More San Jose Stuff

More on Costa Rica…

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We spent a portion of a day in the suburb of Heredia, which is situated north of San Jose proper.  One of the country's primary universities is located here as are several international companies.  Intel makes chips here, for example.  And not the good kind, either.  They're for computers.  (sigh)

We caught the bus into town, then hooked up with the line that runs out to this 'burb.  In addition to simply wanting to check out the town as a potential living/working location, our other goal was to get registered for a race.  Not just any race, either - this bad boy was to be Event 50 in the 50@50 Project.  One of the locations hosting sign ups was a Brooks store (sorry, Becky B) in town, so we figured we'd kill two birds with one running shoe.

We got off the bus and wandered around a little, trying to locate the parque central.  These parks are almost always at the center of town, so navigating anywhere else from there is easy peasy.  However, locating the park is not always so simple.  Heredia is hilly and the part of town the bus dropped us was on the high side.  We had great views down over part of the town.  Half a dozen or so blocks away we saw a likely location - a big church and lots of trees.  We decided to head that direction but when we got there we realized this was not the city center.  It was cool, nonetheless.  

For our full wanderings and bus trips, check out this day's Garmin map.

We decided to regroup over lunch, so we did what every traveler does in Nicaragua - we ate Chinese food.  It was pretty damn good, too.  Bex! had a great fried rice dish and I had woba de pollo, which is chicken with… um… er… chicken and… let's see…  Yeah, I still don't know.  It's some sort of puffed, crisped corn or rice.  Crunchy, crispy served on a sizzling hot cast iron platter.  Lots of veggies.  I quite liked it.  The woba came on the nuclear heated metal plate with the chicken and vegetable stew on the side.  The server then ladled the stew over the woba, the sauce turning to vapor as it dripped through the woba and hit the cast iron.  The aroma was tantalizing and the taste did not disappoint.

We asked our server for directions to the park - we were only a few blocks away.  Sweet!  The park was quite large and, as usual, filled with people.  Latinos know how to enjoy their outdoor spaces!  As is normal, the park was framed on one side by the city's primary church.  The Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepción is a simple, beautiful church.  Whitewashed exterior, humble interior.  It's been remodeled and reconstructed over the years (earthquake!!), the last time in the mid-1800's.  The stained glass windows were shipped from France and the bells were brought north from Cuzco, Peru.

Classic city planning

Modern day petroglyphs

The other cool landmark, located just across from the park and kitty-corner from the church is El Fortin.  The link is in Spanish but if you're not inclined to work on your language skills, click the 'translate page' button to switch 'er to English.  La Torre (The Tower) is the last remaining portion of an old fort from the 1800's.  I especially like the diagrams of the building on the right side of the wiki page.  The walls are incredibly thick and the gun ports (the small windows) taper down to a slit on the inside.  Pretty fascinating!

Short and squat - the tower, that is.

"Hey!"
[Note:  I write most of the content and Bex! writes most of the captions]

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We took a self-guided tour of the Teatro Nacional of Costa Rica.  This is the country's preeminent showcase for the arts.  It is a beautiful building, any way you look at it, inside and out.  Our tour guide (mentioned in a previous post) told us the theatre was built because the government had booked a famous Italian opera singer for a performance.  After hearing of the 'primitive' theatre they had chosen for her, she refused to come to Costa Rica until they built a venue worthy of her talents.  A true pain in the aria.  Construction started in 1891 and was completed in 1897.  I didn't dig too deep on this story so don't know for sure if it's accurate.  But it makes for a great tale!

It's hard to describe this theatre in words, so maybe some pictures will suffice.

Louis XIV would be proud of the opulence.

'Roar -oar -oar -oar'  Thank you Katy Perry for ruining lions for me.

This was the floor, man!  The freakin' FLOOR!  I was afraid to take a step.

Please unwrap your candies before the show starts.

End scene.

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We went to the Tica Bus office to change the date for our tickets back to Nicaragua.  I got excited when I saw this sign:

Brown chicken brown cow!

I thought we were going on the Via J Erotica Bus.  I was sadly disappointed to find out it actually says 'Viajero Tica Bus' - viajero is Spanish for The Traveler or The Wanderer.  I guess that designation works for us, too.

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Located in San Jose, La Sabana Metropolitan Park is a vast expanse of green space within the city.  I can honestly say that this park was filled with people almost every time we passed it in a bus on the way downtown or visited the park itself.  It has activities for darn near everything and everyone.  Here's a map via El Garmin from when we ran and explored here.  Below is a pic of a large map posted in the park. 

