And if You're Drinkin' Well you Know That Your My Friend and I Say I Think I'll Have Myself a Beer

Week 3: Complete! And boy what a week it was.  It all started last Tuesday night when a group of colleagues and I embarked on a guided walking tour in downtown, San Jose.  Having been told repeatedly not to walk downtown at night, I asked "Is this safe?" and the reply was, "Yes, but just in case we hired 2 cops on bikes.  It was comforting to know my safety was now in the hands of cops on bikes, who clearly failed some sort of test that condemned them to a career on a bike.  None the less, the tour was well delivered and incredibility informative, and I think I may even know more about the inception of Costa Rica than a Costa Rican would. We ended othe tour at a fantastic Asian restaurant, Coconuts, where I consumed the first tofu dish I can honestly say I enjoyed.

The rest of the week flew in anticipation of Friday's festivities.  I was determined to bring a little Irish flavor (being 0% Irish and all) to Costa Rica by celebrating St. Patty's Day in the office with a good ole' fashion happy hour.  Thanks to the help of colleagues visiting the US the week prior, we were supplied with enough tacky green St. Patty's paraphernalia to decorate the office for years to come. With the daunting task of baking Irish soda bread, green cupcakes and sugar cookies with green icing, I set off for the fancy grocery store in town armed with a shopping list that included green food coloring and a whole lot of flour and sugar.  After an hour or so, and a text from my roommate asking if I was alive, I emerged with the ingredients for a successful happy hour and a frequent buyer card that I am still not sure I agreed to. 

Now for the fun part, baking, or rather fun for some, but let me be clear baking is not my forte. Challenge accepted! Looking at the ingredients strewn about our mini-kitchen, something told hold of me and I started mixing, kneading and down right baking like I've never mixed, kneaded and baked before. Jamie (my BFF) & Liz (my Master Baker at Flour) would be proud.  But as it turns out Irish soda bread isn't as easy as the recipe for "Easy Irish Soda Bread" leads one to believe.  With the mini-kitchen a mess and my face and hands stained with green food coloring, I was determined to get a few hours of sleep before the big day!

Friday finally arrived and I could barely contain my excitement as I loaded 60+ cupcakes, 3 loafs of Irish soda bread, 4 dozen cookies and 6 tubes of frosting into our office transport van.  Upon arrival it was clear that others were excited as well thanks to the sea of green shirts that spread through the office.  Later that afternoon we transformed our office kitchen into an Irish haven with Irish flags, Celtic music and the créme de la résistance, green beer!

The party was a huge success and I ended the night in downtown San Jose in the woods with Clay listening to a band from Puerto Rico sing about getting hyper like a windshield wiper (his translation, not mine!)

Sadly the actual St. Patricks Day wasn't as exciting as the previous day.  With a plan to hit up the only Irish pub in town we set off on a crazy taxi ride downtown and by crazy I mean bumper to bumper traffic because of road work, random streets closed, taxi drivers not knowing where the bar was, said taxi drivers taking the advise of a clearly intoxicated homeless man to drive down a pedestrian only walkway to get to the other side of the closed road, but first stopping midway down to get out and take a piss, only to finally get to the bar and find out the only Irish pub was out of Guinness.  Thankfully the Jameson was flowing so the night wasn't a total wash.

Sunday also proved to be quite the adventure.  Equipped with brand new mountain bike tires on my once urban city-bike, I hit the road for the mall.  Yes, we all knew it wouldn't be long before mall withdrawals kicked in and I'd need a fix, so off I went on the 3.9 kilometer trek to Paseo de las Flores.  What I wasn't prepared for was the deathly harrowing back road that Google maps suggested I take. If I'd have had an inclinometer* i'd have been able to tell you just how steep it was, but lets just say I had to walk my bike down (in a ditch none the less) and take 2 breaks on the way up, so as not to pass out in said ditch.  


Once I saw the mall cresting over the hill I really turned it on (or more accurately I walked just as slow, but with a slight bounce in my step), only to find that Costa Rica is a little slow on joining the green transport bandwagon.  With no bike rack in sight, I had to lock my baby to a sign next to a random bank near the mall, remove the seat and pray she'd be there when I got back.  Thankfully she was, and I got my shopping fix for a while, or at the very least a few days. I smartened up and took a different way home!

Pura Vida!!! 


* An inclinometer is a tool I'm still convinced my friend Brian Pond made up! But I guess they save lives in avalanches!