A seemingly obligatory part of backpacking in these parts of the world is that things don’t always work the way you expect. I may be a spoiled first-world kid but I do love my hot shower in the morning. In the three days I have been staying at the ‘Casa del Parque’ hostel in San Jose, the first day the thermoducha (electric shower) didn’t work and the next two days the power went off for hours (and therefore again no hot water and no WiFi either).

Noooo, don’t touch it!

Thermoduchas have been fascinating me ever since I started traveling across Latin America. Basically, it’s two electric wires connected with the shower head to warm up the water as it flows through. Some people call it the suicide shower. One of my Tico friends got a shock once. But hey, I’m willing to accept some risk to get a hot shower.

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I haven’t kept you in the loop about my current travel plans, really. My time in Costa Rica has come to an end and I am slowly making my way home to Germany. Of course not without visiting a couple of countries along the way. I definitely had to see Gonzalo in Mexico so he would stop bitching about what an awful friend I am.

Because air travel within Latin America is not so cheap I take the bus. Who doesn’t enjoy 20 hour long bus rides across several countries? My first stop was Managua, Nicaragua where I spent a couple of days. Next is Guatemala City which is as dangerous as ever (I am being told) and taxi drivers still manage to rip me off while at the same time telling me how much they admire the German people and how intelligent we are. Ha, apparently not!

Now I am on the way to the Mexican border. Should be there in 6 or 7 hours if all goes well and then switch to a bus to Mexico City which takes another 17 hours.

After 10 days in Mexico my last stop on the way to Berlin will be Chicago for Halloween. Expect me to be back in Germany by November 2.

Me in class, explaining Hulk's stretchy pants

I’m in Chicago this week, visiting my friend Marissa who is a Spanish teacher at a high school in one of the less nice areas of Chicago. It’s not a ghetto but also not the kind of neighborhood one would necessarily want to live in. Marissa suggested that I could visit her school for a day. That sounded like a great idea, considering my current Spanish skills and the fact that I have never been in a US school. Having had barely three hours of sleep, I had to get up at 6 am. Got a shower and prepared my lunch sandwiches. That alone brought back long lost memories of my school days. We got there early. I did not have to pass through the metal detector but I got a fancy yellow visitors badge and had to sign in. The security personnel (mostly women) seemed much nicer and relaxed than I had expected. The hallways look just like those from any movie involving a US high school, with the usual lockers for students, motivational slogans and countless sport trophies in showcases. The classroom is exclusively used for Spanish classes and was plastered with posters and signs with basic Spanish vocabulary and grammar. And yes, just to make sure the students don’t get confused and think they are in Mexico or Spain, there was also a prominently placed US flag…

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It’s high time for a blog update. And it was about time for me to hit the beach. I haven’t seen any beach since September 1st! Makes me wonder why I live here if I don’t take advantage of the great things Costa Rica has to offer.

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My room in San José

Some of you might have wondered why I stopped reporting about new countries I am visiting or why my location status on the website never changes. The reason is that after visiting Colombia in October I decided to settle in Costa Rica for the time being. There were different reasons for my change in plans, one of them being my financial situation that still leaves a lot to be desired. I simply have no money to finish my trip at the moment and hope that taking a break and focusing on my work will fix that. Costa Rica is the safest countries in the region and has the highest standard of living. The central valley in which the capital San José is located has a great moderate climate with 20-something degrees Celsius all year round.

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I am in Costa Rica and for the next three weeks or more I will be available under this mobile phone number: +506-57040651

You know… in case you missed hearing my voice…

Update #1: My SIM card stopped working after two days. I was told they distributed the same number twice (how is that even possible). Will have to get a new one…

Update #2: I got a new SIM card: the number is: +506-85013762