Looks like a good place for a scavenger hunt

The park is also home to Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica (upper left corner, above).  This is a gorgeous stadium, home of Costa Rica's national football team - who made the World Cup, thankyouverymuch.  It's brand spankin' new, too, opening on March 26th, 2011 - better known as Bex!'s birthday!  Interestingly, China paid the entire cost of construction - around $100 million.  Not sure what Costa Rica gave up for their part of the arrangement, most likely a long term trade agreement.  During our stay in town, they never had any events there, unfortunately.  In addition to soccer, the stadium has also been the site for many concerts, artists ranging from Sir Elton John to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Miley Cyrus to Pearl Jam to Shakira to Lady Gaga to Judas Priest/Whitesnake.  

The park has existed in some form since the 1700's, when the parish priest for the city's church donated the land.  It went though many iterations over the years.  Then in the 1930's the city had the brilliant idea to locate Costa Rica's first international airport here, which operated for some 40+ years.  When the new bigger nicer airport opened, the citizens pressed for the land to be returned to the park, developers be damned.  And in a rare instance of a government actually listening to what the people want (yeah, I'm looking at you, USA - now, pay attention) La Sabana Metropolitan Park was reborn in full.

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On the opposite end of the park from the stadium is the Museo de Arte Costarricense (Museum of Cost Rican Art).  As you can tell by the building, this used to be the control tower and airport terminal.  Nice repurposing, San Jose.

Roger wilco.  You have permission to appreciate art on runway 6.

They had many wonderful displays such as some very old woodblock prints and a small exhibit of 'street art', items made from cardboard and other everyday materials.  One of the temporary exhibits was by Costa Rica's Juan Kelly.  These rather unusual paintings were collectively called 'Transciones y Transformaciones' which I believe is Spanish for 'acid trip'.  Paintings of flying horses and dogs nursing from cows and lions hiding from zebras.  Beautiful detail but the content left us scratching our gringo heads.

'Barca Soberano' by Juan Kelly

The museum also has a sculpture garden outside.  These pieces run the gamut, from modern to classic.  It was interesting - and hot, so we were back inside after a quick walkabout.

Don't let Fluffy on the furniture.

Reminds me of the movie 'Aliens', although I'm not sure why...

Knee-to-chin-asana is Costa Rica's contribution to yoga

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We've mentioned the great shopping district in downtown San Jose located on the Avenida Central.  This two block wide shoppers heaven stretches almost two kilometers and has virtually everything you could want.  There are international name brand stores, local businesses and street vendors selling produce.  It's a place that is full of energy and a vibrancy that comes from people interacting with each other.  It can be a little chaotic but the people watching is fantastic.

In the video you'll notice the 'postre window' which is a part of every fast food restaurant here - an express window that sells only desserts.  And they do a LOT of business.  Some places, like the McDonald's shown in the vid have two dessert-only windows.  In some places, we saw stand-alone kiosks.  Fast Food America, spreading joy and diabetes throughout the world!

Ice cream for lunch, mmmm

A lot of the ground floor space along the Avenida Central is for businesses and people selling whatever it is they happen to be selling.  If a person gets overwhelmed with that, there are ways to catch a break - namely, restaurants (aka 'bars') located on the second floor!

Second floor seats provide good views for short people.  Not that I'm short.

Pedestrian only - no room for cars!

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More on San Jose later, including how we spent my birthday.  [Hint:  Volcanoes and ghosts and craft beer!  Oh my!]

Pink, Rosé, Rosado

Bex! and I enjoy wine.  A lot.  It is our preferred adult beverage.  Yeah, we are still looking for decent wines in Central America, ones that aren't imported from Chile and Argentina.  We miss our many favorites from back home.  Erath, Torii Mor, Winter's Hill, Troon.  We prefer reds, have a few whites we'll drink and then there is the category that the wife loves - rosés.  Any chance she has to try a new one, she'll take it.  Although they're not my typical choice, I'll usually taste them and there are some that I actually enjoy.  Don't hate me, Cuddlebuns. 

To say that she 'likes' these wines is an understatement.

So, yes - Bex! loves pink wine.  

In fact, let's just make this clear as crystal and as specific as possible:  Bex! loves rosé wines.  

Blush wines belong in one category and that category is 'down the drain'.  This includes those who make them.  Bex! is not on speaking terms with White Zinfandel.  Blush wines are like Lindsay Lohan - sweet, cheap, and trashy.  Okay, LiLo's maybe not sweet like she was back in Disney's 'The Parent Trap' - but two out of three ain't bad.

Real rosés are works of art, as interesting and varied as reds and whites.  They have been made for centuries.  They are complex, balanced, and great with food.  Here's an article where you can learn more: A Rosé is a Rosé is a Rosé, Not a Blush.  
[Note: I suggest reading this prior to talking rosés with Bex!, to avoid a smack of the down variety being placed on the upside portion of your head.]

