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Vanessa's in Costa Rica: Week 1

"I am learning all the time. My tombstone will be my diploma."
-Eartha Kitt

viernes, el 6 de julio

Yesterday´s afternoon excursion to Cartago proved to be short but interesting.

The one-stop-show was to see Cartago´s Basilica, which you can tell from the
photo is quite striking (as is the strange lady waving at the camera).

There is an interesting story attached to the how the basilica first came to be.
Gather round, everyone...

One day, an Indian girl was walking to the river to get some water, when she saw
a beautiful doll atop a boulder in the middle of the river. The girl retrieved the
doll, took it to her home, and hid it in a box. The next day, the doll had
disappeared; she soon discovered that the doll was again back at the river.

This sequence of events kept repeating itself, until one day the family members
decided that for everyone´s safety, the local priest must be involved. The priest,
that dastardly fellow, thought all to be a joke until he himself retrieved the doll,
locked it in a secure, priestly location, and in the morning discovered the doll
once again having returned to her place in the river.

Soon, the story spread of word of mouth throughout the area, and the water of
the river was reputed to be holy water. Many people attested to its healing
properties. The disappearing doll was thought by the locals to be an incarnation
of the Virgen. Thus, said virgin became the Virgen de Los Angeles, patron saint
of Cartago, and a church was built at the site in her honor. Today´s basilica
stands in the place where that same church stood centuries ago.

In the photos, you can see a modern representation of the young Indian girl
discovering the appearance of the Virgen, along with modern day pilgrims
collecting holy water from the site. I myself sequestered some into the most holy
of holy places--an AquaFina bottle.

For those of you interested in classical history (cough... my husband), the Costa
Rican city of Cartago was named after the famed Carthage from antiquity.
Apparently, other famous cities exported to Costa Rica include Griego, Costa
Rica and Atenas, Costa Rica. Where are all the Ticos wearing togas and laurel
wreaths???

¡Adios, todos!
Vanessa
_________________________________________
jueves, el 5 de julio

Hello, world!

I'm writing today from a "salon de chat", a particular phenomenon here for those
without computers-- which, by the way, is pretty much everyone. This salon is
pretty nice, with cafe food downstairs, and a sunny room with good equipment
upstairs. The computer station where I am sitting right now has all kinds of cd -
dvd burning equiptment, a laser printer, and a webcam that stares right at me.
Most people here are charging their MP3 players and downloading ringtones. At
80 cents an hour, the price for using the computer is scandalously cheap.

Last night I attended my first dance class. It was awesome! I'm attending La
Acedemia de Baile Merecumbe, which people here on campus have been telling
me is the most distinguished school of dance in the city.   The class meets a few
times a week, although the schedule options are confusing and I haven't actually
figured out which days I'm supposed to go.

Our class began last night with the instructor having us lie on our backs and
practice some of the movements against the floor. That was a good technique to
start us off without so much self consciousness. However, as I predicted, you
pretty much have to throw self-consciousness out the window once things get
going, because there are so many different movements in the hips, and the
instructor is always having us switch partners. Last night we learned some of the
basic basic merengue steps.

The class ended at 7:00 pm, an hour which is considered here to be a late time of
day. This brings me to an interesting point about Costa Rica's climate and typical
schedule. The sun is rising now at 4:30 am and setting at about 6:00 pm. That
fact bears repeating: the sun rises at freakin' 4:30 in the morning!    So most
people rise by about 5:30, and the normal bedtime is 8:00 at night. By 7:00 am,
everything is hopping and most people have begun their workday. Families eat
dinner at about 6:00 pm and are in bed by 8:00.   For me, such a schedule is
fantastic!   I'm getting lots of really good sleep without sacrificing the day.

Speaking of the day.... I have a working lunch with a classmate. So I guess this is
the part where I sign off.   Later today I'm going on an excursion to the city of
Cartago, and I really hope to have pictures for everyone soon.

¡Que buen verano!
Vanessa
_________________________________________
miercoles, el 4 de julio.

Yesterday afternoon was neat-- we went to the Costarican Art Museum and it was
gorgeous. The building that currently houses the art museum was originally the
first airport of San Jose, although you´d never know it from the design of the
building. When you first walk in, suspended from the ceiling are these ancient
canoes that have moss growing on the outside and mountains of real orchids
growing, overflowing, from the interior of the canoes.

On the way back to campus, our bus passed by many nice parks and plazas,
which was encouraging to me because for the most part, I have not found San
Jose to be very pretty city. I don´t know what I was expecting, but definitely not
this.   It is noisy, and crowded, and a bit dirty, with lots of grafitti. So, I was very
glad to discover more pleasant parts of the city to visit.

