Costa Rica

I left Mexico on Sunday morning, early. Too early. When I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, it was still only 10 AM. I came to my hotel, played on the internet until it was late enough to eat lunch, ate, sat reading by the pool for a while soaking up the Costa Rican sunshine, then came up to the room to take a nap. I spent the rest of the night in my room (you KNOW I was tired if I missed dinner!), watching TV, doing some work on the computer, appliqueing my second plaid Dresden Plate.


Monday morning, I had to leave the hotel at 6:30 AM in order to make it to my first school visit on time. How lovely to have a driver to deal with the traffic! I sat up front and practiced my halting Spanish with him all day as he drove me around the city. Did you know that they don't have actual addresses in Costa Rica? The addresses are like "200 meters north and 300 meters south of the catholic church". Can you imagine being a foreigner trying to find your way around here?


Anyway, Monday was a long day - I didn't get back to the hotel until 7:30 PM. It was all work except a quick brunch at a small corner restaurant eating a typical Costa Rican dish, gallo pinto con huevos revueltos (rice and beans with scrambled eggs). Isn't this the cutest little place with the colorful walls, the hanging bunches of onions and plantains, the coffee bags covering the ceiling? And the food was GREAT!



Today there was a bit of time between some school visits, so my driver took me to the Sr. y Sra. Ese Souvenir factory and store where they make and sell wooden souvenirs from some of the fantastic exotic wood found in Costa Rica. Of course I had to pick up a couple trinkets, wooden earrings,

a little wooden painted lizard,

and a wooden hotpad(?).

There were so many cool things there, just not many that I could 1) afford and 2) fit in my luggage. Exhibit A - this awesome carved bull's head.

This evening, I'm lounging in my room, watching TV, sewing, reading, catching up on blogs, and generally just relaxing prior to tomorrow morning's flight to Ecuador. I'm still having fun, but I SO miss my family!!