Wow, if I could have scripted the first day in a new country ... this would have been it. It started as a beautiful sunny day in paradise. Then we went to breakfast and had some decent eats...lots of fresh fruit and pastries (one with chicken inside and the other with spicy potatoes on the inside...surprisingly both good). Then on the way back to the hotel room Payton proceeded to throw up on me...strike one.
Then the rental cars arrive and everything goes smoothly...even though cars here are much smaller than what we are used to in the states. Later on in the day as I was driving Jen's new Suzuki Grand Vitara...I noticed that almost every time I pressed the accelerator, the inside lights went on...hmmm, that can't be good....strike two....gotta call National tomorrow.
Then we meet with our local counselor and go through about 2 hours of stuff, everything from ambulances to what your parents can ship you...Jen and I were spinning by the end of that one...and Kade was starting to get antsy...not a good combo. So after the lecture, I decide to run and pick us up some lunch at a local pollo place...I did not get lost...but the menu was all in Espanol so I was reduced to ordering with gigantic hand gestures...something the Ticos must have enjoyed watching. But in the end, I did get what I wanted and it was good...so that was nice.
Then a banker shows up so we can sign the papers for opening accounts. I was watching Kade and trying to do this at the same time which proved to be less than ideal...he was climbing the walls...literally. Then he decided to play "getting the groceries" since he found a shopping cart around the corner...well he proceeded to drive that into a full glass door...breaking the whole damned thing. The guy in the shop was very nice about the whole ordeal letting me know that he would be happy to get it fixed and charge the whole thing to my room....awww shucks. Strikes three, four and five.
It gets better....
Then we decide to go play on the kid play structure for a few minutes to let Kade burn off some steam...it started to rain...correction....pour. So we head inside to see what la mama is doing....she is making a grocery list...wonderful. So she finishes that up and we bomb on down to the local grocery (AutoMercado I think). The kids proceed to cry through the entire store and Jen and I are completely lost...seeing as how it took us 5 minutes just to find salt and pepper...you see salt is not called salt and it does not come in the nice Morton's can like in the good old USofA. Instead it is in a bag with Sal Sol written on the front....at least it was still white...and the back had NaCl on the bottom....score one for the old chemistry classes. Oh yeah, and at the end of the shopping experience...Payton decides to puke on me again...which is always nice.
We finally get home and slog our way through our first dinner in Costa Rica...wonderful spaghetti with Hunts sauce (something akin to ketchup) , fresh bread and a salad which Jen whipped up. All in all it was a good dinner seeing as how the kiddos ate and we got full. Amazing how your standards can change quickly.
Bath (which both kids decided to cry through) and bed (where apparently Payton puked on Jen). Afterwards, amazingly, Jen and I both laughed and said that things could have been worse....at least the hotel we are in is a nice and safe place....even if I have to replace every last piece of glass in the joint!
Well, here is to hoping that the days get better.
PS - we think Payton is not feeling all that well ;-) and my pink eye is not going away. There is some talk about a visit to the emergency room since the eye doctors are booked for the rest of the week...but "at least we have our health"
Thank You
2 years ago
4 comments:
Automercado is right. Mercado is market in Espanol and auto is auto, so it essentially means self serve market place. I remember the first automercado opened in Caracas and how happy my mother was!! And ordering from the pollo menu... priceless.
After you and CC both went through the glass on our back door, I gave up and put in plexi-glass. Maybe you should make the offer to the store owner.
Sorry to hear Payton is sick... and that you have pink eye. Don't you have any left over eye ointment from the kids?
See you a little more 48 hours!!!!
Groceries = $ ... Glass Door = $$ ... Doctor's Visit = $$$ ... Memories = Priceless!!!
Interesting. Where I'm from, we buy bags of solar salt for the water softener, not to eat.
Ah the good old days....Patty puking every time we crossed the latin border. Grandpa started to believe that I was faking to get attention. Payton will stop puking sooner or later, it may be the parasites in the water & fresh veggies. She will get used to the new ones. Oh so familiar to me. Enjoy grandma's visit - Also sounds like Erica's first visits to the Spanish grocery stores. She is now expert at the stuff. You will too .... have fun.
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