A Latte Fun

A freeform trip to the capital on Saturday, pandemic day 424, was just the distraction I needed from some news I hope to share more about in the coming days. Tirzah, Courtney, and I followed the Krey guagua down early with only an inkling of what was in store for us. 

First up: help a couple of seminarians and an electrician get going on making a small apartment to the side of Iglesia Luterana Amigos de Cristo livable. We did more milling around than I would have liked but also unloaded paint supplies, drove to the hardware store, picked up lunch...and finally started prepping the walls to be painted to keep busy.  

I hadn't laid eyes on this particular church in ???, so I enjoyed Regional Director Ted Krey's walking tour of recent facility upgrades and visions for the future. Imagine this lot as a community basketball court!

Next: house [read: apartment] hunting! Soon, we hope, Rev. Lucas Elberhardt and his wife Agatha will get their visas and return from Brazil to serve at Amigos de Cristo...and they need a place to live. Ted introduced us to the target neighborhood, Ciudad Juan Bosch. It was bizarre. It's a planned city of  apartment blocks as far as the eye can see, like something out of a dystopian novel. We tried to keep the various complexes straight as we wove around scanning balconies for SE ALQUILA signs. 

It was already 2:30 by the time we were satisfied with our list of phone numbers (pray they don't all fill up before Tirzah can make a return trip to do some walkthroughs!), so we assessed our priorities. Coffee!!! Plugging. Starbucks. Into. GPS. Now!

When I moved here, there was no Starbucks on the island. The first franchise opened...probably over a year ago now?...but I had yet to go. It's not like I'm a Starbucks junkie or anything - I don't even drink coffee - but I felt a compelling need to go because I could. Also, #peerpressure. It seemed like everybody else had!

An iced chai TEA latte did hit the spot. 

There are now two locations; this one had a cute, surprisingly quiet patio with fun chairs. 

We forewent IKEA in favor of our last stop, Agora Mall. For you St. Louisans, it felt like I had teleported to West County Mall, down to the Bath & Body Works I didn't even know we had here until a couple months ago. 

My olfactory system was happy, but I couldn't justify a $25+ candle. 

I clearly hadn't been drinking enough water as we sweated it out at the church and wandered through apartment complex parking lots in the midday sun, so I had a massive headache at this point. Thankfully, it dissipated over dinner at a salad place I wish we had in Santiago, road snacks, and girl talk that made the 2 hr. return trip go by quickly. 

Until next time, blessings!