Escazu & Alajuela

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

Oh and the day continues…

So after the car gets stuck in a ditch, we get home to a lovely present from Chester…the cats bring us dead mice and Chester brings us dead armadillos…wonderful. When we pulled up to the house we saw huge black birds circling the yard and Will said, yup something is dead. Thanks Chester (hurl).

 

Costa Rica’s version of Triple A

Well we had our first off-roading experience in CR. I guess it is some form of initiation b/c it seems everyone gets stuck at some point here. We were on our way home from Villa Blanca breakfast when the car just slowly slid into a mud ditch. It was so slow that i was sitting in the back asking Will why he was pulling over, and he was like, ummm I’m not…lol. A few minutes later i look at Sophie and she is higher than me just chillin out. The passenger side of the car was stuck in a pile of mud and after a few failed attempts to get back on the road, Will decided to get out and see exactly how stuck we were. Apparently a farmer heard the engine an struggle and came out to see what was going on. Lucky for us he said “uno momento” and came back with a big ole tractor and a huge chain to hook up to our car. It literally took all of 5 minutes and he pulled us on out and we went on our merry way. The guys were super friendly and said people get stuck there all the time, so apparently they knew just what to do!

 

Sosi turns 18 months!

Well our little princess is officially 1 and 1/2. OMG! Where is the time going?! I have to do a full update on all her accomplishments but I am on hold with a bank right now b/c they screwed up on some deposit and I can’t fully concentrate. Sooo, here are some pics from her 18 months birthday! We took her to get a bag of her favorite popcorn and then went and celebrated with her favorite strawberry milkshake! We walked over to watch a parade but the streets started to get jam packed with families and I could see daddy getting clammy, so we headed out before the parade started. It prob. started an hour late (Costa Rica time) so I dont think we would have seen much anyway. Soph didnt seem to mind…she was too busy digesting her big ole milkshake. Happy Bday little Pookie, poo-poo, peekachu, sosi, iggs (each birthday brings more nicknames). We love you and are so insanely proud of you. Love your number 1 fans, Mommy and Daddy! XOXOXOXO

Our first BBQ (or as Will would say “Grill Out”) in CR

Well the sun was finally shining again today, and daddy decided he wanted to give the wood burning grill a go. I think he just needed to get his fire fix and since it was finally too warm to build one inside, he decided it was time to build one outside (your daddy has a thing for collecting firewood and building fires in a very non-pyro type of way). Anyway, lucky us because he sure did cook an awesome dinner! We all played outside while the grill was going and watched the sun go down. Daddy made fish on the grill, baked potato, and broccoli. It was perfect!! You invented a new game of hiding under the hammock and popping out with a big goofy smile. You ran around in the grass, played with the pups and cats, picked some fruits off the trees, and just entertained us with your silliness. After dinner we all shared a bag of animal crackers, shut off all the lights, and went on the deck to look at all the stars in the sky. You chatted up a storm and just snacked on your cookies looking up at the sky. What a fantastic night! XO. Slideshow below (you can see why they call it a cloud forest. Some amazing pics of the clouds and view off our deck).

Hiking and a gazillion pics of Sosi on swings

Today we pretty much hung around the house while daddy got some work done. This morning Sosi and mommy hung out in the kitchen with Maritza and she taught us how to make Gallo Pinto. Mommy tried to make this 3 times this past week and finally gave in and asked Maritza to teach her. Sosi chomped on grapes the entire time and just watched all the cooking going down.

Later in the afternoon when daddy finished work he thought it would be a great idea for us all to go hiking on this trail Alexis showed him…ummm…yea…not so much. It was daddy, mommy, Sophie, Firu, Chester, and Betsy (we left charles behind since he prob. would have chased some animal 5 times his size and got us all killed). Consider Charles lucky after the adventure Daddy took us on. The trail was full of cow doodie and of course Sophie wanted to walk and not be held. All the cow doodie finally led us to the herd of cows that Chester decided to try and chase, not realizing that he was grossly outnumbered, and all of a sudden the herd of cows line up and start marching towards us (thanks Chester). I would have taken a pic if I wasnt busy crapping my pants. I thought cows just grazed and people did things like tip them, etc. Apparently Costa Rican cows don’t mess around. Obviously we survived since I am here to write this blog. I think i’ll be sticking to the man made trails at Villa Blanca where one can whistle and snap pics of the friendly hummingbirds. Oh my husband and his secret inner yearning to fulfill some sort of man vs. wild character he was in a past life. Anyway, Sophie didnt seem to mind dodging cow doo and herds so if she is happy then the hike was still a success in my opinion.

After the hike Sosi got nutty on the swingset and just had a blast. There are a ton of pics b/c i just couldnt decide which to edit since her face was so hilarious in all of them. They are such typical excited Sophie faces that I just had to keep them all. She was pulling out all the silliness with her silent scream face, clenched fists, feet in the air and crinkled nose smile. Guess i’ll be going to wash the bottom of all our sneakers now. XO

Daddy bought the dishwasher detergent

So, aside from any type of broth, apparently dishwasher detergent is not very easy to come by here either. I guess us spoiled Americans are used to throwing everything in the dishwasher, while the Ticos do it Nana style and actually scrub the dishes in the sink one by one. Anyway, we have checked about 4 or 5 different stores and they have all only had dish soap for the hands. Keep in mind we are trying to figure this all out in another language so basically if i see a picture of hands, or the word “manos” I know that it is not for the dishwasher. Apparently it is so rare here in San Ramon that our housekeeper didnt even know how to say dishwashing detergent in Spanish. Anyway, on our way home from getting strawberries, we stopped at the mall and since Sophie was sleeping I stayed in the car with her while Will ran in to see if they had any dishwasher detergent. Alas, he says he found it b/c the man in the store (after trying to ask 3 people who clearly had no clue what he was talking about) said he thought you could use it in the dishwasher as well. Below is what happens when two men pick out dishwashing detergent…

Saturday morning in San Ramon

Here are some pics from Saturday morning here. Every morning when Sosi wakes up she wants her daddy to take her outside and they go pick some clementines and bananas and eat them in the rocking chair. The nugget now has a new love for clementines and will just keep shoving them in her mouth. I think the most her and daddy split was 5 in one sitting. She is typically at 2 per morning and then a banana to wash them down. Chester was just chillin in his little cubby and the other pups were lounging/exploring. Mommy was doing some laundry, sipping her coffee, and of course, taking pics! I just love the mornings here…i wouldn’t mind if they started a bit later (ehem, Sophie), but it is def. nice to be able to go outside and pick your fruits off the trees, watch the animals all play, and sip some nice strong coffee (ehem, Sophie). Pics below 🙂