Gin and Soda

I am not a negative person. Ha ha…okay, you can stop laughing. No, really, I may bitch a lot, but I’m not actually a negative person in the sense that I hate life, or people, etc. Well...maybe I hate a couple of people, and hopefully they will die soon, but that’s another story. My point is, that I dont' mean to keep harping on the same thing, BUT….

Numerous times during my adult, traveling life I have said to myself, “Self, it would be awesome to live in ‘this’ major city.” These thoughts were of course occuring during vacations in New York, Boston, London, etc. However, there’s this funny little fact about life. It sucks. And IT will screw with you because it’s fun for Life to do that to you. Life will sit up on its fancy mountain top, sipping on a cocktail with a little umbrella in it, and think, “Haha! This is fun!” So, Life screwed with me and took out “this” big city and put in “a” instead. Hence, I get to live in San Jose for five weeks…the fifth city of my life to live in, and along those lines, if we think about vices, number five is avarice, yes? Well, I'm feeling pretty greedy right now, as I want everything that's not here.

So, I’m stuck in San Jose for another three and a half weeks, and I need to start concentrating on the NICE things about this hell hole so that it won’t become a suicidal tendencies catalyst. So here goes.

The biggest one is gin. They have gin here, they call it “ginebra” and I can order it in a restaurant or bar in Spanish, thank you. They even have “ginebra Bombay Saphire.” And you can buy it at any grocery store. Handy. Another cool thing is that I opened my big mouth, as usual, and got myself out of that first crapville of a house. Now that I’ve been in the new one, it is SO clear what a cheap deal that last place was! That cola cabeza (butthead) only fed me white toast and fruit every morning. But my new Tico mom gives me beans and rice (surprising, I know), eggs, cheese, FRENCH toast, fruit, and tea EVERY freaking morning! AND, my bathroom has new towels in it every day. AND she’s washing my clothes every day! I freaking have only one pair of socks, a t-shirt, and underwear in the dirty clothes, she washes them. Maybe I should test her with ONLY one pair of underwear and nothing else…..hmmmmm. Too bad I didn’t bring my boots, they need shining.

We’ve eaten at this “Americanized” restaurant a couple times, but it’s been yummy. It’s called “Café Mundo,” or World Café, and the food is muy yummy and the portions are big. I was able to have dinner the other night and still brought enough leftovers home for the following night. Lots of Gringos eat there, as it’s in the “nicer” part of downtown by the Mexican Embassy and several nice hotels, etc. It’s in a big, 1910 Victorian home, which makes it feel very Austin-esque. However, compared to the Tico prices that we’re getting used to paying, these American tourism restaurants start to suck in the “I’ll take my check now” category. Why? Because they charge the same prices that you’d find in the U.S., and after you’ve had a freaking steak here in a Tico restaurant for six bucks, you don’t want to pay $2.50 for a gin and $8 for a salad. Well, okay, yes you do on that first part, but that’s beside the point. Food here is cheap, and it’s going to be weird going back to the states and ordering fucking nachos (chips and beans people) and the price is $7.95. I mean, what the crap?! I moved into a new neighborhood in Fort Worth before I left that’s right by a Carnival grocery store, the “poor Mexican store” by Texas “standards.” I am SO going in there when I get back to see if I can get groceries at Tico prices. If Ticos pay so little for food, why aren’t we? Is a hamburger really worth four to six bucks? Really?

Well, I’m sleepy, and I need my sleep in order to keep up with those young bastards. This Saturday we go to some other rain forest and ride a zip-line across the tree tops. That, along with a ten minute horseback ride and vertical wooden ladder climb up to the zipping staging area, all surely equal death for me in my parents eyes. You never stop worrying about your kids…guess I can’t stop that.

On a side note to Dad - we learned all about electricity here in my robo class. So, I’m all cool with that volts verses amps verses wattage thing. I’ve had to apply it several times. Soy muy inteligente.

V

# posted by Juniper @ 1:11 PM