Urban poetry

This has been my home in San José for the past two weeks. I had dinner in Barrio Escalante tonight with some people from the program; it's a very chic neighborhood full of interesting cafés and small parks, and I think if I ever come back to San José I would stay there.

My neighborhood is strictly residential and adjoins a highway; the only restaurants are fast food and I buy my groceries at, I kid you not, Walmart.

But behind an unremarkable wall on my ordinary street is this oasis, a two-story glass house surrounded by garden. I love the way the front door seems to float there on its own; that's actually the living room to the right, looking through two sets of glass doors to the garden in the back. My bedroom is on the second floor behind the tree.

The Uber coming home from the restaurant took five minutes and cost two dollars, so I can easily hang out in the cool neighborhood without having to sleep there.