Well it's been nearly 2 months since I've posted and so much has happened. There are a lot more pictures up: http://community.webshots.com/user/undergrounddan

This post I wrote March 5th after the trip to Monteverde. Each trip I have taken has been better than the previous one and the trip to Monteverde this past weekend is my favorite so far. The cloud forests of Monteverde and Santa Elena are probably one of the more famous destinations in Costa Rica. Friday morning nine of us caught the 6:30 a.m. bus for the five hour ride from San Jose to Santa Elena. All of us were pretty intent on saving as much money as possible on this trip. The owner of the cabinas where we stayed met us in the town and led us to where we would be staying. I can't say enough about how much I liked our lodging. If you go ever go to Monteverde and don't want to pay much money for a place to stay, then I highly recommend Cabinas El Pueblo. These were the nicest rooms we had stayed in so far and for a total of $12 for two nights, well, you just can't beat it. We didn't do much Friday, we just sort of sat around and hung out at the hotel, met some crazy dude from Seattle who had been traveling through Central America. The place we stayed had a kitchen we could use so we made all our own food which was cost much less than eating out. This was good because we were all very intent on saving as much money as possible this trip (although I had to practically drag Chris away from the bottle of Johnny Walker Blue he was drooling over in the grocery store [price tag: $180]). Through the place we stayed we were able to book a trip to the cloud forest and the Extremo zip-line tour (awesome name) for a considerably less amount of money. Saturday started early with a 7 a.m. trip to Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. When we pulled up to the reserve headquarters we saw a large crowd of people most of them carry cameras with lens scopes longer than my arm. Bird watching is huge here and they were all gathered around a tree where two Resplendent Quetzales were perched. So we were able to see the most famous and culturally important bird in Central America before we were even off the bus. I can honestly tell you that it is easily the most beautiful bird I have ever seen. Unfortunately the two Quetzales were the last creatures were going to see in the cloud forest. But just because we didn't see any more animals doesn't mean that the forest wasn't absolutely captivating. We hiked along at our own individual pace taking our time to examine the abundant fauna. The one thing I didn't like about Monteverde was the trails were much more laid out and developed unlike those in Braulio Carrillo which had a much more natural feel because of this. Our trail led along a ridge and we could watch from a vista as the clouds swooped through the forest, it was an amazing sight. We reached a view platform in the middle of our hike which had a great view of the Gulf Nicoya some 40 miles away. A piece of metal on one of the hand rails of the platform stuck out and I dragged my hand and middle finger through it. The metal made a couple small but deep cuts opening up the skin between my middle and ring finger and cutting my middle finger open. They were deep but not serious at all; the problem was they got very dirty very quickly so I didn't have as much fun on the hike back because I was intent on getting my cuts cleaned so they didn't get infected. It wasn't easy to clean and the ranger wrapped it for me. Luckily this wouldn't prevent me from missing out on the Extremo tour. We ranted on about how extreme it was going to be and that we should show up pounding Mountain Dew so we would look really extreme. I had no idea what to expect with the zip-line tour but it wasn't scary at all, it was just an incredible experience of flying from mountain to mountain 450 feet above the ground. Some of the lines are really fast and you brake yourself so you can take it up to some fast speeds. The highlight of the tour was definitely the Tarzan Swing. From a high platform, you jump off, fall until the rope catches and then it swings you up into the canopy over a hundred ft into the air. The experience left me with quite a rush and lessened any previous fear of heights I had. We made the mistake of buying our tickets Sunday morning before the afternoon bus. The bus was almost full and we had to stand for the 5+ hour ride back to San Jose, but it really wasn’t too bad

Better run through the jungle

I've started to grow out the 'stache and it looks pretty retro so far. I'm going for the sleazy Matt Dillon in There's Something About Mary look although I don't think I can pull off the pencil 'stache. I’m in a David Bowie mood so a little Ziggy Stardust should help me get my thoughts flowing and to play a little catch-up because it’s been a while since I’ve journaled. To start back a couple weeks ago following the trip to Montezuma. It’s pretty awesome, with only 4 days of class, the week flies by. Since the other class had a field trip and couldn’t make it to Montezuma, they were headed to Manuel Antonio for the weekend. Those of us who went to Montezuma planned on spending the weekend in San Jose and saving some money.

