We started the day out with breakfast at the hotel. It was pretty much the same type of food that we had been eating at the ecolodge with the addition of cereal. Afterwards we took a bus to the post office and began our walking tour with Alejandro Tossati. This guy was amazing. He knew so much about San Jose, and even more interesting information about things that most people are not told. We learned about the history of San jose and how they like to erase their history and start a new, even though that is not necessarily the best thing for their country. We also learned about the different types of architecture in San Jose such as the spanish influence, the german influence, and the italian influence. The german buildings were not that pretty at all, but the other two influences made GORGEOUS buildings such as the National Theatre. We walked around and stopped at a food stand on the corner of one of the streets and had some coconut water from a young, fresh coconut. It was delicious! The guy just cut it open and we stuck a straw in it and drank. We also tried this other fruit that was very mushy and felt weird on my tongue so I did not go back and buy more. It opened up like a grape but then inside was this orangey gooey fruit with a huge seed inside of it. We then tried on some dresses at a local boutique and although I found a really cute one - it was a bit too dressy for my taste at the time. I wanted more casual and flowy dresses. Afterwards we walked around a bit more and he showed us the place where the presidential candidates give their speeches right before the elections. We also walked through the ministry of culture and saw a small art collection inside that was very interesting. Alejandro even showed me a painting a chinese man did that was very interesting and modern. He said he showed it to me because this particular chinese man always went to Korea and had very good relations with the Koreans. This art exhibit was very interesting because of the different types of art it had... for example a picture of a giant supermodel Barbie, an assortment of red-painted shoes, a huge watercolor painting, etc. It was all very abstract - some interestingly beautiful and some just a bit freaky.
Afterwards we went to lunch at the National Theatre and it was okay... we had lasagna... but there was this soup that we had that is only available in Costa Rica because of where the plant grows and it was DELICIOUS. It tasted kind of like twice-baked potato soup from ABC BUT it had this extra flavor that added so much to it. I mean I had to stop eating it and save some for the rest of the table. The fruit is called pejibaye and is a relative of the coconut, but tastes NOTHING like it. It seriously was the best soup I have ever tasted. The rest of the meal did not compare. We all finished up eating (including these little chocolate desserts) and then headed upstairs so Alejandro could tell us a story. This was not just any normal story... he acted out all of the parts and was amazing. I mean I am jealous of his child because she is going to be able to have him tell her these stories all the time. It was a story that was told by one of the native groups of Costa Rica about the creation of the world. I mean he was sooo animated and really brought the story to life. I probably could have sat there and listened to him tell about 20 more of those stories. Unfortunately though he had to go home and take care of his 1 month old baby.
The next part of our tour that day was at the Editus Academy of Music. We met a 3 time Grammy percussionist and listened to him speak about the way he feels about music and also were able to play with some of the instruments. There were some really interesting ones like this big ceramic "pot" that was shaped like a bouba and had a hole where you could place your hand and it made very oceanic noises. One of the things he talked about was that there were recordings of certain vibrations that were supposed to be representative of the planets and if you listened to them then you would feel that way. For example, the planet venus' vibrations would make you feel in love or amorous. It was a very interesting seminar and you could tell just from him playing the instruments for like 1 minute how passionate he was about the instruments and the vibrations he made. Soo.. while we were in there an EARTHQUAKE hit!! We actually felt the tremors of one that hit San Jose and had a 6.3 magnitude!! It was crazy... like we were actually shaking... wow. a truly Costa Rican experience.
Later that night we went to Rapsodia to eat and DANCE. It was truly a unique experience. First of all I would like to say that the food there was scrumptious (courtesy of Spenser)!! We had these little steak and chicken pieces that we dipped into a mushroom sauce and then french fries to go along with that AS WELL AS a basil & tomato pizza with balsamic vinaigrette salad on top of a baguette. I mean I ate so much I made my stomach hurt and so I couldn't dance immediately... it was quite sad but worth it:) Afterwards we all hit the bar and I had a delicious mojito!! I had some other stuff to drink and I finally felt ready to dance... Geoff and I danced for a while and had a blast... although he was not completely there he was amazing... we were dipping, spinning, twirling, everything!! I was definitely sweating ball sacks afterwards. I mean it was definitely the most fun dancing experience to date. Rapsodia played all sorts of music including old 80s, merengue, 90s... an awesome array. The place was really pretty and club-like too with smoke, neon light beams, very modern furniture (white), a d.j., and glass tables. I really enjoyed our time there.
We get back to the hotel and we are all pretty tipsy/drunk and we invite the guys over to like talk again and watch tv. Well Cassie and Katy are in the bathroom trying to get Cassie's dress off so she can change and they are laughing really loudly and Katy is softly trying to call me in there... when Aurora comes and says we are being loud... lol well Geoff was really hot so he unbuttoned his shirt and hurriedly rolls over... I mean it was hysterical. Definitely a night to remember.
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