Un dia mas en Cosa Rica, que lastima! I believe Husband set
the tone, by behaving as if he was not about to let anything get in the way of
enjoying the heck out of our last Central American hurrah. Thus it happened
that we were treated to his perky voice first thing in the morning, exhorting
us to “C’mon, get up…time’s a wastin’!” The rest of us might have collectively
groaned and/or glared at him, but we did rouse ourselves…to shuffle sleepily to
the breakfast buffet. In our defense, we have enjoyed a very active vacation, as
per usual for us. What with frolicking in the water, tromping through various
natural habitats, and even just exploring our immediate surroundings at the
resort…we were some tiiiired campers by the end of the week. Case in point:
Derek, who hasn’t napped since he was a toddler, fell asleep on 3 separate
afternoons after enjoying full mornings of…stuff. (Me, I am a firm believer in afternoon
snoozes….every day, whether you need one or not, that’s my motto…)
So how did we spend our final horas in Playa Matapalo? Well,
we dipped ourselves in the ocean and the pool one more time, for good measure. We
strolled down to the souvenir shops to purchase mementos of our trip. Having heard
other visitors talking about howler monkeys living in some nearby trees, we
attempted to track them down—sadly, without success. (The beach security guard explained
that the best time was “tempranito”--very early--which when questioned further
he nailed down to “5 a.m.”. Ugh…thanks…I guess we’ll be leaving the monos alone, then.
On a semi-tangentially -related note: for me, the best thing
about that particular encounter was the fact that, after I’ve been here for a
week, trying to speak as much Spanish as possible, some of the staff members
automatically address me en Espanol. (Loooove it!) But another incident that occurred
shortly thereafter was even more amusing; as we walked back toward the hotel,
we passed a man jogging. In his typical friendly way, Husband called, “Allo!”
Now, he said this with a British accent…to which you might be thinking…why in
the world would he do that? The only explanation he could offer is that his
boss and a bunch of his coworkers are English and actually work from the UK.
Husband has frequent conference calls with them, and claims that he’s “picked
up the way they answer the phone”. Anyway, the jogger stopped in his tracks,
turned back to us and inquired, “Are you French?” (I know, right: what the HECK
is happening here? But stick with me, it gets weirder…) Without even thinking, I
answered, “No…Americanos!” Then Team WestEnders burst out laughing as we
realized that I’d just told the poor guy that we were American…in Spanish. Ay
yi yi…
After that little bit of multi-lingual nonsense, I quizzed
the children (in English) on what their favorite part of the trip was.
Predictably, they both named the excursions we took, and all the time bonding
with the beach. I also asked what they had missed from home. Not surprisingly,
easy access to fast Wi-Fi was high on the list….as was American TV programming.
(Yeah, I suspect Derek’s going to binge-watch SportsCenter this week while I’m
at work. Evidently Tom y Jerry cartoons—dubbed in Spanish—are just not as
compelling as you’d imagine…) As for me, I find myself looking forward to
drinking iced tea again—since I tend to consume it by the quart during the
Summer and they just don’t seem to make it in Costa Rica. (Here, it’s all about
the coffee…which is not necessarily a bad thing, of course…but I need me some
Lipton, and soon…)
So that's about it...next time you hear from me, I'll be Stateside...hopefully after a smooth, pleasant return trip...please cross your fingers for us!
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