Friday, July 25, 2008
Regarding my Job in China
Ok. BIG change in plans. A while ago, I got an email from my placement supervisor telling me that the school in Wuhan was unable to get a working visa for me due to my lack of experience. She then recommended another school for me to send my resume to. At the same time (maybe it was just email forwarding) I recieved amessage from said school asking for my resume. I sent it to them and recieved the contract a couple days later. Now I just have to wait and hope that they can get me a visa. I 'm also hoping that I'll still be able to leave by late august. This school is a language school, not a primary school, so I'm not sure if it follows the same schooling/grade schedule. Either way, I still want to be in China by September 1st.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Another Overdue Update
Now that I'm back from Costa Rica and my bandwidth is normal, I can upload pictures! Took forever last time. So here we go...
Puerto Viejo
Buses are extremely cheap in Costa Rica. If you want to take the good ones, you can get across the country for a bit under $12 US. Probably less than $6 if you take the ones that are basically school buses.
We got up early and took one of the buses to Puerto Limon. IT was about 2 hours, but I slept through most of it. From there we got on another bus and went to Puerto Viejo. This ride was interesting because I met a girl from Wisconsin who had basically been living in the jungle for the past 6 months. Compared to America, living by yourself in the woods is surprising easy/common since there are so many fruit trees and other food sources around.
I said goodbye to Jungle Girl and got off at Puerto Viejo. It's a tiny town by the beach with only two paved roads. There weren't as many tourists as I expected, but my dad says that tourism slows down a lot during the rainy season. Despite this it only rained at night while we were there, and we were able to have a lot of fun.
The people who live in Puerto Viejo never do things outside during the day. Unlike San Jose, it gets really freaking hot there. When you walk down the street, the only people you see are tourists, and all you hear is the sound of Bob Marley coming from some close, yet indiscernible place. As soon as the sun sets, the town lives up immensely. Little stands pop up along the roads with lots of little generic souvenirs that are "supposedly" handmade in Costa Rica. I don't belive it at all, since I've seen a lot of the same things in shops in the US.
The beach is devided into two parts. The part with coral, and the part without. The coral area is cool, because it makes a lot of nice little pools that are protected from the waves. The bad part is that... there are no waves. Because there are no waves, the only things you'll find on the beach at this part are the coconuts that fell/were discared here. This is also the place where people with little kids swam, because it was safer without the waves.
There are two ways to distinguish where one the coral ends and where the waves begin. The first is that there's a little barge-like boat washed up on the end of the coral. I guess it's been there for a good while considering that there're pictures of it on postcards here. The other way to tell, is by looking at the sand. I'm not sure why, but the sand on the part without the coral is pitch black. About ten feet from the ocean itself, all the beach is black. It's pretty cool.
The animals in town are very friendly. There's a lot of stray dogs, but they all seem to be in good shape. The seem to just wander from one shady spot to the next all day. They're all pretty calm, and are more than happy if you feel like giving them a scratch on the head. For some reason there's also about ten horses that wander around here too. They always stick to the thin line of trees that divides the beach and the town. None of them have harnesses, and they don't go very far. They just walk back and forth all day, sometimes they even sit down for a while, which is rather strange from what I know of horses. Like I said, the only things that do anything during the day are the tourists.
We got to try out surfing a bit. The waves were fairly small, so that made it a bit harder. Aside from timing when to start paddling, it's fairly easy. I'm sure the pros do things a lot more difficult, but the very basics of it are fairly simple.
I got a really bad sunburn on the second day. It was probably the worst sunburn I've ever had. Highlight between the lines for the gory details. |Ok. I, like many people I hope, enjoy picking at the pealing skin I get from sunburns. I had a lot of sunburn, so there was plenty of that. Over a week later and I'm still peeling in some areas that weren't even burned. About two days after I got the burn, I noticed some boils on the tops of my shoulders. It was the next day that I realized that they weren't boils. Sweat had apparently gotten trapped under the skin that had yet to peal off. Whenever I rubbed those areas, little wads of moist skin would get stuck to my hands. It was rather surreal.| It's not that gross, but I figured it would be better to avoid forcing you to read that. Anyway, I've now got a very noticeable tan line around my neck, from where I had a tan before, and where my sunburn got me.
The food here was great, despite being the same chicken/rice/bean combo that we had everywhere in Costa Rica. We ended up going to the same place for dinner all three nights, because we loved it so much. My favorite memory from there is when we ordered our drinks. My brother and I both got the Banana/milk refreska naturals. A minute or so after we order we see the owner/waitress walk out from the back and down the steps. (The place where people ate was on her rather large porch.) We didn't really think much of it until she walks back abnout three minutes late with a humongous batch (Bushell? Pack? I don't know what you call a set of bananas. Either way it was big.) She had most likely gone and grabbed them off a tree herself. Every night after that, my brother and I would imagine here epic journeys that she went on to get our food.
For the first two nights we stayed at the Cabinas Guarana for about $36 a night. It was a very nice looking place. It even had it's own little forest inside the walls. There was a tree house too, but the ladder to it was broken, and it didn't look like it had been used in years. The room was nice. It had a ceiling fan and hot showers (deathtraps). If it wasn't for the bugs at night, I would have slept in the awesome hammock on the porch of our room.
The last night we stayed at Cabinas Grant. This place was a little bit cheaper, but it didn't have a heated shower. I didn't care/notice much because it would have hurt my sunburn jsut as much if it was hot water. The closest thing to temperature contol ron those things is "The water doesn't get heated as much if it goes through the heating part faster."
