Back in the Land Of...

We have once again crossed the Atlantic and have arrived in Costa Rica. We've been here for a few days now. And while Costa Rica is very different than the United States in so many ways, in others, it is a reminder of home. And in others, it isn't so different from places we've been.

Look at me! I'm pink!

Much like Tunisia, the people here are very helpful and friendly. They speak fast though, which was not like Tunisia. And there are so many lovely flowers this time of year.

Morazan Park

Much like so many places, every great city needs at least one park with a gazebo in it. Additional, the parks can also have some very cool art in them.

See the shiny colors? Look at the close up view

The inside is made of old CDs

But let's talk about some silly little things that remind me of home and that I hadn't even realized I had been missing. The most obvious of these: I'm back in the land of electrical outlets I recognize.

I've missed you!

Yes, Costa Rica uses the same outlets we do in the States. No need for my converter, I can just plug my devices in directly.

Here's another: I'm back in the land of man chairs. If you don't know that term, I will explain. You know how when you go shopping, say with your wife and/or daughter, for clothing and then those you are with need to look at many things and go into the dressing room and wander all the racks in the store? Often, in the United States, there is a chair somewhere in the store for the companion of the shopper (me) to sit in while the shopping activity goes on. But we didn't see that so often in Europe or North Africa.

Here in Costa Rica, there are man chairs in many of the larger clothing stores. In fact, I even had saleswomen in two different stores tell me I was allowed to sit in them.

What do you do when your waist down mannequin is too skinny for the clothing?

I am back in the land of root beer. At some level, I had realized that other countries don't have the same varieties of pop that we do in the States. Sometimes, they have extras. There is a flavor of Fanta called "exotic" that is all over Eastern Europe. Here in Costa Rica, I tried "kolita" which has the same flavor as the green pop in South Africa that they call "cream soda". But what I hadn't realized while we were traveling was the lack of root beer. Not until the other day, here in Costa Rica, when I had root beer, did I think, wow, I've really gone a long time without having root beer as an option.

One more thing: I'm back in the land of American time zones, and it's killing me. Well, the jet lag is. Here we are in Central Standard Time. Costa Rica doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time. So my current time is the same as Mountain Daylight Time in America. Same time zone as my brother! But I am not making the adjustment well. I've been trying to stay up until about 10 PM and still I am waking early. Today, I did great. I didn't get up until 5:57 AM. But that's the latest I've managed since we arrived, with anywhere from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM being my usual wakeup time. (And Alrica is waking up even earlier.)

I would assume that soon I will adjust. Though as Alrica explained to me, I will adjust right in time to have to get up at 4:00 AM anyway. Our daughter is currently with us for her break, but she must fly back to the states and has an early flight in a couple days. It's a pretty good reason though. She has to go to Washington, DC for an interview at the Embassy of Tajikistan to get a visa for her summer program there. Yes, getting up at 4 AM sucks. But that's a pretty cool reason.

Bonus: The other day, when the new pope had been chosen, but we didn't know who it was yet, a headline appeared on my computer. It was in Spanish and asked if I wanted to translate it. I clicked yes and here is what I got.

A smoked potato?

Choosing your potato can be newsworthy!