Party Weekend

Frank and me



Costa Rica is such a party place. Last weekend I went to two and had one of my own.

Friday night was Frank's birthday party. My friend and former student turned 45, and invited many people to his home/beauty salon to help him celebrate. For the occasion, I made peppery cheese sticks using puff pastry for the first time. They were yummy!

I spent the evening talking with a Belgian, Peter, who has lived in Marbella, Spain, for the last 25 years. He was staying at the Cariari B&B, and the owner, Laurie, who is Frank's best friend, brought him. Since I am going to Spain in May, I was very interested in learning what Peter had to say about Spain.

On the way home from the party, about 10:50pm, there was an earthquake - not a bad one, just about 4.4, but it was felt throughout the Central Valley. What I felt in my car was just a little something, like a bump. I saw a van in my rear view mirror and thought it had just barely kissed my bumper. It wasn't until the next morning when I read about the earthquake that I realized what had happened.

Then on Saturday Diane had a going away party for her Yvonne. I had met Yvonne at Diane's last party, so that was reason enough for me to go.

Someone had brought a red wig and people were taking turns posing with it on. It was the source of great amusement and laughter.




Also at the party, I saw Shell for the first time since I won our SuperBowl bet.


After Diane's party, I put on my dancing shoes for the first time since I broke my little right toe four weeks earlier and headed over to Coyunda's. It felt good to dance again, although the toe still hurt.

Margaritaville Party

Most of the women at the Margaritaville party
I'm in the front row, third from the left



We all dressed up in our most colorful tropical clothes and had a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville party at Diane's. She looked adorable in her grass skirt. Patty and I went shopping at Ropa Americana (used and seconds clothing) stores in Alajuela to find her a suitable flowery blouse to wear. I wore a pair of colorful striped pants that were so old that they smelled moldy from the closet.

A few of us paired up and played a game like horseshoes, but we had to pitch heavy metal washers into holes in the ground. I got a washer into the hole = a hole in one! My team won the first game, but lost a second round.

But that was okay because Mark was in charge of mixing and pouring the margaritas, and were they yummy! The recipe called for tequila, a little triple sec, beer (yes, beer!), limonada and water. Ooh, they went down very quickly and smoothly.

We all brought something to share, and with 40-50 of us, there was a lot of food. Diane grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, but not until later. After the bocas (snacks), I was hungry, so I perused the dessert table and cut myself a piece of key lime pie. As I was eating it, a bunch of people exclaimed that I was eating dessert before the main event. Life is short, I said, so eat dessert first. So they did.

Jimmy Buffett CDs were playing in the background, but people were talking so loudly we couldn't hear the music. So there was no dancing.

But it was a Saturday night, and what's a Saturday night without dancing? So I left the party and went to Coyunda's, where the band was playing and my friends were sitting at a table with some new people from Alajuela, another city about 25 minutes away. Carlos asked me to dance, and we ended up dancing all night. He's a good dancer, and he made me look good on the dance floor. No, there's nothing brewing there between him and me - he's a heavy smoker and I have trouble breathing around smoke. But it was a fun night.

Susan's Epic Birthday

Susan turned 50 this week and it has been the endless birthday celebration. We started on Monday by having a free overnight at the Hampton Inn near the airport. Susan works in tourism and was able to finagle a free room, and she asked me to accompany her. It was a very nice hotel with a sparkling clean room, free full breakfast, and friendly service. The hotel honored her with a bottle of sparkling wine and a box of Ferrero Rocher candies. For dinner, we went next door to the Fiesta Casino and shared chicken wings and a Caesar salad. A friend of mine sent over drinks, and then it was Ladies' Night so we got more free drinks. The place started filling up with young ticas half our age. In fact, there were so many of them, they overflowed onto the dance floor and there was hardly any room to dance. It didn't matter to us, though, because none of the teenybopper guys wanted to dance with their grandmothers. So we called it a night and went back to the room.

Wednesday was Susan's actual birthday, and about 10 of us took her to lunch at TGIFriday's. I had brought a candle and stuck it in her bowl of ice cream. The staff sang the birthday song, in Spanish, of course, then we all sang in English, even though Susan and I were the only English-speaking ones in the group. A meal here doesn't last just an hour or hour and a half. Three or three and a half hours later, we finally left.


Margie, Lupe, Hazel, Yalile, Susan at TGIFriday's


Sue doing the hula while the TGIFriday's staff sang her happy birthday

Friday night was Susan's official birthday party. Yalile got to Coyunda's (the place where we go dancing Saturday nights) early and decorated the hall (with her two daughters) with balloons, streamers and funny eyeglasses, which we wore for a group photo.

Oscar, Margie, Patri, Anabel, Jenny, Jose and Michelangelo wearing our funny glasses

Yalile got folks to make yummy food - Mayito (he has a weekend restaurant where he makes chicharrones (fried pork) and roasted chicken) sent over chicharrones for about 20 of us, plus Yalile's neighbor made piccadillo (a mixture of finely chopped potatoes and some other ingredients I can never remember). I brought a chocolate cake from Robin's Kitchen (where I have lunch every Thursday with a different bunch of friends).

The Cake

The party was a fine tribute to a wonderful friend.

Susan with her birthday cake