We all met on campus to drive to Nashville for our first plane ride which would lead to Charlotte,
North Carolina and eventually Costa Rica. It was the first time I had been on a plane in 20 years and my memory doesn’t even extend as far as my first plane trip so it felt like a completely new experience. Other than being utterly clueless on airport procedure and that feeling your stomach has disappeared into your spine during takeoff and landing, the journey was nice. The trip to Charlotte was quiet and much quicker than I had anticipated. Leaving Charlotte for Costa Rica was a bit more exciting. The man and woman to my side asked about my trip and why I was going to Costa Rica. They spoke with me in Spanish a little about all of the things there are to see in Costa Rica. By the end of our plane ride they seemed almost as excited for me as I was myself. I finally got a stamp in my Passport after going through Customs and then we took our picture by the “Pura Vida” sign before venturing off into the third airport of the day.

   Once we got the hotel, we decided that we were going to go out to eat since we hadn’t the whole trip. This turned out to be more of an adventure then any of us had imagined. Not only did it start to rain, but it poured. We were not prepared for this type of down pour, especially with two to an umbrella in shorts and a jacket. It also didn’t help that we weren’t entirely sure where we were going or where exactly the restaurant that we were looking for was located. The sidewalks had begun to flood and some left 8-12in puddles of waters; more like mini lakes. Dr. Zapata and Kimberly unfortunately found this out the hard way when they decided that they were wet enough that a small puddle wouldn’t hurt, not realizing that it was a 12in deep puddle. One step in and they were calf high in water with 6 or 7 feet to go. It was hilarious, all up until a speeding car came around the corner and hit a puddle which then sprayed my brother and I’s backside. It looked like a scene straight out of a movie. It was all good fun and laughs. After asking two different people along the way, we made it to the restaurant.

    Our trip to Costa Rica started very early in the morning. We met at 3:00am on campus and drove together to the airport. The flight was fine and not long at all. We arrived to San José around 3:30 pm. It was raining, but the rain stopped soon. We arrived to the hotel and checked in without any problems. The hotel is very nice. The name of the hotel is Cristina suites. We are all living in an apartment, which includes three bedrooms and the kitchen. Kimberly and I share a bedroom. After we settled down we had decided to go out to eat something. It was raining, but we decided to walk under umbrellas. While we were walking rain got heavier and heavier, and then it was pouring. We were walking for about 15 minutes, and by the time we arrived to the restaurant we were completely soaked. I hope that for the rest of the trip we will stay dry. The food in the restaurant was very good. The restaurant’s name was Princesa Marina, which serves seafood. I really enjoyed my dinner. I ordered a juice called Mora, a shrimp cocktail and the fish in the mushroom sauce. The price was very reasonable for a large dinner. That was my first experience in Costa Rica and I enjoyed every moment of it.

    Today was a very interesting day. We had a breakfast at the restaurant in our hotel. For the first time I tried a traditional Costa Rican dish rice with beans Gallo pinto. It was very good. After breakfast we walked through the park toward the museum. The trees in the park were very beautiful; they looked like somebody painted their bark. Unfortunately, the museum is closed on Mondays. So we decided to come back another day.
Then we took the bus to the center city of San José. The traffic in San José is very heavy, and many people drive motorcycles because on the motorcycle it’s easier to go through the traffic. The traffic here is very dangerous. Near the National Theatre of Costa Rica was the square with a lot of pigeons. I fed the pigeons from my hands. It was a lot of fun. One pigeon sat on my head. We had lunch in the local bakery called Samuelito. I had enchilada. We also visited local bank to exchange dollars to colones, Costa Rican money. The bank was very big. In order to be served, you need first to get a number and wait until they call you.

    Today my brother and I went to the gym in the morning to get a little workout in before the day got started. We were a little disappointed that the gym didn’t have near as much as we thought and the main machine that we could have used was broken. Nonetheless, we made it work and we enjoyed ourselves. The gym is in a neighboring hotel on the fourth floor. This allowed for a beautiful view and I was able to get a panorama shot of the view. That was very nice.