There were two little grocery stores in town. I made sure to buy plenty of snackages while I was there. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love food. I don't eat much of it at once, but I eat a lot over the course of a day. I plan to make the most of my metabolism while I have it. I didn't want to waste this opportunity to see what delightful little sugary foodstuffs were available. I ended up spending about $30 US on snacks and during the first week alone.
Overall, Puerto Viejo is a very nice place to come on any vacation in Costa Rica. Aside from bad reggae music all over the place it's a fairly quite town. It's pretty calm too, but this may be because all of the locals have probably had their fair share of marijuana. People tried to sell it to us at least two or three times a day. In multiple forms no less!
The bus ride back to San Jose wasn't that bad. The sunburn made it hard to sleep, but sleeping is something I'm very good at, so it wasn't something I couldn't handle.
San Jose Again
Sunday was interesting. It was the first time I've ever been to a prison that was still in use. We went there to visit one of my dad's friends who's been there for the past two years or so. Her name is Jessica, and she was sent there for possession of cocaine. Cocaine is a big problem for people in Costa Rica. It goes there before it gets shipped off to the US. Unfortunately it gets sent to CR faster than it can get moved to the US. What the dealers in CR do, is sell it for the what it cost them to get it. This means that cocaine is really freaking cheap down there and about 90% of the homeless people are addicted to it. Possession of drugs is one of the most common reasons for a person being in jail down there.
Despite being a prison, I actually had a very good time. We brought some chicken and some of my extra snacks, laid out some sheets, and basically had a picnic. In a prison. I'm serious, I enjoyed myself. I had a very nice four hours, and the prison guards at the entrance were very polite when they searched us before letting us in.
Before she came out to see us, my dad had to go to the bathroom. If she showed up before he got back, he told us to look for a short, black haired girl with dark eyes. Saying that "everyone here looks a like" is the wrong thing to say about this, but that is still a VERY vague description for a tico. Unless it's been dyed, everyone in the prison had black hair, and most people there also had dark eyes. Luckily he came back before she showed up.
Jessica is a really nice person. She reminded me of a peppy high school cheerleader to be honest. She was very happy to meet us, and gave my brother and I each a little gift bag. A t-shirt, some candy bars, and some beaded key rings that she handmade. My dad had told us before we went that she had wanted to buy us Nike t-shirts. Brand clothing is expensive down there. Even more since she's in prison. The shirt she gave me was Quicksilver. I felt guilty excepting it because of how much it probably cost her. (Though I didn't tell her) Luckily I really like the shirt, so I'll make good use of it. She kept offering us other things too. Her Spanish-English dictionary, a keychain that had more matching beads, some of her skin cream (I did end up taking some cream because it was amazingly helpful for my sunburn), more food... She probably would have given me her shoes if I had asked for them.
She's such a nice person that it's hard to imagine that she was on drugs at one point. Apparently my dad is the only person who ever visits here. I guess that it looks good having a gringo visit that often. It may actually help reduce her sentence. That he even brought Logan and I to visit could also be a big help. I hope she gets out soon.
Although we took a bus to the prison, we took a taxi back. Visiting hours end at 12:00, and my dad usually starts work on Sundays at 12:30. Because a bus would be too slow, he has an arrangement with a certain driver to pick him up at the prison every Sunday and take him to work. This ride once again reinstated the primitive fear that taxi drivers give me. First off, the guy had a can of NOS in his taxi. NOS! For those who don't know, NOS (Nitrous Oxide a.k.a. laughing gas) is like a speed boost gas for cars. Not something that I would like to see in a taxi. Although he drove with both hands on the wheel, one hand was perpetually on the center, ready to honk the horn at the slightest notice. The scariest thing is that neither the speedometer and gas meter worked. That's not something I want to see on any car, but it seems to be a standard feature on cabs in Costa Rica.
San Pedro Mall
The San Pedro Mall is cool enough to get its own section. Although I think the little mall near where I live is a lot better than most of the bigger malls I've been too, the San Pedro mall kicks its ass in many many ways. While the actual building is about 8+ stories high, the mall part of it is only on the bottom three of them. The ceiling is a lot lower than the single story Meadowbrook mall of home, so I always felt like I was inside. But there was so much stuff crammed in there. I've always prided the local mall of having a wider selection of stores than most bigger malls. *cough*onlyclothingstores*cough* The San Pedro mall had a wide selection and then some. It also had a great food court, which is something I'm very particular about.
Much to my surprise and pleasure there was even an anime store here. This is something that my hometown (and possibly state) is severely lacking. I bought a nice figurine for about $16 more than I could have in the US, but hey. I was there, it was there, and I had spending money. It is now one more thing that I need to find space for when I pack for China. ;_;
Like I said in my last post, the top couple floors of the building are owned by Datascension, the company my dad works for. I didn't go there again, because my dad wasn't working and they, like every company in San Jose, have very large security guards.
La Fortuna
La Fortuna had both the best and most boring parts of the trip. We got up early at about 5 AM to catch the 6 AM bus to get us to La Fortuna at about noon. We didn't bother reserving a hotel room, and it turned out for the best. A guy caught us as soon as we got off the bus, and we ended up paying $7 per person for the night. It was a pretty good room for $21. Fans, TV, deathtrap, and a bunk bed. I haven't slept in a bunk bed since 4H camp! For another $25, Logan and I signed up for a volcano tour and hot springs that night. We wandered around town for a while before we left for the tour, and signed up for a zipline canopy tour and horseback riding the next day.
