Disculpame, solo puedo hablar un poquito de Espanol...

Well I made it; I’m finally in Costa Rica! After 9 hours of traveling I’m safely at el Hotel Balmoral in San Jose, I have found my group and am making friends fast (I think…). San Jose is a beautiful place in its own way. Today we all had a chance to walk around (in groups Mom, never by myself don’t worry!) and although I’m completely out of my element, I really like this place a lot. Gorgeous mountains create a backdrop for this city full of people, speeding taxis, narrow one-way streets and even narrower sidewalks. Pretty much everything is in need of some repairs, except the grand city buildings like the church, the theater and the bank. The architecture on those buildings is incredible, but when we tried to investigate the churches more closely we realized we were about ten steps away from walking in on a funeral! I’ve never worked to hard to maintain a solemn composure and move that fast in my entire life!

Mamon Chino--a fruit that I ate!

So far the food has been absolutely delicious—I haven’t met a plate I didn’t like! Rice and beans are served with every meal (even breakfast!) and the fresh fruit is delicious. I’ve gotten to eat plantains cooked in a different fashion with every dish, so I’m a pretty happy camper. I expected Costa Rican cuisine to dominate, but there are US fastfood chains everywhere! KFC, Quiznos, McDonalds, even a Taco Bell can be found every couple of blocks or so. Today we went to El Mercado Central (the Central Market) which is kind of like their version of a supermarket. There were pet booths (don’t worry Ellie, I didn’t touch anything), souvenir shops and tons of produce vendors—all with the freshest fruits I’ve ever seen. 

Men held entire fish heads high up in the air so shoppers could see the catch of the day, and the coffee bean growers enticed our group of girls over for free samples of their latest blends (which was delicious).

As we strolled around and took our time absorbing San Jose, I noticed a main theme among the men’s and women’s fashions—there is no such thing as “too tight”. Jeans appeared painted on, t-shirts stretched so tight absolutely nothing was left to the imagination, and all the women wore heels (an impressive feat given the treacherousness of the sidewalks). In our Chocos and sundresses there was no doubt about it—we stood out. And the funny thing was, even though these Costa Rican women were putting it aalll out there, we were the ones getting catcalls, stares, and even a horn honk or seven. That’s definitely a cultural norm that will take some getting used to…

The Fat Lady escaped from her portrait at Hogwarts!

Today we were introduced to all our teachers for the semester and given a brief overview of everything that we’ll be doing. We have one more day in San Jose, then it’s on to a 2.5 week camping trip, and then to our homebase in Monteverde. I absolutely cannot wait to get out in my wildlife element and start exploring!