no brangelina. yet...

Had you been awake last night, as I was not, you would've heard Kate return from the bar and scream hysterically. Seriously. People complained.
Why?
She found 5 HUGE roaches in her suitcase.
I wouldn't believe her had Alex not been there to capture it on camera.
They were like the size of a deck of cards. Kate was actually crying, refusing to wear any article of clothing touched by the jurrasic creatures.
I slept through the whole thing, a mere door away. Unlike Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez in room number 11, who heard the every scream.
We also saw a dead rat placed delicately atop a pay phone on our way to town.
In a final snipped of news, I bought you all presents. And by you all, I mean Mikey, Zoe, KG and Laura.

...it's now Saturday. I'm editing...

We went to "Bar y Restaurante Rio" down the street last night. The only way to describe Rio is that in the word Rio, the "o" is lips. So all night long, we were calling it Ri-(kiss). Prior to our late night boozing at Rio, all 9 of us headed to a restaurant recommended by our concierge. We squeezed into 2 cabs, one following the other as our taxi led the way. With dad up front and mom, Dori, Jenny and I squeezed in the back, we suddenly became lost in the windy streets of San Jose. The driver, becoming far more frustrated than us, started to do with angry, weird lamaze breathing. Jenny, 23 years old and seated on her mother's lap whispered in my ear. "This is making me nervous."
No shit. He was really starting to flip out, and the four ladies in the backseat exchanged wide-eyed glances as the driver continued his bizarre, air-propelled tirade.
Oh, and the whole time, he had a formal, broadcast mass in Spanish on the radio.
Finally, down a dark alley and in between scary construction sights, we pulled up in front of a gorgeous, modern, ratsy-tatsy hotel. And our 20 minute cabride cost $4.
This morning, we're in for a 3 hour drive to a volcano, where we'll be staying thru New Year's. Dori, via the internet or her cleaning lady or similar, has arranged for a driver and van, hopefully able to hold 9 people and our 57 pieces of luggage. I've noticed that for 9 adults to do anything together, it takes 9 times longer than normal. I've taken to carrying my book with me everywhere I go, as I'll eventually end up sitting on a bench with 1 or 2 others waiting for everyone else to get their shit together.
My book, by the way, is awsome. "For Laci: A mother's story of love, loss and justice" is rocking my world, and I'm anxious for Kate to read it so we can discuss. I've been relaying my thoughts to her as I read, wondering why Laci would marry someone that, even years ago, was pretty goddamn weird.
"Beth, they live in Modesto, for Christsake. You've got to have a couple screws loose to voluntarilly live in Modesto."
This volcano hotel place is pretty backpacky, nature-admirer, hike a lot, not Beth-style. The fact that we'll be there over New Year's has shaken us all. You know that game, "I packed my bag and in it I put"? Well, I packed MY bag and in it I put 3 pairs of flip flops, 4 t-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 5 skirts, 1 black dress, 2 bottles of Savignon Black, 5 limes and a big thing of Absolut...