26 May, 2002

A whole month? How the heck did that happen?

Life has continued to serve up an ever-interesting mixture of ups and downs. Round about the end of April we had the unfortunate experience of someone breaking into our integra in an apparent attempt to steal it. Boy, we sure do seem to have a knack for vehicle break-ins in what "should" be safe areas- this time we were parked in downtown Palo Alto at a train parking lot that is within sight of one of the busiest streets in town (Alma, for those who know the area). Needless to say, we weren't very happy with this turn of events, the car is pretty torn up: broken window, dashboard torn apart, alarm horn and wires cut and otherwise damaged, cd changer gone, etc. Not nearly as awful as Sandy's theft, but a vivid reminder that there are some pretty cowardly and empty-souled individuals in the world.

To make matters even worse, we took the car to Cavallino's in Palo Alto, where we got the absolute WORST service we have ever had with getting a car repaired (and we've had more experience than most people!). Not only did it take them over a month to "fix" things, but most of the work they did was done wrong. Really absurdly bad experience. You couldn't pay us to take a vehicle back to that place.

But life is not all downs! The last few weeks have also held some really great moments for us.

Round about the same time we moved into the new house in Los Gatos (an upper in and of itself) we got an email from Jess, who informed us that she and her beau (Ted) were thinking of a trip to Costa Rica of an indefinite length and who offered to cook us dinner and drinks if we would talk at them about our trip. Now, those of you who know us personally know that we aren't the type to refuse good food and grog, and that we love to talk about just about anything, especially if it is about our trip and our future plans!

It took about five minutes for us to decide that these two are our kind of people- cold Pacifico, hot bbq'ed shellfish, and a running conversation that danced along merrily during the entirety of our visit with them. Fun!

And speaking of fun... to celebrate Bb's birthday our pal Super-B (aka Brian) helped us throw a huge bash at his family's cabin in Ben Lomond. A long day of hot weather, cold river, great friends and delicious barbecue in a fabulous setting made for some very pooped people the next morning, but everyone seems to agree that it was well worth it.

One of the highlights (there were many) of the party was that it coincided with a visit from our Idaho relatives, Kelley and Lori whose visit also prompted a trip to Half Moon Bay with the dogs. Whew! Busy month. Lots of fun.

28 July, 2002

YAY!!!!! We are back in Costa Rica!!!

Didn't drive this time, not enough time, not enough energy. We're only here for two months, until we fly back to California to attend some very important weddings and to make a final decision regarding the disposition of Sandy. Yup, that's right, Sandy is for sale. Sorta. Basically we are trying to make the decision to lose outrageous amounts of money by selling her in California or to spend outrageous amounts of money down here to legally import her. Talk about a rock and a hard place. If you are interested in buying yourself a fantastic cruiser, drop us an email and we'll talk.

After an uneventful flight down on the 27th, we met up with Vanessa at the airport and she whisked us off to her beautiful hilltop house overlooking most of the Meseta Central (central mesa, the valley within which San Jose is located). While driving through the pleasantly cool and moist night air we couldn't stop remarking to ourselves and to one-another how good it feels to be back, and how much we've missed Costa Rica. The next two months are going to be tough- we've got to finalize our vehicle decision, look for work, figure out where to live, and get all of our various left-behind things organized.

30 July, 2002

Yesterday we spent a great day getting back into the spirit of being in Costa Rica. Opened a bank account, ate tipico food (fried chicken, beans, rice, plantains, salad), shopped downtown, took the bus back, shopped in downtown Atenas, and cabbed it home in the pouring rain to enjoy an evening of thunder and more rain.

Being down here without Sandy is a strange feeling for us. For the last couple of years that truck has been the closest thing to "home" that we've had. Now not only do we have to rely on public transportation (not hard down here) but we also feel as if we are missing a part of our identity.

Steve did spend some time this morning with the paper and on the phone looking at our vehicle purchase options. So far it is looking like the high price of importing Sandy may turn out to be worth it as buying a replacement would cost an awful lot of money too, and most of the replacements are crap. But it has only been one day, too early to jump to conclusions.

Today we spent most of our time digging through the junk we left behind a year ago and discovering that most of the clothes are in serious need of a little cleanup (light mildew.... everywhere.... phew!), doing some laundry, updating the site, and generally enjoying what has been described as "the most pleasant climate in the world". So far, no complaints!

Huge anthill in the backyard	happy to be back in paradise	the neighbor's calf at sunset	Steve and Vanessa gather oranges

2 August, 2002

Farmer's Market! Beebee loves farmer's markets.

We made it down to the one in Atenas a little late, but still had a nice time poking around. It was smaller than the one to which we were accustomed in Escazu, but that's ok. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Most notable among our finds was this head of broccoli- as pictured we had already pulled off a big chunk with which to make soup. What was left over is till about the same size as Steve's computer (that's a full-size keyboard, by the way).

3-8 August 2002

Wow! What luck. Last weekend we headed out to the "finca" (farm) in Orotina to spend the weekend with Vanessa's family. In addition to enjoying a really nice time swimming, eating fresh fruit and helping out at the family's nursery/tree farm we also managed to get an invitation to head out the the beach house near Malpais, on the Nicoya Peninsula with Jose, Vanessa's brother.

On Monday we gathered up our stuff and jumped on the hour-long bus from Atenas to Orotina, where Jose and Felipe (a cousin) picked us up and drove us out to Puntarenas to get on the ferry over the peninsula. We had a long, hot wait at the ferry before we could cross (they only run a few times per day) but Felipe and Jose were happy to run into some friends from when they were younger and we all headed out to the house together.

