Friday, July 30th

I’m sitting here enjoying my cocktail by the pool all by myself. The family is inside. Jack is sleeping; Jordan and Hannah are watching a show on TV. I couldn’t be more content. It’s fairly cool, although, I’m still sweating like a pig. I’m showered and ready for my dinner out. Jack decided to give me a break (there is nothing in the fridge and I think he also figured it would be easier than to send him to the store). Fine by me. My suggestion was to drive to “Mary’s Place”. I hear they have live music on Friday nights and usually the music is good. And the food is terrific. Problem is, is that it is in Play a Negra, which is about a 20-30 min bike ride away. Riding home in the dark would be no problem but it is threatening rain, big time, and we didn’t want to chance it. So, we’re going to walk to Las Olas instead which is a good gamble. Before, when we lived at the casita, it was a haul to walk there. Now, it’s literally across the street. We just have to manage our road out, which by no means is an easy task at night. But a lot shorter walk. It hasn’t started to rain yet although the sky is super ominous and there is thunder all around us. Could be interesting. I’ll be sure to bring the bug spray. It only took me 2 ½ months to figure out to bring bug spray wherever we go. DAH!
We had a good day at the beach today. The surf contest never happened. Don’t know what was up with that but it never happened. I emailed Liz this morning to ask permission for Liad and Idan to visit us. Hopefully the reply will be positive for us. I won’t abuse that privilege if it is.
We set up camp at the beach in front of Karen and Isaac, Liad and Idan’s parents. Karen was selling some great clothes at the beach from Israel today. We girls bought ourselves each a little something that we liked. She gave us a good deal. For those of you who read this and know Kakoon, it’s similar to that. Good quality clothing. Hannah and I bought a dress and Jordan opted for a cute skirt. I brought down some watermelon and I made sandwiches from home so we were set for the day. The beach was beautiful and we hung out in front of Lola’s, which was a change for us since we always go and hang out by dead tree. It was fun to people watch. Lola’s is busy and today seemed to be exceptionally so. I see tourists arrive in their perfectly clean rental car, and they are lily white, and their kids have rash guards on, hats, the mom’s are taking pictures galore. It’s just like us when we arrived. I laugh at the thought of us when we first got here and how clearly out of place we were. We seem to fit in now. The locals come up to Jack and give him the local hand shake, I am welcomed with the kiss, kiss to each cheek, the girls are hugged and they say “hola” as they should, even if they know the person speaks English. It’s such a warm place and I have to say the only other place I felt like I fit in like this was in Summit County, when I moved there in the mid 80’s. It’s like that. Small town feeling and everyone knows everyone. Or at least recognizes everyone. I was talking to Gustavo, the manager of the Mauna Loa. He is a great guy and has kindly let us swim in the pool and use his internet. We don’t swim in the pool anymore but we used to go over at least once a week for beers and a swim. Anyway, I was saying to him how we have found Playa Avellanas to be so great and the people are much of the reason. He felt it too when he first moved here. He’s a Costa Rican and I can’t remember where he is from. A city outside of San Jose. He came to Playa Avellanas a few years ago with the same kind of wonder we did. I was saying how when we first arrived we had rules for the girls like they couldn’t ride to the beach without us. Or basically, do anything without us. It took us about 2-3 week s to figure out that it is safe here and we need to use our common sense. We still wouldn’t let them ride at night alone but during the day is fine. He confirmed our feeling saying the same. It took him 15 days, he said, to feel at home here. He said after that time people start to recognize you. You won’t get treated like a tourist anymore and sure enough, he was right. Living in tourist country, I don’t like being treated like a tourist, not that there is anything wrong with that, but if you want to live the life, well, you really have to live the life. We haven’t even scratched the surface of life in Costa Rica but at least we have a small feeling of what it would be like. It’s just plain PURA VIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!