"I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to stop going to those places." - Henny Youngman

(Written at 6 a.m.)
Today is the first since last Thursday that I don't have a speaking gig (or two) of some sort, and my brain is ready for the break. I like mental stimulation and I've had plenty of it, but my gray matter needs some down time.

We were supposed to go to this guy's cabin in the mountains today but the weather makes that trip impossible. Think of the hardest downpour you've ever experienced. That's what it did almost all night. How can it rain that hard for hours?? As a result the dirt roads up into the mountains will be impassable, so Alonzo will come pick me up at 11:00 for.... I'm not sure what. Today is his son's birthday. Samuel (sam-WELL) is just about the cutest newly-minted 6-year old ever, with a sly little smile and a dimple on each cheek. At some point, maybe today, I'm going to get a picture of the family so you can see them. They are all as good on the inside as they are adorable on the outside. It should be illegal.

Yesterday morning I had huevos rancheros here at my hosts' house. I don't know if the Mexican version is different, but the Costa Rican edition is wonderful. After having used that dish as an example of how little Spanish I know I actually got to taste it. Gonna have to do that again sometime soon.

Then up to the hills to speak at a small gathering of pastors and youth workers. All but one spoke

English and one of the guys whispered a translation to that guy as I went along. Nice guys who interacted well with the content. The view wasn't bad, either.

Lunch at Cabesa's (Alonzo's last name) was Sylvia's chili relleno. Score!
If you ever come to Costa Rica do NOT eat "American." Their food is too good to miss. Not spicy like Mexican, just full of flavor and interesting tastes.

Juan (host) stopped as we were leaving the church parking lot last night to ask a couple of the young adults who were in attendance if they wanted a ride home. (At least I'm assuming that's what he said.) They got in back and we dropped the gal off first.
WHAT???
We drove at least five miles to get to her home. She was going to walk that! I'm not bothered by the distance, but that she would head out at 8 p.m., well after dark, on that kind of a trek through neighborhoods that weren't all stellar.
Then we took the guy home. He lived about four miles from the church and closer to it. That means she would have been by herself for the last and latest part of the walk.
She speaks very good English, and I told her if she ever even thought about doing that again I'd come back from the States to give her all kinds of grief. (All said in fun, but with clear seriousness behind it.)

I've picked up a fair amount of Spanish here. Just words and phrases, but I try to learn two or three new ones each day. Then I use them as I teach, and we have fun with my sometimes feeble attempts. But as it turns out Spanish is a pretty straightforward language compared to English. All the vowels make only one sound, so, for example, you don't get the eight different ways to say "a" that English provides. I may try to build in this when I get home, in part to prepare me for my trip to Puerto Rico in late February.

I sure miss Pam. She's doing a great job of taking care of move-related and house-selling related issues and I appreciate her work on those. But mostly I miss her companionship.
Four more sleeps.