We've done a fair amount of wine tasting over the years.  It was difficult choosing a photo to put in this blog because I have so damn many!  But I found this gem from a private tasting at Torii Mor:

Let's see..  left to right we have:  Cuddlebuns and Lambchop, a photobombing couple I don't know, me and the wifey, Tanya and Dan, and Sue and Bill.  All dear friends of ours - except the photobombers, that is.

Not wanting to leave out any of our regular wino friends, here is another shot from the greatest wine event EVER, the Beaujolais Nouveau release party in Portland:

Here we have (l-r) Rich and Kari, Greg, Bill and Sue, Renee (Greg's better half) and us.  The only two I don't have a picture with is my brother Jim and his wife Gretta.  I'll have to fix that next time!

The first case of wine Bex! ever bought was a case of rosé.  Winter's Hill Dry Rosé to be exact.  We had just started dating and went tasting with Darrin (aka Cuddlebuns) and Dan and Winter's Hill was one of our stops.  They make some great pinot noirs and are an unpretentious, growing winery in the Willamette Valley.  Check out their webpage here and go visit them in person for tasting and purchasing.

So, since we're hanging out here is Costa Rica, and since the national beer leaves something to be desired (it's no Toña!), Bex! is taking the opportunity to work her way through the rosé selection at the grocery store.  Given our location and situation, she's limiting her selection to Chilean and Argentinean wines with a price point under about 5,000 colones ($10).  We've got three stores in the closeby area (AutoMercado, MasXMenos, Walmart), so she hopes to be able to find enough options to carry her through our stay.  If she runs out, there is always the Nica Libré.

Bex! will be writing the rest of this post, which will be put up for your enjoyment when she's damn good and ready.  Or when we get ready to leave Costa Rica.

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Belatedly, I thought it would be fun to document this mini journey (within the big journey).  I didn't know it was a journey at first, so we've missed the first bottle.

Wine #2

Trapiche 2012 Rosé
Opened Jan 2
Rosé of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon
From Argentina (Mendoza)

This wine pairs well with a rustic wooden table and stone wall.

Better than #1, but has not stood up well to being open in the fridge for two days.  Still, it's reasonably balanced if a bit tart and acidic.  Pairs well with salty snacks like chips.

This wine must be a figment of my imagination since it shows nowhere on either their Argentinean nor their US websites.

Trapiche Wines US website
Trapiche Argentina website


Wine #3

Undurruaga 2012 Rosé
Opened Jan 6
Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon
From Chile

This wine pairs well with the refinement of a stone planter.

This wine disappeared quickly so it must have been good.  Again, reasonably balanced but nothing to knock my sox off.  Pairs well with preparing dinner.

This wine must be real, although it takes about a zillion clicks to find it on the website.  These guys must be huge since they appear to make one or more of everything under nine labels:

Carménére (5), Cabernet Sauvignon (5), Sauvignon Blanc (4), Red Blends (4), Chardonnay (3), Sparkling Brut (3), Merlot (2), Rosé (2), Pinot Noir (2), Sparkling Rosé, Gewürztraminer, Sparkling Demi-Sec, Sparkling Sec, Late Harvest Something, Syrah, Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs



Wine #4

Viu Manent 2012 Rosé
Opened Jan 10
Rosé of Malbec
From Chile (Valle de Colchagua)

This startlingly tart wine pairs well with a vibrant, colorful background.
(Hand modeling courtesy of David G Volke.)

Let's start with the obvious - this wine is tart.  From the tasting notes on the back of the bottle it is supposed to have sabores de cereza y arándano - cherry and cranberry.  Perhaps, like cranberry sauce, this would be a good foil to Thanksgiving dinner.  I tried it out with chicken, potatoes, and green beans with good results.

This winery is emphasizing its tourism aspect, so let's put it our the list for when the gang goes wine tasting in Chile.

Viu Manent website



Wine #5 (& #1)

Trivento Tribu 2012 Rosé
Opened Jan 14 (& Dec 31)
Rosé of Malbec
From Argentina (Mendoza)

This beautiful colored wine pairs well with modern art.

This is my very favorite rosé - thus far, down here, that meets my aforementioned criteria.  It's a touch sweeter than many of the others making it better for drinking alone.  And it has the best color (more pink, less orange).

Discover the rest of the members of the 'tribu' on the winery webpage.

Bodega Trivento Argentine website

That's a wrap.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Our time in Costa Rica is almost up and I haven't posted much about it yet!  Oy.  Don't get me wrong - we've enjoyed it here.  Bex! is still drinking working on her post about the wonderful rosés she's discovered here.  We visit the store most every day for groceries.  We learned how to take the buses around town, challenging because different bus companies serve different areas.  Knowing which is which and where their stops are located means understanding the grid of calles (streets) and avenidas (avenues).  

