06-10-2003 11:20am After you have been away from home for awhile, you begin to miss little things. I presently miss beer. No, I am not an alcoholic even though it may seem like it sometimes but since I don’t need a beer when I wake up in the morning I must be fine. Presently, I miss “Rolling Rock” and even “Ice House”. Oh how I remember going to Dupres(a local bar and pool hall I used to frequent in Atlanta) after work with a co-worker to shoot some pool and enjoy an ice cold beer to forget about the stress of work. I was chatting with Marita last night on MSGR and she told me that she still has not received the package I had sent her a month ago. I am beginning to get a bit upset about the matter. Stupid third world country mail. I miss driving my car. Here, I have no car that I can legally drive and because it is not necessary to have one, I do not drive. A car is definitively a status symbol in Costa Rica since only the well off people have them. However, it is very convenient to take the bus and it will cost you from 30 cents to $1 to ride the bus in the city. It all depends on where you are going. Another option to get around the city is to go by taxi. The taxis are just as cheap and very convenient. The only thing you to watch out for when you grab one is to make sure they have a meter and actually ask for it. If not, you may end up with a surprise at the end of the trip for they will charge you twice what it would usually cost. Also, if you ever end up in Costa Rica and take a cab, make sure that the meter starts at 250 colones. If it is more then you are paying someone else’s fair as well. In all honesty, the fare is really not that much more when you get ripped off and if you are a tourist you can afford to pay an extra dollar on the fare. However, I do live here now and even though I can pay the taxi driver an extra dollar or even 75 cents it is a matter of principal for if they start believing that they can always get away with it then it is bad news for the next person that jumps in a cab after me. Entonces, yo digo cuidate. 06-09-2003 6:14am I got an e-mail yesterday of an event I had totally forgotten about a couple of weeks ago. I need to make a note to myself not to let people take pictures of me when I am drunk. However, in order to be fair to everyone, here are the pictures. When I first started this weblog, it was meant for all of my friends and family in the U.S., France, la Cote d'Ivoire, and many other places. However, it was never meant for anyone in Costa Rica. I say this for I more or less write about my thoughts and my daily life in Costa Rica and it feels odd to know that people that are presently close are able to read it for perhaps they are things that are better left unknown to the people around me. Yet, do I want to censor my own thoughts? Certainly not. It is my website even though it is a free one. Bite the bullet and play the cards eh. 06-05-2003 9:50am Last night was another one of those nights. I had no plans to do anything rowdy but other people had something else in mind. It was not a rowdy night mind you but it was not a quiet evening either. You see, originally, I wanted to go out last night but since I could not find anyone interested in painting the town red and so I resigned myself to a boring night at home. However, what you want is not always what you get. I had made my first phone call at 8:00pm(see previous entry) and all went well. She was happy to hear from me and it was an interesting enough conversation. I felt very proud of myself for being able to smooth this out until I had another phone call to make sometimes after 10:00pm. You see, I had to call the person I am interested in to keep up the appearance and as we were conversing, I lost track of my date plans and double booked. Oops, it seems like I have been doing a bit much of this lately. One thing that will probably save me is that it is for a type of party type deal and we are all arriving individually at different times. Thus, if I play my cards right I should be fine. However, if I do have to make a choice, then I know exactly what it will be. Anyway, last night I was watching a bit of TV while exercising at the same time when Derek comes rolling in the house with a guest. Next thing I know we are waiting for the guest's sister, two pizzas, and we got movies. If you are interested in the movies they were, "Mr Deeds" and "Insomnia". The other sister was untouchable to me however because I know someone who likes her and even though in the player's handbook she is game since she has no boyfriend or husband, I do respect my friend and I know that he needs all of the help he can get. In other news, ICE the phone company is still on strike which does cause some problems for me. The phone service is working without a hitch but I am unable to pay my phone bill since al of the offices are closed. Thus, I am unable to go there and take care of the matter. I believe that the bill is like one month overdue and in theory, the phone service should probably be cut off unless I pay it. However, I can't pay it if the ICE offices are closed. What a dilemma. You can read a bit more about it at: http://www.ticotimes.net/business.htm Tonight, Derek is to be DJ at PK2 which is where I am to meet a few individuals. I think that it will be an interesting night. I will let you know about it as soon as I get more info about the evening. I was watching the news recently and I keep hearing about Martha Stewart and insider trading. I am probably biased about the whole thing since I love Martha Stewart. Back in the states, I used to watch her show once in a while and I always felt at peace watching it. How can such a woman who makes money from giving tips and ideas on homemaking become a criminal mastermind in order to get richer? I mean, come on, she is already filthy rich so why would she jeopardize her good name and company over something like that? I certainly hope that I will not get disappointed by her in the end. This is the lastest article that I read about her: http://money.cnn.com/2003/06/05/news/martha/index.htm?cnn=yes Check out her website where she fights back at: www.marthatalks.com 06-04-2003 11:00pm Last night I felt like such a jerk. I went to one of my regular watering hole called