meet maxwell: Todos Bueno!

We have officially been here for a week. What have we done? It seems like soooo sooo much. We arrived on Monday early in the morning. We got situated quickly and went exploring around noon. All the smart and savvy people stayed indoors. They knew what we didn't. That you should stay in during 11-4 if you don't want to melt. We braved the heat. Only for an hour. We walked a huge boardwalk called the Cinta Costera, meaning coastal beltway. In the evening it is littered with exercise junkies, families and dog walkers. There are play grounds for Max to play and explore, and pockets of people doing boot camp, yoga and dance. It is pretty packed but it is nice to get out and walk and stretch our legs.

Monday thru Friday we are in class from 8-12. (forgive me if I am repeating myself, as I have forgotten what I have previously written). Waking up at 6:30am isn't a joy, but it is worth it. Although I remind myself of that every morning. Class is intense and all in Spanish. Our class consists of about 4 people. One from New York, one from Thailand and one from France. Class is pretty overwhelming at times. I now dream in Spanish and have constant phrases floating in my head. Rob and I try to speak it at home too. It is pretty entertaining. I also try to speak to people that live here like taxi drivers, and waiters. I was surprised at how little English is spoken here since I thought I read that most spoke it. Better for us that they don't though.

We are staying in Casco Viejo. The old town and haven't spent too much time in the concrete jungle. I believe I heard that it houses about 350 different banks and many hotels like the Waldorf Astoria and the Hard Rock. We might go take a look see, but I feel like we have done enough big cities to get a good idea of what it entails. We have gone to the mall here. It is called the Multi-Plaza and it is huge. It caters to high end clientele with stores like Chanel and Jimmy Choo. It also has a Forever 21. We have gone there in the heat of the day so Max can run around. It also has a Chucky Cheese. We will be hitting that up as well. How could we not.

Last weekend we went to two beaches. Tobago, which is an Island not far from the city. We had to wait two hours for a ferry and that was no fun, and in the end not really worth it. The next day we rented a car and drove an hour away to a beach in San Carlos. This was much better, however we got lost coming home. We made it almost home when my GPS dropped off. Thankfully at a gas station was an English speaking man. We had him translate to a taxi driver who just happened to be there to let us follow him back to the car rental place. Thank god for him, as I was getting close to panicking.

So that is all so far. We are trying new restaurants every day at lunch and I am cooking dinners at home. We are drinking lots of Mojitos and crashing by 10:00. A pretty fulfilling trip thus far!

Disclaimer-lots of pictures ahead…..