Chaos

The BRU over at Jill's blog this week is about chaos. Check it out on Friday. My entry is a photo essay. I think you'll understand. 

What did they pack up?!

Crib parts and other random junk

My child's bedroom on a nutshell...or multiple boxes

They took the sheets with everything else!

Suitcase stuff in my closet

They hadn't finished here before their lunch break. 

kitchen is "organized"

Tonight John and I went through every inch of our kitchen and made three lists: UAB (air/fast-ish), suitcases, and get rid of. Anything that didn't make it on those lists is going HHE (ship/slow).

It's nice to have that done, to know what is going where. And that's the only room in the house that's completely organized. But upon thinking about our house, we've realized that we really don't have that much stuff. It feels like we do, because we have a full house. Most of the furniture is from the Embassy, though. We got rid of a ton of stuff at the garage sale, and still have more to get rid of.

We probably won't get close to our weight limit on this end.

But the shopping...

We're going to do a ton of shopping in the States. We might close up the gap in D.C. We also plan on shipping some stuff to ourselves in Manila.

I'm still a bit sad about leaving, but I'm getting really excited about the time we're going to spend in the States. And I'm excited to go to Manila. I really am.

We don't have sponsors assigned yet, that I know of, or a housing assignment but once we hear about those, I'll be even more excited.

I had a job interview tonight for a position in the Consular Section and I'm pretty excited about it. I'd be doing fingerprinting, which sounds like the exact amount of mental stress that I want the next two years: none.

I feel like I did really well, and I look forward to hearing back from them.

Our last CR vacation

The topic for the BRU  this week is vacations.

In February we went to Tamarindo for our third and last time. We dubbed it our favorite place in Costa Rica, and chose it as a good place to meet John's parents who flew into the Liberia airport.

It was fun, but a bit bittersweet knowing that it was our last trip there. We didn't get awesome photos from that trip unfortunately, but I'll share a few.

Simon climbed into Coen's bed

Yes they are...and they're amazing

A cold beer on a hot day

A cold lemonade on a hot day

Simon being awesome

Coen copying Simon

Insurance Fun

One thing I love about the Foreign Service...Insurance.

Now, if you're Jen you'll completely disagree. But I've had nothing but good experiences from the Foreign Service Benefit Plan.

I love the system of paying upfront and then sending in receipts to get reimbursed. I love not having medical bills to worry about. I wish I could do this in the States as well, but health care in the States is so expensive, I don't think it would work.

Health care costs in Costa Rica:

Pediatric Visit: $80
Physical Therapy Appointment (for baby): $34
Complete blood count (nurse friends help me here: Why is it called complete and then they need to order other things? It doesn't seem so complete to me.) and extra labs for pediatric neurologist: $87
Prenatal Exam: $70
Prenatal Ultrasound $50

Being able to call the Dr's on their cell phones at any time: free (and priceless)

I have to say, I really am going to miss the private health care system in Costa Rica.

It's a Small World

The theme for the roundup this time around is things that are liked about Post. 


Today we went to the home of a couple that used to live in our Condominio (gated community). They are Baha'i and were celebrating a holiday. I made my way into the kitchen to see if I could be of any help and lo and behold: Malachi's teacher was there helping! She's Baha'i and was over to celebrate the holiday as well. It was such a treat and we really got to understand that in Costa Rica...it's a small world after all. 

Perks

Beaches, family beach vacations, little, cute, sun kissed noses, "camping" with your kids in the hotel room,  doing homework at the beach, breakfast at the beach, lunch at the beach, grandparents babysitting, casino date (walking out of the casino, richer, even if it is only $22).

Some perks of living in Costa Rica.

Throwing a Fit

Well folks, I’ve reached it. The place in my tour when I admit to John that I don’t want to leave next year.

I really like my life here a lot. I have great friends here and they’ve just arrived, so I’ll be the one leaving them. Malachi really likes his school here and comes home happy every day. I have an amazing nanny who I absoultely love, and I mean I really love her. It’s going to be so hard to leave her.

I have a great house, a great job, a great everything. I can’t imagine leaving – AND I DON’T WANT TO! But I have to. Almost 8 months to the day. Don't get me wrong I'll be happy to see people in TX, MN, and DC, and I'm excited for Manila - but can't I just come back here where everything is awesome and familiar? No? Damn.