    After going to the bank to exchange money, we continued on to the “centro”, a huge warehouse that was turned into a shopping center with small local shops set up along the walls and local restaurants. They have streets and all. This is where you can find typical foods and crafts of Costa Rica. That was very fun and I got a souvenir for myself there.

    The supermarket was much like going on a trip to Kroger except that all the products are in
Spanish and the prices are in colones instead of dollars. They have a big section of fruits and vegetables and many of them I was unable to recognize. There was one fruit that looked similar to a strawberry but with hair where the seeds should be. It was rather odd. The kiwis were twice as big as ones that I normally buy. Buying the food in the store was not that big of a deal. The fun came when Señora Zapata taught us how to cook. It is difficult to cook a new type of food for the first time. Our experience was made even more difficult because all of our instructions were in Spanish. The fruits of our labor were well rewarded. I have discovered that I like plantains, a lot, and in pretty much any way you want to cook it. Polina, Señora Zapata, and I worked in one kitchen while Alex cooked the meat in the other kitchen. Andrés was the only one not to help cook but he did wash the dishes for us.

    Today was another wonderful day in Costa Rica. We went outside of San José to see the countryside of Costa Rica. The nature in Costa Rica is unbelievable. The vegetation is so green and full of life. We drove by the fields of coffee plants. Many Costa Rican families grow coffee for many generations. We stopped at the local coffee gift shop. I tried 100% pure coffee and it was wonderful. I also bought some to take back with me to the United States. We also took many beautiful pictures with the view of the coffee fields.
    Then we tried to go to see a volcano, but it was too cloudy and we would not be able to see anything, so we decided to come back another time. While we were driving in the countryside, we saw a lot of cows and sheep. Costa Rica is often called Switzerland of America, because it is very green and has a lot of mountains. I also think that it is called Switzerland because it produces a lot of natural milk. We stopped by the road and bought fresh strawberries, which are also growing on the local farm.

    The rest of the trip that was planned worked just fine, las cataratas. After arriving at La Paz Waterfall Gardens we ate lunch in the restaurant with what felt like a thousand noisy kids which was about the world’s most polar opposite of peace, but the food was good. La Paz was a sort of animal sanctuary, almost like a small zoo. All of the animals live in the Costa Rican area, but these were confiscated from people that owned them illegally. They were kept in cages at the garden because they are not able to survive on their own after living in captivity for so long. They had birds, butterflies, monkeys, snakes, frogs, and jungle cats. The animals weren’t in their natural habitat, but we were able to see them up close because most of the cages allowed us to go inside. The butterflies are my favorite, so much so that my dorm room is decorated in them. I wanted to take a picture of this very beautiful blue one but it would never land where I could see it. I was able to hold a toucan in the aviary. My experience was much better than that of Sra. Zapata’s. In the room with the poison dart frogs, Andrés talked with the worker because he thought it was dangerous to be in the open with them. Apparently poison dart frogs only hurt you if you have some sort of cut where it can go directly to your blood. My favorite was called blue jeans. It is teeny tiny with a red body and blue legs.

    After lunch we headed out to see all the animals and then head to the waterfalls. My favorite was seeing the jaguar. They were so beautiful and powerful, elegant. It made me want to go into the cage and pet them and be with them. One was laying down trying to sleep and reminded me of my dog at home.  The waterfalls were very cool to experience. My favorite part was when there was a separate little trail that took you to the base of a 120ft waterfall. The power of the water falling created such a mist and wind that was very cool to feel.

