A change of plans

The original plan was to go to Carmen’s house for a birthday party for her son Andres. But in the morning, Ramon informed us that Maritza felt very ill, so they were not going to the party. With them not going, we were not going to go either. We could have gone, but since we don’t know Carmen very well, we took the easy out and decided to stay home as well.

We went to the farmer’s market, only intending to buy a few things. We wound up buying much more than we intended to, including a CD of marimba music sold by a musician that had his marimba set up right in the middle of the street. Sofia and Alex also bought necklaces made of malachite. Sofia’s has a turtle and Alex’s has a sun/moon design. We bought a bundle of flowers to take to Nelly’s house on Monday, the day we had arranged to spend with her.

We thought about going to the Children’s Museum in San Jose, but the day had gotten a little late and Bella hadn’t had her nap yet. We had heard that you really need a full day to see the museum, so we decided to wait. That’s the luxury of being here for 6 weeks. If we don’t feel like doing something one day, there’s always another day.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the house, watching the World Cup games, and snacking on the fruit and vegetables that we just bought. We made chicken soup for dinner. It was a nice relaxing day. Rainy, of course, which just added to the comfortable feeling of staying inside and taking it easy.

The Game

Not only was today the first game of the most widely watched sporting competition in the world (right up there with the Olympics), but the opening game happened to include a little Central American country called Costa Rica. Their opponent: this year’s host of the World Cup, Germany. As a result of this momentous occasion, a national holiday was declared here. All government jobs and public schools were suspended for the morning so that everyone could watch The Game.

We took a pirate taxi to Ricardo’s house. We ran a little late and the game has just started when we got there. Ricardo is not a government employee, so unfortunately he did not have the day off. But his wife Carolina was preparing a nice lunch for everyone.

I suppose I should explain what a pirate taxi is. There are, of course, official taxis. They’re red, have a yellow emblem on their side, and use a maria, or meter. A pirate taxi is simply an individual that gives rides to people for a small fee, usually half of what a real taxi will charge. There are some places where you can get a pirate taxi, and other places where you have to use a real taxi. Where Ramon lives in Pavas, pirate taxis are common. They have been especially beneficial to us for relatively long trips, like when we went to Nelly’s to see her sister, the doctor. That round-trip cost us 6000 colones, and the driver waited for us while Ana checked Isabella out, which took about 20 minutes. A real taxi would have charged much more and probably would not have waited, or would have left the meter running. Ricardo also lives a good ways from Ramon and Maritza, so a pirate taxi was a much more economical way to go. Plus, Ramon and Maritza have certain pirate taxi drivers that they know well, so it’s a friendlier, personal type of taxi.

Although Costa Rica gave Germany a good game, they ultimately lost. Spirits were not particularly low because realistically, not many Costa Ricans expected to win this one.

The Sheridans finally showed up (they got a little lost). After the game, Carolina served an excellent lunch of salad with tuna, garbanzos, and palmito (heart of palm). Maritza had made a big platter of rice casserole with spinach and cheese, which was also delicious. After lunch, we had a little birthday celebration for Isabella. Maritza had made a chocolate bundt cake. We lit a candle, sang happy birthday, and Alex helped her blow out the candle (she gets shy as soon as the singing starts).

Maritza gave Isabella a birthday gift: a plastic bug about the size of a football that runs on batteries. When switched on, it rolls around the floor. When it bumps into something, it turns and keeps going. Its legs move, its eyes move, and its tail moves, and a flashing light oscillates in its back. And best of all (sarcasm intended) it plays this little song over and over and over. Isabella loved it. Everyone else patiently waited for the batteries to die.

The Sheridans took us home. It was a snug fit piling 10 people into their SUV, but we made it. The Sheridans hung out for a little while at Ramon and Maritza’s, but Jennifer had a cold and didn’t feel very well. They soon headed home. We ate a little dinner and got the kids in bed. Ramon and Cristina stayed up late talking about education. I tried to update my journal, but got sucked into their conversation and before we knew it, it was after midnight.

Another day without Sofia

The original plan was for the Sheridans to come into town to do paperwork with Ramón and exchange Sofia in the process. But Jennifer wasn’t feeling very well, so they decided to keep Sofia one more day instead of doing the bureaucratic stuff. So they went to the beach, Playa de Doña Ana, just south of Puntarenas beach.

Alex and I took the bus to Plaza Rohrmoser for a little outing. Alex likes to sit in the very back of the bus. “Why do people write on the seats?” he asked, in reference to the copious amounts of graffiti found in the back of the bus. I tried to explain why people do bad things. Alex wondered what the bus driver would do if he caught someone writing on his bus. He put much thought into all this as we made our way to the little mall.

