The Sea is a Salty One

  I am not sure why exactly there's a roll of toilet paper mounted by the gas pumps at my local Tico gas station but here it is. Sort of fits the theme of my days. We got our guests back to the airport and onto their flight after something of a quick chaotic stay. I learned something important during their stay, that I have to question the guests I don't know well, and manage their expectations from there. Particularly if they have never been to Costa Rica and are arriving at the tail end of dry season when there are severe water restrictions on. We're used to them, people from the States flip out. Also why are they coming? To drink and party? To visit all the great natural places? To relax? Immediately after we dropped them off Jim and I ran up to the Nicaragua border for our every 3 months visa run. We ran into a friend at the border, and ended up having dinner with him. Saw coatimundis crossing the Pan American highway, and some small bluish parrolettes. Just about hit s...

    Between a rock and a hard place today sitting at Witches Rock posting because our internet has been out two days. Yesterday has been a day of privilege. Not my privilege but the misplaced privilege of others. Other gringos here in Tamarindo. It happens right now we’re hosting some of Jim’s family, and I’ve been some what surprised by behaviors of these ladies in my age group. In all actuality I’m rather horrified by the need to bar hop and drink until late in the night and fry on the beach all day long. Right now they’re at one of many bars in Tama. It’s an effing Monday night, give it a rest! That part of the culture here bores me stupid. I used to bar tend and wait tables in a night club back in college. I got my fill it then. Add in the fact that I have copious amounts of alcoholics in the family and I am a teetotaler of many years now. I am so puzzled why older folks are acting like such drunken jackasses. Young people I understand that desire to do those things, b...

  You're going to get tired of looking at iguana pictures before I'm done. They are everywhere now, and using the pool to drink and swim. We had something of a slightly insane day. First the bank for moving around a few investments. The bank is pretty weird to me because about a year ago we got our own personal banker. If we need anything we call, make an appointment and Jose Drysdale (not his name really) makes it happen, even if he has to drive out here. I feel guilty every single time we swan into the bank and around the madding crowd to the offices in the back. We never wait, and he's accommodating. But it was the afternoon that got strange. We were invited over for lunch to someone we both knew very slightly from church. A lady I'm going to call Sunshine (not to be confused with my friend Sunshine that gave me a huge candle for Christmas) who was living in the back of beyond up a mountain, down a ravine within sight of the beaches north of Cabo Velas.  The lunch wa...

  This girl has started to hang about and I'm not mad at that. It's not raining here yet beyond a few sprinkles but at one point I saw at least three iguanas hanging out together, including an emerald green one swimming in the pool. Crunch time here in one way. A few weeks ago I lined up and bought all the tickets for my husband's vacation adventure to Montana. Didn't buy my own because I'm kind of at loose ends, unsure of what I'm going to do and where I'll be. Holy mother of Cheese Whiz! The tickets skyrocketed in mere days! I didn't book, but I have to figure something out by this afternoon. Good thing I have a big credit at one of the airlines. One thing I hate is when you try to find a flight and the only options are 29 hour flights. Example, one flew from Liberia to Miami, from Miami to New York's JFK where you had an overnight layover. I'll be traveling alone, I hardly think I want to snooze there. Wish it was a daytime layover as I'd ...

 A female iguana visited today. We usually only see the males because they are quite territorial. This gal was very relaxed as you can see. Today it thundered off into the distance.Jim and I looked at each other and said "Thunder" at the exact same time. Why? It spells the end of dry season. I think we had a sprinkle a few nights ago around midnight, and it drizzled for five minutes while I was replanting the window boxes. I would welcome some rain from our unnaturally cloudy skies. I am better. The kidney pain is down to a dull roar that does not need narcotics. Interestingly enough being put on antibiotics is clearing up the hot mess of torn up needle marks that were trying to turn into abscesses. I could never be a junkie, my veins suck too much. This week is going to be crunch time. We have visitors arriving on Saturday, but I should be able to knock this place into shape. It's not bad now, and the maid comes again tomorrow. Need to make a list of what I want done, an...

