Food - what else?

Do you ever watch Anthony Bourdain? He's one of those guys that travels all over the globe eating weird things with an entourage the size of Rhode Island. I feel kind of like him -- without the interpreters, cameramen, guides and various and sundry others paving the way for him.

We are just outside the Capital city in a non-touristy area -- which means that almost no one speaks English. One of the good things is you really brush up on your Charades skills. It also let's you see how tolerant the people around you really are. The Costa Rican people are - and I've said it a thousand times - some of the most patient and friendly people I've ever met. They're also great Charades players.

We went to Plaza Mayor after the dentist -- needed the Farmacia and hoped to find a sweatshirt PLUS there's a mercado in there as well. Got the prescriptions filled, no sweatshirt so we headed into the mercado - where Doug's nose guided him directly into the bakery (he's having doughnuts for breakfast tomorrow). While he was deciding on his sugar rush, I found a case full of flaky little empanadas -- with descriptions I could only guess at with my limited Spanish (queso=cheese, pollo=chicken, carne=meat). I picked up a few in different shapes and nibbled on two -- one turned out to be a chicken with cheese and the other was potato with some lovely reddish/pink sauce. I think the other is ham & cheese (jamon y queso) -- maybe I'll find out later in the week or maybe Doug will just nosh on it with his soon to be installed shiny new teeth.

When we came out we hailed a cab -- which can cause difficulty because Costa Rica is a nation of streets without names. Yes, you read it right - the highways are numbered and some of the bigger roads have names - but mainly they run on landmarks ala "yes, you take this road for about 8 kilometers, then make a right when you see the Pizza Hut, follow that road until you see the large cork tree and make a left then go on until you see the Chinese Soda on the right - bear left at that fork and the hotel is across from the power company." Yuppers, this is not someplace you want to drive around on your own. We did finally make it back to the hotel and here I am - writing to you all, waiting until I have to go back to the dentist...