Traveling through Cities

The last weekend in January was literally packed with things to do..

Friday

Our spanish class randomly took a field trip to a local wood factory called Sr y Sra Ese where we toured the factory and had the option of buying different souvenirs and jewelry made of local woods from Costa Rica. In Spanish But it was interesting. The other classes got to go to the Cartago market and the Children's Museum. But I'm not bitter...

That afternoon we explore the city with Anita, Macey, and Grace. The city is full of old repurposed buildings like in Charleston, and covered in grafiti. We walk around San Jose until we get to Parque España. It is a beautiful park just beside the Jade Museum, which boasts the largest collectin of Jade in Central America. Why ? I don't know, but apparently it's beautiful ?

Graffiti is all over the city, and it gives it character.

Spanish Park: A Biological Project in downtown San Jose

This is some sort of art/political statement on a bust.
There was also paint thrown all over a monument in the park.
Never found out what that was about.

Under the bridge beside Parque Espana.
Macey exploring the mosaic.

Saturday

CEA takes us on our last planned excursion Saturday morning on a bus to a nearby volcano called Irazu which is the tallest volcano in Costa Rica. It is considered dormant; the last time it erupted was back when JFK landing in Costa Rica for a visit, when it covered the entire city of San Jose in ashes. It was pretty neat to see all the agriculture making use of the land, and how the vegetation was able to grow back over the ashes. The plant life began to change as we started to ascend the huge mountain; one in particular was this giant-leaf plant literally called "Poor Man's Umbrella". We get to the top and are astounded to see that we are about the clouds. This mountain is so tall that on a clear day you can see both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts from this peak. We unfortunately aren't so lucky as it is the dry season and there are nothing but clouds surrounding the peak of the volcano, but it is beautiful nonetheless. It was one of the most amazing experiences, to literally be in and above the clouds, and to breath in the fresh water vapor and feel the cool, brisk air. Que Rico!

In front of the main crater.
Photo Cred: Kevin Brady

Photo Cred: Courtney Duncan

Las Chicas :)

Photo Cred: Leo

After leaving the volcano we went back through the town of Cartago and stopped at the beautiful Basilica along the way to have a scavenger hunt. We were paired in teams of two and got to run around the city yelling spanish at strangers and trying to collect things like sugar packets and newspapers and answer a few questions about the history of the church and Costa Rica. I was paired with Kevin, who had been to the church the day before with his spanish class so he knew where a few of the things were we needed pictures of, and I did most of the talking because I basically will ask anyone anything to get things done. I also started the sprinting, because before I took off and scared the other teams everyone was speed-walking. We were laughing and sweating by the end, buuuuut we won ! And our prizes were coffee mugs that say YODO which is pronounded JODO and is Costa Rican slang for coffee. It was unbelievably fun and the church was absolutely beautiful :)

Cartago Basilica
Photo Cred: CEA Study Abroad (Leo)

We also had lunch at some point in Orosi Valley which was gorgeous, and got to see the oldest standing church in Costa Rica, with a wedding inside (oops, we have a knack for doing that) so we did our best not to crash their happy day and waited until the group left to head inside and check out the church. I also accidentally stole admission into the little museum next to the gift shop but we won't talk about that. I think that night Grace, Macey, and I went to see Life of Pi with our host brother Diego, whom we like to call Diegz. Many movies here are shown in English with Spanish subtitles, and are usually about $3. They are two months behind the states in release dates, but for them these are new releases so it's pretty cheap !

Orosi Valley, view from the restaurant
Photo Cred: CEA Study Abroad (Leo)

Orosi Church, The oldest church still standing in Costa Rica.

Orosi Church, decorated for a wedding

Sunday
Sunday Anita, Grace, and I took a bus early in the morning to the town of Heredia (please, guys, do NOT pronounce the H in spanish words. God kills a kitten every time you do.) with the intent of taking a tour of Cafe Britt coffee plantation, only to find out on the bus ride that the tours were completely full and there was no point in trying to show up (boo). LUCKILY, Grace had met a missionary living in Heredia her first week here when she had lunch with her cousin I think who brought the missionary along with him to the reunion. His name was Gram, and he was a super sweet guy with an incredible knowledge of Spanish, God, and Costa Rica so we still managed to have an amazing time.

He showed us the local soccer stadium, where we were actually able to go inside and watch a scrimmage game. He then proceeded to take us to the most amazing restaurant I have ever laid taste buds on, called MAMI's, which was authentic Caribbean Style food. I was advised and obeyed to try the casada with Rice and Beans (a formal name of a caribbean style rice and beans mix, made with coconut milk and not to be confused with gallopinto or typical arroz con frijoles) and the fish and patacones (the waffle fry of plantains ?) and to drink the Agua de Sapo (literally Frog Water, a typical drink consisting of ginger, sugar cane, and lime). It was literally so amazing and changed my life.

After stuffing ourselves to death in this little Caribbean Paradise, we went to a Colombian ice cream shop and everyone got Granzanilla, which was this strange concoction with shaved ice, tres leches, ice cream, syrup, and alot of other ingredients keen for a heart attack, so I refrained and just got a regular vanilla. We went to the park in front of the church which was filled with families, clowns and performers, and (randomly) cheerleaders? It is very common in Latin Countries in general to just spend alot of time in the parks or where ever, just talking to people. We tend to forget to do that in America. It was nice not to have anything to do or anywhere to be. To just relax and talk and be.