Costa Rica Thus Far

Thanksgiving Day

Nick took the day off work (well, he’s working Saturday instead) so we could enjoy our first major holiday as a married couple together. American Thanksgiving turned out to be a difficult holiday to celebrate in Costa Rica. While we were quite thankful for our Denver feed TV stations, allowing us to watch the Macy’s Day Parade, Dog Show, and lots of football, the quest for a turkey proved to be quite difficult. We have several stores where we do our grocery shopping. Mas x Menos is the most Costa Rican of those places with the cheapest prices. Then there is Hiper Mas, Costa Rican Walmart where we can find a good mix of imported foods and good prices. Lastly, when I have cravings for American food there is Auto Mercado which imports just about any food from the states you would want. When turkey hunting, Auto Mercado was my first stop, and while I did find a turkey, unfortunately it cost $60. I’ve never cooked a turkey before, and had no desire to mess up a $60 bird. Thus I realized my only hope for a turkey would be Price Mart, Costa Rican Sam’s Club. Nelsen, the go to person in Nick’s office has a membership and offered to take me. I found a nice 14.2 lb turkey for $30! Nick and I were very excited that we could now have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. However, then it hit me, I have to cook this turkey. So we affectionately took care of Mr. Turkey all week, alternating between refrigeration and cold water defrosting. Thursday came, and we decided to cook Mr. Turkey in a turkey bag with potatoes, carrots, and celery with a garlic, rosemary, basil, olive oil, butter, and salt rub. After 2 more hours than expected in the oven, Mr. Turkey was finally finished! JD, our Canadian friend came over for dinner, and together we enjoyed: asparagus, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, oven roasted potatoes, carrots, gravy, fruit salad, rolls, wine, and brownies. It was a delicious feast, and somehow we ended up with less left overs than expected  Nick and JD topped the evening off with Call of Duty 2 on Nick’s dying XBOX. It was a memorable and unique first Thanksgiving together in our new home.

Day to Day Life

Nick and I live in an apartment complex called Loma de San Raphel in Escazu, Costa Rica. Escazu is right outside of the capital, San Jose. We are about a 25 minute walk away from his office. Most days he takes a cab with JD, who also lives in our complex to work. Taxis are very cheap in Costa Rica, and most places we go in Escazu costs under $2 by cab. The complex has 24 hour security guards who constantly wander the complex, as well as monitor who is allowed in. While the surrounding area seems safe, we try to avoid walking anywhere alone. I generally will walk by myself on the main road, keeping constantly aware of my surroundings. I avoid establishing any sort of routine when it comes to walking alone, as that can draw attention. As Americans, we are a bit of a target when it comes to theft, so I have not worn any jewelry outside of the house (including my wedding band). We do everything possible to avoid attention.
I have been enjoying an intense amount of free time since I have moved to Costa Rica. Fortunately, I have some continuous threads. I am thankful to have found a challenging dance class down the road from where we live. It’s a small group of women who have been working with the teacher, Domingo since 1999. I am blessed to have been welcomed into their circle, and I have been taking their contemporary dance class Tuesdays and Thursday for 1.5 hours. Nick, JD, and I have been taking Spanish classes as well. For the first month we met 4 days a week for an hour. Currently, we are meeting twice a week for 2-3 hours. I have filled the remainder of my time reading, catching up on TV and movies, cooking, studying Spanish, and searching for job options. I am currently developing a relationship with two very different studios. The first one, Atelier Ballet is located in Rohmesser which is one town over. I was given the opportunity to perform in their end of the year show in order to generate students for my new jazz classes starting in February. (More details on that soon). The school year in Costa Rica is from February to November with December and January being summer break. I am going to teach jazz as part of their summer dance camps in January, and then start regular classes twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The number of classes will depend on interest. I have some concerns about working with the studio as the director eventually wants me to have a work visa. At this point in time, I’m not sure if that’s going to be possible. I am meeting with the second studio, Danceworks on Tuesday to discuss possible class options.
On the weekends Nick and I spend a lot of time with a small group of people from his office. We frequent Henry’s and Time Out Tavern, two American sports bars nearby. Adam has a nice set up at his house with the Sunday Ticket and a spacious living room, so we spend most Sundays at his house watching football and playing board games. We’ve played quite a bit of Acquire and Settlers.
Multiplaza is another outlet for us, a huge mall in Escazu (bigger than any mall I’ve been to in the US) complete with a movie theater. Tickets to see a movie here are about $3 a person. The trade off is that it takes longer for movies to come out down here.
We are very thankful that Adam has a car, and that has enabled us to see a little bit of the surrounding area. We’ve gone to some casinos in San Jose; I’ve learned how to play crabs and Pie Gal. We’ve tried out a bunch of restaurants with a variety of cuisines, and most excitingly took a trip to Quepos and Manuel Antonio. (more on that later) It has been a huge adjustment being down here, and my biggest obstacle is to remain positive and patience. While we are blessed to have access to many of the comforts we are used to in the US, it can be quite frightening at times when we are struggling to understand the language and culture.

