A very messy post

We are doing a few days worth of posts from an internet cafe, so please excuse the mess...

14 Hours of traveling but we’re finally here.

We were up at 6 this morning and to the airport by 7, checked in by 8:30 and in the air by 9:30. I was in first class while Charles was somewhere else on the plane, where the poor people sit….I think. (We were traveling on points and so we couldn’t sit together and only one of us could fly first class.) Our plane was late because of strong winds. Charles always seemed to know where he was in the air. I mostly ate. Who says plane food is bad. And… I got a little chocolate wrapped in pretty paper. I ordered a frittata cause I have no idea what that is. It’s yummy. Five hours later we landed.

Outside of the airport was a guy with a sign with Charlie’s name on it. We got into our van and off we went. At first we were on a highway and just a-zooming along and I thought, “Why these roads are big and nice and fast. We’ll be there in no time” Then three minutes later we left our happy little highway and zig zagged through the streets of San Jose. “Shortcut” said Wilber our driver. After a while he pointed to a mountain on the left. We would be driving through it and to the other side. We bumped and jostled, honked and swerved for two hours. The mountains were beautiful beyond belief. The beautiful sunny day turned moody up in the mountains. Streams cascaded down the sides. Green things grew everywhere. We stopped for supper at six. Man the food here is amazing. And the coffee!!! Then we were on the road again. Wilber asked if we could pick up his cousin Edouardo in Limon because he was concerned about traveling through a dangerous section of town alone. We said sure, of course. The two of them proudly showed us their wonderful country as we bounced through the dark. Banana plantations, pineapple fields, sloth sanctuary… very cool. (Guys…. It’s dark.)

We finally bounced into Cahuita at 8:30. They had been saving a room for us and at nine were going to give it away. Luckily for us and sadly for Lance who wanted our room, we got there in time. The lady asked if we wanted to find a better room somewhere else, but all we wanted at that point, after our five and a half hour midway ride, was a bed. Our room is very small, but clean. It has a bed, a toilet and shower and sink and a fan. Perfect.

Charlie’s View
Excellent day for flying – we passed over some old stomping grounds including RTP, Atlanta, and Jacksonville Florida before heading across the gulf. The weather was clear enough to spot 2 cruise ships before we passed over Cozumel then on down over lake Nicaragua before spiraling into San Jose. The Airport was typical of these places, but customs was amazingly efficient – we were out of the building within 10 minutes of hitting the ground – and considering we landed an hour late, this made me very happy. The drive was amazing although the decision to take a more northerly route through Herdetia to avoid San Jose traffic may not have been the best. With 20 km uphill stretches, followed by 30 km downhill stretches, the transport trucks suffered and died by the dozens along the way. We barely managed 20 kph most of the time. The scenery was fantastic. We’d show you pictures, but the camera was buried in the back of the van. (I blame Dianne). It was dark before Limon, and the rest of the journey was a bumpy blur, punctuated by long single lane bridges and blazing oncoming headlights. Definitely not for the feint of heart, but we survived… so far, so good! Long live air-conditioned vans.



Dianne’s Day Two
It’s a Jungle out there!

We woke at six this morning (There’s a six in the morning?) to noise. Lots of noise. I was pretty sure someone was filming a Tarzan movie out side. The birds are wild. The ones in question are about a foot high and they are nesting in the trees around our room. The babies get up when dawn cracks and they want to eat. Now!!! The howler monkeys were screaming. One group was calling, another answering. There was howling, crowing, cawing, screaming. The only think missing was a guy in a loin cloth, yodeling. Maybe tomorrow.

We got up and showered. We have one of those showers where the water goes through the heating thingy to get warm. I sent Charles in first. After he didn’t die, I gave it a shot. Somehow he used up the hot water, but it was luke warm so I didn’t mind. That is until the electricity went away and the water turned cold. Why do these things always wait to happen until you have shampoo in your hair? At first I was annoyed until I realized that it was warm outside already and the cold water felt wonderful. Best day ever!

Well it was 6:30 and we were dressed and out the door. Not much is open then. We walked the town and on the beach, which is two blocks from our room. We walked on the playa negera, black sand beach. Very cool. I bent over to look at something sparkly and a wave darn near knocked me on my butt. I was soaked. Charles laughed.

