Day 24
We rode our bikes around town while it was still sleeping. We went past the market to the far side of the beach, then back through town, right by the Red Cross.
We poked our heads in to ask about volunteer opportunities for one of the girls. Scarlet the director said you need to be a citizen or resident of CR for the more formal programs. She helped connect us to other possibilities.
Spanish TV, a good thing. I actually hear myself saying, “You haven’t had the tv on all day. Why don’t you watch some cartoons or a movie or something.” Cali’s favorite Disney shows are dubbed in real time Spanish, great practice.
In the evening we took Cali to the cinema. She’d wanted to see Jurassic World, but it came out after we left the States. The other girls had already seen it. As we’ve learned, the long arm of the Hollywood reaches every theater eventually, no matter how remote. We were messing with her all day about what the surprise was. She wanted to know if she had to wear a swimsuit. Reply, optional. It is scary? It’s meant to be. Is she being tricked to do zip-lining or something else she hates? Really? What kind of money-wasting parents does she think we are. Uh, no. Is it was in Costa Rica? An interesting question. We were able to answer yes, since the movie is actually set here. Aren’t we clever. Will she hate it? What? With her questions you would think we systematically surprise her with a creative array of anguish-inducing experiences. Ok, game over.
Of course she was excited when we got to the cinema and not the local pharmacy for a handful of shots and rusty medieval thumb screws or whatever horrible thing she was imagining. We are clearly those parents. In this cinema you choose as assigned seat on the chart, it’s all very civilized.
Language-wise there are two choices; dinosaurs speaking Spanish or speaking English with Spanish subtitles. But wait, if the movie was set in Costa Rica, the dinosaurs were originally speaking Spanish so shouldn’t need Spanish subtitles. It’s all very confusing.
Lastly we ran the true test of how civilized a movie-going operation is, the popcorn. The options were unexpected. There was sweet or salty or a mix, which was the popcorn equivalent to a vanilla and chocolate ice cream swirl. The swirl combo was delish, every bite a little salty-sweet party in your mouth. We’ll have to give this place a popcorn-10. We’ll be back (for the Terminator actually).