Buscamos un sports bar para American futbol.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Trust in Michael to find what is probably the only sports bar showing the 49ers v. Seahawks game in all of San Jose, Costa Rica. The man is determined when it comes to his beloved football team.

So we trekked through El Sabana, the big grassy park somewhat close to Nidia’s house, and made our way to said sports bar. Michael bribed me to sit through three hours of inane football in the dark and smoke with his Samsung tablet, which has Song of Fire and Ice loaded on it, and black forest tres leches cake. What can I say, he knows exactly which strings to pull – books and dessert.

Yay for the awesome win, the Niners pulled it out today. When we left the bar, it was already full dark out and time to start Christmas feasting.The first standout of our night? The grilled meats at Rita and Francisco’s house. Francisco is a meat master. He made his own chorizo and grilled it up on a 35-year-old traditional Argentinian grill his dad got from Argentina. Even though I don’t eat meat, I was still impressed at his grill prowess.

The second standout? The fireworks or bombas as all the children call them. Since they are illegal in San Francisco, I haven’t lit fireworks since I was a wee child. Even then they were still probably illegal.

I screamed just like all the little kids when someone threw poppers at our feet and they exploded in a shower of sparks and noise. The sparklers were also fun to swish around.