Nighttime Adventure and Magical Moments

“The really magical things are the ones that happen right in front of you. A lot of the time you keep looking for beauty, but it is already there. And if you look with a bit more intention, you see it.”- Vik Muniz   We decided to treat ourselves to a night out tonight.  It is a Friday night after all.  There is a little place in Guiones called The Gilded Iguana that we decided to go to.  We all got dressed up for our big night out.  I even wore white pants!!   It is the rainy season though after all and we were pretty sure the afternoon, evening rains would come and they did.  So instead of trying to make it there with a couple trips on the scooter and Guiones is about 3 miles away by the actual road, we decided to take a cab.  I naively thought that taking a local cab just a couple miles up the road would be around $5.00 US.  I mean, it only took us about 4 minutes to get there.  The cab driver was very nice, introduced himself, Francisco and we all introduced ourselves.  When he dropped us off at the front of the Gilded Iguana he then told us $15.00 US dollars.  I am not really believing what I just heard to I say, “huh, Que?”  Fifteen US dollars.  All three of us kind of gasp but what ya gonna do.  I payed up the $15.00 and we proceeded in to go eat, wondering how we were going to get home because there was no way in hell we were paying another $15.00 for a four minute cab ride.    We had a great dinner.  Jarred and I had the special of the day, Fish and Chips from fresh sea bass and Jacob had an amazing vegetable quesadilla dish.  We had a nice time relaxing and listening as the rain poured down around us.  This is an open bar and by that I don’t mean free drinks.  I mean that there are no doors, windows or walls.  It is open to the outside but covered.  It was a very nice place.  I would recommend it to anyone and prices were reasonable.  But then we had the challenge when it came time to go home.  It is almost 3 miles by regular road.  It is not pouring anymore but a little sprinkle.  There is one other option.  We can go to the beach and walk back that way.  There is a trail over the wooded area that separates the two beaches and we can go that way and the walk is just over ½ miles.  With my hip and this being Costa Rica and hearing all about snakes from Ed Scott (thanks Ed), I decide that $15.00 is a cheap price to pay for a safe, dry cab ride back home.  So I call the cab.  Hmmm, great!  No answer.  Now it could be that he is out giving some other gringo an expensive cab ride home.   OR, he may have heard us bitching about the price even after we got out of the cab and said to himself, “Yea, screw you, you gringos.”  Whatever the reason, we are not reaching him.  Our only option is to walk down to the beach and walk along the beach to get home.    To start with we have to walk down the road, which has swimming pool size mud puddles in the middle of it.  I keep thinking of those snakes.  Dang you Ed!!   We have no flashlights with us but Jacob remember that his cell phone has a little flashlight app.  Oh hey, yea, so does mine.  His is very dim.  Mine is very bright.  He has lots of battery life left.  I am down to 12%.  So we use his for most of the way.  We reach the beach without any snake bites or any other incidents.    Have any of you walked on a warm water beach on a moonless, starless night?  It was amazing!  Wherever the waves broke, the water was lit up with phosphorescence.  If you don’t know what phosphorescence is, here is an explanation.   Ocean “phosphorescence”, commonly seen at night when the water is disturbed, is largely due to the dinoflagellates; they occur ubiquitously in the oceans as planktonic forms, responding to mechanical stimulation when the water is disturbed by emitting brief bright light. Light emission may be seen in the wake of a large ship for some 20 miles. About 20% of marine species are bioluminescent and many are photosynthetic. “ Red tides” are transient blooms of individual dinoflagellate species. Phosphorescent bays (e.g., in Puerto Rico, Jamaica) are persistent blooms of this type.

Here was the magic right in front of us.  As we walked along we also noticed that when we stepped on the sand, it lit up with phosphorescence too.  We felt like we were walking along in Pandora in Avatar.  It truly was a magical evening that had we taken a cab home, we would have never experienced.   

The walk home was not totally without a frightful incident.  As we are walking along and I keep thinking about snakes, suddenly Jacob shrieks.  He says that a crab just pinched him.  I try to stay calm and say, are you sure it wasn’t a snake.  He said, “No, it was a crab.  I felt it’s pinchers.”  So then we all have a laugh.  We had to walk through a jungle area between Playa Guiones and Playa Pelada.  There was a path but it was a little creepy still.   I used the last bit of power of my cellphone to use my brighter flashlight through this area.  Soon we were on Playa Pelada.  We saw the orange lights of Olga’s Bar shining on the beach.  Jacob and I sat at Olga’s and grabbed a beer while Jarred went down the road to get the scooter at our place and come pick me up.

All in all, it was an awesome night!  I love the magic right in front of me.

Wheels!!

