Giving Thanks for Plumbing

Happy Thanksgiving All!

On this annual feast for gratitude, we find ourselves celebrating with a fine meal of conger eel. It sounds horrifying but it is a delicious, local white fish here in Chile. Yum!

In our first month of travel in Costa Rica and Chile, we have often been reminded of how truly wonderful American plumbing is. If you are too delicate to partake of my toileting ramblings, stop reading now and have a great day giving thanks for your good fortune!

OK if you are still with me I will be ranting about only 3 of the foreign toilet issues only of these 2 countries.

FIRST: toilet paper needs to go in the toilet!
Part of our orientation into our homestay in Costa Rica was a graphic entreaty to not put toilet paper into the toilet and the perils of trying to fish it out later. Sincere promises were made to be careful. But of course, at some point you forget and drop the offending paper into the toilet. OH NO! You stare into the toilet in horror. Your guilt is huge. But then figure, well just one little bit won´t hurt too much... But, strangely enough you forget the very next time. OH CRAP! As you leap up to stare again! Then you find yourself reaching forth to try to catch the offending bit by a dry corner. PLEASE! I long for my toilets of home.

SECOND: (and I will make this short) padded toilet seats are sick and wrong.

THIRD: The issue of PAYING to PEE.
I don´t appreciate paying. This is arrogant, but it seems like a basic right. But let´s accept the concept of paying. At that point, shouldn´t there be a minimum expectation of paper, cleanliness, and soap to wash up? Recently, we were charged 150 pesos at which point a dirty old man (literally, he wasn´t a perv) handed out 30 sheets of toilet paper. THANKS. Upon entering the tiniest, filthiest little compartment, I was greeted with no toilet seat. Nice. OK, so you hover. Once business is complete, not wanting to touch anything, I use my foot to flush at which point the door to the compartment busts open violently, revealing to a staring public my judo move on the toilet handle. Oops. And to top it off, instead of going down, gravity fails me and the water starts rising. OH NO, RUN LIKE THE WIND!

So this year I am giving thanks in absentia for the art and science of plumbing in the United States. Happy Thanksgiving!

Going South

Our departure from Costa Rica was eventful! During our last day of class, we experienced an earthquake! We predicted a 5.0 and were very close with the news reporting 5.1 on the Richter Scale. Our homestay continued with its challenges as they had to put down one of the 4 dogs. He was an old cocker spaniel we had called Joe. But we bid the banana country farewell and have moved on to Chile.

Our short stay in Santiago was nice as we experienced the southern version of Wiener House -- a fine dining establishment called Doggies where we enjoy the local favorite, the hot dog.

We continued south to explore the wine country. It is really beautiful. We met a charming English couple and joined them in touring the wineries. Touring is expensive, but the wine is cheap. We have continued our education in all thing bodega (the spanish word for winery).

Now we are moving south again to Puerto Montt. We will be traveling overnight in a "Salon de Cama" bus for 12 hours. Should be interesting! We have our box of wine, our salon on the bus, and we are ready to ride!

Parrots and Prostitutes and Chile, Oh My!

Last weekend we made another pilgrimage to the coast, the Pacific coast this time. We saw 2 large red macaw parrots in the wild!! They were eating, chatting, and flying. Quite a show. We also encountered a coatimundi. It came within 20 feet of where we were, and just hung out for a while. Amazing.

We have continued to embarrass ourselves while slaughtering the spanish language. Lo siento! Tomorrow is our last day of class, much to the relief of our teacher.

Our home front has been interesting. Our neighbor (a nice young american guy) is teaching english here in San Jose. His newest class consists of four local prostitutes. Last Sunday our host family experienced a loss. The paternal grandmother passed away from brain cancer. We felt quite awkward as extended family came and went in the aftermath. Then last night, the maternal grandfather went to the hospital with heart trouble, so things continue to be up in the air at home.

We have enjoyed our Costa Rican experience, but are excited to move on to Chile on Sunday.

P.S. We alsmost forgot to mention this little friend we met in the rainforest.

Eyelash Viper (Sorry Mom)

Sloths, Spanish, Steve

Costa Rica is FANTASTIC!!

We arrived on Friday and settled quickly into our Home Stay accomodations. The house is nice and Maria takes good care of us. Her cooking is excellent and we are very comfortable there.

Sunday we took a trip to Tortuguera National Park.

On our way there, first we saw a smoking volcano. The morning was sunny and clear and beautiful. Then we saw a BANANA PLANTATION with a processing plant. There was nothing industrial and the whole process was outside. We watched the people working hard, taking bananas from the field and sorting them into the boxes that arrive in our supermarkets.

Next we took a 3 hour boat ride on a river flowing into the Carribbean through the rain forest. We saw SLOTHS!! One sloth was rather active and we saw his face. The other was close enough to touch but he was just hanging there -- like a sloth. We also saw the JESUS CHRIST lizards. This is the lizard that runs across the top of the water, also known as the basilisk. Steve was the hero in spotting an 8 foot crocodile with a hunch back that we were able to get very close to. He also spotted a large green iguana.

After the boat ride, we took a walk which ended on a Carribbean beach. This beach is famous for nesting green sea turtles. We saw several nests where the giant mom sea turtles had hauled themselves up the beach and layed their eggs. We were told a few babies have already hatched and made their way to the ocean.

On Monday we got down to our main business of learning Spanish. When we arrived, we were tested to let the school know that we are muy estupido. After the initial humiliation was complete, we were assigned to an excellent teacher and we are learning. We are working hard, so of course we will be fluent in no time!