Roundup

I haven't done a roundup post in a long time. But I'm feeling a bit out of the loop, so here we go.

This week's theme is holiday ceremonies. We just had what is called by the Catholics in Latin America (or maybe just Central America), Semana Santa (translated Holy Week). Costa Rica had two National Holidays on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Except for Easter Services on Easter (Pascua in Spanish) it's become a week to take vacations. We had to work on Monday and Tuesday (because we took Wednesday off, but normally we'd have to work Wednesday as well), but the traffic was so light...driving around was a joy, and a breeze...literally. With the traffic moving so quickly the windows were open and the breeze was coming through.

So this year we decided to adhere to local tradition and go on vacation. It dawned on us that it was the first time we've taken a vacation without guests since May or June, and it's the longest vacation we've taken since we got here.

We had a great time. There was beach time, and pool time, and food time, and sleep time...for three nights, and when you factor in travel time, about 3 1/2 days. We all had an amazing time. We left on Saturday to be home in time for the Easter bunny to visit and thought that we'd beat traffic because everyone would be going home on Sunday. HA! The InterAmerican Highway was horrible. But once we reached the Autopista (the main highway going East/West from San Jose to the East Coast), it was smooth sailing because they opened all lanes to go East bound. It was really freaky the first few times to find ourselves heading Eastbound in the Westbound lanes. Especially on bridges. But we adjusted and then enjoyed the freedoms (and breezes) that having two to four lanes brought verses one to two. My friend came home from a different beach on Sunday and said there was no traffic. Oh well...We had a great time Here on Easter.

Easter here was a normal American Easter. Egg hunting, brunch made by the hubby, and good times with our family. Oh, and lots of candy eating.

We might not be here for Semana Santa next year, but if we are, I feel we might not be traveling because it would be so close to our departure.

Seizure Free Today

Today I was on edge, but Malachi had a good day - no seizures.

When we woke up today we just chilled, Malachi woke John up at about 5:30 and I woke up at about 6:15. Simon slept in until 8:00 and we decided we should start moving for the day. John got Simon out of bed and I was taking care of Malachi. I was doing makeup in Malachi's bathroom when he was showering (it's hard for me to be too far from him right now) and I heard John say I should come look at the pattern on Simon's face. Here I thought that he laid on a stuffed animal for a long time, but when I got into our bedroom where they were I noticed the rash that was on Simon's torso last night had spread all the way up his head and his eyes were a bit puffy. We assumed that it was a reaction to the medicine he was taking for the infections.

I finished my makeup and called the Embassy nurse to inform her that the whole Roy family was coming to her office this morning because of Simon's rash and because we needed her to confirm with the neurologist what was going on today. I fed Simon a bottle, got Malachi's backpack with a snack and some homework together (felt like I was so prepared), and we left for the Embassy.

Once there the kids and I went to the Health Unit and John went to the Front Office (Ambassador, Deputy Chief of Mission and their admins), to inform the admin of the Ambassador that he might not make it on the trip this weekend that he was supposed to be control officer for. It turns out the Ambassador and DCM were in a meeting, so John went to talk to them and they were very supportive and understanding.

He joined us at the Health Unit where the nurse had agreed with what we thought about Simon and was trying to get a hold of the Pediatrician to see what he wanted to do about it. She took a look in his ears and confirmed that both of them were red and a bit swollen. The Dr. decided on Zithromax for three days - good. One problem solved.

While we were sitting in the reception area of the Health Unit, the Imaging center at CIMA called John's cell phone to make an appointment for Malachi's MRI, with contrast. We made it for Saturday morning. Throughout the day there were emails and phone calls and much confusion about what was going on. Finally John got a call from the neurologist mid-afternoon who said that we could do an EEG on Friday morning or Monday morning. They decided on Monday morning because the night before both tests he needs to stay up a couple of hours late and get up a couple of hours early. With this setup he gets to rest on Sunday.

So, in conclusion. No blood tests are going to be ordered right now, an MRI is scheduled for Saturday, and an EEG is scheduled for Monday. I need to bring Malachi's records from all of his other tests that were done a year and a half ago. I may do that tomorrow, or I just may wait until Monday since I'll need to pass the time during the EEG. Simon is doing much better, the rash is almost completely gone. Dad is sleeping happily next to me, and I'm going to turn in pretty soon.