Last night Enock and his friend showed up with our scooter.  They put it in the back of a Hyundia so they had to take it apart a little bit to fit it in there.  They drove about 5 hours from San Carlos which is near La Fortuna.  Having no address to give them made it difficult to give them directions to find us.  I kept telling them to take the road that says Playa Paleda.  They kept calling and saying they did.  What I didn’t know at the time is that there are three roads that say this.  It took them about an hour of just driving around this small area to find us and as it turned out, they just parked by a nearby restaurant called La Luna, which we knew was fairly close to us.  I send Jacob running down the road, in the dark, pouring rain, lightning flashing, to go to La Luna and show them where we were at.  This was after Jarred had been standing up by the main road for about an hour in the rain and lightning too.  It was very frustrating for all of us.

Jacob brought them to our place and luckily we have a covered, lighted garage area where they put the scooter back together.  They forgot to bring a wrench or something to tighten bolts so they did their best to hand tighten things but warned us to tighten them with some tools.  Ok, then we had to deal with the payment issue.  I tried to write his friend a check.  The friend worked for the guy we were buying the bike from.  He said no, his boss would rather have cash because it takes a check 20 days to clear.  Hmmmmm, I don’t have that much cash on me and the bank is closed.  Now what?  Ok, how about this, we drive to the bank, which has an ATM.  I can withdraw the cash there.  So we head out to the bank.  I put my card in and start to make the withdrawal.  I am given a choice, US dollars or Costa Rican Colonies?  I run to the car real quick, I think, and ask them.  His boss would prefer colonies.  Ok, how many colonies do I need to get.  They pull out their phones and start calculating.  Time is ticking.  They finally figure it out and tell me how many.  I go back into the ATM and the timing has timed out.  So that means, yes, you guessed it.  The machine ate my card.  No amount of hitting the cancel button makes it spit out my card.  Great!  I have only one ATM card with money in it, having had to cancel my other one since I lost it, and now that one has been eaten.  Not to mention, I have no idea how to pay the guy for the scooter.  I call the customer service number and tell them what happened.  They tell me to go back to the bank in the morning with my passport and I can get my card back.  That is good to know.  I was afraid I would have to go to San Jose or wait weeks to get it back.

Now we are back to how do I pay for the scooter.  Enock tells me his friend, who speaks no English, says that we can do an internet transfer from my online bank.  I have never done this before but we go back to the house to try it.  I don’t find any way to transfer money from my bank to theirs but I do find a way that US bank lets you pay a person via email or their phone number.  I ask if this will work.  No, the friend does not like this idea.  I am lost at what to do.  I propose they stay the night and we go to the bank and take care of it in the morning but his friend is insistent they go back tonight.  Now his friend is saying he needs some cash because he thought I would have cash and he needs gas.  He has no money.  I do have some colonies and pull out approximately $60 US in colonies.  He is happy with that, writes me a receipt for that amount and writes down instructions for the bank so that I can transfer the money to the boss’ bank account in the morning.  It is 9:30 pm, dark and pouring rain when they head out for their 5 hour drive back.  Enock is not staying this time but promises to come back with the bill of sale and tools to tighten stuff on the bike in a few days.  He is also going to bring fishing gear and teach us how to fish here.  He is a very sweet guy. 

Our scooter is very cute.  It is lightweight, yellow and black.  It has an electric start but the battery needs a good charge so for now we have to kick start it, which I can’t do because of the hip surgery.  Both the boys are able to start it this way though.

The next morning Jarred and I ride the scooter to retrieve my debit card and make the money transfer.  I am so grateful for the scooter because the bank is about 2 miles away.  It is very difficult for me to walk that far as I am still healing and gaining strength.  The bank has two security guards standing inside the door.  They unlock the door for each customer coming in, wand you down, patted my bag down and then admitted me into the bank.  Very different than just walking into our banks in the United States.

In anticipation of the bank teller not knowing much English, which he doesn’t.  I have prepared a statement on my translator app on my phone.  “The ATM machine took my card last night.  I need it back.  It is purple.”  I show this to the teller and he chuckles.  I give him my passport and he says wait a minute, “Uno momento”.  Comes out from the back room in a couple minutes with my purple, Go Vikings, debit card.  Shows it to me.  Si, that is it!!!  He has me sign for it then gives it back to me.  Yay!!  Ok, now I need to do the money transfer.  I give him the slip with all the information.  He must have experience doing this which is a relief because I couldn’t have explained what I needed if he hadn’t already known.  He takes a receipt thing, rubs and impression of my card on it, does something on the computer and says that my bank is declining the transfer/funds.  I know I have enough money in there.  I checked it online just this morning.  Hmmmm, maybe the bank put a freeze on the funds since I am in Costa Rica. 

