hi everyone,
i realize it's been a loooong time since i've written a post on this. sorry about that. hopefully i am back in the swing of things now, and updates will be more frequent.
this weekend, pat and i went to montezuma, a very small beach town on the nicoya peninsula. the town is nicknamed montefuma. "fuma" means "smoke" in spanish, and the town is known as "berkeley on the beach"... mostly meaning there are a lot of hippies and a lot of weed. didn't come across any weed, but definitely a lot of hippies. dreadlocks and peaceflags were aplenty, and it actually did feel like a very small version of telegraph avenue on the beach, minus the smell of vomit and tons of students in cal gear. on saturday, we hiked up a stream to go to the montezuma waterfall. it was absolutely gorgeous, with rocks to jump off and a nice swimming hole, monkeys in the trees, and, well, there was a waterfall. what more could you ask for? we spent most of the day there, then hiked back down to watch the costa rica v. mexico soccer game. costa rica did not fare so well, and thus bar failed to erupt into the fiesta i had hoped it would. pat and i took a walk along the beach, hoping to find a restaurant that took credit cards (somehow we had no cash for the whole weekend, and only 2 restaurants in town took cards... awesome). we ended up a restaurant that looked promising but failed miserably, as our waitress informed me our burger came with cheddar cheese when in fact it came with american. i was not amused.
today, we walked along the beach again and found a resort hotel with a restaurant, which (obviously) accepted credit cards. we sat, drank milkshakes, ate a great meal, and wished we could afford to stay at a resort hotel. i think their grass was actually greener. their bathrooms certainly were cleaner, that's for sure. we spend the rest of the day hanging out on the beach until our bus left at 2:45. part of the journey is on a ferry, so we got to see a great sunset over the ocean as we tore through a bag of pretzels (dinner of champions).
we got into san jose 5 hours later, and just when i was feeling all warm and glowy about being home, our welcoming committee showed their nasty little faces. in our kitchen, there was: a spider, a cockroach, and a lizard, all spotted within a minute of each other. why god, why? i am now terrified of setting foot in our kitchen, and we don't have any pretzels left to live off of. mom, if i look famished when you arrive on saturday, this is why.
3/29/09
2/16/09
nicaragua, te amo
because we are living in costa rica for four months, we needed to leave the country so that we were not deported (tourists can only stay in the country for 90 days). soooo, we decided to head to nicaragua last weekend! for 40 dollars round trip, we took a bus from san jose, costa rica, to granada, nicaragua. granada is about 45 minutes away from the capitol of nicaragua, and is located on lake nicaragua.
the bus ride was fine on the way there: the bus left at 6 am from san jose, so we slept for four hours, until we were fairly close to the border. the border crossing is what takes up the most time on this trip-- we spent a total of 3 hours moving a total of 200 feet. unlike every other country i have ever been to, to cross into nicaragua you do not show your passport to a customs/ immigration official and get it stamped. instead, the bus driver collects all of the passports on the bus, along with your immigration forms, and then stands in line for you. but do you get to sit on the bus? why no, no you do not. instead, we waited in the blazing hot sun. forever. and ever. and then, once everything is stamped, everyone lines up in order to press a button that determines whether or not your bags will be searched. red light= search, green light= free to go. mind you, there are no drug dogs at the border, or xrays, or anything else, so pat and i easily could have smuggled several kilos of cocaine and a midget over the border and no one would have known the damn difference. we got the green light; the nun in line behind us got the red light. customs roulette appears to be legit.
anyway, we got to granada in the afternoon and i immediately moved the fan in our room ($7 a night for a private room) off the floor and onto a chair next to the bed. years of surviving summer in sacramento without air conditioning has taught me a thing or two about keeping cool by any means possible, and my solution to granada being hotter than hell was to shower approximately every four hours and sit in front of the fan.
granada is an absolutely charming city. there is minimal litter, all of the buildings and houses are painted bright colors, and other than the occasional car blasting reggaeton, the city was pretty peaceful. we spent a lot of time on the main street, which has a bunch of restaurants on it, all painted yellow or pink or green or blue. in the evening, once the sun has gone down, everyone sits out in chairs along the sidwalk and strolls around-- again, so charming.