The volcano tour was entirely a waste of time. We were picked up at our hotel room by the tour van, and drove about 20 minutes to the base of the volcano. From there we walked about 10 minutes to a river. From there the guide said that because of a landslide caused by the volcano, the bridge was down and we couldn't go further. From there we walked BACK a bit and sat down to wait for it to get darker. After a bit we began to see what Logan accurately described as "megapixels" of lava. From a great distance we were able to see tine red dots on the side of the mountain. While it was interesting to know that was lava, I felt kind of cheated that I didn't get to be within a stones throw of the lava. I guess that the flow of the lava is unstable enough on Mt. Arenal to make that possible.
See this?
This is what I was hoping to see.
See this?
This is what I got. If you want to see what it looks like at night, open MSpaint, lower the contrast, and put about three single-pixel dots of red on it. That's what I saw. I'm disappointed.
The hot springs were fun though. To be exact, it was more of a hot stream. Everyone from our tour group put on their bathing suits and went down to the stream. It was pretty cool. There was even a little cave behind a waterfall that we were able to go back into. Despite being to small to stand up in, it was very stereotypical and cliche. It was perfect.
The zipline tour was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Roller coasters have nothing on it. The tour bus for it came at about 7 or 8 to pick us up. Again we drove about 20 minutes to get other people and take us to the actual place. From there we were given a quick safety speech and instructions on how the zipline works. From there we were loaded onto a large wagon of sorts behind a tractor, and we rode for another 125 minutes up the hill. (Mountain, but I'm from West Virginia, so it has to be pretty big before we would call it a mountain.) Even this was nice because we got to see some nice scenery, and wildlife (cows and horses :P). When we reached the top, we then walked further up the hill to where the first zipline was. There, we put on harnesses that we're just like the ones for climbing rock walls at amusement parks. These however also had a pully like wheel attached that would hook you too the wire.
Now for those of you who haven't guessed how this works, you're basically attached to a metal cable suspended 100+ feet above the ground, flying along at about 40mph at the faster points. The only brake you have (aside from slamming into the guide at the other end, is a thick leather glove that you pull down on the cable to pull you to a stop. It took about 3 hours to do all ten lines. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. I'm no big fan of heights, but it was just to amazing to be nervous. I felt completely safe the entire time. It's really something to ride alone a wire over half a kilometer long, and look down to see the trees flying by beneath you. The view from there was breathtaking. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died after just a couple pictures at the very beginning.
That's me in the brown. The thing in my right hand is the braking glove. The two people next to me were on the volcano/hot spring tour with us as well. Apparently they've been backpacking through Central and South America for about 4 months now. This was the firs zipline. It was good for getting you started, because it was still fairly sheltered, so it got you used to how it all works without being scary right off the bat.
After riding on ten lines, we got on a bunch of horses and rode back down to the base of the hill. My horse was slow, lazy, and hungry. I liked it. God for a first time rider like myself. Logan's, however, was always running around, and wanted to be at the front at all times. I didn't see him much, being at opposite ends of the group and all.
Quepos and Monte Verde
The day after La Furtuna, we headed out on the bus again to the West coast of Costa Rica. We got a hotel in Quepos, and rode the bus 10 minutes to Monte Verde for the beach. The beach is the only good point about this place, really. The waves were a lot bigger than Puerto Viejo, and there were more tourists. It also seemed more forced "happy tourist area" than Puerto Viejo. I still had a good time though.
On the bus ride from San Jose, there was a woman chatted with my dad for a minute or so. During the rest stop, when I groggily got off the bus to see if there were any good snacks to buy (there weren't) I vaguely remember her asking me something about chocolate. We didn't really think anything about it until we ran into her again at the beach in Monte Verde. We also met her friend. The first woman was 54 and originally from Costa Rica, though she had lived in the US since she was about 8 or so. She still spoke fluent Spanish, but my dad says she had more of a Mexican accent. Her friend was 30 and she was originally from Taiwan, but I think she was adopted when she was little because she didn't know Mandarin or Taiwanese. They were both teachers at a school in California, and had come down to Costa Rica during their summer break. We all had a nice long talk on the beach, and then decided to have dinner together back in Quepos. They were both really cool, and I regret not getting their email addresses or something.
I don't know if it was because we hadn't really been able to talk to to other people or that they were both so interesting, (My dad speaks Spanish, so he was fine) but the dinner and the conversation, and the social interaction made this possibly the best day of the whole vacation.
The next day we headed back to San Jose so we could pack and be ready for the plane ride the next day.
Too long, but not long enough...
We woke up at 4:45, to take a taxi to the airport at 5:30. The taxi driver was happy, because Airport=money. Dad says that the driver probably went on his break during that time, so the money he made from taking us there (I think around 12 to 18 dollars) went straight into his pockets. Public transportation people have all sorts of ways to make extra money while on the job. I'm glad we got to the airport when we did.
They say you should get to airports about 2 hours before the plane is set to depart. This is a good idea, because we were in line to get our tickets for about 45 minutes. Our dad covered it, but we also had to pay a $26 "leaving the country" tax. What the crap? If anyone who reads this is planning on going to Costa Rica, make note of it. A couple people lost their place in line because they didn't know, and had to go pay it before they could get their tickets. Security going out of the country was a little bit more thorough than coming in. They actually opened all our carry-on bags, although like most people in CR, they were very polite.
