So I know the ideal way to blog is to do short posts more frequently and not incredibly long posts every few months, so I promise I'll try to do away with the feast or famine style blogging from now on. But for now, here's the 3rd part of my 3 part blog. The International Arts Festival is in San José from the 15th until the 25th I think. So on Friday, my friends and I went to San José and looked around and shopped at the craft tents, got dinner at a really great pizza and pasta place nearby and then saw Calle 13 perform at night. For those not in the know (which was me before I got to Costa Rica), Calle 13 is a big deal in Latin America. They are a band from Puerto Rico with very satirical and politically charged music. Their music is kind of a mix of reggaeton and a bunch of other styles. Anyway, I really didn't hear or see much of them because there were so many people there. We were really far away and when we tried to push our way through the crowd to get closer, it was just suffocating. I was not having it, and neither were two of my friends, so the three of us left and went to a nearby restaurant to get drinks and have dessert. The rest of the group met up with us later. I know Cleveland just set the record for largest St. Patrick's Day parade with 500,000 people but I can assure you that there were more people at this festival. I don't think any Tico has even considered trying to do a count (that's just not Tico), but I'm pretty sure the entire Central Valley was there. When we tried to take a bus to go home, we had to wait for bus after bus after bus after bus before we could get on one. There were a ton of buses, but they kept on filling up. There was an insanely long line for the buses and you had to fight to get on one. It was definitely an experience. I didn't end up getting home until 1 am, which was super rough because I had to wake up at 5 am to go on a class field trip.
We met at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning and departed for the Irazú volcano. This particular volcano is the highest active volcano in Costa Rica with an elevation of 11,260 feet. And let me tell you, it was freezing at the top! It was about 40 degrees at the top (ok, so not technically freezing), but the temperature often drops below freezing at night. I had definitely forgotten what 40 degrees felt like, and I have no clothes here for that kind of weather. Also it was misting and we were in basically one giant cloud, so it was quite an experience. My Tico classmates were too funny. They are definitely not accustomed to the cold like my friend Audrey, who's from Colorado, and I are. Definitely glad I saw it. The views of the craters and the bluish-green lakes that have filled in the craters are beautiful. But also definitely glad that we were only there for about 20 or 30 minutes. There really wasn't a lot to see. It was very desolate up there. Nothing really grows when it's that cold all the time. After that we went to Paraíso de Cartago, a pretty standard Costa Rican city. Audrey and I got an empanada at a street market and we poked our head in the church, but it was under construction (poor timing!). I was bummed because we saw that church instead of the one in Cartago, which we drove past and looks really beautiful. Cartago is known as the colonial and religious capital of Costa Rica and every August pilgrims from all over the country flock to Cartago on the feast day of the Virgin of the Angels. Oh well. Maybe another time. Then we went to the Orosi Valley, which is a beautiful mountainous part of Costa Rica with beautifully scenic look out points and the remains of a church that dates back to 1570. We saw said church a few weekends back on another trip. It was all very beautiful. Then we had lunch and it was a nice chance for Audrey and me to chat with our fellow students.
Last night, I went to dinner in San José with Audrey, her sister and her sister's boyfriend (both of whom were visiting from the US). We ate at Kalú, which is an amazing restaurant offering a wide variety of food. One of my complaints about Costa Rican food (though delicious) is that there is very little variety. So when we had bruschetta and smoked salmon on bread for apps, a salmon taco, a tuna taco and a shrimp taco with a salad for mains, and a (get this!) paulaner hefe weisbier to drink, I think I almost died. These foods are not common in Costa Rica, so it was nice to have them. And as for the beer, the beer here leaves a lot to be desired. A real tragedy if you ask me. All of their domestic beers taste the same (which is true of macrobrews in the US), but they have no microbrews or imported European beers like we do in the states. I know. First world problems. Anyway, we had a great time at the restaurant. Audrey's sister and her boyfriend were both incredibly nice and really fun to talk to. Today, I went to the international arts festival again. This time with my host family. We ate lots of good food and I got a churro for dessert. yum! The festival was SUPER crowded especially the tents full of arts and crafts. After that we left. It was nice to spend time with my host family and practice my Spanish. I really hope my Spanish is improving. I think it is, but I always feel like I should be improving faster. So yeah, that's basically everything that's new right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment