Weekend Update
So it's now Wednesday, and this weekend update is officially well overdue.
Tough.
FRIDAY
Friday morning, the IFSA-UNA program went to the outskirts of San Jose to take all of us to apply for visas. After that, six of us headed to Plaza Cultural in the heart of San Jose to meet up with several of the UCR students. From there, we headed off to the Pulmitan bus station for our direct bus to Liberia, Guanacaste. I wasn't sure whether or not I would have to return to Heredia before leaving for Liberia, so Mike purchased our two tickets last... and just in time, apparently. There were only three more tickets after ours for the 3pm bus. The bus ride took about 4.5 hours (this fact becomes relevant later). When we arrived in Liberia, we headed to a food court for some dinner and hung around for a bit. There was some confusion, because some of our fellow travelers were on a different bus that left at the same time, and got off at a different stop. Eventually we sorted things out and split up to meet our respective orientation host families, who were generous enough to let us spend the night once more. Missy, a UCR student who couldn't come to orientation and thus didn't have a host family in Liberia, crashed with me at Alexis and Nery's place. After a bit more waiting and confusion, we headed to the expo. July 25th is a national holiday in Costa Rica, celebrating the annexation of the area containing Guanacaste. The two weekends surrounding the 25th are filled with celebrations: parties, concerts, parades, etc. That night, we headed to the expo, which was basically like one huge outdoor frat party. There were a couple huge tents, some of which were entirely bars, and others which were more like dance floors. There was also a building (which looked a bit like an abandoned warehouse) that had been turned into a makeshift club. From what I heard, there were bouncers and everything. So if you enjoyed that sort of thing, it was a good time. If not... well, you did what Mike and I did, which was to sit at the quietest table possible (which meant you could shout into each other's ears and be heard) like a couple of chaperones and wait for your friends to return. In the meantime, a little kid came up to us and begged us for money for food, but refused to accept actual food. I considered telling him that in the future he should not carry unopened containers of food with him while he begs. What I actually did was tell him that I didn't speak Spanish, because I couldn't understand a word he had said over the music and his childish accent. Nevertheless, it was an interesting/enjoyable experience.
SATURDAY
The plan for Saturday was to go to Playa del Coco with a few people, find a hotel near the beach, spend the night and take a direct bus from there back to Heredia the next morning/afternoon. We met at the central Liberian park to start calling up hotels. "A few people" became Mike, Missy and I, as opposed to the original 5 or 6 who had wanted to go. At this point, we realized that the assumption that everyone would be in Liberia for the festivities was quite the foolish one. Every hotel at Playa del Coco and nearby beaches was completely full. Resolving to live the Pura Vida, we decided to wing it and went to Playa Hermosa, since Mike and I were more familiar with that beach As we waited for our 1pm bus, some crazy lady came up to us with a handful of pills and started telling us her life story. At first, we thought she was trying to sell us drugs, but then it turned out she just wanted some milk. Still believing the drug-selling bit, we sort of ignored her and she walked away before we realized what she wanted.
Finally, we got to the beach. We walked around asking hotels, but everything was full. Pura Vida: we spent the rest of the day at the beach, hanging out and enjoying the gorgeous sunset. The sunsets here are amazing, and quick: you can see the sun moving as if it were a time-lapsed video.
It's hard to stress out about hotels when you're in such a beautiful locale. I mean, I still managed to, but I had to work at it. After some debate, we eventually called my host mother again and she immediately said we should come back to Liberia and stay with her. So we took a 7pm bus back to Heredia (which didn't really arrive until 7:30, 7:45), and entertained ourselves by watching the Tica girls at the bus stop giggle about American pop culture and attempt to get into cars with strangers. Weird.
SUNDAY
We woke up early, headed to the bus stop to purchase our tickets back to Heredia. Spent the rest of the day hanging out and attempting to eat. For lunch, we headed to a seafood place right next to the central park, and ended up finding a few rather undesirable hairs in our stuffed chicken. There was no way I was going to pay for (or eat) Pollo con Pelo (Chicken with Hair) so we left and got some snacks for the bus. The bus ride back was NOT direct, and we stopped for 10 minutes (the bus driver got impatient and left a few people behind, who sprinted to the next stop... awesome), but we got back in about 3.5 hours. Remember that our direct bus took 4.5 hours. Basically the bus driver was crazy... he passed other buses going up steep inclines, all kinds of stuff. I mostly tried not to watch.
Eventually we got back to San Jose safe and sound, and after some hectic taxi-fetching, we all made it home. Bottom line: everything worked out pretty well, but next time we're planning a little more thoroughly.