The plane ride back was odd, because I had just gotten used to everyone around me speaking Spanish. now with all the English I notice how much I really tune out other peoples conversations. The flight attendants were (and always are) very polite. The people who work in the Atlanta airport, on the other hand, weren't. We were about as likely to be answered with uncaring grunts as we were to get actual words out of them. The whole luggage process coming back was also kind of messed up. we had to get our checked luggage again, take it to get checked again, and then go through the security checks again. This was not a requirement going down. I don't see why it should be coming back. Or why they can't just do it on their own. We waited about 3 hours for our plane. 1 hour of which we spent wondering around looking for food, or going from one terminal to the other when our gate was changed. I was going to watch a movie on my laptop, but there wasn't time to finish it. ;_;
The plane ride to Pitt was a lot shorter than expected. The stewardess was also kind enough to give me some extra cookie-cracker things. For airline food, they were really good.
Our mom was waiting for us when we landed. It felt really weird being back in the US. Surreal even. On the way back down to WV we stopped off at a waffle house. Anyone who hasn't been to one is missing out. Waffles all day! Good waffles too. Big ones. |Typing this is making me hungry.| The sudden return to more American food through my stomach for a loop, and I felt weird for the next couple days. I regret nothing. They were good waffles. I slept through most of the car ride home, but distinctly remember waking up and having no idea where I was. At first I thought I was still in San Jose. Then I realized where I was, although it still felt fairly dreamlike. I guess lack of sleep does that to you.
Either way, I'm back home, back to work, and rather sleepy. I've been slowly working on this entry for almost 3 hours now. Holy Crap. I got news regarding China while I was in CR, so I'll leave that for tomorrow. I've been sitting weird, and my legs are all tingly. I'm also getting about 10x more typos than usual. I'm also rambling.
Sleep. Time for sleep
Puerto Viejo
Buses are extremely cheap in Costa Rica. If you want to take the good ones, you can get across the country for a bit under $12 US. Probably less than $6 if you take the ones that are basically school buses.
We got up early and took one of the buses to Puerto Limon. IT was about 2 hours, but I slept through most of it. From there we got on another bus and went to Puerto Viejo. This ride was interesting because I met a girl from Wisconsin who had basically been living in the jungle for the past 6 months. Compared to America, living by yourself in the woods is surprising easy/common since there are so many fruit trees and other food sources around.
I said goodbye to Jungle Girl and got off at Puerto Viejo. It's a tiny town by the beach with only two paved roads. There weren't as many tourists as I expected, but my dad says that tourism slows down a lot during the rainy season. Despite this it only rained at night while we were there, and we were able to have a lot of fun.
The people who live in Puerto Viejo never do things outside during the day. Unlike San Jose, it gets really freaking hot there. When you walk down the street, the only people you see are tourists, and all you hear is the sound of Bob Marley coming from some close, yet indiscernible place. As soon as the sun sets, the town lives up immensely. Little stands pop up along the roads with lots of little generic souvenirs that are "supposedly" handmade in Costa Rica. I don't belive it at all, since I've seen a lot of the same things in shops in the US.
The beach is devided into two parts. The part with coral, and the part without. The coral area is cool, because it makes a lot of nice little pools that are protected from the waves. The bad part is that... there are no waves. Because there are no waves, the only things you'll find on the beach at this part are the coconuts that fell/were discared here. This is also the place where people with little kids swam, because it was safer without the waves.
There are two ways to distinguish where one the coral ends and where the waves begin. The first is that there's a little barge-like boat washed up on the end of the coral. I guess it's been there for a good while considering that there're pictures of it on postcards here. The other way to tell, is by looking at the sand. I'm not sure why, but the sand on the part without the coral is pitch black. About ten feet from the ocean itself, all the beach is black. It's pretty cool.The animals in town are very friendly. There's a lot of stray dogs, but they all seem to be in good shape. The seem to just wander from one shady spot to the next all day. They're all pretty calm, and are more than happy if you feel like giving them a scratch on the head. For some reason there's also about ten horses that wander around here too. They always stick to the thin line of trees that divides the beach and the town. None of them have harnesses, and they don't go very far. They just walk back and forth all day, sometimes they even sit down for a while, which is rather strange from what I know of horses. Like I said, the only things that do anything during the day are the tourists.
We got to try out surfing a bit. The waves were fairly small, so that made it a bit harder. Aside from timing when to start paddling, it's fairly easy. I'm sure the pros do things a lot more difficult, but the very basics of it are fairly simple.
I got a really bad sunburn on the second day. It was probably the worst sunburn I've ever had. Highlight between the lines for the gory details. |Ok. I, like many people I hope, enjoy picking at the pealing skin I get from sunburns. I had a lot of sunburn, so there was plenty of that. Over a week later and I'm still peeling in some areas that weren't even burned. About two days after I got the burn, I noticed some boils on the tops of my shoulders. It was the next day that I realized that they weren't boils. Sweat had apparently gotten trapped under the skin that had yet to peal off. Whenever I rubbed those areas, little wads of moist skin would get stuck to my hands. It was rather surreal.| It's not that gross, but I figured it would be better to avoid forcing you to read that. Anyway, I've now got a very noticeable tan line around my neck, from where I had a tan before, and where my sunburn got me.
