CR Day 4 - Recycling Facility

Yesterday evening we had a phenomenal sunset...really, really pretty. Chuck and I walked to a local park that overlooks San Jose and the Central Valley - what a view, beautiful. The sun sets about 6pm here which feels early to me; we only have twelve hours of day light as we are very near the equator but sunset still seems a bit early.


Just an observation: I haven't seen many people smoking at all. We've eaten in several restaurants around town and no one is smoking inside. Being a non-smoker, I really dislike eating while someone near me is smoking.

Chuck is discussing our visit to the recycling facility so I'll leave that alone...suffice to say that I didn't get us lost!

You might be wondering what I do while Chuck and Ana are teaching. So far, I've sat in on the classes. Ana's Spanish class is way over my head but I'm working on catching every 8th word; yesterday it was every 10th word so I'm doing very well. During Chuck's class I whip out my knitting and listen to the lecture. Nice not having to take notes or the quizzes! Tomorrow I may break out and walk around the market area and downtown...we'll see.

Something else I'm finding interesting is this longer stay mentality. Last year when we came to Costa Rica with students for 10 days at spring break we lived out of our suitcases and were on the move every other day or so. This year we took care of our immediate needs, unpacked our bags and then found our way around town. Now we are finding time for little things, like walking down to the local park and getting to practice our Spanish with the man at the market catty-corner to our apartment building. Chuck and I discussed living with a host family while we were here (as our students are doing) because we both wanted that cultural immersion experience. However, I think we made the right decision in renting an apartment instead. I watch Chuck and Ana working with the students all day; they really have to be "on" and it has to be draining. It's nice to come back to our apartment and put our feet up and cruise the internet highway for a little while...here's a photo of our apartment; our door is on the left behind the truck. I'm standing in front of the market.