    Once we got on the road we took a long ride to the “bosque lluvioso” where we got to hike all along a river and cliffs in the forest. It was a long hike that I was not prepared for. I wish I would have had waterproof hiking boots and long pants. That would have made it a lot easier. Also a lighter jacket would have helped. My waterproof jacket was good to have since it protected me from the elements and bugs, but it made it a lot hotter as well.
    Since it has been raining the past two days, the trails got flooded out and very muddy. The earth sank 6in or so if you stepped in it. This quickly became a problem since all of us were in tennis shoes with mesh. Getting muddy and wet was something we were trying to avoid.

    Cuidado! Cuidado! Cuidado! The only words we really heard today while we hiked through the rain forest. The first trail was well mapped out with small rocks and wood to create the path. The second one was about the same as the first until it came to a crossroads where we had to pick which way to go. Sra. Zapata being the adventurer she is said to go to the right on the Sendero Botarrama. Sra. Zapata tried to explain the meaning of the name to us and said that it’s where the trees have dropped. It was much more difficult than the other trails. There was no nice sidewalk to follow, only a slightly wider opening between the trees than the rest of the forest. It lived up to its name because we were climbing over trees and moving large palm leaves to see where to step next in every attempt to not sink in the mud. The cameras had to be up safely away just in case someone was to fall, which happened more than anyone wanted it to. I have washed the mud off of me and my shoes, but I’m pretty certain I will feel the pain tomorrow of slipping on the rock.
    We decided to eat at a restaurant near the national park called, “El Fogón de Lola” where we were basically outside but yet still with a roof. We each ate Casados but with different kinds of meat. I had carne while Alex and Andrés had pollo and Sra. Zapata picked pescado. It came with so many different things, small bowls of each surrounding a pile of rice in the middle. There was corn, beans, salsa, potatoes and a ripe plantain. To drink I had Mora because I know that is a safe choice, but didn’t want to pick soda or water either. Next to the restaurant was a fruit stand. Sergio asked if we could try some of them and the man agreed. The first thing was not cooked and tasted almost like a potato but worse. Then there was this other fruit that reminds me of strawberries by the red and green color but it has these spines on them. Quite frankly these Mamon Chinos just seem off. But when you open them up there is this small egg shaped gummy substance surrounding the seed. It feels like someone peeled a grape and tastes about the same.

    The National Park that we went to was called Braulio Carrillo.  The flora and fauna of national park is protected by evergreen forest and lush vegetation mainly made up of primary forests. Almost 6000 species of plants and large trees exist in The National Park. The park also has a large variety of fauna.  There are around 515 bird species in the park.  While I was walking through the forest, I enjoyed the view of exotic plants and trees.  The birds were singing all the time.  I could also hear a very constant noise of cicadas. We saw a river called Sucio, because it looks dirty.  The flora was unbelievable; it was so green and rich. We saw a baby bird on the ground, which could not fly.  It probably fell out of the nest. We also saw many insects: leafcutter ants, butterflies, beetles, spiders and caterpillars.  It was amazing to see all of them in real and not in the biology book. The most exciting for me was to see a monkey on the tree; it was a baby monkey 8 month old. The monkey had his lunch. The monkey was eating some fruits from the tree. We also saw a big lizard.

    Each night over supper we discuss what we did that day and then go over the plan for the next day starting with what time we need to meet for breakfast by the pool. Each morning it seems that the time gets earlier and earlier for us to meet so that we have enough time for travel and activities before the stores, parks, and museums close. But this morning I was able to sleep past eight o’clock. We had another wonderful breakfast. Eating breakfast is not a normal occurrence for me, except before church on Sundays, but I find myself wanting to run downstairs as soon as I wake up each day. The hotel has the same main dishes everyday like gallo pinto, eggs, ham, cheese, and toast. Then there are other things that change each morning like the type of juice, yogurt, fruit, and manner in which the plantains are cooked. There has been something completely different to try each day and I do. “Probar” is a new word to add to my mental dictionary. It means to try, test, or taste. Some of them I like while others not so much but trying new things and having new experiences is what this trip is about.

