Last weekend, the three of us interns woke up at 6:00 A.M. and even as grumpy as we were, couldn't help but be cheered by the bright morning. Angeley, who grew up in Costa Rica and then moved to New York when she was a young girl, had plans to meet her cousin and the rest of his family so Lauren and I decided to tag along to explore a new city. We had been told that the bus comes anytime between 7:00 and 7:30, so we rushed around, chomping Corn Flakes and grabbing coffee. Then we waited outside the little red gate at the bottom of the driveway and I sat in the gravel as we talked. Then, just as Lauren had gone inside for more coffee, the bus started pulling up the hill. As planned, Angeley yelled, "Bus!" to me, who was planted in the yard so I could yell, "Bus!" to Lauren (and then "Coo-WEE!" like some wild bird just for the fun of it. Lauren came tearing out of the house with her coffee (sugar but no milk), and the three of us jumped on the bus.
We wound through the neighboring town of Cartagos, down, down the mountain past houses painted yellow or blue or papaya, down where the sun hit each clothesline hanging in the yards. We all began to feel nausea creeping into our stomachs and Lauren and I stopped talking almost instantly in order to mentally focus on not being sick. About an hour and a half later, we stumbled off, rather eagerly, and then made a call to Angeley's cousin at a little flower shop. He came to pick her up, a lanky guy with a easy-coming smile and a smooth Carribean accent who kindly showed Lauren and I the bus stop home and bought us all Granizados. (I think I'll take the time to describe the Granizado because it is something like a soon-to-be Seventh Wonder of the World. You choose between any three flavors of slurpee flavors, then pick bananas, papayas, watermelon or all three, then powdered milk, condensed milk and, just when you thought the cup couldn't hold more, you pick a flavor of ice cream for the top.) Feeling adventurous, even at 9:00 in the morning, I asked for everything. It was almost sickly sweet as you can imagine and I wished I'd avoided the powdered milk, but I was glad I got to try it because it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because I think your system can only handle one in your lifetime.
Lauren and I split from Angeley and her cousin and began to explore Heredia. We knew that we were the very picture of tourist, two girls in Chacos with funny shoulder bags, but we didn't mind. We were happy to be out of Vara Blanca for the day and in weather that was almost uncomfortably muggy, the way summer ought to be. Fueled, and a little sickened, by Granizado, we picked our way down the sidewalk, slipping into boutique shops stuffed with sheer blouses and trendy dresses we could never afford. In one dark, retro store, I found a pair of delicate earrings with painted summery flowers for 1000 colones ($2) and bought them for Lauren's 20th birthday, which was only a couple days away. Even though neither of us are big shoppers, it was fun to window shop all the same.
We made our way back to the central park and ate lunch in a little sandwich shop which looked out on the white church in the plaza. No one came in during that whole hour, so we were free to talk about our different traveling adventures and mission trips and study abroad without anyone staring at us for our English. After taking a couple touristy shots by the fountain and the church, we headed to the bus stop, knowing it would come sometime between 12:45 and 1:30. It came at 1:35 and one bus stop down, a stone's throw from where Lauren and I had been sitting on concrete steps. The next bus to Vara Blanca wasn't until 5:00, so we tore down the street, yelling, "Run! Run!" to each other, looking like two ridiculous Americans (which we were), and caught the bus just in time. We spent the first five minutes laughing like crazy and the last seventy or so sleeping.
That night we had a sort of slumber party back home under our roof in the steady rain of Vara Blanca. We watched "Ocean's Twelve" followed by "Gilmore Girls" and ate chips and a spicy dip until our lips stung. I went to bed exhausted, belly full of Tostitos but happy, and with a little sun on my cheeks for the first time in weeks.
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