Grad Student Travel Journal: Costa Rica, Day 3 - Overview

Today was such an adventurous day that I feel like I have to break it up into smaller blog posts, otherwise the one would simply be way too long.  

So this post is just the overview.  Here goes... 

We had to check out of our lovely, homey hotel at 6 a.m. in order to catch a cab to another hotel, in order to catch a tour at 7 a.m. that departed from that new hotel.  Even check out was an adventure.  

If you've traveled internationally you know that most places offer free breakfast with your stay.  We didn't know if we'd get to eat before the tour, so we arranged to have breakfast at Hotel Le Bergerac before we left.  But, the dining room doesn't open until 6, so all they could give us was coffee and toast...which was perfect.  

Except that there were about eight other people checking out of the hotel at the same time, and they hadn't thought ahead like we did, so when they saw us eating and not them, they had to start requesting things too.  Things got pretty chicken-without-a-head-ish for a few minutes there... 

We also requested a taxi to pick us up at 6, and it was there on time, but it was a small car.  Apparently they were not aware that our party was three people, all with luggage.  So we had to get a little creative with one of the bags.  It became a very long and squishy third "person" in the backseat with us.  

We got to the new hotel, the San José Marriott (which isn't actually in San José; it's in Alajuela), where they stored our bags for us before the tour.  Then, we had to figure out where our tour was leaving from.  

All of this, and it wasn't even 7 a.m. yet. 

The tour bus could not really be called a bus.  It was more like an elongated van.  The center aisle was maybe a foot wide, and I think that might even be generous.  It was definitely "cozy."  People did have some difficulty getting in and out.  I think this tiny "bus" initially made some people nervous...but the skill of the driver soon made us all forget about that.  Once underway, we hardly even noticed that we were riding in a toy.  Plus, our group ended up being awesome, and by the end of the day the coziness of the bus just contributed to more of us conversing with each other, no longer strangers.

As a single, I had to sit next to another single, which ended up working out really well.  I made a new friend.  Her name is Janet, and she is an archaeologist and professor from Michigan.  We had great conversations all day.  

The tour made three main stops, which I'll cover in separate blog posts, because I have way too much to say about each of them.  

Our tour guide was Donald, and in my own professional tour guide opinion, he was very good.  We ended up being on tour for ten hours (!), which can be killer on a tour guide...but he truly handled it well.  He gave great information, lots of details, and explained things very well.  I should also mention that everyone on the tour was with the World History Association conference, so it is quite a feat to satisfy the curiosity of twenty two historians for ten hours straight.  But Donald did it, and he did it with great patience.  

He also spoke English very well, and did so from the first moment that he met everyone...which is part of what makes this next part interesting.  At one point in the tour we made a brief stop just so people could get out to take a panoramic picture of the view.  

Only a few of us chose to get out, but while I was out, he came up to me, and speaking only in Spanish, told me that I looked like I was Latina, and asked where I was from.  It was a bit strange, only because I had been on the tour all morning, and been speaking English, so he had no reason to think I would understand him.  But, I did respond in Spanish, telling him that I was from Hawai'i.  From there we had this short little conversation about the fact that I look Latina, and that yes, I was aware of that, people tell me that often, but that I'm not Latina at all.  

Every time I travel outside of Hawai'i, people think I'm Latina, so I've heard that many times before.  Whenever I'm in a foreign country (including Europe) people usually start speaking to me in Spanish first.  If I can, I always answer back in Spanish, and when I actually know what I'm saying, my accent is pretty good.  So there have been a few times in my life when I'm having a conversation with someone, and when we finally get to the part where I have to admit that I don't understand, they're a bit surprised.  

That hasn't happened on this trip yet, because I forgot to study my vocabulary before I came, so my Spanish is super rusty right now.  But everyone has started out in Spanish with me, and today I did manage to have an entire conversation with Donald the tour guide, although it was in broken Spanish.  And even though my lack of language proficiency was obvious, he still insisted that I could be from Costa Rica.  

I guess if I ever wanted to leave Hawai'i, I could easily blend in in any Spanish speaking country.  

That kind of thing is fun for me.  It's nice to throw off people's expectations some times.  

Anyway, we finally got back to the hotel at around 5 p.m., cold and soaking wet, and checked in to the Marriott.  It is a huge step up from Hotel Le Bergerac...and we sincerely need to thank our donors for providing the funding for us to stay here.  I haven't taken any pictures yet of the hotel, but I will tomorrow.  For now, just think Spanish colonial, and huge.  

I got into my room, got into the hot shower as quickly as I could, and warmed up after our chilling but absolutely wonderful afternoon.  I'll share all about that in another blog post.  

And, although the fatigue was setting in, my colleagues and I decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.  My colleague is a Hard Rock rewards member, and she makes it a point to go to every one and get the stuff that says the location.  Plus, as she has informed me, the Hard Rock Cafe chain is owned by the Seminole tribe of Florida, so whatever you spend there goes to Native Americans.  I can get behind that.  