Something strange happened to me on the Thursday night of that week. We went out to a couple bars and after dropping Abby off, I foolishly decided I would walk home from her house. It is only about a 5 minute walk but it was not a smart idea at 2 a.m. I would have to pass by those sketchy bars at the end of my street. When I got to near the bars a man approached me, he was clearly hopped up on something and began talking to me about black metal and brujeria (the Spanish word for witchcraft, which I was able to recognize). He offered me a sip from the bottle of guaro he was carrying around with, I declined and continued walking hoping he would leave me alone. But he didn’t. Instead he went on and on about witchcraft and how Jesus is dead and black metal, repeating a lot of what he said. He should me the pentagram tattoo he had and not wanting to upset him I just agreed with everything he said. I wasn’t exactly scared of the man I just wanted to go home and he wouldn’t leave me alone. Some of what he said I couldn’t quite understand and all of a sudden he pulled out a kitchen knife. As soon as that happened I started getting a little nervous but he put it away and then pulled it out later and then put it away. I wasn’t quite sure why he kept pulling it out at first but he showed me his arm and where he would cut himself. It’s funny how my Spanish suddenly improved once he started flashing his knife around. The third time he pulled his knife out, he gave it to me. As best I could understand he wanted me to either cut him or to cut myself. I declined and very cautiously gave him his knife back although giving him back his knife was a hard decision for me, I could probably have taken it and run. I made it to outside of my house and he kept begging for me to come to his house and offered me pills all to which I responded “No thanks, I’m sleepy”. After about 20 minutes of talking to this guy I had had enough and I figured that if I just gave him some money maybe he would leave me alone, so I gave him what was the equivalent of $6. Even then he didn’t leave right away but kept talking for a while until he saw that I was not going to come to his house and that I wasn’t interested in buying any speed from him. Eventually he left and went back to the bar and I quickly dipped into mi casa. When I think back on the whole thing I’m surprised that I wasn’t very freaked out at him waving around his knife. In retrospect I would have thought I’d have been much more nervous than I actually was. It was a rather odd encounter but I’m glad I didn’t get mugged even if I did end up losing $6. So I decided that from now on I’m going to take a taxi to my doorstep. I could go without seeing that man ever again.

Friday a few of us went to Cartago, a city of about 140,000 just a 20 minute bus ride east of San Jose. There are two things to see in Cartago, one is Las Ruinas de la Parroquia, which are the ruins of an old basilica that was built in 1575 and has been destroyed many times over by earthquakes. It isn’t much to see but it was kind of interesting. The other thing to see in Cartago is the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, which is a beautiful work of architecture that dates back to 1635 but has somehow remained in tact. Many people who entered would get on their knees at the entrance and walk up to the altar on their knees, praying as they did so. Behind the church is a natural spring where people would drink the holy water. I cleansed my face with the water and then got a bottle and filled it up, best water you’ll ever have. Except not, you can pretty much taste the chemicals the use to purify it. That night Brendan, Vicky, Abby and I went to the movie theater at the very nice Terra Mall. Our choices at 10 p.m. were between Rambo and Sweeney Todd. I had seen Sweeney Todd and I wasn’t crazy about it (I liked the story, just not the music) so I was down for a little Stallone but everyone else wanted to see Johnny Depp slit about 10 peoples throats. I would’ve preferred watching Rambo carry out justice (literally shooting someone’s head off), the way any hero praised by Ronald Reagan would (i.e. Rambo: First Blood Part II). Don’t think I forgot that your nickname at work is Rambo, mom.

Five of us were interested in getting out of San Jose for the day on Saturday so we took a bus up to Parque Nacional Volcan Irazu. Irazu is the second highest peak in Costa Rica and is the nation’s tallest volcano at 11,260 ft. At that height you can look down at the clouds circling the volcano which was a quite a sight. Irazu last erupted when Kennedy visited in 1963. Coincidence? You tell me. It was pretty cool looking down into the crater and walking around the blast area. Unfortunately a top the volcano there are virtually no trails and so there is very little hiking. I was dying to do some exploring and the group before us had tried to take a trail only to be turned around by a park ranger. So when I didn’t see any rangers looking I took off towards what I thought was a trail but we didn’t get very far before a ranger spotted us and made us come back. But Irazu was still fun and there were great views. Unfortunately for me the deceptive clouds left me with a bit of a nasty sunburn on my face. Even my ears got burnt which stings like hell. Saturday night a bunch of us went to a club, I’ve been to plenty of bars and what not but never an actual club which is what this was. The DJ blasted techno and house music which was a nice break from the same old reggaeton you hear everywhere else. However there were a couple of problems, first off it was extremely crowded and second, it was extremely expensive. After the cover charge and two drinks I was left with only enough money for the cab ride home. The dancing was great but broke and tired Abby and I dipped out early. Brendan had met a Tica at a bar on Thursday night and I went with the two of them to the mall. My presence was awkward because not only was I the third wheel but she didn’t speak any English and Brendan knew enough Spanish to converse with her while I couldn’t say a damn thing. I got a new Spanish dictionary and a couple of shirts and Brendan got a new pair of shoes. I think I’m going to get a new pair before I leave, they’re much cheaper here. There are a bunch of skate stores everywhere and it really makes me wish I had my board but I doubt I would be able to convince my mom to bring it down when she comes to visit.