Breakfast was amazing. Tons of fruit. Oh man it was so good. We walked and shopped and ate and walked and looked at some houses and were back to our room by 10:30, ready for a nap. The waitress at our lunch restaurant gave us Spanish lessons. She made us pronounce everything we ordered in Spanish and wouldn’t give it to us until we said it properly. Then she wouldn’t give us the bill until we asked for it in Spanish. Hahaha That was fun. Or should I say Jajaja

We found the place where we think we’ll stay. The young lady could only speak Spanish and we had left our phrase book in our room. Most people here seem to speak English so we didn’t think we’d need it. I figured out that she wanted 25$ a night, but we wanted to know how much for two months. I thought I had said we were staying 60 days not one, but in retrospect I may have told her we were staying 60 God. We are supposed to return after six when someone will be there who speaks English. At least I think that’s what she said.

It’s six now. As I sit here and type the monkeys are starting again. What a great noise. We are going to find some food and perhaps a house to live in, and then we’re just gonna walk on the beach.

Charlie’s Day Two
The sloth that came to dinner

At first, I thought the wind was whistling through some large opening making a moaning sound – except it did not appear to be windy. Then it go louder, and way more sources and we discovered howler monkeys. Composed of small amounts of fur and significant amounts of noise, several troops of these guys live on the other side of a small creek, about 50 meters from where we sleep. They say you can hear them for miles, and I don’t doubt it. This is a very cool sound, but I’m thinking I’ll stick to the loons, given my druthers. Then as the sun came up, many birds also found voice. I thought our swamp at home was noisy in the spring, but apparently not. So far we seen many varieties of birds that we don’t recognize… I’m thinking that first trip to the big city will net a couple bird, plant, butterfly, and maybe reptile books. Here’s a picture of a tiny lizard, similar to our salamander, that Dianne took just outside our bedroom door.


We explored the town, then had breakfast, then covered the town again, looking for the elusive computer center. It appears to be the only commercial building in town without a sign. We know where everything else is, so by process of elimination… actually, I broke down and asked someone. After walking the entire town twice, walking on the beaches, eating breakfast, showering a second time because walking is hot work, we figured it was siesta time – what do you mean it’s only 10:30? Time moves differently here, and we are fascinated! For supper we were still not hungry since we had such a large lunch, but given we have no way to keep food in our room (we move to the house tomorrow), we decided to go for something. We found a small restaurant with a large thatched roof that looked cool so we ordered fruit and ice cream to both treat and tide us over. Savor our affluence a little, for tomorrow work starts, and I suspect the more we see of the poverty, the less fancy restaurants will feel appropriate. There are dried bits of palm hanging down from the thatch around the edges, and light breezes occasionally move them about, along with the flames on the candles on the tables, and burning in paper bags on the sand floor. One of the branches behind Dianne’s head unfolds and as I watch, magically transforms into a sloth – a baby that has apparently been hanging out (literally) in the restaurant for a couple days. As we watch, he slowly makes his way a couple feet over Dianne’s head and follows one of the beams slowly across the restaurant. Lots of flash photography – a few nervous teenage girls touching his fur, and he trundles on his sleepy way – likely to the roof where it’s quiet again. This animal is a refection of the attitudes of the town. I’d show you the picture but, déjà vu, the camera was in the room. Let’s see, whom do I blame again??

Charlie’s day 4

Another day of mostly waiting. We walked to our new house and got the key. The owner will help to move our bags since it is 2 km away, but not until noon, as he has to get to work He’s a university prof, who used to help at the computer center (where we hope to be someday), but needs to supplement his income by taking tourists on adventure tours – rafting and other things in the jungle. His wife teaches at the local school, runs the cabinas business, and takes courses at the university a couple afternoons and on Saturdays. The university is a couple hours away by bus. The grounds of their property are immaculate; neatly trimmed flowering plants, gazebos, and coconut trees. Pictures are coming, honest. Just before lunch, we met Ernesto. He’s been driving the computer center for the last while, and things are not going well. This country has an amazing bureaucracy. The telephone is in the name of the person that started the charity. He is currently back in the USA for an extended period. The phone bill was not paid for 2 months, and internet has been cut off. We can’t turn it on again, without his signature. Without internet, we can’t raise a small amount of money (by renting access) to pay the electricity bill, and without electricity the computers are scrap metal. Time to see where I packed my manager hat… It also seems the rent has not been paid for awhile, so I’ll need to negotiate with the lady that owns the property on Monday. The fun never ends J 5 PM finally arrived and we are at the house. Yes you did read noon earlier, but things change, and a tour came up so we delayed. Despite Dianne’s protests, we will sleep with the insect netting over the bed tonight! More later…


Don’t Monkey with Me!

