September 9th: The City

Today I woke up early so that I could go with Idalia (Nines mom) to drop off Ari and then we went shopping. First we went to this cute little boutique where I got two cute new shits. Next the boutique was a shoe store where we found nada, except a super cute purse that we both loved but neither of us wanted to spend money on. Next we went to one of the many malls in town (there's the main one, the Muli Plaza, next to that is Los Cascadas, and next to that is the Galeria, where we went). We went to Starbucks where I ordered both of us drinks and shared a recipe with the cute barista boy that took my order (a strawberry smoothie with a scoop of berries and 2 pumps of blackberry syrup). Next we went on a hunt for the hair salon so I could chop off all my hair. Kidding, I only got the two inches of dry dead split ends cut off. IT WAS ONLY $6. It turned out really nice and healthy and I like it lots.

    After the mall, we went to pick up Ari from kindergarden but on the way we stopped at a shoe store where we found nothing of interest. The drive back was nice, I talked with Idalia about how crappy the drivers are here and all the stray dogs we saw. There is a stray dog for every leaf on the ground here. They run all over the place and get hit by cars and killed by people and it's awful. When we were only a few minutes from home, we saw a stand on the side of the road and decided to get some fresh coconuts (it was $1 for 2).  For lunch, Estelita made something AMAZING. She took fried vegetable and rolled them up in rice tortillas then fried the tortillas. After lunch I tried getting some homework done and then for dinner I had a rice and cheese burrito.
    Estelita and I took Ari and Mena out for a walk at around 6. The sun was shining but not shedding heat and there was a light breeze which made it perfect. We walked to the nearest park, then migrated toward the next closest and much better park where we found all sorts of kids and their moms/sisters/nannies/maids. Ari went to play on the swings and had me push her until she got bored and wanted to play on the iron hoops (the things in mens gymnastics except these looked like they could be used to commit a gruesome crime). I lifter her up and held her because there was no way she would be able to hold herself. In less than a minute, she managed to whack herself on the head and she started crying like crazy which made EVERYONE look at us. I put her on the ground and she ran away toward a gazebo and tripped on the step making her fall and cry even harder. After a few minutes, she saw a dog and forgot why she way crying in the first place. Eventually, we found ourselves on the teeter-totter. This wasn't any teeter-totter, no it was the loudest, creakiest, most obnoxious teeter tooter in Central America, but Ari wanted to go on it, so we did. Well, she went on it and I pushed it down and gently let go. Over. And. Over. Again. And. Again.  This went on for roughly 7 minutes and by the end of those 7 minutes, every muscle in my arms had ceased working. Thankfully after that, we started our trek back home where I drank a few sips of water and left for a run.
    It got dark real fast and before I knew it the only light I had was being provided by the streetlights. With the night came an eerie calm feeling. I couldn't help but think that I shouldn't be out at night but at the same time I knew it was a safe neighborhood. I ran up to the top of all the condos and found a cute picnic area and a great view of the country. I could see the city lights, the ocean, the volcano and a few people walking their dogs. It was the type of scenery that made you jump up on the picnic table, throw your arms in the air and take it all in. Thats exactly what I did.

I started my way back home and took every detour I could which was hard considering I didn't know how to get back home so I didn't know if I was heading in the right direction or not. After 10 minutes of running/walking/jogging/looking at my surroundings to try to get an idea of where I was, I found myself in my driveway. I quickly entered, took a shower, watched friends and I hope to fall into a restless sleep in a few minutes.