A couple days in the Capitol

Costa Rica backpackers
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I randomly decided to get away from Santa Teresa for a little while and see some more of Costa Rica.  With no surf in sight until New Years, I had to find some waves.  In looking at the forecasts online, a swell is supposed to materialize in the Carribbean on Christmas day so I decided to chase it.  I caught the bus from Santa Theresa to Paquera, the ferry back across to Puntarenas, and a bus to San Jose, putting me into Costa Rica Backpackers hostel around 10pm with a friend from Sta Teresa.  We met up with some old travel buddies in San Jose and headed out for a wild night on the town in "El Pueblo".

Costa Rican Santa!
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The second day in San Jose was spent sleeping off a hangover and going to a mall nearby the hostel.  I needed nothing from the mall so it was mostly just an experience seeing how crazy the Ticas get for christmas!  The mall was disgustingly packed.  The second night randomly transformed into a super fun time.  The two Italian girls from Santa Teresa had caught a flight into San Jose from Tambor and had one last night in Costa Rica before heading back to Rome. I met up with them out front of my hostel and took them to dinner at "El Pueblo" a cute little shopping area with restaurants, bars and live music. After a nice dinner with a bottle of Italian wine, we found a guitarist performing in a cool little dark cafe and drank Imperial and listened to latin mysic until midnight,

San Jose is the city of random connections!

Vendors vendors everywhere
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My final day in San Jose was super fun, sleeping in and updating my travel blog, then heading into the market to shoot some photos and shop a bit.  The market is a crazy crazy place and there are so many people shopping and selling anything and everything right before Christmas. Im not sure if Christmas in the states holds a candle to Christmas in Costa Rica... these people know how to celebrate. I was lucky enough to get in touch with an old friend from USD through facebook. She happened to be in San Jose after completing a 60 day Outward Bound course and we met up for dinner, drinks and more drinks at her hostel.  Im glad to have had the chance to catch up with Gayle after a year and a half since we studied abroad together in Guadalajara.  Best part of the night was talking rafting and raft guiding with all the outward bound guides. It has me so excited to raft the Pacuare tomorrow.  More details and hopefully photos to follow!