San Ramon

Maritza made an executive decision: we should just take the car without the spare instead of waiting and waiting and losing more time. To save time and gas, we decided to pack quickly for our overnight and all ride with Chino to pick up the car.

By leaving for San Ramon from Ricardo’s house, where we picked up the car, we probably saved about 30 minutes of car time. It only took about 45 minutes to get to San Ramon. We had a little trouble following the directions Bill gave us, but we found their house. The Sheridans are renting a house while they build (or make ready to build) their own house.

After getting a tour of their house, we drove into town to eat lunch at one of their favorite sodas. I offered to cook dinner for them, so Jennifer and Cristina went to the grocery store and the rest of us went home. Bill and I watched the rest of the soccer game and talked about everything from furniture to satellite TV. Isabella played nicely with the girls and Alex watched one of our DVDs (Tarzan) in Jen and Bill’s room.

When the girls returned, we decided that after eating such a big lunch late in the day that I would cook for them the following day. So for tonight, we just made a light supper of fresh fruit salad, avocado, and tomato. We also ate the leftover arroz con pollo from lunch.

Exploring the sugar cane field behind the Sheridans' house

Bill and I took the kids on a little hike around their property. We decided against going on the “jungle” path, since I had Isabella in the sling. One of their neighbors has some cows and horses, so we checked those out.

Playing in the rain

After getting the kids to bed, Jennifer’s massage therapist Edgar came over to give Cristina a much-needed massage. It didn’t seem that we would get back to Nelly’s for her to give Cristina a massage, so Edgar was the next best choice. Edgar is fairly new at massage therapy, but he’s fully trained and gaining experience with every job. He gave Cristina a two-hour massage for 10,000 colones (20 bucks)! Jen has a massage table, so while they did their thing in the living room, I sat with Jen and Bill on the back porch. We chatted quietly and listened to the night, which included the amusing sounds of a distant Karaoke bar.

After the massage, Cristina had a cup of hot tea and then we went to bed.