There is an overlap with this blog and my other blog, The 50@50 Project, so you can check out the last few posts there to read about some of our experiences registering for and running a race here.  Note:  That blog is about our goal to compete in 50 events during the year between my 50th and 51st birthdays.  I'm happy to say that we ran the Moraviana Run here, which was the 5oth and final race!  Plus, we were interviewed post-race by one of the local papers and they ran our story, which was kinda fun!  You can see it here on La Teja's mobile website.  We also have three print copies of the publication.

We've had a hodgepodge of experiences here, all good.  Let's start with our walking tour.  After a week in Escazu that was spent mostly at the apartment we were renting for the month and sticking close around the neighborhood, we were feeling brave enough to venture out.  As a way to insure we explored, Bex! signed us up for a walking tour of downtown San Jose.  

So we braved the bus!  We caught the Ruta bus that runs to downtown and hoped we would know where to get off.  As it turns out, it's easy:  when you get downtown, everyone gets off.  Fair enough.  Bex! had sketched out a map, so we knew the general direction we had to go.  We ended up walking through the coolest shopping district!  It's a few blocks wide and about 2 kilometers long, right in the middle of the city.  Pedestrian only, too, so it was easy going.  Everything from regular mall-type brand name stores to street vendors selling produce and bootlegs dvds.  Sensory overload!  Since we were a little early, we killed some time by having a beer at the Gran Hotel, right next to the parque central, the national theatre and the shopping district.  

We met up with our guide, Stacey, in Parque Morazán at the Templo de la Musica.  She was easy to spot because I knew she would be blond and have a ponytail.  I don't know why I knew this; I just did.  Also in our tour group was a family of four from Canada.

Stock photo from da Wiki

Built in 1920, the Templo de la Musica is an almost exact replica of the Temple de l'Amour in Versailles, France - minus the statue of Cupid that resides in the French version.  This elegant bandstand has experienced many uses over the years.  Back in the day, it was used for political speeches and inaugurations; the symphony performs there as do many other musical acts - the acoustics are said to be 'perfect'.  It's a place to hang out, escape the rain until it blows over, meet up with friends.  We've been by there several times on our outings and there are always a group of kids there who are practicing break dancing and street performing.  And you wonder where the talent comes from for 'So You Think You Can Dance?'

Stacey explained the lay of the land, that parts of San Jose has been leveled and rebuilt many times over the centuries - earthquakes and volcanoes, you know.  She showed us many of the oldest buildings in town and explained how these have been owned by families for generations.  Taxes are cheap for those grandfathered in all those years ago, so the spaces are rented, it's virtually all profit and these families are the ones who live outside of town in the country on the huge estates.  Besides, she said, land is often not owned by an individual in a family but rather put into a 'corporation' where all the family are considered 'board members'.  Thus, it means that every member needs to sign off to sell property, and you can imagine how that goes.  So the property stays in the family.

Part of the tour took us back along some areas we had seen walking through town on our own, but that was fine.  The vibe downtown was awesome - full of energy and chaos and people.

Here are some pics from the tour:

Built to appease an Italian diva

Detail of stained glass in the cathedral: Holy soccer ball?

Street art - 'from my barrio to yours'

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There was one thing that made us feel a little uncomfortable.  The locals didn't seem to mind, no one paying any attention to it.  Maybe it's because we're from the US and have different opinions of this back home.  I'm telling ya, people just have socks everywhere!  Right there on the street and the sidewalk.  We're walking down the pedestrian shopping zone and there's a lady having socks right next to another lady who is also having socks.  A little farther down, there was a guy having more socks than anyone I'd ever seen.  Socks on the benches in the park, socks on the stairs to the municipal building.  Almost every direction we looked - socks, socks and more socks.  Some people had socks together; most had socks by themselves.  And they would yell about it!  It was all a little weird.

Socks!  Right out in public!

We think the people who sell stuff right on the street aren't really supposed to be selling stuff right on the street.  There are police who wander the pedestrian shopping district, patrolling on foot and bike.  At one point we witnessed a group of vendors pack up and scatter in a matter of seconds.  We weren't sure why but then we saw the police.  So we strolled down a couple of blocks and waited to see if it would happen again.  There was a lady selling bootleg dvds, a man selling dish towels, a women selling plastic toys and a guy selling shirts.  The latter looked up the lane then turned suddenly to his amigos.  "Policia bicicleta!" "Bicycle police!" and - boom - they were in the wind.  Funny, though:  the toy lady was in the middle of a transaction and, police be damned, she wasn't leaving until she had her money!

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We also saw this really cool produce stand.  Mike and Anne, this one's for you:

And you thought Herbie was cool!

