One of the great things about Costa Rica is the easily
accessible beaches. No matter
where you are in Costa Rica you are at most 2 hours away from a beach, which
makes for the perfect weekend commute.
From Pavas, San Jose (where I live) it is about an hour and 15 minute
commute to one of the closest beaches, Jaco. This past Sunday, Anais, Anais’ friend Bryan, Bryan’s sister
in law, Tara and I went to Jaco and went BUNGEE JUMPING!!! I have attempted to go bungee jumping before
in New Zealand but could not go because of weather conditions but I finally got
to go! Bryan, who is a Tico, had
found coupons for buy one get one free for the bungee and the “rocket launcher”
which was a concoction that strapped you in super tight and launched you in the
air! I was pretty sick on Sunday
but I really wanted to go bungee jumping so I put my big girl pants (shorts) on
took some medicine and off I went.
(Random but fun fact… you can literarily by one pill at the pharmacy
here, you do not have to but the whole box!) I agreed to go first so when they
strapped me into the harness for the rocket launcher I was confused as to what
they were doing because Bryan failed to mention that we were getting the rocket
launcher for free… After when Anais asked him why he didn’t tell us he said
that “he thought it was irrelevant” haha
So there I was strapped into an extremely tight harness and they were
clipping cables on the two sides of me while I am standing on a platform about
20 feet from the ground. I am so
confused as to what is going on and I ask the guy if this is a tester for the
bungee to make sure the cables hold us and he just mumbles so I assume that it
is because no one is telling me what is going on (everyone else was on the
ground our of yelling reach) so they start counting down (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) and I
am thinking I’m going down but I went UP! Hahaha it was a ton of fun and I
actually liked it more than the bungee!
The bungee was off a platform not a bridge with a 6-foot deep pool
underneath it… not very comforting but we did it and lived to tell of it!
The Pool...
The Rocket Launcher
The Results of the Rocket Launcher
Anais and I.
Bryan and Tara.
It was high...
Apparently May 1st is a holiday in Costa Rica… So
Tuesday morning I got ready for work and I got a text from Anais saying that
she caught my “plague” and luckily today was a holiday… that was news to me so
I called Wirlan and was like do I have work today? … Nope. My “plague” got worse on Monday and I
ended up leaving work early so I failed to get the heads up that I did not have
work on Tuesday.
Soup… Being sick abroad is probably on my list of my least
favorite things… No matter how old you are I think it calls for a “I want my
mommy moment.” However, since I
have been here I am pretty proud of how self-sufficient I have become. I do not have a car nor do I have
anyone holding my hand, which has made for a few challenging moments and these
past few days but I made it! Before I explain my soup dilemma I am going to explain how
grocery stores in Costa Rica work because it is a little confusing… There are
four major types of “grocery stores” in Costa Rica. There is the “super” or Chino (because 90% of the time they
are run by Chinese people… the term is totally social acceptable), the “Fresh
Market’s”, the “Pali’s” and the “Auto Mercado’s”. Chinos are comparable to a CVS but much dirtier and packed
but they are probably used by the most people… to me they are my least favorite
place, ever but so many people buy things there.. everything from toilet paper
to rice and beans. There is also a
different mentality here people to not “stock up” on products they just buy
what they need for the time being like 2 rolls of toilet paper instead of a
pack of 12 or one can of beans instead of 6. I am pretty sure this is because wages are less in Costa
Rica so people do not have the money to “stock up” but at the same time it is
not as cost effective so it is still a mystery. Moving on to the “Fresh Markets” of Costa Rica. Fresh Market is a branch in Costa Rica
but it is comparable to the other branches like it (this is the same for Pali
and Auto). Fresh Market is like
your classy 7/11 of the US as for it is very clean and sells more American
products than the Chinos… it is like the upper class Chino. Then there are you Pali’s, which are
like dirty warehouses that sell cheap name brands and goods and not an American
product in sight. Lastly, the
beautiful Auto Mercado! If you
were to walk into an Auto Mercado it would be the most similar to walking into
an American grocery store but bad news bears it is also the most expensive… you
are paying for what you get! Today
I saw a 16 oz. bottle of nesquick chocolate milk for $4.75… I whimpered. So on Monday night after a slept for the entire afternoon I
had somewhat of an appetite for food.
There was nothing more I wanted in the world than for someone to bring
me a nice can of soup, which you would think would be easy to find… think
again. They do not regularly sell
canned soup or really soup for that matter. They only have soup at the “American grocery stores” aka
Auto Mercado that happens to almost 2 miles walking distance from my house…
that was not happening at 8pm when I was the walking dead. So I got a little crafty and made
“chicken parm” aka chicken, tomato sauce that comes out for a bag (I shit you
not) and Costa Rica “parmesan cheese” (it tastes a little/lot a bit
different). I had the chicken and
cheese and walked to the closest Chino (a half a mile away) and bought some
lovely bagged tomato sauce. I
really just wanted something familiar, “comfort food” and it did the
trick! By Tuesday I was feeling a
lot better and worked up the momentum to walk to Auto Mercado the “America”
grocery store to get some soup for Anais and I…I was also feeling guilty I give
Anais my plague. So I get the soup
and a few other things (PUDDINGGGG!!.. the little things in life) and dropped
off the soup at Anais’ apartment and got home only to find out that Vero and
Luisa DO NOT HAVE A CAN OPENER… WHATTT!!
And the closest place that I could get my hands on a can opener was
again, over a mile away. So the
can of soup is cruelly sitting in my room and when I get my hands on an opener!...
It better be the best damn can of soup I will ever have when I get it open!
Found this in Auto... Do you think its rainy season... So many Umbrellas...
