Art Festival in Downtown San José

In my opinion San José does a really good job, at providing it's citizens, things to do during the day for a free or low cost.  There are many museums with reduced costs for citizens, their are movie theaters and actual theaters which features plays, dances and concerts, weekend festivals, concerts in the plazas, etc. In March there was a free art festival for all people, in the several parks in downtown San José. There were local artists, musicians performing for huge crowds and games and activities for children and families.

One of the activities in downtown.

I went to the art festival with my tica mom, her brother and his daughter.  It was fun to get out of the house for the afternoon, and hang out with some ticos.

First off, my tica mom's niece, Emily, is the cutest thing ever. She is three years old and is so loving.  While we were walking past all the local artist's displays, she grabbed my hand, so we could walk together.  She was just too cute. So the displays ranged from jewelry to hats that looked like witch hats--which were incredibly popular. There were so many people walking around with those hats, it was bizarre. I love local art, and I think it's so cool that San José promotes local artists.

Kids learning to juggle.

In all the parks there was some type of activity for families and children.  One whole street was lined with blow-up, jumpy things for kids. This was all for free, which blew my mind. In the US, things that are reasonably priced and free is a distant concept.  Also, there were jugglers, among other things,  teaching kids how to juggle--it was precious watching five-year-old children attempt to juggle.

My favorite thing about the day was the graffiti artists, creating their masterpieces on a wall in downtown.  My tica mom said that every month they paint over the wall, and have new artists paint their work.  I thought that was cool, that the city is promoting graffiti art and local artists.  Also, it was so neat to be able to watch guys, create their works of art in real life.  Artists able to do something like graffiti are so talented in my opinion--I couldn't even imagine creating something, that looked good and clean, with only spray paint.

I really wish that the US had things like this. I feel like since the US is the richest country in the world, they should be spending more money on things like this, which promotes US culture and family, and not war and frivolous things.  Going to a fair now a days probably costs a family of four, at least $100.00, with tickets and food alone--that doesn't include the rides, arcade games, or the purchases made in the grandstand. 

¡Pura Vida!

Panama: Bocas del Toro

Last weekend, I went to a little island off the Panama Caribbean coast.  The weekend was a full-on beach trip, where we only did beach and water related things--it was a nice change from many of my other weekend trips. Overall I really enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy it as much as my trip to Nicaragua, but I really don't think that any other place will be able to beat it.

Here are some of my highlights from my Panama trip.

1. Starfish Beach.
This was actually the only beach we visited during the trip.  We went their Friday afternoon for a barbecue lunch, drinks and to hang out, and took a speed boat from the main island to this little beach.  Underwater, near the shore there were starfish littered along the ocean floor. We were able to pick them up and take pictures--it was great.  This was the first time I went to a beach and the weather wasn't ideal.  Pretty much for the whole weekend it was overcast. Coming away from a weekend not burnt, isn't bad.  The beach was absolutely gorgeous--lot's of palm trees, clear water and starfish all over the beach.  There were two things though that really didn't add to the beach experience--gnats and sharp particles in the sand.  I was walking along the beach taking pictures, and there were points where I just wanted to take the boat, drive away, and get out of there.  I walked away from that beach, with tons of gnat bites and clear sharp things stuck in my feet, making it feel like a bee was stinging my feet every step I took.  I guess those sharp thing in the sand are common, not sure if they are common in Panama or a lot of beaches in Latin America--either way the Costa Rican's we were with didn't seem phased.

   

Starfish Beach.

2. House-Boat. All day Saturday my time was spent in the ocean and on a house boat.  We took off from the main island and went dolphin watching, snorkeling and ate lunch at a water restaurant.  The place where we spent the majority of our time wasn't an island or land. It was a dock, connecting to a restaurant built above water and a rental shack; that sold snorkel gear and kayaks. Overall the trip was incredibly relaxing.  We didn't have to go, go, go like other trips.

The big boat was ours.

