Urban poetry

A thoroughly overloaded pickup truck parked by the Zapote market in San José—flashback from the summer of '22.

Urban poetry

Two more classes and I'm done, but in the meantime I'm crazy busy.

But this picture made me smile on yet another gray cold day: El Parque John F. Kennedy in San José last year. I spent a lot of time waiting for buses next to this park.

I am half-sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott

It is unrelentingly gray and gloomy here; winter has barely arrived and I'm already tired of it. Tuesday I had jury duty, and though I had magazines and puzzles and my Kindle, I was bored and fidgety. It was raining but I went for a walk at lunch just to get some fresh air; I stepped on what looked like a wet patch of sidewalk and found myself ankle-deep in ice water. So I spent the afternoon bored and fidgety with cold wet feet.

Here's a pleasant memory from last summer: a Saturday market in San José. I skipped an all-day beach excursion to meet up with a friend. We ate arepas and bought fruit and listened to live music and then walked around the park. It was a lovely day.

Urban poetry

I thought I must have posted this picture already, but apparently not.

I loved the way this van, in the Guadalupe district of San José, coordinates so perfectly with the startling green on that building. Does the driver park there on purpose?

Plaza de la Libertad Electoral

In downtown San José.

Urban poetry

The brutal storm surges flowing through the Florida streets this week reminded me of these gutters in San José. There are steps and ramps—usually— for crossing them, but it's one more thing that made navigating San José challenging.

Urban poetry

I love the tropical colors on these buildings on my street in San José.

I'm teaching the first classes in my practicum tomorrow and I'm still cobbling together lesson plans and activities. Last night I dreamed that I tested positive for Covid and couldn't teach. I already knew that I was stressed out; having my brain suggest that coming down with Covid might be a lucky break just confirmed it.

Garden break

Here's a pastoral interlude: light on the leaves in my garden in San José.

Urban poetry

I have no idea what this contraption is—it was on top of a truck driving down the street in my neighborhood in San José. I would have liked to get better pictures of it, but if I hadn't already had my camera in hand, I wouldn't even have gotten this one.

Y una bicicleta

It's missing the elaborate decorations but the red on this bicycle (at the language school) reminds me of the carretas.

Fruit p**n

Some more bananas, just because they are so photogenic. And a portrait of the pineapple that I bought at the market. It smelled so divine that I hesitated to cut into it, thinking it couldn't possibly taste as good as it smelled.

But it did.

Yes, they had no bananas

Some of the vendors. No, they weren't all selling bananas, but it was definitely the most common fruit for sale.

People at the market

This is kind of a crappy picture, but when I wandering through the market I was too mesmerized by the food for sale—and taking pictures of that—to try to take many pictures of the other shoppers. And it was really crowded, so the few pictures I did take were uninspiring.

When my bag was getting too heavy to lug around any more and I still had half an hour before meeting up with the group for our ride back to the school, I went to the food stands along one end of the market and bought an empanada so I could sit down. You couldn't see much of the market from where I was sitting but I was too lazy to walk around any more, and so this is the best I've got.

Farmers' market

The first weekend in San José we went to the Zapote market. It was hot and crowded and I am still dreaming of the beautiful, ridiculously inexpensive fruits and vegetables I bought there: pineapple and watermelon and avocados and mangos and carrots.

Saturday reflections

Downtown San José.

Urban poetry

Tires against a garage wall in downtown San José.

Saturday reflections

I love the way the bottom two sections of the sign reflect the neighborhood, as a noirish constrast to the bright colors for the party store.

I took this from the bus on our way out of San José on one of our excursions.

Urban poetry

Classes for my final semester started tonight. Here's a reasonable approximation of my neural wiring at the moment.

Winged insect break

I'm in the mood for something simple and beautiful tonight, so I wanted to post a picture of one of the many butterflies I saw in Costa Rica. I'm pretty sure that this guy, in my garden in San José, is actually a moth rather than a butterfly, but it will do.

I love that fuzzy blue body. It looks as though it hasn't quite given up on being a caterpillar.

Mas Mercado Central

The market is labyrinthine, and despite these pictures, was very crowded when we were there, so I was ready to leave about ten minutes after I got there.