What a crazy life we live.

No P today

Today when I was getting Simon in the morning I thought I would go to the Embassy and catch up on the hours that Imissed last week when I went to the Dr.'s office for a last minute appointment (more on that in a sec). Right before I was about to remove the diaper (no poop - thank you Simon), the phone rang. I knew that because of what time it was that it was P saying something was up and she wasn't coming in.

But it wasn't P, it was her husband, D. D said that P was really sick (you don't want the details we have) and wouldn't be coming in. Ok, no worries, I'm not really scheduled to work, I'll just work from home. So the kids and I trekked to my office and I worked for about 30 minutes to make sure I could work from home. Our new Management Counselor came in on Friday and my boss is out, so I talked to him real quick to make sure he didn't need anything, and we headed home.

I put Simon down for a nap immediately and worked at trying to get Malachi settled into a movie, which proved to be harder than I thought. Finally I was able to sit at the computer and start putting the Newsletter together. It wasn't as easy as I'd hoped it would be. For some reason when I copied a picture that I'd emailed to myself from work it wouldn't paste into my Publisher Document. Grr! Oh well, as long as P is better tomorrow, I can go to work and finish it. I did get a lot of ground work done on the newsletter today so I know that I can easily finish it tomorrow.

I haven't been able to get a lot of housework done today though. Simon's in the process of teething, which is a super long process for him btw, so he's been very crabby and needy. Even right now, he's kind of whining running around in his walker, which he normally loves.

So, back to the last minute trip to the Dr. This pregnancy has been pretty uneventful as I'd already mentioned. But last week there'd been some light spotting. It didn't go away as quickly as I would've liked so I called the Dr. He wanted me to come in for an ultrasound just to make sure there were no issues with the baby. Well there are no issues with the baby but there's a little issue with the stuff surrounding it.

Just like with Simon I have early Placenta Previa. This means that the placenta attached low in the uterus and is currently covering the cervix. This could be fixed as the uterus grows; the placenta could move up and away from the cervix. However, if it doesn't, it will mean a c-section at 37 weeks so that I don't dilate. Because if I dilate then it could cause some dangerous bleeding. I used to practically faint at the sound of a c-section thinking it was the end of the world. But at this point I just want the baby's life and my own to remain safe, so if a c-section does that, then I'm up for it. Right now, I'm on pelvic rest and no crossing my legs until my ultrasound on Jan. 5th (was already scheduled to check the baby and the sex). Hopefully it'll already have moved by then which would be a good sign that it will all be alright.

What else is going on? All of the presents for the kids that we have so far and that John's parents brought down in November wrapped. The ones from his parents are under the tree, Saturday morning we'll put the rest of the presents under the tree.

Christmas this year hasn't felt very Christmasy. First of all, it's way too green here. Don't get me wrong, Costa Rica really tries to do it all up. There are lights hanging over the roads, trees are light up all over, people are lighting their houses, fences, trees, etc. It's really a season that Costa Ricans love, but I'm just not feeling it. We have our tree up, and have since the Friday after Christmas, and we have up the Christmas decorations we own, which is a sad display for sure. Shopping is done, except for stocking stuffers, and presents are being wrapped, but I still am not feeling it.  Don't know if I will this year.

I need help FS people, what do you do when the place you're in doesn't inspire the Christmas feeling? The one thing that's helped me this year? Baking cookie dough while listening to Christmas music.

Simon's crying and reaching for me, so I guess I'm done. Bye people!

Catching Up

I've started writing about all kinds of things but it's getting so long that I thought I would release it all in a series of catch-up posts. Here's number 1. Oh, and btw, this is post number 400 for this blog. Pretty cool!

John's parents came down at the beginning of November (yes, this is how far back I need to blog), and we had a great time showing them around the Embassy and our little community. We also took a trip to Puerto Viejo for a few days. We stayed at a B&B (which was more like a resort) about a three or four minute drive outside of town. We ate at a couple of restaurants in town, and we went to the Jaguar Rescue Center (which didn't have any jaguars). 

They had an amazing baby howler monkey cage that we were able to go into, and the monkeys climbed all around and all over us. It was a great time. We also got to hold a baby sloth. Sloths might be slow, but they're mean creatures. Keep away from their face! One lady didn't take this advice seriously and was bitten on the face by the sloth. They had, horses, frogs, birds and snakes as well. All of the animals were rescued and/or donated to the center. We lost interest in the snakes, but it was a lot of fun there. 

