Where in the World is Wal-Mart?

Now that it has been 2 full weeks of school and a total of 3 weekends here in Costa Rica I think it is safe to say the four girls I live with and I have started to get used to the place and made a few memories together! Last week we discovered Pops. Pops is a Costa Rican ice cream store chain and we had heard people talking about it. We decided to hit it up one day and let’s just say our life here hasn’t been the same since. It is absolutely delicious! The very next day we were walking through the mall and saw a TCBY shop. We still had the urge for some ice cream so we decided to stop. Next thing you know we spotted a Pops store. Gosh darnit! That’s what we really had wanted but I guess TCBY took the edge off. Well until after supper that is. So we had finished devouring our mama-tica’s awesome meal and were sitting there at the table discussing our new found love of Pops. So I just casually suggested we walk the 15 minutes to get ourselves yet another treat. We all kinda looked at each other and next thing you know we were putting our shoes on. We invited our mama along and made a little “family” outing out of it. And yes folks, you did read that right, we ate ice cream 3 times in just over 24 hours.

Our family outing to Pops

Another adventure we’ve been having is trying to find the Wal-Mart! So…as you already figured out from that last sentence, Costa Rica has a Wal-Mart! We kinda want to check it out and compare it to the ones back home! So the first week we were here we embarked on an adventure to find Wal-Mart. We got on what we thought was the right bus and started heading out. Well after about 10 minutes of just sitting on the bus I figured it would probably be a good idea to ask one of the locals and make sure this bus would in fact go to the Wal-Mart. I turned around and asked the woman behind me and for literally like 15 seconds after I had finished my question she just stared at me with a completely blank face. It was kinda uncomfortable. She then was like “Que?” So I repeated the question and she answered, with a stone face, that she didn’t know. So then, Liz started asking the women in front of her and they were like “Chicas! This is the wrong bus!!!!” So we got off at the next stop and just ended up walking around the mall for the day. That was Failed attempt number 1.

This last week on Wednesday we had a few extra hours before dinner and decided to try again. So we asked our mom what bus to take and which stop to get off on. Perfect! We walked to the bus stop and got on. Well we rode, and rode for a good 25 minutes and ended up downtown. What in the world? All of a sudden the bus stopped and the man told us everyone on the bus needed to get off. So we asked the driver how in the world we are supposed to get to Wal-Mart and he told us that the bus just behind his would get us there. So we ran to it and got on. The only confusing thing was that the new bus (that would supposedly actually get us to Wal-Mart) had the same route name on the front as the one we just got off of. What the heck? Well we had faith and just sat there. Next thing you know, everything started to look familiar. We were coming back the way we came! To end this quickly, we figured out that yes, we were on the right route but we had gotten on the East bound bus and not the West bound one that we needed. So, we got off and went home for supper without getting to Wal-Mart once again! Fail. We plan to try this again tomorrow so we will see how it goes!

Also last week I got to miss half a day of school and go on a coffee tour! It was actually quite fun! A bus picked us up from school and we drove about 45 minutes to the plantation. Literally as we were pulling in you could already smell the coffee. We then waited for about 30 minutes for the tour to start and we got to try a few different coffees. They were so good that I enjoyed them even without any form of milk or sugar. That’s pretty amazing! We then walked through the fields and looked at the processing machines and learned about the taste testing process. Apparently they have coffee experts who literally sit there and taste each batch. Our guides were actually quite funny. They put on a little play about the history of it and it was pretty entertaining I’d say. Also it was super legit because they did it in Spanish and English! Each thing they would say they would repeat in both languages.

Last Friday was Mary’s 21^st birthday. Liz, Fin, Amanda, and I decided we should do something extra special for her and surprise her. We told our mama about the party beforehand and it was so cute because she was beyond excited for it! She kept asking us about the details and making sure it was still on. So, on Thursday it was really lucky that Mary didn’t go on the coffee tour with us because once we got back we stopped at a grocery store and bought a cake. (It of course down poured as we walked the last 20 minutes home with this cake) J That night, Mary was in the dining room studying so Liz, Fin, Amanda, and I put masquerade masks on, lit 21 candles on the cake, and marched in there singing Happy Birthday. We then presented Mary with her brand new umbrella! Before this, Mary’s umbrella that she has been using was beyond worthless! It was broken at 2 of the hinges and leaked. When she opened the new one, she opened it a little too far and it popped open the wrong way! It was sooo funny! Our papa then came running in from the other room and saved the day.

The next morning at 5 am Fin and Liz filled the sitting room outside our bedroom with balloons and Mary was again surprised J

The "family" for Mary's birthday