    Today we walked to the Museo de Arte Costarricense. It was filled with beautiful artwork that took my breath away. I really enjoyed the sculptures outside. I loved how they were made out of stone. That is impressive. I think of how difficult that must have been to carve and mold something out of rock. I also enjoyed the room on the second floor. Its walls were made of bronze-like metal crafted to depict history, show the conquistadores, industrial revolution, and so on all four walls. That was a beautiful room that I would not mind having at my house. Probably my favorite part of the trip was when we go a chance to do something out of the ordinary all due to some rain. Since it was raining and we did not have umbrellas and we still had a long journey through the city to Alfonso Chase’s office, we sat down and waited. During this time, one of the workers came up and told us that if we wanted to sign the wall we could. This was a main wall in the museum that people got to write on only during its opening, but since my mom had asked about it earlier and we were stuck there for a little bit, the working was gracious enough to let the 5 of us write what we wanted. That was awesome. So I wrote the last two lines from one of my favorite poems “Invictus” by William Ernest Henry. They read, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Being able to leave that message was very cool. I was very grateful for the opportunity to do so.

    Another exposure to Costa Rican culture was the meeting of famous Costa Rican writer and poet Alfonso Chase.  He is a very interesting person, with a very rich life experience.  He is a literature professor in the University of Costa Rica. Alfonso was born in Costa Rica, but also lived outside of Costa Rica for some time. We talked for about two hours.  He has travelled around the world and visited many countries. He also lived in Arkansas and New York.  His room was full of different souvenirs, statues and pictures from all over the world. I couldn’t find an empty spot in his room. We talked about many different things.  He likes to talk about his experience in other countries. We talked about politics, discrimination, and economy.  Surprisingly for me, Alfonso knows a lot about Russia.  He visited many Russian cities; he even knows my city, Rostov-on-Don.  He admires Russian literature, and poetry. He has read many books of Russian writers. He even likes Russian president Vladimir Putin. Among all of his awards and literature prizes, in 1986, Alfonso received recognition to the artistic merit Sergei Essenin for contribution and promotion of Russian poetry.  At the end of the conversation, all of us received books with his autograph. I chose the book “El Pavo Real Y La Mariposa” which is a historical novel, and in 1995 he received an award for this book.  I was very pleased to receive the book from such a great writer. 

We were on our way to Jaco Beach, which is a three and a half hour drive, when we stopped along the side of the road of a bridge to see a spectacular. It was a bunch of crocodiles. Holy crap! Tons of them. It was so crazy to see them this close up. I wish there would have been a way to get closer, but that might have been just a tad dangerous. Nonetheless, it would have been cool. There was a local vender that feed the crocodiles pieces of chicken for a price. Luckily, it was the right price for us. We got to witness the spectacular that is crocodiles eating. The only complaint I had was that the chicken kept being thrown directly into the water so it was not as easy to see them eat. If he has thrown it on the ground where 15 or so of them were lying, it might have been a bigger show. Nonetheless, I can’t complain because it was incredible to see the raw power of the crocodiles and to get it on video is just that much better.

    When we arrived to the National park, the weather was beautiful. It was the first sunny day during our stay in Costa Rica. The flora and fauna of the park is amazing. Manuel Antonio National Park is situated in humid, tropical forest. The most characteristic species of flora in the primary forest are the guácimo colorado, bully tree, cedar, and silk cotton tree. Within the wild life of the park, some of the most common but impressive species are the raccoon, white nosed coatis, agouties and of course capuchin monkeys. These monkeys are in danger of extinction due to destruction of their habitat and its exploitation as pets. The park has 5 beautiful beaches: Playa Espadilla Norte, Playa Sur, Playa Manuel Antonio, Playa Puerto Escondido, and Playa Playitas.  The beach that we went to was Playa Manuel Antonio. On our way to the beach we saw a big Boa hiding in the trees.  It was enormous snake, I never seen one before in the wild. We also saw couple iguanas, two on our way to the beach and one on the beach.  On top of the trees there was a sloth, he was moving but very slow.  The beach was wonderful. I felt like I was in the paradise. The beach was located in the nice lagoon, had a white sand, and pure clean water. We had a wonderful time at the beach. I was in the water most of the time. On our way back we finally saw the capuchin monkeys on the trees. They all were very playful, they jump from one tree to another and it was fun to watch how they interact between each other.
    For the first time I tried a fresh coconut milk and ate coconut. We took nice pictures of sunset at the beach. We had dinner at the restaurant by the beach, so that we can enjoy the sunset and nice breeze. The food at the restaurant was average, but I enjoyed tuna tartar and grilled lobster.  

