Souvenirs

There aren't many unique souvenirs we could find in Costa Rica, so we didn't go too crazy.  What they do best is wood and coffee, so those were our main targets.  We didn't really get many gifts because nothing seemed all that special.  We definitely wanted something to commemorate our stay, so we got ourselves a few things.  I know that sounds totally selfish, but I'll live.

I went shopping by myself a few weeks ago and bought Aaron these:

He's really into playing dice, so I thought it was fitting.  He probably won't use them, but they're a cool keepsake.  

I really wanted a sign to hang up in our house, so Aaron found this and I love it:

It embodies Costa Rica without being super touristy (we basically just didn't want one that said Costa Rica on it).

I had to get my brother a shot glass (I know it's cliche, but I've gotten him a shot glass from every place I've ever been since I was like 16):

I tried to find something more original than the typical Costa Rica with a map or a monkey on it.  Aaron and I also have a shot glass collection, so we got one for ourselves too:

We thought it was kinda different looking and we liked the weird eyeball.

While driving to Poas, we stopped at a coffee plantation and got some coffee:

To go with the coffee, I bought 2 authentic (from a souvenir shop) Costa Rican coffee makers:

It folds flat, which is perfect for shipping and storage.  I'm so into it!

These souvenirs are being shipped home to my parents' house, along with my shell collection:

and all our bus tickets, pamphlets and booklets from Costa Rica:

I always keep stuff like this, maybe I'll make a scrapbook someday.  

So today we gathered all these souvenirs and trekked them over to the Jaco UPS, where we were informed that to mail these chachkies to California would cost us a whopping $200!  Aaron almost shit his pants!  Insane!  We knew the mail system here was bogus and corrupt, but $200 is madness.  All our souvenirs together didn't add up to $200!  We were in a dilemma because we had no room in our luggage to stuff all this crap in, but we obviously didn't want to pay $200.  In the end, we paid the money just to be done with it (obviously next time we'll be more aware of the mail situation before buying a load of stuff), but they wouldn't mail my shells because they're "organic matter" and would have to be disposed of.  OMG so for $200 you won't even mail my seashells??  I can't even take it!  

Well, it was over and I had a bad taste in my mouth, so we went to our favorite beach spot and had a drink and watched the sunset to calm our minds.  

After calming down and sitting with my thoughts awhile, I've come to the conclusion that UPS is the devil.  The End.

In other news, Aaron made me go out at 11pm last night on a quest to find the largest ice cream cone.  We searched high and low (have I mentioned that even at 11pm it's still hot??) and we found it:

He got banana and chocolate, in case you were wondering...fatass.

For those of you who follow Aaron on Facebook (or friend him or whatever they call it!), I'm the one who said putting ketchup on a sandwich was weird and HE'S the one who said it wasn't.  Just wanted that to be known, for the record.

Okay, I'm done.  Happy Friday everyone!