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Toward the end of the tour we came to a very cool statue, one that has some personal meaning for me.  Sitting across from the Iglesia de la Soledad and near a monument to Carlos Gardel is a fairly new statue of John Lennon.  Designed by Cuban sculptor Jose Ramón Villa and entitled 'Imagine All the People, Living Life in Peace', the statue was dedicated on 25 November, 2011 to much fanfare.  A Tico-only Beatles cover band performed as did part of the national symphony.  It was a biggie.

Since I had him cornered, I thought we'd talk about 'I Am the Walrus'.

Okay, John - so what's up with 'goo goo ga joob'?

Okay, okay - it's starting to make sense...

It's all around us?  I'll be damned.  Where?

Behind me?  Oh, yeah... I see it!

It's beautiful!  Thanks, my friend.

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Along with figuring out the bus system, we've also become quite adept at crossing the street. Now, this may sound like no big deal - until you've tried it.  In this part of the world, cars have the right of way.  At the busiest of intersections downtown you'll see actual walk signals and the drivers honor these, mostly because when the walk signal goes on there is a huge crowd, a mob moving as a cohesive unit in each direction.  Other than that, though, if you step off the curb, you're fair game.  To cross a busy street is usually a two part process.  Typically, you wait for a gap in traffic and cross to the middle of the road.  And then you wait for another gap to cross the last part.  The 'standing in the middle of traffic' thing is pretty common down here.  Hell, even little kids stand out on the busiest of thoroughfares selling fruit, newspapers, toys, coloring books, etc.  It's the way it is here.  A couple of people standing on the yellow line while traffic flies by in either direction is no cause for alarm.  It takes a little getting used to, though.

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Although we've been cooking most meals at home, we have gone out to eat a few times.  Bex! discovered a great restaurant while poking around online - La Casona de Laly.  Again, no website for them but tons of great reviews and it's close to where we were taking our laundry, so it was convenient.  When we walked in the door (one of three, none of which is clearly marked as a main entrance) the place looked dive-y but we knew immediately we would love it.  Always busy, a fun buzz from the customers, good service and fantastic food.  The portions are large, too.  Plus you can gaze in wonder at how they've patched and extended the corrugated metal roofing over the years.  Like counting rings in a tree.

Close by, between La Casona de Laly and the lavenderia (laundry) is Bar Christian.  This place is truly a dive but in the best possible way.  We walked in one afternoon and if there would have been a vinyl record playing, the needle would have scratched across it!  Gringos!  It was great - we had beers, Bex! bought a coloring book from a vendor who was making the rounds.  We watched a guy playing some sort of gambling game on a machine.  He plunked in coins, pressed various buttons, waited, sometimes coins spit out the bottom, other times he would push more buttons after playing more coins.  It was a neat spot and we felt very welcomed in there.

So far, so good here in San Jose!

More on Costa Rica later!  

Hasta pronto!

"Water, Water Everywhere...

... nor any drop to drink." - from 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834; read the entire poem here. 

In Central America and, hell, many parts of the world, clean safe drinking water is hard to come by.  It's estimated that 1 in 3 people suffer 'water scarcity' - and it's getting worse.  The World Health Organization released this article in 2009 - '10 Facts About Water Scarcity'.  Give it a read next time you're letting the tap in the kitchen run and run and run, waiting for just the right water temperature.  Oops, sorry - soapbox is put away.

But... check out the article anyway - it's a quick read.

We assumed that at some point on our adventure we would run into a situation where unsafe drinking water would be an issue, so we brought along a water sterilizing device made by a company called SteriPEN.  In fact, water filtration and sterilization is all they do.  It's a cool little gadget we bought a few years back when we visited my son, David, and his family in Honduras.  I won't go into great detail about how it works - ultraviolet light kills the bacteria in the water - but I will tell you that it works very well.

We used it many times on our trip to Honduras.  The apartment where my son lived had regular deliveries of those big 5 gallon water cooler-type bottles.  But having guests (us) increased usage which caused a water outage a time or two.  Enter magic water!  We used the SteriPEN traveling about Honduras and Guatemala and the locals would stare at the strange glowing light in the water bottle, as we stirred it around for the requisite 90 seconds.  After treatment, we had one liter of safe drinking water!  Tada! 

"Use the Force, Luke"

The company makes several models.  They make one designed for business travelers, with a device that charges off a USB port on a laptop or computer.  They make combination units that filter AND sterilize.  My brother, Jim, has one of these.  The model we bought came in a hard plastic carry case that doubles as a solar charger for the batteries that power the wand.  It also has an AC adapter to plug into the wall.  We figured that with our lifestyle and the types of travel destinations that interest us, the ability to set it out in the sun or clip it to a backpack to get enough charge to insure clean water was a great feature.  You can find out much more about SteriPEN and the variety of sterilization and filtration systems they offer on their website. 