on friday, we took a bus (in all seriousness, a school bus with jesus painted on it) to masaya, which boasts the biggest market in nicaragua. this place sold EVERYTHING. souvenirs, shoes, toasters, meat, the worst smelling cheese i have ever encountered, pinatas, school uniforms... you name it, they had it. pat bought a lot of presents for people, and i bought stuff for myself. my spanish is improving little by little, so i was able to effectively purchase for myself two belts, a t-shirt and a fan. the fan has turned out to be the best buy thus far.
on saturday, we cruised down the main road to the lake, which is humongous-- definitely bigger than tahoe (but not as pretty). there were lots of playgrounds along the shore, and people swimming, and restaurants and bars and people taking buggy rides. we found a guy to take us out in his boat for $10 each (this is the priciest thing we paid for in the country... mojitos were 2 for $1. so so so cheap). we went to las isletas, a group of 365 islands in the lake near granada. lots of the islands are owned privately, with houses built on them. we got to get off on one of the islands, which was gorgeous. we also went past an island that is home to several monkeys, that survive completely off of food that tourists feed them. we didn't feed them, but did take tons of pictures.
i was sad to leave granada, but as our bus rolled into san jose last night around 10, after 9 hours of bus-induced misery, pat and i both were surprised to find that this city, and this house, actually do feel like home.
the bus ride was fine on the way there: the bus left at 6 am from san jose, so we slept for four hours, until we were fairly close to the border. the border crossing is what takes up the most time on this trip-- we spent a total of 3 hours moving a total of 200 feet. unlike every other country i have ever been to, to cross into nicaragua you do not show your passport to a customs/ immigration official and get it stamped. instead, the bus driver collects all of the passports on the bus, along with your immigration forms, and then stands in line for you. but do you get to sit on the bus? why no, no you do not. instead, we waited in the blazing hot sun. forever. and ever. and then, once everything is stamped, everyone lines up in order to press a button that determines whether or not your bags will be searched. red light= search, green light= free to go. mind you, there are no drug dogs at the border, or xrays, or anything else, so pat and i easily could have smuggled several kilos of cocaine and a midget over the border and no one would have known the damn difference. we got the green light; the nun in line behind us got the red light. customs roulette appears to be legit.
anyway, we got to granada in the afternoon and i immediately moved the fan in our room ($7 a night for a private room) off the floor and onto a chair next to the bed. years of surviving summer in sacramento without air conditioning has taught me a thing or two about keeping cool by any means possible, and my solution to granada being hotter than hell was to shower approximately every four hours and sit in front of the fan.
granada is an absolutely charming city. there is minimal litter, all of the buildings and houses are painted bright colors, and other than the occasional car blasting reggaeton, the city was pretty peaceful. we spent a lot of time on the main street, which has a bunch of restaurants on it, all painted yellow or pink or green or blue. in the evening, once the sun has gone down, everyone sits out in chairs along the sidwalk and strolls around-- again, so charming.
on friday, we took a bus (in all seriousness, a school bus with jesus painted on it) to masaya, which boasts the biggest market in nicaragua. this place sold EVERYTHING. souvenirs, shoes, toasters, meat, the worst smelling cheese i have ever encountered, pinatas, school uniforms... you name it, they had it. pat bought a lot of presents for people, and i bought stuff for myself. my spanish is improving little by little, so i was able to effectively purchase for myself two belts, a t-shirt and a fan. the fan has turned out to be the best buy thus far.
on saturday, we cruised down the main road to the lake, which is humongous-- definitely bigger than tahoe (but not as pretty). there were lots of playgrounds along the shore, and people swimming, and restaurants and bars and people taking buggy rides. we found a guy to take us out in his boat for $10 each (this is the priciest thing we paid for in the country... mojitos were 2 for $1. so so so cheap). we went to las isletas, a group of 365 islands in the lake near granada. lots of the islands are owned privately, with houses built on them. we got to get off on one of the islands, which was gorgeous. we also went past an island that is home to several monkeys, that survive completely off of food that tourists feed them. we didn't feed them, but did take tons of pictures.
i was sad to leave granada, but as our bus rolled into san jose last night around 10, after 9 hours of bus-induced misery, pat and i both were surprised to find that this city, and this house, actually do feel like home.