Last week flew by as well. On Wednesday morning we took a tour of San Jose, which if you ask me was a little belated but was interesting none the less. Especially after I got the guide to sing “Karma Chameleon” with me, nothing like a little Culture Club. 80’s music can transpass countries. Thursday night Brendan, Chris and I went to a low-key Irish pub which was nice but pricy because of the imports, they sold a couple of beers that were $20! I ended up spending the majority of my money on the jukebox blasting New Order, the Stones, and Zeppelin, topping the night off with Billie Jean. Felt Right.
The plan for this past weekend was to go to Carnivales, a huge all-night music/cultural festival on the beach in Puntarenas. It looked like a lot of fun and all of us were originally scheduled to go but the more I thought about it, I can go to a festival and listen to music in the U.S. and I came here to do things that I can’t do back home. Plus I’d rather spend my money on something I’ve never done. And while going to a festival is a great way to bond with everyone, Jared and Abby agreed with me that we should do something else. Something new. We were itching to go to the rainforest. I’ve been to the beach twice here, it’s about time I check out the jungle. In the mountains, about a half-hour outside of San Jose is Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. It’s hard to imagine a dense cloud-forest so close to the nations sprawling, polluted capital city but it is protected land and the highway to the Carribean coast winds through it. Because it is mostly undeveloped and the majority of the people that take the highway are merely traveling through, Braulio Carrillo is not a popular tourist destination. The three ranger stations in the 48,000 hectare park are obviously quite isolated and no bus takes you directly to and from the park. You have to get dropped off by a bus headed to another destination and then to leave you must flag down a bus on the highway. Since we decided on this trip Thursday night, it wasn’t very well planned and getting there and away was a bit of a crap shoot. Because it’s not a popular destination information on visiting was minimal and what we did find was rather discouraging. Frommers did not recommend camping in the park and because of the lack of development, some trails require walking along the highway which can be dangerous.
Regardless, we were determined to get to the park. We didn’t accomplish much planning for the trip on Friday. It was our original desire to camp so we bought a cheap tent from the low-priced store, Pequeno Mundo; which is like Costa Rica’s version of Wal-Mart minus the fascism. However we were unsuccessful in finding out whether or not we could camp in the part of the park we were going to, so we figured it would only be a day trip. We decided to pack like we would be camping over night but in all honesty none of us really thought it would happen which would lead to some complications. Friday we met outside the Subaru-excuse me Shubaru-dealership and caught a taxi to the bus station. We bought tickets for the 8:00 a.m. bus to Guapiles which is near the Carribean coast with the intention of getting dropped off at one of the ranger stations. It took me several attempts to correctly communicate to the bus driver where we wanted to be dropped off but eventually we made it. Abby talked to the ranger on duty about camping and he told us that we weren’t allowed to camp but that we could camp under a shelter in the forest that the rangers sometimes used for meetings. The ranger made sure to show Abby a water bottle that contained a dead snake soaking in formaldehyde.
It’s impossible to describe what its like to be in the rainforest but I think the word that describes it best is fascinating. This is nature at its fullest potential. Not to sound cliché but it’s just so incredibly lush. The vegetation is really too much to take in, I don’t think I could ever get desensitized to the sight of thousands upon thousands of plants fighting to grow. Flora grows upon flora upon flora upon flora… The vast amount of sunlight and rain (Braulio Carrillo gets rain almost everyday of the year) results in plants with leaves bigger than my body. The forest is a loud place with the constant calls of different species. Although Braulio Carrillo is home to everything from jaguars to tapirs, the chance of seeing large animals is rare. Your best chance is to see birds. We saw several different lizards (Abby saw a huge iguana) and at one point I spotted a toucan which was pretty cool. Of course there is an abundance of all sorts of insects; highways of leaf-cutter ants constantly crossed our path. We hiked a couple trails, taking our time to inspect all the different flora and fauna. The second trail we hiked we ventured off on an unmarked path and made our way to the Rio Sucio (Dirty River). The water of the Rio Sucio is orange, not because it’s polluted or anything but because it starts on the ash-covered slopes of Irazu. After our hike the ranger showed us a swimming hole and although we weren’t sure how to say the word leech in Spanish we jumped off the falls in. The later it got the more it started to rain and the clouds descended into the forest. We got to our little campsite under the meeting shelter and stayed there. Since the three of us didn’t actually think we would be camping we didn’t bring much food. Jared brought a pack of six Oreos, I brought a small thing of Pringles and Ritz crackers, and Abby, the smarter one, brought a couple bananas, some granola, some crackers, plantain chips and dry fruit so we mooched off her food a good deal. After it got dark we were bored, we hadn’t brought cards or anything else. Jared read some of his great ancestor’s novel, Moby Dick and I wished I had bought Mrs. Dalloway from the book store the other day. It wasn’t long before the three of us ended up in the tent, headed to bed early. Concrete isn’t exactly easy to sleep on and we tossed and turned the whole night through and were left with bruises from our not exactly “soft” mattress. We “woke up” to the calls of howler monkeys which was kind of a unique experience.
Determined to get home early, with dreams of McDonald’s in our heads we flagged down a bus on the highway. We downed both breakfast and lunch at McDonald's and after the Chips Ahoy McFlurry which wasn’t necessary but was necessary, I was dizzy. Tom, Chris, and Claire came in to McDonald’s and told us about their weekend at Carnivales. It sounded pretty fun except for the whole three people getting pickpocketed and the not sleeping thing (although I didn’t do much better myself).

I saw a couple movies these past few days, Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. You could say it was a Casey Affleck weekend. It was difficult to rent Gone Baby Gone knowing that it was directed by his brother Ben but I was pleased, it was a pretty good. I really enjoyed The Assassination of Jesse James. At 160 minutes, it's a bit long but the style in which it's shot is captivating and the landscapes of the plains are almost a bit surreal. The story is moving and there are strong performances by all the actors, Casey Affleck (who got the Oscar nom.) in particular. I recommend it however it's not an action western, instead the movie is slow and takes it's time to play out beautifully. I would say it's more of a period piece and psychological drama than an action film.

