CR Day 6 - Downtown San Jose

This morning our group headed to San Jose to tour the offices of the president. I think Ana was hopeful that we would meet the president of Costa Rica but he is busy mediating the problems in Honduras. I enjoyed seeing the building where the president works; it's very nicely appointed and they told us about his meeting there with Joe Biden in March. We also drove by the president's house which is surprisingly modest. We only got to look through the gate - they didn't invite us in for coffee or anything. I was a bit tired of hanging around Heredia today and was ready to get out and see something so it was a fun trip. We also drove by the US embassy; it was all gates and guard houses (not much to see) and they didn't want us to take photographs in the area. While in the downtown area we stopped briefly at an artist's market...mostly junk but still fun to look around.

Last night we went to dinner at Nandayure Valenzuela's (of UNA) home. They had invited other family members who live nearby to come over and meet us so we had a large crowd. Tican society is matriarchal and the people are extremely warm and friendly. They want you to love their country as much as they do. Nandayure made a lovely dinner for us with a large selection of traditional foods and afterward we sat around talking, watching some dance practice and sipping coffee. We talked late into the night about all sorts of things. It was a wonderful evening and I'm thankful that they had the two of us over for a visit. I learned a new phrase "Hoy por ti, manana por mi" which basically means "what goes around, comes around."


A truck is parked in front of our apartment (less than 10 feet from my front door) and it has been since we got here six days ago. Every night at 9 o'clock the truck backs up and moves across the street. Now, you have to know that the backing up is accompanied by a revving engine, back firing, back-up alarms as well as the car alarm for the car behind it on some nights. We sit a few feet from the door and can't hear the TV while the truck moves so it's hard to ignore...it's all pretty noisy. I asked our hosts last night if there is some sort of 24 hour parking permit and the entire family laughed at the thought of this...so no, there's no reason for this movement. They were curious too. So now Nandayure wants me to go ask the owner why he moves the truck each night, and I think I will. First, I have to practice asking the question in Spanish and then I'll have to get the video camera out and record his explanation, so someone can tell me what he says! I'll let you know how that turns out; I've got a few weeks left to practice my Spanish before going over and solving this mystery. You can see a photo of the truck in the blog post from Day 4.

On the way home this afternoon Chuck and I went into the neighborhood bakery. It's actually more of a garage-cum-bakery type deal but it sure smells good. They have a really amazing selection for such a small shop. I was really just looking for a good bread for peanut butter and jelly, aka dinner tonight. We came out with slightly sweet whole wheat rolls and a thing that looked like a popover but was in actuality a really, really good cream filled doughnut done Tican! I'm going back, don't worry - and I'll get pictures of the shop, the turnovers and rolls. We were hungry and we've already eaten the ones we just bought...sorry.

Buenas noches, amigos
- Pat