1/25/09
the luckiest bug
sorry i haven't updated this in awhile, i haven't felt like i've had a ton to write.
this weekend has been very low key, but very nice. we went out of town last weekend, and stayed in a town called arenal, at a bed and breakfast called the lucky bug. the owners of this b&b are from mt. shasta, so they just looooved pat, and we're so incredibly generous to us. they gave us each a night free there, so that we could bring back our parents when they visit! and they gave us all our meals for free, and let us kayak around in their lake, and we saw wild toucans!
we had planned on going to this festival called palmares this weekend (kind of like the costa rican version of the state fair), so we stayed in san jose. however, it turned out that traffic out to the festival was just horrendous, and we didn't have the energy for a ten hour drinking binge, so we've spent the weekend just hanging out. on friday night, we went over to our canadian friends' house, and had curry and a lot of wine. they live in a house with several other people-- french, americans, texans (a special category of american) and costa ricans. the conversation was in english, spanish and french, and it was really fun to meet new people.
on saturday morning, we got some coffee (at the most adorable little coffee shop i have ever seen) and then went to the farmers market, which i had been looking forward to all week. i was not disappointed. the produce in grocery stores leaves a lot to be desired, and this was just produce heaven. there were probably a hundred stands, of mangoes, pineapples, lettuce, cilantro, onions, strawberries, limes, avocadoes, pears, etc etc etc. it was BEAUTIFUL. so after walking around in a daze, we bought a little of everything and headed home-- after buying some fresh squeezed orange juice. we made guacamole and listened to music and for once the weather in san jose was gorgeous, and it finally hit me how incredibly lucky i am to be here, and what an amazing experience this is going to be. pat will vouch for me-- i was glowing for the rest of the day.
last night, we went to pat's boss' boyfriend's house, for the editor-in-chief's going away party. everyone ended up sitting around on beanbags singing while pat and the editor played guitar. pat is planning on buying a guitar here (you can get them specially made for pretty cheap, apparently) so i'm thinking about teaching myself a song or two (might as well do something with all the free time i have).
today, pat made me pancakes for breakfast and we played scrabble. i baked a chocolate-blackberry cake (yet to be sampled) and now we're sitting in bed, contemplating making dinner.
i'm sure none of this is that exciting to read about, but it was such a nice weekend for me, i wanted to share it with you guys. love you all!
this weekend has been very low key, but very nice. we went out of town last weekend, and stayed in a town called arenal, at a bed and breakfast called the lucky bug. the owners of this b&b are from mt. shasta, so they just looooved pat, and we're so incredibly generous to us. they gave us each a night free there, so that we could bring back our parents when they visit! and they gave us all our meals for free, and let us kayak around in their lake, and we saw wild toucans!
we had planned on going to this festival called palmares this weekend (kind of like the costa rican version of the state fair), so we stayed in san jose. however, it turned out that traffic out to the festival was just horrendous, and we didn't have the energy for a ten hour drinking binge, so we've spent the weekend just hanging out. on friday night, we went over to our canadian friends' house, and had curry and a lot of wine. they live in a house with several other people-- french, americans, texans (a special category of american) and costa ricans. the conversation was in english, spanish and french, and it was really fun to meet new people.
on saturday morning, we got some coffee (at the most adorable little coffee shop i have ever seen) and then went to the farmers market, which i had been looking forward to all week. i was not disappointed. the produce in grocery stores leaves a lot to be desired, and this was just produce heaven. there were probably a hundred stands, of mangoes, pineapples, lettuce, cilantro, onions, strawberries, limes, avocadoes, pears, etc etc etc. it was BEAUTIFUL. so after walking around in a daze, we bought a little of everything and headed home-- after buying some fresh squeezed orange juice. we made guacamole and listened to music and for once the weather in san jose was gorgeous, and it finally hit me how incredibly lucky i am to be here, and what an amazing experience this is going to be. pat will vouch for me-- i was glowing for the rest of the day.
