Estamos Aqui!

We found a great deal on a one-way ticket from Washington to San Jose so, lacking a definitive date for our return to the US, we booked it. This was before we realized that in order to enter Costa Rica, one needs to be able to show the Costa Rican immigration officer one’s ticket departing from Costa Rica. That little fact we learned at immigration in the San Jose airport. Ooops!

Suffice it to say that the Costa Ricans were muy amable about the whole thing and now we have plans for an early December excursion to Panama! This meets our tourist visa’s need to stay no more than 90 days and our desire to see the canal.

Once we were through, we met our Tica family—the family with whom Tara stayed in Costa Rica eleven years ago when she was studying here. Macho and Lucia (the husband and wife) met us at the airport and we piled into their truck and a Hertz van to rent a car. From Hertz, Baker, Riley and I jumped in the front of their pickup (I italicize that word because it is Spanish—I tried using camioneta on Macho, thinking that it was the word for small truck and he corrected me with pickup, pronounced “pee-kup”). Baker and Riley looked around for seatbelts, not to be found, and reveled in the opportunity to sit in the front seat. “Safety third,” I said.

Macho and Lucia treated Tara and me to a meal of frito – a sort of stew made from, we think, pig’s head, served over rice with a touch of lime. “Interesting” is the right word to describe it—a word pregnant with meaning for anyone who has found themselves eating new foods in a different culture served by incredibly generous hosts. Riley and Baker thankfully ate chicken from the Pollo Rey across the street.

We had visited Macho and Lucia in March and the kids had the opportunity to ride their calf. This time they rode the now much larger cow, which could support even Baker. How great to go in 24 hours from crossing the treacherous traffic on Wilson Blvd in Arlington to riding a cow in rural Costa Rica!

There was a host of five and six year olds, and one nine year old at the house—neighbors and cousins of neighbors. It was interesting to watch Tae join right in with these kids and Riley and Baker to do so also, but much more slowly. Tae’s play still relies so little on actual verbal communication with his playmates that it made little difference to him that nobody knew what he was saying and visa-versa. For Baker and Riley, I think the lack of a common language was more of a barrier but before long they were swinging the tica kids in the hammock and playing with them.

A great first day!