Below are images from this morning’s porch-passing ceremony and celebration. Latin and South America are much more civilized people than US Americans. This celebration and ceremony symbolizes the way in which Latin Americans settle their differences without wars and boundary-jumping, among other things. It’s part of Costa Rica’s Independence Day celebration but it includes other Latin American countries, all of whom decided to peacefully recognize each other’s sovereign boundaries over the past couple hundred years.
It was a very touching ceremony. Next year I hope to be able to understand the spoken language well enough to understand everything that was expressed by the master of ceremonies. Even without being able to understand most of it, I was moved to tears by the affection and attention that the citizenry pays to its country’s enviable history.
Topher and me… photo by Clarkie Mullen
Topher — photo by me
Me — photo by Topher Benum
Selfie with Clarkie and Jon Graham Mitchell behind me
Dale, Clarkie, Francisco, Jon with Topher in the front
Nevada gent celebrating his 100% Costa Rican ancestry today
Colorful celebration outfit of young Tica
Proud dad with decked out daughter
Dale and Clarkie, selfie by Dale
Before the event got underway, Topher and I went looking for a soda (tico owned restaurant) to have breakfast. But guess what? It’s Sunday and most stores and sodas are closed on Sunday. (Remember, CR is a Catholic country. They honor the tradition of setting aside Sunday to worship and spend quality time doing other things with their friends and/or families.)
We stopped in one of the open places to buy some food for our fridges. One of the people walked us to one of the only open sodas, but it was packed and there was no place to sit, so we went to another store for a few more items (mostly for Charli, in my case). Then we walked to our old standby Cafe Deliciosa and ordered breakfast. I had something different and it was SENSATIONAL and almost half the price of the Executive Plate, so I will get it next time I go.
After that, we hired an Uber to take us to Mas por Menos so we could get additional groceries and so I could get some more colones for my trip back to San Jose on Wednesday, to pay Jon and Adilio for their services again. I went overboard and got a lot of groceries — more than would fit in the extra bag that I brought along for the purpose. So I bought another bag and ended up with two and a half bags of groceries. Fortunately, most of what I got doesn’t need refrigeration until I open it, so the little fridge in this place is fine.
I have scheduled El Cajon rental visits for Thursday with Brooke Bishop. I need to get a look at the furnished apartment to see if it passes muster (I’m sure it does!). I’ve decided to rent a furnished place, even though it will cost more money to do that. The thought of having to furnish and move big items without a vehicle from multiple locations doesn’t sit well with me. And as it turns out, I won’t be getting the stove and fridge from Mel and Laurie after all because they measured and realized they need them for a Rainbow Refuge cabin with the exact measurements. So, that made furnishing more expensive than I want to deal with. And Charli needs stability sooner rather than later, so getting a furnished place will solve that issue nicely.
What else? Wednesday Jon, Adilio and I head back to San Jose to the immigration department to give them the missing translation so my application can get underway. I’m glad that’s going to happen soon because I may be living significantly farther away from them than I do right now in the very near future. If I decide on the El Cajon furnished place, I can probably move in right away, which would be ideal. Moving there means I won’t be available to help with Rainbow Refuge as much as I’d like — or maybe at all, sadly — but I have to get settled somewhere soon so I’m not paying so much for a hotel room.
Guess that’s it for now. Have a great afternoon and evening and I’ll write again after I’ve enjoyed tomorrow’s Independence Day parade in downtown Grecia. It starts at 7:30 a.m. so Topher and I plan to be there and in place by then. After that, we Uber to Clarkie and Dale’s to visit and so I can get the two lamps they’re donating to my new abode — wherever and whenever that will be!
Fingers-crossing time again! Hold all good thoughts for Charli and me. We can use all the good vibes we can get for a smile-bringing outcome over the next few days!
HUGS!!!