I watched the Oscars in Spanish last night and I wasn’t surprised with the majority of the winners, No Country For Old Men is an instant classic and I really wish I had gotten to see There Will Be Blood before the ceremony because Daniel Day-Lewis (best living actor) is apparently unbelievable. The one Oscar I had a problem with was Tilda Swinton winning Best Supporting Actress. She was good in Michael Clayton but I would have chosen her behind three of the other actresses nominated in that category. That award deserved to go to Cate Blanchett hands down for her role as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. She was excellent playing him. I think I’m more attracted to her as Bob Dylan than to her in general.

I went to FINCA Costa Rica today for the interview for my internship and I think it went well. I mean I got the internship and I start on Wednesday. The one problem is that everyone there speaks Spanish which will be a challenge but my Spanish should improve quickly.

I'll be putting up more pictures from Montezuma, pictures from Irazu, and pictures from Braulio Carrillo soon.

A cause that's definitely worthwhile

I didn’t really want to go to Costa Rica. My heart is in Africa, the birthplace of civilization, and I want to visit the motherland more than anywhere else in the world. I wanted to go abroad to a less developed nation (Costa Rica is sort of the jewel of Lain America). But what drew me to Costa Rica was the program. It’s the absolute perfect program for what I’m interested in and for what I want to do with my life. It’s an opportunity for me to take courses I would never find at Elon. And from what I learn here I can apply to work in any part of the world. Sustainable Human Development, if implemented correctly, is the solution to ending world poverty. A lot of people probably don’t know what exactly SHD is, the word sustainability is usually associated with the environment but it is much more than that, it deals with improvements in the quality of life for all people.

Here’s a little explanation of what sustainable human development actually is. It believes priority should be given to the needs of the poor and that we should never “compromise the capacity of human beings to survive” (I like that description). However, the purpose of SHD is to enlarge all human choices not just their income. It stands on four pillars: productivity, equality, sustainability, and empowerment. To briefly explain these pillars and the role they play: productivity – the way in which we use resources to create an environment which allows for people to then give back to the community. Equality – equal access to opportunities and the distribution of productive assets and the distribution of income. Sustainability – recognizing the right of future generations to enjoy opportunities and benefits enjoyed by the present generation. Empowerment – putting people in the position to exercise choices of their own free will.

The key concepts of sustainable human development are the generation of opportunities and the development of capabilities of, for and by the people. To chop that up, development of the people means investing in human capabilities like education, health and creative employment. Development for the people (empowerment) means providing opportunities to participate in decision making processes. This means treating the people as the subject rather than the object of development. For instance public assistance and charity (giving money to those living in poverty) is treating them as the object of development. We should be treating them as the subject on development and this means government assistance to help people become sustainable and able to survive on their own. And finally development by the people (enable people) this means equal opportunities and access, universal access to health care, education, and social security.

Sustainable Human Development makes me think of one of my all-time favorite quotes; it’s by Dr. King:

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

I’m not sure exactly in what way I can fully contribute to sustainable human development but I have decided that I want to dedicate my life to furthering it. A great example of sustainable human development is micro-credit institutions like the Grameen Bank which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize. Micro-credit is giving small loans to the poor who cannot get traditional credit and it allows them to take part in self-employment projects so they can generate wealth and get out of poverty. I’m hoping to get an internship with a micro-credit organization down here and I sent them my resume and I’m going on Monday to meet with them. I’m so glad I chose to come to Costa Rica; I have discovered what I want to do.

I'll be putting up more pictures from Montezuma and from this past weekend soon.

Jumping off waterfalls

There are new pictures up from times around San Jose and some from this past weekend: Photos

