We finally visited Escazu (aka the Beverly Hills of Costa Rica). It was full of Americans, huge buildings, chain restaurants, malls, etc. I felt like I was back in the US for a few hours. As nice as it was to see all the familiar places, it was just as nice to leave them and go back to the quiet little town of San Ramon. Still it is good to know that a bit of US exists here and is accessible for whenever i have the urge for Outback, or Pizza hut, Victoria’s Secret, Mac…hmm I dont think i saw a starbucks…guess I’ll have to go back to investigate (and maybe do some shopping)-lol.
On the way home we sat in the worlds worst traffic jam for about 20 minutes. Luckily Will weaseled us out pretty quick and we just drove past looking at the pile of cars going absolutely no where. Amazing how we could exit the largest and most modern mall we’ve prob. ever been in, and then sit in traffic due to one broken down truck on a too narrow bridge…just seems a little backwards.
Anyway, on the way home we found a Walmart Supercenter which was AH-mazing! I was never such a Walmart fan in the states b/c the one in Chicago was in a meh area…but entering the brand new walmart here was a little bit of heaven. They had all the brands I couldn’t find, a huge selection of cheeses that I’ve been missing, and toys galore. It was brand spankin’ new, super clean, not crowded, and enormous!! I guess Santa will be making another trip to Alajuela.
All in all it was a very productive day. I found pretzels, chicken broth, and normal cheese (my how priorities have changed)! Oh and even artichokes! On our way home we decided to order a pizza and Will was going to pick it up after he dropped off Sosi and I at the house. Poor, poor daddy. After a full day of driving in and out of San Jose, he went to get the pizza which is about a 5 minute drive from the house, and ended up sitting on the road stuck behind another broke down truck for 2 hours!!! It took him longer to get a pizza 5 minutes away than it did to drive all the way to San Jose. I dont know what the deal is with trucks breaking down here, but to make matters worse, after waiting 2 hours, a police officer offered a piece of very valuable advice that prob. would have helped ohhh i dont know…2 hours prior. He showed Will (and all the other drivers stranded) a dirt road that was right behind him and lead him right up to the road to the house all within 3 minutes. Bahaha. Will left to take the dirt road and then the car in front of him got stuck in the mud and had to have 5 guys get out to push it. Gotta love it. Huge modern 3 story mall with Cartier, Ralph Lauren, etc. and dirt roads to take you home. It is all part of this adventure we are on, and though our pizza was ice cold and Sophie waited up past bedtime, it is all worth it. Slideshow below