A Normal Trip to the Store...

One thing I do everyday is go to the grocery store. In the states I would attempt this feat once a week. I could maneuver 2 carts through Costco; one filled with kids and the other with my soon to be purchased goods. Bystanders would comment on my talents. Most comments would sound something like, "Boy, you sure have your hands full." {I could also get out of there under $200, another amazing feat!} Here the refrigerators are small (most available appliances are smaller actually). The good thing here is that food doesn't get lost in the deep end of the fridge. The negative, I have to shop often. So come along with me as I restock my fridge.

Okay...the wife just dosed off (hee hee) so I will see what I can do to finish this post. So....these are our front gates. The muchacho sitting down opens and closes the gate by hand. He has to sit in that chair for an entire shift. The guard shack or "casitas" has no A/C and I don't think I have ever seen a fan in there. The guard service is excellent and no one gets past these guys without a specific house number and typically verbal or written permission from an owner or tenant. About 150 meters straight out the gate and down the road is the main drag, not to mention Kentucky Fried Chicken where we can find the treasured Mug root beer:)


Look closely and you can see it. Right there....see it. We call it "peace of mind" and much better than the gaping hole that used to be there. We were worried the kids might fall in and are very pleased that the city took care of it so quickly.
Shawna: I wanted to mention here that underneath this previous gaping hole was rushing water headed to the ocean. I was always worried the kids would mess around and fall in. Every time I walk over these now I let out a sigh of relief.


Ahhhh! My honey waiting on din din and bubbaloo looking at the kitty hiding in the wood stack out of view. This small restaurant/soda (A "soda" is a small spot to pick up some grub.) is called Pollo's Leña (Leña = firewood) and is located in the town of Orotina (on the road from San Jose) and is the best place to pick up some rotisserie chicken. At $9 bucks a chicken it better be good! Look closely....yes....that's a pig being roasted and was brought in by the locals for a party. We stuck with chicken:)
Shawna: This is from our trip to San Jose.



Okay, this is definitely my wife's department. However, I think can name some of them...go ahead...time me! From top to bottom and left to right: 1st row - Leaf lettuce, garlic. 2nd row - pinto beans, cashews, peas, yucca, cherry tomatoes, ???, limes or mamon, ???, peppers. 3rd row - green cabbage, tomatoes, empty, smaller tomatoes, red cabbage. We'll see how I did after the esposa reads this.
Shawna: I wanted to mention here that lately this has been my selection of produce. The produce area keeps getting smaller and smaller. My new item on my get from the states list is vegetable SEEDS.


P-pooh and mom walking to or from the store. The walk is rather nice and this stretch of sidewalk is the most scenic.
Shawna: O.K. let me change P-pooh to Paigee Pooh. Actually even that sounds bad, how about just Paige. Here I was trying to show how some of the sidewalk is beautifully pothole free. Although most of our trek is quite dangerous. {If you consider the chances of tripping dangerous}

Uhhh...here you can see that "Mega Super" has a decent selection of canned goods. And...I might add, that the clerks have a tremendous talent for agility and balance. NEWS FLASH...the power just went off here at home so I'll have to move quickly to...never mind it just came back on.
Shawna: You should have seen me trying to photograph this one. I didn't want to seem rude with my huge camera taking pictures of my sweet grocer friends so I just took it without looking. This picture describes Costa Rica. There aren't many rules to how things get done, they just get done. {sometimes} Can you imagine seeing this in the states? Someone would sue the store for negligence. My sister-in-law was given the flag to hold out her car window {the one that street construction workers are to use to slow people down} and hand to the worker that was 1/2 a mile up the road. The guy just handed it to her and said take this up. So funny!
I've also seen a man climbing up a ladder to the 4th floor of a building, outside, with a huge heavy box on his shoulder. No one was below holding the ladder and no one was up top to help him when he got there. I had to leave I couldn't even watch.

Maybe it's better when Wes does the comments, his are so much shorter.

Mmmm...fish eggs, anchovy paste, and sardines. Someone pass the crackers please...yeah right...this is just foul. I'd rather eat boiled cow tongue!
Shawna: I can get Caviar at my grocery store but not a brand name I recognize of tuna. I have to order that from another store.


Caviar is the processed, salted roe of certain species of fish, most notably the sturgeon. It is commercially marketed worldwide as a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread; for example, with hors d'œuvres...The highest prices paid are for the Beluga, Ossetra, and Sevruga varieties. (The large-grained Beluga caviar is from the Beluga sturgeon, a fish which is unrelated to the Beluga whale, a mammal, the word beluga derives from the Russian word for white.) -Wikipedia-


There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

Shawna: Cute honey! This was to show how most of the sidewalk looks.


There are a number of these little flower people embedded into the sidewalk. Stare at is long enough and you might expect it to start talking:)
Shawna: There are about 10 of these embedded in part of the sidewalk along my route. I always have to smile at these. They remind me of the book, Where the Wild Things Are. Love that one.


The yellow and brown gate or "portion" is where my sister used to live a few years ago. We have video of it from our visit in 2005. Oh and of course our beautiful daughter posing for the masses:)
Shawna: I wanted to show here how everyone is behind gates. I remember reading about how important sidewalks are to "child development". Yep, sidewalks. I've lived in both type of neighborhoods and the ones with sidewalks have a different type of neighborhood feeling, especially for the kids. Can you imagine what that child development book would say about houses with bars and fortresses built around them? Thanks for coming with us. I will take a mental note never to fall asleep with a sick little one again and leave my post up and halfway done. Then my husband will literally take over my blog and change everything including all the colors, the background, the sidebar, the info about me, the font, and give him access as an author. {ah ha, didn't think I found that last one, huh honey?!?!?}

Okay, that wasn't so hard. WB