After moving into our room in as short a time as possible, we went to the beach. Black volcanic sand, a little rough, some driftwood, and WARM water. Who knew the ocean could be warm? We watched a fabulous sunset and then went out to eat.
It’s awesome how the local dishes on the menu taste great, are huge portions, and cost the least. In this case, I got casado (chicken, rice, beans, an egg, 2 tortillas, and a salad).
We headed to the hotel ~100 m away where Alisha, Pete and Lisa were staying and played speed Scrabble with Alisha and Neil for an hour or so before calling it quits for the night. And then the drama began...
Libby and I were just about to go to bed when a bold, huge cockroach dashed across the bathroom floor. Of course, we couldn’t go to bed with such a beast roaming free, so it was my job to catch it. (It was big enough that killing it would have resulted in more of a mess than we wanted to deal with.)
Unfortunately, I had already taken out my contacts, so it was a bit more difficult than anticipated. I got a pot from the kitchenette and successfully trapped the monster underneath, only to realize the pot’s handles extended beyond its rim, leaving a sizable gap through which he escaped.
He had learned his lesson and immediately fled to a dark corner under some shelves where we couldn’t get to him. Out of sight, but definitely not out of mind. Somebody woke me up five or ten times to ask me what the source of some noise was. Not a very restful night.
The next morning we had breakfast at the B&B where Pete, Alisha, and Lisa stayed. I had some yummy pancakes with bananas. Then, we headed to Jacó, a beach about 5-10 minutes north of Playa Hermosa. Alisha, Neil, Libby, and I spent the morning/early afternoon at their beautiful beach. The sand was lighter and smoother than Hermosa, and the waves were more the size for swimming than for surfing. We swam and soaked up the sun and played Frisbee until about 2pm, when we decided we should get lunch.
As we walked to the restaurant, I started feeling very tired. By the time we picked a place and sat down, I was very happy to be sitting. My appetite had suddenly disappeared. Poof! I literally only had one bite of my delicious fish. Fortunately our plan had been to return to Hermosa after lunch anyhow, so I was able to have a little siesta on the beach at our hotel, in the shade of some palm trees. I ended up not feeling well for a few days, but I never did figure out if it was something I ate, or just too much sun...
And then it was dark... We were in our room, and Libby turned on the light. POP! Bright light and then darkness. We thought the bulb had burnt out, but we became suspicious because the fridge light also didn’t come on, and the TV wouldn’t turn on. So, a while later, I went to the front desk to let them know that it seemed a fuse had blown. They were apparently already aware of the problem because there was a guy with a flashlight working on the outside of the building near the front desk. Perhaps it would be fixed by dinner?
We had dinner at some bar-ish type place with the whole group. Most of our classmates either already were or became drunk. I’m not a big fan of drunk people. Selfish people become more selfish. People who are insecure become moreso. And some people become frankly annoying.
The sober among us had gotten to the restaurant and we had eaten most of our meals by the time the drunks arrived (I guess because we didn’t need to have any drinks before going to the place). That was fine except that the bar wouldn’t separate our checks, and several of the drunks were paranoid about us not leaving them enough money to cover our portion of the bill (perhaps projecting their own math insecurities in their current state). So, we ended up waiting therer while they ate until we could all pay the bill. That was frustrating, especially when two of them spent a lot of time hitting on some gringas, thus taking even longer to finish their meals.
We sober folk eventually got out of there and went to Libby’s and my room for games. As we clame back, we encountered a woman who seemed to be in charge at the hotel, and she informed us that whatever electrical problem they were having wouldn’t be remedied until the morning. No big deal for us. We used the light by our bed to brighten our room and had no difficulty getting enough light for games.
Games were good (cards, Scrabble again), but when Neil and Alisha left, our second fuse blew, leaving nothing but the bathroom light and (thankfully) the A/C. Out of fear of messing anything up, we left the bathroom light on all night and just closed the door. During the night, though, I went to the bathroom, but the light had gone out. At least we didn’t see any cockroaches, right?
The next morning, the frustration continued after a pleasant breakfast and hour or two on the beach. The girl at the hotel front desk was anxiously looking for us because we hadn’t yet paid. Apparently, though no one had told us, they wanted us to pay each day.
So, we went to pay, but because most of the electricity was STILL out (including in our room), the credit card reader didn’t work. And at this late point in the game, we were told that even if it did, they would charge an extra 10%. And most frustrating of all, we were 10,000 colones short ($20) to pay in cash, which seemed like a more-than-reasonable discount for not having had electricity for a day, but the manager was “up in the mountains,” there was no way to get a hold of her, and the girl at the desk wasn’t authorized to make such a decision. I was SO tempted to just give her the money that we had and call it good, but my conscience ended up winning, and we borrowed the money from someone else in our group.
Next frustration: Potential plan changes. The plan had been to stop at Palmares (a national festival that happens once a year) on the way home. In fact, that’s how we chose the beach we went to. However, some people started to suggest that instead we just go straight home. So, a few-hour-long half-hearted discussion ensued before people finally admitted that no matter what the festival were like, it would be more entertaining than sitting at home.
The festival ended up being quite interesting... more borachos (drunks) than I have ever seen before. And not just mildly drunk, but passed out, not moving, face down in the dirt drunk. And a lot of them were young. Early teenager kind of young. We sober folk wandered all over the place trying to find the artisans (which we knew existed but couldn’t find on the map). We eventually found them, but in the meantime got a nice tour of nothing but food places, stages for concerts, and bathrooms (which you had to pay some 7-year-old kid out front to use). When we go to the artisans, Libby bargained to get a few gifts for people.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario