After all the planning and enough food to feed 50 people, the thing is over! I’m speaking of our annual Fiesta del Arbol.

I have no idea how many people were here. A shitpot full seems about right, and a LOT of them were kids which made the whole thing just great. Kids are  soooo cool at Christmas!

We had purchased an artificial tree complete with 1,000 lights. It stands just under eight feet tall, just perfect for our living room,but the thought of assembling that sucker had me not sleeping at night, and I left it in the box in the garage until the last minute… yesterday. I had visions of adding the lights, all the branches… ugh!

I have now officially changed my opinion of fake Christmas trees.

My son Will ws coming (of course with granddaughter Lucia and his wife). He was the designated helper.

We loaded the thing into the house and opened it.

As Gomer would say, “Surprise! Surprise!” . The darned thing came in three parts with all those stupid little lights already installed! The entire “set-up” time from opening the box to turning on the lights was NINE MINUTES! And… the package contained not only a remote control for turning the lights on and off (an idea whose time has arrived!), but also a motorized thingy that rotates the tree! I passed on the rotating tree dealy thinking of how the cats might find a rotating tree with dangly things just too much of an attraction.

Immediately, the kids began to decorate, and the whole tree was done in thirty minutes… no tears! It looks very nice, though I think we will later add a few more ornaments and other goodies to make it a more personal.

Also, as those 1,000 lights came pre-installed, it did not look like other trees from past years.

This was the best of the tree parties by far. ML is already planning next year’s party.

I cannot imagine anything more boring than watching someone else’s home movies or pictures, but if you really have the urge, find the party photos here.

ML has invited Costa Rica to come to our home for the annual tree decorating thing. Well of course she did not invite the whole country, just her relatives which is no more then ten percent of the people here. My son, his wifey and my granddaughter are coming too, so there will be some representation from North America. I invited some childless friends to attend but they suddenly had other things to do. Even free booze could not budge them when faced with 20 plus children.

A large number of these people will be under the age of 15. Maria has been cooking for two days and the house smells super. Maritza baked a cake last night, but had to bake another one today as I sort of ate the one from yesterday. My sweet tooth coupled with chocolate is an issue around here… and especially around the holidays.

I actually love these parties. Ticos do know how to enjoy a party and my wife’s family, with a few notable exceptions, are great people. Christmas is for kids and I am generally popular with the youngsters who may confuse my stomach with that of Senior Clause, especially after that cake episode!

I am not going to rehash what it is like at these parties as I have blogged about this here and here, so you can just click those links if you need background on the cultural differences I face at party time.

I cannot believe I bought an artificial tree! When I lived up North, buying the tree was an event! We almost always traveled away from Chicago to the tree farms in northern Illinois and cut exactly the right one. It always stayed fresh and of course it was “perfect”. We returned home with frozen feet and warm hearts. I would build a fire in the fireplace and then enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows!

Here, you too can cut it fresh, and we have done that in past years. The issue is the trees, while true “pine” trees, are skinny and just do not “look” like Christmas trees! The fresh ones lasted of course, but the lot-bought ones kinda faded early. The really good ones, imported from the US are very expensive so we just decided the go artificial.

ML picked a nice style that came with 1,000 lights. It is now in the garage awaiting the tree decorating thing tomorrow.

As there is “some” assembly required, it may be smart to go unpack it and get the tree and the lights up and ready, leaving the hanging of balls, tinsel, whatever for tomorrow. Ticos have a reputation of sorta getting sauced early, especially if the booze is free, and the thought of another badly decorated tree makes me tend to the cautious side.

So tomorrow represents our start to the Christmas holidays, and I want to wish Happy Holidays to my readers and to anyone who has mis-clicked and found this blog by accident.

In any case, I learned something very important today, and I must share it. My doctor tells me I must take Metamusil on a daily basis. Actually, he told me this last year… but I ignored him as 1. I hate those Metamusil commercials, 2. I want to do nothing to help fund them, and 3. taking Metamusil is somehow like giving in to the fact that I am getting olde… and I hate that.

I guess I actually learned three things from all this.

