buenos.

I was really bummy today. In the most tica sense of the word. It was great.

I woke up to mi madre playing a Juanes CD in the kitchen. I love Juanes. Then mi madre made me a fat plate of huevos and tortillas and natilla. Mmm. And delicious organic coffee from the backyard. Mi padre had already left for work and the boys had school, so it was just mi madre, Marta, and I at the casa today. After breakfast, they cleaned and I watched. I asked if they needed help, but they said no. I like watching, though. I'm like the resident toddler, just sitting and watching while mommy and big sis do productive things around the house. Mi madre always dances while she cooks and cleans. So cute.

At like 10:30 we had a visitor. It was one of the ladies who works at the Ecolodge. She's really sweet but I don't know her name. I suck. So she came over and the four of us sat down and ate lunch. Steak, potatoes, and rice at 10:30 in the morning. Whatevs. I'm not complaining. Then telenovela fest began. 3 tico soap operas back to back to back baby. It was easy to keep up because all of the actors severely over-acted. I ate it up, as did mi madre. She is an interactive telenovela watcher, not unlike myself and the way I watch Greys Anatomy, One Tree Hill, etc. We are so the same. Mi madre fixed bowls of "miel" for us. Miel means honey but that is not what I ate. I have no idea what it was, actually, but I liked it. It's really sweet and cold, and the texture is kind of like skinny, slimy worms. If I started to think about it too much it made me nauseous. After telenovela fest, mi madre went to run errands with her friend. I took a glorious nap. I get freaking tired with all this Spanish and no breaks.

When I got up I found Marta on the front porch with the dogs. I joined her and asked her about when she's going to start working with Valerie and what exactly she's going to be doing. Sabache, the new puppy, curled up in my lap and napped. Love! He is so cute.

While Marta and I were sitting on the porch, this guy pulled up on his motorcycle. He walked up to us and we exchanged buenoses. His breath reeked of alcohol. He asked where our parents were, and Marta told him that papi was working all day and that mami was running errands and wouldn't be back for a while. Marta made it very clear that she did not like this hombre. She wouldn't look at him and would only speak to him in quip responses. Plus, we were expecting mami to come home at any minute. The hombre asked why no one had picked up the phone all day (I was wondering whose calls we'd been screening...), and Marta told him that we had been sleeping. Hombre was too buzzed to be bothered with the implications of this statement: that we had been sleeping from his first call around 9:30 this morning to his last around 3. So then the three of us sat in awkward silence not making eye-contact for what seemed like forever.  Finally, hombre says okay later and wouldn't you know that is the exact moment that mi madre got home. Yikes. She walked right past him and muttered to us that she was too tired to deal with him today. She showed us the rice lights she'd bought to add to her Christmas light display on the porch and busied herself with putting them up as hombre proceeded to pester her with his problems. I was trying to eavesdrop, but was having a hard time because hombre was whispering and I couldn't see his lips. Mi madre just kept saying that she was tired and that he can keep his problems to himself because she does not need any more problems in her life. Then I realized that hombre was crying. Mi madre is one tough lady. His tears did not even affect her at all. She told him to go home and to leave her alone. Marta chipped in and was a bit more sympathetic with her choice of words, but her intentions were the same--to get hombre to leave our fam alone. He finally left, and Marta and mi madre gave me the dirt. Marta explained that he was a drunk and pretty much an all-around bum. Mami told me that he is in love with her and has been for the past 14 years. He has a wife and kids, but is always confessing his feelings to mi madre, saying that if she marries him he will change, he'll stop drinking, he'll get a job. She tells him to change for the wife he already has (who happens to be mi madre's bff), but he just won't leave her alone. Mi madre said that she's ready to call la policia and let them deal. But I haven't even told you the best part: he is mi madre's cousin! And his wife is mi padre's cousin!! Talk about messed up. Love me some Monteverde drama.

Mi madre made me promise not to tell anyone so keep your mouths shut if you are ever in the area. Oh but I asked and mi padre knows everything. As does hombre's wifey. We have no secrets in mi familia.

Then me, Marta, and mi madre sat down for coffee and fried plantains and natilla. Que rico. After coffee, mi madre and I sat on the front porch and chatted about my fam coming. She helped me call Rita at the Ecolodge to figure out a taxi for Wednesday. I don't usually like talking on the phone here--it intimidates the hell out of me, but Rita speaks fantastic English. It's going to cost me $135 to get to this Lands in Love hotel in San Ramon by taxi, but it's not like I can take a public bus with all the crap I have. Too dangerous. Mi madre agrees. The gringa one too.

The three of us hung out until mi padre and mis hermanos got home. I watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Unfabulous, and Why Me? with Marta. Then we all sat down for black bean soup with hard boiled egg slices. All except Keilor, who apparently does not care for black bean soup. He is crazy because it was delicious. Keilor was in a mood tonight. He has a test tomorrow so he is really stressed and spent the evening in our parents' room studying. Lame. The rest of us watched the news and en vivo--the E! of teletico. Kevin passed out on the floor and mis padres passed out on the couch. We were all in bed before 8:30. Holler.

peace love and drama