At Plaza Rohrmoser, we walked around and checked out all the stores, more than we had done with Bill and Callista on Tuesday. Many of the stores just sell what I consider to be junk, low-quality goods that aren’t particularly useful. Of course, junk is relative. Some people would not consider a plastic fountain shaped like the Virgin Mary to be useless and junky. But overall, the stores didn’t have much pull on me or my wallet. We checked out the food court and decided to eat lunch there. As I’ve said before, Alex is having a hard time with the food in Costa Rica, so I thought I’d give him a break. I got Alex 2 pieces of fried chicken, French fries, 2 tortillas, and a drink for 995 colones (about 2 bucks). And the chicken was delicious, not like the stuff we bought on Tuesday night. I got my lunch from a different place. I got soup, grilled chicken breast, rice, vegetables (green beans and carrots), a teeny little salad, 2 slices of fried platanos, lemonade, and dessert (a teeny butter cookie) for 1995 colones (about 4 dollars). Overall, a great deal for lunch and very tasty (for a mall food court).

After lunch, we walked to a toy store with the hopes of finding something inexpensive that Alex could safely play with at home. We finally decided on a little basketball hoop that came with a small inflatable basketball. It even came with a little pump for the ball. Price: 2275 (about $4.50).

One of my goals for this trip was to buy a large container of chocolate ice cream. For some reason, the Palí near the house does not carry chocolate ice cream (Ramón jokingly says it’s because Palí is lower class, and the peasants don’t like chocolate). Cristina was having a hankering for chocolate the other night, so I made a mental note to pick some up the next time we went to a Mas por Menos. The only issue was whether the ice cream would survive the bus trip home. How long we might have to wait for the bus could determine how much the ice cream melts. We picked up some yogurt, some more cream cheese, and the chocolate ice cream, which happened to come with a free Frisbee (nice bonus!). After paying, we immediately headed for the bus stop.

It seemed like the ice cream gods were watching over us, because the cross walk light went green just as we approached the road. We ran across to the bus stop on the other side. So far so good. And not 3 minutes later, our bus came roaring up.

And roared right past us.

A note about busses in Costa Rica: If a bus is packed full, the driver won’t stop, even if you wave for them. About 5 minutes later, another bus for our route came. And passed us. I still had faith that the ice cream would survive. It was close to 10 minutes before another bus came. I had already decided that if a third bus passed us by, I was going to get a taxi. But the third bus stopped, and before long we were at home, ice cream safely tucked away in the freezer.

I put the basketball hoop up on the porch and was pleased with how well it worked. Alex had a great time shooting baskets and though I put the goal up pretty high, he made many of his shots.

Maritza was the only one home, as the others had walked to the Galerón to get stuff for the birthday party the next day. Soon they returned and Isabella played some basketball too.

Dinner was spinach pasta and guacamol (they drop the “e” here in Costa Rica for some reason). The kids ate fairly well. We finished off with some guayaba paste and cream cheese. I got the kids in the shower, watched a little TV, read Alex a chapter of his book, said some prayers, and got both kids down by 7:15. I updated the journal and blog, then sat with Cristina and Ramón and listened to stories about Ramón’s adventures on the farm with wood thieves (he scared them away with his gun) and duendes (literally elves, but described more like trolls).

Isabella's Birthday

I got up soon after Alex and Isabella did. I let Alex make breakfast. First he made Isabella a scrambled egg. He made sure to pick all the shells out, though she probably wouldn’t have cared if her eggs were crunchy. Then he made 3 scrambled eggs for himself. After that, he washed the dishes.

After breakfast, I let Alex watch Disney’s Pinocchio. Monday night, he had watched the last half of a live-action version of Pinocchio (with Roberto Benigni). Even though it was in Spanish, he loved it and it occurred to me that he’d never seen the Disney version. It just so happens that we brought the Disney version with us on VHS. A teacher in my department was cleaning out some old stuff and he had several Disney movies he was giving away. I scooped up three of them, and we decided to bring them down here with us and leave them here for the children in Ramón’s relatively new family to enjoy. After the movie, Alex and I walked down to Mus Manni for pastries.

Around lunchtime, Maritza’s daughter Carmen came to visit with her 5-year-old son Andrés. After lunch, Carmen drove Maritza to a doctor’s appointment, and Cristina and I took Alex, Isabella, and Andrés to La Sabana park. Andrés said it was the first time he’d ever ridden a bus!

The park was a bit wet and muddy, but the kids were undeterred. The slopped it up and made sure whoever would be washing their clothes would know they had a good time. At the lake, we saw a young man catch a fish, a tilapia. The man let Alex pose with it for a picture.

Back at home, Carmen and Andrés left and we ate a nice dinner of rice, beans, Russian salad (leftover from lunch) and a little frozen tilapia that I fried up. After dinner, we put a pineapple strudel from Mus Manni in front of Isabella, lit a candle, and sang happy birthday. She got shy, but she did blow out her candle. Not much of a celebration, but the real party is scheduled for Friday at Ricardo’s house after the football game (Costa Rica kicks off the World Cup against host country Germany).