The food here was great, despite being the same chicken/rice/bean combo that we had everywhere in Costa Rica. We ended up going to the same place for dinner all three nights, because we loved it so much. My favorite memory from there is when we ordered our drinks. My brother and I both got the Banana/milk refreska naturals. A minute or so after we order we see the owner/waitress walk out from the back and down the steps. (The place where people ate was on her rather large porch.) We didn't really think much of it until she walks back abnout three minutes late with a humongous batch (Bushell? Pack? I don't know what you call a set of bananas. Either way it was big.) She had most likely gone and grabbed them off a tree herself. Every night after that, my brother and I would imagine here epic journeys that she went on to get our food.
For the first two nights we stayed at the Cabinas Guarana for about $36 a night. It was a very nice looking place. It even had it's own little forest inside the walls. There was a tree house too, but the ladder to it was broken, and it didn't look like it had been used in years. The room was nice. It had a ceiling fan and hot showers (deathtraps). If it wasn't for the bugs at night, I would have slept in the awesome hammock on the porch of our room.
The last night we stayed at Cabinas Grant. This place was a little bit cheaper, but it didn't have a heated shower. I didn't care/notice much because it would have hurt my sunburn jsut as much if it was hot water. The closest thing to temperature contol ron those things is "The water doesn't get heated as much if it goes through the heating part faster."
There were two little grocery stores in town. I made sure to buy plenty of snackages while I was there. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love food. I don't eat much of it at once, but I eat a lot over the course of a day. I plan to make the most of my metabolism while I have it. I didn't want to waste this opportunity to see what delightful little sugary foodstuffs were available. I ended up spending about $30 US on snacks and during the first week alone.Overall, Puerto Viejo is a very nice place to come on any vacation in Costa Rica. Aside from bad reggae music all over the place it's a fairly quite town. It's pretty calm too, but this may be because all of the locals have probably had their fair share of marijuana. People tried to sell it to us at least two or three times a day. In multiple forms no less!
The bus ride back to San Jose wasn't that bad. The sunburn made it hard to sleep, but sleeping is something I'm very good at, so it wasn't something I couldn't handle.
San Jose Again
Sunday was interesting. It was the first time I've ever been to a prison that was still in use. We went there to visit one of my dad's friends who's been there for the past two years or so. Her name is Jessica, and she was sent there for possession of cocaine. Cocaine is a big problem for people in Costa Rica. It goes there before it gets shipped off to the US. Unfortunately it gets sent to CR faster than it can get moved to the US. What the dealers in CR do, is sell it for the what it cost them to get it. This means that cocaine is really freaking cheap down there and about 90% of the homeless people are addicted to it. Possession of drugs is one of the most common reasons for a person being in jail down there.
Despite being a prison, I actually had a very good time. We brought some chicken and some of my extra snacks, laid out some sheets, and basically had a picnic. In a prison. I'm serious, I enjoyed myself. I had a very nice four hours, and the prison guards at the entrance were very polite when they searched us before letting us in.
Before she came out to see us, my dad had to go to the bathroom. If she showed up before he got back, he told us to look for a short, black haired girl with dark eyes. Saying that "everyone here looks a like" is the wrong thing to say about this, but that is still a VERY vague description for a tico. Unless it's been dyed, everyone in the prison had black hair, and most people there also had dark eyes. Luckily he came back before she showed up.
Jessica is a really nice person. She reminded me of a peppy high school cheerleader to be honest. She was very happy to meet us, and gave my brother and I each a little gift bag. A t-shirt, some candy bars, and some beaded key rings that she handmade. My dad had told us before we went that she had wanted to buy us Nike t-shirts. Brand clothing is expensive down there. Even more since she's in prison. The shirt she gave me was Quicksilver. I felt guilty excepting it because of how much it probably cost her. (Though I didn't tell her) Luckily I really like the shirt, so I'll make good use of it. She kept offering us other things too. Her Spanish-English dictionary, a keychain that had more matching beads, some of her skin cream (I did end up taking some cream because it was amazingly helpful for my sunburn), more food... She probably would have given me her shoes if I had asked for them.
She's such a nice person that it's hard to imagine that she was on drugs at one point. Apparently my dad is the only person who ever visits here. I guess that it looks good having a gringo visit that often. It may actually help reduce her sentence. That he even brought Logan and I to visit could also be a big help. I hope she gets out soon.
Although we took a bus to the prison, we took a taxi back. Visiting hours end at 12:00, and my dad usually starts work on Sundays at 12:30. Because a bus would be too slow, he has an arrangement with a certain driver to pick him up at the prison every Sunday and take him to work. This ride once again reinstated the primitive fear that taxi drivers give me. First off, the guy had a can of NOS in his taxi. NOS! For those who don't know, NOS (Nitrous Oxide a.k.a. laughing gas) is like a speed boost gas for cars. Not something that I would like to see in a taxi. Although he drove with both hands on the wheel, one hand was perpetually on the center, ready to honk the horn at the slightest notice. The scariest thing is that neither the speedometer and gas meter worked. That's not something I want to see on any car, but it seems to be a standard feature on cabs in Costa Rica.
