Chicken neighborhood

My cousins had a cat named Chicken Neighborhood. I don't know why. Here in Costa Rica, that cat comes to mind frequently because so much of this country is a chicken neighborhood. There are chickens everywhere. At the hotel in Manuel Antonio, I crossed paths with a chicken (and several enormous iguanas) on my way to the room. Walking home from the bank this afternoon, I found my neighborhood, as always, full of chickens. I actually love them.

Two posts in one day! I am dying of boredom. Everything is closed here today. I called a cab, finally, and he took me and Kerry to the automatic teller machine. I realized I was down to about 1,2oo colones, all in loose change (about 2.20 in dollars) and was beginning to worry about how, exactly, I'd pick Mike up from the airport tomorrow, so the cab came and picked me and Kerry up. The whole way there the taxi driver spouted baseball statistics. When he found out we were from Minnesota he shouted "Minnesota Twins! World Champions 1991!" I'm vague on baseball, in general, so I just agreed enthusiastically. He spoke much better English than we speak Spanish (many people would not consider this a compliment) and really, I must say, the man does love baseball. I tried to explain my baseball claim to fame, that Derek Jeter is from my hometown, but that was too much for our limited communication abilities. "New York Yankees! World Champions 1996!" (I think that's what he said.)

The good news is the bank had money, which perhaps is more usual than I initially believed, traumatized as I was by my March 1st, 5 banks, no money ordeal. So Mike will be greeted tomorrow at the airport. No worries! Kerry and I had a nice walk home. The clouds that threatened rain did not produce, luckily, and we enjoyed the exercise and change of scenery. I think people drink a lot here on Good Friday. Certainly our quiet apartment complex was blasting with music and loud singing for a while there.

I am certainly lucky to like my colleagues so well, to have such good companionship here. And I look forward to Mike's arrival for many reasons, but a new one is the enormous dead bug (I mean huge--3 or 4 inches long, at least) in my pantry.

Ok, this really is it for a while. My internet access card is about to run out (I buy them in 3 or 5 thousand colones increments, allowing me 10 or 15 hours of access) and I really should straighten things up around here, or Mike's (unspoken) suspicions about my slovenliness will be confirmed.

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