Grecia

Sofia woke me up at 3 in the morning, complaining that Alex was in her sleeping bag. I told her to just get in his, but she said she couldn’t. So I went and checked things out. Alex’s legs were still in his sleeping bag, and his body was twisted around and snuggled up in Sofia’s sleeping bag. She said she had been curled up under the couch. She tried to wake him up, but to no avail. So I put him in his sleeping bag properly and went back to bed.

The kids woke us up early, as usual. I watched Argentina annihilate Serbia while I made eggs for the kids. We’re eating a lot of eggs here, almost every morning.

We packed for an overnight trip to Grecia. Around 1 pm, the Sheridans picked us up to attend a choral performance at the University of Costa Rica, featuring our very own Maritza Garbanzo. We dropped Maritza off about an hour before the performance, then walked around campus. We let the kids play while we discussed possible things to do together in the following weeks.

Maritza singing in the chorus

The venue for the performance was…interesting. The performance was in the lobby of the music college. There were not very many seats and people were passing through during the show, normal traffic on their way to classes and whatnot. It seemed strange to me that a college of music wouldn’t have it’s own auditorium, or if they do, why it wasn’t being used for this. Regardless of the strange venue, the music was very nice. Maritza and her chorus sang 4 or 5 songs. They sounded great.

After the performance, we rode back to Pavas to drop Maritza off and pick up our pre-packed suitcase. By the time we got to Grecia, it was dark. We picked up some bread from Mus Manni before arriving at Vicki and Marcos’s house. It’s a polite custom to bring some bread when you come to someone’s house for a meal or coffee, etc. Bread, pastries, pan dulce (sweet bread) …something like that.

The first thing we noticed at Vicki and Marcos’s house was the additions they had added since we were last here. They now have a garage with a veranda above it. They have also added a den/family room to the back of the house.

We said goodbye to the Sheridans and got settled for the night. Vicki and Marcos have three children, Carlos Andres (6), Christopher (4), and Daniela (13 months). Our kids wasted no time in playing with them and their toys while Vicki finished making dinner. We had mac and cheese with mushrooms, rice and beans, fried yucca, and salad (salad in Costa Rica is typically shredded cabbage and carrots with a little vinegar or lemon juice).

After dinner, we were about to get the kids ready for bed, when the Fallas family started arriving. First Alice and William arrived with Inesita. Then Gaby showed up with her dog. We spent an hour or so sharing pictures and chatting.

Chatting with Gaby (left) and Alice (right) Fallas

After they left, we got the kids showered and in bed (it was after 9 by then, very late for our kids). Then Cristina and I joined Vicki and Marcos in the family room for a little more socializing. Marcos had the TV on, and since it is hard for me to follow Spanish conversations, I found myself easily distracted by the TV. Around 10:30, I suggested we head to bed because tomorrow was going to be a big day.