ODDS AND SODS.... worth mentioning!

I have returned from my second visit to the beautiful central American country of Costa Rica, with a few nuggets I want to share.  I promise this will be the LAST post on Costa Rica....until I return next year to the Caribbean side, for a month!

Some of you asked if we had a good night's sleep after reading Day 8,  where we had had adventures every night for four nights in a row. Adventures that had prevented us from having a decent night's sleep.

Day 10 was our first night in Tamarindo.  We both woke up in a sweat during the night, finding the room very stuffy.  Lou opened the windows.  The next morning, I spotted a big puddle of water on the floor. The AC had become blocked outside by birds (with WHAT exactly, I don't care to remember) and water or whatever is in an AC unit, had leaked ALL the way down the couch, onto some of Louise's clothing, various bags, and onto the floor.  We told Jarred and it was fixed immediately. So to answer your questions as to whether we had slept well?  .... NO!!!!

The MOST unique password for Wifi?   In the Green Papaya restaurant in Tamarindo,  I burst into laughter when the waitress answered my question with "dontaskme"

You really have to try to be "green" in Costa Rica.  Your limits may be tested, when you realize you put toilet paper IN the flush, and that's a NO-NO!  Do you or don't you fish it out? :)  What do you think I did?

It really makes your travel much more pleasurable, if you try to speak a few words of Spanish.... even if they are only what I call, en français, les petits mots magiques - "Gracias. De nada. Por favor. Pura Vida!

When I ask someone a question in Spanish, and they answer, "Qué, mi amor?", "What, my love?", I am toast!!!

I came home without a S=I=N=G=L=E US GREENBACK, and without a S*I*N*G*L*E colon, the Costa Rican currency. 550 colones is equal to $1 US.  Talk about spending my money well.  My generous sister treated me to a hamburger and fries at the airport in San José. Get this! It cost her $35 US!!!!  For two hamburgers, two small fries and a drink. Mind you, they were the BEST, JUICIEST, GREASIEST burgers we had had in a while! TOTALLY YUMMY!  Muchas gracias hermana!

I also came home without putting a single charge on my Visa! THAT was a first.  Louise put stuff on hers and I paid her back.  No points, but less stress.

FURTHERMORE, I came home with scabbing on my knees, bug bites EVERYWHERE, and bruising on my calves from gripping my legs around Eric, so hard, on the zipline. I am NONE the worse for wear though!

PLUS, I only gained one pound. All that fresh fruit.... papayas, mangoes, bananas, passion fruit, pineapple, grenadine ... you know what that does to you, right?

I leave you with a laugh, I hope. MY FACE, when I realize I am truly about to go ziplining! No backing out. I paid the BIG BUCKS!  YIKES!!!

DAY 16 - COSTA RICA IS A WRAP.... until the next time.

I woke up early the day of our departure from San José.  I had forgotten to put in the earplugs, so I heard the planes, AND the trains, though they didn't really start taking off and running, until 4:00 am.
My overhead guest, as I had my homemade breakfast out in the garden.

Our little Airbnb was a sweet little spot. I could have passed on the D=E=A=D cockroach in the closet, but...he was harmless, and certainly not the first one we had seen on this trip. We had one scurry across my side of the bed, to Louise's, when we were in La Samara.

Lou was sleeping so I decided to quietly take my shower. WELL.... that was an ordeal, Déjà vu all over again.  I got undressed and turned the shower on. Water flowed down from the shower head, but also out of this white tube attached to the wall.  Except that water was hitting the ceiling!! So there I am NAKED, of course, trying to figure this out.  I thought maybe it was a small sprayer, so I removed it from the wall. THAT ONLY exacerbated the problem. The other end of the tube then detached itself from the shower head, and water starting SPRAYING  sideways out of there as well!!! F!! R!! I!! G!!!  Now the ceiling and walls are wet, the toilet paper is wet, and the floor is wet.  The only thing that ISN'T wet and is SUPPOSED TO BE, is ME! I turn the shower off, and try to reattach one end of that white tube, back behind the shower head.  NO GO!  It had a black, tying type thingy that wasn't right.  I stuck the other white end back on the wall, after fiddling with it. I took one more chance, and turned the shower on again.  All the same things happened, except water starting coming out of the TOP of the shower head, springing from some kind of leaky red plastic cover thingies. THAT is when  I GAVE UP on taking a shower.

