Thursday, June 6, 2013

For Fun

I laugh every time we stop at the food court in Escazu {a little piece of America...complete with a real highway and a mall - a very, very expensive mall, but a great food court with the all American artery clogging foods.}

What kind of name is "Rice n Smile?"  It just cracks me up.  With a name like that you are just compelled to go and see what they have.  I think it might be rice pudding...coagulated goodness with some rice chunks and funky flavors.  

"Bimbo" is everywhere.  That is the only brand of bread you can buy unless it is from a bakery.  It is just one of those names that makes me smile every time I see it.  We don't have Hostess here, we have Bimbo.
                                      

While Mom was here visiting a few weeks ago I needed to run an errand in another town.  This is the one town where I can navigate to, not that I can get anywhere there, but PriceSmart and two other neighboring buildings {all next door to each other on the same side of the road}.  We made it half way there and the clutch decided to go out on the van while I am on the freeway, a freeway that has no shoulder whatsoever.  There is no where to turn around, and at this point we are 2/3 of the way there anyways.  I manage to get to an exit in 2nd gear on the freeway, pulled off, and parked in an open lot by a bus stop.  I called David {this was not the first call} and let him know where we were and he said he had called the mechanic.  Our mechanic was going to go by our house and pick him and all of the kids up and come to where we were at.  It feels like it is a 100 degrees.  I said okay and Mom and I sat in the van with doors open.  I practiced Spanish via the Ipod for what seemed like forever.  By this time, we are sweating bullets, have drank the water in the one cup Mom brought and have eaten the very small protein bar she had smashed and melted in her purse.  Now we need a potty break and my mother is a camel if you are not aware and needs to consume large amounts of liquids.

There is always a store, on every corner, and every other house front.  I call David and ask him where he is at, they should have been here by now, over an hour has passed.  He is still waiting on mechanic to pick him up.  I let him know that we are going to go find something to drink and a bathroom and to call me when he leaves.  Mom and I walk and walk and walk.  I ask some school girls where the closest place to by cokes and she told me just ahead and on the right.  Just ahead, several more blocks.  There are always stores everywhere.  We walked forever and finally found a little store front.  To my amazement he had a very clean bathroom complete with toilet paper {a rare find}.  We managed to get drinks but no snacks.  It wasn't hard to pass up the yellow colored pastries in packages that looked like they had been packaged several decades ago.  We got back to the car, and I still have not heard from David.  It has been a couple hours now, and it is after noon and very, very, very hot.  I called him and told him we were just going to lock up the van, catch the bus the rest of the way to where we needed to go, finish the errand, get something to eat, and then catch the bus back to where we were parked.  He said okay and would call me when he got to the van.

So, Mom had her first Tico bus experience...hot, and windows not open, and will not open.  She just laughed and said she always gets in these pickles with me.  We made it to our intended destination, completed errand, ate lunch, and David was finally picked up by the mechanic and brought to the van.  The mechanic said he could drive it back home...it won't shift from second gear.  I was amazed that this was even feasible.  I literally crawled to the spot where we parked.  I didn't think I was going to get in a parked position.  Lots of laughs about this one, and a major accomplishment that I was able to give David instructions as to where I was at, catch a bus to another town, and navigate without him.  In case you did not know I am completely geographically challenged.

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