Hello Costa Rica!

The new title photo says it all. Spent the morning/early afternoon just exploring the city, really enjoyed it. I can't spend long writing this because my internet use has a time limit so I'll post some of my favorite photos (took almost a hundred just today) and provide a bit of commentary. The general highlights of the day were a moving conversation I had with a saintly old man named San Antonio outside a church who was so moved by the sculpture outside that he had to explain its meaning to me with tears streaming down his face. Amazingly, he had a niece who lives in Springfield, MA. Wow. Went to the National Theatre which was incredible and is better described by photos. The park outside my hostel is really cool too, you'll see that. Why all the barbed wire photos? It's really striking how seriously people take home security here. Hope that doesn't bode poorly for the future of my belongings...

The photos are in the opposite order I inteded. Meh, so it goes. Also this is a long post because I was didn't sleep well last night and thus had to turn back early from my adventures. Hopefully a nap now and a good night's rest tomorrow will give me the energy for some sunup-sundown excursions this weekend.

Misc. cool things that I liked

Oh you know, just the post office. No really it's San Jose's post office.

The Federal Mogul takes his security very seriously apparently (vertical barbed wire??). I have many more photos of beefed up home security that I didn't have time to upload.

From the Museum of Jade. Underwhelmingly overall, esp. for the price of the ticket, but had some very interesting pieces, such as this one.

The National Theatre

Photo below: Degas inspired

Barely begins to capture the opulence of the inside. Would not seem out of place in Rome/Paris etc.

Sculptures

The first one is the artwork that San Antonio broke down over. Read the inscription if you can, it is quite touching.

The Park

Horses next to modern art sculptures. Of course.
The low-lying clouds crowning the mountains are visibile from most parts of the city.
There are way more photos I'd like to upload of every section of the city but don't have the time.

Ok that's all for now, probably another post on Sunday, though who knows what each day will hold?