Now, let's recap where we've been on our journey thus far and y'all guess where you think we've needed to use our SteriPEN:

A - seven days in San Juan del Sur, a small beach town on the Pacific coast

B - six weeks in Merida - in the jungle on an island in the middle of a lake in Nicaragua

C - twelve more days in San Juan del Sur

D - Escazu, Costa Rica, a modern suburb of San Jose, this country's capital; a thriving metropolis with every amenity we have back home

If you guessed 'D', you'd be correct!  In none of these places is it recommended to drink the water.  Here in Escazu, the locals drink the tap water and if we stay here, we'll gradually switch over, as well.  But in SJdS and Merida, we had easy access to inexpensive/free bottled water so never needed to break out the 'light saber'.  Here in Escazu, we don't have water coolers or a store right close by.  Yes, there is a grocery store about a 20-25 minute walk but as much water as we drink/use, lugging bottled water home isn't an option.  So we've been lighting up our water these last two weeks and we're happy to report we've had no issues.  

These devices are the real deal.  You can read a review about the specific model we have here.  It's from a couple of years back, published in 'Snowshoe Magazine'.

Our SteriPEN, shown with cover and solar charger/carry case

One cool feature of ours (not sure about other models) is that if you push and hold the button for three seconds, the wand lights up  and can be used as a flashlight.  Never used it as such but it's nice to know.  After all this bragging, I'm sad to say, SteriPEN no longer makes the all-inclusive package that includes the solar charging case we have.  They do, however, make a model that can be plugged in and charged with pretty much any of the small portable solar panels on the market today, like these products sold at REI.

I would recommend one of these to anyone who travels because, well, you never know.  And if you drive a lot in sparsely populated areas or in extreme weather, get one to stash in the glovebox.  You may find yourself near a source but drinking unsafe water could make a bad situation worse.

Anyhoo, that's all, folks!

(Honey, did my check from SteriPEN show up yet?)

Collecting Stamps

In case there are any of our followers who still wonder why our blog is called 'Stamp Collectors', this was the day to demonstrate the reason for the title.  It was 27 December (Happy Birthday, Bob!) and we were heading south to San Jose, Costa Rica.  Getting our passports stamped at the border is what it's about.  Get it?  I know - clever, huh?

Emotions were mixed for us.  It was our plan all along to go to Costa Rica but, quite frankly, we had kinda fallen in love with Nicaragua.  The people in Merida and all the cool stuff on Ometepe were still tugging at our hearts and minds.  Our little cabin in San Juan del Sur was already feeling homey, even after just 12 days.  We had a routine, by golly - breakfast, hit the market for the days groceries, lunch, swim in the ocean, drink, dinner, drink, games or computers, sleep - repeat.  Why mess with that?!

Except we knew we needed to do this.  It's like going into the beer aisle at Freddy's.  Sure you can buy the first 6-pack you come across and it would probably be fine.  But look at the selection!  So much to choose from!  Mind boggling, really.  The same is true here in Central America.  Not the beer selection - it's pretty horrible.  I'm talking about the people and places, the towns, the beaches and mountains.  We've seen bits of Honduras and Guatemala; now Nicaragua.  All have been gorgeous and wonderful places to be, each in their own way.  Could we settle in Copan or Tela or Antigua or Merida or San Juan del Sur?  Sure!  But adventure and excitement await!  Confident that Costa Rica would not disappoint, we were packed and ready for this next leg of our adventure.

Bex! had called our taxi-driving new amigo, Pedro, the day before to set up the ride to the Tica Bus station in Rivas.  We had purchased our bus tickets six weeks prior, during our first visit to SJdS.  Carmen had told us that the holiday season was a big travel week in Central America.  People go where the work is which means families often split up, Mom and Dad living in different towns, even different countries, kids living wherever they were needed most.  We were told that Tica Bus runs as many buses as necessary to handle the holiday increase but that we would be advised to reserve in advance.  We did. 

When Pedro had brought us from the port to SJdS, he pointed out the Tica Bus office in Rivas as we passed it, so we knew he knew where we needed to go.  He's a great guy.  And he was early picking us up!  Shocked the hell out of us.  We had built in a little slush time, knowing how Nica time works - no such thing as 'on time'.  Early?  What the hell?  So we finished breakfast dishes, made the sweep through the cabin to make sure we hadn't left anything and then hauled bags down to his car.  Goodbye LoboLira!  We'll be back!

The ticket office is on the east side of the road, the southbound bus stop on the west.  Pedro dropped us and our bags right at the bus stop.  And by 'bus stop' I mean 'the side of the road'.  I stayed with the stuff while Bex! walked across the road to the office to see if we needed to check in or show ID or ???  Nope, we had tickets so we were good to go!  We stood waiting for the bus, admiring the other gringo travelers with their one backpack.  (Sigh.)