    I survived. It wasn’t the 3 hour drive in a place that seems to have no rules of the road that I was worried about. It wasn’t the crocodiles we fed at the bottom of the bridge. It wasn’t the boa constrictor so well camouflaged in the jungle at Manuel Antonio National Park. It was the water. The thing that everyone else was so excited about getting to do, I was afraid of. Despite having taken swimming classes when I was 10, I can’t swim. A little bit of water at my feet was nice and refreshing after walking in the hot jungle. I inched out into the water to join the rest of the group although they looked too far out there for my liking. They said I could touch the bottom there. That is until a wave starts to form and pulls you out into the ocean before spitting you back onto the shore. I imagine this is what Jonah felt like. While the boys were excited about there being a “good one” I was trying to brace myself for the impact and possibility of going under. After one particularly “good” wave I swallowed salt water and it went up my nose. I was done. No more water for me unless it meant cleaning the sand off my feet.

    I had a fun time jumping and shaking the bridge just to see the reactions of the rest of the group. They were getting mad at me, so I eventually stopped. The view was amazing. And to make it even better, it was raining. It seems that almost everything we do in Costa Rica is accompanied by rain, as if it is the side dish to the main plate, the beans to the rice.

    Today was a cool and foggy day, but it didn’t stop us from going to the hanging bridges.  I have never been on hanging bridges before, so I was very excited. We went to Arenal hanging bridges national park.  At the entrance of the park, it was a nice view of volcano Arenal. The Arenal Hanging Bridges are a complex of trails and bridges through the rain forest that was developed for the purpose of ecotourism. The main goals are the observation of nature and its protection. The private nature reserve of almost 250 hectares of tropical rain forest houses a high local diversity of animal and plant species. There are 16 bridges in total. Ten of them are regular or static bridges and vary in length from eight to 22 meters. Six are hanging or suspension bridges and are 48 to 98 meters long. The hanging bridges have an elegant and safe design and were constructed according to the latest and most modern techniques.  At first it was scary to walk on the bridge because it was moving from side to side, and I could see the trees underneath myself.  Then I got use to it, even though other bridges were located higher. All the bridges had a nice panoramic view of trees, and rivers. 
    We had dinner in the place called “La Casona del Maíz”. The dinner was wonderful and I enjoyed everything I ordered. I had carrot and orange juice, guacamole and chicken with mushroom sauce and vegetables.

    I do not like water. We were in a rain forest though so I should have known better. I was not prepared for this trip as much as I thought I was. I could probably pack another suitcase entirely full with all of the things I should have brought with me: an umbrella, a raincoat, a second pair of shoes to wear while the others are drying, more shorts because once the bottoms of my pants get wet the water just travels up and up, more clothes in general because we end up using two sets a day between changing out of the wet ones into dry ones, and a backpack that water can’t get inside of. All that just to combat the rain. Then there are the mosquitoes that look like jet planes all over the place because there is so much water. Bug spray would've been a good idea. More energy would be nice too. Every day is so packed with things to do that I’m surprised I can get out of bed in the morning. Tomorrow is a free day though and we can do whatever we want to which probably means sleeping in, breakfast, laundry, and homework.