 We rode the scooter back to the house and I call the bank.  Yes, that is the issue.  I should have told them I was going to Costa Rica.  They will release the funds.  We drive back to the bank and go through the security guards again.  We do the paperwork again and this time it goes through.  What a relief!!

I also decide to try the card in the ATM machine and make sure that works ok and the machine does not automatically eat my card just because it doesn’t happen to like the Vikings.  It works fine and gives my card back.  Another victory!

We buy some fresh fruit at the fruit stand, throw it in my back pack and we are off.  We lose the muffler cover on the way as it is not bolted tight.  Ooops, forgot about that.  We grab it and make it home without further incident.

How am I dealing with all of this you may be wondering.  I have to be honest and admit that sometimes it is tough.  Nothing is easy but also, nothing is taken for granted.  The language barrier is not to be underestimated.  However, it is kind of a fun challenge too.  It is sometimes surprising to me how much you can communicate just making motions and using what we TEFL teachers call “realia”.  J   Most people are very friendly and patient as you try to express yourself.  In fact, everyone has been very helpful so far and there are actually quite a few people who speak some pretty good English here. 

If you put yourself in their place and say someone back in the US is trying to speak English and know a few words.  Well you know you would try to help them any way you could and try to figure out what then needed.  Just like my floor soap vs. laundry soap issue at the grocery store a few days ago.  Most people want to help other people and want to promote good will between cultures.  I have to say it is very challenging and fun to be on the other side of the coin though. Despite the doubts and anxiety I sometimes have, I am adapting and it is pretty cool learning to live in a different culture.

I have decided to name our scooter “Abejorro”, which means bumblebee.  It is yellow and black and buzzes us around this little town so I think it is very fitting.

 

Trust

"You're going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it's always their actions you should judge them by. It's actions, not words, that matter."  Nicholas Sparks

Oh my, another so appropriate quote for my life right now.  Before I moved here I started corresponding with some US expats now living in Costa Rica and some ticos (native Costa Ricans).  I especially connected with a tico that had recently moved back to Costa Rica.  His name is Enock.  He left Costa Rica when he was 14 years old, (I do not know why yet), travelled in and lived in the US and Mexico and has recently returned to Costa Rica to reacquaint with his family here and get to know his native country again.  He is 33 years old.  As we got to know each other better online, we talked about him visiting us in Nosara after we got settled.

In the past few days we have been talking a lot online and I told him about our lack of transportation issue.  He went out of his way to find me a good scooter for a good deal.  He is bringing it here today and staying awhile.  J  He seems like a really nice, genuine guy.  He says he is bringing fishing gear and harpoon so he can get fish for us.  He is also bilingual which will prove to be very helpful to us.  He can also get us much better deals on things as the ticos here are used to tourist gringos who can pay a bunch of money for anything they need.  We however are trying to live on a pretty tight budget and need tico prices, not gringo prices. 

We have all agreed that if he doesn’t like us or we don’t like him that he will leave.  He is so sweet sounding though and he said that he does not want to impose and that if we don’t like him, he has his tent and he will go live on the beach.  All of you who know me, know that he is going to have to be a pretty awful person for me to send him out to live on the beach during the raining season in Costa Rica.  It can rain tons and tons and he would not be able to stay dry.  So if he is nice and can be of any help to us at all, we will let him stay with us.  I am hoping for a mutually beneficial arrangement.  I have to go into this with a certain amount of trust but as the quote above says, in the end, he will judge us and we will judge him by actions, not words. 

As far as the past few days, it has been pretty uneventful, which we needed.  We have swam in the pool a couple times and went to the beach a few times.  Yesterday was the best day yet at the beach as the waves were calm.  I swam out to where the calm water was and just floated on the cresting, but not breaking, waves.  It was amazing!! 

We are eating very little but are managing ok.  We don’t waste anything, not even a paper bag.  It is very different living here without having easy access and reasonable prices for most things that we just take for granted in the US.  It really makes you appreciate everything and even if/when I return to the US, I will never be that same.  Which I think is a good thing.  J

Today, Jarred is at the beach swimming and Jacob walked to Guioness beach to find the guy who walks that beach and sells empanadas.  He is hunting for our lunch.  LOL

 I stayed at the house to apply for some telecommuting jobs and wait for Enock to show up with my scooter.  It is a 2008, 125 cc Jialing.  He said he test drove it and it runs good.  Another thing I am just going to have to let go and trust to God that he is watching out for my best interest.  I will keep you posted on how the scooter works out.  Enock has a Toyota, don’t know the model yet, that he might sell to me too.  I told him I don’t have the money to buy it outright right now but that I could make payments.  So we will see what happens with that idea too.  The scooter will be great for running around Nosara but it would be nice to have a car because of the rain and for travelling further like 1 hour to Nicoya and 5 plus hours to San Jose.

