On the Third Day

Today was busy. We got up bright and early at 6am as usual. Thee daylight hours here are 5:30 am to 6 or 6:15pm, so we start early and get tired early too.

We drove to the Uvita school even though it was closed, to see both where it is and what it’s like. We have seen the students walking home each day we have been here. It’s typical of the schools here, with 5 or 6 cinderblock buildings surrounding a soccer field. The whole complex is surrounded by a chain link fence and everything is neat and clean but simple.

Next we went to the farmers’ market in town. Local merchants come from miles around to sell produce, baked goods, handcrafted items, and whole meals. Buses of local customers pulled in constantly as we looked over the offerings. We were able to buy some fruits and vegetables we recognized, and a few we didn’t. The vendors were very helpful and told us how to cook the more unfamiliar items. We found fresh eggs, some delicious cookies and candies, and a whole chicken. We sampled fresh orange juice (from green oranges!), sweet corn cakes, and some of the best rice pudding I ever had.

By then the Visitor’s Center was open, and I was able to get the guitar I had bought through a vendor in San Jose. For some reason it never made it to Uvita, so one of the Center’s employees picked it up on her way back from San Jose on Friday. I am happy I will be able to keep my skills up while I am here.

We also finally worked out the cell phone problem, and are able to call the States on it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t allow us to receive calls from the US, so the best ways to reach are still email, phone messages to our home phone in Savannah, or by calling the Visitor’s Center and asking them to relay a message to us.

The day was sunny (no rain until 7pm today) so we drove 10 miles south to Ojochal, a tiny enclave of counterculture folks. It’s also where the people we are renting from live. There are 3 or 4 eclectic restaurants, a coffee shop, a bakery, and a lot of retreats and cooperatives. We found a great seafood restaurant, where we had fried fish fingers, nachos, ceviche (a local specialty of mixed seafood marinated in a sweet/sour broth with spices and served ice cold- delicious!) and I enjoyed a whole fried fish (picture). We found some flavors of Fanta soda we didn’t know existed. After lunch we walked down a short path to the beach, where local fishermen were hauling in the same kinds of seafood we had just eaten( picture, but we didn't have any eels like those in the boat). When the tide had come in too far for us to swim anymore, we drove back towards Uvita to another beach. There we saw a huge iguana about two and a half feet long (picture). We swam and walked a while, and then returned to the Uvita beach we had visited Thursday. All three of these beaches belong to the same National Park, and they all have a view of the same rock formations from different angles that we see from our house patio.

We finally returned home about 5 and had a nice dinner of Costa Rican breakfast sausage and griddle cakes with sweet syrup. It was a very busy day!

Happy Fourth of July tomorrow! We don't know if there will be any celebrations here, but we will let you know what we find!

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