top 5 while being on our own as travel agents

5. a conversation meg had with a customer:

cust: " i can go any time in january"

meg: "well the end of january will allow you to find lower airfare and more choices in                  accomodations so since you have flexibility there are advantages to going then"

cust: "no the end of january is no good, i have my own business and am busy the last week of                  january"

meg: "okay so beginning & middle of january"

cust: "no the first week is no good either i am busy then too"

meg: "okay so the middle of january"

cust: "well no, like i said i can go anytime in january"

4. jens intructions for taking care of her cats included the description 

"sasha- female siamese. fat and sassy with irritable bowel syndrome"

3. the dogs serving as ryans alarms at 1:30 am, 3:30 am, and 5:30 am.

2. email request from a new customer: "we want to see northern carribean, southern pacific, san jose, guanacaste, arenal, montezuma, south caribbean, tortugero, monteverde, jaco, and dominical but dont want to be unpacking everyday" (this was for a 7 day vacation)

1. a hotel called to report that they believed a customer of ours stole the managers tattooed dog & left it in another part of the country. (there is a craigslist lost dog post to prove this) 

i won a major award

so after a long week holding down the fort being travel agents, the dogs promptly woke me up at 5:45 in the morning. walking 3 dogs that have a difference in weight of about 75 lbs (2 giant dogs, 1 tiny one) we needed to go to our local supro compro (herein referred to as the blue store--this is versus the other supro mercado referred to as the green store which is not quite as good) for a few badly needed provisions--milk, eggs, chocolate ice cream, you know- the neccessities. and after staring at the twelve signs around the lettuce for 5 minutes trying to figure out which one was actually for the lettuce (turns out its "lechuga") i finally go to pay & have my usual conversation w/ the blue store checkout girl:

me: hola

her: buenos dias

me: como esta usted?

her: muy bien, y usted?

me: bien gracias

        -beep, beep, beep---scanning items i purchased

her: cuarenta mil colones

me: bien 

        handing over money all hell broke loose BELLS and WHISTLES galore shock me out of my          figuring out what other spanish words i knew

her: promocion!!! promocion!!!!

      w/ a mixed jumble of words, i finally came to understand that i won a major award, she          points to a christmas tree that has been up since october and says to pick an ornament (rojo or azul) and then to crush it. which took me a while, bc i really didnt think i could be interpreting this properly.. should i be breaking a glass- turns out to be plastic- ornament in their store? inside is the -gasp- major award. 

drumroll please..

"setas de ollas" is written on the paper

im not sure what those words mean but they told me to wait a minute, then a young store clerk comes out w/ a set of small silver pots.  i start cracking up and trying to explain that our house really needed a set of small silver pots (really meghan & i had just been saying so) i dont think they understood anything but that i was the most excited gringo theyd ever seen about winning a $5 pot set in a grocery store.

to this date we have not yet used them but thanksgiving dinner will be memorable thanks to the blue store supro compro christmas major award in november.