Tough.
FRIDAY
Friday morning, the IFSA-UNA program went to the outskirts of San Jose to take all of us to apply for visas. After that, six of us headed to Plaza Cultural in the heart of San Jose to meet up with several of the UCR students. From there, we headed off to the Pulmitan bus station for our direct bus to Liberia, Guanacaste. I wasn't sure whether or not I would have to return to Heredia before leaving for Liberia, so Mike purchased our two tickets last... and just in time, apparently. There were only three more tickets after ours for the 3pm bus. The bus ride took about 4.5 hours (this fact becomes relevant later). When we arrived in Liberia, we headed to a food court for some dinner and hung around for a bit. There was some confusion, because some of our fellow travelers were on a different bus that left at the same time, and got off at a different stop. Eventually we sorted things out and split up to meet our respective orientation host families, who were generous enough to let us spend the night once more. Missy, a UCR student who couldn't come to orientation and thus didn't have a host family in Liberia, crashed with me at Alexis and Nery's place. After a bit more waiting and confusion, we headed to the expo. July 25th is a national holiday in Costa Rica, celebrating the annexation of the area containing Guanacaste. The two weekends surrounding the 25th are filled with celebrations: parties, concerts, parades, etc. That night, we headed to the expo, which was basically like one huge outdoor frat party. There were a couple huge tents, some of which were entirely bars, and others which were more like dance floors. There was also a building (which looked a bit like an abandoned warehouse) that had been turned into a makeshift club. From what I heard, there were bouncers and everything. So if you enjoyed that sort of thing, it was a good time. If not... well, you did what Mike and I did, which was to sit at the quietest table possible (which meant you could shout into each other's ears and be heard) like a couple of chaperones and wait for your friends to return. In the meantime, a little kid came up to us and begged us for money for food, but refused to accept actual food. I considered telling him that in the future he should not carry unopened containers of food with him while he begs. What I actually did was tell him that I didn't speak Spanish, because I couldn't understand a word he had said over the music and his childish accent. Nevertheless, it was an interesting/enjoyable experience.
SATURDAY
The plan for Saturday was to go to Playa del Coco with a few people, find a hotel near the beach, spend the night and take a direct bus from there back to Heredia the next morning/afternoon. We met at the central Liberian park to start calling up hotels. "A few people" became Mike, Missy and I, as opposed to the original 5 or 6 who had wanted to go. At this point, we realized that the assumption that everyone would be in Liberia for the festivities was quite the foolish one. Every hotel at Playa del Coco and nearby beaches was completely full. Resolving to live the Pura Vida, we decided to wing it and went to Playa Hermosa, since Mike and I were more familiar with that beach As we waited for our 1pm bus, some crazy lady came up to us with a handful of pills and started telling us her life story. At first, we thought she was trying to sell us drugs, but then it turned out she just wanted some milk. Still believing the drug-selling bit, we sort of ignored her and she walked away before we realized what she wanted.
Finally, we got to the beach. We walked around asking hotels, but everything was full. Pura Vida: we spent the rest of the day at the beach, hanging out and enjoying the gorgeous sunset. The sunsets here are amazing, and quick: you can see the sun moving as if it were a time-lapsed video.
It's hard to stress out about hotels when you're in such a beautiful locale. I mean, I still managed to, but I had to work at it. After some debate, we eventually called my host mother again and she immediately said we should come back to Liberia and stay with her. So we took a 7pm bus back to Heredia (which didn't really arrive until 7:30, 7:45), and entertained ourselves by watching the Tica girls at the bus stop giggle about American pop culture and attempt to get into cars with strangers. Weird.
SUNDAY
We woke up early, headed to the bus stop to purchase our tickets back to Heredia. Spent the rest of the day hanging out and attempting to eat. For lunch, we headed to a seafood place right next to the central park, and ended up finding a few rather undesirable hairs in our stuffed chicken. There was no way I was going to pay for (or eat) Pollo con Pelo (Chicken with Hair) so we left and got some snacks for the bus. The bus ride back was NOT direct, and we stopped for 10 minutes (the bus driver got impatient and left a few people behind, who sprinted to the next stop... awesome), but we got back in about 3.5 hours. Remember that our direct bus took 4.5 hours. Basically the bus driver was crazy... he passed other buses going up steep inclines, all kinds of stuff. I mostly tried not to watch.
Eventually we got back to San Jose safe and sound, and after some hectic taxi-fetching, we all made it home. Bottom line: everything worked out pretty well, but next time we're planning a little more thoroughly.