An interesting history of the city: San Jose was not originally the capital of Costa
Rica. The capital from the 16th century on was Cartago, and San Jose was a
mere pueblo. However, because of San Jose´s location between two mountain
ranges, it has some of the coolest temperatures in the country, and came to be a
city of more powerful influence. However, it was never designed to be a capital
city, which explains all the serpentine streets and alleys and lack of sidewalks.
Walking around in this city is a nightmare-- just crossing the street feels like
jutting across the interstate as a pedestrian. Really.

After our return to campus, I stopped by the mall and made some great
discoveries. Manicures cost $6, and hour massages are $20!! Wow, what a
place to indulge. Also, at the mall I found a "spinning club", which is basically a
small shop with 30 or more bicycles stuffed inside, and a podium in one corner for
the "motivating cyclist". Yesterday when I walked by, the room was like a
discoteque, with lights flashing and music blaring. The clerk had to yell to explain
to me the reservation process! It looked like a lot of fun-- I hope to attend soon.

Since today is Independence Day back home, I should mention a bit about the
holiday´s significance in this country. There are so many American businesses
here that half the city has vacation today, since no one from the States is going to
call. How bizarre, that Ticos (Costa Ricans) have the day off for an American
holiday. Several people have mentioned to me that there is a party at the home
of the US ambassador to Costa Rica, for any US citizens who would like to
celebrate.
_________________________________________
lunes, el 2 de julio

Hello, everyone back home!!

Well, I´ve been here in San Jose for a couple of days and am beginning to feel a
bit more settled in. I´m living with a very nice family.

There is a mother, named Roxanne, who cooks great meals and makes
fresh-squeezed juices all the time. Juices from mango, or pineapple, or starfruit
greet me every morning with breakfast. Roxanne loves to work cross-word
puzzles. She´s pretty funny-- when men whistle on the street, she says it must be
hard to be dazzled by such a vision of beauty. :-)

The father is named Celso, and he works as a handy-man. He actually built the
family´s entire house by hand, from the ground up. Wow!!! He´s a very creative
guy who hangs c-d-s from the courtyard trees for decoration and grows all types
of flowers in abundance. He also makes interesting musical instruments, like
rainmakers out of bamboo or clackers like those used in old Catholic churches on
holy days. Also, he also really loves animals. Yesterday he showed us a
hummingbird nest-- it was no bigger than a quarter!

There are three daughters in the family-- the eldest is named Carolina (23), but
everybody in the family calls her "Caro". She and her husband Vidal live in
another house that Celso built which is just across the courtyard. They are
having a baby very soon-- in just a few weeks. Here in Costa Rica, it is
mandatory that expectant mothers are given vacation from work one month
before the due date and then three months after the baby is born. So, although
Caro works as a programmor (I believe), she is now at home resting and getting
ready for baby. Her husband, Vidal, works at a travel agency, which is about all I
know about him.

The middle daughter is named Maria. She works for Western Union addressing
the questions of agents in the US. She is 20 years old. I think she always wears
black. She is taking violin lessons and practices at night. Last night she was
practicing lullabyes and they were very sweet. She travels an hour and a half by
bus everyday to get to work, and so doesn´t arrive back home until after dark.

The youngest daughter, who is 11 years old, is named Flora. Her mom always
calls her "Floreta" or "Florecita". She is a very independent sort of person. Right
now she´s saving money for a cell phone (although no one else in the family has
one). :-) Floreta is currently on vacation for two weeks. Her other vacation
occurs at Christmas, when she is off for six weeks. Her school is just a few blocks
down the street and so she walks everyday. I like her-- she´s a really fun kid.

I also have a companion from the US. Her name is Kathleen. She´s 41, from
California, and has returned to college to become a teacher. Right now, she´s in
her third year of school. Kathleen is very sweet and we spend much of our day
together. We talk only in Spanish so that we can practice.

Kathleen and I are actually about to head off-campus for lunch, so I´m signing off
for now with a phrase very popular here:

¡Pura vida!

Until next time,
Vanessa

Vanessa kept an online journal of her month in San Jose. The journal is broken
down into weeks...if you want to see a previous week, just click below on the
week you want. Within each week, the days are chronological, but backwards,
so that the oldest entries for the week are at the bottom of the page. This is
Vanessa's journal for her first week in Costa Rica.

What week do you want to read about?

You can also click on the thermometer to the right to see how the weather is
in San Jose right now! Is it raining on Vanessa? Only one way to find out...