Costa Rica 6, Twenty-Third Day In Monteverde

Hoy, estoy reventando la bolsa, which is Spanish for I'm breaking the piggy bank. I've been very good with my expenses so I treated myself to a lovely Italian dinner in the chi-chi Italian restaurant, Tremonte's. Actually, the food and setting are elegant, but the staff and owners are super down-to-earth and friendly, and they treat me like a friend. They even give me the Tico discount, which means that I pay the considerably lower price set for the locals. I was seated on the balcony in the back with a sumptuous view of the forest and the visually intoxicating glitter of the afternoon sun on the leaves, as the trees are very close. You could even say that the restaurant is almost set right in the forest. I also had one of the most unusual tiramisus for dessert. It was served to me chilled in a sealed jam jar! On top of a piece of wood! It was delicious, not too sweet and just pleasantly boozy. Even if I tend to be a teetotaller, I do like liquor in some desserts, cakes and chocolates and suchlike. And I had a nice chat with a German couple who came a bit later. Also enjoyed some pleasant conversations with the two servers and one of the managers whom I think is also one of the cooks. Before that I was in San Luis buying my bus ticket to Alajuela Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning I fly back to Canada. I stopped in a cafe in Santa Elena where I enjoyed a strawberry smoothie, or batido de fresa, and chatted a bit with one of the staff and a regular customer who both seemed to like my art. Before that I was enjoying a hot chocolate in the Cafe Monteverde near the Mariposa, and chatted with staff there about how expensive things have become in Vancouver. That all started when they were charging me four bucks something for the hot chocolate and I mentioned that that is what I would pay for it in Canada, and on we went. (the hot chocolate was delicious, by the way, almost as good as the way I make it at home) Most of the conversations are in Spanish, though with the German couple it was English. I was also just chatting in English with a coupple of women visiting from Houston, Texas. The internet has been down most of the day, and we were just talking about how dependent we've all become on it. It seems that my generation is scolding the Millenials in much the same way as our parents used to scold us about how spoilt we are, and it just seems that with all the advances and innovations in technology that each succeeding generation becomes weaker and less self-reliant than the one that preceded it. Sad, this. The Spánish language generally flows very smoothly these days, though there are moments when my tongue fails me, but I'm also sometimes stumbling in English, so the outcome of being fluently bilingual sometimes means that I end up speaking two languages badly. People are generally friendly here and I did mention the other day that I wonder how well I'm going to cope being back in unfriendly and socially dyslexic Vancouver, but I have a plan. I am simply going to carry on with people at home the way I communicate with the locals here, and if I have to take a little time to help some of my fellow Vancouverites extract their boneheads from out of their tight little hienies, then so much the better. Every time I go away like this for a month in Latin America (lately here in Monteverde) it is with the objective of putting my life so far under review and thinking up strategies for constructive change in the way that I do things at home in Vancouver, and of how this is going to reflect on my daily life, my relationships, my work, my routines, the way I eat, everything. Usually not a lot changes, just maybe a little, but it's worth it. Of course, I've been walking everywhere, as usual. It is excellent exercise, especially on the steep hills here. Tomorrow morning I'm going to mass with Esteban's parents, to the same church that I visited with Esteban last week. It's a nice way of hanging out, as well as appreciating more the culture and the spirit of the Ticos here in Monteverde.