Please note that Im using this challenging Spanish keyboard setup and just writing, no drafts or editing for me. It is what it is, it´s an update lacking writing quality but you get the drift. Hopefully my enthusiasm and the good stuff is worth wading through the wordiness. And if you can´t handle wading through wordiness why are you my friend?!
Welcome to Costa Rica, wait for 2 hours for your ride to arrive. No biggie, after all I´ve been to Africa, I am an experienced waiter. I was more annoyed because I know my ride left because he and other passengers didn´t want to wait so he dropped them off and came back for me 2 hours later and had the nerve to ask for a tip!
Thanks to my friend Holly I was all sorted as to a good hostel, thank you Holls! The place where we dropped off another girl was less than acceptable looking, and I´m not picky. They´ve been super helpful here and got me feeling confident as to which way is up.
So I´ve learned that for the most part (unlike in Africa) the travellers here have their own agenda and aren´t really into chatting, going anywhere without a plan, or being chill (this is just a first impression), except for George. George is a retired long haul trucker from Seattle who shared some boioled paotatoes and eggs with me for breakfast, and gave me some great tips for naiive white girls travelling alone, where to go to shop, eat and check out some sights.
Out on the street the vibe is totally weird, not bad, weird. It reminds me of a grand melange of various places I´ve been. Like Arusha, Tanzania with it´s street vendors selling phone cards, beaded jewelry and sandals everywhere, mashed up with Queen W. in Toronto with indie shops, random big corp. fast food and skate and surf shops (more than any city without a single person on a skateboard needs), then there are pedestrian malls, plazas and old buildings remeniscent of Europe, and crowded markets that remind me of Egypt. I ate lupper (if you will) in one of the markets, and I was like ¨this is expensive¨ but then it came with soup and the plate was piled so high I actually got 2 meals out of it, so actually really reasonably priced. So yeah, I totally rambled there... but back to my point: good weird, but weird right?
In one of the markets aimed entirely at tourists I found the coolest jewelry shop, COOLEST! So if you know me, you know I like jewelry, and not the standard. I´m a fan of unique and bizarre usually big silver stuff with cool rocks. This stand is all that and a bit of nice coconut and wood carved stuff (my next favourite). The best part is the guy who ran it makes it all himself, so of course we chatted and David is awesome! His story is like ¨I grew up in south Pacific of Costa Rica and worked in a hotel and it went out of business so I came to San Jose to make a few dollars and learned this art on the street and blah, blah, blah (his words) here I am¨. Although I had no cash he made and gave me a coppper ring representing Costa Rica´s Pura Vida. He was so proud, saying it´s probably the only free thing I´ll get in Costa Rica; from what I can tell I think he may be right. I´ll be going back tomorrow, with money, and a well thought out plan of what I can spend. This sutff is so cool I could go like really crazy, but I neeeeeed to get souvenirs from there (and let´s be honest here, a little something for myself as well). Should probably be worried I have to carry them with me for the next 7 weeks, but this is the BEST jewelry I´ve EVER seen, so I´m not.
And then I took a completely different way home and didn´t get lost even a little or have to ask for help although I don´t know where north or any other direction is (thank you thunder clouds for obscuring my sense of direction) and sometimes only sometimes there is a sign saying what street you´re on but usually not, so YAY!
