Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 1, día 5

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/28/2009 Wednesday

6pm... not quite a mid-day update but still earlier than other days. I'm sitting in my room at Hotel Rosa del Paseo on the west side of San Jose. It's a very nice hotel with a courtyard, tranquility, safety (you must be let in or out by the attendant), and quiet. The quiet is nice because San Jose, in my brief experience, feels loud and congested. No more than any other international city though. I had a fairly slow morning after being woken up at 5am by Cahuita's local howler monkeys. They sound like ghosts. I went back to sleep only to be woken a few hours later by torrential downpour. It seemed a good day for travel. When I got up and headed back to Cahuita NP the sun was out. I took my camera, intent on getting capuchin monkeys on film since I didn't have my camera yesterday. I saw a few, plus a sloth, but none close enough to photo well, like yesterday. It seems I'll just have to return in order to get better photos.

I made my way to the bus station at 11 to catch the 11:30 to San Jose. I found myself recalling my first minutes at the same place yesterday... a woman with a European accent (speaking English, pretty sure it was German or Austrian) had pissed me off. I heard her speaking English so I asked her which direction the beach was. She rolled her eyes and pointed. Her body language made it seem like I had just wasted hours of her life and she wanted a refund for the huge inconvenience. As I walked out she said, "This is a business, not a tourist center." in exasperation. As if I couldn't tell by the cheap Santa Claus and ornament display you were setting up when I walked by... clearly you're trying to pawn this crap to tourists and locals... in the tropics... in October. She was in my shoes once too... in Cahuita for the first time. I've met many welcoming and nice Europeans, but the general sentiment towards Americans from Europeans is totally unwarranted. I'd like to think an American in Tokyo would have treated her better. Thankfully my mind was distracted after those few minutes by a girl that sat next to me waiting for her bus. She was Latin, with wavy locks flowing from a yellow bandanna. I didn't want to be rude, but her eyes were astonishing. She kind of reminded me of the award winning National Geographic photo of the girl from Afghanistan. I formed the sentence in Spanish in my mind, "I don't want to be rude, but I feel compelled to tell you that your eyes are the most beautiful I've ever seen," but worried I had the wrong word for "rude" and said nothing. (Clearly my anti-casanova skillz extends far beyond gringas.) There is absolutely no shortage of beautiful girls (from here or anywhere else on the planet) in this country. On the bus to San Jose it rained again. Approaching San Jose from Puerto Limon the rainforest is beautiful. Everything is lush, clouds hang in the valleys, etc. A 25 year old nurse from Calgary sat next to me and we chatted for most of the ride. She was part Czech and told me Prague was nice. I've heard as much and would like to see it one day.

11pm... Yep, today was very different than yesterday, as expected, except another great dinner. I walked 4 blocks to the highly recommended Machu Picchu. I was a bit skeptical with the erotic toy shop across the street, but don't let that dissuade you. I ordered the famed pisco sour to discover the Peruvian's secret. Holy smokes, I'm glad I got the small one. Halfway through I had a solid buzz going... maybe 3 oz. I asked my waiter to choose a dish for me between a few options and he picked ARROZ CON POLLO A LA PERUANA, which as you would expect, was baked chicken served on rice in a green sauce, with peas and sliced peppers added. The sauce was very good. He also brought out a small saucer of salsa. "Cuidate, muy muy picante." Ok, noted. I found out it was habaneros.... very good but very hot. The rice was very short grained, almost round. After that I had a cafe con leche. My first Costa Rican coffee... smooth, creamy, delicious. Before leaving I told my waiter, "With certainty, this is one of the best drinks and food (I don't know the word for meal) of my life." He was grateful. I really have been eating like royalty the last several days... the heat and humidity stifles my appetite to one meal a day. I don't think I'm losing weight though. It was obvious in the restaurant I am in a wealthy part of town. The other patrons had on nice clothes, jewelry, make-up, etc. It feels OK for me to be here since I was a bit concerned about safety in the city. My hotel room is really really nice... my first hot water shower in 6 or 7 days. My clothes are drier but still smell like Central American buses (i.e. slight mildew, a lot of sweat). My t-shirts stink. Surprisingly less English spoken here than on the coast. It was kind of nice chatting for a few hours with my Canadian bus neighbor about the differences between our countries, but I also have enjoyed being forced to use Spanish. [Note to self, Albertans have good party themes. Ex: Tight & Bright (think neon spandex), Anything But Clothes (cardboard, foil, stuffed animals sewn together, etc), etc.] My Spanish listening skills are improving. I need to expand my vocabulary, and just need to be diligent about that when I get home.