Happy B-day Steve

Yesterday was my boss Steve's b-day. He invited the whole office (and some of his friends) over for bocas, drinks and jammin' at his house in Escazu. Kate drove and Flora, Diana, Norbert, Ernesto and me all squeezed in her car (Rav4)....luckily it was less than 15 minutes away. Steve and his friends are big time musicians so that made it an instant party (besides the great mix of people and delicious food) Steve is on the far left playing the guitar, his wife Chris was a mean conga player, and an even better singer. Check out the short video.
After my first cosmo martini, Chris offereed me a Snus (pronounced snooze).  Its a Swedish tabacco that comes in a little pouch.  I asked her "Am I going to puke?" That did actually happen to me the last time I tried it in college (oh thats a funny story, at a bar...lots of people around...yada yada yada) Ok, Sure, why not!  I put the little pouch under my upper lip and not 2 minutes later, I had a buzz.  Can you tell we have it in our upper lip? 

 Lightheaded....ok, I can hande that.....then 10 minutes later I started getting hot.......really hot.  I walked outside for some air......and........no, i didnt get sick, but I did have to take it out before the waterfalls came.  It actaully had a good flavor, it was salty, I could be convinced to try it again. 

If you werent able to join in on the guitars, piano, or congas..... there was still hope.....they had plenty of other instruments to play. Here Ernesto demonstrates the FISH MARACA!

Here Kate is with my favorite .......thingy, not sure what its called. a mix of a güiro. Its a percussion instrument thats open-ended, (sometimes a hollow goard) with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a wooden stick along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. This one was wooden, and you can also hit it like a clave....the coolest sound. I love this little drum I'm holding too, It has Habitat's logo on it! (Diana, me Kate and Mitssy)

Norbert (another volunteer, also from Atlanta) got pretty creative playing his keychain on his beer bottle.

When the birthday cake was served we were already stuffed, but couldn't resist...it was German Chocolate......with nuts.
Ernesto came back from the bathroom to show me this picture.........that he took of a picture he saw in the bathroom. He thinks that it looks like my brother Bill....if he could row a beard???? RANDOM

At midnight we finally hopped in the jacuzzi and relaxed. It was perfect!By the time we got home we were good and "relaxed"....TGIF!!