A. It generally is not a good idea to ignore your doctor even if you hate Metamusil or getting old. It would be easy to dispel too much info here about my internal processing plant… but I expect you catch my drift.

B. Metamusil isn’t so bad if you mix it with fresh squeezed orange juice and drink it down promptly (and quickly),

and most important…

C. Do NOT wait more than maybe 1-2 minutes before you drink it (the timing to begin after adding the Metamusil to the OJ)!!

I got busy this morning and let it sit on my desk for about 30 minutes. BIG mistake!
Metamusil, left to its own devices, chemically bonds with the OJ to become this HUGE orange booger. It is gross beyond imagination. I drank it (ate it?) as I was too damned cheap to waste the OJ or the Metamusil, but I can assure you this was a lesson learned!

I am sharing this with al of you as from the email I receive, my regular readers are quite possibly of a Metamusil age. For those of you for whom this does not apply, know this: Getting olde sucks.

Bottoms up!

I have never been to a Hooters Restaurant. There is no reason for this… just never did. Yesterday though, ML, friends Beverly and her husband Juan Carlos and I went to the Hooters in Escazu. Generally, I avoid the restaurants in Escazu and Santa Ana as they are just horribly overpriced, but ML wanted a salad and to see what all the fuss was about at Hooters, so off we went.

Our waitress represented the average Hooters wait person and saying that, it was clear that this chain was named Hooters for a reason. I also discovered just how easy it is for a person to regress… regardless of how well trained they are… or thought they were.

I lived in the USA for many years, and of course, being a sensitive male person… that is sensitive to the feelings and sensibilities of female type persons… I knew that modern female persons are somewhat uncomfortable when male persons address the area of their chest in conversation instead of the more appropriate face area, preferable the eyes.

Nevertheless, as our waitress person approached the table, I found that I had regressed to the approximate age of 15. This was evidenced by my enthusiastic greeting to this young lady (the greeting being addressed to her hooters chest area), and my clever Spanish salutation, “Hola! ¿Cómo estan? ” the use of which instantly netted me a smack on my head from Maria.

Now for you non Spanish speakers, the verb I used, “estan” is used when you are greeting more than one person i.e ¿Cómo estan ustedes? means “how are you?” (in the plural). It is NOT used when greeting just one person. Thus, my addressing her chest as ¿Cómo estan? was probably not in Gloria Steinem’s book on sensitive male behavior and resulted in the head smack.

OK, so let’s discuss the food! I had a Cobb salad, and it was small, overpriced and tasted OK. We spent $80.00 for four people for lunch. JC got his picture taken with the waitress person.

This ends our review of Hooters, and we hope you’ll (plural) all come again!

Not one to let time waste, ML started calling from the car, and we now have a ton of people coming over on Friday. There WILL be beer, pizza, maybe nog, and good cheer. I have resolved not to repeat the pizza incident of last year.

We found a nice place near the tunnel where they cut you a live tree… our preference. Sadly, Costa Rica does not offer a large choice of evergreens. A blue spruce, my preference before moving here, would not be available for sure. Still, there were maybe 400 to choose from, and off she went on THE QUEST. She pointed out 15 or so within the first 40 feet. All were considerably taller than I. I (meekly) asked about her prior plans for a “shorter” tree. She says “Oh no!!!” like the subject had never even been discussed and off she flew to explore the lower forty (acres).

I don’t miss much not living in the USA, but there are times… like today… when I remember shopping for a live tree in the chill Illinios countryside, waitng while it was cut (or doing it myself) and then hopping on the tractor-pulled wagon for the trip back to the car and eventually home where we would build a fire and drink hot chocolate with those little marshmellows. I wax nostalgic!

Anyway, I suggested several, all of which were delgado (too thin), too short, or just were not the one she had in her mind’s eye. Finally, I actually found one that she liked and she found one I liked, a happy moment!

The selection made, we paid the 5,300 colones (a tad over $10.00, attached the tree to the roof, and headed off for lunch at a restaurant nearby. This was comida tipica (typical Costa Rica fare), and surprisingly not very good. Still we were filled with good cheer and after lunch, we returned to the nest and stored our treasure in the garage for the Friday festivities. Wanna come? There might be hot chocolate!