After getting the kids to bed, I finished reading The Da Vinci Code. Very satisfying! Now I’m ready to see the movie. I’ll try to see it here, because I don’t think I want to wait 5 more weeks.

I watched a little TV in bed. On Jay Leno, Jay was talking to a country bumpkin/American Idol finalist that the Tonight Show sends to red carpet events to interview celebrities. Amazingly, her name is Kellie Pickler (my grandmother’s maiden name was Pickler) and she’s from Albemarle, where my grandparents lived! I wonder if she’s related to me!

To see more photos from this day, click here.

San Jose with the Sheridans

Thankfully, Sofia felt just fine when she woke up. She packed her backpack for a 2-night trip to the Sheridans.

Maritza went to her classes (she takes various classes on Monday and Tuesday mornings). Cristina and Ramón (and Isabella) took a taxi to do the citizenship paperwork. I needed to stay behind and wait for the maid to come. She did finally come. As she got started, I took Sofia and Alex for a walk. Jennifer and Callista Sheridan were coming for a dental appointment around 11 (their dentist is right beside Ramón and Maritza’s place).

When we got back from our walk, Cristina and Ramón were back. In typical Costa Rican fashion, they had been sent on a bureaucratic scavenger hunt to get the paperwork done. The last step they could complete this morning was to take the birth certificates to a translation lawyer. They translate forms for 6000 colones per page. Luckily, we only had 2 pages to translate, but it would take about 3 hours.

The Sheridans arrived. We gave them their stuff from Arizona (a whole suitcase full). Jennifer stayed behind to look through what we had brought and go to her appointment. The rest of us rode in the Sheridans’ car to Plaza Rohrmoser, a little mall a few miles up the road. We bought a few items from the Mas por Menos grocery store, including some guayaba empanadas.

After killing a little bit of time, we dropped our groceries off at home, then headed into San Jose to pick up the translations. We dropped Ramón off at the lawyer’s office and then drove to a little park. Despite the rain, the kids ran around and played.

We picked Ramón up and headed to the place where they needed to take the translations to finish the paperwork process. Bill and I took the kids to another park, a much bigger one. I had a feeling this could take a while (I pictured Cristina and Ramón standing in a long line) and the rain was starting to pick up, so I suggested we find a little restaurant to get a drink or maybe a snack. We asked someone where a place might be and we were directed down the block to another park. We didn’t see much there, so we continued around the corner. We basically wound up in the red light district, where some of San Jose’s most famous hotel/casinos dominate the area. The rain was really starting to come down, so we decided to duck into one of Hotel Rey’s bar/restaurants. It was early afternoon, so even though I knew we’d be in the proximity of the world’s oldest profession (remember, it’s legal here) I figured it was a relatively mild time of day for “business.”

Hotel Rey, despite how I’ve just described it, is a very clean, family-friendly establishment. It caters very obviously to tourists, and as such is a safe haven for gringos like us. There were not very many people inside, other than the “hotel girls” (several came and sat near us after we arrived, but by law they cannot initiate any conversation. Besides, with 3 children in tow, Bill and I didn’t look much like potential customers). There were several TVs showing sports from the States, like beach volleyball and strongman contests. The kids got a kick out of watching these huge guys flip gigantic tires over and over.

We finished our drinks and then headed back up to the park. I hoped we’d catch a break in the rain (we’d left most of the umbrellas in the car) but we were not that lucky. It poured. We had one big umbrella for the kids, and one small broken one that Bill and I tried to share, but finally gave up on (Bill let me use it). When we got back to the park where the car was, we saw Ramón coming towards us. Then we saw Cristina huddled under the parking attendant’s umbrellas, Isabella asleep in her sling. It turned out they had been finished for about 20 minutes. We climbed in the car, tipped the attendant a little extra for graciously covering my wife and baby, and headed back to Pavas. When we explained to Ramón where we had gone for drinks, he thought that we’d made an interesting choice, but no harm done. He was glad it was me that had gone there with Bill, because if he had taken Bill there, Jennifer would have given him hell! In all fairness to Bill, he had no idea about the variety of wares available at Hotel Rey. It was just a nice place to grab a soda.

Back at the house, it was time for Callista’s dental appointment. Bill and Ramón went in the car to buy bagels while Jennifer went with Callista. Callista finished pretty quickly and it was time for them to go. With her overnight bag packed, Sofia excitedly said goodbye to us and left with the Sheridans for their home in San Ramon.The rest of the evening was routine. Ramón and I bought some fried chicken for dinner. We got Alex and Isabella showered and in bed. Then I read The Da Vinci Code until late. I tend to avoid cultural phenomenons, and The Da Vinci Code definitely falls into that category. That’s why I hadn’t read it yet. Whenever something gets so much hype, it almost always falls short of overinflated expectations. But I must admit, 400 pages in, I’m completely hooked.