Trip to Nicoya

The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.

— C. JoyBell C.   I can pretty safely say I have absolutely thrown myself!  When you sell most of your worldly belongings, pack the rest up and head out to a part of the world you have never been in, it’s a pretty good indication you have thrown yourself.    While I have been in Costa Rica a few weeks before, I rented this house from looking at pictures on the internet.  I had no idea if it looked like the pictures or what problems it may have lurking in it.  Luckily, for the most part it is a nice house.  We still have no kitchen lights but the dining area is open so we use those lights to see in the evening.  The house smells a little musty but that is typical for a tropical, humid area.  We got two small Glade candles for $8.00 to take the edge off.  But is has three large bedrooms with a huge closet in the master.  A bathroom off the master and a bathroom upstairs and a half bath downstairs.  Tile floors, fully furnished.  The master has a king sized bed, one bedroom has a queen bed and the other has two twin beds.  The villas here, about 6 houses share a pool.  A large pool.  Largest pool in Nosara I am told.  J   We needed to turn the rental car back in today.  Jacob has had a headache so he didn’t go with us.  I could not find any chiropractors in Nosara but we found a physical therapist who is from Switzerland and trained there that does muscle manipulation.  Her place is right up the hill so we made an appointment for Jacob to go there.  Jarred and I headed to Nicoya to take the car back.  It is about an hour drive, about half and half.  Half paved road, half dirt road.  It was nice driving back in the daylight so I could see some of the area I missed driving in the other night in the dark and the rain.  We drove down a side road and found a little private school.  The country side is absolutely beautiful.   Cows and horses grazing everywhere.  Passed a small  fishing village of Gaza.  This is a beautiful and diverse country for sure.  Here by the coast they have pineapples, bananas, mangos, papya growing.  Further up the mountains they grow potatos (papas), strawberries (fresa) and onions (cebollo) and many other fruits and vegetables.  They have diary and beef cows although the breeds are different here and I don’t know which cows are for beef and which are for dairy.  I do know that as I drove along and looked in pasture after pasture, that the calves were with their mothers and nursing.  No dragging baby cows away from their mothers here, to kill for veal or save all the milk for human consumption.  I LOVE that!!!   When Jarred and I got to Nicoya, we wanted to do a little shopping considering it is a big town compared to Nosara.  We bought a tiny little coffee maker for $20.00, a cutting board, I got more minutes for my phone.  We got some sunscreen, oranges, grapes and pears.  We laughed because the boy walking around selling the fruit told us the apples he was selling were from Washington.  Sorry, I don’t want Washington apples, I want Costa Rican manzanas.    We called Carlos to find out what time they would be in Nosara to pick up the car.  He said he was sending his guy by bus and he should be there.  Then he called us back and told us there was a deadly accident between San Jose and Nicoya and his guy would not be there until 3:30.  His guy was supposed to take us to the bus station.  We had no idea where it was.  The problem we were now facing is that the last bus for the day leaving for Nosara leaves at 3:00.  So we had to leave before the car rental guy got there.  After one unsuccessful attempt to leave the car in front of the hospital and an LDS church (Carlos didn’t like us leaving it there), we left it in front of a soda and a gas station.    Then we tried to figure out how to catch the bus.  We saw a bus come by and stop nearby, heading the direction we needed to go.   So we stood by the side of the road and waited about ½ hour for another bus.  It pulled over but wouldn’t let us on.  All Spanish of course so we had no idea why he wouldn’t pick us up.  I probably looked pretty drained but I’ve never had a bus refuse to pick me up because of that before.  We saw the police pull in across the street at a business.  Aha!  The policia.  They are supposed to help people, right?  I asked him Donde esta la autobus terminale?  Well, he understood me allright but I had no idea what he said in return.  