Chew the Fat

This morning we took a leisurely stroll through central market in San Jose.  The market only had a few stores open when we arrived around eight, which explains why the streets were covered in people.  As we walked back the way we came several more market stores were opening, including three Sodas-meaning a small restaurant.  One vendor was selling natural medicines; after telling what ails you, he gives you the plants and the recipes to make teas, ointments, and other home remedies.  Stepping back out of the market, I could immediately tell the street crowd was thinning   By no means were the streets clear but the activity seemed average for a large city's down town area.  

Ms. Patrica was kind enough to buy all of us girls giant sunflowers!  We carried them around all day-what a pretty group we made! 

 We made our way toward congress and some of us were allowed to go on a tour, lucky for me I was one of them.  Their government works similar to ours, with three branches, checks and balances, the voting set up, the amount of congress representative each province receives is based on the population in that province as in the States.  The major difference is that they are a multiparty government; instead of our two they have eight parties.  The president of congress told us that he feels, yes it takes longer to come to agreements with a multiparty government but that the issues are being solved more accurately to what the citizens want.  

Back on the bus and off to lunch! My hamburger and fries were too delicioso to not inhale!  After lunch we were allowed to buy handmade wood crafts as souvenirs, but the best part was taking a tour through the factory where they made these crafts, the machinery reminded me of being in my metal shop class back home at ULL.  All of their crafts are left with the natural color of the wood and unless the piece is too big they do not add any lacquer   The natural oils from the wood shine and seal the artwork.  

The last tour we went on for the day was to the bubble gum factory! We all dawned our lunch lady garb and entered the sweet scented building.  The ingredients for the gum arrive at this factory ready to start the gum making fun!  

•  Step one mix the gum
•  Step two stretch the gum
•  Step three cut the long cylinder gum into the shape needed
•  Step four heat the heck out of the gum
•  Step five refrigerate hot gum balls
•  Step six color the gumballs with approved dyes from buyers' country
•  Step seven package gumballs  *add tattoos here if needed*
•  Step eight give all of us a sample bag of yummies!!!!

Today was a blast and its not over yet!