Our Final Week in Coronado

 March 24-March 28

This week is kind of a blur, and I don't have nearly enough pictures.

On Monday, my parents and I met up for breakfast and went up to the Bici chocolate shop to buy ceremonial cacao before I drove them to the airport. That evening we met up with Clark's work buddies. It was a lovely time. The young engineers played UNO with our kids while I practiced my Spanish with a kind gentleman whose son is an engineer with the company. 

On Tuesday I taught lessons as usual and I honestly can't remember what else happened that day. I know later we headed over to meet with Alejandro's family. They had graciously invited us to dine with them in their home. We returned the bike Alejandro left for us to use during our time in Costa Rica and Alejandro's mom, Liliana, had prepared a lovely meal of ceviche, roast beef, chicken, rice and the best plantains I've had in Costa Rica. I must get her recipe! 

With so much having happened in the past ten days, between our families coming, our last-minute trips into the city, and our busy weekend in Quepos, the kids were zombielike. We had been getting up before the sun and going to bed late for days. We sincerely enjoyed sharing our passion of travel and our impressions of Costa Rica with Alejandro's brothers, Edgar Jr. and Adrian. Everyone was so kind despite our not being 100%. I'm certain the cheesecake cheered Craig up! Somehow Liliana served all our favorite foods that night.

I really regret not getting pictures of the people and activities from Monday and Tuesday but as Clark said, I was busy living and being present. Still a documented memory is nice; to remember people as they were in that time and place.

On Wednesday I learned my lesson and acquired some pictures. During the day, Clark's family came to visit us in Coronado since they would be flying back the USA the next day. We enjoyed lunch at one of our favorite sodas, Ciao Cocina, then explored the central square and cathedral in Coronado. 

Working off the calories after lunch in the public park on the square.

Never too old to have some fun.

Grandma and granddaughter

Our last picture together at the square

We had requested to have a small social with our new (and temporary) church family. They all had so generously welcomed us with open arms and so much love to make our stay in Costa Rica more comfortable. We had asked Clark's sister to bring a huge bag of mixed Hershey mini bars and tootsie pops. I made a double batch of no bake cookies and a couple no bake cheesecakes. Remember, my Coronado kitchen was minus an oven. I also asked my dad to bring some Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, 2-dollar bills, and some Indian nickels as gifts for some of our Tico friends whom we knew have coin collections. We are really going to miss our friends! We hope if they return to visit the USA, we can rendezvous somehow. Writing this entry two weeks after saying goodbye hurts my heart. I'm grateful I have this way to document these wonderful people and memories!

Roni, Aura, and their twins

Roni and Clark

Gabby and her family; we missed Juan Carlos (the world's best pastry chef)

Indi and Jose Pablo, a couple of their kids, with Sergio and Daniella (we missed Vanessa)

Clark had this cooler, and these two guys agreed to share I guess...haha.

On Thursday, I met up with Andrea once more for lunch at the Spanish school. I'm really going to miss her too. I might have to register for an occasional Spanish class just to catch up with her. That evening, we tried to check out a restaurant that Adrian had recommended up in the mountains near Coronado, Entre Nubes, but we didn't do a great job thinking ahead to check their schedule and we just missed the open time. After our nice drive up the mountain, we opted for some pizza at a local place on the square and wrapped our day up with some ice cream from the Dos Pinos heladoria. 

Friday, we spent the day cleaning the house, the fridge, and packing. My friend, Indi, graciously took the rest of our groceries off my hands. When our families left, they brought us all the fruit they hadn't finished off so Clark and Rosabel decided to make smoothies. It's a Tico thing to love smoothies. Every place we'd stayed had a blender, so it was fitting that we have this memory. I think they had enough fruit to run the blender about 4 times. One batch was ruined because the yogurt was spoiled. Because I was teaching lessons, they moved their smoothie making to the garage but not before I showed my students some of the unique fruit.

On our last night in town, we happened across our Missouri cat's doppelganger.

I opted to get some sushi from the super slow shop in Coronado and around the corner was a verduleria. Indi can correct me on the spelling of that if she reads this. We had a discussion about what the proper name for the veggie shop is. Anyways, they had pijayabes. We had a chance to try these after ziplining at Braulio Carrillo, but I was sick at the time, so we skipped it. I really liked this. It had a texture of beans, like chickpeas. It's served with mayo. A few weeks before I had some soup made out of this. I think I could eat this regularly.

On another note, we realized too late that we should have accepted Michelle's offer to take a couple more bags back to the USA. The reality of hauling a full set of luggage each while destination hopping suddenly seemed overwhelming. Live and learn. We were ready for our next adventures.