Headed to the big ol' city

Well it has been a while and a lot has happened. First of all, there have been crazy storms here that have killed most of the wifi in San Ramon so yes I do have a valid excuse :) But I will just jump right into my adventures from the past week. Last Friday I went to San Jose (Costa Ricas capital and one heck of a large and dirty city) with some of my buddies from the big SR.

L to R: Me, Alex, Aubrey, Andrea, Amanda, Zack

The first place we stopped at with the National Theater and I have one word: Spectacular.

I am super nerdy about that kind of stuff anyway but this theater was amazing. We took the guided tour and it was so worth it. Jeff was our guide and he told us all about the building of the theater, which was paid for by taxes because the Ticos wanted the theater and it was built in the 1800s.

This statue was representative of Costa Rica because it is a woman holding out her hand for money with her child, showing the poverty of CR

Aubrey and I being the statue, I was the momma bear

Feel the statue

Be the statue

Almost all the paintings inside are on canvas and painted by mostly Italian artists and there are gorgeous statues everywhere. Because the paintings were made by people who had never even been to Costa Rica, there are a few things wrong with them. The womens clothing is typical of Europe at the time of its painting, not ever worn by Ticas and there is a man carrying a bunch of bananas in one upside down. If a real man were to hold them that way, all the bananas would pop off, something which every Costa Rican knows. The statues and marble stairs, everything was gold plaited and just so grand.

European style womens clothing

To the right is the man holding the upside down green bananas

Costa Rica was apparently the second or third country in the world with electricity and the theater was the first building in Costa Rica to have electricity. I couldn't believe that third world CR had electricity  before the states! Crazy! The maximum capacity of the theater is 1,000 persons and there is a really fancy presidents box that is only for the president or their special guest.

We werent allowed in it (obviously they just didnt understand who I am or that wouldnt have been a problem) but we could peak around the edge and see into it just fine. The stadium like seating of the main floor could be taken out and in the basement is a huge crank that takes ox or about 12 men to turn. Turning this crank literally moves the entire seating area up level to the main stage! And it was built that way in the 1800s! Ah engineering just amazes me. Above the stage are these four dark windows and they used to be the "widows" boxes. They were for widows who where supposed to be mourning and wearing black for a year after the death of their husbands. They werent supposed to be out and having fun so if they wanted to see the show they would have to arrive 10 minutes after it had started and 10 before it ended so no one would see them. They were also used for people who were having an affair. Now, however, they are used as air conditioning units.

Widows boxes

There were also smoking rooms, no longer used of course, and they were separate for the women and the men. The women were only allowed to smoke one of the long cigarettes and if they smoked more than that they were pretty much considered a whore but the men in their room could smoke as many cigars as they wanted. (That sentence I am sure is going to make my mom say "Typical") After the tour we had tea in their converted cafe and my tea was probably the worst I have ever had in my life. Buuuuut it sure looked like it was going to be delicious!

Crappy tea

Even the cafe was all decked out with golden figures, statues, and granite coffee tables.

After the wonderful tour of the theater, we meandered our way through the town shopping for souvenirs and the like and ended up at the National Museum. The museum used to be a a fort but it was converted to a museum when the military was abolished. Can you believe Costa Rica has no military?? Could you imagine if the USA had no military? Crazy food for thought right there. I must admit the museum was not nearly close to Americas museum standard. They had a few cool stone things, a lot of just regular digital pictures, and some aborigine

Awesome insect and animal display (This is exactly how I want the study room of my future house to look like)

artifacts. They did have this one amazing artist on display who painted the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen in my life. I was quite mesmerized. There was also a butterfly garden in the museum that was pretty sweet. They collect all the cocoons and put them in these boxes that you can walk right up to and watch butterfly's coming out.

The butterfly garden really redeemed the museum. Randomly outside on the street were people dressed up as Mini and Micky mouse so I took an amazing selfie with them.

Then we had lunch in a nice little park plaza and Aubrey and I got Taco Bell. It was absolute heaven. It tasted just like in America, it was dripping grease, and it made my day. An interesting note, all the meals at Taco Bell here is Costa Rica come with fries.

So excited for fake Mexican food!

The bell

After we ate we sat in the park waiting for everyone else to finish and there were women selling little packets of corn to feed to the tons and tons of pigeons hanging around the plaza. There were kids everywhere feeding the pigeons and Aubrey and I decided we had to get in on the action. Yes yes I know better than to feed the wildlife but pigeons dont really count..at least Friday they didnt.

mine mine mine (Nemo style)

Then we all headed home on the bus. It was a pretty great day in the city but it was a one and done kind of thing I think. That city was pretty big and nasty so I dont think I will be going back, but I definitely had to go at least once. Well I will update tomorrow what I did all the way back on Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned, Sunday morning was probably one of the craziest I have ever had and not in a good way let me tell you! Chow!!