The Sea is a Salty One

  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...

  Not my original photo, this popped up on one of the Costa Rica humor pages. I sometimes tell the joke of how the howler monkeys got white balls, but am not at all sure of the why.  Jim and I didn't get a lot done today. He has some few errands, he took a nap. I did a quick and nasty design job, turned down a regular gig, and worked on getting the twice yearly submission of all things medical. Did a couple of videos. We decided to catch the early Happy Hour at a local restaurant. It's a restaurant I have not returned to for four years because it felt incredibly unsafe to have a cocaine dealer leaning over our table trying to sell Jim of all people a boatload of coke and ladies of the night. I remembered that the food was pretty mediocre too, frozen everything deep fried in dirty smoky grease. There was no one lurking over us this time urging us to buy their "cocainia" or chicas. Yes, yes, the place has the same sort of substandard fry the hell out of everything menu,...

  It's that time of the year, folks! Iguana mating season where the males fight and do all sorts of daring do most stupidly to impress the ladies. Iguanas in the trees! Iguanas on the sidewalks! Iguanas in the pool, which is where I start our tale. Monday afternoon the husband was swimming when a three foot long gray green iguana fell out of a tree and ended up in the drink. Right in the swimming pool. Husband yelled (and he never yells) and out I went. He'd gotten out of the pool, smart because iguana bites are nothing to play around with. Iguanas have some rather funky bacteria in their their mouths. We sat there and watched as finally Mr. Iguana #1 climbed from the pool and scampering up the star fruit tree. But before Jim could get another lap in the pool a second iguana appeared, similar coloring and size, appeared and ended up in the pool. This time because our cat Stinky is a iguana tormenting asshole. Jim gave up because every time we removed Mr. Iguana #2 he'd take...

  Clouds rolling over Playa Grande. Today started well but went off the rails quickly. I was scheduled to sing in worship team today and the moment I walked in I was knocked over by the smell of industrial latex based paint. Very allergic to latex. About three years ago I had something similar happen at our old church here. I stayed and just  progressively got sicker. This time I grabbed someone in leadership, said "I am out of here and this is why" and I departed, driving straight home to the ever loving arms of my nebulizer and sweet sweet asthma drugs. That's after using my travel neb in the parking lot before leaving. One of the big things I've been working on is a) having better boundaries and knowing when I must put myself first, like during asthma attacks. b) The other huge thing is starting to medicate much quicker, push meds first instead of waiting to see if it gets worse. Made a huge difference this time. Immediate medding mixed with popping an edible immed...

 Farmland in Nicaragua Remember I told you about the fresh faced well scrubbed young youth minister involved with ministry in Nicaragua. You know, the one that accidentally saw me nekkid on the day of nekkidness? The one that smelled like he'd been dipped head to toe in the worst smelling cologne of all time? Yeah, him. A couple of weeks ago someone in leadership at Jim's new church asked Jim to head up the mission team to this young man's Nicaraguan mission. It's been rather overwhelming for Jim. I suggested he email the young man, ask all his questions about what to bring, what they needed, and the involved costs. He did, and oh lort! Oh my, oh my! This has turned rather strange. Why? Squeaky clean youth pastor thinks the church and Jim are going to be showing up with 20K for a new education center replete with computers. Whoa! I asked Jim if anyone promised this young man the money and he says no. I just pointed out to Jim there are laws in place on how much money ...

  Another one bites the dust, or a tale of an industry giant smushing like a bug a small rebellious business. One of the things I got the biggest laugh from after moving to Costa Rica is the cheerful nihilism of a local store. The Wil Mart in Matapalo on the way to Playa Grande. It is conveniently located, and Wilbert always has ice cold Coke Ligeros waiting for me along with water, and pretty much anything one can need. Snacks, both healthy and sinfully unhealthy, flip flops, sun lotion, small household repair items, all kinds of foodber and coffee, coffee, coffee. On weekends there are sometimes live bands playing and for awhile they had an on site brewery. I always smiled to see the copycat Wal Mart logo, the same colors, the same font, the same cheery white star between the words "Wil" and "Mart". It came off as a cheeky insouciant flipped bird in the face of big American corporate greed. I approved, but I still seriously hate Wal Mart, literally the worst place...

  The crocodile infested estuary at Playa Tamarindo with pangas (boats) taking people on estuary tours. Crocodile infested fits today. I didn't make it all the way to midnight last night I flaked out in the bed around 9, and awoke very briefly. Porque, my stray cat that decided she lives in our bedroom, got off me once the fireworks started. I was fascinated by her very un cat like behavior. She walked across the bed to where there was a small opening in the drapes and she could see out. She sat there the entire fifteen minutes locals were shooting off rockets watching. I've never seen an animal unafraid of fireworks before. Miss Porque is the most oddball but loving cat I've ever had the grace of knowing. Fast forward to this very morning. Jim picks a fight with me on our way to feed Cissy's animals. I think he's just feeling a lot of negative emotions towards a pal who uses the crap out of him, and I'm getting the horns. I was so mad over the small nitpicky th...