Crushes, Mortified Fishing, and Montezuma

So.

I agree with my brother's musings about the word "home." I think. I'm actually not sure. But I'm starting to mean our "Tico-home" when I say home. I think that was the gist of the last post.

Anyway.

Kristen and I have had a busy week. We begin with Costa Rican Crushes.

There is a cafe up the street. It is named the Nav Cafe. It has a beautiful botanical garden and very good drinks. (Like, fruit smoothies and cappuccinos. Seriously.) It has two plasma tvs and as of two weeks ago wireless internet that doesn't quite work yet. But maybe the best part of Nav Cafe is David. Maybe.

Kristen and I have been there twice. The first was with Fiorella, our uVolunteer coordinator. The second was just the two of us. It was on a rainy afternoon and we just wanted to use the internet and get a couple fruity drinks. It was a slow day at the Cafe, and David, the young, bearded, clean-cut, smiling new manager met us at the door. He informed us that the internet was not working, sadly, but that we could sit wherever we wanted. We said, "How about the couches over there?" David replied, "How about the VIP room over here?" We said, "Ok."

So we get to sit in the VIP room, he gives us the remote to one of the plasma screen tvs, and takes our order. He jokes with me about how tall I am, and then (still smiling) leaves. Kristen's first words after the door to the VIP room closes: "I have a big crush on him."

Uh oh.

David returns with our drinks (still smiling that handsome smile). We drink, watch some TV. David returns. He takes our glasses. As we get up to go, he turns to Kristen and says, "Do you like Thai food?"

Uh oh.

Actually, I didn't put this one together as fast as Kristen did. Her thoughts were, "Seriously? My boyfriend is standing right here..." As it turned out, David was just advertising for their new menu, which includes Thai food, USofA style wraps, and other things. It sounded pretty good, actually. The whole place is cool, actually. So, actually, when our parents come, we're going to take them there.

Kristen assured me that her "crush" was just an "I think he's cute." In the clear.

Then we met Video-Rental-Store guy.

Piracy is completely a non-issue in Costa Rica. By non-issue, I mean that everyone does it. People run businesses renting out filmed-in-the-theater movies. There is a store that we've been renting movies from down the street, and in that store works a young, smiling, dark-gelled-haired Tican boy who talks in very quick phrases that reminds me of computer gibberish. We rented a movie or two once, and after smiling-computer-talking video guy stalled the rental process to make small computer-like Spanish talk with Kristen, we left the store, only to have Kristen smile at me and say, "I kinda have a little crush on him."

Now, seriously. David the cleancut, smiling, business manager I can understand. But computer-speak video guy? Hmm...

TO BE CONTINUED...?

Switching gears to fishing...uVolunteer does weekly report meetings with its volunteers. Which are pretty fun. They're going to be more fun now that Kristen and I aren't the only volunteers in Costa Rica anymore (we have a Canadian running abowt and a Californian coming soon). In addition, every Wednesday they have an activity. This last week was fishing at La Paz (not the waterfall garden). There is a local restaurant (a few miles out of town..) that has pools where you can catch trout on the spot and have then cooked on the spot. All four of us that went caught one. Kristen really didn't want to catch one. To her horror, when she dropped in the hook with cornmeal bait, a fish bit and hooked itself. Surprise..? She reeled it in, the son of the restaurant owner beheaded it on the spot, and then we went to eat our catch. For a great picture of a mortified Kristen with a fish on a line, check the pictures above.

Finally, Montezuma. Finally, a beach.

Montezuma is a tourist town on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. In non-rainy season (which it is NOT), I'm sure the place is a zoo. Now, it's relatively quiet.

As a part of our decision to go, we took into consideration Kristen's brother Josh's complaints about our complaining about the orphanage. Kristen told him that we have a steep, long hill to climb every day, and that the kids aren't the greatest. He said that he felt SO bad for us, living in a destination location. So, we took that to heart and went to a beach.

We rode a bus, rode a ferry, and rode another bus, then took a taxi to Hotel Los Mangos, which sits right on the coast with the sound of waves in the background. A short way from the hotel is a (semi)trail that leads to a beautiful waterfall and pool. We climbed behind the waterfall, dove through it, and swam in the pool. Then we headed down to the beach and played in the ocean; my first time swimming in an ocean. We played Cribbage, read, watched the sunset, listened to the waves and the rain.

It was a good weekend.

This week: more orphanage. Going to try activities that distract kids for longer periods of time. Going to hang ouwt with our Canadian friend, Brendon (who speaks no Spanish) and maybe the new volunteer.

Peace to all of you.

PS: We have a real address!!! Send fanmail to:

Ben Eisele & Kristen Wilcox
uVolunteer
Apartado 130-4250
San Ramon, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Next time, on SDinCostaRica: Ben&Kristen: What does this new, video-guy crush mean for Ben and Kristen? For how many consecutive minutes can a three year old cry? Will Gretel continue to forbid dish-washing? And, introducing Herb the Cucarracha! Stay tuned...