last night, we went to pat's boss' boyfriend's house, for the editor-in-chief's going away party. everyone ended up sitting around on beanbags singing while pat and the editor played guitar. pat is planning on buying a guitar here (you can get them specially made for pretty cheap, apparently) so i'm thinking about teaching myself a song or two (might as well do something with all the free time i have).
today, pat made me pancakes for breakfast and we played scrabble. i baked a chocolate-blackberry cake (yet to be sampled) and now we're sitting in bed, contemplating making dinner.
i'm sure none of this is that exciting to read about, but it was such a nice weekend for me, i wanted to share it with you guys. love you all!
1/14/09
a sausage exploded in my eye
that is not a line from a sick joke, i promise.
yesterday, i was thinking about writing a blog about how great life is going. i've been cooking great dinners, i got a job babysitting/ tutoring for a really nice (really wealthy) family with adorable children, and we get the food network, and there is zara here, and there is even betty crocker cake mix available to me in a grocery store only 4 blocks away. and there is toblerone. and frozen tacquitos. and... wait for it... THERE IS TACO BELL IN COSTA RICA. this place is like a disneyland, but better.
that is what i was going to tell you all yesterday. today, however, i would like to expose the pitfalls of this fairytale. last night, i was taking the bus home from escazu, the suburb where i now have a job babysitting, but freaked out and thought the bus was going the wrong way. so i got off the bus, but had no clue where i was. not even what street i was on, because in costa rica they do not believe in labeling the streets with those handy things called street signs. if you don't know where the hell you are, then too bad. so i got in a cab, and asked him to drop me off in moravia, my own little suburb. as soon as we got to a recognizable landmark, i asked him to stop. i handed him the only bill i had, a 10,000 colones note, for the 1,000 colones cab ride. kind of crappy of me, but i had no other options. this really pissed him off, and he pretty much threw the change at me. as i got out of the cab, the door shut loudly behind me. to be clear, i did not slam it-- i pushed it hard to make sure it was closed. seriously. at this, the cab driver became unhinged, and in a combination of spanish and english, screamed at me "fuck you, don't slam the fucking door, bitch." awesome. such a friendly country, really.
today, i tried to take the bus out to my babysitting job. i got on the bus, and asked the driver if it stopped at the coca cola station, which is the main transfer center for buses. he said yes, so i got on and paid my 50 cents. the bus proceeded to turn in the exact opposite direction of the coca cola station, so i asked the guy next to me if the bus was going there. no, it was not. the driver then seemed to say that he simply thought i wanted to know if the bus was going somewhere i could get a coca cola. right. some people on the bus thought this was hilarious. me, not so much. so the bus made a special stop for me, and i paid ten dollars for a cab out to escazu.
to top off my last 24 hours, i had planned a wonderful, rachael ray inspired dinner with sausages braised in red wine. i now realize she probably didn't have spicy chorizo in mind, which was the only sausage available at the mega-super (our favorite grocery store). not only did it taste like crap, one sausage completely exploded while it was cooking, covering my face, my sweatshirt, and the entire kitchen in greasy, burning hot red wine. "damn you, rachael ray," was pretty much all i could say (once i stopped screaming).
you win some, you lose some, right? i think if i head back to mega super for some brownie mix, i'll call today a draw.
yesterday, i was thinking about writing a blog about how great life is going. i've been cooking great dinners, i got a job babysitting/ tutoring for a really nice (really wealthy) family with adorable children, and we get the food network, and there is zara here, and there is even betty crocker cake mix available to me in a grocery store only 4 blocks away. and there is toblerone. and frozen tacquitos. and... wait for it... THERE IS TACO BELL IN COSTA RICA. this place is like a disneyland, but better.
