I am not alone...
Trip Start
Apr 04, 2005
1
6
43
Trip End
Jul 18, 2005
San Joaquin de Flores,
Costa Rica
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
So I know they must feel bad because of course they want me to feel comfortable as is their nature. Very accommodating and gracious people. So I am sitting on the bed (with my feet off the ground of course) and continuing the cool as a popsicle routine. My poker face didn't fool Marianita, who insisted that Wilson take everything out from under the little storage table and crawl under there looking for the thing.
Now those of you who know me at all know I am prone to exaggeration every now and then. OK, most of the time. This, however, is not one of those times. This thing was as big as a decent sized, if not a large, mouse. It was black and I swear it had a tail only it was able to sustain itself on a vertical wall. I don't think mice can do that. Dear Lord in heaven I hope it was a lizard. Not a beetle or scorpion or something like that.
Well, they never found the thing and I am locked in my nightly prison so if comes after me I don't have too far to run. I do, however, have a flashlight and a heavy shoe. They put most of the stuff back and kept insisting -no pica, no pica- which didn't make me feel better considering that is what they told me right before Parasito, the family bird, took a chunk out of my finger yesterday. So I am resigned to toughing it out and hoping I don't hear any strange noises from the corner before I drift off to sleep. Heck, this is nothing, right?! I am sure I will see all kinds of interesting critters in the rainforest!
Well, Joy is supposed to be here but I hadn't received an email from her as of today at 5. I hope she made it ok. She is registered in a school about 10 or 15 miles from here so hopefully we can communicate effectively enough via email to get together this week. If not then we will this weekend. We were thinking about doing an overnight trip to the coast somewhere. Maybe on the Nicoya peninsula, which is South Central Pacific. She will be here for 2 weeks improving her Spanish so it will be nice to spend some time with her. Since I moved out last month it has been weird not seeing her all of the time.
I went to the banco nationale today to trade my dollars in for colones. The line was ridiculous so after 20 minutes I bowed out to make the internet café so I could get home before dark. It gets dark here at around 5 or 6. I barely made it to the store before dusk and home by dark. I will have to start earlier next time. I wasn't scared, though. There are so many people walking everywhere that I feel pretty secure.
So today on a break I found a very comfortable hammock in the shade and laid back and closed my eyes and soaked it all in for awhile. The hundreds or maybe even thousands of birds seemed like they were all competing for the lead in the Broadway birdie musical of the year. I couldn't understand how I hadn't heard it as loud and clear until that moment.
It was like a finely tuned orchestra of nature once you got to listening to them. So many different sounds and most of them like nothing we have at home. Crazy.
When I was walking downtown yesterday I could tell why they called this "The City of Flowers" because the streets are lined with every different color and variety of tree and flowers you could imagine. But the streets were also lined with garbage and I wondered why with all of the flora and fauna how come it smelled like fried corn and pollution???? But today that changed. As I was swinging back and forth the breeze surprised me with the perfume of a million sweet flowers coupled with that distinct smell that comes right before a storm. Very tropical and fresh. It was nice. I spent the rest of my break half-heartedly studying my pronombres interrogativos and thinking how cool it was to be hanging out, literally, in Costa Rica.
Oh! I got a totally rad necklace and bracelet from a woman who carves them out of naturally fallen hardwoods. The set was 10 bucks, and the proceeds went towards the CRRP (Costa Rican Reforestation Project). I couldn't resist. I don't see myself shopping for awhile and had to get a fix. She was waiting outside of the entrance of the school during our lunch break. Anyway, they are absolutely beautiful and I hope to see her again soon... If she has any killer instinct at all she would have sensed my weakness.
Well, IT hasn't resurfaced so I guess my shoe, my flashlight and I are going to call it a night. Vaya con Dios. Buenos Noches.