After the few days we spent in DF and Taxco, it was time to again board Mexicana… also known as Mexi-arrogante… for the short flight to Cancun. As you might glean from my comment, Mexicana is not my favorite airline and in fact are probably toward the bottom… not bad considering this was the first time I have flown the airline. They work quick to impress!

Of the four Mexicana flights (legs) we were on, only the return flight from Mexico City (DF) to Costa Rica was staffed by flight attendants who gave the impression they gave a sweet damn about anyone on the plane except themselves. Since I moved to Costa Rica, I have had the opportunity to fly a number of non-US airlines in Central America such as Taca, Lacsa, and others, and the general level of service is very, very good. Thus I was surprised and disappointed that Mexicana so mightily sucketh. They are now on my “use them only if NOTHING else is available” list.

Bad airline and all, we DID finally make it to Cancun on a gorgeous, sunny and breezy afternoon, and made our way to our hotel, The Cancun Palace.

Let me start by saying this. I HATE all-inclusives! Now I have to revise that. I HATED all-inclusives.

This was Luisa’s first trip to Mexico, and she wanted to stay in an all inclusive where the meals, drinks and so on are included in the price. ML is a…well.. ummm… parsimonious soul, a totally un-Tica like behavior, and she firmly believed after the compromiso, the wedding, and all the other expenses, that we would save money if we went to an all inclusive. I tried to explain that at the all inclusives I ever went to (about 10 in my younger years) the terrible service was surpassed only by the lousy food, watered down drinks, and dirty facilities. She stood firm and we booked at the Palace.

Wow! Have all-inclusives changed over the years! When we arrived, the hotel was truly quit lovely on the outside and I got an inkling that I may have been too quick in my judgement. We entered the lobby area where I immediately thought “Ha, typical, crummy all-inclusive” as the lobby and elevators were really pretty crummy and sorely needed remodeling. I am happy to say that that was almost the LAST negative thing I would say about the place. See below.

The Palace was great! The staff was friendly and service oriented. The grounds (except for the incredibly dilapidated miniature golf course) were immaculate and well kept. The several restaurants (5-6 I think) ALL served really GOOD food and the wait staff were cordial, pleasant and competent. The drinks were proper strength and I can testify to that as I spend a huge amount of time at the swim-up pool bar while Maria worked diligently to age herself pre-maturely by spending every day baking to a fine brown. She DID look pretty sexy though! So I hereby eat crow. All all-inclusives are not crummy and the Palace is proof. We missed the big hurricane by only two days, and sadly the Palace was heavily damaged and will not be open again til February, 2006. This, however, may actually be a great thing as now the management will have to deal with the only three (and relatively unimportant) problems in that hotel… The lobby, the elevators, and the really awful miniature golf course (that has GREAT potential, BTW.). Certainly, they will need to replace those.. and that will make it an even better place.

I was also pleasantly surprised that free WIFI was available not only in our room, but poolside as well. Sadly, the marketing folks at this chain apparently are still operating in the last century as this info does not appear anywhere on the web site. And yeah… I DID bring my laptop and yeah, I DID work in the room and poolside… and yeah it WAS my honeymoon… so? I just wish someone could invent a waterproof laptop so I could have worked while sitting at the pool bar. Life would then have been even better!

Though we spent a lot of time at the pool and beach (see photos for Cancun in the gallery), ML wanted to get out, so we took a tour to the Isla de Mujeres (Women’s Island), a name that certainly held great promise, but was, alas, just a name. It WAS fun though! We snorkeled for about an hour and a half, ate some tasty food, and rented a golf cart to drive around the island.

ML does not drive. Well, she MUST as she has a drivers license, but she never drives. Anywhere. So when she wanted to drive the golf cart, I says to myself, “Self? What harm can there be in this reasonable request from my bride of but a few days? This will be really fun!”.

I learned why ML does not drive. This enormously talented woman (in the hospital) absolutely does know her left from her right, nor does it appear she has the ability to coordinate what her eye SEES with what her hands (on the wheel) nor her feet (on the gas and break) are doing.

I learned fear.