San Pedro Mall
The San Pedro Mall is cool enough to get its own section. Although I think the little mall near where I live is a lot better than most of the bigger malls I've been too, the San Pedro mall kicks its ass in many many ways. While the actual building is about 8+ stories high, the mall part of it is only on the bottom three of them. The ceiling is a lot lower than the single story Meadowbrook mall of home, so I always felt like I was inside. But there was so much stuff crammed in there. I've always prided the local mall of having a wider selection of stores than most bigger malls. *cough*onlyclothingstores*cough* The San Pedro mall had a wide selection and then some. It also had a great food court, which is something I'm very particular about.
Much to my surprise and pleasure there was even an anime store here. This is something that my hometown (and possibly state) is severely lacking. I bought a nice figurine for about $16 more than I could have in the US, but hey. I was there, it was there, and I had spending money. It is now one more thing that I need to find space for when I pack for China. ;_;
Like I said in my last post, the top couple floors of the building are owned by Datascension, the company my dad works for. I didn't go there again, because my dad wasn't working and they, like every company in San Jose, have very large security guards.
La Fortuna
La Fortuna had both the best and most boring parts of the trip. We got up early at about 5 AM to catch the 6 AM bus to get us to La Fortuna at about noon. We didn't bother reserving a hotel room, and it turned out for the best. A guy caught us as soon as we got off the bus, and we ended up paying $7 per person for the night. It was a pretty good room for $21. Fans, TV, deathtrap, and a bunk bed. I haven't slept in a bunk bed since 4H camp! For another $25, Logan and I signed up for a volcano tour and hot springs that night. We wandered around town for a while before we left for the tour, and signed up for a zipline canopy tour and horseback riding the next day.
The volcano tour was entirely a waste of time. We were picked up at our hotel room by the tour van, and drove about 20 minutes to the base of the volcano. From there we walked about 10 minutes to a river. From there the guide said that because of a landslide caused by the volcano, the bridge was down and we couldn't go further. From there we walked BACK a bit and sat down to wait for it to get darker. After a bit we began to see what Logan accurately described as "megapixels" of lava. From a great distance we were able to see tine red dots on the side of the mountain. While it was interesting to know that was lava, I felt kind of cheated that I didn't get to be within a stones throw of the lava. I guess that the flow of the lava is unstable enough on Mt. Arenal to make that possible.
See this?
This is what I was hoping to see.See this?
This is what I got. If you want to see what it looks like at night, open MSpaint, lower the contrast, and put about three single-pixel dots of red on it. That's what I saw. I'm disappointed.The hot springs were fun though. To be exact, it was more of a hot stream. Everyone from our tour group put on their bathing suits and went down to the stream. It was pretty cool. There was even a little cave behind a waterfall that we were able to go back into. Despite being to small to stand up in, it was very stereotypical and cliche. It was perfect.
The zipline tour was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Roller coasters have nothing on it. The tour bus for it came at about 7 or 8 to pick us up. Again we drove about 20 minutes to get other people and take us to the actual place. From there we were given a quick safety speech and instructions on how the zipline works. From there we were loaded onto a large wagon of sorts behind a tractor, and we rode for another 125 minutes up the hill. (Mountain, but I'm from West Virginia, so it has to be pretty big before we would call it a mountain.) Even this was nice because we got to see some nice scenery, and wildlife (cows and horses :P). When we reached the top, we then walked further up the hill to where the first zipline was. There, we put on harnesses that we're just like the ones for climbing rock walls at amusement parks. These however also had a pully like wheel attached that would hook you too the wire.
Now for those of you who haven't guessed how this works, you're basically attached to a metal cable suspended 100+ feet above the ground, flying along at about 40mph at the faster points. The only brake you have (aside from slamming into the guide at the other end, is a thick leather glove that you pull down on the cable to pull you to a stop. It took about 3 hours to do all ten lines. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. I'm no big fan of heights, but it was just to amazing to be nervous. I felt completely safe the entire time. It's really something to ride alone a wire over half a kilometer long, and look down to see the trees flying by beneath you. The view from there was breathtaking. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died after just a couple pictures at the very beginning.
That's me in the brown. The thing in my right hand is the braking glove. The two people next to me were on the volcano/hot spring tour with us as well. Apparently they've been backpacking through Central and South America for about 4 months now. This was the firs zipline. It was good for getting you started, because it was still fairly sheltered, so it got you used to how it all works without being scary right off the bat.After riding on ten lines, we got on a bunch of horses and rode back down to the base of the hill. My horse was slow, lazy, and hungry. I liked it. God for a first time rider like myself. Logan's, however, was always running around, and wanted to be at the front at all times. I didn't see him much, being at opposite ends of the group and all.
Quepos and Monte Verde
The day after La Furtuna, we headed out on the bus again to the West coast of Costa Rica. We got a hotel in Quepos, and rode the bus 10 minutes to Monte Verde for the beach. The beach is the only good point about this place, really. The waves were a lot bigger than Puerto Viejo, and there were more tourists. It also seemed more forced "happy tourist area" than Puerto Viejo. I still had a good time though.
On the bus ride from San Jose, there was a woman chatted with my dad for a minute or so. During the rest stop, when I groggily got off the bus to see if there were any good snacks to buy (there weren't) I vaguely remember her asking me something about chocolate. We didn't really think anything about it until we ran into her again at the beach in Monte Verde. We also met her friend. The first woman was 54 and originally from Costa Rica, though she had lived in the US since she was about 8 or so. She still spoke fluent Spanish, but my dad says she had more of a Mexican accent. Her friend was 30 and she was originally from Taiwan, but I think she was adopted when she was little because she didn't know Mandarin or Taiwanese. They were both teachers at a school in California, and had come down to Costa Rica during their summer break. We all had a nice long talk on the beach, and then decided to have dinner together back in Quepos. They were both really cool, and I regret not getting their email addresses or something.
