Weekend life…

Friday is market day. Kids get out of school at 1200, we walk to the school to collect Luca and then down to the market. A friend of Luca’s came with us…

The market is more than a place to buy food, it is a big social gathering too. The kids all run off and play, while parents shop and chat. Great place to eat lunch as well, with freshly cooked meals always available. We partake in it all! It is always at least a 2-3 hour thing, as you meet people there, that you often have not seen all week, so a good time to catch up 🙂

For me it is a good opportunity to practice my Spanish. I had a break through this week with a vendor, who I have been buying from for almost 8 weeks now. He speaks no English and was always less than friendly, no doubt thinking I was just another tourist passing through who had hopeless Spanish skills, (I am sure it must be very frustrating for them)! This week he not only gave me a big smile ,(not happened at all previously!), but complimented me on my Spanish, saying it was getting much better, then told me he would see me next week! Not only could I understand all this exchange, but I could respond! It made my day! 🙂

Luca had his face painted by one of the girls, he was pretty happy, Darth Maul was requested and she did a great job. He refused to shower until Sunday night, hence Darth Maul was with us all weekend 🙂

Saturday we got up early and went tree climbing with one of the kids from Luca’s school…

of course one of Luca’s regular’s came with us (Cinco)

Then it was off to the Valle Escondido Preserve. This is an amazing area in the middle of Monteverde. Jonah, an American, brought the property about 4-5 years ago completely restoring it, to its current state.

https://www.escondidopreserve.com/

They have kids in Luca’s school and make the area available free of charge to local families, how lucky are we!!!!!

Permaculture a big focus, something that really interests me…

One of the things that really appeals to me about permaculture ,is that it does not need vast amounts of land or money to grow your own food, so very doable. I love this initiative, costs $25 to build.

There is a relaxing hammock, picnic area that we hung out in for a bit, admiring the amazing flowers and wildlife around us …

Then it was back to the cafe area for amazing pizza and a touch of crocquet..

We made it home late afternoon exhausted but happy. Luca slept 15 hours straight that night 🙂

Sunday was a very quiet day for us. Dinia ,(our neighbor), came over for a chat and Luca did his homework. He announced that Spanish is now his favorite subject and did more homework than was necessary to impress his teacher, encouraging indeed 🙂

The cow in the field below us is due to give birth so we went down to check on her (nothing yet!) and took Pica for a walk then we were all in bed by 8pm, a happy tired. I checked her again this morning and she is still in one piece..

Speaking of cows. Another vendor called in yesterday and we brought this, hoping we got the translation right and it was cream…

and it is indeed, it is beyond good! This is true cream, the cream I grew up with, that us kids would fight to scrape off the top of the milk bucket for our morning porridge. Rich has never tasted proper cream before, and fell instantly in love 🙂 He is putting it on everything including another banana loaf I made yesterday which is disappearing at remarkable speed! I am guessing this vendor will be a regular at our home now 🙂