Performing in Costa Rica

On Wednesday, November 11th, waiting in my email was a request to perform a jazz solo on Friday, November 13th. Two days later. The director requested that I come into the studio either Wednesday or Thursday to show her said solo in order for her to approve it for the performances. After staring at the email for a good five minutes Wednesday afternoon, I decided to go for it. I was going to choreograph a jazz solo in my living room that evening, and show it to her the next morning. I felt rushed and frustrated by the late notice, but extremely excited to have the chance to perform for the first time in Costa Rica. I bucked down with “Skipping Stones” by Amos Lee, and by the time Nick got home from work I had choreographed my 3 minute solo. I was satisfied with the structure, knowing that I had the next 2 days to tweak the details. I was nervous about showing Adela, the director, as Costa Rican jazz tends to reflect the American theme park and competition scene. It is all about kicks, turns, and ridiculous facial expressions, and my solo was far from that. I arrived at the studio at 7:30 am the next morning, warmed up, and showed Adela what I had. Her facial expression when I finished was not reassuring, and I quickly lost confidence. However, she explained that she thought it was perfect for the show because “it wouldn’t make any fathers uncomfortable.” I realized that she had feared a solo that was overly sensual and provocative. I left the studio with a full schedule planned for the next day.
I left Escazu Friday morning at 9am, arriving at the Teatro de la Danza in San Jose about 30 minutes later. We are only about 5 km away from San Jose, but traffic is terrible. The theater was in the Ministry of Culture, a nice plaza with 2 indoor theaters, one for dance and one for theater, as well as an outdoor theater. Both the National Dance Company and National Theater Company rehearse and perform in the complex. After exploring the small theater, I began company class with the school’s small company, currently made up of several ballet dancers aged 22-30. I was first up on lighting tech, and with my limited Spanish I had very little say in my lights. I quickly discovered that the wooden stage floor had been covered with rosin and a rum and coke formula so it wouldn’t be too slippery for the company in pointe shoes. However, every step I took in my leather jazz shoes sounded like velcro being pulled apart, and turning was next to impossible. By lunch time I was told that I was finished until the 3pm performance. I explored the surrounding area, and soon it was time to warm up for the show. About 30 minutes before the first performance, a loud, fire alarm sounding bell went off. I was ready to evacuate the building, yet no one else seemed phased. It happened two more times before the show, and I finally asked one of the girls what it was. She seemed quite shocked by my question, and explained that it was the call system. The first bell meant 30 minutes, the second 15 minutes, and the third places. As I was first in the program, I quickly took my place on the stage. As I sat there for a good ten minutes, I was baffled by the concerned facial expressions of those around me, yet I just assumed they were all nervous. Turns out, that as I had been doing my last minute jog around the stage, there had been a decent tremor (small earthquake), and the stage hands had expressed concern about whether it was safe to start the show. The show did go on, and I was pleased with my first performance. We had 2 hours in between shows and I was bombarded by little girls who were eager to hear my limited Spanish. The 7pm show was sold out, and I am confident that I was able to recruit some dancers for my upcoming jazz classes. I finally got back to Escazu at 9:30pm where I joined Nick at Henry’s for a celebration dinner!

Manuel Antonio

Nick and I were blessed to be invited for a weekend trip to Quepos with Adam, Lilli, and JD. Adam partly owns a condo with a beautiful ocean and rainforest view that is beautifully decorated with stained glass windows and gorgeous furniture. We left Escazu Friday at 11 am, and made the four hour journey to Quepos, stopping for lunch at a local spot. The first part of the trip was on the Costa Rican highway which has yellow hearts painted every 100 yards or so, signaling a death on that part of the road. They are working on extending the highway to the beach, which will eventually cut the trip in half. But for now, we switched over to the mountain roads and hoped we could avoid getting behind a construction vehicle or truck full of cows. My favorite part of the trip was the one way steel bridge. The system to get across the bridge is to wait until no more cars are coming from the other direction, and then it is your turn. Nick, JD, and I got out of the car and walked around as we waited for our turn, searched for the crocodiles in the river below. Sadly, we weren’t able to see any. We finally arrived in Quepos, and enjoyed dinner at El Avion, a restaurant with a full plane in it, watched a movie, and played a couple of hours of Acquire before going to bed. Saturday we ventured to Manuel Antonio National Park where we saw many monkeys, and iguanas and enjoyed the incredible beaches. We had to take turns staying with our towels and bags, as the monkeys have a habit of stealing anything unguarded. We finished the perfect day with dinner at Kapi Kapi which means hello in a native tongue of Costa Rica. Sunday it rained most of the day, so we enjoyed the day in the comfort of the condo before heading back to Escazu.