that is what i was going to tell you all yesterday. today, however, i would like to expose the pitfalls of this fairytale. last night, i was taking the bus home from escazu, the suburb where i now have a job babysitting, but freaked out and thought the bus was going the wrong way. so i got off the bus, but had no clue where i was. not even what street i was on, because in costa rica they do not believe in labeling the streets with those handy things called street signs. if you don't know where the hell you are, then too bad. so i got in a cab, and asked him to drop me off in moravia, my own little suburb. as soon as we got to a recognizable landmark, i asked him to stop. i handed him the only bill i had, a 10,000 colones note, for the 1,000 colones cab ride. kind of crappy of me, but i had no other options. this really pissed him off, and he pretty much threw the change at me. as i got out of the cab, the door shut loudly behind me. to be clear, i did not slam it-- i pushed it hard to make sure it was closed. seriously. at this, the cab driver became unhinged, and in a combination of spanish and english, screamed at me "fuck you, don't slam the fucking door, bitch." awesome. such a friendly country, really.
today, i tried to take the bus out to my babysitting job. i got on the bus, and asked the driver if it stopped at the coca cola station, which is the main transfer center for buses. he said yes, so i got on and paid my 50 cents. the bus proceeded to turn in the exact opposite direction of the coca cola station, so i asked the guy next to me if the bus was going there. no, it was not. the driver then seemed to say that he simply thought i wanted to know if the bus was going somewhere i could get a coca cola. right. some people on the bus thought this was hilarious. me, not so much. so the bus made a special stop for me, and i paid ten dollars for a cab out to escazu.
to top off my last 24 hours, i had planned a wonderful, rachael ray inspired dinner with sausages braised in red wine. i now realize she probably didn't have spicy chorizo in mind, which was the only sausage available at the mega-super (our favorite grocery store). not only did it taste like crap, one sausage completely exploded while it was cooking, covering my face, my sweatshirt, and the entire kitchen in greasy, burning hot red wine. "damn you, rachael ray," was pretty much all i could say (once i stopped screaming).
you win some, you lose some, right? i think if i head back to mega super for some brownie mix, i'll call today a draw.
1/12/09
don't want to be an american idiot
this weekend, pat and i took the bus from san jose to quepos, where we spent the night in a dumpy hotel and then went to manuel antonio which is a national park on the pacific coast, about 15 minutes away from quepos. the bus ride from san jose was not as long as we had expected (about 3 hours) and was pretty pleasant for me, because i got the last seat on the bus. costa rica strangely has its act together when it comes to buses, and most people make reservations for the bus several days in advance. pat and i did not figure this out, so pat spent most of the ride to manuel antonio on the floor in the back of the bus. when a seat finally opened up, we got to sit next to each other. this turned out to be not so good. we were listening to our ipods, and i looked out the window, where we were passing a palm tree forest. i had no idea these existed, and practically screamed at pat, "IS THAT A PALM TREE FOREST?!?!" he gave me a look of death, and replied, "you're shouting. actually shouting." the rest of the bus was dead silent. great. i spent the rest of the bus ride wanting to melt into my seat.
the rest of the weekend passed without too much going wrong. the beach was gorgeous (although it took us awhile to find it) and we had an amazing dinner at a place called "la barba roja" which means "the red beard." pat was loving it. we also saw some live music, and enjoyed some very girly tropical drinks. we spent the night in a 14 bed dorm in a hostel, which was good because it was only $10 a night, but bad because people were coming and going all night, making sleep almost impossible. we napped on the beach the next day, long enough for pat to get a sunburn.
we didn't go into the actual national park (the $7 entrance fee was too much for the poverty plan) but plan on returning, because pat really wants to see a sloth. he kept getting excited about lumps in trees when we were walking to the beach, which we thought were sloths but were actually weird tree growths. you can also go on tours of the mangroves, where there are crocodiles and monkeys and god knows what, so when we sack up and pay to get into the park, i'll let you all know how it goes.
the rest of the weekend passed without too much going wrong. the beach was gorgeous (although it took us awhile to find it) and we had an amazing dinner at a place called "la barba roja" which means "the red beard." pat was loving it. we also saw some live music, and enjoyed some very girly tropical drinks. we spent the night in a 14 bed dorm in a hostel, which was good because it was only $10 a night, but bad because people were coming and going all night, making sleep almost impossible. we napped on the beach the next day, long enough for pat to get a sunburn.
we didn't go into the actual national park (the $7 entrance fee was too much for the poverty plan) but plan on returning, because pat really wants to see a sloth. he kept getting excited about lumps in trees when we were walking to the beach, which we thought were sloths but were actually weird tree growths. you can also go on tours of the mangroves, where there are crocodiles and monkeys and god knows what, so when we sack up and pay to get into the park, i'll let you all know how it goes.
