With this different format for me of blog writing where I'm copying from my travel journal, I'll leave a title and then include the date, either in the title or the beginning of the body of the entry itself. I plan to try to do one per day. Here's the May 8 entry:
Having missed all the buses for today to Quepos, I stayed in Liberia for the day. I figured it would be ok to orient myself anyway.
It's great walking around unnoticed like a local. I draw no attention, and guys here do not appear to be the whistling or cat-calling types. I like fitting in. There isn't much to do here, so I just checked out the local grocery store, and I walked down to a women's co-op restaurant for supper and passed by several shops and stores that were playing salsa, merengue, and reggaeton, not just any old elevator music. That's a good country!
My breakfast at the hotel consisted of fresh fruit, eggs, and fried plantains, which I've discovered I really love, those and fried bananas. For supper, I had fish and fries and an horchata for a beverage. I didn't realise they have horchata outside of Mexico, but it doesn't upset me because I love it. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, it's a sweet, rice-based drink with cinnamon and sometimes vanilla--depending on who makes it.
One thing that surprised me that I noticed while walking around is that they use the word "melocotón" for peach here. That's the same word they use in Spain. I assumed it would be durazno as in Mexico. That's what makes learning Spanish tough for some people, though, because food names, specifically, can differ a lot between some countries, and it can be hard to keep track. From what I can tell, most native speakers are familiar enough with regional differences and can usually understand you if you use a different word, so that's a big help.
In some ways, it does kind of bite having to take the trip alone, but at least my time is my own. No one will say anything if I stay an extra day here or leave somewhere else a day early.
Having missed all the buses for today to Quepos, I stayed in Liberia for the day. I figured it would be ok to orient myself anyway.
It's great walking around unnoticed like a local. I draw no attention, and guys here do not appear to be the whistling or cat-calling types. I like fitting in. There isn't much to do here, so I just checked out the local grocery store, and I walked down to a women's co-op restaurant for supper and passed by several shops and stores that were playing salsa, merengue, and reggaeton, not just any old elevator music. That's a good country!
My breakfast at the hotel consisted of fresh fruit, eggs, and fried plantains, which I've discovered I really love, those and fried bananas. For supper, I had fish and fries and an horchata for a beverage. I didn't realise they have horchata outside of Mexico, but it doesn't upset me because I love it. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, it's a sweet, rice-based drink with cinnamon and sometimes vanilla--depending on who makes it.
One thing that surprised me that I noticed while walking around is that they use the word "melocotón" for peach here. That's the same word they use in Spain. I assumed it would be durazno as in Mexico. That's what makes learning Spanish tough for some people, though, because food names, specifically, can differ a lot between some countries, and it can be hard to keep track. From what I can tell, most native speakers are familiar enough with regional differences and can usually understand you if you use a different word, so that's a big help.
In some ways, it does kind of bite having to take the trip alone, but at least my time is my own. No one will say anything if I stay an extra day here or leave somewhere else a day early.
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