Yep, the Clampett's were a'headin' to Costa Rica!!

For this picture we cleverly posed two suitcases to completely hide one.

Pretty much right on time, the bus showed up.  We got our suitcases tagged and stowed in the baggage compartments underneath and boarded our ride.  These buses are nice - reclining seats, curtains to block the sun, air vents like on airplanes, reading lights.  We had seats together, which worked out after we kicked a guy out of one of our seats.  He thought it was open season.  

The Nicaragua-Costa Rica border is only about 20k south of Rivas, so we knew it wouldn't be long before we needed to start dealing with the border crossing.  We were happy to see that a guy from Tica Bus came down the aisle to pick up passports and the 100 cordoba ($4) exit fee.  He would bring everyone's passports and the cash into the Nicaragua immigration office to speed up this end of things.  Nice!  

Except that it wasn't all that fast.  No biggie.  Since it was the holiday season, there were a lot of buses which meant a lot of people lined up entering and leaving Nicaragua/Costa Rica.  Even processing documents and stamping passports assembly line-style, it was going to take some time.  So we hung out and watched life at the border crossing.  We were required to exit the bus while the gentleman took our docs into the office.  It was very warm and humid, with rain clouds threatening to make the crossing even more interesting.  But it never rained, which was a relief.

Black clouds couldn't keep her away!

Earlier in 2013, there was a bit of a squabble between the two neighboring presidents -  Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Costa Rica's Laura Chinchilla.  The disagreement was over which country 'owned' the no-man's-land that makes up this particular border crossing, at Peñas Blancas.  I read up on this via the innerwebs but never saw any resolution, so it seems it was more of a pissing match between the two countries.  But hell, Nicaragua and Costa Rica have a long history of bad blood, so add this to the list.  You can read about the year in bad relations between the two countries in this article from the Tico Times, an English language newspaper published in Costa Rica.

Vendors of all types - food, drinks, shoes, clothes, jewelry, purses, bags, watches - set up at the border and hawk their goods to their captive audience -  namely, us.  There are busloads of people all milling around waiting for their respective bus drivers to get their docs processed, so it's a great opportunity to sell.  Smart business folks.

In fact, one of the vendors found a customer in Bex!  Sometime last summer, after one of the events in The 50@50 Project she lost her watch.  We think it may have been sometime around the Earth Day Run in April but we're not sure.  We didn't find it while packing for this move nor was it in the car when I cleaned it out when I sold it to my good friend, George.  If you work out at all, you know how important a watch can be - tracking time, pace, setting alarms to remind you to take in water/nutrition, etc.  Rather than replace the watch, Bex! kept hoping it would turn up.  Never did.

So, here in the void between two Central American countries, waiting for approval to leave one country and enter another, was an eager customer just hankering to make eye contact with the guy selling watches.  Sure enough, he saw her and came over.  After checking out the wares and deciding on a timepiece, it was haggling time.  A brief back-and-forth later, and Bex! was the proud owner of a brand new 180 cordoba (~$7) sports watch.  Ah, commerce.  I almost got in on the act, too.  Bex! paid the guy for the watch with a 500 cordoba bill, for which he had to go find change.  As a show of good faith, he left all of his watches with me.  I almost sold one to an Australian couple!  I wonder if I would have gotten commission... 

Just a small portion of the chaos that is the border.

After an hour and a half or so, a Tica Bus Rep came out of the immigration office and gathered us up.  She had all the passports and started calling out names.  As your name was called, you collected your passport and re-boarded the bus.  Bex! got called pretty early on and I waited.  And waited.  Waited some more.  And then started looking around for the Nicaraguan police approaching to bring me into the office.  Didn't happen.  I was getting a little nervous, though.  Finally, I heard my first and middle name called out.  Whew!  We had successfully exited Nicaragua!

In and out stamps for Nicaragua, on the right!

Back on the bus, we drove up the road about 300 meters for the next step in the crossing - entering Costa Rica.  Everyone got off the bus, this time collecting ALL of our bags and queued up to go through immigration and luggage scanning to get into Costa Rica.  The line moved pretty slowly which was fine because we had to rest after each shuffle of us and all our crap.  Just kidding - it wasn't that bad.  But still, how we envied the backpackers!  We hit the front of the line and went to the counter.  

Because Costa Rica has been very popular with tourists for quite some time and because a lot of those tourists have just decided to stay to take up space and use resources in the country, Costa Rica has tightened up its visa policies.  While most countries have some sort of 'proof of onward travel' requirement (meaning you have to show that you're leaving the country at some point by possessing a return plane ticket or bus ticket out) most don't enforce it or ask for proof.  However, Costa Rica does.  Before they'll let you in, you have to show that you're leaving!

