San Jose Revisited for Protein Powder

Not everything, scratch that, many things in life don't turn out as we had planned. But even through the challenges of change, I am beginning to find joy in the goodness around me, more than ever before. We arrived in San Jose at a bus stop which ended up being a 45 minute walk away from our hostel. With daylight and a cool breeze on our side we decided to save a few colones and walk. Talking away as we walked, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a persons barefoot on the ground and jumped to the side. To our astonishment there were people curled up inside extremely narrow cardboard boxes all along the street with just their feet sticking out. It was difficult to swallow as we looked back and realized we had walked by others already without noticing. The next block we walked in silence. This short journey through the harsh reality of poverty served to solidify our decision to not take a taxi as we made our way across downtown to our hostel, Kaps Place. Even though our feet were sore under the weight of our packs, our hearts were filled with gratitude. When we arrived at our hostel the outside of the building was very unassuming but upon entering we discovered the cutest hostel yet where each day we could play ping pong and enjoy a delicious breakfast. 

Our main reason for coming to San Jose was to meet up with our lovely friends Marcia and Fernando. However their family came down with a terrible flu and we were unable to get together. Through our understanding and disappointment, Travis and I still enjoyed a day out at the large mall. First we walked across downtown for an hour through the thickest crowds of people we have ever encountered with loud music blaring from the stores and the constant changing smells of food, garbage, sweat and waste until we found our bus. At first when we arrived at the fancy mall, as nice as CrossIron Mills in Alberta, we felt a sense of comfort and belonging. With Christmas decorations everywhere and English Christmas music playing we felt at home. But the longer we wandered around, the more we felt like we didn't belong there. Remembering the simple life we have been living, the people in boxes and now the stark contrast of the exuberant amounts of consumerism before our eyes, it made us not want the buy anything and suddenly we felt out of place. However, we did thoroughly enjoy a DQ blizzard and happily bought some protein powder from GNC to help supplement our rice filled diet. 

The bus ride home was slow, traffic was heavy as there was a marathon going through downtown. As I watched some people struggling mightily in their effort to run the race with terrible running form, I felt grateful for Travis' knowledge; knowing I have a coach for any event I pursue. Anyways, the bus had not moved for 10 minutes so we decided to join the locals and walk the rest of the way. Travis was in front of me as we rounded the front of the bus, he didn't realize the bus was in the middle of traffic. I watched as he stepped out and Instantly jumped back just before getting hit by a car. Both of our hearts were racing from the very close call for the next hour as we walked to Kaps Place and I thanked God for his protection. On our third day we spent more time researching and planning our next move north and visiting with other travellers which is always helpful.