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advice for Canadian newlyweds
Sunday, February 12 2023
high up a hill just northwest of the center of Santa Teresa, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
As weekend days go, today was fairly lightly-scheduled, and we didn't leave the compound until well into the afternoon. Shadows start getting longer and shade becomes more widespread after about 3:00pm, and it was around then that we ventured out. Our first mission was to drive in the ATV to Green World, the healthfood store, to get provisions such as vegetables, corn chips, hummus, peanuts, cashews, and soy sauce made by an Asian company (and not McCormick Spices, the company that made the soy sauce in our refrigerator). While there, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they had two kinds of tempeh for sale, though neither had been made with soy beans. One was made from red beans and the other from black beans. I believe we got unit of the former just to see if it was any good (though you can't be fussy when it comes to tempeh in Costa Rica). They were selling plain, logo-free bamboo-fibre teeshirts there as well, so we also got one of those for me. (I love how soft the fabric is.)
Back at the house, Gretchen cut up the other mango that April had put in our refrigerator
and we ate it while soaking in the pool. [REDACTED]
A little after 5:00pm, Gretchen and I went out for our second and final time today, this time for dinner. We returned to Drift, where we were greeted by a small unusually enthusiastic dog. After taking our seats at a table near where we'd sat the other day, Gretchen ordered a bunch of food including a pair of sliders, a pair of fat spring rolls full of fresh watery vegetables, an order of vegan lasagna (which included a lot of mushrooms), and an order of spicy popcorn (though that last one mostly went immediately into bags to be snacked on at the language school). As for me, I ordered an Indian dahl with rice, mostly because it included kidney beans in the mix. I also ordered a margarita, which was pretty good. During our meal at some point we merged our the words we'd respectively played in today's New York Times Spelling Bee even though Gretchen was horrified that we would both be seen staring at our phones in the restaurant, something that makes her shake her head whenever she sees other couples doing it.
Despite all the food Gretchen had ordered, we managed to eat nearly everything except the popcorn she'd squirreled away. She couldn't quite make it through her lasagna, though, claiming it was "muy rico."
Meanwhile, a youngish couple had taken the table next to ours and ordered a bottle of wine and a serving each of the vegan lasagna. Gretchen overheard them talking and determined they were fellow vegans, so of course she wanted to talk to them as we were leaving. She proceeded to give them advice about other restaurants with vegan options, stressing above all else that they go to Katana and get the pad thai. They were a pair of newlyweds on their honeymoon from Ottawa and didn't have a vehicle here in Santa Teresa. They seemed to dig Gretchen's advice, saying that vegan options are still terrible in Ottawa, which surprised us. I, of course, found this manifestation of Gretchen's extrovertism totally mortifying, especially once the lasagna came out and then just sat there uneaten because the newlyweds knew it would be impolite to begin eating while this strange lady was standing there talking to them. As we walked back to our ATV, Gretchen acknowledged that she'd been making me uncomfortable, but she "didn't care," because that nice young couple were happy to get the information. She had a point I suppose, but that's a behavior I am never going to be comfortable with.
Ants cooperating to move a seed or flake of cereal in one of the daybeds today.
A dragonfly near the pool today. Click to enlarge.
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