We tried the beach for a little bit, but I wasn't interested because it was really rough. Simon was really scared of it, he did take a nap on grandpa's chest at the beach, but otherwise the sound of the ocean really seemed to scare him. The rainy season was just ending so we still had rain during their visit, which was too bad. We got to see the sun a bit though, so that was nice.

My father-in-law had to leave just short of a week after he got here, but my mother-in-law got to stay. She stayed with the kids while John and I went on our vacation!

To Be Continued...

Fun

We had some fun family time tonight.

After I got John from work we went to a Tex-Mex restaurant for dinner. The service was both good and bad. It was crazy fast but John and I both got the wrong food.The wrong food was still good though.

We came home and I immediately had to feed Simon his dinner, but I wanted us to spend some more family time together so we played a game that Malachi made up. He said I was the bad guy and his daddy and he were the good guys. I had to try to shoot him, with the laser gun he had given me, while I was being attacked by them. They went to the kitchen and hid while poking their heads out so I could take a shot here and there.

Eventually they decided to start throwing things at me. First they threw tortilla bombs. That didn't last long because we only had two. They threw hot pads, baby toys, and what ever else they could find that was soft enough. At one point Malachi came out and through garlic at me after saying "the power of Christ compels you." He had a hard time delivering that line through the laughing though.

At one point they ran into the hall bathroom and put rags on their heads - I had to get a picture of that. I finally sicked Simon and the power of the possibility of spit up on them. I did pretty much concede to them by then though.

We spent almost an hour more just hanging out with each other.

I tell you what...having a four year old is crazy stressful sometimes. But the rest of the time, it's pretty amazing.

Oh, by the way. We had another earthquake tonight. This one sent us to the door ways on the first floor. It was the longest one we've had. Nothing was damaged, I'm sure nothing even fell. We didn't even feel compelled to check on the kids. They slept through it. I cried a bit - earthquakes scare me!  John held me and comforted me. He's amazing. Don't worry parents - when you come visit I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'm off to bed early tonight because I have a big morning. I can't share about it. In about three weeks I'll let you know what I did.

Oh the Fun...

...of living in a developing country.

On Thursday our internet went out. John (using his far superior Spanish) figured out it was cut out by Amnet. He then called them - using their English line - and found out it was because our debit card expired and they didn't have the new exp date. So...instead of calling us to inform us that our billing wasn't working and giving us a warning. They cut us off. Nice.

John gave them our new exp date and was told it would be on in 24 - 48 hours. But for someone who's filling out Security Clearance stuff online and someone else who uses World of Warcraft as a stress reliever, not having internet for any amount of time sucks. SUCKS!

So after I couldn't get a hold of a friend because he phone was cut off just like my internet, John called Amnet Friday evening to check on the status. Apparently the guy who John talked to on Thursday night didn't do anything. Here are your options: 1. wait until Monday when someone who can process debit cards comes in (REALLY?! You're the biggest internet provider in Costa Rica and you don't have an easy way for all employees to do this?!). 2. Go to a bank to pay the bill and then call them for service activation. 3. Go to a Fischell pharmacy and pay the bill and then call them. Fine. We'll to option #3 because we can't go a whole weekend with out internet!

So yesterday on the way home from a day in San Jose with some friends on a guided tour - a whole other story - of the historic part of San Jose we stop at the Fischell on the way home. John doesn't have the customer number. No worries, they should be able to check by phone number. They can't find it under our phone number - that's not right. No phone number? Well they should be able to look it up by name. They don't believe his last name is what it is (it's a first name, but still!!). ARGH! #$%&*&^ %$#@#$$%^&** &^%$#@Q!#$%^&***&^%$$ #@!#@$%^^

I've entered the homesickness portion of my tour - I know it. :)

So I haven't worked on my security clearance stuff since Thursday night and I have a TON left to do. John played WoW last night and is most likely on right now. I've been online for almost two hours this morning catching up on blogs (because I fell asleep last night trying to)...


(Three and a half hours later) I heard Simon playing with a toy and had to run to him. He's so cute! I then went to the gym, fed Simon while John napped, made French Toast for Malachi and I while John napped, and worked a little bit on my Security Clearance while John napped. John only napped for about an hour and a half, but it was productive for me, and he was so touched that I offered to let him do that.