We knew this, so had purchased Tica Bus tickets for about 85 days out, sometime in March.  Armed with the tickets to show we were 'visitors, not stayers', we breezed through the immigration part, got our passports stamped and collected our bags.  Once outside, we had to run all of our luggage through a scanner, I guess to see how much Flor de Caña we were bringing into the country.  We gathered up our belongings, brought them to the waiting bus where they were reloaded underneath and got back to our seats.  Now the long part of the bus ride commenced.

We dozed a little; stared out the window as Costa Rica rolled by; watched a Kevin James movie that was actually shown in English.  We tried to catch the names of the towns we passed through but weren't very successful.  We had stocked up on granola bars, so we snacked periodically, too.  It was a good 4-5 hours to San Jose but the time seemed to pass quickly.  Probably the excitement of traveling on this next leg of our honeymoon!
We could tell we were getting close to San Jose when we noticed the urban sprawl and the increased (i.e. 'slow') traffic.  Now we were really excited, sitting up to take it all in.  Of course, we really had no idea where the hell we were, but we saw signs with names we were familiar with - Alajuela, Escazu, Cartago, Heredia - all familiar because we had studied the maps prior to leaving the states.  

We arrived in downtown San Jose at the Tica Bus station and immediately saw a crowd of taxi drivers waiting to pick up fares.  Imagine being at, say, Portland International Airport where the taxi drivers all wait in their cabs to be called forward one at a time by a concierge keeping it all calm, safe and organized.  Okay, got that image?  Good.  Now picture that same scene except with cabs parked every which way on the street and all the drivers pushed against the door so they can be the first one to yell 'Taxi!' any time the door opened even a little bit, all pushing and shoving each other to get the best place in the crowd.  Um... yeah.  

We got off da bus and entered the terminal.  I've mentioned before that 'waiting in line' is not a concept down here.  Once the bus stopped, there is no orderly fashion to disembarking.  People push to the front, trying to slide by you in the aisle.  Then, inside the bus terminal where we waited for our bags, people just push to the front, jostling each other for the best position.  It's a little chaotic.  Bex! waited with the stuff while I claimed our bags.  They brought them in a few at a time on a hand truck, so it took a while.

Once we had everything, I waited while Bex! stuck her head out the door, into the taxi driver mob, to see if she could find our driver.  Yes, once again, we had been hooked up with a driver.  Andres and Gloriana, the couple from whom we were renting the apartment for our stay in San Jose, had a friend who was a taxi driver.  Of course.  So they had arranged for Alvaro to meet us at the terminal.  Now, when we pulled up to the terminal and saw the the crowd of drivers, one guy stood out.  A little taller than most, long white hair, a long white goatee.  He looked awesome, like a latino Gandalf!  I remember thinking to myself "Man, I hope that dude is our driver!  He looks like a guy I'd want to drink a beer with!"

And, lo and behold, this guy was Alvaro, our driver!  We were smiling as we made our way to his car.  We couldn't quite get the bags into his car in a way that allowed for all the hatches to close, so we ended up driving out to the suburb of Escazu with the trunk open!  Meh.  We were very grateful that Alvaro knew the way to the place.  We had directions but relaying those to a driver in the heavy traffic would have been brutal.  We took in the sights while we talked with Alvaro.  Soon enough, we pulled up to the driveway, Alvaro called Andres, and the gate slid open.  Andres met us downstairs, we paid Alvaro and then lugged our bags upstairs to our new home.

Andres and Gloriana are wonderful people.  He's from Argentina, she's from Costa Rica.  They're both architects/designers and the apartment reflects that.  They gave us the rundown on the place, showed us where everything was located, told us about the neighborhood, gave us general directions to the closest stores and restaurants.  It was great talking with them!  Two people we'd like to drink with - with these two, probably wine.

The only thing they inadvertently left out was how to turn on the hot water to the shower!  So for two days we took the coldest showers we had yet endured in the two+ months we'd been in Central America.  I'm talking 'ice cold, take your breath away, jump in and out to rinse off' temperature of water.  OMG.  I shed tears of joy when Bex! got an email from Andres with 'Oh, yes.  I forgot to tell you how to turn the hot water on!'  Seriously, you have no idea how good a warm shower feels until you haven't had one in a while.

After our very long travel day, we were too tired to do anything but wander down the road to Rosti Pollos for dinner.  We walked back 'home', hand in hand, taking in all that we had accomplished on this day.  Sure, people do it every day but considering everything that can go wrong, we felt pretty good about ourselves!  So there!  Let us have our moment, thank you.

Back home, we sat up and watched some TV.  Bex! went to bed; I was feeling a little wired, so sat up and watched The Amazing Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises.  I'm a sucker for super hero movies.  And they remind me of my son.

Enough for now!

Adios, Nicaragua!

Hola, Costa Rica!

Stamps collected!