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.