PK2 to have a couple of beers with a friend. The beer was Imperial which is one of the local beers along with Ice Rock and Pilsen. My favorite however is Imperial for it has a nice flavorful taste to it that goes down smoothly. After maybe 20 minutes of drinking and talking, it was time to break the seal and get a refill. Thus I got up to take care of business when this girl that was part of a group of three approached me and said, "que paso, no recuerda mi amiga?" which translates to, "what's up, you don't remember my friend?" I casually turned around and saw this girl of maybe 23 or 24 years old but I drew a blank. Ouch, should have kept the blank expression to myself for I could tell that she was a bit upset at me. I found out that about a month ago, I had met her at the bar and I guess I must have been flirting with her and kind of picked her up and promised to call her but never did. Ouch, I must have been drunk that night for I could not remember her at that exact moment. Of course, it did not help matter that as I was talking to her, this other girl I knew that had just come in the bar said hi to me or that another girl I am interested in dropped by to give me her phone number. However, I was able to smooth things over with a bit of my charm and she told me that I have one more chance and that I better call her tonight at 8:00pm. Now here is the thing, she is kind of cute and all but to me, she is more a person that I want to see once in a while and have fun with and from what I know of her, she wants something a bit more meaningful. If that is the case, then why did I agree to call her and go out with her? It must be the nice guy in me and I thought that I would give her a chance but by doing so, am I doing the right thing or am I just leading her on? I guess that I shall see what will happen at 8:00pm but I am interested in someone else and certainly do not want to have the whole thing blow up in my face. Good luck to me. 06-02-2003 1:01pm Ah yes, I had plenty of rest last night and I am ready to begin anew my story. I left off after the first day of Mai’s visit and on Friday, I took her to eat at a very local tico place. But first, we went to the store with Derek to get some supplies for Saturday’s party. Stuff like Tiki torches, charcoal for the grill, booze, plastic ups and plates. You know, party favors. Back to the food, when I mean local I mean local for it was not a place that a regular tourist would go to. First off, only locals frequent the restaurant and the place would probably not pass a restaurant bill of health in the U.S. However, it does not mean that the food is not great. Very tasty and cheap for it cost for two people to eat about 2000 colones which is about $5. The restaurant The bus station We ate at a small soda next to the Coca-Cola bus station. I decided to bring her there because they are a string of local stores there and she could see what a popular Tico bus station looks like. I suppose that I could have taken her to more tourist oriented places but I always believe that when one is traveling, you should never limit yourself to seeing what other people think you should see but to rather see the whole country and its culture for what it is. Not sugar coating. Next, we headed to Parke Sabana. Here is a bit of history about the park for its present location used to be the San Jose airport but as the city grew, a new airport needed to be built. And now, it is a lovely park where you can relax next to the large pond, ride horses, play soccer and many more. Mai examining an indigenous tree The pond On an interesting note, Mai got to see her first Tico demonstration. What is going on is that ICE, which is the government controlled phone company is trying to become a private company and it’s employees are not happy about it. They want the company to stay in government hands saying that the company belongs to the people. ICE demonstration ICE demonstration As the day continued, it began to rain but we were prepared with this great big huge clunker of an umbrella I had bought with Mai the previous day. We took a cab back to the city but traffic was a mess for the cab driver told us that they was a teacher’s demonstration up ahead. We finally arrived and Mai and I headed towards the gold museum. I wish that I was able to show you some pictures but they do not allow cameras there. One thing that I thought was very interesting and a compliment to the Costa Ricans is that as we were touring the Gold Museum, a young school girl of about 16 years old approached us wanting to do a survey. We began speaking in Spanish but then she asked us if we spoke English. We said yes and she began to talk to us in English. I was actually surprised that she spoke English so well at her age. After talking with her for a while I learned that she learned her English at school and that she began her classes just two years ago. Not bad for a 16 year old eh? Mai’ the tourist Later that night, Joe-t and Nina came over the house. The original plan was to go out and meet the three American girls that Kris and I had met the previous week at this place called La Villa but we got side tracked and ended up at PK2. We just went there to meet a person and next thing you know, people keep showing up at the bar and we have three tables full of people. I am glad though because Mai got to meet some of my friends in Costa Rica. The night passed away and since it was still early for a Friday night, we weighed our options as to what we could do. Thus we ended at Brian and Meg’s house for a small gathering. The nice thing about it was that they live close to my house so no matter how drunk we are, it would not be a problem to go home. Entonces, she got to meet even more of my friends. Saturday, Mai’s last full day here and the night of the party. I have lived in Costa Rica for over a year but I certainly do not know fully know the city. That is why it is great when someone comes over to visit for I get to show what little knowledge I know about this country as well as discover new things as well. Together, we went to this new restaurant for lunch and visited a museum I had never been to before. the museum the museum Will write more later. 