Little Dixie in Heredia

I woke up around 6 to make Bella some bread and jam. I slipped on a shirt and shoes and walked down to get the car. Along the way, I said good morning to a lady walking her dogs. She smiled at me and said good morning, and I just assumed she was being friendly. When I got in the car and looked in the mirror, my hair was standing straight up. What a sight.

I parked the car in front of our house and went back to bed. Cristina and I slept in until after 9. I made scrambled eggs with sweet peppers and onions for breakfast.

We didn’t make it out of the house to the farmer’s market until 12:30. The market closes up at 1, but there was still enough stuff left to fulfill our needs. Since we leave Tuesday, our needs are not that great. I need to make a massive batch of pico de gallo for a cookout tomorrow at Carmen’s house (our farewell party?) so I needed tomatoes and sweet peppers. We got a couple of other things, but overall we showed restraint. Alex found a teeny-tiny banana, which was cute enough for a photo.

Cristina lovin' her some pipa...chilled coconut water.

Sweet Costa Rican-style sno-cone cart

I took the two younger kids to Galerón to check out coffee. I bought two bags each of about 5 different brands. I needed to buy more, but this was a start.

Back at the house, I made tuna melts and French fries for lunch. We needed to go back to the Democracy Plaza to meet up with a guy who was going to make some 9-pointed star earrings for Cristina out of coconut shell. We were taking too long for lunch (the darned French fries took forever to fry), Cristina had a headache, and was cranky for us running so late. So when we were finally on our way, I drove like a real Tico: super fast, dodging in and out of traffic, squeezing in between cars (lanes be damned!). It was fun. She didn’t say anything, so I guess she was okay with it. Whenever we’re running late for something, she usually complains that I drive too slowly. Not today.

She missed the guy, but she talked to someone else who said he’d try to make them. They will hopefully be ready on Monday.

Next we headed to Heredia to visit Marielos. This was our final gotta-see-them-while-we’re-here visits. Marielos is Cristina’s late Godfather’s widow, and Cristina’s brother’s Godmother. I’ll give you a moment to untangle that one in your mind.

Marielos used to live in Alajuela but now lives in a condo in San Joaquin de Flores on the road between Alajuela and Heredia. It was easy to find. Very nice gated-community. So well-protected that the residents don’t lock their cars up in barred garages! They just park in their carports. I noticed that the wall around the neighborhood had spirals of barbed wire at the top and then six electrified wires above that. And an on-premises security guard patrolled the small neighborhood (if he’d just carried a machine gun instead of a handgun it would have felt like we were in Columbia). It takes a lot for some to have peace of mind in Costa Rica. All that said, it didn’t feel highly-fortified. It just felt quiet and peaceful.

Marielos looked just like I remembered her. She seems to be doing well. Her husband died since the last time we saw her (7 years ago). She’s an artist and a singer and keeps a very busy social agenda. Her house was decorated beautifully and her backyard was green and lovely. The kind of yard most people would kill for in Arizona.

She served us quite a spread: Cokes and fruit juice, deviled ham sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and a platter of pastries, empanadas, and cakes. She offered us coffee, but I was thirsty, so I went with a Coke.

Marielos taught English at some point in her life, so I especially enjoy visiting with her because I can join in the conversation. Plus, she’s really nice.

Bella played with some dolls that Marielos had upstairs, and Alex and I tried to catch a fly in an empty Coke bottle. Alex got the giggles at one point because of the way Marielos pronounces Gainesville (she says the v like a b, which is common in Spanish).

"Inner peace...inner peace..."

I felt like Alex needed to expend some energy (Coke and pastries will do that) so I took him for a walk. While we walked down the street I realized just how many foreigners (i.e. Gringos) live in Marielos’s neighborhood. Her neighbor’s car had an Obama sticker on it. 50 feet down the sidewalk, we passed a couple going into a house. The man greeted me in English. A minute later we passed a house where someone was opera singing. It sounded kind of jokey, like they were kidding around. Around the corner we spotted a playground, so we walked back to get Bella.

Sofia decided to come also. As we neared the playground, another guy was walking towards his house and greeted us in English. We struck up a conversation in the street. He told us about all the people from the South who live in the neighborhood. Lots of people from Georgia. His family was from Tennessee, though he said his son has always been a Gator fan (he noticed my shirt). He said they used to call this neighborhood "Little Georgia," but when his family moved in he said it should be "Little Dixie." More inclusive.

We played on the playground. Sofia lost a button off her pants but she found it even though it was getting dark.

After three hours at Marielos’s, it was time to go. The kids needed to get to bed. As bad as it sounds, we didn’t do a proper dinner. So we all had pastries and soda for dinner. No complaints from the kids. Before we left, Marielos gave us one of her paintings, which we'll proudly hang in our home when we get back(hopefully I can pack it without it getting damaged).

After the two younger kids were in bed, I worked on my blog some, but I got tired of doing it, so I watched a movie called Hide and Seek with Wito. It’s a moderately scary movie, so Cristina opted out. Instead, she put some of Wito’s music on our computer. We went to bed late, like 1 am.