So...now I'll work more on the Security Clearance, and after that who knows. I do know that tonight I'm watching the Emmy's! I'm excited!!

Things

The kids are doing really well. Malachi's enjoying school and is learning his letters, numbers, Spanish letters, swimming (on the days it's not raining), playing with play-doh (making numbers), eating snacks (that I pack, and ones from his friends), eating lunch, amongst other things. The last two days he's come home with an amazing amount of energy so I wonder if they've been putting the nap mats and blankets to good use. Either that or he's acclimated to the schedule. Wish I could say the same about myself. He made up a phrase "Holy Scheckmoes" his friends from school think it's really funny. I laugh when he says it.

Simon is also doing well. We had a fairly normal day today. He slept in this morning - we had to wake him at 7 to feed him before we left. He's up on his knees rocking, sometimes up on his hands, sometimes up on his elbows. Sometimes the front of his body isn't up at all. He's sitting really well now. Although grocery carts are still a challenge. He sometimes falls over onto his face. He's not a fan of that.

Johnathan (this is what he goes by at the Embassy, apparently it's becoming natural for me) is still working away. He often comes home with interesting, funny, and heart breaking stories about his interviews. Since we got here we've had a couple of American deaths (John's not dealing with those yet) and near deaths. It's always hard to hear stories like this. I don't envy the Officers doing American Citizen Services. John will do that before he leaves - he'll probably start next year some time. He went and saw Inception the other night with a friend. He says it's amazing. I'll see it some day.

I'm still trying to figure out school. I need to check with DBU (Dallas Baptist University) to figure out how many credits I can transfer in before I start at Ecclessia. If I get my butt moving I can probably start in September - probably not though. I'd have to register for that by the end of next week. Hm. I might be able to pull that off. I also need to fill out FAFSA but have had a hard time with that because I can't find our tax papers and figure out how much I made separately from John. My Spanish classes at the Embassy are going well. We're being taught a ton and I'm not remembering to study at home. I so need to do that.

I'm going out tonight to see a Ryan Reyolds film from 2008 with a friend (she saw Inception with her hubby two weeks ago). Why am I seeing a 2008 film? Because it's playing in the VIP theater (reclining leather seats with drink and food service in the theater - even a little button to call the attendants. It's not quite as awesome as the Love Sac theater in Dallas because there are no blankets. It's really close though.) and my girlfriend and I want to go out. Her hubby's away, and I'm burnt out.

I need to update photos on flickr and facebook. It's been a while, and I have plenty to add. We'll see when I actually get to that. Who knew that sending my child away for close to nine hours a day would actually make me busier than I was this summer. Well...all the school age moms did, but I didn't!

Toot My Own Horn

I'm gonna do it.

I now have 30 followers. I'm excited that, that many people want to follow our story. I know of other non-Blogger readers too (my mom and in-laws for example (my dad and sister are two of the followers)) that follow so the number is deceptively small.

So to the followers. I often think of you and feel bad if I'm not updating you on goings on within our family.

On a side note, John pointed out that today marks three months that we've been in Costa Rica. Crazy.

On Monday some guys are coming from the Embassy to hang our big pictures and a couple of other things. Then we have a few more things that we'll hang ourselves when we get the stuff from the Costa Rican Home Depot. Then we'll be all moved in. Not too bad for a normal family, but we've been here for and eighth of our stay already. WHAT?!

Exciting Drive Numero Dos

***WARNING: Parents, Grandparents, In-Laws, and generally anyone who values my life may not want to read this. But if you do, keep in mind that I'm alive to tell the story.***

When we were still at the hotel I decided that I wanted to take a different route home so that I could hopefully make it there in less than four hours. So I bought a Costa Rica map, and pointed out the route I wanted to take to A and we set out.

The route we were taking was WAY more direct and I hoped it would be a lot faster. HA!

We had a great time starting out - the drive was quick and, despite the rain, we really were happy to have chosen a different route.

After a while we passed a sign that said road closed and came up to a bridge that looked a little sketchy. For those who don't know, bridges terrify me. Especially thin, long, and high bridges. On the other side of the bridge the road went steeply uphill and looked like it led nowhere. Someone crossed the bridge going the opposite direction as us so we asked them where we were. We were still on the map at least...and on the right road too they said. Be careful though because there are a lot of rocks on the road they said. We thanked them, crossed the frightening bridge and went up the hill.

