Fruit from a frog in Potrero

                                 

 

Over the puddles and through the rain, bargain hunting we go :)

Well if only the journey was as cheery as that song. For our first real life adventure in our new home I decided to see if we could get some cheaper fruits and veggies from the stand near our house. Yes, I could have chosen a better day, or time for this activity but I needed to get out of the house and we needed some fruit, so away went. 

I dressed the kids in long sleeves, pants, and shoes because we were going out at dusk, the forbidden mosquito hour. Then I had the insane idea to wear a jean jacket. Round trip from our house the stand is about a mile but this was one of the longest miles I have ever walked.

It was pouring, stray dogs came out barking every time my kids tried to run to make the trip faster, so we had to just walk the whole way.  We literally jumped over puddles, huddled under trees and darted out of the way of mucky water splashing about as cars and scooters passed us. We arrived WET, both from sweat and the rain. But all our misery vanished as we entered the store to find a huge frog monitoring the entrance. 

The boys oohed and pointed and got closer until the big guy lazily hopped away.   We practiced a little Spanish, picked up some fruit and braved the elements once more. The return trip was just as wet, just as long and just as hot, but this time we were on the look out for frogs and lightening bugs. We saw a few frogs hopping down the road and a bunch of little bugs helped to light our path as we made our way home (because of course I took my three children outside at dusk and forgot my flashlight :) The second go round was way more interesting and felt much faster.

We have been here for 6 days and so far Costa Rica has been like that for us. So much is different from what we imagined it would be and we are finding that we really need to change our perspective if we are going to enjoy living here. There is nature and beauty and adventure to be had, but if we focus only on the hot wet dark aspects we will miss the simple joy found in pura vida.