Plus it was super cool to see Hard Rock Cafe, San Jose, Costa Rica.  

So...it's eleven o'clock night, and this is the first chance I've really had to sit down and write.  I'm exhausted, but I've still got so much to share from today!  I guess the rest of the blogs will have to wait until tomorrow.  But here's a brief preview: 

Doka Coffee Plantation - everything you (n)ever wanted to know about coffee production. 

Poás Volcano - in my opinion, the Costa Rican version of the Wao Akua...and my communion with a hummingbird.  

La Paz - Birds, especially a friendly toucan; butterflies, hummingbirds, monkeys, wild cats, snakes, poison dart frogs, and a couple of super huge, super strong waterfalls.  

It all equals to an awesome day.  

Aloha! 

Grad Student Travel Journal: Costa Rica, Day 2

One of the great things about traveling for conferences is that I'm with other geeks like me.  

We spent about 4 hours today in a museum.  In one single museum.  

Yup.  Geeks.  And proud of it.  

Today is our only "free" day, in the sense that, starting tomorrow, all the rest of our days here are regulated by some kind of schedule.  Tomorrow and Wednesday we have reserved tours.  Then the conference begins Wednesday afternoon, and goes all day Thursday and Friday.  Then on Saturday, we have a three-day tour scheduled to take us to the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica.  Essentially, starting tomorrow, our time is no longer our own to waste as we wish.  

Having yesterday to catch up on sleep and today to do whatever we wanted was great planning.  I am so happy that it worked out this way.  We had a tentative plan today to start out around 9 a.m., then walk down to the Jade Museum, and maybe also catch one of the butterfly farms.  But my phone for some reason has not automatically adjusted to the local time (as it usually does when traveling), so I woke up an hour later than planned.  

One of the things I really appreciate about my travel companions is that they were totally fine with my phone's deviousness.  I really appreciate people who can just go with the flow when that's what the situation calls for.  

We got started around 10:00, and walked from our hotel into town.  This was when I noticed for the first time that all the hotels in this area are guarded by locked gates.  In fact, we couldn't depart from our own hotel until the concierge came and unlocked the gate for us.  

Yes, this might be a comment on the society in this city, but it also doesn't say the same thing that the same situation would say in America.  I don't really know how to explain this, but traveling in "third world" countries (I so dislike that label) is different.  Just because there's a gate around the hotel doesn't necessarily mean that the area is unsafe.  But it does mean that you should probably watch your belongings. 

We walked around the city for less than an hour in search of the Museo de Jade.  In that short time we encountered three large parks, all with several statues in them commemorating some kind of historical or public figure, or some kind of historical event.  I took pictures of some, but this one is my favorite:  

Yah, they seem really proud to honor Coronado.  

As a Hawaiian, I imagine they feel the same way about him as we do about Captain Cook, or President McKinley.  

I loved how many parks there were along the way.  The variety of plant and bird life is just amazing, and we even saw a woodpecker along the way.  Apparently those are not all that common in town, so that was a good find.  (It flew away before I could take the picture.) 

We actually ventured much farther than we needed to because we were working off of an old map.  We found the closed Museo de Jade, which looked like a small, tucked away room in the corner of a financial building.  The New Jade Museum, as we found out, was located a few blocks back in the direction that we had come from.  So we had another leisurely walk and found more interesting things along the way, like this mosaic under a bridge: 

I have no idea of what it depicts, but I was impressed with the fact that they created a mosaic...under a bridge.  

When we finally found the museum, it was well worth the walk.  As stated earlier, we spent about 4 hours in there.  It spanned five floors, with each hall addressing a specific theme.  The first was mainly a display floor for all the jade objects one could imagine.  The second floor was about the jade itself - where it comes from, how the indigenous people used it, and how it was sculpted and carved to their purposes.  

Most interestingly, the kind of drill that the natives used to make indentations and sometimes even holes is the same structure as Hawaiian drills.  

 

I created a photo album on Facebook with just the museum pictures, so if you're my friend you can view the whole thing.  If not, look up the Museo de Jade.  I don't know if they've posted pictures of their collection, but if they did, it's worth browsing. 

Anyway, after leaving the museo we searched for food and drink, and while we were getting that it started to pour.  

Apparently it rains every afternoon here in Costa Rica.  And it's not just a light rain.  It was pouring.  

So, overall, although it is also a tropical place, it's a lot colder than it is in Hawai'i. Plus, it is their winter here (rainy season).   I was not prepared.  I wish I had brought a couple of long-sleeved shirts... 

But the rain also gives us time in the middle of the day to relax...like a siesta.  That's always a good idea.  Americans need to learn how to siesta. 

That's about it for day 2 in Costa Rica.  We're heading out to dinner soon, and after that, turning in early.  We have get up around 5 a.m. to be ready in time for our tour tomorrow.  

Aloha!