Week 5: Preparing for Independence Day

Costa Rica’s Independence Day is September 15 and it is a huge deal!  The boys’ school has been preparing for the big day by having door decoration contests, having the students learn Costa Rican songs and dances, and having the school taken over with Costa Rican flags and colors .  This Thursday there will be activities at the school to celebrate the occasion (starting at 10:30 a.m. until the end of the day!), and then the boys do not have school on Friday.  As parents we have been involved in creating door decorations for both of the boys’ homerooms; John’s class won the decoration for the elementary school!

Yes, that is Mark helping with John’s bulletin board!

Dressed like a “Tico” minus the jeans that he should be wearing to make the outfit complete!

Visiting the “big” city of Santa Cruz:

Santa Cruz is a small city that is about 45 mintues from our house that happens to have a number of stores including a department store!  It is so difficult to find things that we need here in Costa Rica, but this is one area where we can seem to find some odds and ends.  First off, nothing is really brand name; or at least brand names that we are familiar with.  You can find shoe stores that have some Nike and Adidas items, but you will be paying top dollar for them.   There are also many “knockoff” brands that look like Nike, Adidas, Converse, and Timberland for a fraction of the cost.  And, just like in the U.S., they already have Christmas decorations out!!

In addition, the boys found a small Pizza Hut in Santa Cruz so they got to enjoy their favorite breadsticks and cinnamon sticks!

More animals…

We woke up about 2 weeks ago to find our pool covered with about a thousand frog’s eggs.  We did our best to scoop them out and throw them over the edge of the pool so we did not start a frog colony.  A week or so ago we found four little tadpoles in that same area and are now trying to raise them (John’s idea).  Apparently they like lettuce and cucumbers!

Also, Ray’s pet iguana “Papi” has been found eating my flowers so I am not really happy with him! 

Other items to note:

• Ray’s favorite fruit here is a mamon chino.  They are odd looking to say the least!  They taste a bit like a grape and have a seed in the middle.  You can currently buy a bag of these for 1,000 colones (or about $1.80).
  

  

  
•  One of John’s favorite things to eat is still french fries.  Fortunately, he can get them for 400 colones (about 75 cents) at the local Pollolandia.  Yes, that essentially means “Chickenland”!
• Mark and I have made it a point to see the ocean every day that we are living in Costa Rica.  So, we are on about 35 plus days in a row now!  Since we are living an essentially “retired” lifestyle right now, we drop the boys off at school in the morning and then walk about 2 miles or so on one of the local beaches.  It is definitely a nice way to start the day! The following are some pictures of the different places we walk.
  

  

  
• Other than that, go Packers!  We can even watch the games here in Costa Rica 🙂

Pura Vida,

The Beilmans