REASONS WHY THE REST OF TUESDAY WAS AWESOME

~ I went to my friendly neighborhood cobbler's to order shoes. I was expecting them to just make the ones I liked in my size, but apparently you can get any style you want. I just chose one that he already makes from the window. He traced my feet and measured the circumference of my big toe and the height of my arch. It will take a little over a week and mis sandalias son fabrica personalizada! Did I mention that they only cost 12.000 colones? (24 dollars for handmade leather sandals)

~ Next I walked up to one of the talabartarias in town (the smallest that I had already chosen as my favorite) to inquire about getting some dog collars made. Verny, the leatherworker, invited me into his work shop and walked me through the entire process from hide to finished product. He showed me all of the different types of cuero (leather), the tools and processes used, and let me choose a pattern and font to decorate los collares at no extra charge. While much of his work involves saddles and other tack, his favorite thing to do is to hand tool belts. He can basically freehand etch leather like he is drawing on it. His work is beautiful.

~ My landlady, Ana, invited me in for cafe con su familia. I got to meet her daughter, Yindi, who is home from college, and eat special Semana Santa tamales y empanadas de pina. Randomly enough, her daughter is studying to to become a high school english teacher.

~ The weekly fruit market in the city center got moved to Weds and Thursday instead of its regular Jueves y Viernes because of Semana Santa (Easter Week). I went because I never pass up an opportunity there and ended up talking to this man about choosing guavas (guyabas) and starfruit (carambola). We chatted for a bit, and in the end, he charged me 50 colones for 3 guavas and a starfruit the size of a nerf football.... thats like less than 15 cents.

~ Another man there exclaimed "Jesus Cristo - Que lindo" when I walked by his stall. Basically that means Jesus Christ, what beauty! What can I say, I'm popular with the Ticos. If I don't watch out, this Machismo culture will give me a big head.

~ Most importantly, I spoke Spanish ALL DAY, tried new things and hung out with random people!

Lastly, and also quite important, I met two new critters that share my apartment complex. This toad was in the kitchen (maybe he'll eat the roaches - he's big enough) and this gecko was hanging out by my window eating bugs attracted to the light (maybe he'll move into the bathroom and eat the colony of ants that live behind the mirror).

Living with geckos makes me really happy.