I informed the owner.  She fiddled with the NOT-TO-FANCY plumbing, don't you agree?    Lou came along and fiddled some more, then took HER shower, commenting that I am NOT very mechanically, nor DIY inclined. No kidding!  Jeepers, I can't know everything.  Telling Nery in Spanish about my mess,and apologizing, was good enough for me. :)

You know when you travel that you can expect anything. So... the following little "delays" were all new for me, because of the reason.  We were delayed on the tarmac in San José, because the air conditioning had to be fixed. That is very IMPORTANT.  However, Costa Rican Immigration had to go over the entire flight manifesto again, or whatever it is called, so all told that took over an hour.

We now realize we have l...e...s...s  than an hour to make our connection in Montreal. Thank goodness we hadn't checked our backpacks.  Lou gave away lots of stuff, and I did too, though I wasn't as generous as SHE was. We were thus carrying less than ten kilos on our backs.  Believe it or not!

We RAN, and I mean, RAN, from the minute we got off the plane, to clear customs and security and make it to our gate. It was really good practice for THE AMAZING RACE CANADA! The flight attendant, when I asked if the boarding had started, said, "Stay right where you are!  We were waiting for you to arrive to start boarding". Such sweet words. We even arrived ahead of a younger couple from the Peninsula, who had been on the same flight from Costa Rica. They went through SECURITY twice, poor things

I have traveled a lot, and I don't pay attention to small details, such as: DON'T use a red pen to fill in your customs declaration form.  It CAN hold you up at Customs. It did hold me up, all of two minutes. DON'T trust DUTY FREE in the country you are leaving, to do the packaging of your purchases, correctly.  In the land of the true, north, strong and free, security can take away your lovely bottle of rum, by saying that the sealed bag your rum was put in, DOESN'T conform to Canadian specifications. Total baloney!  So, if your choice is to take the time to go to another counter at security, have them repackage your rum and charge you, or you catch your flight... what option would YOU choose?

HOME SWEET HOME! Even if I STILL can't see out my living room windows.

Day 15: What can I say? 8:00 pm

My last words to Ernie, one of the concierges at Camino Verde, when we boarded our shuttle to San José this morning, were, in Spanish. "I will come back to your beautiful country a third time." Ernie asks, "When?" I reply jokingly "When I have a man, and money!" He says, "Very soon then!" We both burst into spontaneous laughter! It was another Pura Vida moment.

It was a f-r-e-e-b-i-e day today. Lou and I had a free drink with our last lunch in Monteverde, at the Morphos restaurant, thanks to our concierge José, who gave us the card. Then in our shuttle to San José, we made a rest stop. I was looking where to buy a cold beer. Hey, it was hot!  I heard some people in a tour group speaking English, so I asked them where they got their beer. Turns out the two men were from Ottawa and Vancouver. The beer was 2$ US. I muttered to myself, "I only have a dollar." Despite my protestations, they bought me a beer. CANADIANS  are good people. 🇨🇦

Hermanita and I are in our cute little AirBnb room, very close to the airport. We were going to stay at the same AirBnb one we stayed in when we arrived.  HOWEVER, Wolfgang canceled our reservation. He said he was going out of town, but we think he was upset with me, because I said in the review of his place, "Not right now". I meant I didn't want to review his place right now. I was on VACATION, for crying out loud! Anyway, with our Airbnb credit we chose this other place VERY close to the airport, knowing full well that it is right by a train track, and on the takeoff flight path of some airlines. They are so close to us when they fly over, that I DON'T need my glasses to read what is written on the underbelly of the plane. 😉 Nery, the drop dead beautiful young owner of this place, who is also a total sweetheart, offered us earplugs. We have them... remember that damn rooster? In the last two hours we have heard three planes, two trains, but NO automobiles 🚗! It can really shake, rattle and roll here! You know what? It just adds to the ambiance and the sense of adventure! Did I mention she has three dogs? Train number three just rolled by. I have to add that there is a cacophony of barking by ALL three dogs, when a plane takes off or a train rolls by! TOO FUNNY!

