Bievenidos a Costa Rica
12 – abril
After leaving LAX at 1am and a 3 hr layover in Houston, I arrived in San Jose around noon. In the plane I was able to see part of the Caribbean islands and beautiful colors of the water. It made me excited, but also partly wished that I was headed for a tropical island with a friend or two. As we landed in San Jose I could see the lush green landscape and some of the civilization around the area. It was at this time that I really felt nervous and a bit scared for the first time. For a moment I wished I was landing in Seattle or Denver (as I usually do) and not in a completely strange place. It was only a minute before I reminded myself of the grand adventure, the beautiful sights, the amazing experience, and incredible opportunity for learning that I was headed for. After waiting for immigration lines, then my luggage, then customs, I made it out of the security area and into the mass of people waiting for friends & loved ones, taxi drivers awaiting patrons, and a whole new world. I wasn’t sure how to proceed from that point, but just at that moment I spotted Luisa, Gabriela and Fabiola on the other side of the glass window, holding a sign and waving to me. They greeted me with beautiful pink roses and warm words of welcome. Luisa was a great guide as we drove from the airport to their house. She explained (in English) a lot of things about the areas we drove through, sights, landscape, etc. Their house is great. It has pretty much all the amenities I am used to, yet completely different structure, architecture, etc. Pretty much everything is made of a dark colored wood (stairs, walls, floor, etc) and it sort of has the feel of a bungalow in the jungle, but big. Fabiola is sharing a room with her sister so that I can have her room and she even cleaned out all her clothes from the closet, and dresser, posters from the wall, and books/decorations from the shelves. I felt so welcomed to have my own room that was cleaned out just for me. Luisa even asked Hugo to find out my favorite colors (I said pink and blue) and she had bought 3 new sets of sheets – some pink, some blue – for me to choose from, as well as a new pink comforter! This is better service than you get at the Hilton! Their yard is amazing. They have so many different trees and plants that produce so many different fruits, including manaza de agua (translated – waterapple), bananas, sugar cane, and several others that I can’t remember names. I tried about 3 different types of fruit that the girls just pulled off the trees and said here – try this. It’s amazing to have all this in your backyard. And next to their property is a coffee plantation so I got to see the coffee plants. Luisa’s husband, Ibo, came home a little bit later and then the five of us drove around the area a bit, saw the school “Centro Cultural Educativo, Etc.” (Etc. as it is referred to) they just built and I will be attending, and went to dinner at Hugo’s favorite seafood restaurant where I ate ceviche con cammarones – which is basically shrimp (crazy, I know) in a pico de gallo/salsa type sauce and chicken in a tomato sauce, as well as platanoes (I can’t remember…) which is mashed platanos (similar to bananas) that are fried. They look sort of like little pancakes. They eat a lot of seafood here so I’ve decided to get over my dislike and try the local specialties and favorites, even if they are from the sea.
After leaving LAX at 1am and a 3 hr layover in Houston, I arrived in San Jose around noon. In the plane I was able to see part of the Caribbean islands and beautiful colors of the water. It made me excited, but also partly wished that I was headed for a tropical island with a friend or two. As we landed in San Jose I could see the lush green landscape and some of the civilization around the area. It was at this time that I really felt nervous and a bit scared for the first time. For a moment I wished I was landing in Seattle or Denver (as I usually do) and not in a completely strange place. It was only a minute before I reminded myself of the grand adventure, the beautiful sights, the amazing experience, and incredible opportunity for learning that I was headed for. After waiting for immigration lines, then my luggage, then customs, I made it out of the security area and into the mass of people waiting for friends & loved ones, taxi drivers awaiting patrons, and a whole new world. I wasn’t sure how to proceed from that point, but just at that moment I spotted Luisa, Gabriela and Fabiola on the other side of the glass window, holding a sign and waving to me. They greeted me with beautiful pink roses and warm words of welcome. Luisa was a great guide as we drove from the airport to their house. She explained (in English) a lot of things about the areas we drove through, sights, landscape, etc. Their house is great. It has pretty much all the amenities I am used to, yet completely different structure, architecture, etc. Pretty much everything is made of a dark colored wood (stairs, walls, floor, etc) and it sort of has the feel of a bungalow in the jungle, but big. Fabiola is sharing a room with her sister so that I can have her room and she even cleaned out all her clothes from the closet, and dresser, posters from the wall, and books/decorations from the shelves. I felt so welcomed to have my own room that was cleaned out just for me. Luisa even asked Hugo to find out my favorite colors (I said pink and blue) and she had bought 3 new sets of sheets – some pink, some blue – for me to choose from, as well as a new pink comforter! This is better service than you get at the Hilton! Their yard is amazing. They have so many different trees and plants that produce so many different fruits, including manaza de agua (translated – waterapple), bananas, sugar cane, and several others that I can’t remember names. I tried about 3 different types of fruit that the girls just pulled off the trees and said here – try this. It’s amazing to have all this in your backyard. And next to their property is a coffee plantation so I got to see the coffee plants. Luisa’s husband, Ibo, came home a little bit later and then the five of us drove around the area a bit, saw the school “Centro Cultural Educativo, Etc.” (Etc. as it is referred to) they just built and I will be attending, and went to dinner at Hugo’s favorite seafood restaurant where I ate ceviche con cammarones – which is basically shrimp (crazy, I know) in a pico de gallo/salsa type sauce and chicken in a tomato sauce, as well as platanoes (I can’t remember…) which is mashed platanos (similar to bananas) that are fried. They look sort of like little pancakes. They eat a lot of seafood here so I’ve decided to get over my dislike and try the local specialties and favorites, even if they are from the sea.
posted by Dynasty goes to CR at
11:12 AM
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