He really tried hard, giving us hand signals over and over indicating a street in front of another one or something like that but we had no flipping idea what he was saying.  We thanked him and walked away, trying to decide what to do now. It is about 2:00.  Hmmmm, ok, I got it.  Flag down a taxi and have him take us to Nosara.  Here comes one!!!!   Cuanto es to take us to Nosara?  I think he said 35.  Was that 35000 colonies or 35 US dollars?  If it is 35000 colonies, that is $70.00 US.  No way!  I understand it is one hour there and one hour back but I don’t want to pay that much.  Donde es la autobus terminale?  Take us there.  Ok, wow, the bus terminal is nowhere close to where Carlos was telling us it was.  It is on the other side of town.  Two US dollars to take us there.  I can live with that.  Get in a line for tickets.  When we got up to the counter the guy says you don’t need tickets for the Nosara bus.   You pay when you get on the bus.  When a bus pulls up that has a sign that says “Nosara” on the front of it we climb aboard.  Something isn’t quite right.   People have tickets in their hands.  We ask a gringo looking woman if you need tickets for this bus.  She says yes. So we climb back off the bus, go to the ticket window.  No, you don’t need a ticket for the bus to Nosara the ticket guy told me again.  What?  Ok, climb back on the bus.  Luckily Jarred had the intelligence to ask the bus driver where that bus was headed.  San Jose!!!!  Oh my gosh.  This is a bus COMING from Nosara, going to San Jose.  So we get off the bus.  Jarred wants to go smoke a cigarette so he heads out of the terminal.  The terminal is all outside too by the way.  Some buses pull in, none say Nosara.  Then one pulls in and I ask the driver, “Nosara?”  Yes.  Ok where is Jarred.  I can’t find Jarred.  I’m getting mad at Jarred for having to go have a cigarette because this is the last bus of the day and if we miss it we will have to take that expensive taxi ride.  Where the hell are you Jarred??  I walk around a corner and Jarred is standing by the bus that we need to get on.  I tell him to get on it.  I am afraid we are going to have to stand all the way to Nosara but we get on and there are still a lot of seats left.  Thanks goodness!    The bus is an old converted school bus.  Remember those windows that slide down from the top?  We are relaxing and enjoying the ride.  The windows of the bus are open and the breeze coming in feels great and is keeping us cool.  Fifteen minutes into the journey, the afternoon monsoon hits.  Water is blowing in the windows in big drops so everyone starts shutting their windows.  If you remember, these windows are kind of between seats so you have to work with the people sitting behind you and there people sitting in front of you to close the windows.  The guy in front of us doesn’t seem to notice or care that Jarred and I are getting soaked from that window.  I finally tap him on the shoulder and indicate we need to put the window up.  He willingly helps.   Now the girl sitting behind us doesn’t like the rain at all.  We immediately had to help her close our mutual window.  That is fine with us.  The problem is, the window is not staying shut.  As the bus bumps along, the window jiggles down a little.  More bumps, the window drops some more.  Of course, I am willing to ignore it but the girl behind us does not like the rain at all.  So we are constantly pushing the window back up.  After awhile I give up and just hold the freaking window up.  Luckily the rain lets up after awhile and everyone opens up their windows again.  Awhile later, we hit monsoons again.  Rinse and repeat.   The bus ride is about 2 hours in total, longer than driving on your own but aren’t they always.  We get dropped off at the area we have come to find out is called “5 corners.”  It has five intersecting roads here so hence the local nickname.  Luckily it is not too far to our house.  We are worried about the rain hitting and we left eh umbrella with Jacob.  Oh yea, we wanted to buy one in Nicoya but it was $20.00 for a $5.00 umbrella.  I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it.  Anyway, we are almost to the house when the rains starts falling.  Whew!  We made it.    Also this day we get the keys to our sliding door metal gates so we can get to the pool and to the back of our place.  Yay!  The new property manager, Bhenga, is very helpful and nice.  We really like her.  Good riddance Alexandra!  Another adventure and another day done.  The metal gates keeping us caged in.

