Nacido Para Matar

Above: Toruma International Youth Hostel in San José, Costa Rica.

Saturday 20th February 1988

I awoke at 05:00 hrs. and true to form, because I was already up and packing, the alarm clock squealed right on cue at 05:30 hrs. I boarded the minibus which left promptly at 06:00 hrs. and we headed back through the run-down town of Quepos and the United Brands palm oil plantations.

The early history of the oil palm in Central America is largely the history of the crop with the United Fruit Company. Even though the major interest of the United Fruit Company since the last years of the 19th century had been the production and exportation of bananas, an interest in crop diversification has been long standing. The commercial exploitation of oil palm plantations started in Costa Rica in 1944, with the first plantings in the Parrita zone, near Quepos, Costa Rica, as an alternative for the land abandoned by the banana industry in the Central Pacific Zone of the country.

We made good time until we reached the mountains, where the bus laboured up the winding roads and used the gears to brake when going down the steep inclines. We got to San José at 09:30 hrs. and I set off along Avenida 1 on the now familiar haul across town to the Toruma Youth Hostel.

I bought some peanuts from one of the many open-fronted grocery stores near the bus depot. I called into the OTEC Travel Agent to reconfirm Tuesday’s flight on the way. I had breakfast in Room 7, consisting of peanuts and litre of milk.

I then went back downtown to eat bananas and mandarins in the sunny square behind the National Theatre while a clown entertained a crowd of children and vendors sold bubble-blowing kits. Construction of the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica began in the later part of the 19th Century. At that point in time, Costa Rica had a minuscule population. And in San Jose, it just reached 20,000 but during this period it was time for growth with Costa Rica’s main export being coffee. This gave a very prestigious crowd of people to be an audience of the National Theatre.

To build the theatre, the president at the time placed a tax on coffee and raised enough money to support building such a theatre. The Teatro Nacional had problems when they began construction, but they brought in an Italian Architect to rectify any problems and make building go smoothly. Even with the new designer, the building process was rather slow and was not completed until October 1897.

I browsed in the huge Lehmann’s bookshop on Avenida Central and bought postcards from the “Bookstore”. The walk back to the hostel was a bit of an effort, so when I got there, I had an exotic natural fruit juice and a short nap.

The effeminate looking fellow in the canteen shook my hand warmly and welcomed me back, delighted to be practicing his pidgin English. I slept until 16:30 hrs. when loud music from the band The Psychedelic Furs blared from the common room.

I read my book “Whirlwind” for a bit and had supper at 18:00 hrs. “Whirlwind” is a novel by James Clavell, first published in 1986. It forms part of The Asian Saga and is chronologically the last book in the series.

Set in Iran in early 1979, it follows the fortunes of a group of Struans helicopter pilots, Iranian officials and oil men and their families in the turmoil surrounding the fall of the Iranian monarchy and the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Like many of Clavell's novels, it is very long and is composed of many interweaving plot strands involving a large cast of characters, as well as a detailed portrayal of Iranian culture.

As I was eating a coach load of Cub Scouts arrived at the hostel bringing an end to the tranquility. At 18:45 hrs I walked down the hill to the Cinema Bellavista to see “Full Metal Jacket”, or “Nacido Para Matar”, which I had seen before.

It was a great film, difficult to believe that it was shot in the U.K. It was also an opportunity to learn the myriad swear words presented in the Spanish subtitles! Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel The Short-Timers and stars Matthew Modine, Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio and Adam Baldwin.

The storyline follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their boot camp training in Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, primarily focusing on privates Joker and Pyle, who struggle under their abusive drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second half of the film portrays the experiences of two of the platoon's Marines in Vietnamese cities Da Nang and Huế during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. The film's title refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by military servicemen.

I got back to the Youth Hostel feeling very tired at 21:00 hrs., sterilised some water to quench my thirst and went to bed.