The Poltergeist Leaves Us Powerless

9:30 pm: Reporting from the Wilson House at Las Cruces Biological Station. We lost electricity about ten minutes ago. Word at the station is that Robert and Catherine Wilson, the couple that originally built the house we're staying in and built up the botanical garden that is now part of the station, have been known to be present in their old house, if you catch my drift. So naturally, once the lights go out, the class starts joking about the ghostly apparitions of the Wilsons walking around the house, and the boys obviously proceed to hide behind dark corners with the express purpose of scaring the girls. It's great fun.

For whatever reason, we have no lights, but the wireless router is still in good working condition which is what brings my to my blog tonight. I am in the classroom of the Wilson House, because it's the only place where I get a reliable connection to the internet. My classmate Chelsea is sitting next to me reading our homework assignment by headlamp. We made sure to close the door when we came down here because bats have gotten stuck in here before when the door wasn't closed at night. Welcome to pura vida in Costa Rica!

I compiled a list of things I've noticed about Costa Rica in the last couple days:

• Most establishments (houses and businesses), especially in San Jose, are enclosed by wrought iron fences and sometimes even with coils of barbed wire. Windows and doors have wrought iron bars on them as well. It's very sinister looking, but I assume the latter is so that the houses can be open to air circulation without danger of intrusion by unwelcome guests.
  
• Theres one know on bathroom sinks marked H, but the water is not hot - it's helado (cold). I remember this from the poem H y C we read in Span 3101 that talks about how H and C mean hot and cold on American faucets but helado (cold) and caliente (hot)- it's backwards - on Latin American facuests. The poem was about how American culture is dominant over Latin American culture - even hegemonic.
  
• Strets are seldom marked with signs, which is frustrating for people like me who like to figure out the geography of a new place. No signs means I need to pull out a map and a compass in order to figure it out.
  
• "No left turn" signs read "No virar a la izquierda." Virar is a Spanish verb I've never seen before.
  
• Phone numbers are eight digits long, and the telecommunication system in Costa Rica is owned by the government. Because of this, foreigners can't purchase cell phones here, but they can rent them for $10/day + usage! What a deal.
  
• Useful fact for navigation: the front doors of churches always face west.
  
• Caskets are not buried - every cemetery I've seen has above ground graves that are almost like mini-mausoleums.