Dianne´s day 4

Ok so I’m sitting the on my new porch watchng the monkeys. I mean how cool is it to sit on the porch and watch monkeys? They keep coming closer, slowly closer, checking me out. I start chatting with them cause on TV monkeys are cute and love humans and ain’t it a happy world? These monkeys are not the cute kind and they have no sense of humour and they seem to think me cassa et their cassa. Wrong! So the dad comes over and politely tells me to leave. I don’t. Then he yells at me and I mean yell. He’s just a roaring at me. So I go inside, fairly quickly, and call him a few rude things of my own, through a tightly closed door. All I know is…it’s on now. I have made it through the teenage years with 3 boys! These monkeys don’t know what they are dealing with!

Last night was a bit scary for me. Out new place is so sweet, a tiny, 2 bedroom, cabana with a tiny kitchen and bathroom. Shower has two temperatures… cold and less cold, but it is wonderful. We also have access to an outside gazebo/kitchen thingy which is very cool. We are surrounded by palm trees and beautiful red things. I don’t know what anything is because I have no internet. Maybe I’ll see if there is a book I could get. Jajaja

Back to last night… We had gone to bed early and all was fine. It was really, really dark, though since we are in the middle nowhere. I am actually afraid of the dark, but it hasn’t bothered me all that much these past years and I just assumed the “phobia” aspect of it was over. And we are sleeping in this crazy net thingy which make the little breeze we have stop. Then a few hours later it started to rain. The sky just opened up on the tin roof and it was loud. The monkeys didn’t like it and started to yell a bit. Then, every ten minutes or so it rained even harder. Everytime it increased you could actually hear that it was raining harder and each time the monkeys started to roar even more. The noise and the darkness freaked me out. Shear terror. I got out of bed clutching my new flashlight (thank you Robbie and Frank) and went into the spare room. I read for a minute, I painted a picture, I read some more, trying to settle down. Poor Charles was worried cause I was really scared and he really wants me to have as much fun as he’s having. I am having a blast, but I just had a bad hour. No biggy. I got back into bed and after a while even shut out the light. I’m a big girl now. I so proud!

This morning just before dawn the monkeys started screaming outside my window. Ha! I thought, and I just rolled over and went back to sleep. You’re gonna have to make more noise than that to get my attention boys!

As I sit on my porch and enjoy my fresh mangos and pineapple I just smile as I survey our little kingdom. With my one hand on my coffee cup and the other close to my broom/monkey whacking stick I think, all is well.


O.K. it’s later…

Yvonne led us to the little house in the garden. The lattice on the windows is to keep out the monkeys, she said. I thought, cool! Monkeys come by here every now and again - like racoons and garbage. Be tidy or have a night time visitor. Well, not exactly. Within minutes, we spotted a troop that lives in the garden, or at least in the trees in the garden. We took pictures, and they threw sticks and coconuts. They also did not like Dianne sitting on the front porch. She lost the shouting match and hurried inside. We made the score even later, however, when the rains came in torrents. There was much wailing in despair, but come on guys - it does this everyday! Surely they must have figured it out. It's not like they can't poke under one of the many gazebos around the place. The part I finally figured out is that, while this place feels like a well-manicured garden in an urban setting, in fact we are in the jungle. Somebody chopped down parts they did not like, but all the creatures still live here. Like the 2 tree frogs in the bathroom. Or the salamander in the kitchen. Or the ants that we forced to vacate the refrigerator. Or the dozens of bird species and a couple mammals I've spotted but can't yet identify. So we try to observe in amazement and exercise a little caution... and I'm loving every second! Except for the rooster that is still crowing at 3 PM. I think his name is going to be soup.