It’s hard to believe that 2014 is almost over and we need to start planing ahead for 2015. This is the time when we enter existential crises and begin asking ourselves the same questions from years past: Am I getting that promotion or should I start looking for greener pastures? Am I getting married? Should I get a dog or a cat? Where should I go for my next vacation? If you insist on taking suggestions from us; we have a jobs section, Walter Mercado has a dating site, Felix the office dog turned 1 and you should go to Costa Rica in 2015.
It’s been exactly six months since my trip to San José, Costa Rica, courtesy of the great folks from Festival Epicentro. I landed expecting a sleepy town where I was going to be awoken by the chirps of birds and a servant monkey feeding me grapes while I listened to a marimba banda in a hammock. But my theory was put to rest as soon as I landed, because I could feel the loud heartbeats of this sleeping giant of alternative culture for me and others to enjoy.
Camera in hand, I went on to document the inaugural Epicentro and everyday life in San José. Please note that some of the shots might be blurry, contain selfies, and nudity among other great things, but that’s what happens when you send a music lover to music paradise. And based on my experience last year, I can confidently give you five reasons why you need to book your flight and check this festival out:
1
THE FOOD
I get really bad anxiety from traveling, meaning that I don’t sleep the night before, can’t sleep on planes, and get easily irritated by families with children under five who torment other passengers on long flights. As I landed in San Jose my host saw my need to get food and beer into my system, so we headed to La Casona de Laly in Escazú.
If you’re feeling like Anthony Bourdain, I highly recommend Dados, Patrulla (can’t call it Chifrijo because of legal reasons), and an Imperial pa la calol.
2
LOS TICOS
As seen in the previous video, us New Yorkers have a little bit of an attitude problem, but Ticos are the total opposite. Seriously, they are so nice that I forcefully volunteered Adriana Ramirez and Diego Arias to be part of a linguistic experiment in the middle of a parking lot.
Can Ticos roll their tongue? Can they growl (GRRRR) like a tiger? Check it out below.
3
COSTA RICAN NIGHTLIFE
Where else are you going to find a picture of Lalo Rojas in a bathroom mirror outside of Mexico? Try the Hoxton in San José, Costa Rica.
In four days I got to see performances by Astro, Bomba Estéreo, Descarte A Kant, 424, Colornoise, Siete Catorce, Clubz, The Great Wilderness, Mexican Institute of Sound, Andrés Gualdrón y Los Animales Blanco, and the best fucking band ever Monte while drinking lots of guaro and plenty of beer to keep me going until 4 AM four nights in a row.
4
FIA & FERIA VERDE DE ARANJUEZ
The Festival Internacional de las Artes happens every other year, meaning that it won’t happen in 2015, but don’t let this be an excuse. Every Saturday morning, lovers of everything organic gather around la Feria Verde de Aranjuez. The combination of great food and clean air will help you recover from the last remains of la cruda from the night before. There’s a rumor going around that Epicentro will have its own outdoor event on Saturday the 28th
If you get lucky, you might bump into a pop-up shop by the guys from Revival Streetwear.
5
EPICENTRO
Don’t wait for the dinosaurs atop the music industry food chain or your local governments to give you the tools necessary to help grow an alternative scene, because that’s not going to happen. We now live in a world where anything can happen with the click of a mouse pad. Roberto Montero and his team saw the need for creating a dialog open to anyone in the alternative scene, and to create awareness of what’s being done there for us to see.