atmospheric little joint. It was peeing down half the time but it was a good place for chillin and illin with a book and a coffee whilst coming
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Sofie relaxing in one of the passages between outhouses of laid-back (though not some of the rather uptight staff) Hotel Aranjuez
to terms with the fact that we had now entered centro-America.

San Jose seems a dreary, dismal place....lots of modern architecture but sparse on the colonial touches. Well, dead centre there are some cool old buildings for opera and classical music performances, and there's the odd colourful church here and there, but I guess the place has grown so big that needs outstrip the aestetic so what you have is this gray urban sprawl, more or less devoid of charm, or one whose charm has been stamped on by progress. The city and time of year did their best to dampen my spirits through rain, but coming from Manchester, I could handle it. I mean, just buy a cheap brolly (that within an hour dismantled itself in the tiniest of gusts of wind, and took 11 sales representatives in the department store to sort out later. Finding that latin america is all about over-employment).

Walking around San Jose you need hiking boots really, in fact I think Yosemite park rangers would grade it as 'Difficult'. Typical paths here require a broad experience in technical walking lest you snap your ankle in a second. Just have a look at some of the road gutters for starters! (I think breaking an entire leg if you're not almost constantly staring at the ground is highly probable). My main walking problem though was contracting some kind of toe infection (apparently due to a weakened immune system, if my TravelSpanish understood correctly). It took about two days of strange twinges before I actually studied the afflicted and diminutive extremity. Damn that was a bit nasty! For those with such abominable curiosity, a piccie of it is on the next entry!: La Fortuna

San jose has some decent markets where fantastic hammocks - going for a song and not really even available at such quality in Denmark - were for sale for 10 dollars, but WHERE would you put it? Well, I guess we couldnt be bothered arranging for one to be posted back to the EU, but there they are if you want them. You can also eat animals which have been baked (okay, they're made of bread only). Worryingly, you can make sure your weapons stock is up to date too (I planned to visit Columbia, so figured acquiring a trusty 9mm could be a useful part of the South American Backpacker's
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I love the explosion of stuff on to the nearest flat surface when u land in a new gaff
Tool-Kit......); shops peddling the most violent-looking array of weaponry were huddled between shoe-shops and patisseries.

In San Jose we also manage to locate a pool-hall to keep up our skills - my woman had her ass whupped by me (I beat her at pool too :-) ) back in the US mid-West so was keen on challenging me again........some couples travel with a mini chess-board, or travel-backgammon, but we couldnt find travel-pool tables so whenever we came upon a pool table we usually jumped on it (not literally of course).

We really wanted to move on into the countryside and national parks CR is famous for, but it's amazing how lethargy can overcome a (so-called) traveller, debilitating him or her to the point that travel becomes well, a bit annoying. ("If I could just sit on my butt for a while, not do anything interesting, and have NADA to write in my journal for once!") So, it took a week before we could be bothered moving from this boring, uncharismatic place. (Ironic that during the next 8 months this turned out to be a place I would keep coming back to.......) One day in San Jose we just
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Breakfast was actually breakFEAST at Hotel Aranjuez
kept walking, walking. The guide-book had said the area to the west (I think) was where the university was, and that around and about were some interesting streets. Well, it wasnt bad, and the students looked happy and well-fed; I bought a memory card for my camera, and we smooched around some student eateries that were STUPIDLY cheap, but decent enough. There were some bars around there too that really were bars, in that they seemed to have enough caging to resemble a place for containing the wild animals that were sitting in there boozing away in their dark shades (I dont think everyone in this neighbourhood was a scholar).




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Top little market where fantastic hammocks cost like nothing, other than your ability to get them back home.....so we didnt bother :-(
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Come and get your roasted turtles, baked baby alligators, "Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely" (I love Monty Python)
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Experiencing Mancunian rain most of the first few days in C. America was......not expected
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Sofie clings to a hydron to stay out of the typical ravine of a gutter
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Actual crazy paving, and not by design
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Locals get used to these trenches (I almost broke my neck/leg/ankle three times a day)
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We find a pool hall - wahey!
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San Jose young guns, shooting only pool (at the moment)
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Make mine an automatic
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Cool little locals eaterie in downtown area, near to the very dodgy large indoor market. Sofie tried the dish here that cost simply cents....but the meat was like shoe leather


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