Friday morning six of us departed San Jose on a bus for Montezuma, a small town located on the coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. I put a good dent into The Audacity of Hope on the ride. I haven't had much time to read it lately but I'm still enjoying it. A two hour bus ride brought us to Puntarenas, one of Costa Rica's biggest ports. From there we took a ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya to the peninsula. I was able to get some sleep on the boat which was nice. We docked at Playa Naranjo and then caught an hour and a half bus ride to Montezuma. On the bus there were TV's which showed about ten music videos in a row by some Mexican singer named Marco Antonio Solis. The videos absolutely, unintentionally hilarious and Brendan and I were cracking up at how bad they were. When we got off the bus in Montezuma I was sweating so hard my jeans were practically soaked. I've never felt such humidity. We found a spot to stay, Hotel Lys which was sort of like Rocking J's, it was inexpensive and had the same hippie vibe. I was ready to get into my bathing suit as soon as possible. Montezuma was what I would define as the perfect beach, although because of its location there weren't many waves. The water was a nice refreshing 70 degrees and the beach wasn't crowded. We were too tired to really go out that night and we had big plans for the next day so we turned in pretty early. Early the next morning we hiked to a set of waterfalls which were about 20 minutes away from the beach. It was a tough hike and there wasn't much of a trail. The hike mainly involved pulling yourself up hillsides on roots and in some sections there were ropes for you to hold on to. There were a series of waterfalls and my Lonely Planet book had talked about how people would sometimes jump off of the 45 ft tall second waterfall. No one else was going to do it so I just ran up and jumped off. The fall took much longer than I thought it would and I hit the water so hard it sort of stunned me and I hurt my back a little bit, but it was definitely worth it. It was quite a liberating experience. After my jump other people followed. The hike down was funny in a way because everyone was falling and sliding or running into trees to get support, but we were all pretty tired and dirty by the end of it. The day only got better. We wanted to see Cabo Blanco Natural Reserve at the tip of the peninsula and then go to Mal Pais and Santa Teresa two beaches on the Western side of the peninsula where we could watch the sunset. To do this we decided to rent ATV's. I felt a little bad about doing it because I'm not sure how good they are for the environment but it was unbelievably fun to drive through the mountains. I've had some experience driving an ATV from working on the farm but not like this. You could flat out fly down the mountain hills and through puddles and I was constantly taking it to the limit, although Vicky who was riding with me would make me slow down every now and then. We spun out once going down a hill which was pretty exciting. The Natural Reserve was closed when we got there which was a little disappointing. We made it to Mal Pais in about 40 minutes. Mal Pais was a very nice beach with plenty of waves because it was located on the Western side of the peninsula. However we were the only ones on the beach who were there to swim. Everyone else there was surfing and being out in the waves you would get quite close to the surfers. After a while in ocean and playing fetch with some random dog who would bring me rocks to throw for him to retrieve, I decided I wanted to go on a ride and see what was further up the shore. I stopped and got something to drink and while I was sitting on the side of the road, a group of 3 Australians came up to me and asked if I could give them a ride. I said sure and all three hopped on the back of the ATV and we took off down the road. I thought that they would just tell me where to let them off, which they said was the supermarket. Well I found out a good five minutes down the road that they didn't know where the supermarket was. They must have thought I was a taxi or something, that I knew where the supermarket was and would take them there. It was kind of funny although I took them a good ways away from town but they didn't seem too bothered by it. I made it back to the beach to watch the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. Driving the ATV during the day is fun but driving it at night is a whole different ball game. The best word I can use to describe it is exhilarating. It's a large mix of fun, excitement, fear, and adventurousness. There were no lights in the mountains and so you could barely see what was in front of you but what made it really difficult to see was all the dust that you drive into. It was definitely a memory I will never forget. We had planned on going out but after such a long day it was pretty obvious that wasn't going to happen so we ended up sitting on the beach looking at the stars. It was a clear night and with virtually no pollution you could see the Milky Way. This led to some interesting conversation. I'm bad with recognizing constellations and while I can sort of make out Orion, I'm convinced there is no bear that he is fighting. I don't know how the hell you could make out a bear from those stars. Anyways, enough rambling.
I woke up Sunday morning to go to the bathroom and when I stepped outside I was lucky enough to see the sunrise, as Montezuma faces the east. All of us were pretty sore from hiking and jumping off the waterfall. We spent the morning on the beach and as usual, even though I put on sunscreen I still got burned. My creamy white skin doesn't fair well in this country. We got a bus to the ferry at 3:30 but learned that the bus we were originally supposed to pick up in Puntarenas to take us to San Jose had broken down so we weren't really sure what was going to happen once we made it to Puntarenas. I ate an avocado with a spoon on the ferry. We ended up standing for most of the ride back to San Jose but it wasn't that bad (another group of students didn't even make it on to the bus). When I got home at 10 that night I was hungry, sore, and sunburned and ready for bed. Helluva weekend.

my personal favorite patriotic Cuban song

Obviously there are many, many cultural differences between Costa Rica and the United States. One I find rather interesting is music. In the United States, the most popular music genre is hip-hop. Here it's reggaeton which sounds sort of like hip-hop mixed with reggae (resulting in a genre of horrible music). Not to knock either hip-hop or reggae because I'm a fan of both (some hip-hop and a lot of reggae), but this hybrid, which can be heard all over, is just terrible. It's interesting because they've sort of taken their own spin on hip-hop, combining it with the Carribean culture. Hip-hop by itself is somewhat popular, I heard someone listening to Snoop Dogg the other day and my host siblings like Outkast and reggae is popular near the Carribean, but reggaeton dominates the airwaves.
What I've found most interesting about music in Costa Rica is they seem to be stuck in the 80's. If it's not reggaeton then it's 70's or 80's pop music, which is frequent in restaurants. I had a short conversation with my host brother about music and one of the first bands he asked me if I listened to was the Bee Gees. He also had KC & the Sunshine Band on his iPod. Disco is still very much alive here. The other night I was walking home and I passed the bar at the end of my street and heard "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, the Top Gun love theme, drifting out. It was a magical moment. Another night Brendan and I ate dinner at a different bar close by. There were four big screen televisions in the place and they were playing the music videos of, in this order: The Police, Aerosmith, Toto, and Phil Collins. This is what it must be like to be in a bar in the U.S. in the 1980's. At a different place we went to, the walls were lined with records of Billy Ocean, Culture Club, and my personal favorite: Andy Gibb's album Shadow Dancer. Although 80's pop music is popular, you won't hear it in bars where people dance, you'll hear reggaeton instead. I would kill to hear "September" by Earth Wind and Fire or "Keep It Comin' Love" by KC & the Sunshine Band one night when I'm out. In away 80's pop music is to them what classic rock from the 60's and 70's are to us, bar music but not dance music. My host mother loves music and the radio in our house is always on but her choice of music is different, she listens what I guess you could call Latin oldies. I kind of like it. "Guantanamera" is actually one of my favorite songs to hear when I'm still waking up at breakfast.