3. Dolphin Watching.
While on the houseboat we stopped for 30 minutes in a pre-determined place, to try to spot dolphins.  30 minutes went by and no dolphins were seen.  While I was eating a delicious sea-food lunch on the water though a group of us spotted a fin come up above water, and continued to follow it until it was out of sight. It was exciting! Along with seeing a dolphin, there were these little fish that jumped out of the water in a whole group, and continued to skip along the water for a good two minutes.  I don't know how to describe it better than that, but basically those 5 minutes were awesome--dolphins and skipping fish.

This is where we had lunch, and docked for the day.

4. Snorkeling.
Saturday afternoon I went snorkeling in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean sea--it was wonderful.  I saw coral, tropical fish, sea urchins and tons of other marine life. Other than saying, it tired me out and I saw cool marine life, I don't know what else to say about snorkeling. You all know what it is.

5. The town of Bocas del Toro:
First off the people in Panama, or at least Bocas looked similar to southeast Asians--it was kind of weird.  Their were times that I thought I was in Thailand, even though I have no idea what Thailand looks like or have ever visited, I just felt like I was in Asia.  The town was touristy but also had some character.  The cool thing about the Latin American touristy towns, are they are unlike many of the US touristy towns.  In Latin America they are able to keep their personality, and will have lots of street vendors and local restaurants, not just stores with overpriced American goods and restaurant fast-food chains.  Otherwise the town had many tour-operating companies, restaurants, bars and hotels--a typical beach town.

One of the many docks in Bocas.

A street in Bocas.

Those were the highlights of my weekend trip! If you ever get the chance to visit Bocas, DO IT! It's beautiful and will be a lot of fun, just pack bug spray. 


¡Pura Vida!

Me on the boat, with the ocean as my background.

Starfish Beach!

River Rafting!

Again my apologies for not blogging for awhile and being tardy.  March has been incredibly busy, with all my travels and classes finishing up.  Anyways, finals are basically over with and I still want to blog about my life for the past few weeks.

Pacuare River

Two weekends ago I went on a river rafting day trip with my program. We traveled to the Pacuare River, about 2.5 hours away from San José.  The river has been named as one of the top 10 rivers by National Geographic, and was incredibly beautiful.  We didn't see any wildlife besides birds, but the surrounding forest is supposed to have jaguars and monkeys, along with other wild animals.  Basically the only civilization we saw would be a few bungalow/cabin type housing, scattered along the river.  Overall the scenery was so tranquil and beautiful--I definitely felt like I was in Costa Rica, because somewhere so full of ecology and natural beauty isn't found in many other places. 

So after eating a hearty breakfast, of eggs, gallo pinto, fruit, coffee and toast we headed off to the river to set of down the river.  We broke into groups, with each raft having 5 students and one guide.  Our guide Diego, told us the rules, gave us our equipment and got us started down the river.  At first I was so nervous!  I feel like I always get that way before doing something new or something a bit out of my box.  I was so excited but the feeling of my stomach tossing still was there. Quickly the feeling went away, and I only focused on the surrounding beauty and the rapids ahead.

Our first stop in the raft was a group of rocks about a minute away from the start of the river.  Everyone had to get out of the raft, climb up the rocks, jump into the water and then swim back to the boat.  Not exactly sure why that was all necessary, but I grudgingly did it.  I'm not really the type to want to just jump of rocks.

After that, we took off for 2.5 hours of rafting.  We probably went through at least 15-20 rapids during those two hours, they all ranged from a 2-4 on a scale of difficulty--5 is the highest rating.  The river didn't have any of those.  My group got through many with ease and others not so gracefully.  One rapid in particular we got stuck on a group of rocks--and we were stuck good, like it took both of the guys in the boat to push with their feet against the raft and us girls to jump in the boat to shake it loose.

Imagine that one of those people is me.

A few times during the trip our guide let us jump out of the boat and swim around where the water was calm and not near a rapid.  It was so relaxing, just floating along the river with the current, and taking in all the beauty.

After 2.5 hours of rafting, we stopped for a wonderful burrito and fruit lunch, prepared by the guides.  It was so tasty, especially because I had been wanting a burrito or some type of mexican food for awhile now.