Nosara

The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.

— Walt Disney Company Heaven knows after the last few days, I have faced some adversity.  I am trying to bloom!!   Jacob helped me keep it all in perspective today.  He reminded me about when he moved to the Oregon coast and moved into a warehouse with no kitchen, no running water, air mattress for a bed, no bathroom.  So moving into this house here is luxury to him.  We have flushing toilets, all kitchen appliances, beds, swimming pool, showers, washer and dryer, and yes, thank you God, air conditioning.  J  So we are doing fine.   So we can definitely bloom in this fertile soil of blessings.   We worked a deal with Carlos at Safe Car Rental.  Since we paid $50.00 to fix the car and lost a lot of time for the repair, we agreed we could keep the car one more day.  Another blessing because everything is very spread out here.  It is also very rural, all dirt/gravel roads so it is difficult to get around.  There is a bus that runs through every 2-3 hours but we don’t know the bus schedule or where anything is at.  So we had the chance to drive around a bit and get a little idea where we are and where things like little stores are.  The stores are called supers.  I guess like supermarket.  There is a tiny one close to us but the bigger one is about 3 miles away.  And that one is not very big with not very much selection and very high prices.  A dozen eggs is $3.00 which is pretty comparable to the US but they are a lot smaller.  We bought almost a pound of cheddar cheese, which was imported from Panama.  It was almost $12.00.  If you can buy local comparable food, it is a lot less expensive.  Anyway, we got a few groceries.  Stopped by a little fruit stand and got a great deal on bananas, papaya, mangos, pineapple for only $6.00 so it works out pretty even in the end.  And the fruit is delicious!!  The tomatos here have tougher skins but they have so much more flavor than back home.    We found the little airstrip.  Planes actually fly into Nosara from San Jose and from Nosara to various locations.  So if you ever fly into San Jose and want to fly to Nosara instead of doing the 5 ½ hour drive, you can take a one way flight for around $90.00 and only take 2 ½ hours.  We couldn’t resist going to a couple beaches.  We hung out at Playa Paleda, which was just down the road about ¼ miles.  Jacob climbed a coconut tree and got a few coconuts for us but when we got them back, two had holes in them and the one we got coconut water from was pretty green.   We went to Playa Guioness too.  We drove there but later found out that you can just walk on a trail through a few bushes over to Playa Guioness from Playa Paleda.  There is more activity and business around Playa Guioness, the beach is more wide open and larger but we didn’t think it was as pretty as Playa Paleda.   As we look out our back door, we are drooling and yearning to get out to the pool.  However, there are metal bars outside the sliding glass doors and we don’t have the keys to unlock the bars.  We asked the property manager for the keys but she doesn’t have them.  She is going to try to get them for us but she is leaving to move back to the US tomorrow and is not motivated to help us in any way.  She has been basically a bitch to deal with.  She and her partner are moving back to Philadelphia, which is a good thing.  I think she will fit right in back there with her awful attitude.  We are hoping the new property manager is nicer.  She gets into town tomorrow.   I wouldn’t say I am blooming yet, but I think I am in the budding stage.  At least we weren’t close to dying today.

Moving To Costa Rica

 

What we do comes out of who we believe we are.

I have had my faith, my perserverance and my commitment to this belief of who the new me is over the past few days.  I have also had it renewed, reaffirmed and strengthened.  I will explain what has happened in my life just the past week.

May 17 – Divorce mediation.  Very sad and emotional day for me.  We did settle on terms that I think is fair to both of us but I cried at the finality of it.  I don’t know if it is losing him.  I am not sure.  I know I do miss him at times.  We had so many good times, so many years together.  We grew so much, went through so many hard times, being so poor ass broke, raising all the kids, fighting our way to successful careers.  Yes, there were bad times, fights, mistrust, lies.  But that was life in my eyes.  Just thought we would always hold it together for our kids and grandkids.  I thought we would be holding hands as old people.  Traveling some.  So is it him or these dreams that I am having such a hard time letting go of?  I’m not sure but I have to let it all go.  I have no choice.  So I believe I am strong enough to reinvent myself.  And I will keep trying.

May 18-19 – Readying for the move.  We busted our butts trying to sell stuff.  Packing and moving.  We had to decide what things we wanted to store but possibly ship to Costa Rica if we decide to stay for an extended period of time.  We had to decide what we would just give to Goodwill, what we were storing but never shipping and what we were actually taking with us.  We whittled our lives down to 6 large suitcases and about 8 carryons.  Yes, too many.  We ended up checking a few. 

Now logistics of staying in an empty apartment and getting 3 people, all that luggage and a cat to the airport without it costing an arm and a leg.  I decided it would be best if we rented a cheap hotel for the afternoon before we left and take the hotels airport shuttle to get all of us the rest of the way.  Thanks to two great friends, Todd and Jim, who took us in two cars to the hotel near the airport.  I can never thank them enough for pitching in to help us out.  So we finally got all our last details taken care of.  Let me tell you, it is a whole different animal moving to another country than even moving across the country.  Many more issues to think about and deal with.

May 20 – The nightmare begins.  We are flying out tonight.  Still moving out and cleaning.  Jarred still does not have his passport.  The expedited service place said our only chance was go to the local passport office and try to get an emergency one.  Jarred and I go there about 8:30 am.  Turn in papers, wait and wait and wait.  The office closes at 3:00 pm.  Praying!!  The passport manager finally tells us at 2:30 pm that he will get his passport.  Then he disappears in the back.  We wait, and wait, and wait.  Remember they close at 3:00.  3:30 pm, we finally get Jarred’s passport. 

After exhausting ourselves moving and cleaning, we were supposed to get some rest at the hotel before the red eye flight leaving at 11:50 pm.  When all was said and done, we only had about an hour to rest at the hotel and we were all so worked up, none of us slept.  We figured if we caught the airport shuttle and had them drop us off directly in front of the airline check in we would be fine leaving the hotel at 9:30.  We go down at 9:20 and have the hotel reception call the shuttle.  She says he’ll be here in 10-15 minutes.  Guess what?  He ran into some trouble, was late, finally picked us up at 10:00.  Then we find out because of construction at the airport, they can’t drop us off in front of the airline, curbside check in is closed.  We get dropped off on one of the center islands.  We have to rent two carts to get our luggage in. 