   Photo of the beach at Brasolita. Should have been there this evening. They had a memorial service at the beach for a friend of mine named Richard. But I'm in the bed. This morning I woke up and decided to file my receipts for the drugs I'm on with the insurance company. Felt too crappy to do anything. The pain med is doing de nada and the kidney pain is much worse. While I was looking up the drug names of a few of the new ones I ran into a large problem. That pain relief that I decided this morning is useless? It's banned in the good old J.S.of A. because of serious side effects. Plus the amount of codeine in it is useless. Give me those Tylenol 3s or 4s, but not this stuff. Even with better pain relief now (new prescription) I'm still feeling punky. Slept a lot, read a lot and I crocheted a lot.  Sort of freaking out because we have guests next week and I've been wiped out physically this last six weeks. I have to bring someone in to clean the guesthouse.  Plus ...

  Bananas on the banana tree in front of my neighbors yard this very afternoon. Sort of the theme of today. Last night I started getting kidney pain on both sides and my temperature jumped back up to over a 100 again. I haven't felt great since getting out of the hospital and haven't bounced back. Our car in the shop due to the wheel noises that started Tuesday morning. Jim had a meeting first thing today and the car was supposed to be ready first thing. It wasn't, but we made plans for me to go to the clinic asap today to see if I had a kidney infection or a continuation of my bladder issues. Just as soon as the car came back. Our mechanic kept delaying this time until finally fed up I called up Cissy and asked for a ride to the clinic. You know, the same Cissy we're toted innumerable places for 19 months? Bless her soul, I'm embarrassed I moaned here so much about her. She took me to the clinic this morning. I felt pretty sure she was going to make an excuse, but ...

Grande this week. I'm slowly trying to regain function after my recent medical fiascos that have been ongoing. Monday I scrubbed and organized my bedroom, installing a small file cabinet and printer so I can keep submitting my insurance claims. Yesterday I went shopping at the fruit stand and at the grocery store alone. Today was me attempting to do a few gardening things. I was busy clearing out planters, adding dirt and planting a zillion flower seeds. I want flowers in all colors! Very slowly regaining strength. I am determined when I fly back to the States next month I am walking, cane or no cane, none of this being wheeled around in a wheelchair. Yesterday was a banner day. On Monday our bete noire wanted to be driven on Tuesday to the Caja for a medical appointment. She was insisting on it early. I told her no initially, Jim had meetings at school and I never get rolling that early. Then she approached Jim, who volunteered me. We had big words about that one. Particularly sin...

The actual fire has passed, it's completely out after burning for three days, now it's just me, pissed off beyond belief again. Usually when I get like this it means bad asthma is on its way. Could be. Last night I'm sitting here doing a small editing job for someone when my messenger pops up. It's Cissy, wanting to know if I can give her a ride tomorrow morning for the women's retreat at the church. I say no, she presses again, I tell her truthfully that I no longer go to women's groups in any way, shape or form, just not the why. Why? Because every single time I've attended these things, even in different churches, it's been an enormous and frustrating waste of time. There's some prayer gossip, downright gossip, and theology/study aimed at controlling women and their pesky emotions. Ain't nobody with a brain got time for that! Then she comes back and asks if I'm sure-sure. I point out that I'm barely a week past four days in the hospita...

  The mountains behind my house. Yes, that's fire. They've been burning for more than three days now. One of the scary things about living here is the dry season. It stops raining in Guanacaste in mid November and not a drop fails until sometimes in April. Mix that with the Tico tendency to rake up and burn their leaves and it can get hairy.  I told my gardener the other day to just pile our leaves on top of our gardening frames to mulch them, something I've done every year in Virginia. He refused, making all sorts of claims that mulching creates all sorts of things that I know are untrue. I nodded and left him carrying on raking and burning the leaves, but insisting he have a nearby hose. You cannot fight culture. What happens is that not everyone here bothers to watch their small gardening fires, and they sometimes get out of control, taking out entire neighborhoods. This year has been particularly intense, burning thousands of acres near Sardinal and by Cabo Velas. Three...

