costa rica remembered

half of the trip felt like a vacation. lounging in hot springs, looking at a smoky volcano, and soaking up the sun at the coastal resort felt like the perfect vacation. but then we headed inland, to the city of san jose. my aunt and her family live there. so do my grandparents. i felt like i had to take advantage of all my time with my grandparents. they are at the age where i can't take them for granted, and that's hard. what's worse is that i feel guilty for resenting their age and health and weakness. it gets unignorable when my grandma forgets stuff about me; like asking me where i was born, though she was most likely there. sometimes it really seems like she's losing it and sometimes she's ok. but the language barrier makes me even more confused about the whole situation. i did feel a special bond with my grandpa when we had target practice in the hallway. i guess he's always been into this certain kind of air pistol shooting--he wins first prize in his age bracket. the gun has a wooden handle, shaped like the grip of your hand, so it kind of curves around the hand. he showed me how to stand, with my left hand in my pocket, to keep me steady. and how i have to pull the trigger slowly, gradually, and get both sights lined up with my right eye. i got a bull's eye. i think it made him happy. i hung out with my two cousins, R--- (26) and A--- (19) quite a bit. andy didn't really pay much attention to me until we started talking about hip hop. then he thought i was worth his time. on my last day andy, one of his friends from the SF bay area, and i went on a tangent of a search for an LA dodgers hat--apparently pretty hip hop. it was rainy and we walked around dingy downtown san jose for a couple hours looking for some unmarked, unofficial store. my cousins speak english really well so i was able to avoid speaking much spanish most of the time.
then i came home to santa barbara for a couple days...