What a Great Day!

Yesterday was just a great day all around. In terms of accomplishing "work" tasks, it was entirely a wash, but... that's not to say other good things didn't come of the day.

Yesterday was a holiday from school because it was the Day of the Virgin of Los Angeles, who is the patron virgin of Costa Rica. This day is not only a national holiday, but it's also the day that thousands of Costa Rican people participate in a pilgrimage. People walk from their towns all over the country to the cathedral in Cartago to visit the virgin. People started gearing up for the event last week, preparing packs and walking shoes and some setting out over a week in advance to arrive on Aug. 2 in Cartago. This year, I didn't participate in the pilgrimage, but I'm thinking about it for next year. It's a really interesting cultural tradition.

Instead of walking various days to visit a cathedral, I stayed home, slept in, baked cookies and found a new apartment. Yep, that's right, I'm moving! I've been talking about moving with my host mom, and we've both been talking to people to see what's available in town. Yesterday I looked at two places and one of them is gonna work out just perfect. It's a little one bedroom apartment, and there isn't much to it, but nonetheless, I'll have my own space. As much as I love my host family, they are wonderful, I'm excited to have a place of my own.

So that's the big news. Apart from that my trip to the grocery store yesterday was also great because I found out they now sell Pepperidge Farm cookies. Milanos... mmm. Great new item, even if I'm likely the only one who will buy them. I was also able to buy semi-sweet chocolate chips; a rarity around here, sometimes there are no chocolate chips at all. And finally, I found everything I needed to make homemade Girl Scout cookies. How is that not a great thing?

I found a recipe for homemade Tagalongs, which are the chocolate ones filled with peanut butter. I tried to explain to people here about the Girl Scouts and how we buy boxes and boxes of cookies, but I don't think they understood. They have Girl Scouts here, but they don't sell cookies. The cookies were pretty close to the original and they turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. The recipe for the cookies is in the recipes section of the blog if you want to give it a try.