I left Portrero on Friday morning and took Interbus to
Alajuela. Taking the public bus from Potrero would have taken all day with
multiple transfers so the $40 shuttle was definitely worth it. It was FREEZING
cold on the shuttle though. They advertise that their buses are air-conditioned
and they mean it! We stopped at a rest stop on the way to Alajuela and there
were tons of huge birds in the trees. Maybe Macaws? I’m not sure if there were
planted there for the tourists or if they really lived there. Last time I was
at that same rest stop there were monkeys in the trees. It’s the Interbus rest
stop so I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was a sort of zoo or something. The
birds were pretty cool, though.
When I got to Alajuela, I got dropped off at the airport so
I took a taxi to the hostel. Last time I got charged $5 and this week I was told
it was $8. I turned that offer down, but ended up paying $7, which is still too
much. There are no taxis in Portrero and I haven’t had practice bargaining and
saying no to people here. It’s been quite the shock being in the city.
I went back to the same hostel that I stayed at before and
there were no other guests. I ended up wandering to the center again and eating
dinner at a Lonely Planet recommended place. I had lasagna- it was delicious! I
also went to the grocery store to buy some breakfast food. Since I was the only
guest, I ended up talking to the receptionist for almost 2 hours about Costa
Rica. He didn’t speak any English so he was excited to talk to me. He said that
he enjoys talking to guests, but usually can’t because of the languae barriers.
He talked a lot about the education system here and I learned a lot. For
example, there are 54 private univerisites in Costa Rica. That is a ton!
In the evening one more person arrived, which turned out
well for me. Josh was from London and had just arrived from the airport. He
ended up heading to bed as soon as he arrived, but we spent some of the next
day together. On Saturday, I showed Josh the center since I was an expert at
that point (there really isn’t much in Alajuela) and we had lunch. I then
headed to the Centro Cultural Costariccense Norteamericano to meet the English
teacher and do interviews and observations. This school was located on the
second floor of a huge mall. As I walked around the mall, I realized I was in
the same food court that I ate at when we came back from Venezuela though Costa
Rica. AFS Costa Rica took all of us to the mall to eat and distinctly remember
eating dinner at Subway that night.
I ate dinner with Josh as well and I really learned a lot
about English culture and language from spending time with him. It was really
fun to have the communication barriers too- there were definitely words where
we were saying “oh you say …, don’t you?” He also had traveled all over the
world so it was fun to hear about his adventures. After college, he backpacked
the world for 9 months- southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and South
America. It sounded like an amazing trip.
Last night in our hostel, there were tons of people so we
spent the night talking to the rest of the people. There were teachers from
Colorado who had been in Costa Rica for 10 days and were heading to Guatemala
for 10 days. There was a girl from Toronto who had just finished volunteering
in Peru for a few weeks and was now going to do volunteer work in Costa Rica
for a month. Hostel Maleku is definitely a entrance and departure point for
travelers in Costa Rica and many told us where they had been on their trip.
So that was my first day back in Alajuela at a hostel that I
already knew I liked and a city that I was somewhat familiar with. Now comes
the fun part…new adventures in Heredia. On Sunday morning I had no plans other
to get myself to Heredia because I have a meeting with Global Kids Language
Program on Monday afternoon. Lonely Planet said that most people don’t stay in
Heredia because they all stay in San Jose (20 minutes away) but that were a few
places to stay. I went back and forth on where to stay because none of the
places seemed particularly good and there were only a few places in my price
range. I decided on backpackers hostel that had good reviews online and, lucky
for me, I called them from the hostel. They were full so that meant I was back
to not having anywhere to go. I decided to just go with Hotel Las Flores which
was not particularly close to the center of town.
The next decision was how to get to Heredia. I was planning
on taking the public bus, but I decided against it at the last minute. I would
really like to known how the buses work before I take all of my stuff on one so
I took a $12 taxi straight to the hotel instead.
