Marching bands have xylophones??

Our church usually lasts until 12 or 12:30 including worship and class. We decided to not stay for class today because Haley didn't sleep well last night because she is growing several teeth right now. We didn't want to put her in class because she was tired and hurting. Also, when she doesn't feel well, she can be pretty aggressive. Therefore, at 11:15 we headed for our walk back home. Upon entering the main highway that brings us home, we heard music that sounded like it might be a parade. We looked in the opposite direction, and sure enough there was a parade. They had just blocked traffic on the road. Instead of marching for a couple miles as we do in the states, they would just have two or three bands lined up at a time and move to one area where each group would play two or three songs. One group played the BEATLES and another played a tune from Phantom of the Opera. We watched a few minutes before heading home. I had seen a marching band with a stationary xylophone before, but almost every band had several (up to 20 in one group) hand held xylophones. Some of the percussion instruments looked hand made. Most of them were pretty old. All of them, though were in tune and beautifully played.

A DAY IN TOWN

In order to get Visas here, the National Police has to have a record of our huellas (fingerprints). We are supposed to have this done by the time we go to a meeting tomorrow. We were told that all of the westbound busses went by the Police Academy where we were to do this. Well, that is all of the Buses except the one our driver took. He made a million turns and we got to the end of the line and were kicked off the bus. We got off the bus and asked someone where the police academy was located. He said this bus will take you there. Ok. We got back on the bus, and it took us right to it. We got off on the correct stop (I knew it was next to the McDonalds) However, we did not see the Police Station directly accross from the McDonalds, so we went inside McDonalds and asked where it was. 20 meters up the road on the right.

We had been told that Ticos are sympathetic to people with babies. I know that many people had been there longer than me, but they called me and Matt within 5 minutes of when we got there. Once I got inside, they skipped me to the front of the line because Haley was fussing. We had to use one of the photos needed for our visas for the huellas, and we needed a couple extra photos anyway. While we were waiting we saw a friend from school and he said that there was a place that did passport photos across the street at the mall. We went to the mall and had passport photos made to take to our appointment tomorrow. Afterwards we walked around into stores and practiced our Spanish. Upon leaving the mall, we realized that we were only a kilometer and a half from home, we walked back. Unfortunately, since we rode the bus, we carried Haley. All is well, and we have the items we need for our Costa Rican visas (except all of our personal documents that are in route to us because the consulado wasn't finished with them when we left).