Nomadic Narrative

I had such low expectations about the “art, music and rave” event in downtown San José, Costa Rica. When I first picked up the flier at the Q’Café in the city center, I thought I was looking at an advertisement for a local club. Word-of-mouth, I come to find out that the plan was to have a street party. A rave party in the center of downtown San José — nobody will go, or who would WANT to go. When I looked at the flier more closely, I read at the top that “El corazón de San José esta despertando (in English: the heart of San José is waking up),” and that inspired me to check it out.

I’ve noticed over the past few months that the downtown area has a new energy. There’s life on the cobblestone pedestrian streets these days. It’s a place many people actually fear, especially at night, and this event had plans to go past sunset – 8 p.m. – not until the wee hours of the morning, but pretty brave considering the city’s reputation.

Passing La Plaza de La Cultura along the main pedestrian walkway, I could hear the music pulsating and reverberating off of the crumbling city buildings. I had never seen so many people in the center. I spot the metal stage. It’s smoky. Lasers draw lines of green and pink across the stage and adjacent buildings. A DJ spins in the middle flanked by two lithe male go-go dancers working the crowd into a frenzy. It reminded me of San Diego, California’s gay pride festival when the long awaited Rich’s float finally passed by.

Police presence was apparent but not omnipresent. The streets were so crowded that I got lifted off of my feet as bodies pressed together making their way around the stage. It was chaotic but at the same time I felt safe. Everyone was so energized and focused on the music that the usual crowd scuffles were rare or only fleeting. The only place you didn’t see people, where you might expect them, was dangling from the windows and balconies of surrounding buildings. The Q’Café terrace was the only packed upper-level area. With most downtown buildings vacant or only occupied on the first floor, it’s just another reminder of how new it is to invite life downtown.

News crews were everywhere. One journalist jumped up on stage and yelled into his yellow-tipped microphone to “lift your hands up so everyone can see the party that’s happening in San José!” Without a doubt, if it were not caught on camera, nobody would believe it. Take a look at the video below and imagine the loud electronic beat ricocheting from the buildings encircling a crowd of young people and thrill seekers both in rapture and in disbelief.