Days Off 1: walking and waiting, the usual.

To go with the previous few pictures I posted, a look back at one of our days off...

Full! sleep in-ish, laundry, breakfast and book it out, only to miss the bus and wait a bit. Escazu wander Guachipelen to find a bus up to the mysterious San Antonio and head towards Pico Blanco, which happened, but not exactly. We walked up from the center (after getting off the bus that had turned back, down the mountain) and headed toward dem hills. We just wound our way up, accompanied by random, stray dogs who happened to be hated by all the pet ones including Rottweilers on the other side of a chain-link fence. yikes!

It got prettier and harder to breathe, the further we went up—both welcome.

We passed houses as it got more country and followed signs toward a “mirador.” The lookout we chose ended up being scrambling up a dirt hill to trespass (but not intrude!) on someone’s field that had a beautiful view of the valley for miles and miles (kilometers, I suppose).

(It was similar to the point at the Gausness farm, but the view was more city this time.)

We walked up a little more and found what may have been the restaurant that Kate came to as a student here! On the way down, we still got some piropos, even up in the country, including a man who rode his bike next to us, braking down the hill, for a good half mile or so with poetic language and calling us "doll," which I'm sure was accurate for two red-faced, sweaty, dirty young women... We convinced him to move on.

Guess what I got that I’d been craving?? Fro-yo : ) Even though, I’d have to say, it’s still much better at the Yogurt Lab (hey Minneapolis, I miss you!), it was refreshing and just what I wanted.

We proceeded to wait for … a whole hour for the Multiplaza bus that we were unsure as to its existence until others joined us in line, and it did, eventually come. In the meantime, I got some free aloe drink from a kind Dos Pinos man—this encouraged me greatly and reminded me to pray and give thanks for small gifts. Perhaps it was because he smiled with his eyes and genuinely wanted to give me a gift not requiring anything in return, maybe it was because I asked for no rain when the clouds rolled in and it didn’t rain, maybe it was because I had eyed the juice in that truck and wished I could snag some somehow when he unknowingly, or maybe knowingly honored my silent request, maybe it was because he treated me like a person, with dignity, not an anomaly and not something to call after. I’m not sure, but I do know I was blessed and reminded to pray for others both near and far to me while waiting rather than grow anxious or frustrated.  

After stopping at the grocery store to complete our long-standing hunt for cardamom, we eventually made it home. Weary, we crashed for longer than planned, but needed naps. The evening consisted of a very ambitious smoothie marathon and a mediocre attempt at chai—the cardamom wanted to be the star and we were lacking sufficient amounts of tea, but I'd still call it a well-used day off.