Shoppin' the Deals in San Jose

After our 10 am wake up call, the three of us rolled out of bed (albeit painfully) thanks to our sunburned bodies. Prez was able to sleep a little better since he has the comforts of a bed; the air mattress was a little less forgiving for Chris and myself. After breakfast (of nothing) we left Leo's to find the Pereferica bus for an adventure in San Jose; Leo had to work and therefore we were truely on our own for the first time. Prez, after his month stint here a few years ago, had some idea of what was going on but much of our journey was on a whim. Our first stop was the American Mall. There we found pretty much nothing of great value. Lots of stalls and shops vending cell phones (pagers too?) and millions of games for the Wii. Needless to say the Spinning workout area was of the most interest. Leaving the comforts of an American mall behind we walked a few blocks to the building where Prez learned Spanish when he was here as a student. Class was in session and the security guard was a bit too scary for us to venture inside. Our stomachs begged for food so we visited the larger, more modern mall down the street. After walking around for a bit Chris decided to try a Quiznos sandwich- Prez and I got Subway. Ordering was a challenge- and later on we discovered that we paid twice as much in the mall as other places downtown; a common occurance we are learning the hard way too many times. And really, who pays 7 dollars for a 15cm sandwich!? I guess it's the price we pay for safe food? And if you were wondering, a foot long sandwich down here is about 13 dollars- not 5. After deciding to go see Avatar (for only 3 bucks) we realized that the movie was in spanish and was not 3-D (our main stopping point) and then didn't go. At the Apple store we bought Leo a cable for his car speakers so that we can rock out to our Ipods when he drives us around. Next we decided to take our journey one step further by heading toward the Mercado Central. The only problem was that we had no idea where to go. We had to make the choice between a 40 cent bus ride or walking 3k. I'll let you take a guess as to what we decided to do...suprisingly we took the bus. After getting on a random bus we somehow ended up right where we wanted to be! I'm guessing that will never happen again. The market was everything we wanted it to be, minus getting pickpocketed or shot. The task of the afternoon was finding myself a jersey and buying sunglasses for the other two. After a bit of searching I found a jersey on sale. I wanted to buy a La Liga jersey but the guy working the store told me that nobody liked them so I decided against it. To this point unsuccessful in their search for sunglasses, a street vendor approched us trying to sell his Ray-Ban glasses for $20 dollars and a deal was in the works. Bartering down to 15 dollars each, the man demonstrated the flexibility of the sunglasses and how sturdy the lens were (by banging on them with a lighter). Chris kept telling the man that he didn't want the glasses but to no avail. As soon as Chris would try and hand them back, the guy would put them back on his face."They're authentic", he said. The deals kept getting better- Prez asked if he could buy one pair for $12, but he would not have any of that. We all laughed at him the entire time- I even walked away and took a picture of the whole ordeal. In the end two pairs of glasses, suggested retail price (approx.) $2, asking price $40 was purchased for $10 each. Perfect. About the time we got onto another bus last nights dinner (Taco Bell) was ready to exit. But alas, we spotted the group of St. Olaf students who are here for the month. We talked to them for a bit but decided that we'd be able to catch up tonight when we meet them for a night on the town. I feel a little bit weird about seeing them but oh well. We walked back to David's old house and watched the end of Star Wars (La Guerra de las Estrallas). Back at Leo's Chris went for a 51 minute run; 6 laps around the University of Costa Rica while Prez and I did a card workout. All three of us showered but got dirty from our towels which were/are/and will be covered with black sand for the rest of our trip. At least we smell a little cleaner. Clean boxers for all- the first time since leaving Minnesota. Leo's mom is making us Steak for dinner, he asked if that was ok-- seriously? Plans for tonight include meeting the group for a night out..Opps.. time to take a shot.. Ok time to go. We're off to Jaco tomorrow morning; a surfers paradise. Our first trip outside of San Jose w/out Leo. Could be interesting. More to come later.

Luke