To see more photos from this day, click here.

The Nothing Day

Today was one of those classic Costa Rica days that I love. We did practically nothing. Sure, we did the usual: showers, eating, going to bed. But in between…not much. Okay, here’s the major events of this day.

The maid was supposed to come around 10 am, so we needed to get out of the house so she could clean. We were going to take a taxi to San Jose so Cristina and Ramón could get the paperwork done for Alex and Isabella’s citizenship. We spent the morning/afternoon waiting for the maid, but she never showed up. So there’s about half the day gone.

While we waited, Ramón and I managed to get the laptop hooked up to his Internet service (his computer is painfully old and slow and crashy). It took us an hour or so of trying to configure it correctly, but we finally got it. So now I can update my blog, check my email, and upload photos much faster.

After checking my email, we saw an invitation from the Sheridans for Sofia to spend a few nights with them.

Maritza made arroz con pollo for dinner. I started reading The Da Vinci Code that we’d brought for Ramón (he had gotten 140 pages into it and wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep reading…too slow, he says). Sofia started feeling sick after dinner and threw up as the kids were going to bed. She felt better after that, and we all hoped her trip to the Sheridans would not be in jeopardy. We’d have to see how she felt in the morning.

Horses in the park

Inesita Fallas, second oldest daughter of the Fallas clan (see previous journals) called this morning to arrange a visit. We suggested she come after Isabella’s nap, around 1 pm.

The kids were getting a little rambunctious, so while Cristina took her morning shower, I took all 3 kids for a walk. Being Sunday, most places were closed. The Palí was open, so at the very least, I thought we could go buy some orange juice. We stopped along the way to watch the leaf-cutter ants that were making their way down the sidewalk (got some cool pictures).

Ramón had said there was a bakery across from the Palí. Sure enough, there was my trusty Mus Manni, the chain bakery that you can generally find on every street corner in this country. He crossed the busy street, bought some pastries and bread, and headed back home.

Inesita arrived right on time and we had a nice visit. I couldn’t understand most of the conversation, but she’s doing well. She lives in San Jose, has her own car, and recently traveled to Europe.

Ricardo and his family arrived while Inesita was still visiting. We were all planning to go to lunch/dinner together at a seafood restaurant called La Princesa Marina. We didn’t want to just kick Inesita out, so we invited her along. She accepted.

The restaurant was a short drive away. It was busy and loud, and a bit warm inside. The scene was slightly chaotic while ordering, but we finally got it all done and waited for our food. My camera batteries had died earlier, so Sofia was the lone photographer for this outing. She took some cute pictures and video while we waited for our food.

They somehow forgot Alex’s order, so the poor little guy didn’t get his food when the rest of us did. Also, Cristina ordered the fish filet with avocado and was surprised at what was set before her. A plate completely covered with thick, rich creamy cheese sauce. If you know Cristina, you probably know that she is lactose-intolerant. I offered to switch her meal with mine, but she said she’d make a go of it. Alex finally got his food, then, after tasting the shrimp in his rice, decided he didn’t like them and picked them all out with his fingers. We kept telling him to use his fork, but he sometimes has a hard time not using his hands.

If dinner didn’t go very well for Alex, what happened next made up for it. Ricardo stopped at La Sabana, the park we had gone to on Friday, and to the delight of all the kids, about a dozen miniature ponies were there for the riding. In no time at all, Alex and Sofia were mounting up for a guided walk around the park. They took the short walk, about 10 minutes for 600 colones. Ramón said they only have the horses here on Sundays. It costs 600 to go for the short walk through the trees, and for 2000, you get to go all the way around the lake. He said we could come another Sunday with a picnic dinner and let the kids do the long walk. They’ll love that.

On the way home, I finally got my bearings as to where our house is in relation to San Jose. As we drove home from the park, we passed the end of the big San Jose road called Paseo Colon. During our first trip in 1994, we stayed in an apartment just off of Paseo Colon, so it’s pretty familiar territory.

Back at the house, we all sat on the porch while the kids played. They played with the tea set we brought from IKEA, they played with beeswax, and they played with our silks. For a good chunk of a half hour, the three boys wrestled and “fought” with Ramón. Ricardo (the 6-year-old, not the adult) and his brother Santiago are into Power Rangers, so that’s what they were playing. Alex just went along with the fun. If it’s physical and rowdy, sign Alex up.

After Ricardo and his family left, we showered the kids. I read Sofia and Alex a chapter of the book I’ve been reading Alex (Sofia’s already read it, but she likes to hear it again). Updated the journal and called it a night.

To see more photos from this day, click here.