During the evening we happened upon some American students from the University of Costa Rica (who by chance knew my good friend Taylor, a happy coincidence, I love finding out how small the world really is) and they introduced us to their friend Carlos and his brother, Mario, who was showing photos at the exhibition. Mario was headed to El Steinvorth for an opening of another photo show featuring seniors from the photo program at Veritas and invited us to come along.
We walked in and immediately felt at home. El Steinvorth is long and narrow, with a bar on the lower level as well as a stage and dance floor (where a partner and salsa skills are NOT required!) Not to mention that Imperials are $1. It definitely has a more alternative crowd, it seems like quite the bohemian hang out for the artists and musicians of San Jose (and now Robin and I as well) Upstairs there are couches and tables and a balcony where you can look down and see the whole bar. There is tons of art on the wall, right now it is photos, but it changes frequently. Robin and I are in love with El Steinvorth, not to mention that we talked to many new Tico friends and it doesn't seem like a place many Americans know about. We have since been there three times, we plan on becoming regulars.
On Saturday I was invited to go with Robin's Mama Tica, "E", host sister, "J", and daughter, "C" to a friend's house for a birthday party. We got up early and took the bus for about an hour and a half. San Jose sits in between 2 mountain ranges, so the climate is quite moderate here. This friend lived on the other side of the mountains, and it is unbelievable how much the climate can change when we are just an hour away. I was very very sweaty. It was gross.
We arrived on the bus and were picked up by the friend who is a single mom with three young kids, so E sat in the front seat of the car, and J, Robin and myself sat in the seats and we had 4 kids on top of us. It defintely felt like we were in rural Costa Rica, driving down an empty highway with the windows down, reggaeton blasting and an assortment of children sitting on top of us.
We were dropped off at a park, while E and her friend went to go to the grocery store to pick up lunch. The park was on a river, whose name I do not recall, but it was magical. We walked in and were greeted by a friendly fat woman skinning a chicken. The park was incredibly green, with giant leaves everywhere. Those of you who have been to the Volunteer Park Conservatory with me know my affinity for giant leaves, it was awesome. There were also bright and crazy looking flowers that I have never seen before in my life. My favorite was orange and pink and yellow and looked like a beehive, and weighed probably about 5 pounds (see photo). We were the only people who were there and it really felt like a secret garden. I was expecting to see a unicorn or something. I didn't quite get the unicorn, but there was a white pony roaming around the park, I tried to catch it to ride it but it did not seem to want that. It was nice just to have it walking around in the vicinity though.
We got a bbq pit, with a picnic table under a covered area. E and her friend came back with Chorizo, beef and taco fixin's and we went to town. It was fantastic, and incredibly relaxing. After we waited 30 minutes we went swimming in the river. I have noticed that Costa Ricans are incredibly adamant about the waiting 30 minutes before swimming, E, J and E's friend (whose name I have forgotten, or never really knew, which is why I am only referring to her as E's friend) all made comments about it, and last weekend before going to the ocean, my host mom, Emilia also instructed us to MAKE SURE we wait 30 minutes after eating to go swimming.
The river was wonderful. It had an area where the water didn't flow fast and made a natural pool. Near the shores there were rocks you could sit on and be partially submerged in the water while conversing and hanging out. I felt like a mermaid. Awesome. There was also a rope swing, which made for good times.
After spending the day at the river, we went back to the friend's house around 3 and as we were driving the rain began (in my time here it has rained every single afternoon). This was crazy rain. I stepped out of the car and between the car and the maybe 10 feet to the house I was completely drenched, it was still warm out though, and I was still in my swimsuit so I frolicked a bit in the rain.
The night was pretty chill at first, some other lady friends came over, it was very silly. They are all around 30 and the conversation was a lot of complaining about men. It was bizarre for all of them to talk about having at least one child by the time they were my age. After cake, the other two ladies left and two male friends of E and friend came. This is the point at which the relaxing day started getting a little nutty.
The friend had 2 sisters who then showed up. They were about 14 and 17 I would guess and were literally dressed like prostitutes. I kind of think the older one might actually have been a hooker but who knows. I say this because she was dropped off by a man who looked like he was about 50, Robin says to me, "dude it looks like that girl is going to make out with that guy" and I said "no, I'm pretty sure that is her dad," then I turned around and saw that they were in fact making out. "I stand corrected," I said to Robin.
So after the prostitutes came we got into the car and left to go out. Now, as I mentioned we were in a pretty rural area of Costa Rica, not very many houses, farms, a church. So I was expecting a sleepy townie bar with like 10 people, maybe a dog, that kind of thing. And Robin and I were pretty sleepy from being outside all day but we thought to ourselves, oh, they are like 30, we won't be out past 12. Little did we know.
