Costa Rica

I first met Alita and David in Antigua, Guatema. They were traveling together. Alita lived in Costa Rica, so I contacted her when I headed there. Luckily, Alita was available when I was in Costa Rica, and we got together!

In addition to being kind, accomodating and fiercely in touch with her intuitive side, Alita is also on the silly side. Although it LOOKS like she´s holding a magic wand (it´s actually a light in the background), she´s dancing around with raisin bread (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Showing with plants is especially nice! (if you have space in your shower, TRY IT!) (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Alita took me on an impromptu hike up in the hills behind her house. This magnificent tree was up on a ridge and we made it our mission to climb to it. (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Alita stands underneath the giant tree. (San Jose, Costa Rica)

During a chance encounter with a dear friend of Alita´s in the supermarket, I met Bonnie. Bonnie is a fireball of energy and when you talk to her, you just feel like you´ve known her for a long time. Bonnie felt it was important for me to see Guayabo... So, Alita took me up in the mountains to see Guayabo, outside of Turrialba, where she used to live. Guayabo is an ancient site containing ruins of monuments, homes, and ponds and canals used to channel and control water for doing daily chores and also performing sacred rites.

Guayabo is special for a number of reasons: 1) It was the meeting place and central transit corridor for trade (1000 BCE to 1400 CE) 2) It is located in the center of Costa Rica, and Costa Rica is said to be the geographic center of the Americas. Alita feels a special connection to this place, and thought I would benefit from experiencing it for myself.

On the way to Guayabo. These people got out of one bus on the upper side of the road erosion, walked across the washed-out-section of road, and got on a bus on the other side of the washed-out-section. (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

Salamander carved in stone (Guayabo, Costa Rica)

A carved stone, left behind by the ancient inhabitants of Guayabo (Guayabo, Costa Rica)

View from the mirador (lookout) over Guayabo. In the foreground is part of the remaining stone spiral used as a foundation for housing. Beyond that is the pile on which the shaman´s house was built. Beyond that, is the road which served as an entrance to the city (Guayabo, Costa Rica)

After three days, and some pretty intense/interesting/fascinating experiences, it was time to head to San Jose.

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi Graffiti in downtown (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Easy to see what catches my eye... Modern, interesting! (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Interesting industrial looking treatment on this building downtown (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Looking up inside a rotunda (San Jose, Costa Rica)

Piles of meat at the butcher (You ain´t in Kansas anymore!) (San Jose, Costa Rica)

I thought this coffee roaster was cool inside a shop in the Mercado Central (San Jose, Costa Rica)

The truck contains livestock headed to slaughter. The girls on the right in uniform are leaving scool. The men in the white shirts on the left are near a bar, a favorite of "Dirty Old Men" (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

Leaf cutter ants (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

The view of the valley from the mountains (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

While in San Jose, I went out to a club to go dancing, and I danced from when the party started around 9 to around 2. During that time, there were about 3 songs sung in Spanish. ALL THE REST were American music. Kinda funny to be so far south, and yet still be surrounded by so much American Media!

The hostel I stayed in while in San Jose was called "Tranquilo Backpackers". 'Tranquilo' is a commonly used word in Spanish meaning "calm". Colloquially, it also means "cool", or "chill"... And it definitely was. One of the cool features of Tranquilo is the FREE PANCAKES in the morning. YUM!

Tranquilo is where I met Marco, a French Canadien who suggested I buy a Paulo Coehlo book in Spanish and start translating to enhance my language skills. I liked his suggestion, so I bought a book, and I am now translating. I spend so much time looking things up that it´s frankly pretty slow going, but I have come across a FEW sentences where I understood the WHOLE THING without having to look ANYTHING up! I´ve noticed that even in this short time I´ve been doing it, that the amount of each sentence I understand keeps going up. GREAT IDEA all you folks out there who want to learn a new language!