Buenas noches from San José, Costa Rica!

PURA VIDA: DAY 14... WHAT A DAY!

By now you ALL know I went zip-lining at Selvadura Nature Park, in Monteverde.

I told myself I was going to do it, but when we came to the top of the first platform, I knew I couldn't go alone.  It WAS NOT a problem though. The staff there, all young, cute, male Ticos who could be my sons, or grandsons, were ever SO, SO WONDERFUL.

Eric, twenty-one years old, and a S-C-AM-P, took me along with him on the first one.  I got off and started CRYING!! WELL, AT LEAST I WAITED UNTIL I HAD TRIED ONE BEFORE the tears flowed! They move you right along from one zip line to the next. Very professional, but no dilly dallying here, folks. You only have time to kind of catch your breath when you hike some steep paths to other zip lines.  (This is a hiker talking!) All told there were seventeen.  I did TWO by myself, real short ones. Eric and I chatted in Spanish the whole time. I had to wait and go last in our group, with him.  He introduced me here and there as his "novia", his girlfriend, and I would say "abuelita", grandmother.  I did the "LOOK MA...NO HANDS" thing, I swear.  It was totally incredible. I looked down, all around, screamed and yelled, NOT out of fear, but out of SHEER EXHILARATION!

We then visited the wonderful Hummingbird Garden.  I was close enough with my finger to feel its' wing, and to feel the movement of air around the rapid beating of its' little wings.  It was a magical moment.

For the rest of the day I was on a natural high. We had a delicious, early supper at Soda Bonanza again, then settled ourselves in on the beautiful deck of CAMINO VERDE, to touch base with friends and family online, read and relax.  That was our intention... however...

I started chatting with two young men, who were fellow guests.  You know I talk to everyone!  I always find a language in which to communicate. Meet Omer and Mahmut, two Turkish men who live and work in Dubai.  They are flight attendants for United Emirates Airlines, on a hiking vacation through Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  We had such a great time laughing, discussing politics and the world, sharing information about ourselves and drinking wine for three hours, that my natural high continued into a red wine high!  I was later asked by another Canadian guest there, Jen, if I had had a good time last night. :). These young men do their country of Turkey, and their parents, proud!
I shall always remember our three hours on that windy patio!

Day 15.... mañana.  It will be our last full day in Costa Rica.

Hermanita and I have discussed this.  We have had all these adventures, and survived, so WE are going to apply for the N-E-X-T season of "THE AMAZING RACE - CANADA!"

PVCR: Day 13- MONTEVERDE MAGNIFICIENCE

I am sitting on the huge patio of our B & B in Monteverde.  It is 18 degrees Celsius.  I am wearing my Lululemon hoodie and I couldn't be H-A-P-P-I-E-R than a clam at high tide.

Much as we LOVED Tamarindo, the heat was debilitating at times.  We didn't do anything other than sleep, eat, read, swim and socialize with the other guests. But then... isn't that what you are supposed to do on vacation? Time to move on though!

We took our shuttle at 8:00 am, walking down the hill with our backpacks on. Aren't we tough?  LOL
A fellow passenger was a Canadian from Toronto.  There are LOTS of Canadians in Costa Rica.  Our driver, a very young Mike, was so sweet.  He is going to be a first time father in four days!  He is so excited. Desafio is the company we book our shuttles with the most, and they are very, very professional.  They give excellent service, and THEY have WIFI in the shuttle.  We transferred shuttles and drivers, in a little village, for the one and a half hour drive up, UP, UP AND UP this mountain, with rough terrain, narrow dirt roads, and plunging ravines.  Not to mention panoramic vistas.

