Diez y Siete

A quiet day around our village, following our big trip to the city.

We began by doing some business, including extracting colones from the ATM, buying a new international calling card, and reserving our Marine excursion to see whales and dolphins during our last week here.

We’ve been enjoying almost daily a local specialty called a refresco. It’s a fruity drink that traditionally accompanies lunch, but a lot of people enjoy it in the morning too. Raw sugar is sold in the store here in round cakes called cano. It is boiled with water (for the agua dulce version) or steeped in milk (for the leche dulce kind). Then fruit juice is added. Popular flavors are blackberry (mora), orange (naranja), strawberry (fresa), and pineapple (pina). Finally, the whole concoction is mixed in a blender with crushed ice, and poured into an old fashioned milkshake glass. About $1.25. Deliciosa!



Saturday is the day for the Uvita Feria (open air farmer’s market) so we stopped by and got our weekly supply of fresh produce, bread, and interesting fruits and vegetables.

While we were in San Jose this week, we got a soccer ball for our little friend Donne. You might remember the one he had was torn up and ragged when he was playing with Sarah and Samuel. At first he didn’t understand that the new ball was for him to keep. Once he did, his eyes and smile lit up, and he was the proudest young man in Uvita. It came with a net bag, and he kept it with him all day.

He quickly ran to the soda, to show his mom and family, and he and the kids played for quite a while Amy and I shopped and used the wi-fi.



We had also decided to donate our (worthless) mini notebook computer to the nice gentleman who helped us get a good price on our new laptop. He runs a quasi-not for profit-school, teaching English and computer skills and providing internet service to the local residents for free or at very low cost. He was overjoyed to get the computer, which he plans to use (once he reinstalls Windows and fixes the keyboard problem) to help the local children like Donne learn basic computing skills. Most families have no computer, and we doubt the schools are set up either, so for children to get any exposure to computers and the world they open up, they need places like our friend’s school.

A few pics from the last few weeks to share:

Giant roach in a shed at the zipline place. The board on the right side wall is a 1 x 4.

Bats from the same place.

The sign in the “college” diner in San Jose says “This is not a urinal. It is a sink”

Hand hewn picnic table in a park in San Jose. Rough cut logs are used for all types of things here.

Sarah really like casado plates with rice and beans. I think she’s part Hispanic.

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Self portrait.

Early to bed. Church tomorrow