As soon as I stepped out of the taxi from Alajuela, things
started going downhill a little bit. The area that the hotel was in was not the
nicest and it didn’t seem anywhere near the center of town. Since I didn’t have
much choice, I went in and asked for rooms. The woman was one of the most
unfriendly people I’ve met here and she handed me a key and told me I could go
check it out if I wanted. I did go upstairs with all of my stuff to look at it
and immediately I was not thrilled with the hotel. The room is very little with
a tv and its own bathroom though so I decided to take it. It’s $17 per night
and way way less nice than my $15 dorm in Alajuela.
After I dumped my stuff, I headed to the center for lunch,
which ended up being rice, beans, and plantains at a café on the square. Once I
found the square, I liked Heredia better, but it’s still just a really busy
place with a lot of store and people trying to sell you stuff. I was exhausted
so I headed back to the hotel for a short nap, but knew that I needed to go
find a different place to stay for tomorrow night. After a short nap, I found
that there are some ants in my bed which is a little disconcerting. At this
point, I’m almost ready to just leave- maybe ask for a refund or just lose the
money. I actually hadn’t paid yet and had o9nly been there for an hour or two.
In the end, I decided against that and just headed back to the center to figure
out better plans for tomorrow night. Since there aren’t any options in Heredia,
I’m heading to San Jose early tomorrow morning. I reserved a room in Hostel
Pangea in San Jose which is the biggest hostel there. It sounds like a bit of a
party hostel, but after being in this depressing hotel room alone, I might be
up for meeting some more people. I’ve quickly realized that a cheap hotel is
not the same as a hostel for the same price. I would have much rather stayed in
Alajuela at my other hostel. So tomorrow morning I’m going to San Jose to put
my stuff at the hostel and then take the bus back to Heredia for my meeting.
In other words, I actually could have just stayed in
Alajuela or go straight to San Jose and skipped this terrible hotel. Oh well,
lesson learned. I had bad feelings about it, but without any other options, I
went against my instinct to leave. I’m out of here bright and early tomorrow!
I haven’t really done anything yet on this trip other than
go to the school for my research (which I guess is the point of the trip). The
Casa Cultural is apparently closed indefinitely for renovation and that was
pretty much the only thing to do here. There is a coffee tour from a
neighboring town, but I can do that from San Jose too. Traveling alone has been
interesting since I really just wander into stores and sit in the park. I went
to the used bookstore in Alajuela so I have One Hundred Years of Solitude to
get through on this trip. I walked into a store called “Ropa Americana”
(American clothes) and realized that it was a thrift store. Then I walked into
another one too! It’s really weird- they get all of these nice, brand name
clothes from Goodwill or somewhere and then sell the stuff here.
I guess it’s dinnertime. There’s not even anything good on
TV. I really hope I can fall asleep early so I can get up early and be gone
from this place tomorrow. The one good thing about this hotel (and the ONLY
thing I can think of) is that it has a restaurant attached to it. So even
though it’s not a location where I can leave the building at night, at least I
can get dinner. There’s also no internet here so I’ll put this up tomorrow. All
in all a very bad choice.
I kind of feel like I’m experience culture shock in Costa
Rica for the first time now that I’m on my own in the cities. Portrero is very
different, but I hang out with Americans all day and go to the beach. I also
realize now how many of the local people I know there even if I don’t interact
with them too much. I miss knowing who works at the grocery store and the three
restaurants in town! One of the biggest surprises has been the number of cars.
Crossing a street here is pretty terrifying considering there are no stop signs
or traffic lights at most intersections. Also having to constantly say no to
people in the street selling things has been very different. I used to be used
to these things when I lived in Lima and Asunction, but Portrero hasn’t really
prepared me for these cities!
I don’t have any plans for the rest of my time here although
I do want to go to Atenas to meet the school directors where the IU students
teach and I think I’m going to do the turtle tour next weekend. I’ll definitely
be thinking about where I stay more and hopefully there will be stuff to do in
San Jose. Adventures in Costa Rica have begun!
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