Pura Vida!

Can I first say how wonderful it is to wear sandals again? It is. The weather here has been perfect since I arrived yesterday around 2:30. Mid-70s, sunny and breezy. Although my host mother would beg to differ; she wears a sweatshirt often when the wind gets "cold"! This morning I woke up surprisingly early, despite my lack of sleep the day of my travel, and enjoyed a breakfast of fresh pineapple and papaya along with some honey bunches of oats (I know, it would be much cooler to say I had beef tongue or something slightly more interesting). I know Costa Rica is very tourist-friendly, but it's surprising how much American influence there is down here, from the food (mmm cheetos!) to the television and clothes (abercrombie and fitch status still applies), right down to the paper towels sold in the supermarket. I just got back from the street mercado with my host parents - I couldn't believe how many fruits and vegetables were being sold there. I'd post a picture if I had one, but I figured I stood out enough while gazing wide-eyed at all the produce and that clutching my camera to aim and shoot at every stray dog or bunch of hanging bananas might not help the situation.
Last night the host parents (Ricardo and "Nini", still not sure if that's her actual name) took me to a fiesta de cumpleanos for one of the employees in Ricardos little department store. The girl was turning 18 and there was a little backyard party complete with discolights and kareoke on the porch. After all the food was served (a variety of grilled meats and soups and beans) a pinata was produced, and then several guys came out wearing larger-than-live masks and dresses and started dancing around. Cue the start of a never-ending dance party for the rest of the evening. The stick used to whack the pinanta apparently serves a second function as a pole to dance with before it can break the pinata open. Needless to say, it was quite the fiesta and a lot of fun. Now I smell something tasty cooking so I'm going to investigate its whereabouts. That's it for now!