Turrialba on a Sunday

Hi!

So I haven't done a whole lot since the last post, but this internet cafe has a place for me to copy my pictures so I figured I'd share with you guys what I've been up to so far.

They used to do this to people's teeth on purpose! Then they would sometimes put in jewels like jade. I think it was a symbol of power or something. (Picture from the Jade Museum)
I still haven't figured out if Shaman's were more like the psychiatrists or the drug dealers in these civilizations. :-P (Also in the Jade Museum)
The restaurant that I went to with bundles of onions and mugs hanging from the ceiling.
This is in La Sabada, one of the many pick-up soccer (or I guess I should say futbol) games going on. I also saw a baseball game and a 'beach' volleyball game (looked more like dirt than sand, but was the same idea I guess).
The pond found in La Sabada, and also the first really good view of the mountains that I got.

Avenida Central, an entirely pedestrian street which seems to be the main shopping area of central San Jose. I do wish I had more pictures of San Jose, but walking around by myself I was already sticking out and didn't want to draw even more attention to myself by getting my camera out. It's not really all that beautiful but definitely unlike any city I've been to before.
San Jose's version of Toronto's moose or Halifax's lobsters. They were everywhere, and this isn't the most interesting one I saw, but it was the one where I had my camera out already. I saw one hanging from a tree pretending to be a zip-liner!
Unfortunately the only picture I took while in the hostel. Actually a picture of a Kiwi that I met jumping in the pool. This was also the only time I saw the pool being used (although the lawn chairs around the pool were often used in the morning for tanning).
And finally a couple of pictures taken on the bus ride from San Jose to Turrialba. The views were spectacular, I wish I was better at capturing them. I sat in the front so I could see everything, but that didn't really make it any easier to take pictures from a moving vehicle.


A quick update of what I'm up to. I almost changed my plans to go to Arenal and Monteverde (2 of the must-sees in Costa Rica) with an Israeli girl that I met yesterday, but she really wanted to spend a day in San Jose and while it was cool to see, 2 full days was enough for me and I was ready to get out and leave the city. But last night was fun. I stayed at the hostel and met a bunch more people (mostly Americans) some of whom are around for a while and I may get in contact with again if I end up near them (although they were all going to beaches and I wasn't really planning on heading that way since I'll be on the beach for a whole week when Stacey gets here). The bus was extremely easy to find and catch and now I'm in Turrialba, staying at a hotel owned by an american with 4 beautiful and friendly dogs and a 6 week old baby girl. I have booked a white-water rafting day trip for tomorrow with a couple of americans that are also staying there, and I can't wait! I'll try to come back here when I get back so I can add pictures of that too :-)

That's it for now. Today is Sunday, meaning mostly everything is closed, so I'm going to get a nice (hot!) shower, probably find a restaurant to go to for dinner and get to bed early so I can be well rested for tomorrow.

Talk to you soon!
Kaila