  So we talked to the pastor being deported back out of Costa Rica for vaccine snafus. I'm going to call him Skip, not his name but he looks like a Skip to me. Remember when I was bitching and moaning much earlier in the pandemic that Costa Rica kept trying to order millions of doses of the vaccines from the U.S. and parts of Europe? So were many Central and South American nations, who got tired of tiny batches arriving. Order 3 million, receive 10 thousand was the game. Russia jumped in to supply vaccines to some of these other countries, who did vaccinate their folks using the Russian supplies. But here's the problem, many of those Russian and some of the Asian vaccines are not accepted by Costa Rica's health dept as valid. Certainly not the Sputnik V one that Skip got in Nicaragua. There are fully posted lists of accepted and unaccepted based primarily on if the vaccine manufacturer filed for emergency use with the World Health Organization.  The info was out there, and ...

  Playa Tamarindo at low tide. I'm at low tide too.   Exhausterated is another made up word from a kid. But it fits how I feel. A state beyond exhausted in the aftermath of four days in the hospital. Today was slightly better, right up until Jim informed me of his plans to spent part of the summer in Michigan and parts west with his best friend from middle school on. His pal has had something of a very rough time and a nasty divorce. I can see that Jim feels obligated to visit. I will survive, and likely thrive not having to do it all. One of the things that was painfully obvious anew is that Jim is a messy Marvin, his own personal circle of chaos. That tiny hospital room and Jim is unpacking the suitcase, chucking shit left and right until I started to snap at him to organize it. This month here alone might be blissfully without mess or chaos. I welcome that, especially right now. We had to drive back up to Liberia tonight, did a quick run through PriceSmart for crackers, hum...

  Paris 1981 I keep dreaming of Paris. Not the Paris of the 2000s, or of the late eighties when I lived in Europe and visited. No, I always dream of Paris in 1981 in black and white, my first glimpses of the city. I'm always walking in the dream, looking for a public restroom unsuccessfully. I wake up, realize anew I'm in my house in Costa Rica and I have to pee. I cannot figure out for the life of me why I never go to the places I know in Paris, to the USO offices, or to the American Express office, to the multitude hotels and restaurants, any number of places I know have public restrooms. Why Paris? Why only the Paris of 1981? Since I last updated I have had a visit to the land of very painful existence, the hospital. One of the hospitals in Liberia. The entire experience was horrific. Apparently I've now entered that bizarre age when it's possible to have a urinary tract infection and have no more symptoms than a fever. Nearly three weeks ago, back when I was having ...

  View of the house from the guesthouse I took when we moved in nearly four years ago. The thing you're seeing here is the master suite bulging out of the house like the nice large add on it is. The house behind it is hidden in the shot. It's a total of around 3,000 square feet with a huge kitchen and laundry room. I'd forgotten that the concrete wall was unpainted when we moved in, and that the house was painted a dull color with scant landscaping beyond a couple of fruit trees and palms in front of the house. It was a house in flux because we upgraded a lot in the last four years. It's a home in flux again because the crew of workers under Jim's friend Carlos has been here off and on for three weeks. Last year they put in a concrete sidewalk to the guesthouse and surrounding the guesthouse. The year before they put in the French drains and the year before that they put in our garage, pool deck and hot tub. Good things come to all who wait. Right now it's a com...

Our gate on the outside. Velma showed up again. Jim left the gates open for her. I'm sitting here, working on my book again (this is taking forever!), look up and see Velma scuttling along, grabbing the big metal gates and brutally slamming them closed. The wind was picking up and slamming them back and forth, open and shut, again and again, out of her hands. She'd huff, slam them shut again, lather, rinse, repeat, right up until I came out of the house with my gate keys in hand to ask her what in the holy hell she was doing. She said, and I quote, "I thought you wanted them closed?" I explained that you cannot be manhandling the gates because it will break the electronic locks and closing mechanisms, and the wind will cause even more damage. Checked the gates, unlocked and relocked the mechanisms open. No harm done. Didn't bother telling her they were this way because Jim has a mechanic here to look at our car shortly, and we were expecting friends and her. She l...

