More Stuff and Nonsense

Only 2 Days Left!

Okay, so as of this evening, we only have 2 more days in Costa Rica left. It doesn't feel possible it could be almost over so quickly. Just the other day, I was walking into my bathroom, and realizing I was really in another country. For those who don't know, the Costa Rican sewage system isn't equipped to handle as much as US sewage systems; for this reason, you can't flush toilet paper. In the nearly 2 weeks we've been here, I've seen one toilet that you were allowed to flush toilet paper in. All other toilets have little trash cans next to them for the paper.

This morning, I did NOT want to get up. Under no uncertain terms did I want to crawl out of bed; I had the alarm set for 6:30. I tried to reset the alarm, and managed to hit the button to turn the radio on. Then, I couldn't get it turned off, so had to turn the light on. I did manage to turn the radio off, and reset the alarm for 6:40. I know, I know, 10 minutes. Big deal. But it sure felt like a big deal this morning!

They had fresh mango at breakfast, as well as kiwi fruit. No pineapple, but the mango made up for it. They know us there now, so they know to ask if I want hot chocolate, since I don't drink coffee. It was lovely. And our usual driver picked us up this morning; he doesn't speak English, we don't speak Spanish, but he's so nice, and we trust him. He drives the director of the center, when she's here, and the company pays him. He's really sweet; on Friday night, when he dropped us off at the hotel, he made sure he had his phone number, so that if we needed him, we could call him. I'm not sure how we could have communicated with him, but it was really sweet for him to offer.

Work was pretty good this morning, aside from trying to stay awake. It's hard to transition from being on the phones, and actually being the one responsible for getting things done, to observing someone else. Today, the person I sat with was very good. She's one of the CSRs who's been there the longest; it'll be a year in July for her. She knows her job, and is pretty good at it. Last week, she hadn't really been willing to talk to us until later in the week; today we had no such problems! She used to work for the national Tourism board in Costa Rica, so she gave me all kinds of places to go. It was good to sit with her, and talk with her.

After work, we decided that tonight we'd try Argentinian food. We found the restaurant in the phone book, and asked for a cab to be called. When the cab picked us up, 'though, the cab driver didn't know where he was taking us. So we ended up at the mall. We wandered about for a bit, and then decided to catch a cab across the highway to the Outback we could see. We got over there, and walked around the little shopping center, as there were so many restaurants available.

We actually decided to eat at the Cuban restaurant; I'd heard really good things about it from other people from work who'd come down. It was absolutely amazing. We had mango smoothies to drink; they brought us an appetizer of fried plantain slices, with a "salsa" that consisted of orange juice, onion and garlic. It was really good. For dinner, I had a shredded beef dish, with a fabulous tomato sauce. I had cassava/yuca, that the waiter poured garlic over. Mmmmm!!! I also had some really delicious black beans, and sweet plantains, that taste like a slightly less sweet banana. Oh bliss!

So, tomorrow we're supposed to going out after work with some of the people from work. I'm hoping it won't be too late, but I'm not holding my breath. If we can get back around 10, I'll be ok, I think. Much later than that, and I'll be in trouble!

posted by Serena @ 7:56 PM