¡Hola de Costa Rica!

So i´ve had my first whole day here in San Jose, Costa Rica!

I arrived last night at 7pm and it was already pitch dark! They don´t do daylight savings here so it gets dark early. Becuase the airport is in the capital, San Jose, it´s pretty civilized and touristy. However, the hostel that I´m staying at gave me a scare. As the shuttle is taking me to the hostel, we go from the ¨touristy¨main street to the straight up slums, and the driver stops and says ¨ok estamos aqui.¨in front of a tiny building that is damn near deteriorating with a security guard in the front due to the increased amount of robbery in this city. I almost pissed in my pants. I´m given my key and it takes me forever to find my room, as I´m lugging a 65lb luggage and an enormous backpack. I finally find the room, and when I open the door, I almost piss in my pants again. There are two TINY connected rooms with TINY 4 little bunkbeds with no bedsheets, and nothing else. Not to mention, the locks on the doors don´t even work. I tried to keep cool, but the place is loaded with strange looking backpackers, who look well traveled, way older, and scary! (However, I manage to meet another college student from NYC who has just arrived from a 12 hour bus ride from Nicaragua.) When I called my parents to check in with them, I couldn´t help but cry! I didn´t want them to sense my fear and nervousness, knowing it only make them more scared then they already were, so I quickly got off the phone. I had the hardest time sleeping. Thank God I brought my snuggles. (I sleep with my teddy bear that my dad gave my mom when I was born. I know. I´m 19. I sleep with a teddy bear.) I thought I was gonna wake up with all my belongings goone..but fortunately everything was okay.. I think I was so scared because how uncomfortable I was, but I´m over it now.

I had a great day in the city. I woke up early and had breakfast near the parque central and watched the locals try to persuade the tourists to buy whatever they were selling. Many sock sellers. Weird. After breakfast,I went to sunday mass at this really nice cathedral. Catholism is big here, it being colonized by the spaniards. I didn´t understand a word the priest said, but whatever. Haha! But after that, I went to the museo de precolumbia y arte and seen lots of interesting artififacts and contemporary art. Then I walked around and seen this tight ass art gallery.My dumbass forgot my usb cord for my camera, so I can´t post pictures, but just trust that it was soooo tight. Then I went to the museo nacional where I learned more about the history and then drifted off to the parque nacional. There were so many couples there...kissing and embracing one another. I don´t blame their extreme PDA because the parks here are pretty romanitc. (Made me miss you know who a lil bit)

After, I decided I should come back to the hostel. The sun was soon coming down and I was NOT about to walk through the slums ALONE. But yes, to everyone´s surprise, I got lost. But it´s not entirely my fault..see...there are no street names here! I hate it. When you ask for directions here, they tell you how many blocks to walk or use landmarks to identify a location. This is not very effective for my poor sense of direction...pobrecita.

So now here I am, back at the hostel´s internet lounge, after a FULL day of nonstop walking, my repetitive ¨no intienda¨ and ¨que??¨and the countless number of men hissing and cooing at me, but was nonetheless, very enlightening and fullfilling.

I´m feeling more at ease and excited about what else is ahead of me.

Tomorrow, I start my spanish class and get to leave this creepy hostel.