So we drove for a long time, like so long that Robin and I fell asleep in the backseat. And when we woke up WE WERE AT A CARNIVAL. But this was no ordinary carnival. There were rides, yes, but there were also 5 or so clubs in tents, including one 3 story club tents. But the prostitutes (I am referring to them as so, but I actually think they were dressed like sluts and were not in fact walkers of the night, they didn't speak English and I didn't know how to ask politely in Spanish, or English for that matter, so who knows) were not 18 and the clubs were carding so we were standing outside trying to come up with a plan when all of the sudden there were hundreds of people running in our direction. We jumped behind one of the male friends of E and the commotion stopped for a minute and then people started running again. I am not sure what they were running from but it could not have been good. For all I know it could have just been someone projectile vomiting or something but either way it freaked me and Robin out. It seemed to not sit well with the rest of our group too, because we left after that.
At this point, Robin and I both thought the night was shot and we were looking forward to going to bed. But we went to a bar instead. This is more what we were picturing from the start. It was slightly more crowded, but chill. There was a dance floor and they were playing traditional music. It seemed like more of an adult scene, but it was fine. I should also mention that E was rather intoxicated and it was silly. Drunk adults always make me chuckle. She had informed us that this was probably the only night of the year she would go out, because she has a kid and her husband doesn't like going out (he did not come with us).
One thing I realized while at the bar was that it is very difficult to be tactful in another language. There was a gentleman who was about 30 who asked me to dance a few times, which I did, but then he was asking me to see him in San Jose and this I was not interested in. He didn't speak any English, so when he asked my why not, I thought for a minute about how to put it lightly that he was too old, but the only thing I could figure out how to say was "well, how old are you?" and he said "28" and I said, "That is why." It was a little awkward, but I feel like being abroad and learning another language is just one awkward moment after another, so I wasn't too concerned about it.
Later on in the evening, Robin and I thought it would be fun to dance with E and her friend, so the 4 of us made our way to the dance floor were having a good time dancing. At one point an old man, about 60, joined us. It was very silly, there was a lot of making circles and walking one way and then the other, it actually felt kind of like the horah to merengue music. Good times indeed. So after we got tired, Robin and I sat down and E went up to the bar with our dancing friend.
Around 2:30 or so, the bar was clearing out and E called Robin over. She introduced us to her "good friend" who we had witnessed her meet literally 40 minutes before. He told us that his brother lived in the United States, and as if that was his que, seemingly out of nowhere, a silly little man resembling a turtle appeared and said in his turtle-like voice "hello." He then proceeded to tell us about a very important expo they were going to go see then and invited us to come. This seemed odd as it was 3am, and Robin and I were falling asleep, so we declined. E's friend was going home then and E seemed to want to go to this expo or whatever the hell it was, so we went with her friend and figured we would see E in the morning.
We woke up the next morning around 10 or 11 and came out of our room. We looked around the house, which was not very big. E's sister was there, her daughter was there, her friend and her kids were there, the prostitutes were there, but we did not see E anywhere. We thought this odd, but figured maybe she had gone to the store or something. Robin and I both suck at Spanish, but we gathered that we were going back to the river we were at the day before. We weren't too worried, because we were with E's kid, so we figured we would wind up with her at some point.
We arrived at the river to find E with the old dancing man and his turtle brother. Upon seeing this, Robin and I began to discuss the situation, as it very likely was lost in translation. Had she gone home with these old dudes? Does that mean she hooked up with one of them? Ew? Our answer became clear as throughout the day she kissed the old dancing man many times, as well as cradled him in her bosom. The real indicator was when she bit into a hotdog and winked at him. Ew. So I guess she goes ALL OUT on her one night out per year. Shit.
So the old men were just kicking it, acting like they were part of the family, and no one seemed to find this odd besides Robin and myself. We were pretty weirded out, but we still had a nice day by the river and just tried to act like it wasn't weird that E was having an affair with a man she had met the night before. Finally, much to our relief, J, E's sister came and sat with us and shared that she thought this was loco and she was going to go back to San Jose if we wanted to come. Not wanting to hang out with the old dancing man and his turtle brother, we happily accepted the invitation and went to the bus to go back to SJ. The best part of this story is that E did not return to San Jose until the next night. Meaning that she probably had another romantic evening with her dance partner. Again, ew. But to each their own I guess.
Yesterday was the Dia del independencia for Costa Rica (and most of Latin America) so we didn't have school. Tuesday night we went to El Steinvorth's and had another wonderful night. From there we went with a few friends we had met at one of our other evenings at El Steiny's (as we affectionately call it) to another bar called AreaCity. AreaCity was not as pretty as El Steiny's but was equally fun. We rang in independence day to a series of fantastic 80's dance hits (don't, don't you want me?) So much fun. We got home at 3am and were awoken at 5, as it is customary in Costa Rica for children to run through the streets banging pots and lighting off fireworks at 5am, no bueno. After that ended I went back to sleep and was woken up around 12 by Robin and Kelsey at my door telling me to get dressed because we were going to a parade. The parade was fun, really good music. After, we went out for breakfast, which was delicious and delightful. This is not unique to Costa Rica, but I just want to make a comment that hang over breakfasts are the greatest.
Not quite sure what this weekend will bring, I have yet to make plans. I am fairly certain it will be less wacky than last weekend, as that may be the oddest experience of my life. Oh well, pura vida!
I DO know how you love big leaves. I am glad you found a nation that supplies them a plenty.
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