31/12/09 - day 22.

got up at 7 to go down to the bus station to get my ticket to nicaragua. i wanted it for the 2nd january but there werent any seats left so had to go on the 3rd. was pretty annoying i really didnt need or want the extra day in san jose.

got bak to the hostel around half 8 and had breakfast. around 11AM me and another geezer in the dorm - carl from australia - walked into a suburb of san jose called zapote where they have "fiestas de zapote" every year in the week between xmas and new yrs. they had loads of food stalls, beer stands, fairground rides and the main attraction for many, includng myself, bullfighting.

very pretty hungry after the 40 minute stroll down there so had a big bowl of rice and huge chunks of beef. around walking around a bit and surveying the sights, we bought our tickets for the bullighting which takes place in an arena with about a 7000 capacity crowd. it started about 2pm and finished about 6. and it was very entertaining! they used 12 bulls, each given about 20 mins in the arena with about 200 odd people all running away from it and teasing it until it did charge at them, at which point they'd run like crazy and leap over the surrounding walls. when the bull actually made contact with someone the crowd loved it,

at one point a particularly large bull managed to jump over the wall which scared the hell outta the spectators in that section of the crowd. when they needed to get the bulls back in their pen, blokes came out on horses and lassooed them around their horns to get them to go back in.

on the way back to the hostel, we stopped to pick up some beers for the evening, and had some dinner. the evening itself was spent with an ozzie family that were staying at the hostel, carl from the dorm and nathan - a highly entertaining and funny american guy who was working there.

had a few beers then went up to the top floor which opens up onto a terrace to watch the fireworks. went to bed around 2.