Little did I know that this was the beginning of the most frightening two hours of my life.

Because of heavy rains, there had been many mud and rock slides. Also, construction was being done and they had been tearing out the road. So the "roads" were rocky and sandy with a lot of wide and deep pot holes. Sometimes we'd be lucky enough to have pavement on one side where at least one side of my car could be up on it.

All of this would be fine, except it's mountain driving. Very, very steep mountain driving. Somehow the most sharp and steep curves seemed to be still paved. There was a time when I got a bit tingly all over my body and I think it was because I kept holding my breath.

A was my rock during this drive. Her and her boyfriend off road with a little off road car thingy and she was a great "coach" telling me where to put my wheels, what side of the road to choose, warning me of potholes, or when I was losing road on the side of me (that only happened once actually).

I think the most scary part for me is when I was coming down a hill and looked ahead to the curve to see water flowing very quickly over it. We all assessed it quickly and decided it was passable - it was only a very thin amount of it, but to see the rushing, and see that it went over a hill where some red tape cautioned us it was dangerous - scary. But I went straight (as straight as you can go through a curve) through it and made it around the curve with the red tape just fine.

A couple of times the road would get better and we'd get our hopes up, just to have them dashed again, and again. But eventually (a looooooong time after the crappiness started) we got to solid ground - permanently.

And then the fog set in. It was pretty difficult to drive through. I was so thankful that I didn't have to battle the fog and the scary road conditions. Sometimes the fog was actually kind of cool. We saw a lot of cows on the way down the mountain. We even had to wait for a group of three cows to get out of our way. Their owner was on the left side of the road talking to a friend and they of course wanted to be by him. I definitely live in Central America!

All of the fear and stress made me have to potty really, really bad. So I ended up stopping at a restaurant. They guy there told us where we were and it turned out we were really close to a city not too far from my house. We got into the city and couldn't find any signs pointing to the Pan American Highway. So we stopped at a corner and asked a guy standing there. He said that the street we stopped at went straight to it. So we're driving along this street in this city during rush hour traffic. And all of a sudden we're on the Pan American Highway!!! I start singing the Hallelujah Chorus, and A chimes in and we finish with a nice harmony.

We went straight home from there. I found out yesterday in my office that the road I was on is called Calle de la Muerte (Street of the Dead for the non-Spanish speaking readers).

This was definitely a learning experience! I'm asking about the route I'm going to take before I take it from now on!!

Firsts

I had a couple of firsts today.

Our first Dr appointment. Malachi went to the neurologist today for a check up. He's doing great. The Dr wants to see Malachi in three months - John wants us to wait because the Dr in the US said every six months is enough. I really don't want to call and reschedule and have a conversation with the Dr about why I'm not going enough. I hate being judged by my kids Drs. Whether or not it's justified.

My first Spanish speaking drive through. Malachi was so awesome that I wanted to bring him to McDonald's for ice cream. We didn't have time before getting daddy from work to go in, so I went in the drive through. After I made the decision to do this I was a little afraid. But I handled it really well. I finally figured out that he was saying they only had chocolate flavored (fine with me!). So I ordered two. And purchased two for about $1.60. This was a total confidence booster!

Simon's first bout of diarrhea. He's been getting worse over the last few days but today he actually has had four dirty diapers. If he has one more, I'm going to call the nurse's cell phone. If he can go the rest of the day with no dirty diaper, then I'll just talk to her when I go to work tomorrow. His appetite waxes and wanes and he had a very slight fever (don't even know what it was because it wasn't high enough to take) on Friday night.

Otherwise he's as happy as can be. He's been talking and laughing up a storm the last few days. He's even been laughing at something in the back of the car.

So two great firsts and one horrible one. I really hope the diarrhea isn't something serious. Say a prayer.

Vacation Post #2

The 29 hour vacation that I had from 1:00 pm yesterday to 6:00 pm today will end up being a three post series. Why? Because today's drive home was even more adventurous than yesterday's drive there. So it deserves a post of its own. So today I'll tell you about our stay at the hotel.

