Gin and Soda

Well, I’d just like to say that I am not a rodent hater. I’m not. I’ve had lots of rodents as pets. Weird, but true. Even rats. WHICH, I’d like to bring to the forefront, I am apparently sharing my room with. I’ve heard distinct rustling in the closet each evening, but I figured it COULD be large roaches, whatever. Tonight, there’s squealing. Not from the closet, but from the corner of the room at the end of the bed, where a large bean bag lives. I wonder if there’s perhaps a NEST in that bean bag. Lovely. I’m not afraid of them, but you have to admit, it’s kind of, oh, I don’t know, lower class and icky…

Speaking of which…today in class Amarante, my professor, wanted us to each talk about our experience so far. I brought up the “lower class” homes we were staying in compared to home in Texas and that I would appreciate so much my own when I was back in the states. He then proceeded to say, “Did you all realize that you are all in upper middle class homes?” There were a few “wows” and such to this. HOWEVER…

So we go to this bar that we saw on the way home yesterday in the nicer “neighborhood” with the mall. Very clean, very much like an American bar, ala Austin, with a big, outside covered patio, lots of tables. And we stay for about three hours talking and eating. Yes, yes, and drinking. The gin was PERFECT. Anyway, so all of the sudden the owner comes over to talk to us, and I was thinking, “Oh shit, we’re being American loud and he’s going to tell us to be quiet.” No, he came over to point out that the President’s brother had just come in with some friends. He wanted us to know this so we’d think it was cool, etc. I did read in my Costa Rica book that this is very normal, and that the President of Costa Rica goes wherever he wants all the time, and it’s not a big deal at all like it would be in America. So anyway, and then the "Commissioner of Tourism came in, blah blah, and “Be sure to come back tomorrow night when we have live music!” His English was excellent, and he told me he lived in England as a child and learned it there. But my POINT is that I asked about the area around his bar, because I noticed the house across the street was very fancy for San Jose, and that I had seen a maid come out and water the plants. He said it was a rich area. I told him the neighborhood that we are all staying it, and he said, “Oh yes, that is all lower class.” I KNEW it! And you wanna know where Amarante is staying?! Oh yeah, in the neighborhood with the mall. Bastard.

Interesting San Jose fact #2
Because this used to be a “small town,” there are no addresses. Literally. Nowhere. No street signs, no numbers on anything. If you want to go somewhere, you have to describe or name a landmark and then say where you want to go in relation to it. So, if I want to go home in a taxi, I have to say in Spanish, “Please take me to the Sabanilla neighborhood on the main road, two hundred meters east of the La Cosencha intersection, the white house on the right.” La Cosencha is the main street light area/intersection below my house where the gym, pharmacy, etc., is and it’s known simply for that name. So, if you want to MAIL something here, you cannot, literally, give an address. You would have to write out the paragraph, or whatever, needed to get the mail there. So I guess if I was to mail something here to my family, I would have to tell UPS or whoever, “Please deliver to the white house on the right side of the main road in Sabanilla about two hundred meters east of the La Cocencha intersection.” And I guess I’d have to write it out in Spanish and English. Nuts.

Hope the rats don’t want to cuddle. (Don’t worry CK, I’ll mail ya one.)

Adios, until manana.

P.S. I'm a little homesick today. :(