    It was Alexander’s birthday, so he got a lot of phone calls from his family and friends.  Unexpectedly, one of Prof. Zapata friends from Colombia, which now is living in Costa Rica, invited us to her house. Her name is Alexis and she has been living in Costa Rica for seven years. When we arrived to her house, it was full of people, family and friends. They all were very friendly and nice to us. We talked for some time, while kids were playing soccer outside. Alex and Andrés went outside to join them.  Soccer is very popular in Central and Latin America. All boys here know how to play soccer. We had a wonderful homemade dinner, which was traditional Colombian food.  Everything tasted perfect; the chicken with vegetables, rice and salad. After everyone was finished eating, we went to mass at the Catholic Church. Alexis’ father had passed away one month ago, so we all went to the mass, except Alex and Andrés, who decided to stay to play soccer. Both of them are very good with the ball.
    The church we went to was very bright from the natural light; it was built completely different that the other catholic churches I’ve seen. It was very simply decorated with not many paintings or religious icons. There were many kids.  Most of them were orphans.  They are living in the dorms near the church built by the priest.  The whole philosophy of the priest is to help poor and the ones that are in need. Nearly a thousand kids belong to the church. He is like the father for them. I admire people like him; he does not put all the money into decorations for the church or for his personal use, like many churches do, but gives it to people.  The mass continued for about two hours.  It was a lot of singing, and reading a bible, but the most of the time the priest spent talking about how to be a good person. He talked about important values in life and many other things.

    Well, Today is my birthday. I am 22. Today was supposed to be our day off, but as I’ve learned, there is never a day off when it comes to Prof Zapata, and that could not be any more true than today. As it turns out, prof. Zapata’s brothers best friends sister lives in Costa Rica, and they got in contact. The sister also being Colombia and from the same city as prof. Zapata meant that they shared the same enthusiasm as one other even though they had never met before. The woman, Alexis, insisted that she come pick us up and bring us to her house for lunch.
    Alexis had left with the girls to go to mass and when they returned, they brought with them a piña colada cake. It was so delicious. The whole family then sang. Then the kids started chanting that I take a bite out of the cake, of course I knew that they wanted me to do it so they could shove my face into the cake, but why not, it’s all in fun and games, so I did, and as expected, they pushed my head into the cake. It was all great laughs and everyone had a blast.

    Today was meant to be our free day, a day where we didn’t have to wake up super early, have a schedule, or walk 500 miles in the rain. It definitely did not start out that way when I woke up at 6:15 in the morning. Even with the curtains closed the room was pretty bright. I rolled over to try to get the rest of my 40 winks. It didn’t work out so well and I found myself crawling out of bed a little after 7. After laundry we met with the rest of the group who was having breakfast to think of something fun we could do that day. On the back of one of our brochures from a previous day there was an advertisement for the International Jazz Festival. We had also seen signs around town. When we looked up the information the dates said until the 4th of August so we thought we would be able to find a concert to go to and celebrate Alex’s birthday. No luck. The date was not accurate because the last concert was the night before. So Sra. Zapata asked a man in the hotel if he knew of any places around town. He gave her a list and she passed it to Alexis. I was under the impression that we were going to on Tuesday to listen to music so when they asked if we were ready to go I was looking forward to going to sleep in the nice warm bed. Instead we went to Castro’s Discoteque to dance. I am not a dancer but they pulled me out there anyway. We made it home finally around 1:30 in the morning. While the rest turned on music and did some work in the living room I laid down for the night. I have never missed a bed so much. It was a very long “free day.”

    Today our day started very early. After two hours of sleeping, I got up at six in the morning. We had a quick breakfast and went to the National Park Cahuita near Limon, the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.  It took us almost five hours to get there. On our way, we saw a pineapple plantation, banana palms and coconut palms. We stopped to buy fresh coconut. First, you drink coconut milk and then eat the fruit itself. It was very tasty.  When we arrived to the National Park Cahuita at the time when the monkeys were having their meal. We saw a lot of monkeys on the trees and along the ocean. It was amazing to see them so close.  While we were walking through the park, we also saw many crabs and lizards. One more time I realized how rich Costa Rica’s biodiversity is.