We continued on down the river to battle larger rapids, a lot of 3-4s.  It's amazing what the guide does throughout the whole trip.  He has to tell us which way to row and if he see's danger ahead he makes sure we are in the right position going down the river. Also, he kept it fun on the raft--cracking jokes and leading in paddle high-5's after each rapid.  One rapid, Diego said, "ok, guys this is called the 'Dancing Rapid', want to know why? 'Cause you all have to get up and dance." So we all stood up and attempted at dancing while going over a rapid. We all made it through the rapid in the boat.

Paddle High-5's

At the end of the 4.5 hour river trip, I was ready to finish--I was a bit tired.  Looking back at all of my other trips and activities I've done in Costa Rica so fa, the river rafting is definitely one of my favorites.  It was so much fun, and something I probably would have never done if it wasn't for me being in Costa Rica. 


¡Pura Vida!

Weekend trip to the Caribbean

   

It's been awhile since I've last posted, sorry about that.  Anyways, a few weekends ago I went to Puerto Viejo, a town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica for the weekend with one of my friends. It's about a 4-4.5 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo. The town of Puerto Viejo is uniquely different than any other town in Costa Rica I've visited. The weekend I spent there was probably one of my favorites because the atmosphere of the town, and the beach was so different than my past excursions.

Puerto Viejo is a colorful, laid-back town full of Bob Marley worshipers. In general the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, is different than the rest of Costa Rica.  There is Costa Rican culture and then there's the Caribbean culture. The Caribbean has more black people, which makes a lot of difference in terms of culture. The food, music and atmosphere are all different. In the Caribbean there are African, Jamaican and Costa Rican influences all in one--it's an interesting place. Reggae music, spicy meat served on the street, languages with a mix of English, Spanish and French and lots of people on bikes are things that you are able to experience in Puerto Viejo.

The beach at Puerto Viejo was beautiful.  There was clear blue water, palm trees and lots of reef along the beaches. The current wasn't too strong, so I was able to swim, and not get pummeled by waves. This beach was what I imagined all Costa Rican beaches to be like. Even the sights under the water were beautiful. The friend I was with had her goggles so we took turns swimming around underwater looking at the tropical fish and reef. It was so cool.

You are able to learn so much about the culture of a place by walking around, observing and talking to people. The town was so full of life. Everyone was out on street corners and benches, talking to their friends and hanging-out outside. Before dinner time, there were so many different smells filling the air.  Kabobs cooking on street corners, a whole pig roasting outside of the restaurant and fresh fish were common smells.  We opted for a cross border European style dinner, having tea, crepes and pizza.

After walking around the town, taking photos, exploring souvenir shops and having dinner we headed back to the hostel. We stayed in a popular hostel amongst International Veritas students, called Rocking J's. It had many options for accommodations--hammocks, cabins, dorm rooms, suites and tents.  It's places like that, that make me realize I'm in Costa Rica.  Anyways we chose to spend $5.00, for a sheet, locker and a hammock.  It wasn't the most comfortable night's sleep I've ever had, but you can't beat only spending $5.00 for a night somewhere. The hostel was geared for the young traveler. It was colorful and decorated with glass mirages along the floors and walls. There was a restaurant, bar and beer-pong table for night entertainment and a gazebo with seating for hanging out during the day. 

The next day was filled with spending time at the beach, taking photos and a hunting for a house that sold cocoa butter and home-made chocolate products. My friend had heard about this house near by Puerto Viejo from her friends that visited before, and wanted to find it to buy some cocoa butter.  We asked probably about 20 people in Spanish and English trying to find the location of this house. It was frustrating because no one knew what we were talking about. After about an hour of asking around we found a taxi driver who knew where the place was.  He took us to this house owned by an indigenous woman.  The woman makes her own chocolate and chocolate based products. I bought a little chocolate bar with vanilla and my friend bought her much desired cocoa butter.

