Day 22: The sun is back...

If the next week goes by as nice as today, I’d be a happy camper. The rain has returned to its previous routine before it flooded the streets last week and is back to hiding out until sunset to emptying on us throughout the night. Which means that our job for the day is to soak up as much sun as we can.

Mike made his routine ride to the bike repairman without me this morning since he was racing some steep competition, his front tire leak. Stopping three times to pump it up, he made it and got it fixed for what he said is the last time. I don’t know if that means he’s confident it’s not gonna get another one or if it does he’ll be setting it on fire but either way, it probably is our last time with this repairman seeing as we move a week from today.

Since we don’t want to be bothered by stocking up on groceries and lugging them home from town, we’ve been shopping at our local pulperias. Pulperias here are similar to a front porch stocked with typical convenience store items. No offense to our chicken and fish back home, but the quality of the fish and chicken here puts our stuff back home to shame. I can’t really explain the tenderness and juiciness of the chicken or the taste of a local fisherman's catch seasoned immediately after filleted, but trust me, it’s really good. I thought my culinary skills had improved since we landed in Costa Rica, but I was mistaken - the quality of my ingredients has.

The chicken is actually good enough that it was a subject of a $3 minute phone call with my parents - I spent more money talking about it than paying for it. My dad reminded me that’s what happens when it's fresh from your own backyard. He’s right. A few weeks ago, Mike and I saw a neighbor carrying a dead chicken, body covered, and head bobbing around upside down as he walked by our house. That’s as fresh as it gets and I’m sure it’s even better than the prepackaged stuff we’ve been buying. We may have gone back in time here, but I’m pretty sure we won’t be headed that far back. I still prefer plucking my chicken from a grocery store freezer...