Mariposas, caimito, y un inability to speak Spanish.

SO HERE WE ARE IN SAN JOSE.

Can I just say how amazing it is to be with twenty-some biology majors exploring a city in Costa Rica? Yesterday after our first dinner on the open second floor of an asian-latin fusion place, including bonding over Imperials and Pilsners with our TAs, I went out with four other people from the program to explore the city. We ended up following music (this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqYgNiZdfh4)  past the national theater, and in to this second-floor club full of Costa Rican hipsters. The DJ was super in to it--he played a mix of contemporary independent artists and 80s pop. Surreal in the best way possible. 

So since I have limited time (we're currently laughing with our TAs over MORE Pilsens in some abandoned conference room in our hotel), I think I may lean more towards captioning my photos. There's so much I want to show everyone...Here goes. 

San Jose skyline! We began our day with a trip to the Costa Rican National History Museum, and a lecture from Alan, the head of program. Our TAs (Moncho, Joel, Marisela, Gisela, y Bronco) each have a particular specialty: bats, birds, humans in the tropics, etc. 

Costa Rica has a bunch of these painted birds.  Shaweet. 

When you release a bunch of biology majors with expensive cameras in a museum....

They spend half their time in the butterfly garden. Isn't the iridescence cool? GUYS LOOK I  FOUND A CATERPILLAR

...wow, I wonder if it's the one of the blue morpho....?

YEEE

Anyway. We learned a lot about the history of Costa Rica, from the Mayan and Incan influences to the European invasion, etc. There was some shweet pottery. 

And higher views of San Jose. After slices of pizza the sizes of our heads, we were instructed to immerse ourselves, go to the central and artisan markets, and find kinds of fruit for a plant lecture later. 

This is a caimito, or a star apple. It tastes almost like Cantaloupe; but the texture is different...

And it's super purple!

The artisans' market was a huge tourist draw. The central market had better prices, and  tons of interesting smells. Meat, fish, spice, coffee, and fruits and vegetables for days. I learned to ask for a cuaderno de cuero, but didn't find one. More journal hunting later. 

After the lecture, we got to EAT ALL THE FRUIT. Total feast.  

And there's me. In my "Indy"hat, with my CIEE notebook. SO EXCITED ALL THE TIME asjfkasjdksad

Anyhow. That's been our first day in San Jose. Our schedule seems to be all over the place; giving fair warning now---my updates will sometimes be daily, sometimes be weekly, sometimes monthly. We have a two week field trip to the Pacific Coast that starts Saturday, and then a month homestay later in the program where I am not expecting to have no access to internet. Dang, sorry about the long post! Parents, this is looking at you.

So there you have it! I'll try to post as often as possible. Mucho gusto, chicos...