Ruth in Costa Rica: SAN JOSE!!! and the past week!!!

This week has been pretty cruisey... had some sweet relaxing days... cant actually remember doing much except chilling!!!

BUT!!! On saturday I went to San Jose ,

Nathan, Thomas, Chelsea and me on the way to San Jose

we arrived in San Jose and found a Hostel... It was called 'Tranquilo Backpackers'... So we take a while to find our dorm... turns out its in the basement... but turned out to be the best room as it was away from all the noise of the Kitchen living areas!!! Just had to go down some deadly stairs to get there...

Then we set out to explore San Jose...

How cool is the post office???

We found a cool wee market here we heard some EXTREMELY exciting news... there was a live Football World Cup qualifier on that night in San Jose... we rushed to the stadium to get tickets and after some slight confusion we were ready to go for the night... I was sooooo sooo soooo excited!!! To think our original plans were to catch a movie!!! we got back to the centre of town and explored...

Sadly in the avo it started to rain... we sought refuge in the Cathedral

The roof of the Cathedral

and then made a quick dash (via another market) to an art museum.... It was after this art museum that the rain really started to bucket down... After running and darting through the rain back and forth we finally found a place to eat tea...

Waiting at the art museum to see if the rain would stop... it didn't

After tea it was another quick dash through the rain to the hostel to get ready for the GAME!!!!!

All ready for the game... I wore the gangsta hat to try and keep my glasses dry so I could see the game!!

We kitted up in our red, white and blue and ran for a taxi... as I had not really thought it would rain so hard or get cold I hadn't brought with me to San Jose a jersey so I was in for a pretty cold and wet night... by the time we sat down on wet benches we were pretty wet... BUT SOOOOOOO PUMPED...

The game was awesome!!! We sat at the Costa Rican goal (1st half) end and every time they got the ball any where near the goal the whole crowd would get up and start jumping and shouting excitedly!!! When a Costa Rican player made a mistake... wow the crowd really let him have it!!!

The first Goal that Costa Rica got was actually an own goal (stink Trinidad and Tobago) but after that Costa Rica really got firing and got 3 more goals!!! So we won 4-0... SO SWEET!!!

The game was def a highlight of my Costa Rican experience so far!!!

So we got home... wet, cold but happy... and then just as the night could get much better... HOT SHOWERS!!! now this may seem a bit bizarre but hot showers are one of the things I have missed the most... even though the weather is hot I still crave hot water which is non existent in most homes in Puntarenas... I some times dread showering... knowing I need one but not wanting one is quite a toss up sometimes...

so HOT water was a great way to top off the night!!!

As we were warming up... wrapped up in his blanket Nathan mentioned he was feeling itchy and wondered whether his blanket may have fleas...

well after turning in for the night at about 2 am sun morn I woke up super itchy... esp my neck shoulders and chin... I figured maybe it was a dream that had stemmed from Nathan's comment and tried to sleep... well last night just as we got home I started to break out in welts and this (mon) morn I was very very welty... one side of my chin has this giant red welt on it that looks so mankey... I don't know how they got there... but I hope it wasn't fleas in my blanket...

On Sun we went for a quick walk around the area we were staying in... some of the houses were amazing...

One of the many amazing homes

I guess it happens in NZ to but just with less visibility... but it really struck me once again how uneven our world is... within a few minutes in San Jose one could drive maybe even walk) from mansions into absolute poverty... I'm being really challenged lately to think about how this can be changed and what part I can play in changing it... Found this cool quote in this book I'm reading...

It goes...
"Faith is 'being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see' Hebrews 11 vs 1. We believe that poverty can end, even though it is all around us. We believe in peace even though we hear only rumours of wars. And since we are people of expectation we are so convinced that another world is coming that we start living as if it were already here. - Irresistible Revolution Shane Claiborne) READ IT!!!

So after walking through a really nice area we headed to Heredia a city really close to San Jose. We mulled around and checked out the university campus... Had a... McFLURRY!!! and i tried this fast food restaurant that is from the states called Taco Bell... pretty good...