I've been pretty busy. Berta , who runs the Hostel "The Corner" is our new grandma. We invited her to share our breakfast the other day and learned how she raised her kids by herself after divorcing her alcoholic husband by keeping up this place. When she saw our Bible, she told us how God had guided her life and how she always looked for ways to serve Him. Well when we got up around 5 am to catch the bus for San Jose, She was up too. She wanted to pray with us before we left. Putting it together in Spanish when I'm kind of emotional is hard, but God helped me. All that probably explains why things went so well getting back to San Jose.
Once in town,we found our way to the hostel on the city bus (way cheaper than the taxi). This time we stayed at the Quaker hostel/peace center " Casa Ridgway". It's a great place to meet people who really care about the making the world better for the poor and the other creatures that get walked on. They've got a great "Peace" Library, talks on current issues by people in the know, & free breakfast. Breakfast is a great time to connect with people. Jane met some Mexican environmental activists who had just been to the volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua where she was going and was able to get some guidance on making bus connections and getting through some rough neighborhoods safely.
We found a great vegetarian restaurant called Shakti. The special is a good choice and a good price. We were in the part of town close to Plaza de la Democracia where there are a couple of good museums, namely the National Historical Museum and the Museum of Modern Art and Design. The Modern Art museum had a couple video pieces that impressed us. One was of a Guatemalan artist, who had done a performance art protest against the government during the years of violent oppression in her country. She carried a bowl of blood that she stepped into and walked along the street leaving bloody footprints up to gates and steps leading to centers of government power. She stepped into the bowl every few steps then lifted and carried it farther. The prints were ever fresh. Another video showed a beach with waves of the sea washing up. You could see small hermit crabs crawling up the beach as a poem was read about human pressure on the environment (like plastic trash that will remain out there for eons) forcing creatures to adapt. As you watched you notice the shells of the crabs looked a little different... You know, that last crab was wearing a plastic bottle cap!
We took a taxi to Parque La Merced, where we caught the TUASA bus for Alajuela (stops at the airport). I sent Jane off to Nicaragua and I caught a flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Through the window, I watch the map of Costa Rica, unfolded beneath me... someday I'm going to see where that river goes... maybe I'll climb that mountain...perhaps I'll eat a watermelon from that farm...
Hasta pronto!(see you soon!), Gilberto.
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