As far as television goes, they watch the same shows here as we do in the U.S., except now that David Schwimmer's voice is dubbed in Spanish, Friends is actually a funny show.

Finally some pictures up

To start from last Thursday

Classes are Monday - Thursday so Thursday is kind of like a Friday for us. It wasn't a very pretty day out and a bit cold so a few of us decided we'd go see a movie after class. Our selection was limited because we needed one that was in english with spanish subtitles. The only one that worked out was National Treasure 2, a horrible horrible movie. It was unintentionally hilarious and I kind of felt bad for the other four people in the theater because we were cracking up throughout the entire thing.

I woke up early on Friday morning and threw all of my stuff in my backpack and hurried to Brendan’s where a cab was going to take Alex, him, and I to the bus station. I barely made it in time. I was pretty awake for 5:30 in the morning. At the bus station a woman was charging to use the bathroom and I thought she was scamming me so I went in anyways but when I came out some woman was paying her so I gave her some colones but I wasn't very happy. I had planned on reading The Audacity of Hope on the 4 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo but I ended up talking to Aly who was sitting next to me for pretty much the entire time. Everyone else was asleep but we had some good conversation. Once we got over the mountains surrounding San Jose and were closer to the Carribean the air became much more humid and I was sweating like crazy. There were a total of 11 of us going, six of us had originally planned to go and then five girls decided they would come along after their plans fell through. The six of us were staying at a place called Rocking J's. From the pictures on the internet and the description in Lonely Planet, I didn’t expect too much of Rocking J’s, but it truly was something else. A huge compound with a restaurant/bar, options of renting a hammocks ($4 baby), tents, private rooms or even a tree house. We naturally went with the hammock. There were lockers for us to stow our stuff in. The entire compound, from the walkways to the columns and walls and bathrooms were completely covered in mosaics. You can actually use art supplies to add your own artistic contribution; we would have if we had more time. There was a little hut with hammocks for taking a nap during the day. Rocking J’s is on the beach and just outside of it is a bonfire in the little bit of woods between the compound and the sea. It is definitely the most unique place I have ever stayed at. As great as it was we definitely stuck out. To fit in we would have needed dreadlocks, tattoos, a surfboard or at least a tan. Picture a hippie mecca by the beach. We got some food and some drinks and headed to the beach. Animals in Puerto Viejo just sort of wander around. During the course of the day several different dogs passed us and at one point two albino horses. Crazy. In a tree a few yards away from where were sitting was a sloth. After a fun night out Jared and I came back to Rocking J's and found all the guests in togas. So naturally we fashioned togas with our sheets but I didn't stay long at the toga party, I was so tired I ended up passing out in my hammock. Jared stayed up and they had a bonfire and everyone sat around singing, I wish I had stayed up. The next morning I woke up feeling very refreshed but covered with bug bites on my hands, and feet and a few on my face. That day was spent at this really nice beach that we biked to. The beach was spectacular and there was a surfing contest going on. The sun was beating down and it was probably the hottest time at the beach I’ve ever had. I threw on sunscreen in a very poor manner and headed out to get the waves. There were flags lined up along the beach telling you where you could or could not swim because of rip tides. In the ocean I could feel the two currents hitting one another and there was definitely a bit of a pull out to the sea. The waves were the biggest I’ve ever seen or felt. I wanted to get out to some big ones and do some body surfing but that was tough. You would keep getting hit by progressively larger waves and they would push you back to the shore. When I did get out far enough to ride some it wasn’t really bodysurfing. I had a couple good runs but overall it was nearly impossible. The waves break so high where you’re supposed to catch them so you just get thrown down and not actually pulled forward with the wave. The few times that I did catch a wave it literally just threw me around like a rag doll, it was no smooth ride. The combination of the heat and repeatedly being hit with a barrage of waves got me dizzy really quickly and so went and sat with everyone else on the beach and drank some coconut water. That night we went out for Claire's 21st birthday. All of the food we ate in Puerto Viejo was absolutely delcious.
We went to this Middle Eastern place and I had a falafel for the second time in my life (I don't know where you can get one in Charlotte) and we drank Sangria (ugh). That night it poured but we were safe from the rain in our hammock compound. I was drained from the weekend so by the time I got back to San Jose I was ready to pass out.
Monday was one of the hottest days in San Jose since we've been here. We tried to play futbol in Curridebat but got dehydrated very quickly.