I don't know if it was because we hadn't really been able to talk to to other people or that they were both so interesting, (My dad speaks Spanish, so he was fine) but the dinner and the conversation, and the social interaction made this possibly the best day of the whole vacation.
The next day we headed back to San Jose so we could pack and be ready for the plane ride the next day.
Too long, but not long enough...
We woke up at 4:45, to take a taxi to the airport at 5:30. The taxi driver was happy, because Airport=money. Dad says that the driver probably went on his break during that time, so the money he made from taking us there (I think around 12 to 18 dollars) went straight into his pockets. Public transportation people have all sorts of ways to make extra money while on the job. I'm glad we got to the airport when we did.
They say you should get to airports about 2 hours before the plane is set to depart. This is a good idea, because we were in line to get our tickets for about 45 minutes. Our dad covered it, but we also had to pay a $26 "leaving the country" tax. What the crap? If anyone who reads this is planning on going to Costa Rica, make note of it. A couple people lost their place in line because they didn't know, and had to go pay it before they could get their tickets. Security going out of the country was a little bit more thorough than coming in. They actually opened all our carry-on bags, although like most people in CR, they were very polite.
The plane ride back was odd, because I had just gotten used to everyone around me speaking Spanish. now with all the English I notice how much I really tune out other peoples conversations. The flight attendants were (and always are) very polite. The people who work in the Atlanta airport, on the other hand, weren't. We were about as likely to be answered with uncaring grunts as we were to get actual words out of them. The whole luggage process coming back was also kind of messed up. we had to get our checked luggage again, take it to get checked again, and then go through the security checks again. This was not a requirement going down. I don't see why it should be coming back. Or why they can't just do it on their own. We waited about 3 hours for our plane. 1 hour of which we spent wondering around looking for food, or going from one terminal to the other when our gate was changed. I was going to watch a movie on my laptop, but there wasn't time to finish it. ;_;
The plane ride to Pitt was a lot shorter than expected. The stewardess was also kind enough to give me some extra cookie-cracker things. For airline food, they were really good.
Our mom was waiting for us when we landed. It felt really weird being back in the US. Surreal even. On the way back down to WV we stopped off at a waffle house. Anyone who hasn't been to one is missing out. Waffles all day! Good waffles too. Big ones. |Typing this is making me hungry.| The sudden return to more American food through my stomach for a loop, and I felt weird for the next couple days. I regret nothing. They were good waffles. I slept through most of the car ride home, but distinctly remember waking up and having no idea where I was. At first I thought I was still in San Jose. Then I realized where I was, although it still felt fairly dreamlike. I guess lack of sleep does that to you.
Either way, I'm back home, back to work, and rather sleepy. I've been slowly working on this entry for almost 3 hours now. Holy Crap. I got news regarding China while I was in CR, so I'll leave that for tomorrow. I've been sitting weird, and my legs are all tingly. I'm also getting about 10x more typos than usual. I'm also rambling.
Sleep. Time for sleep
Monday, July 7, 2008
Tripfriend in Costa Rica
My brother and I have been in Costa Rica for about a week, so it's past time for an update.
The Flight
Woke up at about 2:00 get to Pittsburgh at 4:00 to make a flight at 6:00. I slept most of the ride. Plane went from Pitt to Atlanta and got there at about 730-ish. Hung around the airport till the plane left at 10:00. We got to Costa Rica at about 12:30 their time. I think. The time zone change and daylight savings and everything was to much work to figure out at the time, and I don't want to break something trying to figure out how long I was actually on the plane. We flew over Cuba apparently, but I could see it through the clouds. The inflight meal was better than I expected, but nowhere near very good. There were little screens on the back of the seats, and we were able to watch movies or TV or play some games on them. It made the 4+ hour flight much more enjoyable.
Costa Rica
The architecure here is weird, but the first thing any one from the US will notice is that EVERYTHING has bars on it. Peoples porches (or yards if they have one) are either surrounded by a large fence, or entirely encaged. Then the main door has another large metal gate over the door itself. Robbery seems to be fairly big down here. My dad has told us at least 7 stories of times he was robbed or was almost robbed. "When you see guys walking down the street with their hand(s) in their pocket, they've probably got it on a knife. Don't mind them. It's for protection. It the people who put their hands in their pockets when you get near them that you should be warry of." Little things like that make me realize what a large difference there is between the US and here. The US and most anywhere even. Despite being a bit parnoid, I've still noticed that the people here are, for the most part, very friendly. I still wouldn't want to walk around at night though. The stores here have armed security guards for a reason.
We've eaten at a couple places around here now. Rice beans and chicken seem to be the staple diet. I have had something that is both genious and simple. Refrsca naturals. They're delicious drinks, and very easy to make. Step 1. Choose fruit. Step 2. Put fruit in a blender. Step 3. Blend with either water or milk. That's it! They're not like fruit juice, or smoothies, so I'm not jsut getting worked up over nothing. The Banana/milk combo is my favorite so far.
The money changing thing is kind of annoying right now. $1 USD is basically woth 500 colones. It's simple math to figure out, but it's a real pain to have to do it every time I want to buy something.
If anyone wants to commit suiced on vacation, Costa Rica is the place. My reasoning: the showers are deathtraps.