    The first thing we did was take pictures of the beach and ourselves at the beach. Then they all headed for the water while I walked around on the sand. I didn’t really plan on getting into the water because I had such a trouble with the waves last time, and these were higher and more frequent. I climbed a tree and wrote words in the sand with a stick. At one point, there were more monkeys and a sloth in the tree right beside us that hung over the shore. People stopped to take pictures of them. I decided I would change into the rest of my swimming suit and get in just a little. I never went so far in that a wave went close to my head. Eventually my attention span gave up on the waves and I stood in the sand by Polina digging holes in it with my feet.

    This ocean was so much fun because unlike the Atlantic, which was calm and soothing, this was rough, big waves. There was a warning for big waves and boy were they right. We went into the water and body surfed, jumped over waves, dove under. It was such a blast to feel the raw power of the ocean and the pull of the waves. The hits they would give you, just pure, raw power. It also took a lot of energy out of you.

    Today we went downtown to go to the museum of Gold. We were supposed to meet Alexis, a friend of Prof. Zapata at 1 or so, and we were running a little late. This is when things got better. Prof Zapata decided to take a different bus that she thought would take us downtown as well. This was true, if you were on the right side of the street. We were not. We ended up getting on the wrong bus and going in the opposite direction. We didn’t realize this uptil about 10 minutes had passed and we were well off course. Luckily, the other passengers were hepful when they heard prof Zapata tell the other students that we were on the wrong bus. The whole bus seem to turn into a GPS system yelling at the bus driver to stop and let us off while simultaneously giving us directions, what bus to catch, and where to catch it.

    Today was our last full day in Costa Rica. Tomorrow we will go back to the states. It is very sad to leave such a beautiful country.  We have decided to go back to the center city and visit the Museum of Costa Rica. Doctor Zapata met with her friend Alexis, while we went to the museum. The museum consists of five museums: Museo del Oro Precolombino, Museo de Numismática, Arquitectura en la Numismática Costarricense, Sala de Exhibiciones Temporales, Exhibición de Sofía Ruiz, and Felinos en la Arqueología de Costa Rica. My favorite exhibitions were the art of Sofía Ruiz and Museo del Oro Precolombino. Sofía Ruiz is a very talented artist with very deep meanings in her works. She is a Costa Rican visual artist who has focused her attention on individual identity formation from an entirely introspective point of view. Starting from questions “who am I in my eyes?” and “who am I in the eyes of others?” she revises her personal family history, aided by a psychoanalytic approach regarding identity formation. Her paintings have vibrant colors and most of the portraits look very real, sometimes her works evening looking like pictures. My favorite work is Beloved, where the man and the woman are sleeping. They have very peaceful expression on their faces. The color of their skin is very light, while colors around them are very vibrant. Nothing can disturb their sleep and their deep love to each other. 

    After the museum we walked to Samuelito, the bakery, and got something small to eat then we headed to the central market. I bought a backpack I had seen the first time and then checked the price of every other one that I saw while we traveled. I’ll have to convince myself that it’s not just a souvenir but a functional item for school because even though that price was much better than others it was still more than I really wanted, but it is embroidered and with leather.
    We ate at a local restaurant called Mirador La Tranca. It was so high up on the mountain. Tranca is a word that means trunk, like of a tree. That signified the structure of the building. But, mirador means something like an outlook point. When you walked out onto the balcony you could see all the street lights of San José. It was absolutely beautiful. I also liked the signs on the walls inside the restaurant. We ordered two Tablas which fed all the people eating with us. We had to fit three tables together to sit us all. Even our taxi drivers ate supper with us. It was a lot of fun. As we got in our cab to go back to the hotel we gave everyone hugs and they said not to forget them when we went back. I’m sure I won’t.