When we finally get to check in, we have overweight bags of course.  Three to be exact.  We redistribute stuff so that we have only two that are overweight.  Pay the $150.00 fee for the overweight bags.  Pay the $80.00 for Jacobs and I bags.  I had upgraded Jarred’s ticket so his first two were free.  Paid the cat fee of $75.00.  Bleeding money.  Boarding will start soon.  It is 11:15.  Praying!!  Also remember I had hip replacement surgery just 4 weeks prior.  I am still using crutches to get around.  They get me a wheelchair and a guy to push me.  Rushing to security.  Annie has to be taken out.  We go through the screening machine.  Jarred forgets a bag so Jacob has to go back through and grab it, send it through and get rescreened himself.  In the meantime, Jarred is testing positive for something.  They take him to some back room to test him more.  I am sitting there in the wheelchair pretty damn helpless.  Security is trying to figure out if they need to pat down Annie to see if she is full of explosives.  Really people, this is happening.  You can’t make this shit up.  We finally get all cleared.  Go to get on the plane.   Yes, too many carry ons.  Check some.  Stuff Annie’s crate under the seat.  Sit down.  Ahhhhh, we are finally on our way.  Not yet!!

We have one way tickets to Costa Rica so you see, the airlines have to see your documentation that you are leaving Costa Rica within 90 days as that is how long your tourist visa is good for.  We had documentation that we were flying to Guatemala in June.  And no, we are not but yes we will have to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours, then come back in to renew our tourist visas for another 90 days.  As we are sitting there, the stewardess comes over and asks for our documentation regarding this.  I told her we were already checked for that, which we were when we first checked in.  She said it was not marked so she needs to see it.  I give her our paperwork and she says it is not good enough because it doesn’t have the ticket numbers on it.  I say that’s all we have.  She says she will show it to her supervisor and see what he says.  I say it is going to be a nightmare if it isn’t, she agrees, “Yes it will”.  Anxious, scary moments thinking this whole thing is going to all apart.  Praying!!  She finally comes back and says, you are good to go.  Whew!!

May 21 – 5:00 am.  Arrive in Costa Rica.  Get through immigration. Customs wants a copy of Annie’s health certificate.  I only have the original.  So I take a picture of the original with my phone and tell them to keep the original.  They are happy.  So am I.  I had reserved a car through Budget rental car so we wait for their shuttle and go to their office offsite from the airport.  “Oh, you don’t have a credit card?  You cannot rent from us.”  Thanks, it would have been nice to know ahead of time.  I knew a lot of places require this but they did not state that in anything I saw when renting online.  Ok, do you know anyone that rents cars but doesn’t require a credit card?  Carlos at Safe Car Rental.  He helps us out sometimes when we are low on cars.  Carlos will send a cab to get you to take you to his place.  Waiting and waiting and waiting.  We are now in Costa Rica on tico time.  Waiting and waiting.  Cab comes.  Load all the freaking luggage up again.  Jarred and Jacob are exhausted!   Get to Carlos.  Rent a questionable Suzuki Grand Vitara as it is the only thing big enough to haul our luggage.  Ok, cuando es?  $450.00 US dollars for 3 days.  Shit!!!  Bleeding money.  Pay the cab.  Bleeding money.  Look for one of my debit cards to pay the rental.  Lost!  Look everywhere and call Budget to see if it is there.  No.  Lost.  Ok, luckily I have another.

Get all luggage loaded into car.  We have a hotel in San Jose for that night but we have hours to kill before we check in.  We go by my school and pick up the suitcase I left there last time I was here and say hello to some friends.  We are right by Mall San Pedro and I know I am going to need a local phone so we go to the mall.  Find a little kiosk, get a phone.  Come out, parking ticket on car.  In fact the whole line of cars that are parked on the road in marked parking spots, all have tickets on them.

Go to pick up my friend who wants to go to lunch with us.  We have lunch at some freaky Anime restaurant.  There is a life sized Gremlin with a French maids outfit on the counter that I want my picture with.  Go to get my  I-phone and realize it is missing.  Shit!  Where the hell is my phone?  We think it might be at the Mall at the cell phone kiosk. Praying!!  We pull up and Jacob hops out and runs in.  I drive around awhile and he comes out.  He has my phone in hand and says it was just sitting on the kiosk counter and no one was even at the kiosk. 