I play golf and have spend countless happy hours driving a golf cart in various stages of sobriety. I have crashed them. I have driven them into picturesque ponds. I have used them as steeds to play polo golf. I have even used them for their intended purpose. But I NEVER thought of playing “chicken” with a semi while driving a golf cart. Have you any IDEA how BIG a semi looks from a golf cart as it approaches head-on at moderate speed?? I suggested to ML that a lane change might be in order as 1. The truck would easily win and 2. We were in HIS lane!

ML assured me (as the semi began to block out the sun) that we were fine and I was over-reacting. I SAW the semi drivers face. Hell, I saw his NOSE HAIRS. He was not in agreement with my bride. I grabbed the wheel and returned to our rightful lane just as the semi, already laying heavy pressure on the breaks… whipped by. ML was laughing and having such a fine time, we just continued (after a brief stop while I changed my underwear). She was just like a kid and we had many more near death experiences, but we also bought some cool presents and a pretty traditional dress for Lucia! I love my wifey! You shudda seen her face… like a kid!

ML now loves golf carts, and wants one for around the town here. I am reluctant as it took years to find her and it seems unfair to lose her so soon. On the other hand, there are no semis in our neighborhood!

The ten days in Cancun ended way too soon. The town has changed incredibly over the years and now just reeks of tourism… but honeymoon spots are forever, so we’ll be heading back soon I am sure.

Mexico City is special. I have always wanted to visit, but was scared away by the numerous traveler’s warnings.

As there are about 12 million federales, policemen, and other uniformed people who are distributed approximately every 25 feet, crime would seem to be a low possibility.

I cannot even begin to tell you how beautiful is this city! Gorgeous parks, wide, tree-lined boulevards, statues and fountains and architecture I have only seen in places like Versailles. Our driver Mario picked us up at about 9:30 AM for the city tour. Ha. We simply had no time to see anything in depth as we were scheduled to make the 2.5 hour drive to Taxco, the center for all things silver in Mexico and another location I have had on my travel list for years.

We traveled through the famous Zona Rosa and hit a few other high points. Photo ops were everywhere, but as we were so tight on time, many shots were taken through the car window. I’ll post photos either here or in the gallery when I have had time to process them.

The scale if this city is staggering. At almost all times, you simply feel dwarfed by your surroundings. Churches and public building especially are almost intimidating in their size, stature and grandeur.

After far to little time, we were off to Taxco. After so many trips to Mexico (always to beaches) I though I knew the country. How dumb! Similar to someone saying they know the USA after visiting Ft Lauderdale.

The countryside was incredible with vast plains, rolling hills, and deep valleys for the entire 2-3 hour trip.

Taxco was and maybe still is known as the center of design and craftsmanship for articles made of silver. The city itself is build into a mountainside and streets are barely wide enough to walk in let alone handle the constant flow of two-way traffic.

By the time we got there, it was time for lunch and Mario directed us to a restaurant he knew of. We tried to find it… couldn’t… and found ourselves in a nearly vertical street listening to a guy tell us HIS restaurant was “real good”.. Getting there involved entering this building and heading up some stairs… HA. We went up stairs all right… a lot of stairs… maybe five flights of stairs… very narrow and very vertical, and then we found ourselves on a rooftop restaurant with incredible views of the city, churches, and the surrounding mountains. The food was so-so, but the experience more than made up for the food.

After lunch, we were off to buy silver. There are maybe 200 silver shoppes in Taxco, and those are the only the ones we could see. There were most certainly others located in narrow alleys and side streets that we simply could not follow.

Speaking a bit of Spanish was sure helpful. We bought maybe 20-25 items… gifts for friends and family back in Costa Rica.

Taxco and Mexico City are special and ML and I are already making plans to return.

To me, it has always been a wonder why folks move to a foreign country like Costa Rica only to live in residential strongholds of their countrymen and spend all their time at Tony Romas, TGIFridays, etc.

Many never make an attempt to learn the language nor the customs of the new country. I guess they just want to be able to say they live in Costa Rica.

If there is one dish that perhaps represents Costa Rican cuisine more than any other, it has to be Gallo Pinto. Anyone considering a move to Costa Rica should give this dish a try because it will most certainly be in your life here in country!