When checking out the hotel I thought it looked really nice from the pictures. I was super excited to go with the girls, spend a night and have two hours in the spa. Since we got to the hotel last night at 6:00 and that's when the spa closes we couldn't make reservations then. So we enjoyed the dinner buffet on the restaurant's patio. We listed to the river and the animals and laughed, happy to be out of the car. My friend, A, had to finish a paper for school, so she sat in the lobby using their internet to do that. I was reading a book she brought (because I didn't think about it) on the couch with her until I was falling asleep. So I went to the room and read for a very short time and fell asleep.

This morning you heard a little bit about. I spent about an hour writing that blog, and after that A and I went to the heart shaped hot tub for a little bit while S got ready. The three of us had breakfast and A and I went to the room while to rinse/dry off and then we met S at the spa. They were fully booked, can we come back tomorrow.

Nope. A and S were leaving tonight for Panama and we were checking out of the hotel at noon. It had to be today. They said they needed three hours for the package we bought. They were awesome and managed to squeeze us in.

At the spa, I had a 30 minute massage, a steam bath, mud application on arms and legs, paraffin wax on my hands and feet, and a facial. It ended up being three and a half hours for me, my friends didn't do the steam and one didn't do the mud.

Check out for the hotel was at 12:00 and I was done in the spa at 12:40. I rushed to the room in the rain (because the umbrellas were in the room, where they were forgotten). A was waiting at the door for me with a message from the front desk. They were going to charge us a fee if we wait to check out after 1:00 pm. It was kind of ridiculous since they had A TON of open rooms.

We made it to the front desk right before 1:00 and checked out. We went to the restaurant for the lunch that was in the package. I had their nachos - they were tasty. The other food was just so, so.

We squared away at the front desk one more time and then after ripping up the credit card approval, I walked out. I was super relaxed and full of good nachos.

Then the real adventure began...

Are We There Yet?

The story of how a two hour drive took five.

I felt like a chicken with her head cut off yesterday morning. But I was at the Embassy so I couldn´t run around. The girls that are visiting us and I decided the previous night that we´d see if we can get a deal for the three of us that was offering a deal for two at a hotel/spa a couple of hours north of where I live.

I started at the Travel Agency (Carlson Wagonlit location down the hall from my office) and asked the nice ladies if I could do what I wanted. They made a call to the hotel and directed her to another person to call. She told me she´d make the call and let me know. I had breakfast with a friend in her office who offered me one of her extra croissants. The wonderful woman from Carlson popped her head in and said that we could do it for $10 less than what I was asking for - woot!

I told her I needed to find babysitters before I made the reservation, so I thanked my friend for breakfast and went on my way. I stopped at the office next to mine and asked someone if her daughter could babysit that afternoon and this afternoon. She couldn´t get a hold of her, so I tried other options. Most of the teenagers and visiting college students were either out of town with their parents or with out. And then I remembered my neighbor. She´s become a friend and has an 18 month old of her own. She owns a store at the mall, but usually goes just in the evening.

Problem: I don´t have her phone number. So I ask my friend who shared breakfast who just happens to be from Spain to call my maid for me and ask her to have my neighbor call me at my desk. The message is passed on but she doesn´t call. So my maid goes to my neighbor and asks for the phone number. I call her to find out she was making pancakes. I feel a little bad, but am too excited for spa (two hours in the spa actually) to care too much (sorry A).

She says she can watch the kids that day and her maid will do it the next. Yes!! I make the reservation and wait at the Embassy for another half hour for Carlson to give me the voucher for the room.

Head home, pack, feed Simon, print out directions from Google, take kids over to neighbors house, get everything in the car - go! Get 15 minutes out and turn around because I forgot my purse. UGH!

I should´ve seen this as the bad omen it was.

We were going to San Jose first to buy bus tickets for the girls because the company doesn´t take credit cards and they´re leaving for Panama Friday night. We drive around for about an hour looking for the place because the book apparently doesn´t have the location right and the nice woman at the hotel we stopped at wasn´t quite sure either apparently.

So we finally give up and decide to go to the hotel. I think I´m supposed to turn left at the road and I don´t see any signs saying I can´t but people are honking at me (including a semi as it drives by - scary!!) so I move forward. And am very glad I didn´t turn because it turns out I was already on the road I wanted to be on. So we´re driving and we miss our turn. Because the signs don´t have road numbers on them - just what town they lead to. I´m not scared yet because we´re still on the Pan American Highway and I can just turn back if I need to. But eventually we need to turn off, so we get off the highway because we think this road will take us where we need to go. At this point my friend has pulled out her Costa Rica book and finds a map that´s not ideal but is great because I failed to bring one with me.

