La Feria

Pretty boring weekend the highlight was of course was La Feria. In Costa Rica every town has a farmers market on either Saturday or Sunday. The fruits and vegetable here are usually cheaper and supposedly fresher than the produce in the stores. The picture above is what you can get for about 18 dollars at the fair. After going there for the last two weekends we have recently been adding green peppers, onions and tomatoes to everything we make.

La Feria around 9 o'clock packed as usual. To give you some idea as to how cheap the market is here is a list of some prices I remember; 15 eggs $2, a huge bunch of bananas 50 cents, 3 avocados $1, head of lettuce 50 cents, pineapple $1, small watemelon $1, 2 cucumbers 75 cents, 2 onions 50 cents.

I found out on Saturday that I have a new class that meets 4 times a week. So now I have 8 classes, 7 different levels, 6 different books, and two different schools. I am surprised I can keep track of their names let alone all of their paperwork. I ended finishing my lesson plans up to Wednesday but I have already forgot what I am teaching to my first class tomorrow morning. I really need to get better organized, I wish I had OCD and had a certain place for every little thing. However it is the exact opposite.

P.S.

I bought Its always Sunny in Philadelphia season one this week off of itunes and highly recommend renting the season. I think they also just started their 3rd season on FX.

Poas Volcano

Poas Volcano is a very easy day trip to take from San Jose if you don’t have a car. There is an express bus to Poas that leaves form the Alajuela bus terminal everyday at 8:30. The bus stops in Alajuela and than heads out to the volcano. It takes around two hours to get to Poas from San Jose. And about an hour and a half is driving from Alajuela to Poas. Even though Poas is only about 18 kilometers (12 miles) from Alajuela the ride takes so long because you are traveling up a small and winding mountain road the entire time. Alajuela has an elevation of around 3,000ft while Poas is around 8,000 ft.

The picture above is taken from an overlook 950 feet above the bottom of the crater. Poas has a 40 year cycle of activity. And has last erupted in the 1950s. It is considered a highly active volcano and the national park is frequently closed due to high sulphuric gas emissions. The water in the crater has also recently been decreasing another sighn of a near future eruption.

When my sister Megan visited us to drop off some goods, Allie and I wanted to show her a good time being in San Jose not very long we were a little unsure where to take her. After getting in around 9 o'clock at night we figured we would just go out to eat and figure out what we were going to do the next day. We left our apartment the next day heading out to an Internet cafe to see where the buses could take us. It was 8:15 when we figured what we would do and the bus for Poas left at 8:30. We were in San Pedro and had about 15 minutes to get into San Jose and get over to the East side of town where the Alajuela bus terminal was located.

After taking the bus into San Jose we sprinted across the downtown along the Central Avienda, and hopped on a bus to Alajuela. When we arrived at Alajuela we were unsure of where to find the Poas bus and after trying to talk to some locals we started walking in the direction we believed they wanted us to go. While walking down the street a bus passed with Poas written on the front. We flagged the bus down and got in. The bus was around 1500 colones (3 dollars) a person a little steep considering it costs about 2 dollars to get out to the beach 2 1/2 hours away. However after the trip we realized we had paid for a round trip ticket with the same bus that waited for us at the National Park what a deal.

When we got closer to the volcano the bus started driving through a fog that allowed the driver to see about 10 feet in front of the bus. The heavy fog is due to the high altitude and condensation created from the sulphurous water boiling inside the crater.

While Allie and Megan inhale the sulphourous gasses. I decide to take a breather and take this picture. While walking around the national park you notice the smell of sulfur, not the most pleasant smell.
Taken on the walk to the lagoon, this part of the path was pitch black due to the density of the foilage.
After a 15 minute walk down a paved trail you reach the Botas lagoon a crater that has been inactive for the last 7,500 years. The water in the lagoon is extremly acidic however the tempature is around 70 degrees farenhite.


Above and below are pictures taken on our walk to and from Botas Lagoon.

After walking around the park for about two hour we headed over to the gift shop and bathrooms. Shortly after we got to the gift shop. It started to rain buckets. I took this picture from inside the shelter we had to hang out in for the next two hours because our bus did'nt leave til 2.