Around 4:20 pm on Tuesday someone was shot and killed in my neighborhood of Vargas Araya about 4 blocks away from my house. A 23 year old was killed during a botched “bajonazo” which apparently is putting a gun to the head of a driver in an attempt to steal the car. What happened was two young men on motorcycles tried to block off a Land Cruiser so they could carry out the bajonazo. However the man in the car had bodyguards and gun shots were exchanged and one of the assailants was hit and in an attempt to get away became a victim of crossfire. I just missed it happening on my way back from class. I remember walking right past the witness they were interviewing on TV. I feel safe here during the day (although some kid in the program last year got mugged on his way to class at 8:30 am) but night can be very sketchy. There is somewhat of a neighborhood watch: guys wearing reflector vests and carrying clubs (though I did see one of them staggering around drugged out of his mind las night). I usually don't walk around at night unless its walking one of the girls home our on Wednesday's when my class ends at 7:30. My trick is to walk really confidently, like a man on a mission. It's all about being smart and using your head. Crime may be on the rise in San Jose but violent crime is low when you compare it to some cities in the U.S. (i.e. Baltimore).

We're all staying here this weekend, there was talk about going to Volcan Irazu, a volcano right outside of San Jose but we didn't really plan that in time. I've a lot of reading and project to start. I'm hoping to do some volunteer work with a microcredit organization so I have to craft a resume this weekend as well. If the microcredit program doesn't work out because my spanish level is weak then I'm hoping I can do something like habitat-esque. We'll see.

Pictures from Costa Rica so far

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've last posted but here's some catch up now that I'm getting wireless in the living room of my house. This past weekend was spent just getting to know everyone. Just having fun in San Jose and getting to know the area before classes begun on Monday. Friday night everyone went out together to a bar in Curridebat (one of the barrios where students are living). My host sister made me shave before I went out, saying that facial hair is unattractive. We must have seemed a bit out of place, 16 gringos taking up pretty much half of the bar. The setup was a bit odd: there was a huge screen which was showing Aerosmith music videos and The Beatles Anthology however you couldn't hear any of it because of the reggaeton (a hybrid version of reggae and hip-hop that's extremely popular and extremely bad) that was blasting, all of which was under the sole light of a disco ball. It was good fun just getting to know everyone and for my birthday, they surprised me when they brought me la cucaracha (the cockroach) a drink that was lit on fire. Now I'm not a good dancer by any means but I'm certainly a creative one (if anyone I live with is reading this I'm sure you remember my performance at Folley Beach) and I did everything from the tango to the robot and eventually everyone was dancing. Although my birthday was three days ago, I honestly couldn't have imagined a better 21st birthday celebration and all of this from people that I barely even know! I know that this is going to be an amazing trip and that I've made some great friends already.

Saturday I woke up with my tongue a little burnt thanks to la cucaracha. A group of 6 of us decided to explore some of downtown San Jose. We took a bus from to the beginning of a pedestrian walkway which winds through the central part of the city around Plaza de la Cultura. It was a very hot day and I cannot tell you how quickly I get dehydrated down here. Stepping from the sunlight into the shade is a difference of about 15 degrees. However there is always a very nice breeze to cool you down when you're walking under the sun. I've been surprised at how windy it is down here. We grabbed some lunch at a restaurant overlooking the people walking below. We had come to explore San Jose but we ended up staying in the restaurant talking for an hour and a half. Nothing is better than good conversation. For most people visiting Costa Rica, San Jose is one thing: the location of the airport. Everyone is in a hurry to get out of the capital and to the beach. So San Jose is a city catered more towards the residents themselves than foreigners. So as far as attractions there are only a couple one of which is the Teatro Nacional which we passed. There were some very unique statues surrounding the building but we didn't go inside because of the fee. The pigeons in San Jose are just as if not more aggressive than those in Central Park in NYC. It seemed like everyone was out that day. The walkways were crammed with people shopping, eating and getting ice cream (POPS is the place to go). There are so many shoe stores here, like 1 every 25 feet. I don't get it, I only saw a couple clothing stores. There was a market with over 100 stands selling products for tourists to buy. Aside from colorful bags, the most common item in the market were Imperial t-shirts, the beer is probably the most famous icon associated with Costa Rica even more so than the nation's popular slogan, Pura Vida! This says a lot about the influence of tourism on the country. By the way Pura Vida! has like 10 different meanings so I say when in doubt just say Pura Vida! I plan on going back to the market to get people gifts and to barter for a drum. An afternoon walking around in the sun had left me dehydrated and not feeling very well. Everyone was going out that night but I was hesitant. I went home and drank a lot of water. I asked my host mom to not make a small dinner for me. She still gave me like 3 different dishes but it's really sweet of her to cook so much for me. I still wasn't feeling great but I wanted to hang out with everyone so I decided to go. I'm glad I did because once I was out with everyone I started feeling a lot better. We went to this Reggae club which had a huge poster of Marcus Garvey so you know it was legit. The place was really low key and it was a relaxing evening.

