Day 13: Souvenirs and Food

Today was a very busy day.
I was able to have a little sleep in, but we were all up and out of the house by 10am.
Firstly, we walked next door to meet and say hi to some relatives who had arrived yesterday from both Spain and England. There were about 6 of them, including a child and a baby.
After this quick visit, 8 of us, Jose, Jorge, Guisella, Ernesto, Rebe, Jose's maternal grandparents Oscar and Soleyda, and I, headed to Sarchi.
Before we got there though, we stopped of in Grecia to have a little stroll in the main square there which has a red church made almost entirely of metal. It is a very pretty church. While there in Grecia, Rebe and Ernesto had run off somewhere, but when we were returning to the car I found out why. They had gone to buy Rebe's favourite lolly from a shop. I got given a packet of the violet flavoured candy, and quite liked it.
We then headed to Sarchi, a little town not far from Grecia famous for the now decorative wooden carts that are made there. I bought a lot of handmade souvenirs, and will be getting stopped by MAF in New Zealand because of the wood products I purchased. All while browsing the souvenirs, rain was bucketing down outside.
After this shopping, we drove down a little steep hill to a nice restaurant that looked out into a gully. Here Ernesto was so funny, as he starting having conversations with people at other tables, one of whom was a friend of his from school.
The food here was very good, I had a mixture of four types of meat on my plate, and surprisingly no rice in sight, there was no escaping the beans though.
Because the road to the restaurant was quite steep, it was decided that it would be best for us to walk to the top and just let Jorge drive it up. I recorded a funny video of Jose pushing his grandma up the hill, while his granddad pulled.
We then returned home promptly. We had meant to visit Fabiola, a Costa Rican girl who came to New Zealand at the same time as Jose, but I think since we had other places to be and she was a bit busy too, it didn't eventuate.
As soon as we got home, we were off again. This time to Jorge's parents house, just around the corner, for a little Christmas celebration that went from afternoon to evening.
My meal at lunch had been huge, but here I still ate too, because of course, I'm in another country and want to experience everything possible. It was really nice to finally meet Jorge's family, all his brothers, his sister, his nieces and nephews, they were all so nice, and some even spoke English.
A little while after present opening, we returned home without Jorge, as he was staying to catch up more with his family.
Bed came shortly after returning.

Help is what family is there for

Jorge's family around the dinning table