Una Fiesta!

Week 3

This week was a San Pedro/San Jose kind of week. We had a barbeque at Andrew's hostel, which was a good time. He wasn't sure how to direct us to his house, since there are no addresses here, and none of the streets have names, so he ended up drawing a complicated map. Luckily, everyone made it okay, and there was plenty of food and alcohol to go around.

Since I ended up spending a little too much money in Manuel Antonio last week, as well as getting incredibly car sick on the bus ride home, I decided to stay in town this weekend. A lot of people had the same idea, and we found plenty of things to do around here to keep us busy. Thursday after class, I went to the mall, and we finally had time to do some serious shopping. I even got a shopping bruise, that's how serious it was!

Friday we all got up really early, and took the bus downtown. We walked around for a while, taking pictures of the Teatro Nacional, and then headed to the gold museum. It was a really great place, but we definately divided into groups based on how quickly we went through the exhibits. Afterward, we all split up for lunch - Wendy's here is actually very good, better even than in America, and very inexpensive. We all met back up to do some more shopping, including at a store called Carrion (a very odd name). We were getting tired, so we headed back and called our new Tica friend Tayler, who was taking us out to dinner that night at a barbeque place.

We headed up to the BBQ in a cab and a car. This place was very cool, both because it was extremely remote, and because basically what they do is roast a pig, and stay open until it's gone. I split a plate with 3 other people, and it was possibly the most pork I have ever seen in one place at one time. We ate sausage, pork chops, sausage and potato burritos, pork rinds, plaintains with cheese, fried yucca, fried cheese, and probably some stuff I'm not even remembering, and still had an almost full plate when we were done. Leftovers!

Yesterday was 4th of July. There was a rumor going around that we could get free hot dogs at the American Embassy, but without street names, we weren't sure exactly where that might be. We took it easy most of the day, although Liberty and I did walk to Mas x Menos to get food and charcoal for a cookout. Right before we cooked out, I saw my first and so far only San Jose sunset. Heather and I made barbeque lime chicken, and I made corn. We had a feast with mashed potatoes, chimichurri, cayenne corn, and grilled fruits and veggies. Sometimes I feel like half of what I do here is eat, but I'm always walking, so I think it's ok!

Today, a couple of us headed up to Volcan Irazu. It wasn't far, so it was a short trip, but the only bus left at 8 am, so we woke up extremely early. The bus ride was bumpy, and people were crammed into the aisle for most of the trip - I was so glad we got seats! People were wearing heavy jackets and ski hats, and I thought they were crazy til we got to the volcano. It was freezing! The volcano itself was gorgeous though, with bright green water in the crater, and we were able to do some hiking as well. We even got to see a coatamundi, and some people fed it.

Extremely exhausted, but still having an amazing time!