Disillusionment

The small craft group met for the first time on Thursday. We are making crafts for a large Advent bazaar that the community plans to organize together with the German school.

In the evening, a concert took place at the Humboldt School. The singer philosophized more about her singing than she actually sang. We left the event after about 45 minutes, but the school is only a good 10-minute walk from our house.

The constant traffic noise is slowly wearing me down. And it's especially hard on me at night. For the past few days, the sun hasn't shown its face; it's been gray and dreary. Today it started raining first thing in the morning, but it was dry in the city.

Yesterday we took our first ride into the city center with Uber, a taxi service you order via app. The app automatically shares your location, and you can then see on your phone where the taxi is and when it will arrive, as well as the car type and license plate number. In the taxi, you give the code you received shortly beforehand. And the fare is automatically charged. Very convenient.

However, we found that San José is absolutely not worth visiting as a city. It's loud and garish everywhere, there are hardly any attractive buildings, and the whole cityscape is impoverished. On the narrow median strips, you often see mothers with their children in their arms, trying to sell a few sweets. The children are often asleep because they've been sedated. I had imagined Costa Rica to be completely different, especially since it's also called the Switzerland of Central America. We were glad to be "home" again and found it quite peaceful here.

Handling the local currency – €1 is approximately 580 colones – is still a bit tricky due to the many zeros, but we usually pay with our mobile phones. Prices are generally much higher than at home; only fruit and vegetables are significantly cheaper.