Some years back I took my two daughters and their mother to Costa Rica for four or five months.
We rented an apartment in Alajuela, Costa Rica. It was more rectangular than square. We had electricity for a few hours a day and occasionally clean water. The water we drank and used for cleaning dishes was purified water in plastic gallon bottles. Since we only had electricity a few hours a day we had to buy food on a daily basis. There was a huge farmers' market about a mile or two away from where we lived and we would go there to buy meat, fish, tons of fruits, and other food items.
There was a huge playground a block away from where we lived and we would take the two daughters there to play on the playground equipment and, also, to play with the other kids. Even though my two daughters spoke only bits of Spanish, they still managed to communicate while playing with the Costa Rican kids.
About five days a week for a couple of hours the two daughters would be taught math, English, Spanish, spelling, and a simple science course.
Since I'm eligible to join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, I joined an American Legion Post and a Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in San Jose. Both groups share the same post, the same area, and the same bar. I would take the whole family there and enjoy a few hours of relaxation. They had a library there and a huge outdoor area for the kids to run around.
We got around by using taxicabs within whichever city we were visiting and when going from city to city or village to village we used public buses. Costa Rica has only about 3 cities and the rest are villages. Sometimes we found ourselves riding with livestock that the local people would bring on the buses. If you think TRI-MET buses are crowded at rush hour, you should just try to get on one of Costa Rica's buses during the day.
We went to the Atlantic beaches and the Pacific beaches. The Pacific Beaches were the best. We also went to the Caribbean side of Panama for three days. That was an adventure.
Before we went down to Costa Rica we got passports for the daughters' mother and for the daughters. We also got about a million shots for almost every disease you could think of. We needed, and took, our yellow World Health Organization cards certifying all the vaccinations and other medical precautions were up to snuff.
All in all, it was an interesting four or five months.
Posted by John at September 22, 2003 12:21 AM | TrackBackNOTE: I've got better things to do than erase the childish, immature, psychotic, obscene comments from looney Roger Weidner and his gang of illiterate morons, so just put your opinions at the Johnhays.net Forum.