San Jose, Day 1

Ok, I created a blog. For me, for you... all the kids are doing it.

The flight from Philly to Charlotte was uneventful. I spent most of it marveling at how amazing and supportive and lovely my mom is. On the Charlotte-San Jose leg, I sat next to a lovely woman from Maryland, on her way to some timeshare something something with her husband, and we had one of those "we're sitting next to each other for 3.5 hours, let's tell each other everything" plane rides. She couldn't get over how many places I've been in the world, and then let me know that she's never been overseas. They were going to go to Spain a couple years ago, but they didn't, because of, you know, terrorism. (yikes.) By the time we were landing in San Jose, and we got to the part of my story where I was raised a Muslim, she just about fell out of her seat. Safe to say, I think I was the first "muslim" that she had ever met.

I think I confused her pretty good. And to that I say, "Gobama."



So, a cab from my hotel picked me up at the airport, the song on the radio was "Last night a DJ saved my life." We drove to Los Yoses, where my hotel is (that's right, I'm staying in the land of my boyfriend) and this place is GREEN. There are mountains, and they are GREEN, and great plants everywhere, and it has a smell that reminds me of Ecuador: green rich earth and unregulated car exhaust pipes. mmmmm.

The ride to the hotel was fascinating, mostly because of the graffiti. I can't wait to get into it. Some choice ones I saw as I rolled by, "vegan" and "no se vende, no se compre" (which I think translates into "not for sale and not buying it.")

Anyhoo- I got into my room, slept for an hour, took a warm shower (which might be as good as it gets for my time here- not so much with the hot water here) and set out to find dinner. I remember that the first night I got to Ecuador, when I was abroad for college, our only mission was to procure dinner. I remember too that in Quito, I tried twice to tell the waiter that I was vegetarian and first got a plate of beef, and then a fettuchini alfredo with ham all over it, and then I just ate the rolls and drank coke. I faired better this time: I asked where the best place to get a vegetarian meal would be, and I was definitely sent to and Italian "restaurant" at the food court of a mall where I ate spaghetti with tomato sauce and read Jitterbug Perfume. And was pretty satisfied. I've navigated an entire afternoon solamente en español, and I'm feeling very good about that.

Back to my room now, trying not to allow myself to go to bed before 10pm, but we'll see if I make it.

Buenas Noches,

Kabira