Let's catch up- Tuesday as I was on my way back to San Jose, I had a big fight with my sister, had beer spill all over my stuff, took a xanax, then drank a few beers, then passed the fuck out on my flight.
When I made it to CR I had all my papers ready. With immigration you never know which way it'll go, I've been given a really hard time and other times not even asked a single question. This time I decided to just pretend I was visiting because it's easier to get through. And it was. I picked up my beer-coated checked bag, and got a taxi to my SO's aunt's house where there was a party.
At the party everyone was glad to see me. I gave my SO a few of his presents, which he loved. We had dinner and I hung out for a few hours- until around 1am or so. By then I was so freaking exhausted, both emotionally and physically. I was having a really hard time grasping how much I missed my family and the USA and yet how happy I was to be back in CR. It made me feel like I'll never be truly happy anywhere. Plus the fight with my sister was still weighing heavy. I wanted to rally and hang out, but the whole family started to sing old cantina songs. I have never truly felt so excluded than when they do this. It's only the second time, but they put on all these old cantina songs from the 80s that everyone (except the gringa of course) knows and loves. They sing and sway and have a good ole time. While I sit there and am like "I have never heard this before, I don't know any of the words, and it sounds like all the other songs you just played" So the fact that they were singing instead of dancing or talking, I decided to go to sleep on the couch.
I drove home (around 4am) since everyone else was wasted. A few days later my SO tells me that I always seem apart at their family gatherings. Which made me feel terrible. I mean I try so fucking hard to include myself in the family. The thing is, it's never just a few people getting together, it's always the whole damn family (like 10+ people). So everyone is yelling at each other. If I try to say something, someone just talks over me. My SO says "you just have to yell over them". Man no, that's rude, I'm not doing that. I remember this one time they were talking about hiking and I wanted to tell them that my sister had just hiked the entire state of California. I tried saying it like 5 or 6 times, they kept cutting me off. So finally I gave up!
Also, I told my SO that I feel really left out when they sing the old cantina songs. I mean it'd be one thing if they sang a few, but they sing for fucking hours! I mean hell, just on the 31st I went to nap on the couch around 1am, and at 4am they decided they had sung enough. What the hell do they expect me to do during those fucking 3 hours? Sit there and pretend to have a good time while being completely excluded? Anyways, so I tell my SO I feel left out and he says "I know what to do". I asked what, and he wouldn't tell me.
I really like hanging with my SO's family, and when it's just a few of us I talk a lot. It's just when it's so many damn people I can never get a word out. What my SO told me kind of hurt my feelings and I didn't realize that until now. Going to talk about it tonight.
Well that turned into a rant that I didn't expect.
So on the 2nd my SO and I took a trip to our favorite beach- Manuel Antonio!! It's really touristy but amazing. When people come to CR they always say "I don't want to go to the touristy areas" but the touristy areas are the BEST areas which is why they're touristy! Manuel Antonio is only 3 hours from San Jose, it has an amazing beach, excellent restaurants, and a great night life. Who cares if there's a bunch of tourists? It's awesome! We stayed at a place where I stayed before and it has an amazing view of the beach. Unfortunately, the other people staying there were not friendly. We tried two nights to make friends and everyone just sat around and said nothing. Whatevs.
The view.
The first day we had a few beers, hung out a bit on the beach, had ravenous sex, took a nap, then went out for the night. We went to a disco that was playing salsa music and my SO and I got to dance a lot. It was great. We had to leave earlier than desired because I wore high-heels (since I wanted to look hot) and my feet started hurting.
The next day was ALL DAY at the beach. We rented an umbrella, two chairs and a table for $12 for the whole day. We had to negotiate down to that price, of course. The first ass hole tried to charge us $20 for the day, which is freaking ridiculous. We sat and enjoyed being with each other. Vendors walk up and down the beach, which can get annoying, but is pretty sweet most of the time. So we bought ceviche from the ceviche lady, empanadas from the empanada lady, beer from the beer guy, etc etc. And never had to move an inch! Perfection! When the tide had come in close enough that the waves were about to take over our chairs, we packed up and headed out.
Beach!
Look how far back the tide goes! By the time we left, it was past where those chairs are.
That night we played our favorite card game, I kicked my SO's ass three times in a row. And we called it an early night.
On Saturday we went early to the beach. There were a TON of monkeys that I had to shoo away because they always come and steal your stuff. After a few hours we went into the main town because my SO had almost broke his car key in half and needed to get another one made. This town is maybe six blocks by four blocks total. It's tiny. And we had to go to FIVE different key makers before we could find one to copy the key. I mean holy shit. They have a lot of key makers for a punk-ass town. We hurried up to grab some lunch at a falafel place (which was DELICIOUS!!!!) and got ready for our boat tour.
Boat tour was nice. I wanted to see whales, but I knew it was highly improbable. We didn't see any. We did see two dolphins, which I don't give a shit about. I've seen plenty of freaking dolphins. We then went to snorkel which I was skeptical about because it's the Pacific side and it's very murky water. I was right to be skeptical, the snorkeling was terrible. They brought crackers and fed some fish so we did see fish. But that was it. The water had maybe 1 foot of visibility. My SO was an idiot and didn't wear flippers (I think he was following me- I didn't wear flippers because they hurt my feet and I'm a damn swimmer and I can swim just fine) and was exhausted after only swimming a few meters. So I towed his heavy ass all around and then back to the boat. It actually made me feel pretty good about myself. He kept saying "omg, how are you not tired??!!" Because I know how to swim efficiently.
We then had a mediocre fish dinner and watched the sunset which was lovely.
We went home and drank a bottle of champagne. We planned on watching a movie on netflix, but we were both so exhausted and drunk (did I mention there were free drinks on the boat?!?) we passed out around 8pm.
Sunday we woke up early, got packed up, and left with the quickness. We knew the traffic would be bad later that day (the highway has only one lane) so we got going early. We made it back quite nicely and went to pick up Perlita from her doggy-sitter. And of course she is now charging MORE than she did before. We gave her Perlita on Thursday morning and picked her up Sunday morning. The lady wanted to charge us for four days. No, you pay per night. Like in a hotel. My SO fought and made the lady feel uncomfortable (since I teach her kids) and she let us pay for 3 nights instead of 4. Definitely need to find a new dog sitter.
Well that brings me to today! Have nothing planned. I have a big book I started yesterday (Doctor Sleep!!!!!) that I can get rolling on. Also will take the puppy on a walk in another hour or so. I feel like I have a lot more to say, but that can wait for another blog. Because I'm sure you guys are worn out from reading this stuff.
Have a great Monday!
I feel you on feeling left out with the family. When I'm with my SO's fam, they all just talk loudly and quickly in Bambara and I stare off in the distance. I see them rarely (for now), so it doesn't get to me that much. But I imagine if I saw them more, I'd feel really frustrated with family gatherings.
Awesome holiday goodness. Yay for blogs.