Technology Woes

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Loving the beach

Sand bath?

Pancakes = success!  Bread not so much, but I'll take small victories.

Playing peacefully

At the playa

Eating Costa Rican Apples!!!!  Freshly picked.

Breathtaking!

This is probably right before she got knocked over with a stray ball.  Oops!

Beautiful watch made from palms!!!!

Seriously beat after a day in the river and at a soccer game.

Eating outdoors is a must!  Great scenery and keeps the bugs outside.

Not a bad view right?

Greatest purchase ever.  Power is sometimes not a guarantee in the evening ;)

Toucan right outside our door!!!!

So the internet is not quite working as I had planned.  This is pretty devastating to me because it means I can’t look up things like whether ants eat salt.  I really needed to know if salt also needed to be crammed into the fridge along with pretty much every other grocery I purchased.  I was also kind of hoping to be able to google recipes and such.  Luckily there is an over thermometer here so I was able to figure out some Celsius to Farenheit conversions and thus we are not starving.  I am lucky I can figure out the monetary exchange rates.  Converting temperatures is asking too much. 

So I’ll start with the major failures for today.  There is a close tie for first between not applying sun screen to my already crispy skin and not getting my camera out of the car to take pictures of the girls playing in a river today.  I know my lack of sunscreen comes as little shock to anyone who knows my obsession with tanning, but forgetting the sunscreen and the camera were more a matter of unclear plans based on my pathetic Spanish.  Perhaps I should also include the unfortunate side affects of antibiotics on Lottie’s tummy, but I don’t want to be the person who talks to much about their kids toileting issues :(  Let’s just say in a place where bathrooms are not as readily available such issues are a little more stressful.

I’ll move on to the day’s successes.  After a morning of peacefully playing, coloring and reading books together, which was a marked improvement over the previous day, the girls and I were invited to head to the beach with the family who cares for the property here.  I believe plans were changed from playa to rio after they saw the state of my children’s skin.  I will not be using that stupid spray sunscreen anymore :(  Our hostess road in the car with us, and it was a lovely lesson in communication for me.  As stated my Spanish is probably similar to that of a Dora-obsessed preschooler, and yet I managed to converse with her the entire 30 plus minute car ride.  I was even able to “translate” some of what the girls were trying to tell her.  I think I may have doubled my vocabulary. 

At the “river,” which was more of a stream, the girls were entertained by our host’s son catching teeny tiny shrimp.  The shade and cool water was definitely preferable for their sunburns.  After the river, and this is where sunscreen would’ve been helpful, we went and sat at a soccer game.  The girls were once again thrilled to cover themselves in sand, which just about makes me crazy.  Truly I don’t understand how it’s enjoyable to rub sand all over.  Not to mention the sand here pretty much turns you black.  They were then completely fascinated by the “crafts” being made out of palms by our host’s son.  It was pretty wonderful to see how happy they were to play together, despite some significant language barriers. 

Tonight officially marked the first dinner of black beans and rice.  I would like to add rice cooker to the list of greatest things since sliced bread.  I feel like I have been cheated pretty badly that this was my first experience with one!  And now let the frijoles con arroz marathon begin.  Once the fruit man comes up the road tomorrow we will be throwing down with some pina and bananas!!!!!