1/8/09
at the request of ms. kenner...
This is our dining nook. Please observe the bar (on the left) and the hideous doily that i cannot figure out how to remove from the light. To the right is a little patio with flowers and some sort of fruit tree. I haven't yet been on the patio, because there are spiderwebs on the doors. Pat's mission is to remove them.
We have our very own banana tree. very tropical of us, don't you think?
there is a beautiful little courtyard with a ton of flowers and the perfect amount of sun for tanning in the morning. taryn, don't worry, i'm wearing sunscreen. below is our house! the flowers are outside our bedroom window.
1/7/09
coming clean
first of all, this blog was set up with spanish directions, so i have no clue what is actually going on. hopefully it will work and i will be able to keep everyone updated on life in costa rica. don't expect anything witty or of actual importance-- go to pat's blog for that. i expect this will mostly detail the (mis)adventures of my day to day life, starting with yesterday...
we moved into our apartment yesterday. it's adorable, in a little barrio outside of san jose called moravia. there are two other apartments in our complex, so we have four other americans as our neighbors. they are young, seem really nice, and are all teachers. one girl, caitlyn, is from the 916-- further evidence that we are actually everywhere. i am incredibly happy to be out of our hostel. the guy that worked there got a little too friendly, and offered to adjust the hot water for me while i was showering. excuse me, senor? so i had to skip showering for awhile. last night in the new apartment i thought i would finally be able to clean myself without complications. naturally this did not work out. the shower head overheated, sparked and filled the whole bathroom with smoke, so i spent several hours sitting in the bedroom (with wet, not-shampooed hair) while the landlord and two electricians stood in the shower and shouted in spanish.
we then went to dinner at a chinese restaurant, where i ordered "pollo y arroz con salsa curry." i would not recommend ordering thai food in a chinese restaurant in costa rica. it comes out tasting like fish. this forced us to brace the grocery store (so domestic) where we succeeded in buying cultured milk instead of regular milk. we thought this meant we were being extra cautious about health, but it actually meant that pat poured milk resembling yogurt onto his cheerios this morning.
so far today i have been tanning and reading, and finally, i showered. eventually i will be venturing out to buy some milk. pretty exciting, i know.
we moved into our apartment yesterday. it's adorable, in a little barrio outside of san jose called moravia. there are two other apartments in our complex, so we have four other americans as our neighbors. they are young, seem really nice, and are all teachers. one girl, caitlyn, is from the 916-- further evidence that we are actually everywhere. i am incredibly happy to be out of our hostel. the guy that worked there got a little too friendly, and offered to adjust the hot water for me while i was showering. excuse me, senor? so i had to skip showering for awhile. last night in the new apartment i thought i would finally be able to clean myself without complications. naturally this did not work out. the shower head overheated, sparked and filled the whole bathroom with smoke, so i spent several hours sitting in the bedroom (with wet, not-shampooed hair) while the landlord and two electricians stood in the shower and shouted in spanish.
we then went to dinner at a chinese restaurant, where i ordered "pollo y arroz con salsa curry." i would not recommend ordering thai food in a chinese restaurant in costa rica. it comes out tasting like fish. this forced us to brace the grocery store (so domestic) where we succeeded in buying cultured milk instead of regular milk. we thought this meant we were being extra cautious about health, but it actually meant that pat poured milk resembling yogurt onto his cheerios this morning.
so far today i have been tanning and reading, and finally, i showered. eventually i will be venturing out to buy some milk. pretty exciting, i know.
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