By this time we are so tired, none of us can think at all anymore.  We decide we better get to the hotel before something really terrible happens due to our brains not functioning.  So we go to the hotel.  It is pretty uneventful there due to we are all exhausted and just pretty much sleep the next 14 hours.  Oh, wait.  I forgot.  I was shaking out a hand towel in the morning, holding it over the balcony and accidentally dropped it.  When we checked out we almost did not get our $100 deposit back because the maid had to check the room before they would give it to us and she said a towel was missing.  I retrieved the $100 hand towel and they were very happy.  I was happy to get my deposit back too.

May 22 – The drive to Nosara.  We head out of San Jose about 11:00.  But we realized last night that the local phone I bought is not working.  We think maybe there is no minutes although we thought some came with the phone.  Buy some minutes at Max Y Manos.  Also trying to buy some other things.  Need to buy laundry soap but Jacob said it didn’t look right so we asked a woman that was shopping.  I ask, is this for clothes and imitate washing my shirt.  Nooo, she laughs.  That is for cleaning floors. We find actual laundry soap.  Ok, can someone here help us load these minutes on the phone as the instructions are in Spanish.  Ayudar!!  A guy trys to help us.  He says he thinks the SIM card is bad.   Back AGAIN to Mall San Pedro to get a good SIM card.  Pay for parking this time to avoid a ticket.  Guy at the kiosk does not speak any English.  We finally get our point across.  So he tests it, and sure enough, bad SIM card.  He puts a different cellular providers SIM card in.  Tells us it is better.  But now we can’t use the $10.00 worth of minutes I just bought for the other provider.  Bleeding money.  Oh well, as long as it works. 

Finally on our way to the place we will live for the next few months.  We are almost free and clear!!   ALMOST!!  The first part of the drive is beautiful through the mountains, the sun is shining, listening to beautiful Spanish music and some American music.  We even start cracking up because that song that was in a movie where the tape player was stuck and would only play that song, “And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more” is playing on the radio.  Our spirits are lifted.  We come down from the mountains, heading to the Pacific coast and suddenly something is going wrong with the tires of the car.  It feels like a flat.  So I pull over and the boys get out and look and say, no, no flat.  Hmmmmm, maybe it was just the road.  Drive a little further and noooo, there is definitely something wrong.  We are in a small town area and when I say small, I mean really small.  About ¼ mile of little stores and businesses.  I pull over again and we all get out and look.   The boys notice that on the left rear tire, there is a lug nut bolt missing and all the lug nuts have worked loose.  The tire is about to fall off the car.  Shit!!  Now what?  Unload all the luggage and dig out the lug wrench to tighten the lug nuts?  Praying!!  Some guy rides up on a bike and was watching us.  He indicates as best he can that there is a mechanic or service station or something right up the road.  Muchas gracias!  We limp up the road about ¼ mile.  We see a tire by a shop.  Wow, a tire place.  Well, not quite but we indicate we have trouble, with a capital T.  He does not speak any English but comes and looks at our tire/lug nut issue.  Oh, he doesn’t do that kind of work but the guy around the corner of the building can help us.  A couple more guys come out.  One speaks English.  He gets the mechanic guy that they all say can help us.  The mechanic speaks English pretty good.  He says we need all new lug nuts AND THE BOLTS!!  Shit!!  Cuando es?  15000 colonies-$30 US dollars.  Not bad but still bleeding money.  He tells us it is unsafe not to have it done.  Ok, do it.  Call the rental car guy at “Safe Car Rental”.  Safe my ass!  He says yea, he will reimburse us for the work.  The mechanic tells us there is a soda (which is a small, local run and usually outdoor café) right next door with good cheap food.  Yay!  Donde es banos?  Right around the corner.  Sitting at a picnic table drinking great Costa Rican coffee, watching guys shoot pool at the two pool tables in one of the shops repair bays and watching the mechanic work on the nuts and bolts.  They have to even take some brake parts off to do it.  Praying he is a good mechanic and doing it all correctly.  Put it all back on but the mechanic is not happy, the bolts are a little crooked.  Take it all apart again.  Readjust!  Yes, I think he knows what he is doing and takes pride in his work.  And hour and a half later, we are on our way securely bolted! 

Soon we hit monsoon level rain and darkness sets in.  We also hit the unpaved road.  Woo hoo!  Driving in the torrential downpour, in the dark, over rutted, flooding roads.  Slide sideways.  Weeee, that was actually fun!!!!  Get to the place, get the keys, go inside.  The house is nice but pretty dirty.  Beds not made. Oh well, too tired to do anything but drag the bags inside, make the beds and go to bed.  Tomorrow is another day.  Shit!!  Praying!!