impressions

I admit that before landing here in a plane I had no idea what Costa Rica was like. I thought it would be similar to Nicaragua in many ways, and in that sense I was right. But I had no idea that San Jose was a HUGE city nestled in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. There are no straight streets here, each one is a workout to walk up and down. I tip my hat to drivers here as well, they drive up and down and stop with cars crammed with people all while driving stickshift AND talking on the phone. It's quite impressive. I have trouble sometimes getting out a parking lot if I'm out of "practise". The people here are friendly on a whole - there are some like in most latino cultures that are more brazen than others (like the pack of teenage boys that hounded myself and 3 other students at a futbol match the other night) but for the most part, that I've seen anyways, they're pretty respectful. Not to go without saying that you don't walk around waving your Canadian passport freely expecting no one to snatch it from your hand. In talking to the director, students get mugged every year (like last week for example, except he's Costa Rican and actually knew the guy... he said it was pretty funny) but also he said the ones that do get mugged are the ones that look like "they're asking for it".
In my week here I haven't seen much of the city, I've stayed in this barrio and went on a super-speedy trip into downtown to get my bus ticket to Panama. However, I'm content with that. Sure, the biggest volcano in Central America is cool, but I'd learn so much more about the culture by watching the people here instead of following a tour around and piece of rock - and I'd be doing it "alone". w00t.
Enough of this... the amazing day outside is beckoning me to come and enjoy it. One of the students lent me "Irresistible Revolution" and I plan on laying on the hammock and plowing through it.