MONTEVERDE is a pretty little touristy town, where you can do all kinds of CRAZY, extreme activities, if you are young and foolish.  Fortunately, I am old and wise.  That being said, I can still be s-t-u-p-i-d!  I have just paid my last $50 US, to go zip lining tomorrow morning!  I AM TOTALLY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE PEOPLE!!!  DO YOU HEAR ME?  HERMANITA is definitely OUT of hers as well, but we are doing this!  (I already ziplined across the top deck of the largest cruise ship in the world, but that doesn't really count because it only lasted eight seconds!). Because there are seven zip lines, I have to get used to it sooner or later, I figure.  Furthermore, I have been assured that a very strong, handsome employee will attach himself to ME, if I am too afraid to go it on my own.  Very good insurance, I would say.  Plus it doesn't cost me a penny more. :)

Now d-r-i-n-k-i-n-g  moonshine less than an hour after our midday arrival, with the wonderful owner Marcos, of the Soda (diner) next door to our B & B ...  now THAT is totally normal behaviour for me.  Actually, I drank mine and Lou's because she didn't like this mix of honey and local cherries.  It is a LOT better tasting than grappa, let me tell you.  We ate at "Soda Bonanza" on the recommendation of my nephew JP, and he was SPOT ON!  Where we went for supper as well, "TACO, TACO", was what TICOS call "BUENO, BONITO, BARATO!"  It was also on JP's recommendation.  From now on, I am only eating where HE has eaten. Gracias sobrino!

IF I don't blog Day 14, you will know that I had a HUMONGOUS heart attack while ziplining. I want someone to sing Leonard Cohen's "HALLELUIAH" at my funeral.  Total Karma today... as we checked in, THAT song was playing here at Camino Verde.

Bonne nuit tout le monde - sweet dreams!

PVCR: Day 12 - The GOOD, The BAD, and The UGLY!

THE GOOD! I  have already given ALL the GOOD about Costa Rica, haven't I?

THE BAD! Well, it's not really bad here.  It can be less than perfect I guess, if you want to get really picky.  I don't!  However, there are a few things that some of you might consider bad. In Tamarindo it is very, very H-O-T. Es muy caliente!  You have -36 on the North Shore? Here it is +37, as I type at 12:45 pm. The heat can be crushing, if you aren't close to the beach, a pool, or air conditioning.  It is also VERY windy in Tamarindo. The wind blew our chairs right off our patio, onto the second floor deck, below us. It will blow your drinks away too, NO problem.

I am missing my Vimy terribly. I got a little weepy this morning, for the first time. Then Lou found a recent video online, of Vimy at his kennel, playing, and I am okay! Louise said "Haha! You were the first one to cry... you lose!"  Crying is DEFINITELY out of Lou's comfort zone, but NOT mine.  I can cry at the drop of a hat, doesn't bother me.  I have just learned over the years, to hold back those tears.  Tears terrify people.  I can't figure out why. THEY are so cathartic.  I will NEVER GET AN ULCER!!

Our little brother Pierre, sent us a message online to be on standby, while he drove over to our Mamacita's this morning. On her IPad, he enabled a video messenger chat with her, which was so wonderful. Maman s'ennuie de ses deux filles!! It was barely 7:00 am here. There we were on the patio Louise and I, chatting very loudly with Pierre and Mamacita. Out comes the owner, Joey, yelling upstairs to us, "Hey, are you guys okay?  I am hearing a lot of yelling!"  BAD that we woke him up, and other guests. Joey only got to bed at 2:00 am, cause HE went partying downtown. WE were in bed at 9:00 with a book. Joey is such a good host. He just wanted to make sure we were okay!

When we arrived on Monday, we put away some hummus in the communal fridge. Joey shortly after, cleaned it out, because guests had just left.  People leave food behind.  He THREW out OUR hummus.  When we were looking for it a few hours later, and mentioned it to cutie Jarred, he said he would find out what happened to it.  Lou and I said, "Never mind! There was only a little left!"  Later in the evening, sitting on our balcony, we heard them down below saying, "Those poor girls!  We have to get their hummus back!"  I yelled down, "Forget about it!"  No way JOSE!  JOEY DUG IT OUT OF THE GARBAGE.  It was in a plastic container.  No big deal. We accepted it graciously, but then we fed it to the dogs!  LOL

We found a gift in the refrigerator when we got back from town and the beach. You guessed it? A lovely little container of homemade hummus from Jarred and Jen, bought at the market yesterday.

