Bugs and Superpizza

It’s difficult, but I’m getting accustomed to the fact that there are bugs everywhere. On my books, in my bed, on the kitchen table, on my face. Not necessarily big beetles, but little, innocuous creepy crawlies that you have to bat away. I have to suppress my first instinct to smash them dramatically, as I don’t want to appear insensitive to my host country’s ecosystem. Walking home last night, I saw the single biggest cockroach I’ve ever seen; in width probably about the size of an apple. I promptly yielded the sidewalk and went on my way. As far as the inside the house bugs go, I’ve gone as far as to propose an unlikely alliance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a semi-crippling spider phobia. I seek them out and destroy them (usually with the vacuum), I haven’t opened my apartment windows in months to keep them out, I smash them in a Kleenex which I light on fire then flush down the toilet. “Arachnophobia” at age 9 at 11:30 p.m. was a life-altering mistake.

Anyway…

As I was taking my clothes out of my bag to put in my modest closet space, I noticed in the corners there were some small, mostly undisturbed spiders living in there. I quickly moved all my clothes to the open bookcase on the other side of the room, but decided to spare the spiders and leave the closet open. My hope is that in exchange for my leniency, they’ll kill any malaria or dengue carrying mosquitoes. In addition, I’m a barefoot type of person, but not in this house. Earlier today, I was walking around barefoot when I stepped on a centipede about the size of my pinky finger. I now wear shoes everywhere.

Today was my first day at the University for Peace. Host mom started the day by making us pancakes and packing us snacks in Ziploc bags (pineapple slices and a banana); she’s been awesome. A few people have had less hospitable experiences (one person’s getting a hotel room because kids keep blasting into her room while she’s changing), but for the most part the reviews of the host families have been excellent. The bus ride was about 15 minutes zooming up a curvy, jungle road even further up the mountain. When the road wasn’t obscured by tall trees and vines, you could see miles of waxy, green coffee plants latticed all the way down the side of the mountain. When we were near the summit, we turned off to the university campus. It’s small, only about the size of my high school. All the classrooms and offices are windowed, there’s barely a concealing wall anywhere on the campus. This is probably done to take in the unbelievable view from the top of the mountain. In every direction, there’s a thin cloud cover across the middle of the green mountainsides. I went for a walk and had an Andy Griffith moment as I failed in trying to catch a wild frog. The university is somehow connected to the U.N., as their flag is all over the place. There are other international students there from all over the world, just having completed an 11-month masters course, something about peace studies. Last night, we went to a going-away party for a few of these students at a place in town called Superpizza and they were very friendly and liberal (politically and with their pizza).

The town is very hospitable to tourists, as it’s very common for local families to host students studying at the University for Peace, so among the locals you see a good number of bohemian (read: dirty) looking visitors.

Originally for tonight, we had planned to go a place called the “Shakespeare Bar” in downtown San Jose, but instead are opting to go bowling with some of the graduating UPeace people. Hopefully, I can leech some Costa Rican wisdom off them before they leave.

This entry was posted by VJ, on Monday, July 16, 2007. You can leave your response.