Overall Puerto Viejo was great.  It was a cool, unique town with friendly people. If I get another oppurtunity to visit other Caribbean towns I would jump at the chance.

¡Pura Vida!

Mis Comidas Favoritas en Costa Rica

So after being in Costa Rica for eight weeks I've found those foods that I like and dislike. I've been able to try a lot of new foods here, and most of them are my favorites here.  I'm looking forward to cooking with my tica mom and learning how to prepare them myself.  Anyways here is my list of my favorite foods.

Cas: So I've mentioned cas briefly in my previous blog posts, but I couldn't have left it off my favorite food blog post. I never get cas juice at my tica house, so whenever I go out to restaurants and cas is an option, it's always my choice.  It's a tropical fruit, which unfortunately can't be found in Minnesota or Iowa.  It's green, delicious and has a bit of acidic/citrus flavor. I read that it is typically used for juice, jellies or pie filling. I've yet to find cas pie or pastries, but I'm looking forward to when I do.

Gallo Pinto: This is a staple dish of Costa Rica and other Latin American countries. It's rice and beans but better. It's typically served with diced onions and cilantro--well at least that's how it's prepared in Costa Rica.  It's great and I wish my tica mom made it once in awhile for us. For some reason she never prepares it for my roommates and me.  The name of the dish completely depends on the country that you're in, and sometimes it even differs by region. In Costa Rica it's referred to as Gallo Pinto by most people. Along Costa Rica's Caribbean coast though, it's called rice and beans, and it's actually prepared with chocolate.

POPS Ice-cream: In Costa Rica, there is the most amazing ice-cream chain--it's called POPS.  POPS stores are littered across Costa Rica.  I think it even has locations in other Latin American countries. In my opinion it's better than Coldstone or Ben and Jerry's.  I'm not quite sure why I like it so much.  It's really rich and they have tons of flavors. Cas, pineapple, chocolate, mint etc. My personal favorite is Chocolate-Almond.

My tica mom's Spaghetti: I love spaghetti, especially my real mom's spaghetti.  It's the perfect balance between meaty and saucy, and really I don't enjoy it anywhere else.  I have to be perfectly honest though, and say I really enjoy my tica mom's spaghetti too--it's definitely up there with the best spaghetti I've ever had. It's very different, so I can't compare it to the spaghetti I've had in the States. The sauce is more like a soup consistency, and it's cooked with lots of vegetables and fresh tomatoes--it's amazing, especially with cheesy garlic bread. 

Mora: Mora is the Spanish word for Blackberry.  I've become mora obsessed recently.  Mora jam, mora juice, pastries filled with mora, along with anything else I can get my hands on containing mora.  I've tried blackberries before coming here and I can't say that they have tasted this good.  Actually it's pretty common for fruits to taste a bit different in Costa Rica than in Minnesota. I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for blackberries this summer so I can make mora juice.

Arroz con Pollo: Rice and chicken--yum. It's a common dish in Costa Rica. It's rice, chicken and chopped up vegetables. I've had it other places, and it doesn't compare to my tica mom's--she is such a good cook. The first time I had it, there was ketchup out on the table, and I had no idea why I would have needed ketchup for that meal--I thought it was just out on accident.  My tico brother had a plate of arroz con pollo and put ketchup all over it. I tried it and it was delicious, totally adds to the flavor!

Tres Leches: Where to begin with Tres Leches. It beats POPS and my Grandma's apple pie (it's hard to beat, trust me), for the title of favorite dessert.  It's a cake made with three different milks, hence the name tres leches (three milks). Sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. It's by no means healthy, it's just rich and wonderful.  The cake is soaked in these milks, leaving it with a wet texture, but not so wet it's soggy.  There is also a whipped cream frosting.

Yuca: Potatoes are the closest thing I can compare yuca to.  It's starchy and the inside of a yuca looks like a potato.  I've had it prepared, where the yuca is mashed up and spread out on a baking sheet. Then vegetables are added, and cheese put on top and baked. It's great, and tastes like something I would have in Minnesota--it's a hot and homey kind of dish. I love it!

¡Pura Vida!