San Jose Day

Yesterday, we woke up to a gorgeous sunny day. Weather is beautiful here, breezy and in the seventies, I'd say. The girl at the front desk at the hostel told us about a little bakery about a block away, so we grabbed our purses and headed out. The bakery sat right across the street from a small park, accompanied by two policemen on bikes. Approaching the restaurant, you can smell the food. Again, no door, basically just a store front with no front wall. Kind of like stores in the mall actually. The front of the store has glass cases and counters packed with different kinds of bread like items. All the bread looks very golden and almost croissant like, rolled and twisted into a variety of choices. Toward the back, two women were serving hot food; more the lunch type though. Niki, Jil, and I split a large plate of black beans, rice, a diced and steamed carrot and green bean mixture, fried bananas, a baked creamy chicken lasagna and some bread. All for €1.950 (they use periods instead of commas), which came out to about $1.30 per person. I made sure to snap a picture of the food, I'll probably be doing that alot.

After breakfast, we walked back to our hostel to get ready to walk around San Jose. In the hostel, we lock our important things in a locker, money belt, passport, credit cards, etc. All we really set out with was a purse, camera, sunglasses and some spending money.

First thing on the agenda, was getting to the bus station to buy tickets for the next day (Friday). It was about a fifteen to twenty minute walk down a pretty main street. One thing that stinks about not knowing much Spanish is the inability to read. Just like home, there are signs, billboards, window ads and more, all of which I only know bits and pieces of. Within the first couple minutes of walking, I was keyed into what it's going to be like here, being a group of American girls, haha. Horns toot, passengers and drivers wave and blow kisses, construction workers whistle, and young guys walking by say things like "¡Hola lindas!" and "¡Hola que guapas!" , all of which are forms of hello beautiful ladies, good looking,etc. One man even called us beautiful princesses or something along those lines. It's very comical and all in fun. Niki says that Latino men basically just say what they're thinking and these are the times I am grateful I don't understand the language fully :)

We arrive at the bus station and purchase tickets for a four and a half hour bus ride to the next city. They only cost about five and a half bucks. I have finally broken up my bigger bills (equivalent to our twenties) and have some cool coins and more colored bills, so I'm a happy camper.

From the bus station, we walked around the city for a while. Visited an indoor market Got to walk into a few old churches and sit down for a bit. There was something so serene and peaceful about removing ourselves from the crowded and honking streets to visit a quiet place of worship. People were sprinkled throughout the chapel, praying on knee as we sat silently and respectively, taking in every square inch of the place, high and low.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped at a little diner for lunch. It was kind of a Johnny Rockets or fifties diner, but nice because we could sit down and enjoy a meal. The waiter leaves us a paper slip basically that we mark our order on and we are brought our meal not long after. The dish is called gallo pinto and its basically a large scoop of rice and black beans with some sort of salsa or pico mixed in, with a side of fried bananas and a basket of toasted bread. Niki, Erin, and Nicki had eaten this the night before while they waited for Jil and I's arrival, and had raved about it. Especially this green sauce they had at the tables, and boy, were they right! It's similar to a green Tabasco sauce, but more flavor than heat. So good that we have decided we are going to search some supermarkets to bring some home. We paid for our $2.59 meal and headed back to the hostel for some down time, time to nap, use some wifi and chill.

Erin's sister bought her the handheld, electronic Catch Phrase game which she claimed would help her make friends while traveling. Well Erin's sister, you were absolutely right! We sat on a bright orange couch and pulled up some chairs, to play some mad amounts of Catch Phrase. The room was bright blue with Indian prayer flags hanging above, a wide open gated wall to the outdoors where guests were hang drying their laundry, as music played from the bar and the smell of burning incense filled the room. Just as Erin's sister had predicted, we began to attract people with our shouting game. First, was Mike, a 29 year old from Iowa that actually went to school at Hope College in Michigan. He has been living in Costa Rica for six years now and is friends with the owner of the hostel. Next were the owners little dogs that jumped up on the couch to join. And then lastly, a group of students that are living on the outskirts of San Jose for 9 months studying Spanish and the bible. They are on month three of their adventure and were looking for a break from their thirty some person house to visit with some hostel travelers. KJ from Missouri, John from Georgia, Matt from Illinois and Kristiana from Texas quickly joined our circle and piped up conversation. Nicki led an ice breaker game where we said our names, where we're from, and our favorite childhood book. Seems kind of childish doing this kind of thing in highschool because we are all so similar, but in a situation like this, it's great! Before we knew it we were back to shouting our Catch Phrase answers and acting as if we've known these people forever. I'm sure the drinks and free shot that was poured in our mouth by the hostel bartender helped :)

After playing for FIVE hours, we returned to our little diner down the street to eat the same thing we had for lunch. Yes, we loved it that much! Finished our dinners and returned to shower and get ready for bed. That was my first experience with a cold shower...yikes! I stood as far outta the water as I could to still be able to lean back and wash my hair. Soaped down and hurried through the cold water as quick as I could. The girls just chuckled and told me "Congrats on your first cold shower, you will have plenty more!"

Pics: Gallo Pinto & the room where we played catch phrase & church in downtown San Jose