Today I took another bus trip to Grecia to get a few groceries and a cardboard scratching board for Charli. I didn’t want to sit here all day doing nothing. My get-up-and-go was persistent today!
I’ll ride in on the bus one more time this week for lunch with Brooke Bishop and my Costa Rica family (Jon, Francisco, Dale and maybe Crystal, if she can get away) wherever they decide to gather this time. It’s usually either Mas Q Sabor or the Football Club.
And one day next week I’ll be dog-sitting Alice and Thio again while Jon and Francisco take Dale and Crystal to have some fun at the beach or wherever else they’ve decided to go this time. Crystal will be flying to Maine a few days after that to spend the Christmas holiday with her 95-year-old mother. She’ll return on December 28th.
Charli
Charli stayed out this morning while I went into town. Now that summer has arrived, I give her the option to stay in or go out whenever I go somewhere.
Before now — during the winter season that just passed (CR has two seasons, winter and summer; temperatures vary only slightly between the two, but enough to change the foliage in surprising, wonderful ways!) — it rained every afternoon so I always brought her in because the downpour, accompanied by thunder and lightning, always scared her. But afternoon rains are rare and tamer now, and thunder is muted (when it happens at all), so I can put a bowl of water on the porch for her and not have to worry about her getting scared out of her wits while I’m gone.
The windy season has arrived, too, so I get to hear my wind chimes a lot more often, which I love!
I just changed Charli’s litter pan entirely this morning for the fourth time since moving to Costa Rica. I scoop it three or four times a day, so it stays pristine for a very long time between total replacement times. Because of this, the cat litter I have bought and stashed away recently will probably last four to six months. I have at least 70 pounds of it!
The Bus Trip
I got to the bus stop just a few minutes before it arrived, but while I was waiting, a neighborhood Tica who I didn’t know joined me there. I said, “Hola! Buenos dias!” She returned the greeting and then said something in Spanish that I didn’t understand, so I mentioned, “No hablo espanol muy bien” and she immediately said, “Oh! Sorry!” and started speaking in English! Problem solved! (Does this mean that she figured I was fluent in Spanish because of my pronunciation and ability to sound like a real human being and not a newbie “reciter” of a “canned” foreign language? I sincerely hope so!)
She asked where I was from, so I told her. She mentioned being glad it was finally summer (after an uncommonly long winter and rainy season) and said she loved that the wind is blowing again. I agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment and told her this will be my first summer in Costa Rica. She asked if I’m just visiting or staying permanently and I told her I’ve applied for pensionado status and that I researched this magnificent nation for 12 years before moving here.
After we got on the bus and about three miles down the road, an older gentleman boarded. I motioned for him to sit next to me because my seat was close to the front and the seat beside me was the only one available unless he walked farther back. He wasn’t terribly mobile, so he accepted my offer and sat beside me. He didn’t speak English so we rode in silence the rest of the way in, but when I spotted him in the same store I visited later on, I gave him a big smile and a fist bump. He grinned and reciprocated. That was the sum total of our “conversation”!
The first thing I did after getting off the bus was go to the bank ATM and get the balance I need to pay the balance of the December rent. Then I went to a nearby tienda and bought (you guessed it, Jon!!!) Lizano sauce, hongos (mushrooms), aquacates (avocados), and lechuga (lettuce).
When I exited the tienda, the bus that had brought us in was still stationed where it had dropped us off, so I briefly considered jumping right back on it ansd going home, but I had been hankering for a Plato Ejecutivo at Cafe Delicias, so I did that instead. Yummy!
After that, I walked back to the us stop (parada) to find another bus that would be heading back to Upper El Cajon within about 20 minutes, but the doors were still closed and the driver was away, so I figured I had enough time to visit a nearby tienda de mascotas (pet store) to see if they had a cardboard scratching board. They did, so I bought one for Charli and then scooted quickly back to the bus stop.
I waited about 15 minutes there until the bus driver returned and started to allow boarding. I hopped on, paid the 525 colones (about a dollar) and took a seat about a quarter of the way back from the front door.
Not long after, an older Tico couple boarded and sat in the seats immediately in front of me. The gentleman noticed me (an obvious gringo) and said, “Hello!” I said, “Hello! Hola!” and he grinned. He asked, “Are you learning Spanish?” I grinned and said, “I’m doing my best!” He smiled boradly, nodded, and said, “Good!”
Then I said, “He estudiando mucho!” (“I am studying a lot!”) He looked even more delighted that I had managed to say that and responded, “Very good!” (It’s my ability to pronounce Spanish words that impresses these folks, I think!)
We chatted a little bit. I told them (in Spanish) where I’m from, that I’ve applied for pensionado status, that I live near the El Cajon church, and more. I showed them pictures of Charli and of some of my Tico friends.
Not longer after, a Tica woman came onboard. I invited her to sit with me. She didn’t speak English, but I learned her name was Janet and I told her my name. I speak enough Spanish now that I was able to convey to her all of the above info I’d shared with the couple and to mention that I had just attended two classes in Sarchi’ that had been teaching English to Tico students for one and three years.
She asked what the courses cost. I told her I didn’t know but that I could find out if she wanted to give me her contact information. I think I confused her a little because she asked (I used Google translate to understand what she was asking) what I charge to teach English. I told her I wasn’t the teacher, that I was just a volunteer.
She asked the same question twice more! That’s when I figured out that maybe she wanted me to teach her one-on-one, but I don’t have anything like that on my Bingo card. I told her I could find out what the Sarchi’ teacher charged, but she finally waved off that idea.
We chatted more on the way back up the hill. At one point, she said something I didn’t understand but it sounded very sweet, personal and then she crossed herself Catholic style. I think she was saying that she would keep me in her prayers. Very sweet! I smiled with sincerest gratitude.
We had a few laughs, too. I hugged her as I left the bus and she said, “Buena suerte!” (Good luck!)
These interactions convince me that I was destined to end up living here. This culture offers the kindness, patience, and affection that has been sadly lacking in my life. It is something I will never, ever take for granted.
As I got off the bus, I spotted Geraldo walking down the hill on Calle LA carrying a huge bundle of Costa Rican broad leaves of some kind so I went over and greeted him, giving him a big hello and hug. He looked at my long sleeved shirt and asked, “¿No tienes calor??” (“Aren’t you hot?”) I said, “Ay no, no aqui. (Oh, no, not here.) Pero (pointing to Grecia) ahí estaba!”‘ (But there I was!”)
When I got back to the casita, Charli was ready to come in, so I immediately opened her new scratching board, sprinkled a little catnip on it, and placed it on the floor in our bedroom. Then I said to her, “Charli, come see what I got you!” and she immediately — and I mean immediately!!! — claimed it by scratching it thoroughly. She returned to it within five minutes and did it again.
She may as well have been speaking fluent English: “Oh, yes, oh yes, this just purr-fect! This is heaven! This is MINE!!!”
Lisa and I Chatted Last Night
Lisa and I chatted last night on WhatsApp for about 45 minutes. It was wonderful! We’re both counting the days until we’ll be back together again for a glorious nine days in mid-February.
I got to see and speak with Patches, too. She’s hanging in there, eating like a glutton everything that Lisa puts before her, but she’s still skinny as a rail. Well, she’s 22 years old. Her body isn’t absorbing nutrients the ways it did when she was younger. But she’s still happy, mobile, using her litter pan, and purring, and that’s what counts!