This simple (sort of) dish contains the requisite rice and beans, but the seasonings and cooking make all the difference. Normally, this is more of a breakfast dish… often served with eggs, a breakfast meat etc., but it is by no means limited to breakfast. In fact, we had it for dinner last night.

I have sampled well over a hundred ‘versions’ of GP since I have lived here. Very few are crummy. Some are ummmm… OK. Others are good… and then there are the really good recipes. Jeanette makes a really good gallo pinto. My wifey to be makes one that rivals Jeanette’s. This is unusual because Luisa can’t make coffee. This to me is astonishing! A Tica who cannot make coffee. Oh well… she is so great in so many other areas. Also, it is really good to have a new bride who doesn’t speak English nor understand the term blog!

Now to REALLY digress…. ML just woke up and called me back to bed for morning H and K. She asked what I was doing and I told her (which is why she doesn’t have to learn English… duh!). I have tried to explain the concept of the blog, but though she understands my words, I think the concept of publishing ones diary is anathema. Diaries are private. Her’s is… all 57 volumes! Anyway, I asked her how she can make such a fine GP and suck at making coffee, She just laughed and laughed and snuggled closer. Geez I adore this woman. Ten days left.

OK… back to the subject.

The BEST Gallo Pinto though, is made by Kembly, my son’s girlfriend (novia) here in Costa Rica. Kembly can make coffee too, but her GP is special. After annoying her for many months, she finally gave me the recipe which I am adding below for anyone who is interested. In English and in Spanish BTW. Enjoy! Coming to CR? Try your hand at the national dish!

Gallo Pinto

Ingredients

1 cup of cooked rice
1 cup of cooked beans
1 chopped onion (small)
1 small chopped red pepper
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tbs oil
¼ cup chopped cilantro
4 Tbs. Salsa Lizano (use Worcestershire sauce ONLY and don’t expect the same taste!
2 tbs black pepper
1 tbs seasoning

How to prepare
1. Fry onion, red pepper, garlic, cilantro in the vegetable oil, about 3 minutes.
2. Pour in the beans and add the sauce, black pepper and seasoning. Let it cook for a few minutes, but don’t let it dry out.
3. Pour in the cooked rice and mix it with the beans

Enjoy with:
Sour Cream
Platanos maduros
Eggs (fried or scrambled )

Or in Spanish

Gallo Pinto

Ingredientes

1 taza de Arroz cocinado (sencillo reventado)
1 taza de frijoles cocinados con poco caldo (sencillos en el sabor)
1 chile rojo picado
1 cebolla picada fina
2 cdas cilantro picado muy fino
1 cdta aceite
1 cda de ajo
4 cdas de Salsa Lizano
2 cdtas pimienta negra
1 cubito

Preparación

1- Se sofrien en el aceite la cebolla, el chile, el culantro, ajo.
2- Cuando están muy crujientes se les agrega los frijoles cocidos y la salsa lizano, pimienta negra y cubito.
3- Se agrega el arroz y se frien un poco todos juntos para mezclar sabores.
4- Se dejan un momento en reposo , luego se mueve con un cucharon los ingredientes para que se mezclen.

Se puede acompañar con Natilla
Platanos maduros
Huevos fritos o revueltos

Not all are automatically good to my taste. One particular fruit whose name I never bothered to learn for the obvious reason (I hate them) is a golf ball sized thingy that people cook for about two years, then eat with
mayonnaise. Ticos (Costa Ricans) love them! 

However… one of the fruits that I truly adore comes only for a short time each year. It is the mamón chino (see photos above and below) and it is truly excellent treat.

They do, however, have a somewhat scary appearance that can intimidate.

The first time I saw them I didn’t even want to touch one much less figure out how to eat it. Needless worry. The spines are very soft and a quick pull apart with the nails on your thumbs gets you to the real fruit!

The fruit itself is wrapped around a seed and you sort or run it around inside your mouth until you have sorta chewed off the fruit.

So if you ever get to Costa Rica… check out the street vendors.

One kilo (2.2 pounds) will set you back a buck.