Getting More Familiar

Now that I’m a week in, I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable with life in San Pedro. And even as I type that, a car alarm starts going off down the street. Oh man. Well, at any rate, I feel like I am getting way better at navigating my way around based on landmarks, and I am understanding how the bus systems work which helps with my nerves when I’m out…I’m not as afraid of getting lost anymore. Yay! :)

The catchphrase of Costa Rica is “pura vida”, which literally means, “pure life”. Here it can be used as a greeting or salutation or just about anytime you want. It's kind of like "Hakuna Matata." When we were at a restaurant in Manuel Antonio, we had been waiting for our checks for about 30 minutes, and so when one of us asked the waiter for “las cuentas” he said, “Ah, sí, sí. Pura vida!” This kind of coincides with their mindset of time. “Tico time” means that if you say you’ll be somewhere and then you get there even up to 30 minutes late, no worries. I read and have observed that most official offices and places keep a stricter schedule, but because there is so much public transportation, it’s nearly impossible to keep a regular bus schedule. Especially because you can flag down a bus wherever you want, or ask to get off just about anywhere too. So you always have to add a little buffer time when traveling, because we still have to arrive places on time, as much as possible.

But, they do not seem very "pura vida" when it comes to driving. The driving here is crazy. And I know everyone always says that so it feels really cliché to say, but it’s true. Everyone is on the offense – there is no defensive driving here. Everyone passes everyone else – taxis, cars, busses. If the car in front of you is not moving as fast as you’d like, you pass them. Even if it means driving on the other side of the road, you pass them. Signals are used occasionally. And pedestrians do NOT get the right of way. Vehicles will literally run you down if you’re in the way. Even so, you can cross wherever you want in the street. I just recommend waiting for there to be no oncoming traffic.

On our way home from Manuel Antonio, you would have thought that our bus driver had just finished watching the movie The Italian Job because he drove our bus like it was a mini cooper. We passed every single car, bike, motorcycle, and other bus that was in front of us. Oh, and it was pouring down rain for at least half of the four hour journey. Jennifer and my seats were in the front of the bus (literally, seats 1 and 2), and although Jennifer was glad for her motion sickness, I would have rather have been further back unable to see with such clarity the insanity of his driving. However, his one redeeming quality was that he made a stop on the side of the rode where two young girls got on, each with part of what was I believe his dinner. They each gave him a kiss on the cheek, and not 30 seconds later, we were off again. So I think part of his urgent driving was in part due to his desire to get home to be with his family. At least it seemed like he had a reason to live. :)

Yesterday, the volulnteers at my project didn't have to go to work because the pastor was doing an evangelistic project, which meant I had the day "off"! It was so nice to just have a down day - the only thing I had scheduled was my Spanish class from 4-6. So Jennifer and I met up in the morning and walked around San Jose. We went inside a couple different Catholic churches, inside the National Theater (well, the lobby), and went to a couple different markets. The first one we went to feels like you're walking into the Expo Center or Costco, but there are stands and shops packed inside and stuff for sale from floor to ceiling. This market had everything from really touristy stuff to piggy banks (not sure what those were about, but they were everywhere), home and kitchen items, coffee beans and chocolate covered anything, meat markets, herbs and spices, hammocks, places to eat, pet stores - anything and everything! We stopped at a coffee stand where the man was bagging coffee beans. Jennifer asked for a cup of coffee, and then we started asking about the chocolate covered coffee beans and such. He pulled out like 6 different samples for us - chocolate covered macadamia nuts, pasion fruit (so good!), guava, coffee beans, etc. And then when Jennifer went to pay, he said it was free! He was so nice! And the coffee was AMAZING! We definitely plan on going back there later to actually purchase from him.

Next we went to the artisan market. This one was not as large, and was more covered in tarps than actual walls. There was a lot more typical touristy type stuff, but a HUGE selection of jewelry, most of it being hand made. Lots of funky whistle things and bags and more hammocks. I'm excited to go back there next week to pick up a few things before coming home.

Today was a good day at Carpio. I played animal charades with a couple boys to teach them animal names in English, then I made them act out animals for me to guess. They were super shy about acting them out...it was funny. Then I played "letter" bingo with a few other kids and made them repeat the English letters after me. They really enjoyed that, as we played it to "blackout" three times in a row. The time goes by really fast there. We are only there 1 1/2-2 hours each day, but because it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there, it ends up being about a 5 hour day. By the time I get back, I'm really tired. I think the fact that my diet consists of so many carbohydrates (rice and beans for almost every meal) and not a lot of other food groups is maybe contributing to my tiredness. Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm constantly trying to take in and process what's going on around me. :)

OK, well I will try and get some pictures up now. Hope it works!