  Birdy breakfast at the Arenal Falls Lodge on smoky overcast morn. The last few days have been filled with fear and worry/scurry. Jim's been having pain in his jaw since last Monday when Carlos gave him a massage, including his head. It's gotten worse. Yesterday morn our young doctor I call Baby Doctor xrayed Jim's head and said he had a broken jaw, said the xray indicated a fracture, not a dislocation. After some scary discussions of possible wiring his jaw shut or flying Jim to San Jose for surgery we had to rush at break neck speed to the imaging section at the hospital in Liberia, the San Rafael de Archangel hospital to get a CT scan. And we waited, and waited, and waited. This was rather frightening because Jim  has had surgery for hypo parathyroid several times now, and there's been some fear that the years he went untreated there was calcium leached from his bones. Add in the good sized tumor he had removed from his lower jaw over 30 years ago and you have some ...

 I finally caught one! A photo of a monkey peering into my sewing room, creeping on Stinky and I for about twenty minutes. Not the first time it's happened, they do tend to routinely drop in as I'm working on the sewing machine, or laying down taking a nap or reading while petting Stinky. Of all the large windows in this home the one looking into the smallest room, my sewing room, happens to abut the wall enough for me to be observed. There have been Great Kiskadees, Magpie Jays, or Orioles peeking in and other small animals. But I never seem to move fast enough to get a photo. Asthma still crazy so today with all the noise, dust and just general chaos going on with the general contractor combined with the leftover volcanic ash I washed every blessed thing in our bedroom, all the bedding, and it seems to have helped a little. I keep my bedroom eat off the floor clean, but when the allergens hit the fan its time to wash all the bedding, right down to the silk mattress pad beneat...

  I can only look at the pool from either the guesthouse windows or the windows from the house right now. Just endured a shit show. Tried to get to the grocery store to get a few more things to bake a cake for a friend. The second I stepped outside the asthma went haywire again. It's been quite the week for it. This morning was the first time since Friday I tried to leave the house. I backed the damn car into a tree, put a good sized dent in the back bumper and scampered into the house bawling.  Lather, rinse, repeat. My week. My asthma has continued out of control and I spent most of last week in bed save Friday afternoon when we went out to eat. Turns out Rincon de la Vieja volcano has been erupting, it's a mere hour from here, near Liberia. We're getting the ash and gases here too. Found out on Friday that everyone I know here with regular run of the mill asthma is deathly ill with it right now. I can tolerate smoke plumes from the volcanoes, as long as it's not rain...

  Squeezing past the rocks at the end of Playa Grande to access Playa Ventanas It's been sort of rough here since Monday. What happened Monday? The morning went well, we ran a few errands before returning to take a nap. The entire time we were out and about someone started bugging us that they wanted to use our hot tub, right now! Told them let us get home and get everything done. In other words, don't call us, we'll call you.  We had just laid down when this person called, nope it wasn't ancient Velma, slayer of automatic gates via car, it was someone entirely new. I mean, we've known this lady a long time, she's of a certain age and was unceremoniously dumped by a boyfriend, which seems to have been the catalyst for some weird behaviors. She called to say she was driving over, even after I told her we were napping. Jim, ever loving, good, friendly, too nice guy, greeted Sandy when she showed up. I had other stuff to do so I didn't come out for one very lon...

  This is how crazy deserted Tamarindo Beach was once Costa Rica suspended mandatory Covid  lockdowns. Beach closed, not a soul upon it, sometime around May 2020. I don't see how we're going to avoid going back into complete lockdown mode again. I don't go out much since mid March 2020. I walk the beaches, I go pick up groceries. Once in a great while I go to an outdoor restaurant. Almost all restaurants here are open air, which is a good thing. This morning we had this conversation about church: Jim: Are you ready for church? Me: Have you seen the latest Covid numbers? You know my rule, if the numbers are stupid high my rear stays home. Side note - In the two weeks after Christmas-New Years, the biggest tourist week of the entire year, the numbers went from an anemic three or four hundred new cases a day to totals higher than our previous high in early summer of 6K a day. We had a day last week when cases were nearly 10K. Since the fifteenth we've had a whopping 55K ne...