La Cruz de Alajuelita

Here are some pictures from our day trip La Cruz de Alajuelita. What a hike. Who would have thought climbing a mountain would be so tough. The weather has been perfect for hiking and I was really looking forward to getting out of San Jose.

The rainy season is coming to an end, and this past week seems to indicate the rainy season is turning into windy season. For the past week it has hardly rained and everyday has been around the mid 60’s with a constant breeze. Cool enough for a sweatshirt but not too cold for a t-shirt. Even though it is still October it only rained a couple of times this week.

After studying Costa Rica on Google Earth for the past week, I found a trail in the mountains that was accessible by bus. We left this morning at around 8 o’clock and had a 30 minute bus ride to El Llano. While waiting for the bus we met a very friendly man who after spending the night in a bar in San Jose was headed back to his home in El Llano. Don Armando dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and a black eye, decided he would help us find the beginning of the trail up the mountain.

After about a kilometer walk up the road with Don Armando we came to his house. He asked for a pen and paper and drew us some squiggly lines as a guide to help find La Cruz. He offered us a drink, we declined and going our separate ways we headed up the trail and Don probably to bed.
The trail started as a dirt slope filled with rocks. After about 5 minutes of walking Allie and I were ready for a break. This wasn’t a hike up a mountain but rather a climb up a mountain. We realized that we were in for a long hike and figured we would try to take breaks every fifteen minutes or so. After about 40 minutes of climbing and brakes we came across a fenced in pasture. I could see the cross was in sight and figured the fence was mainly to keep the cows in and not so much the people out. We moved on walking through a cow pie infested pasture with an eagle eye’s view of San Jose. After crossing the pasture we came to the trail again and shortly after reached our destination, La Cruz De Alajuelita. We had lunch at the top of the mountain 6,500 feet up looking down on the birds and San Jose.

A day in the life/ wallet / and nose

Just finished dinner decided to write about my typical day. I started the day off with a bus ride at around 5:15 this morning, I took the bus into San Jose for 155 colones. After getting dropped off on the east side of San Jose, I walked to the center of the city to the Coca Cola bus terminal. This terminal is called Coca Cola because Coke use to have a factory where there is now small shops and most of the bus terminals. The walk is around 1 kilometer and usually takes 10-15 minutes. I walk along the central avenida. Umm, I love the smell of fresh fish, fried chicken and the diesel in the morning.

When arriving at Coca Cola I hop on a bus that takes me out to Santa Anna, a western suburb of San Jose. This bus usually costs around 230 colones. These bus stops are very busy when I get their a little after 5, and the bus drivers believe it is their duty to try to break records for cramming pasengers on a bus. This is about a 25 minute bus ride where I get to enjoy being jabbed in the ribs by strangers and inhaling the pungent smell of cheap cologne. It seems every time I get on a bus no one wants to open the windows and someone close by is always wearing some cheap cologne. This really got to me today on my bus ride because I was especially tired this morning and I think this time it was the guy sitting right next to me, on top of that he had a watch alarm going off that he didn't feel the need to turn off.

After teaching at the Santa Anna Forum for an hour and a half, I took the bus back to San Jose which usually costs around 270 colones. I usually get back to my apartment around 9:30/10:00. So including the commute I put around 4 hours into my morning class. I make $7 dollars an hour and teach an hour and a half. I spend about 810 colnes ($1.50) on bus rides.

After class today I had to prepare for my new class at 6-8 and my Friday morning class in Santa Anna. I spent from around 11 o'clock to 3 o'clock planning the lessons for the 6-8 evening and my Friday morning class. I went to my employer's office to print up some hand outs and a 15 minute chore turned into an hour and a half trying to print my handouts up, talking to my boss and than using a copy machine that gets jammed on 2 out of 3 copies you make.

After going to the office I took a shower and headed over to my new class in La Sabana a Western part of San Jose. My class started at 6 but I had to leave at around 4:30. Because when you take a bus during rush hour I recommend you bring a good book. So I took the 155 colones bus into San Jose and transferred to the La Sabana bus for 95 colones. I got over to the school around 5:30 and was informed the students were unable to come to class. So I talked to my boss for a bit and he assigned me a new class at the same time. I ended up getting home around 7. If I were to teach the class I would have made 14 dollars because it was a 2 hour class and made 7 dollars an hour. Minus the bus fare that would have been around $12.50 from 4:30 to 9:00. So teaching English here seems mainly like volunteer work.

