Dados de Queso

Last week I found myself sitting in RostiPollo, a Nicaraguan restaurant chain, trying to put my finger on what it reminded me of. When all of the sudden it came to me that RostiPollo reminded me TO A T of Chilie's. I have been avoiding American type food like the plague, but I felt okay about RostiPollo because it was a Nicaraguan food chain, even though I kept expecting to hear the baby back ribs jingle at any moment.

AND by far the best part of this adventure in mediocre restaurant chains of Central America was that I discovered "Dados de Queso" which means cheese dice. Which are fried squares of cheese. YES PLEASE. After many cheese dice I ventured to some new bars with my Tico friend/guide of the city. I am more and more in love with the absolute chaos of San Jose every day.

Like I mentioned before, San Jose is by no means a city that one falls in love with immediately (like say, Paris) but the more time I spend here, the more I am appreciating the exquisite chaos it has to offer. Downtown feels insane, there are so many people and so many things going on and so much noise that when you walk into a place that feels good (El Steinvorth) it is like a wave of relaxation falls over you. And I think that makes me feel even more at home when I do arrive to those places I have come to call "mine" here.

I think that a big part of why I like San Jose so much is because it is one of the few places I have been to that feels real or authentic. Tourism dominates so much of Costa Rica's economy that it seems like most places are built to cater to outsiders. And so I guess in a way that becomes a part of the culture. But it feels very odd to live in San Jose and have a Tica mom and Tico friends and then go stay at a resort where all the guests are from the States and all the employees are Ticos. More than odd, it feels dirty, like I am just playing into the age old norm of white privilege, and I don't like it.

Not only does the race dynamic bother me, but it makes me feel like even more of an outsider. In my previous travels even if I didn't speak a word of the language, I could keep my mouth shut and blend in. Not so in Costa Rica. I don't have to say a thing, the minute people see me, they know that I'm not from here and that is a feeling that is really new for me. I am still struggling with how it feels, but I think it is an important and worthwhile struggle.

Last weekend our group went to Volcan Arenal, the world's 16th most active volcano. It was pretty epic, you could see the whole volcano from our hotel and there was a small earthquake while we were there. We arrived Friday night after a rather nauseous time on the bus to a wonderful buffet. After dinner most of our group got schwasted and made asses of themselves in the pool. Notable examples included some dumbass girl who smashed a bottle for no reason on the side of the pool and another girl who made out with three guys at once. And I wonder why Americans get such a bad rep...because of people like the members of Fall II International Studies Abroad, also known as Spring Break Costa Rica.

On Saturday a group of about 6 of us went on an all day guided hike through the jungle. It definitely made it to my top 3 things I've done in Costa Rica, possibly ever. The hike was in the crater of another dormant volcano. We saw toucans and snakes. About 20 minutes into the hike a snake slithered across the trail and our guide said (very nonchalantly) "Oh, that's a type of viper, it's the most poisonous snake we have in Costa Rica." I also ate a bug. I'm not quite sure what happened, our guide showed us a bug and said it was edible and asked if anyone wanted to eat it and without really thinking about it, I volunteered. The taste was fairly neutral. I definitely wouldn't say it tasted good, but it didn't really taste bad either. The consistency was that of what I would imagine raw chicken would be like, and it had the same amount of protein as a 30 oz steak.

Our destination on the hike was Rio Celeste. It is a special (dare I say magical) kind of river only found in three places in the world: there's one in Brazil, one in Japan and one in Costa Rica. Rio Celeste is actually the meeting point of two rivers. One of them has a really high sulfur level and the other has really tiny pieces of jade in the water. When the two rivers meet, some kind of (magical) chemical reaction takes place and the water turns bright blue. Like neon blue. Think the color of the sky, perhaps mixed with a bit of vanilla ice cream. Like if the sky was a flavor of ice cream, the color of that ice cream would be the color of this river. It was nuts.

There was also a spot of water that we stopped at. Our guide told us all to think really hard about the most beautiful thing we could think of. We did and after about 30 seconds the water started bubbling violently. The guide (who I kid you not, seemed to know EVERYTHING about the jungle) shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know why this happened. There might be some kind of scientific explanation but even if there is, I would rather not know it.

Our guide was the cat's meow. He is a biologist and tour guide. He informed us that he has discovered 3 new species in his 26 years as a biologist. I now have an abundance of knowledge of what plants I could eat if I were to potentially get lost in the jungle. It was like having a more awesome and less douchy Bear Grylls as our guide.

This weekend the Group of Idiots has another preplanned excursion, but Robin and I have opted out of this one. I'm not quite sure what the weekend ahead holds. Friday night there is a concert of a Costa Rican folk band called Malpais that we will be attending and Saturday, Sunday and Monday (a holiday from school) who knows...but todo bien, I'm down for a surprise adventure. I am thinking about everyone at home a lot, I love and miss you all, until next time, pura vida :)