3:06pm I’m back!!! Ok, here is a little bit of information about the museum we went to. Back in the Spanish colonial days, the museum was a Spanish fort. You can actually still see the bullet holes on the sides of the building were people were executed against its walls. Now, the museum is a collection of work and information about the history and the culture of Costa Rica. Tico artifact Representation of an ancient tomb These are but some of the things that we saw at the museum. There was a part of the museum that was called the “Secret Garden”. What a wonderful experience for it was a butterfly garden. Not the one where you see dead butterflies behind glass cases but one were the butterflies roam freely through the garden. I got to learn a lot and did you now that a healthy place has many butterflies in it but a place that is not healthy will have none? Pretty cool eh? I wish that I had better pictures but for some reason, I could not get any good butterfly shots. The Secret Garden Museum hallway One thing that was really nice was the courtyard of the museum for it compared in its own way to a Japanese garden. Here, take a look. The spheres represent status the more you have and the bigger, the higher your status Mai enjoying the courtyard Mai looking at the city After the museum, we spent the rest of the day exploring parts of San Jose that even I had never seen. What an experience and what fun. Before we headed back to the house to get ready for the party, we stopped at “Pops” which is a local chain of ice cream stores. There, we each got an frozen cappuccino tico style and sat down in a courtyard on avenida central to talk and do a bit of people watching. However, it then began to rain so we just finished our drinks and headed home in a horrendous rain storm. More rain Back to the house. We are both a bit tired from all of this walking and decide to rest before the party will begin. We do just that watching a bit of television, talking, and such things that people do to relax. I had wanted to take a nap but chose otherwise since I knew that Mai had to leave tomorrow. Around 7:00pm Derek calls and it is time to get the house ready. Not a bad party and but I was not able to take as many pictures as I wanted to because well, after a bit of drinking you forget about taking pictures. Anyway, there they are: I am not exactly sure when I went to bed but I know that that last time I looked outside it was daylight. I do want to add that whenever you are the one holding a party, you never have as much fun as when you are going to a party because as a host, it is your job to make sure that all the guests are happy, not out of control, and not throwing up everywhere. Still, I woke up fairly early since Mai had to be at the airport by noon. Parting is so sad. I really hate them but I suppose they are a necessary part of life. After Mai was gone, I felt a bit sad and nostalgic inside. For the short time that she was here, she was a constant reminder of all that I had been and I do miss it. Is this perhaps a sign that it is time for me to go home? 06-01-2003 11:51pm Mai left today and I already miss her. I had an amazing time while she was here. As I stated in my previous entry, it was great to have her come and visit me for she is part of my old world and for the short amount of time that she was here, it reminded me of my old life in the U.S. The good times and all that I have left behind for a world of the unknown. Alright, I shall stop beating around the bush and tell you all about what happened during Mai’s stay with me in Costa Rica. She arrived on Thursday and she could not have come at a better time for the weather that day was just amazing. I say amazing because as I have often mentioned, this is the rainy season and it should have rained at the hour of her arrival. However, it did not. It was warm and sunny like some unknown force in this world knew that she was coming and thought to give her a happy Costa Rican welcome in the form of a ray of sunshine. Mai finally made it to my house around 3:00pm and what a happy reunion it was. I had been expecting her but I was in a state of shock that she was here for it felt like a dream and even now I ask myself whether she was really here. Actually, I know it as a fact since she forgot something at my house but even then, I am still in that state of mind where you wonder if it was really true. She arrived by cab to my house and after I did the usual show her around the house we sat around the house for a bit and just chatted about everything and nothing. Somehow, talking to her was like finding something that was missing within me. Of course, I do try to be a good host and once she was settled in, I suggested we go to Avenida Central and get a bite to eat. However, we first went to the Mall of San Pedro so she could exchange some money and then we went to eat. Mai enjoying the view through the window at Manolo’s restaurant This is what she was seeing The place I chose was Manolo’s restaurant because that is the first restaurant I ate at when I first visited Costa Rica. I do not know why but this restaurant will always have a special place in my heart. I am such a sentimental fool. Gallo Pinto and Arroz con Pollo Mai and I Since I wanted Mai to experience Tico cuisine, I suggested the gallo pinto for her first meal in Costa Rica. Being a world traveler Mai is always able to appreciate the local food and her taste buds appreciated her adventurous spirit for she enjoyed the gallo pinto. LOL, as we were waiting for our food, we even had a Mariachi band come play for us. Some things never change. We spent the rest of the day doing some tourist stuff in downtown San Jose. Basically, we went site seeing. I am not exactly sure what time we got back to the house but I do know that it was raining. I felt a bit bad that night for I wanted to take her out to see the night club scene but I was a bit tired from the previous night and we ended up just spending the rest of the evening at home. It was not a waste of time though because we did a lot of talking trying to catch up on things. We went to bed very early. I know that I was fast asleep by 11:00pm. I must apologize but I am getting tired since I did not get much sleep last night. You know I had that party so I am off to bed. I will continue the story tomorrow.