Hola Costa Rica!

Day Zero: Arrival in Costa Rica

Wow, it’s hard to believe my third full day in Costa Rica is coming to a close on top of the disbelief that I’m actually here! After a quick orientation in Houston Thursday and Friday, our group of eight boarded a short 3.5hr flight to San Jose, Costa Rica, our home for the next few months. We quickly checked in and made our way to the restaurant for dinner, late, which might just be a theme for the trip, but if not in Costa Rica with the “tico time” slogan excusing this, then where? After a 9:30pm dinner, Laurel and I settled in to our room for the next few weeks and were a bit surprised once we actually took a look around.

• Surprise 1: We had a real life tree growing in our bathroom, with a cutout in the ceiling to let it continue its upward growth. (photo alert!)
• Surprise 2: No AC, but the fan seemed to be keeping the room cool enough.
• Surprise 3: The windows were open to the air, with no possible way to shut them… which led to some bugs making their way in and sounds of the shower running constantly with the rainstorms outside.

Day One: Settling in San Jose

Saturday Farmer’s Market w/ Asma and Jhalak (and my empanada)!

We woke up the next morning, ready to seize the day, and met Dr. Wettergreen for a trip to the Saturday Market, with some stops along the way to point out landmarks in San Jose. The farmer’s market was an experience all in itself, with people at every stand asking you to come over and try a coconut water or buy some fresh tomatoes. My adventurousness spread to eating a meat empanada and a cheese common to Costa Rica: queso palmito. (photo alert!) Following this we ventured back to our hotel to regroup, walking over a mile, uphill, on the treacherous sidewalks of downtown. The sidewalks require a bit of effort to stay level, with many shifts in height and the occasional hole that would be easy to fall into if not watching your step. Needless to say, there was some resting involved when we got back before heading to Cafoteca, a cafe nearby in our Escalante neighborhood. We walked through the pouring rain to get there, wherein we learned it is best to be inside when the rain hits and wait it out if at all possible, however the food made the wet trek worth it.

At Cafoteca, I had a croissant filled with fresh strawberries and a vanilla bean mascarpone cream–yum– and a hot chocolate. (photo alert!) Quick tip: the hot chocolate in Costa Rica has no sugar and is likely straight cacao, so it took three packets of sugar for it to taste close to what I’m used to back home! We hung out at the cafe for a bit and waited for the storm to pass before a run to Walmart for the essentials. The wildest part of our Walmart run was without a doubt the Uber prices, our 20 minute journey was less that $2.5 USD! We had dinner at Agüizotes, where I took the waiter’s suggestion and ordered the taco Pa Diciembre. This delicious taco was very large and filled with pulled pork, cheese, lettuce, onions, and a fresh sauce to top it off. After dinner and some planning, we hit the hay.

Day Two: Jaco

Full day no. two began with a 5:30am wakeup call and a 6:30am Uber to the bus station for our 7am bus to Jaco, a beach roughly 2 hours outside of the city. After some naps and gorgeous scenery, we made it in around 9am and quickly found a cafe for breakfast, Koko Gastro Pub. Here, I had my first taste of Gallo pinto on this trip, a meal common to Ticos (Costa Ricans) made with rice and beans. (photo alert!)

Following breakfast, we set our towels on the beach and sunscreen-ed up, before either heading into the water or doing some sunbathing. Jaco is a pretty pebbly beach, which made it not super ideal for walking along the beach; even in the water, the strong current would toss rocks at your ankles, which could be pretty painful! The UV was a solid 9 by the time we settled and we could feel it, which led to lots of running back and forth between the sand and water to cool down. (photo alert!)

After a couple of hours in the sun, we went walking to find a cafe or drink stand that could get us out of direct sunlight and get a cold drink in our hands. I ended up at a drink/smoothie bowl stand and quickly downed my watermelon, strawberry, lemon drink, which was exactly what my parched body needed in the moment! Our group then sat in the cool, air-conditioned Subway until 1pm when it was time to head to the bus stop for our 1:30pm bus back to San Jose. The ride back was again filled with naps, scenery, AND a crocodile spotting by Raniyah and me. It was just hanging out next to the river, which was perfectly fine from our view far away inside of a bus, haha. 

Getting back to our hotel was easy and then it was showers and more rest before our dinner with the whole Rice crew. We met the group at Jardin de Lolita, a fun food hall with tables set up patio style and lots of different options for ordering. I again ordered from a restaurant recommendation, la pizza Diavolina. Us grad GMI students got to meet and chat with the Rice undergrad students over dinner which was fun. They will be doing the workshops with us and then completing a Rice course before heading out at the end of June. After dinner was gelato for some of us, Oreo gelato for me, and then back to our place to plan for Monday.

Day Three: Sloths in San Jose

This morning started around 7:30am to get ready and eat some breakfast before heading to our 8:30am sloth tour at the University of Costa Rica. We were late, go figure. We met up with the tour group and after some introductions, followed our guide around campus to explore the nature present within the city and see the preservation efforts by the university. Along with the tour itself, I was able to practice my Spanish a bit by listening to the guide switch back and forth, and translating in my head and for the non-Spanish speakers in the group. We saw and learned about various trees, plants, flowers, and fruit, and then walked over to main campus for in my opinion, the main event: SLOTHS! (photo alert!)

There is a river running through campus and a large variety of tree species including different types of bamboo, which can be appealing to the sloths living in the area. We saw three sloths, one of which was a mere shadow in the trees and another which was nothing more than a ball of fur. However, the third sloth was definitely a ‘makes it all worth it’ experience. We saw a baby three-toed sloth climbing through the trees, making its way all the way over to and down the tree right in front of us. (photo alert!) According to our guide, sloths only come down from the trees once a week to use the bathroom, and it is a pretty unprotected time for them, as their movement on land is limited to dragging their bodies with their arms. Thankfully, on this protected area in campus, there are no predators for them to worry about on their weekly trips; however, this baby did get lots of photos and videos taken of it once it got within range!

We hit a Mexican restaurant for lunch and all enjoyed frozen lemonades, some with hierbabuena (mint) blended in, an option found with most drinks at lots of places in Costa Rica. (photo alert!) The rain came down while at lunch, so we waited it out a bit before heading back to our hotels to chill. I did a bit of reading, took a nap, and then got ready to go for dinner at El Mosaico, a cool restaurant within walking distance. Over dinner, our cohort was able to regroup and prepare a bit for the week to come, starting with the Medical Device Innovation Bootcamp on Tuesday, May 31 (tomorrow).

Recap: Post One

All in all, it has been a whirlwind these past few days. From meeting the cohort in Houston on Thursday to already all casually chatting over dinner on Monday, I’m excited to see the bonds we will continue to build throughout this summer abroad together. I’ve settled in to San Jose and in my free time was able to check some items off the bucket list: market, beach, sloths, and more! Furthermore, there have been many opportunities to practice Spanish with the various people I’ve met in Costa Rica so far, which can only help me on my journey in achieving fluency. It has been a good couple of days and I’m interested to see what this next week will hold with the various bootcamps.

Signing off in typical Tico fashion, Pura Vida!