Fútbol and Puntarenas Weekend

Two weeks ago, I had my first experience with watching a real soccer game in Costa Rica at the Estadio Nacional (National Stadium). A bunch of my friends and I took the bus into San José (the capital) to see Saprissa vs. Belén. Saprissa is San José's regional team, and Belén is a team from a much smaller town, so most people there were Saprissistas. I even wore maroon just so I would fit in! We definitely expected a blowout, and Saprissa did dominate the whole game, but never scored. Final score 0-0. Oh yeah that's why I don't like watching soccer that often... I think my favorite part was listening to all the Ticos get really into the game--when something bad happened or the ref made a bad call there was a loud chorus of "PUTA!!" (bitch!) from the stadium. Thinking about the equivalent happening in the States made me laugh.


The stadium:

Inside! Not bad seating for just 3 mil colones ($6)

Corner kick! (Saprissa in maroon, Belén in white)

The soccer game was on Thursday, and then on Friday I was lucky enough to go to another sporting event... To see my friend Alex (also in my program) play volleyball with our university team (UNA)! I'm very jealous of him. It was cool to compare volleyball-playing styles between the US and CR. It was just a scrimmage, but they still won! Afterwards a few of us hung out with the volleyball team so it was nice to meet some more Ticos. (UNA is on the left)

On Saturday morning, I got up really early to go to Carnavales in Puntarenas, the biggest carnival/ festival in Costa Rica. It lasted about 10 days. Definitely pretty crazy. Just lots and lots of Ticos (many drunk), but it overall was very much just a very large festival on the beach! We saw some live music, hung out on the beach, and walked around the town.

 Beach!

Highlight of the trip: bowl of fruit with ice cream... Costa Ricans know how to do it right!

I spent that night in a tent on the beach in Puntarenas, just like many many many other Ticos did. It was definitely not a place where any other gringos were hanging out. I should have taken pictures of the massive number of tents there were, it was pretty crazy. And dirty. Puntarenas is also really HOT! Definitely didn't ever get cooler than 75, and was probably around 90 degrees during the day. Taking a shower when I got home was very nice. When we got back to Barva, my friend Alex and I treated ourselves to a lovely sushi lunch. It was pretty good- it was no Sushi Hana though. And the wasabi wasn't spicy and the soy sauce was very sweet. We joked that next time we're going to have to bring our own! 

Although we tried a nicer place last night (3/1) and they had real soy sauce and wasabi, thank goodness. The new place is bigger and way more intense, actually comparable to the sushi I'm spoiled with in the States.