Rainy Nights, Rainy Days (San Jose, CR)

Ok fine, I know I´m bitching despite one of my previous posts, but c´mon I´m human.  It´s been effin´raining for days now and it´s a bit of a drag. Not sprinking, nor drizzling, nor spitting, but downright pouring rain, so much rain that it was leaking through my new umbrella that I only bought 3 weeks ago, and let me tell you, it was not a cheap umbrella.

I just got back earlier today from a 2 day beach trip out to Puntarenas with my local Tico friend Luis, most of the trip was spent indoors because of the rain. To be honest though, I am kind of beached out, after a while all the beaches start to look the same and I can only take so many photos of beaches without me forgetting which is which. So needless to say, we didn´t once go into the ocean. As well, Puntarenas is perhaps one the ¨older¨beaches, let´s say, with lots of rubbish left behind from local or foreign tourists.

I find it interesting how each beach town has unique niches. For example, in Manuel Antonio, the beach was filled with tanning chairs and umbrellas that were available for rent. As well, the shops there had a unique way of displaying their merchandise, which consisted of sprawling every item out on hangers in order to make a quilt like curtain of clothes/purses/sarongs, etc. In Jaco, there were lots of prostitutes in the clubs and walking along the beach trying to make eye contact with the men. Some men, oblivious to who these chicas actually were and believing they are actually attractive.

In Puntarenas, there was a lot of Chinese restaurants, and well, a lot of Chinese citizens. As well, a neat little boardwalk filled with ¨soda¨ restuarants and craft booths. One thing that Puntarenas was missing though was Wifi. Everywhere I have been throughout Nicaragua and Costa Rica thus far have been fluttered with Wifi hotspots and are often a selling point for hotels and restaurants.  Puntarenas... no.  They have aparently haven´t caught on yet.  I have to admit, it was a little alarming for me to be so disconnected for one day, especially when it was a national holiday (Thanksgiving) in Canada.

I have taught Luis a phrase I often say with my friends, ¨disconnect to connect¨ because he is often on his iphone with his buddies when I´m trying to chat with him. He was able to use the phrase back in my face these last two days.  With that said, he was still able to text and call his friends while we were away. How does that work?

So speaking of Thanksgiving and Chinese restaurants, that´s exactly what I did. I ended up having a modest meal at The Imperial Chinese Restaurant, a clever name because Imperial is often used in Chinese retaurant titles and is also the name of the Costa Rican national beer.  I had a large bowl of wantan soup and Luis had rice and noodles. I also explained to Luis all about Thanksgiving and politely and charminging forced him to tell me his ¨what are you thankful for¨speech, something I often do with others.  So in the end it was a special Thanksgiving for me, I was grateful to have had great company with me, amongst all the other wonderful things in my life.

(The best photo we could get from our server, the first one was reversed, of her chest.) 

And so now here I am, cuddled up in front of the computer,  in my peach colored hoodie, my clashing maroon fisherman pants, and flip-flops, hoping that tomorrow the rain will stop.  My time is running short in San Jose and tomorrow is the Ricky Martin concert which is somewhat outdoors, but I purchased sheltered tickets exactly for this purpose. Nonetheless it would be nice to see him with dry weather. My hostel is rather full compared to when I was here the other day, I have noticed a lot of Latinos here which is odd for hostels. I am guessing they are going to the concert tomorrow as well! So exciting!