My room doesn't let me sleep in, which is great for during the week, but frustrating during the weekend when I don't have to get up early. You see the sun comes up around 5 a.m. here and my curtains aren't very thick so the sunlight comes right in. I tried to stay in bed as long as I could but it's seriously impossible and I fought for sleep, eventually giving up around 10 o'clock. I knew the day was going to be an interesting experience because the plan was to go see San Jose's popular futbol club, Saprissa. Futbol games in places like Europe and Latin America in particular are a bit different than soccer games in the U.S., the reason being the fans. They're more than just rowdy, they riot. I wondered how they would feel when a bunch of gringos showed up. It was a hassle to get a taxi from downtown to the stadium but we got there during the first half. It was somewhat comforting to learn that they didn't serve alcohol in the stadium, I could only imagine would fuel it would add to the fire. Lucky for us it wasn't an important game. When Saprissa plays their arch-rival Liga from Alajuela people die. We chose to sit by the die-hard fans who beat a huge drum the entire game while they all, many covered in Saprissa tattoos chanted. They made Philadelphia Eagles fans look soft in comparison.
I kept expecting to get hit with something or at least hear some taunts (there probably were some but my poor Spanish skills kept me from recognizing them). I expected a great game with fancy footwork, bicycle kicks, etc. but it was rather disappointing. There wasn't much intensity and spirit in the way the teams played. But you wouldn't know that from the way their fans acted. We would later find out that that was not a good place to sit. It was cold and dark by the time the game was over and we put the girls in a taxi to go home and got some McDonald's. McDonald's here is much different than McDonald's in USA, here it actually tastes really good. I spent the night sitting around and watching the family play with Julian, someone in the extended family's baby. It's funny to think about how much I don't know but they've probably explained to me at some time. Oh language barrier. I kind of felt like part of the family playing with little Julian. Apparently North Carolina is getting snow and I kind of wish I was there to see it.

The reason I’m in Costa Rica is not to study Spanish, that’s only a small part of it.

The reason I’m here is to study Sustainable Human Development.

The five classes I'm taking at ULatina are:
Justice, Gender and the Challenge of Development
The Politics of Democracy and Development in Latin America
Justice and Human Rights in Latin America
Human Development and Poverty in Latin America
Intensive Spanish (thank god)

For me, this is the perfect class schedule.

Monday I had Justice, Gender and the Challenge of Development at 9 am and I really like the professor and I'm psyched for what we're going to learn about. You can't find this kind of material taught at Elon. We have class only four days a week and so most people travel on the weekends. That afternoon we decided we'd go to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, a town on the Carribean. To save money we're going to sleep in hammocks on the beach. It's going to be awesome.
San Jose isn't exactly the safest place in the country and crime is on the rise here, particularly muggings. As an American it is automatically assumed that you have a lot of money. But of course not all of San Jose is sketchy and most of the places we will be going are relatively safe (Although my host sister told me last night that Vargas Araya, where I live is a pretty rough area but so far all thats happen is Brendan got hit with an egg). All of this being said there is one sketchy spot in San Jose that we will all have to go to and that is around the Coca-Cola Bus Terminal where we must go to get tickets if we want to travel. This is the number one area of pickpocketing but the danger is mainly at night. We're pretty safe and smart kids though so after class on Friday we walked to find the bus station to get our tickets to Vargas Araya. The place was crawling with people and the area is definetly shady. We couldn't find the place to get tickets and we eventually decided to get a taxi and leave instead of walking back to the bus.

Tuesday morning I finally figured the shower out. I can either have hot water and no pressure or pressure and cold water, I go back and forth. Class that day was The Politics of Democracy and Development in Latin America (which is also going to be awesome) and Spanish. We had too take a placement test to determine what Spanish level class we will be in. I just wanted to tell them I didn't need to take the test, that they should just put me in the beginner level class. I did alright on the oral part of the exam but butchered the written section. That's all fine with me. We made plans to play futbol later that afternoon which is good because I needed some exercise but bad because I had played in years. Abby and I tried to get my host brother Alonzo (or Zo as I call him) to come with but we were late to the bus and he couldn't go because he had his Mormon Youth Group at 5:30. He's definetly coming next time. So that left me and Abby. We were all supposed to meet at La Iglesia de Curridebat but I made the dumb mistake of getting off the bus to early and we had to walk a good ways to the church. We got there a half hour late with no idea where the field was so we had to go to into the church to get directions. I am so lucky Abby was with me because she is a Spanish minor. She asked a man cleaning the church and got directions to a field and a history lesson on the church and the town from him as well. Eventually we made it to the park and found our group playing on the basketball court. It was gringos versus chicos. Two minutes into the game my body was telling me I was out of shape. But it was fun and my initial pain and shortness of breath went away. Although we lost we weren’t beat by much and I was impressed with our group since most of us don’t play soccer. It had been such a great day but when I got home I saw on the television that Heath Ledger had died. I was completely shocked. Heath was one of my favorite actors and one of the best current actors in Hollywood. His performance in Brokeback Mountain was excellent and I have a lot of respect for him for playing such a controversial and difficult role. I’ve been so excited for his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight, the Batman Begins sequel that comes out this summer. His career was just taking off and he had the potential to become one of the greatest actors ever. I thought about stars that during my lifetime died under the age of 30 and he sticks out as the first famous talent I have seen die so young. For some reason, his death really shook me up and I can’t get it out of my head. Maybe it’s seeing someone die so young, I’m not completely sure. It's just such a tragedy. R.I.P.