Below I listed a break down of the money and time I spend each day

daily bus fare avg (dbfa): 1450 colones /520 = $2.80 us *bus fares increase going into San Jose
daily income: $24us
daily time spent on bus (dtsob): 5 hrs
time teaching (tt): 3.5 hrs
planning/paperwork (p&p): 3.5 hrs

I need to move to the West side of town. When I first started looking for a job their were a couple places in San Pedro however I like the people I work with more at my other jobs. If I could move over to the west side of town I can probably cut down the travel time in half. San Jose is not a big city but it is a P.I.A. to commute through during the rush hours.

Looking for an Apt / Shootout

9:00 and I just got back from my first one on one class at my new job. The class went well and my student was very eager to learn. My new student Hector, is a manger at Juan Santa Maria Airport. We had a really interesting conversation about aviation in Costa Rica, and he explained a dispute over the funding of a new airport.

This morning Allie and I looked at an apartment in Santa Anna, a western suburb of San Jose. The apartment was a furnished 2 bedroom with cable, Internet and a pool for 500 a month. The complex was very nice, clean and had a beautiful backdrop with mountains less than a mile away. However the apartment was too far away from grocery stores and seemed more like a place people would retire to. The landlord mentioned the tenants were mostly old people, and while looking at the apartment I noticed the old person smell coming from the apartment next door. We decided to pass on the apartment and keep looking.

The reason we are looking for a new apartment is due to recent criminal activities around our apartment complex. A few weeks ago one of our neighbors was robbed at gun point. This Monday while I was at work robbers attempted to rob two more tenants in front of our apartment building. At my apartment building there are two gates that you have two enter. For each gate you need a security code and a key. The tenants were able to get in to both gates before the robbers were able to rob them. The thieves pointed the guns at the kids demanding their laptops which they weren't even carrying. A security who heard the altercation came down the block and shot off his gun to scare the thieves however they fired back at the guard. The police came and caught got one of the robbers and no one was hurt. Ever since than my landlord has had a security guard outside of our apartment every night, and has changed the locks. This makes me feel a little better but I still think an apartment full of gringos is not the safest place to live. Even though San Pedro is suppose to be relatively safe I think our apartment is a target for robbers. However not to stress the only things I ever carry around is bus fare and books so I would care less if someone took my school books and 500 colones. Along with the gates and electric fences their are little huts every couple of blocks. Communities hire security guards to sit in the huts and make sure everything is safe. Their is one of these huts around the block from us and that is where the security guard came from.

Finding a Job Part 2

Hey Everybody, just trying to work out this blog thing. So far so good.

Well this last week has been a pretty busy week. After trying to come up with a budget that would work where more money came in than went out. Allie and I realized we needed to look for new jobs. While we did have two jobs teaching English one of our jobs never gave us steady hours. So we quit one of the jobs on Friday and started looking for new jobs the following Tuesday.

After sending my resume to a couple English schools and two gambling web sites Tuesday morning ( I have heard of several job opportunities in online gambling in Costa Rica). I spoke with an English school Tuesday afternoon and was able to set up an appointment for Wednesday. The interviewer gave me directions to the school, assured me it would be okay if I was late for the interview and I could tell this was a boss I could get along with. I showed up to the interview on time Wednesday and was offered three night classes starting the following Tuesday. With three new classes on top of my three morning classes I figured I will make almost 100 dollars a week. That might work but will still need to eat rice and beans at least twice a week yuck.

This story I would say is a realistic and good example of the ease in finding a job teaching English. All the schools I have talked to and all of the teachers as well agree that native English teachers are always in high demand. I do not have any experience teaching English, majored in Aviation Management and was offered every job I interviewed for. It is easy to find a job teaching English in Costa Rica However finding a good school that is convenient, pays well, and gives you enough hours is another story.

The picture at the top is from Cahuita.