La Pura Vida...

First of all play this while reading this entry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VabzzH-v3Q

So here's the thing.  Costa Rica is arguably the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, except for you Joey (the first born always hits home the hardest).  It might be the fact that these 48 hours here have been my first outside of the United State's direct jurisdiction minus a two hour stint in Canada sometime  in the early years of the new millennium.  But in all seriousness, I am having trouble finding words that due this place justice and express how amazing it is down here.  The sum of everything from the confused sense of architecture running rampant in San Jose, to the mountains that decorate the horizon, to the country's motto itself (see title of entry) all add up to... Well, I don't even know what, but I love it...  I mean, yesterday I saw two policemen dressed up body armor, pistols and billy clubs at their hips, leaning against their motocycles shooting the shit and indulging in some ice cream cones on one of the busiest and hypothetically most dangerous streets in the city.  Lazy? No, there was just that little to do.  People here just seem more relaxed and generally less frustrated and angry than Americans.  People dont look at their feet as they go about their day, they look around and make eye contact with the those around them, not to inflate their machismo, but because they are legitimately interested in who their neighbors are.  Here when people see someone they know, regardless of weather they are hustling to work or just strolling by, they don't just nod silently and keep moving, they stop, extend a handshake or a kiss on the cheek and have a chat.  All of this is true in San Jose, the big bad capital.  The place where everybody has an agenda to attend to and no time or patience for anything but their own goals.  You know that awkward feeling that you get when you walk down the street in downtown Boston or New York, like everybody is sizing you up and generally loathes you existence?  Basically non existant in San Jose.  Pura Vida.  If you don't know what it means I highly recommend looking it up.

Also in the last two days I have walked through San Jose, had a meal worth more than 10,000 currency units (colones), seen a national museum that houses both bullet holes and a butterfly garden, eaten at least a dozen things that I have never heard of before, been seduced by store vendors, had a delicious vegan meal (weird, I know), seen more species of plants that I knew ever existed, visited a coffee plantation (had like 4 cups of free coffee), stood at the top of an active volcano, stood next to a 120 foot tall waterfall and I don't know... I'm sure there is more that I am forgetting, but its been pretty fun here.

I could ramble for a while longer, but pictures are worth a thousand words...

COFFEEEEEE

If you have never smelled 20 kg of coffee beans being roasted at once I highly recommend it

I'd let her grind my beans any day of the week...

So this picture doesn't really fit on the page, but it's still pretty cool

Woah Black Bumble-Bee, bam a lam

I thought these were cool, never seen it before.  They're like red bananas

Despite all my rage I'm still just a bird who got out of the cage?

Pato says Quack Quack, Mother Fucker

Humming birds are pretty cool... They can fly and stuff...

Never seen one of these before either.  Say hi to Mr. Beetle! Don't know where the Bard is though...
If you understood that reference you are a NERD

Ribbit

Pretty sedate right?

Not really...

San Jose from the balcony of the National Museum