Sabado era tranquilo y de relajacion. (Saturday was calm and relaxing.) I spent the afternoon walking around and exploring the sites of San Jose. Discovering the Mercado de Centrale was fun and I enjoyed a great meal for only a few dollars. The culture is so different here, people mostly walk or ride the many buses, which I understand is an excellent way to get around town. Once I can speak Spanish better I might attempt to ride some of the buses and explore more areas, as for now, I explore where I can walk.
My dorm room in the hostel sleeps 8 in very comfortable beds. Currently there are four of us, Santiago y Carlos ser de Argentina y Bill ser de Panama (originally from San Antonio), y un hombre desconocido. In other words, Santiago and Carlos are from Argentina and Bill is from Panama and there is an unknown man. All of the others are very handsome – muy hermoso. I suppose it’s a good thing that I’m currently abstaining from sexual pleasures because with all of these handsome men, one might run amuck.
Today is also a relaxing day. A short trip to the restaurante Vishnu, a vegetarian restaurant, and a trip to the local tienda (store) to obtain an alarm clock highlighted my day thus far. Who knew I would need an alarm clock, but since I’m going to stay in the hostel and not move to the hotel next to the language school, I have to get up early and meet my driver and then drive across town each day next week. I’m actually excited that I am learning something I’ve wanted to learn for some time. It seems that living in Central and South America is very cheap, so if I learn Spanish then I should be able to enjoy my stays here.
As I talk with others, like Dean from Vancouver Canada (talk about muy caliente), it seems that Guatemala, Nicaragua, Belize, and many other areas are even cheaper than here. I’ve learned from the handsome man Santiago that even Argentina is inexpensive. Thus, I have a feeling that I won’t be returning to North America for some time. I have to find out what it will take to change my plane ticket to another country. For now I’m going to explore Costa Rica, then Panama.
I’ve discovered something that is actually helping me learn Spanish a bit more, but at first was frustrating. Since being in Costa Rica, my internet has turned to Spanish. When I don’t understand something I use Google’s page translator.
I am enjoying the afternoon on the roof top deck after relaxing by the pool for an hour while the sun was shining. It’s back to clouds now as it is still the rainy season here. The mountains around San Jose are encircled with clouds all of the time, so I cannot see how tall they are. It seems that most of the guests have decided to go exploring or have left for other parts of the country. Monteverde and Volcan Aerenal seem to be good places to visit, but I also know that is where all of the tourist go. I just don’t want to do the touristy things. I want to get to know the locals.
Living in an almost communal aspect has brought me out of my seclusion of months past, however, I still find myself enjoying a lot of time alone, like this moment while everyone is gone.
I do not know what the future holds, however, for the first time in a long time, I feel better and am excited about life.
