Monday, Monday...

It is now about 7:45 am and I have been listening to the sounds of daily life here since about 5 AM. Ticos rise early . Anita prepared a very substantial breakfast of queso cheese and tortillas, a sweet pastry, a corn meal biscuit and coffee. I was not able to finish such rich food. She is a gracious hostess and showed me the cereal she plans to serve me tomorrow. I wonder if they have bagels here? We are watching the news and weather and I think I get most of what is going on. Soon we will leave for Su Espacio, the community center, where I will meet my tour director, Tina. I have packed my backpack but decided not to take any gifts today for los ninos. I want to see how many and what ages they are first.

We arrived at Su Espacio whi ch is on the north end of town. Anita’s home is on the south end. It took about twenty minutes of casual walking to get there. Tina met us. She is a 40ish American woman who has lived here for about 13 years. One other new volunteer began today. She is a nice young woman from Norway. Her project is in town working with rescued animals. Tina says I may change my project if I like. Another volunteer name April is already going there so I would have a travel partner on the bus to Palmares. How can I be an adventurer if I don’t see how that goes? I agree to give it a try so I must be at the bus station at 7:45 AM.

The same woman who met me a the airport, Anya, gave us a brief tour of the town. We asked questions but her English is little better than our Spanish. She showed us the Mercado (marketplace) and the bus areas and the bank. I still need to exchange some of my dollars for colonnes before tomorrow. I will buy something at the Mercado with a twenty dollar bill and they will give me change in colonnes says the Norwegian girl. It sounds like a good plan to me. I could enjoy some fresh fruit as a snack anyway.

I inquired about finding Kay’s Gringo’s Postares which I read about before my trip. Kay’s is an expat owned and run haven for gringos and gringas like me. I may need it for internet anyway as this morning I thought my laptop had breathed it’s last gasp. As you can see, it has been revived and so far so good. Turns out Kay’s is quite close by my host home. Unfortunately they are closed on Mondays. You can find them on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/kaysgringopostres

This afternoon at 3PM I go back to Su Espacio for my first official Spanish lesson. Anya will be our teacher. Everyone I have met has been very helpful, even little old ladies I met on the street when I was lost. You can’t get very lost since the town is on a grid and not very large. Right now I am cooling off and hydrating. Rains may come again about the time I need to be out again…such is life! Pura vida for now…