Rafa and the pizzas

I didn’t have my phone beside my bed, so when I woke up, I couldn’t easily check the time. But since I’ve been waking up around 6 or 7 every morning, and everyone else was still asleep, I figured that was the time. When Cristina stirred and asked what time it was, I got up and found my phone, surprised to see that it was 9:30. I guess yesterday’s hike caused me to sleep later than usual. We messaged the tour guy, Rafa, and he was fine with starting the tour at 11 or 12. So that gave us more time for breakfast.

I’ll admit it, I’m spoiled on Sofia’s kitchen. It is slightly frustrating to cook in this kitchen. Breakfast was awkward and slowly paced. The coffeemaker had a forest of fungus growing in it (mental list), but there was a sock (chorreador). Oh well. Only one more night here.

Around 11:30, I drove everyone (Alex and Ramon decided to join the tour) up the road to Rafa’s house and got acquainted with Rafa and his dog (plus for Bella). Then I went back to the cabin, took a long shower (I found that perfect balance with the shower to where the temp was hot enough and the water pressure decent), got dressed, put on some music and blogged, washed some dishes, wrote my review of Sofia’s Airbnb, blogged some more, then drove to Rafa’s to pick up the family at 2:30.

Rafa offered to make us a pizza dinner for $40. I had already planned on doing something easy for dinner, like going to a restaurant, so this was a little cheaper, and those who love pizza could scratch that itch. We dropped off half the crew at the cabin and then Cristina, Alex, Bella, and I went into “town” to get a few more groceries.

Back at the cabin, we relaxed, took showers, played some pool (Alex beat me), and had a cup of tea until it was time to go to Rafa’s at 7 for pizza. Cristina spent way too long on the phone with T-Mobile still attempting to get the extra phone unlocked.

Close to 7, I noticed that Rafa had sent a message saying he had car trouble and needed to postpone dinner to 7:30 or 7:45. We asked if we could come help (and use the wi-fi) and he said that was fine. When we got to his place, there was an awkward moment where he wanted us to hang out on the porch, because he doesn't usually have "customers" in his private part of the house, and he said it was a mess. But it was a bit cold and misty on the porch, so he let us in (the house didn't look messy to me, but I get the desire to not mix business and pleasure.) We used his Wi-Fi while Cristina helped him make juice from the carambolas that we brought.

The pizza was very good. Crispy crust (homemade), nice array of toppings. I could have done with another piece or two, but for Costa Rica, it was really good pizza. We chatted with Rafa for over two hours (the guy can talk). We asked him, especially since he knows Jose Maria personally, what an appropriate offering for the knife would be. He doubted that he would take money, but maybe flowers would be a nice gesture. As soon as he said that, it felt right. And I knew there were plenty of places along the highway to buy bundles of flowers.

We headed home. It was still rainy, so we didn't even attempt another fire, since it seemed that the wood was all wet. We got to bed relatively early (11ish).