From Clapham Junction to San Jose

I left the house just after 6am, after about 3 hours sleep. The street was so quiet, London was just waking up to a new day. All the rubbish bags on the street were lined up waiting for a collection, a few ripped apart by foxed during the night. The birds were going crazy, it was like jungle in Earlsfield. Magical. I love London in moments like this. Waiting for the train at Clapham Junction, the sky was bright red, so beautiful. Not many commuters were up yet, but in about an hour or two the hell would break loose with anoher mad London rush hour.



The journey went extremely smoothly by my standards. Both flights were about an hour delayed, but there were no missed flights, no lost baggage. Unbelievable! I changed planed at Newark, and the flights went really quickly with my uni work. I snoozed off every now and then, cursed myself for having forgotten to order a veggie meal so I missed out on two inflight meals and munched on some crisps and lettuce instead. Yum! At Newark, I stepped outside the terminal for a minute to breathe some fresh air and Manhattan looked so inviting in the distance. I can't wait to go back in 3 weeks time! On the flight to San Jose I was sitting behind an Amish family. Or something. Think Girl with a Pearl Earring, that kind of clothes, hats and all. What a weird sight on a modern airplane. The strangest thing was that the mum had a moustache. The little Amish girl was very chatty, although we didn't have a common language.

And so I was in San Jose, some 20 hours later. I think. I lost track of the time as I was trying to keep up with the timezones. It was about 8.30pm local time that I landed and had a pre booked taxi waiting for me outside to take me to the hostel. The taxi driver's first question was where my boyfriend or husband was. I've heard that they're obsessed with that in Costa Rica, and simply can't comprehend that a woman would travel on her own, or even worse, not have a husband! Hmm. I sense some interesting conversations ahead. Practiced my Spanish with him and you should be proud of me Blanca!



I'm staying in Hostel Kabata in 'downtown' San Jose. Nice little place, quiet, just what I needed really. Run by a friendly young Costa Rican couple who've got a gorgeous little daughter and two cats one of which has got kittens. I treated myself to a double room for the first night as I wanted to make sure I'd get a proper night's sleep. It wasn't needed though, as the hostel is really quiet and today I switched to a dorm room which is only 12USD a night and I'm the only person there.



Woke up just before six this morning. Met a retired Costa Rican tour guide Luis in the kitchen, who made me beautiful coffee and invited me to join him on a trip to a market. He's taking 10 scientists on a virgin rainforest expedition next week, so I figured out he'd be safe company to go to a San Jose market with.

We walked there, and I got shown all the important places on the way. Took some money out, and got a bit confused with the exchange rate. I took out 10000 colones as it was the highest sum offered on screen, and it turned out I'd taken out just 10 quid. It probably cost me about the same in bank charges. San Jose is quite charming, in a strange, rough, rustic way. It reminds me of Spain a bit, but more chaotic. And hotter! I think I'll just stay indoors as much as possible. Even at 8am in the morning I was suffering with the heat. And this isn't even bad I was told. The taxi driver last night was moaning about the wheather being so cold, only about 30 degrees C.



The market was great. Apparenly it's THE place to go shopping in San Jose, they sell anything and everything there and the prices are much lower than anywhere else. They did have everything there, from turtle legs to mangos to Cuban cigars to hammocks to lovely handmade wooden toys. And the 'finest' coffee in costa rica, as well as the oldest cafe bar, 118 years old, still with the original furnishing. We had guanabana there, which was lovely. Some sort of fruit juice. Maybe made of guavas?



Now, it's midday and I've got to start writing my documentary dossier... Luckily they've got computers here and they're free to use so I've no excuse anymore. I'm going to be at it for the rest of the day. Yawn. Staying here at Kabata at least one more night, maybe two, depending on how I get on with my work. I uploaded some pics on flickr, and will try to link them here too, but if I don't succeed the link is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eevaeevaeeva/sets/72157604307234503/

Thanks for reading. Hasta luego!

p.s. Not sure how to link pictures from flickr to here. Does anyone know? Please let me know....