Costa Rica Parte Una: McPinto and a Haunted Sanatorio

People always get super envious when I mention that we are making a trip to Costa Rica to visit Husband’s parents and brother. I am always a bit more nonchalant as I regard it as a family trip to visit the in-laws. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy going and appreciate that I have the opportunity to go more than the average person. I get that it is a cool and exotic locale that I get to go to instead of say, um… Normal, Illinois. No offense to Normal. I am sure it is a lovely little city. It just happens to be the first place that popped in my head. Probably because it is called Normal. Who came up with that one? That city was destined to get a bum rap from the get go!

However, back to my point. Think about your own family trips. It is always fun and exciting because you get to see people you don’t see that often and you are leaving your home base for new surroundings for a while. However, really THINK about what you do. You just hang out most of the time and revel in being lazy. You eat, watch TV, putz on the computer, read guilty pleasures books and magazines, visit with family and friends, sleep lots, etc. You venture out occasionally to run errands or maybe go shopping, and your hosts probably plan one or two fun excursions while you are there. I am right, aren’t I!?! It is not like when you take a getaway vacation to some place new and exciting where you: Cram. In. Everything. You. Possibly. Can. (In way too short amount of time to really see any thing). I think that is how everyone envisions our trips to Costa Rica because they are seeing it as a vacation destination and not as just Husband’s childhood home. Of course, we do manage to add some fun to our family visit so it is a vacation, too! So that it what I am going to share: the fun vacationy stuff. Cuz, let me tell you, I have done plenty of the hum drum stuff above, and boy, it has been lovely to be lazy and relax! Unfortunately, I don’t think you would find it particularly interesting reading.

First, some general impressions of Costa Rica and San Jose. I have actually spent quite a bit of time in Central America, and there is a definite look and feel to this region of the world. Part of it is the terrain (lush, green, tropical, mountainous), another part the language and the people, and the other part is just the general look of the architecture. I think the design of buildings is large part of the familiarity I have encountered in my travels. I suspect for durability (earthquakes, humid and damp climates) and cost, most homes are made of cinder blocks and are quite boxy and flat. In the city, everything is fenced, walled, and gated. There are bars on the windows and doors, and often razor wire on top of the walls. It makes you realize how naively we often take our security for granted in our own neighborhoods. Now, in actuality, I have never felt particularly unsafe in any of my Latin American travels, although I often am quite aware of my gringaness (I think I just made that word up). Get ready for more Spanglish, by the way.

This is about my sixth trip to Costa Rica, and I definitely grow to appreciate it more and more with each visit. San Jose is really like any other large city other than the differences in architecture and the signs being in a different language. I am honestly not that familiar with the city. Despite the numerous extended stays, I still do not feel like I know how to get around the city and only have a vague sense of its layout. I guess we can chalk that up to my laziness in ambition to familiarize myself, as well as a lack of need, to date. I try to pay attention when we are out in the car, but I don’t think I could get to my in-laws’ house on my own even if my life depended on it. I also realized that we spend most of our time in the equivalent of a suburb of the city so that doesn't really help either. In fact, I have only been to downtown proper on a few occasions. On my last visit, R and I did a little exploring, and he took me to a cool museum (Museo Nacional) and an historic theatre (Teatro Nacional). However, that is about it for my city explorations. When we explore, we head out of the city.

Even after all my travels here and there, I am still taken off guard when I see something familiar like a Taco Bell or Papa John’s plopped down in somewhat alien surroundings. You have such a sense of differentness when travelling that it seems odd to see something that you associate with the United States right there in front of you. I do not really find it that comforting. I enjoy the experience of being some place different, and for me, it almost seems incorrect to have it invaded by something that I regard as such American icons (or perhaps blights???). I am sure the locals are happy to be able ogle the waitresses at Hooter’s (yes, there is one), to make their McDonald’s run, and enjoy the Colonel’s chicken, but give me comida tipica!

Speaking of which, I saw the funniest thing today. See, the national dish of Costa Rica is called Gallo Pinto. It is basically a mixture of day old rice, black bean, onions, peppers, and seasonings that is fried up and served for breakfast with tortillas and a fried egg on top. Yummo! So we are driving down the street, and I am reading all the signs and billboards like I always do in a weird effort to increase my familiarity with the Spanish language. What do I see? I see a McDonald’s bulletin board advertising McPinto Deluxe. I am not even kidding. They were advertising their own offering of Gallo Pinto that they are calling McPinto. I was pretty much speechless.

Onto the first actual adventure in this blog series. The day after Christmas, R and I headed to a supposedly haunted, abandoned sanitarium as a fun get out of the house excursion with his brother and several of his friends. It is located in the outskirts of Cartago and has been used as a tuberculosis hospital called Prusia, as an insane asylum called Sanatorio Carlos Duran, and an orphanage for children. It was really out in the middle of nowhere farm land with the next closest landmark being a volcano that last erupted in the 1960’s, which apparently led to it being vacated for the last time, I think. I did not get the haunted vibe at all, but I wasn’t really looking for it, and perhaps there was too many visitors for shy ghosties. It was creepy, though, when you thought about what is was used for in the past, and the hallway with all the children’s handprints was a little unsettling. On R’s Facebook photo album, I called it a tropical Shutter Island. Along with the interesting architecture, there was tons of more current graffiti throughout the entire building. Here is a link with a few more details if you are interested, as well as someone else’s blog entry with a good picture and some creepy stories about the place. Side note: he references Louisville's Waverly Sanitarium in the same blog. How funny!

It was not quite as abandoned as we expected as they were actually charging admission, and this was not apparently an original idea given the holidays so there were quite a few visitors besides just ourselves. Despite the unexpected popularity and commercialism, it was still quite an interesting exploration. As I previously mentioned, there is definite architectural style that you encounter in most of Latin America. I will call it cement block utilitarianism. It has its own weird charm, but it is definitely unlike anything that most of us North Americans are used to encountering. This place did not fit this design mold at all. It had hard wood floors and painted plaster walls in most places and more of what I would consider a North American design style. Not really sure why it ended up being built this way, but it is obvious why you don’t see much of this style and use of materials around these parts. The wet, humid climate, along with neglect has taken its toll. Despite its unpleasant past uses, I could almost imagine that at one point it had a sort of dignified beauty about it. It was huge, and it felt like a maze with its multiple wings, floors and rooms connecting to rooms connecting to rooms.

On the way back, R’s brother took us to one of his favorite places for lunch, Posada De La Luna . It provided typical Costa Rican cuisine (comida tipica) that did not let us down, including freshly made corn tortillas, yummy plaintains (maduros), yucca frita, and this really awesome tortilla de queso. It is kind of hard to describe as it is not a quesadilla. It is more like they took masa and local salty cheese, mixed it all up into a thick tortilla and pan fried it. Soooo good! I also had my first refresco naturale, otherwise known as fresh fruit juice. I got mora (blackberry). R likes his with leche (yuk). However, I was jealous of his cool cookie on top! It was a yummy way to wrap up our adventure for the day.

Cultural End Note: Christmas is a big deal here in this majority Catholic country. Everyone gets into the spirit. Gas stations are over the top decorated with garlands and trees on top of gas pumps. Everywhere you look there are nativity scenes. Christmas Eve, in particular, is a huge celebratory night with evening masses and lots of fireworks and firecrackers. Long after we went to bed, or tried to at least, they continued on and on and on….

Husband will get all photo credits on this trip as chief camera operator. Here is a link to his facebook album. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38202&id=100000653285100&l=09e73271ea