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Spring 2003
January 19, 2003 Heredia Central, Costa Rica I’m again at home. Back in smoggy Heredia for yet another semester of school. And right now, I’m bored as hell. We’re not yet in school and I have yet to meet this new group of gringos. They’re all off all over the city and in San Jose on tours and whatnot of the area. The marvelous newness of it all. And for me, the marvelous boredom of not being in school, not having any friends yet, and not being able to travel because I have to stick around for registration and all that other bloody garbage that we have to do. Lovely, verdad? So I get to stick around here. Reading. Reading. Reading. Internet Cafe. Grrrr. Even this is all getting boring. Reading more. Reading. Oh look, look how sunny it is outside. Reading. Reading. Oh, I could go to la sabana but that would mean going all the way to San Jose. And what would I do there? Read. Read. Read. Or the movie theater. But that costs money. And all the movies are boring. So I read. And read. Ah, I’m learning Japanese. Wow. Read. Read. Read. Yawn. Time to take a nap. But that sun is too warm. Read. Read. Okay, internet cafe. Stiflingly hot in there. Come back. Play music. Wow, I’m being tempted by the TV. Party of Five is on!!! I haven’t seen that show in forever. Sit and watch and watch and watch. Oh hey look! It’s a rerun of Saturday Night Live! And Seinfeld. I’ve never seen Seinfeld but I’ve always wondered what all the fuss was about. And watch and watch and watch. And now I’m bored. Nothing is on TV. Oh wait! It’s Cruel Intentions in Spanish! But it’s almost over. Watch and watch. Read and read and read. Internet cafe again. Read and read and read. I want to go to Monteverde. But no, “matriculacion” is on Wednesday. No time. I want to climb Volcan Barva. But it’s too dangerous to go alone. I want to go to San Andres. But it’s too expensive without a companero. And who else wants to go to Colombia? I want to go explore Escazu. But there is a soccer game today at 2pm. And I’m going. So I wait and wait and wait. Wait until 2pm. Read and read and read. Ah, here is my old friend the computer. Lets just type some stuff. No matter that you have a headache from all this nothing. Type and type and type. For the love of God that I could be doing something!!! Give me my freedom or take it away completely! In either way, I’ll have stuff to do! Anything but this half-enslaved purgatory! Oh yeah, I can’t wait until school starts again! But since I’m in damned limbo, I might as well tell you about my new home with the Montero Bogantes family. Well, despite my boredom, this new family is really spectacular. I mean really spectacular. Muy buena gente! Both the father and the mother are “pensionados,” i.e.: retired. They have four children and at the present moment, three of them live at home. Would you like a little chart? Francisco (Fran but Letty calls him “Cora” short for “Corazon”): the father: retired art professor, is an excellent painter, works wood in his newfound free time and after his triple bypass, is a vegetarian! He gets up every morning at 4:30am to jog-walk (jowalk) with his wife. Leticia (Letty but Fran calls her “Negra”): the mother: an excellent painter, an expert cook, meticulous house cleaner and knowledgeable gardener who loves “chismeando con estudiantes” (gossiping with the foreign students) and traveling and is also a vegetarian! Juan Carlos (JuanCa--sounds like Wonka--or Popi): 28 year old doctor who lives at home while he works in San Jose, an agnostic and supporter of George W. (haha) who likes SUVs and pretty much eats nothing else besides meat, starch and sometimes fruit, which is a pretty disgusting diet. He speaks English pretty darn well. Jose Pablo (Popi or Chepe): a very technologically inclined 25 year old med student usually at home, who is going to graduate in March and is often in Guanacaste where his girlfriend’s family owns many farms. This boy is also extremely fond of the mirror and the malls (although for good reason). Andrea (Tita): 23 year old university student in some insanely difficult field having to do with the stock market, while also working at some stock company that deals with many American firms. (She also speaks English quite well.) She frequently travels all over and has been to the US. Her boyfriend, Luis, is from Cartagena, Colombia (he’s funny--never pronounces his “s”s in words. For example, “Louieeh” for Louis, “booh” for bus, hehe). Despite the traveling, she also lives at home. Jorge (Kokey): 20 year old hippie and genius apparent of the family whom I have not yet met. He lives in Puerto Jimenez in the Osa Peninsula and is pretty much the foremost young naturalist in the country. He guides all the important scientific groups around Corcovado National Park and pretty much knows everything about the flora and fauna of Costa Rica (due to him there are like a million animals living here and many plants). He is active in preserving nature in Heredia through the creation of parks and is actively opposed to a proposed program by the Costa Rican government to build a dam on a river near Golfito that would produce enough energy to sell to countries as distant as Mexico, but would also destroy a number of indigenous reserves as well as the environment in Osa.
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