Gringa Feo?

We were invited to a friends birthday party this weekend. It was very nice and we enjoyed the company, well most of the company.

For some reason from the moment we moved here to Costa Rica three and a half years ago, there is one family in our circle that really does not like us. Actually they are racist and don't like anyone that is gringo or nica.

The thing is they don't even try to hide it. They will say really rude things to our family all of the time. Now these are not young people acting out of ignorance. They are the supposedly educated ones that should know better.

We are very good friends with their son-in-law and have complained to him several times of various offenses. O.k. for instance one time the "dowager" or mom of the clan, came up and started looking through my dreadlocks like she was looking for bugs. Her daughter laughed and told her to stop.

Think the really mean step mom and her really mean daughters in Cinderella.

In fact my daughter and her family will not even go to church with us or to any activity where this family is going to be. Which would be all of them.

For this birthday party I had brought a very good thai peanut noodle salad. Really good if I must say so myself. Hubby was in the dining room getting another plate of food and the dowager did not realize he was in the room. One of the other women in the room asked what the salad was. She responded that it was something the "gringa feo" brought.

Once she realized hubby was standing there she started back pedaling. For the first time she probably wished we did not know any Spanish. I walked in as he was questioning her about her comment and she was denying it. He just looked at me and told me what she had said. About this time someone had tasted the salad and they were all raving about it.

I have to admit it was weird they ate it on corn tortillas, but hey tortillas make everything better eh?

Back to my story. I was mostly just mad, but a little hurt. I am not used to grown women being so mean. Maybe I have been out of the loop too long and have not realized that people act like that. Please tell me it ain't so, people really don't act like that do they?

If so I will not go to anymore birthday parties for sure!

Friends and Visitors

Our visitors will be leaving tomorrow. This group has been a blast and we are sad to see them go. Tweeny worked hard to make sure they had fun and saw as much of Costa Rica as possible in budget.

It was great to have a fellow dreadlocker around to compare notes with. I have actually never been face to face with another dreader and been able to have a long conversation with them about their dreads. It is always interesting to find out why, how and when they began their journey.

We had such fun having them here that I signed us up for couchsurfing. We are officially a cs family and will host visitors now. It is great because they can read our profile and make sure they even want to stay here, and we can read theirs and make sure we want them to stay here.

Hopefully we will meet lots of amazing world travelers and find some new and exciting places we would like to go and visit. That list seems to grow longer instead of shorter though.

When these guys asked me what they could do to repay us for letting them hang here for 10 days, I told them the only requirement was they had to play me in a game of Scrabble. Yesterday we had our killer match of Scrabble and they let me win as they were supposed to, and life is great.

Intervention

I think it is time for intervention. I did double workouts today! aughhhh! I swore I would not go there again, but I just could not resist the pool. It was calling me and I did not make it there yesterday due to the rain. Had a great run this morning with no pain in the ankle or back. Got home had a bit of rice and thought, hmmmm baby is at school, everyone is occupied, why not? Hopped on the bus and hurried down for a one hour swim workout. It felt great. I have been having struggles with my goggles, but hey just makes it more interesting when I am swimming along and all the sudden my dreads are swimming all around me and my goggles are swimming next to me!

Speaking of swimming with dreads. It is very interesting to take off from the wall with a head full of little sponges. Creates some great drag that I am hoping will work in my favor once I put them in a cap and swim without the drag. Kind of like the swimmers who get all haired up and then shave right before a competition.

The cool part is they are getting really bleached out from swimming outside. I keep having to adjust the coloring of the roots to match the lightening of the dreads. I love, love, love swimming outside. It is so different than swimming in the indoor pool in Flagstaff. I do miss having a coach and my swimming buddies, but it is a great pay off.

Today was senior citizen day at the pool. Like I was the youngest one there. Not the fastest, just the youngest!

Birthday Bash

I love birthdays! I keep wondering when I will quit liking my birthdays so much, but so far for the last 48 they just keep getting better and better. I got great gifts this year, that were much needed,(except maybe the pipe, which will be awhile). The rest were much needed.

My family put together a great feast of mexican food as well as a wonderfully sinful earthquake cake. I felt like the python that ate the pig before the night was over to be sure.

The only bad part of the whole night was that my son who is 21 and should know better, beat me at scrabble! He should know that you don't beat people at their favorite game, especially on their birthday. Ah I guess I will survive. I am trying to get him to do a rematch and he refuses until next year

I guess I better explain the picture. It just happens to be the only picture taken on the big day, but was a joke. Because I have dreadlocks people always assume that I must smoke pot. I do not smoke pot! I have dreads because Micah always wanted them, can't have them so I am his proxy for the dreads. Once he is free and can get his own mine may or may not come off.

I will do a different post on the true history of dreads and why the rastafarians are actually mistaken about where and why they came about. Anyhoo as a joke one of my comedian kids decided it would be funny to buy this little pipe and give it to me on my birthday! I have to admit I was shocked and they got that on video, but this pic says it all, pretty funny!