Lunchtime

When we were done in San Marcos, we drove back to Santa Maria. Isabel introduced us to a gentleman named Roger. He just happens to be the owner of the blue Nissan that Cindy and Larry drive. It's his car, but he doesn't drive, so he prefers to keep his car in their driveway where it's safe and they have the privilege of driving it when they need it. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement. He speaks English, which made it nice for Isabel not to have to translate our whole conversation. We had lunch in a little restaurant, called a Soda, where they serve typical Tico food. We ordered a typical dish called casado, which consists of rice, beans, salad, mixed vegetables and your choice of chicken, meat or fish. It's good food for $5. We paid the bill, said goodbye to Roger and made our way to the animal feed store where we nearly bought 8 egg-laying hens (not all hens lay eggs, we've learned). We decided to wait and ask our neighbours if they would buy some eggs or exchange for milk and butter before buying them. Eight hens will produce an average 5 eggs a day (they don't lay an egg every single day). That's a lot of eggs for just Kevin and I to eat each week. Once we have guests staying at the lodge, then we'll consume more, but we need to know that we have a way of generating a little bit of income with the excess, even if it only pays for the feed and wood chips, that would be great. Isabel is convinced that we will not have any problem selling our eggs as no one is selling fresh, organic eggs in our little town. So, we bought the feed, the vitamins and the wood chips for their bedding and we'll decide how many hens once we've talked to our neighbours.