See that machine? That's what makes the water hot when it comes out of the shower. See those long thin things running from the wall? Those are electric wires. ELECTRIC wires, with a little bit of tape, mere inches from water that is falling on your head. I've gotten used to it, but I'm still praying that that's not where my hot water will be coming from in China.
San Jose
My dad met us outside of the airport. Him and his landlord, Lolo, drove us back to his place just outside of the downtown area. Lolo is a cool guy. He's a bit like a stereotypical grandmother though. He's got all sorts of stuff hanging up on every wall of his house. He makes a living renting out rooms to gringos (Foreigners) and running a cafe directly across the street.
The first night we went to see where my dad works. It's a company called Datascension. It's a "call company." They call people and ask their opinions on things. His job is to help them have more of an American accent. Basically, it's so the people getting called don't think it's coming from India or any other country for that matter. The company owns the top 3 or so floors of the San Pedro mall, and it's only a 5 minute walk from Lolo's. It's a pretty cool mall, but I'll talk about that later.
San Jose has this weired attempt of a tourist attraction called "The Cow Parade" There are about 130+ life sized painted cows scattered throughout the central part of the city. Some of them have been fairly interesting, but I've mostly been left questioning the minds of whoever's idea it was to put cow statues nearly freaking everywhere.
To be continued
I should have done this earlier. Uploading these images takes forever on this internet connection, and the guy upstairs is hogging all the bandwidth. I'll post the rest some time tomorrow.
Comming up:
Puerto Viejo - We go to the beach and I get a sunburn.
San Jose again - We visit one of my dad's friends in Prison. lol wut?
San Pedro Mall - Totally awesome.
The Flight
Woke up at about 2:00 get to Pittsburgh at 4:00 to make a flight at 6:00. I slept most of the ride. Plane went from Pitt to Atlanta and got there at about 730-ish. Hung around the airport till the plane left at 10:00. We got to Costa Rica at about 12:30 their time. I think. The time zone change and daylight savings and everything was to much work to figure out at the time, and I don't want to break something trying to figure out how long I was actually on the plane. We flew over Cuba apparently, but I could see it through the clouds. The inflight meal was better than I expected, but nowhere near very good. There were little screens on the back of the seats, and we were able to watch movies or TV or play some games on them. It made the 4+ hour flight much more enjoyable.
Costa Rica
The architecure here is weird, but the first thing any one from the US will notice is that EVERYTHING has bars on it. Peoples porches (or yards if they have one) are either surrounded by a large fence, or entirely encaged. Then the main door has another large metal gate over the door itself. Robbery seems to be fairly big down here. My dad has told us at least 7 stories of times he was robbed or was almost robbed. "When you see guys walking down the street with their hand(s) in their pocket, they've probably got it on a knife. Don't mind them. It's for protection. It the people who put their hands in their pockets when you get near them that you should be warry of." Little things like that make me realize what a large difference there is between the US and here. The US and most anywhere even. Despite being a bit parnoid, I've still noticed that the people here are, for the most part, very friendly. I still wouldn't want to walk around at night though. The stores here have armed security guards for a reason.
We've eaten at a couple places around here now. Rice beans and chicken seem to be the staple diet. I have had something that is both genious and simple. Refrsca naturals. They're delicious drinks, and very easy to make. Step 1. Choose fruit. Step 2. Put fruit in a blender. Step 3. Blend with either water or milk. That's it! They're not like fruit juice, or smoothies, so I'm not jsut getting worked up over nothing. The Banana/milk combo is my favorite so far.
The money changing thing is kind of annoying right now. $1 USD is basically woth 500 colones. It's simple math to figure out, but it's a real pain to have to do it every time I want to buy something.
If anyone wants to commit suiced on vacation, Costa Rica is the place. My reasoning: the showers are deathtraps.
See that machine? That's what makes the water hot when it comes out of the shower. See those long thin things running from the wall? Those are electric wires. ELECTRIC wires, with a little bit of tape, mere inches from water that is falling on your head. I've gotten used to it, but I'm still praying that that's not where my hot water will be coming from in China.
San Jose
My dad met us outside of the airport. Him and his landlord, Lolo, drove us back to his place just outside of the downtown area. Lolo is a cool guy. He's a bit like a stereotypical grandmother though. He's got all sorts of stuff hanging up on every wall of his house. He makes a living renting out rooms to gringos (Foreigners) and running a cafe directly across the street.
The first night we went to see where my dad works. It's a company called Datascension. It's a "call company." They call people and ask their opinions on things. His job is to help them have more of an American accent. Basically, it's so the people getting called don't think it's coming from India or any other country for that matter. The company owns the top 3 or so floors of the San Pedro mall, and it's only a 5 minute walk from Lolo's. It's a pretty cool mall, but I'll talk about that later.
San Jose has this weired attempt of a tourist attraction called "The Cow Parade" There are about 130+ life sized painted cows scattered throughout the central part of the city. Some of them have been fairly interesting, but I've mostly been left questioning the minds of whoever's idea it was to put cow statues nearly freaking everywhere.
To be continued
I should have done this earlier. Uploading these images takes forever on this internet connection, and the guy upstairs is hogging all the bandwidth. I'll post the rest some time tomorrow.
Comming up:
Puerto Viejo - We go to the beach and I get a sunburn.
San Jose again - We visit one of my dad's friends in Prison. lol wut?
San Pedro Mall - Totally awesome.
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