We stop at a restaurant and I ask in my broken Spanish if we´re at the place I think we are, and we are! Then I ask how to get to a different place and he tells me - and I understand!!

We get back on the highway and head for Naranja. We get excited to see a sign for Naranja that says it´s in 10 km. Great!

Miss that turn.

Stop at a mall ask a nice bank security guard for directions to Zarcero, he provides them. We then ask nice police men to verify and we get basically the same directions. I eat a Taco Bell double decker because in the excitement I´ve eaten very little and am shaking from hunger.

We find Zarcero after asking a nice girl on the side of the road where it was. I thought we´d passed it, because there´s so way it would take this long to get there. Nope. Go to the intersection, take a right and we´ll be there in 15 minutes. Awesome!

I have to mention that for a while we´d been climbing the mountains so driving was very slow going and it took a couple of minutes to go one kilometer. And then all of a sudden we´re in Zarcero - yay!! So according to my friend´s map we the next big town is Ciudad Quesada, which just happens to be very, very close to our hotel. With out needing to stop for directions we head there (there was a sign that said Ciudad Quesada 27 km so we stayed on the road we were already on and prepared for a 15 mile drive). The drive was beautiful if not a little scary and slow.

Finally we arrive in a very nice town and know we´ve made it to Quesada. We see signs for every town but the one we want - argh! At the next intersection while we´re still trying to decide which way to go I spot a sign for our hotel - salvation!!!!

It has an arrow pointing to the right and says 15 minutes, 7 km this way. So we turn, and we drive - about six or seven miles! I decide not to freak out until 10 miles, but I don´t need to because the hotel shows up on the left side. And there was much rejoicing!

At one point during the drive I say "this drive is a blog entry all of it´s own" and my friend looks over and replies "you should call it Are We There Yet?" We both laugh, she was great at keeping the mood light when the drive was scary either because of the crazy twists and turns or the fear that we were hopelessly lost.

So today I´ve been up since before four. Parly because I feel asleep before 8:30 and partly because someone used the bathroom this morning and shined the light into our room. Oh well. I´m not all that tired. But I should probably go get dressed for breakfast and get ready for a spa experience and then another awesome ride home!

John - I so appreciate your driving here now, and I appreciate any future driving you´ll most definitely do. ;)

Guests

Our guests didn't have a great night on Sunday night in San Salvador. They missed their 3 am bus and didn't make the next one at the other bus company. I felt really bad for them. Happily they were able to enjoy a little pampering yesterday and got themselves a pedicure and one hour massage at a price they wouldn't find in the States (and probably wouldn't have found here either).

So they're on their way right now. In fact...if their bus is on time, they'll be here in under two hours. I'm so excited to see them! I hope we have a good time and they enjoy Costa Rica.

I filled out a lot of HR paper work today. Got it notarized in the Consulate and everything. I did get to go behind the scenes in the Consulate which is pretty special apparently. Then HR gave me more paperwork. This time it's easy, direct deposit and W-4. Not nearly as confusing as the benefits paperwork. Oh yeah! I get benefits, even though I'm only part-time. I get the same benefits, just on a different scale. So when I officially start, I'm going to be putting away for retirement and I have life insurance too. I don't think I've had life insurance since John got this job, so that makes me happy. I know now that it won't be a big burden on him if something should (God forbid) happen to me.

I picked up Pizza Hut for dinner. I think it made a bigger mess than if I would've made myself a sandwich. Oh well, it was pretty tasty. Not exactly like home, but pretty good.

I'm IM'ing with my brother-in-law as I type this and he asks: What do you eat? I laughed and thought that was a very funny question. And I realized that we eat basically the same stuff that we did in the states. At least when we cook we do. We tend to go to the really really nice store and spend the money for the atmosphere. Plus it's the closest and I like it more...stop judging me! But we're still making spaghetti, and broccoli chicken braid, and grilling steak and chicken.

My maid does cook for us though, and I really like that. She makes a mean gallo pinto. She's making a big Tico breakfast for us tomorrow, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I'm tired and I need to rest and clean up dinner before they get here.

BTW click on the flickr link on the right side to see some more pictures of the fam.