On Sunday we ate at the steakhouse El Patio. The food was very authentic and very good. They brought beans, string cheese and salsa along with chips. This was brought in a little clay pot over hot coals, so it never got cold. They serve tortillas with all of this. You can put any combination of this on a tortilla and it is incredible. They also brought out the most amazing salsa and pickled vegetables. All of this was compliments of El Patio. Next, they brought out the meal we actually ordered. We ordered 1 entrée and 5 people split it. It was a lot of food.
We have had awesome experiences at all of the places we have eaten. We went to Pollo Campero (Country Chicken). It was just basic fried chicken but very good fried chicken. Pollo Tropical was a great place to eat. We had fried yuca (the root) which was incredible. We also had plantains. We love those. The beans here are usually served whole as opposed to refried. They are the best beans in the world.
All of the restaurants around here have huge indoor playgrounds. I am assuming it is because there are no parks like we have in the states. This morning we walked to Burger King for breakfast so the kids, Lucas especially, could get out some energy on their playground.
Everywhere you go there are guards with sawed off shotguns. It is a little unsettling but at the same time safe to have an armed guard at BK. At every fast food place they open the door for you like you were eating at the finest steakhouse.
The weather
Last night a cool front blew in. It was not cold to us but the people here had on winter hats and coats. It was only 55 last night. At BK this morning about 10 we saw a family with coats and scarves on. At that point it was only 60. It was quite a site. I guess when you have temperatures in the 70’s all the time 55 is cold.
The Language
Here are a couple of experiences with the language I have had. This morning at BK I wanted grape jelly so I thought I could just relay the words for grape to the cashiers. Well, I went to the counter and started using my 1 word and a lot of hand gestures. Finally they just started shaking their heads no. They never really understood what I meant and I have never felt like crying over grape jelly until this morning. It is a totally helpless feeling when you can’t speak the language. It really motivates you to learn.
Every day we have Zelma and Cindy come and tidy up the rooms. I have noticed we always need extra washrags. Well. I decided to ask for some more. I used the word trapo for rags. They in return pointed to a rag and asked me “otra?” I thought they were telling me “no, it’s an otra.” In reality otra means another. So I kept saying otra over and over because I was so proud of my word. I was not asking for a rag I was asking for another, another, another. Waylon and I laughed and laughed.
We are having a great time. Everything is such an awesome experience. A few days ago the owner of the apartments came up and offered us the use of the playground and all the other amenities like soccer with his children. He said Ashlyn and Brayden could even attend school with his children. We took the kids to play at the playground yesterday and after we wound our way through the sheets on the clothesline we found the playground on the roof. It was a metal swing set on concrete. It is amazing how they were so proud to offer our kids what they had.
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