DCWB Costa Rica 2010
Day 9 - August 8, 2010 - San Jose
This was the team’s last full day in Costa Rica. We woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and drove to San Jose to do some souvenir shopping before our afternoon game. On our way to the flea market some of us stopped for a Costa Rican churro: fried dough filled with caramel and coated in sugar, which was probably one of the best sweets we had down there. The flea market was a long row of vendors selling various items including t-shirts, jewelry, pottery and much more. We shopped around there for about an hour and then headed over to a restaurant across the street called “Nuestra Tierra” (Our Land) for lunch. This was a very unique restaurant. It was split into two levels and had interesting decorations like cups and mugs hanging from the ceiling. The food was delicious. They served the standard Costa Rican chicken or fish dishes with rice, beans and plantains. After lunch we headed over to a private Costa Rican country club for our final game against one of the national teams. This was the nicest facility we had seen and played at since arriving to Costa Rica. Not only was there a basketball court, but surrounding us was a private restaurant, swimming pool, tennis courts and a shopping area. The team had some of the same players as the first national team we played. Even though we lost, it was still a really good game. The biggest thing we learned was the style of play in Costa Rica is very different than in the US. The Costa Rican teams were very physical and played rough and tended to foul (a lot). The referees didn’t call these fouls either because it’s considered fair play there, so that didn’t necessarily work to our advantage. Regardless, it was still a really great experience for our team. After the game we headed back to the hotel for our farewell dinner. Since we spent the majority of our time in Costa Rica in workout clothing everyone decided to get dressed up for our final meal. The hotel set up an elegant candlelit table for the entire team, where we ate our last traditional Costa Rican dish followed up by an incredible ice cream sundae.