IF you are not a DOG LOVER, do not come to Casa Bambora. There are four dogs here.  Raya and Scrappy belong to Joey.  Maya and Andre belong to Jarred and Jan.  They are sweet and make us feel right at home.  Scrappy was rescued by Joey, off the streets of Tamarindo, half dead.  He has gained seven kilos in the six months Joey has had him. Poor little thing, he eats everything he finds off the floor. Hence the  name Scrappy!

In most places in Costa Rica, you CANNOT PUT PAPER IN THE FLUSH.  So...you put your paper in the waste paper basket. Then you empty the waste basket, OFTEN!!

MANY Americans come here to have their dental work done, because it is so cheap. Claudia had a temporary cap put on a tooth last week, but it fell off today.  It is Sunday. No dentist is working, so she got some Polygrip to hold her cap on, until she returns for the permanent one.  NOT BAD,
BUT...?

THE BEACH in La Sámara is more beautiful, with bigger waves, less people and just more PURA VIDA!

THE UGLY? There is NO UGLY! We are on vacation!

PVCR- Day 11: It's ALL about Casa Bambora!

Hermanita and I are in Tamarindo. This blog is going to be an unabashed P-L-U-G for this marvellous place we are staying at, and the people who live and work here.

IF you are following Louise's private FB page called Pura Vida Con Mi Hermana, you will have seen that she posted the link to this"MARAVILLOSO" Casa Bambora.

Neither the pictures NOR the information give this place ANY justice.  I found it back in November while surfing the Net.  Louise had done all the work getting us information and booking places, so I had to book ONE thing at least, don't you think?  We are paying $50 per night each, Canadian, and it is H-E-A-V-E-N.  Check out our pictures and their pictures.  If you can step out of your comfort zone, (if all-inclusives are your thing)  than GO for this place.  Spend a week here. It might cost you more than an all inclusive, but the EXPERIENCE WILL BE SECOND TO NONE!

We are high up on a hill, overlooking ALL the beaches of Tamarindo.  It is warm and windy. Our room on the third floor doesn't even need the air conditioning; we just leave the windows open. HELL, we don't even lock our doors! We can be at the beach in less than ten minutes, which is a quick walk down the hill.  However, we just spent four days being right on the beach in La Samara, so we don't feel the same need to be right next to it.

Joey owns this place. He came here in 1992, a surfer DUDE!  Tamarindo was a sleepy fishing village then.  He came... and he stayed.  He bought a piece of land on this hilltop, and pitched a tent. Over the next twenty-five years, he built as he could afford, following his tent with a rancho on stilts,(basically a shack!).  Joey figures he did 80% of the work himself.  Let me tell you, he laid every single tiny tile in his pool.  He will never have ANY cracks in it.

So now Joey has this gorgeous three story home, which he lives in, wondering around being the convivial host, barefoot, in his swimming trunks. This CUTEST couple, called Jen and Jarred, from Rhode Island, run the place.  They came here five years ago, on vacation, loved it and KARMA LANDED THEM THIS SWEET GIG. They have been coming for five years, to work here for three months.  This year they are staying five months.  Work? They don't consider it work. They JUST LOVE being here.

Jen did our laundry this morning, can you believe it?  Jarred's parents, Claudia and Frank, who are the poster picture for FREEDOM 55 (all you Canadians out there!) are visiting.They are staying elsewhere, and will take my and hermanita's room, when we leave Monday morning. Boohoo!

Jared and Jen go back to Rhode Island in May, and work there bar tending, doing electrical work, and maintaining rental property, until they return again in January.  I SO, SO admire these young people WHO DO THEIR OWN THING.  They are not locked into a 9 to 5 grind; they are free spirits.  Mind you... WHAT KIND of retirement will they have twenty years down the road?  Certainly not the one Jared's parents are having. They are in their mid-sixties, and have been retired since their early fifties.  They come here to visit with Jen and Jared, have a condo in Florida, a home in Rhode Island, and will be traveling cross country (US) with friends for 45 days, in May.  What a dream life! Claudia and Frank are MY generation.  They are doing what they DID NOT do when they were young, when they were too BUSY raising a family, paying a mortgage and camping out for their vacations.

ESO ES LO QUE ES LA VIDA!  Such is life.  It is yours to live it as you choose.  ¡PURA VIDA!

Need I add that hermanita is TOTALLY chilled out?