The road from the ferry point to the house was pretty rough, mostly dirt and mud the whole way, but we made it fine. Riding in the back of an extra cab pickup isn't exactly luxury on the freeway, mind you, on bumpy, muddy roads at night in the heat it is even less luxurious. But it sure beats the bus!

The house is great. The feature we found most enchanting was the "mirador"- a thatch roof hut on the tip of the hill with a view of nothing but trees and ocean. There is a loft up top too and a ladder. Vanessa had told us that it was the best place there to sleep so we dragged a mattress down from the house and set up our own little room there. Fantastic! Hot, yes, but not terrible and amazingly there were very few biting bugs at night.

For the next several days we spent our time reading, sleeping and going to the beach. Steve and Beebee are excited that we have gotten much closer to a clear idea of the Perfect Property that we would like to buy someday. Haven't found it yet, but at least we've hammered out a few more of the details.

Beautiful beach just down the road from the house	Jose, Beebee, Felipe, Steve	Steve shooting the dozens of moths that came to visit when we left the light on for a few hours	cute little crab that almost pinched Bb's toe the first morning

9-10 August, 2002

We had a few hours to kill waiting for the ferry back to Puntarenas, so while Steve and Beebee ate lunch at a cute little "soda" (local term for a small eatery) Jose and Felipe struck up a conversation with two gringos who were also waiting for the ferry. Well, it turned out that Joe and Nicole had been having a rough day- while they were snapping a photo of the beach near Montezuma, some jerk broke into their rental car and stole all of their personal papers, money, and credit cards. So... no passport, no cash, no credit, no plane tickets and these two still have four days left in Costa Rica. Needless to say, their vacation had taken a downturn.

After chatting with them for a while Jose invited everyone back to the finca in Orotina to take a swim and use the phone. Once we got there, Steve called Vanessa to see if we could squeeze everyone in at her place. Mind you, while we were at the beach three more guests (from Spain) had arrived. Despite the lack of any real space, Vanessa unhesitatingly invited everyone to come back to her house where we could somehow make do.

After several phone calls to/from the US to get things squared with their families, we figured out how to get some cash from their family to our account in the US, then on Saturday we hit an ATM and.... bam! they suddenly had some money again! Now, we are pretty big fans of the Internet (obviously) but this is certainly one of the most useful things that we have ever done online. Steve is still a little awed at how easy it was to transfer money through three parties and across thousands of miles without using anything more than email, paypal and an ATM card. Pretty cool.

After taking care of all that we could regarding new passports, plane tickets and cash, we all decided to poke around San José for a few hours. We had a great time in the Mercado Central and enjoyed a spectacular sunset at the Teatro Nacional and as we headed out of town back to Atenas.

11 August, 2002

Worked on the site, ate a great lunch in Atenas after hanging out for a little while. Did a really frustratingly slow upload at the internet cafe, enjoyed a nice, solid rainstorm all evening.

Palms by the church in Atenas	Vanessa, Nicole, Joe, Pablo, Christina, Manolo, Steve wait for a yummy Argentinean lunch	Beebee, Joe and Nicole hang out in Atenas by the park

We also found some "old" pictures that never made it onto the site, enjoy!

View from the road approaching Papantla, Mexico	Jellies in Monterey	Tattered, but still in use. Granada, Nicaragua	Yosemite with family

12 August, 2002

Nice mellow day at Vane's house today until we walked down to catch the bus for San José. Unfortunately, we got to the bus station at 3:28 to discover that the 3:30 bus was either a) nonexistent, or b) had already left. Steve says "a" Beebee says "b", not the least because Steve was holding up the show a little when we left and we probably would have made the bus if we had left just a little earlier.

But we did make it down the San José eventually to meet up with everyone and were happy to hear that Joe and Nicole had gotten their rental car and emergency passports taken care of with no problems. Steve was also excited to pick up some slides he had processed. The Fuji lab seems to have done a great job and it was amazingly cheap- only about seven dollars for three rolls!! Of course, it would have cost $3/roll to have them framed, and Steve chose not to this time (easier to store the roll than the framed slides) but that is still a great deal.

At 8:30 Vane picked us all up and we headed out to the "Jazz Cafe" in San Pedro. Wow! Great place: dark and cozy, big stage to which most of the seats are close, only holds about 200 people, dinner and drinks are served while you watch the band. The main event was an eclectic band with an international flavor. The band was made up of three guys on bongo-like drums, one sitar, one dijeridoo, and one bigger drum. Various other people joined in at various times with other instruments. Fun show to watch.

14 August, 2002

Spent the day in Sarchí, a small town near Grecia, which is a medium sized town not that far from San José. Ok, "spent the day" there isn't quite right. Mostly we spent the day getting there and getting back. Sarchí is only about 20 miles from Atenas, but to get there we spent an hour on a bus to San José, then another hour to get to Grecia, then another little while to get to Sarchí. To get back we spent over an hour to get to Alajuela, then waited an hour for the almost-hour-long bus to Atenas. That's a lot of sitting time. In Tico "Mis nalgas estan cuadradas" (My butt is square). We could have reduced total travel time a little bit by skipping San José, but we had to go there for Joe and Nicole's plane tickets. What a hassle that was for them! The tickets were sent DHL on Saturday, but didn't arrive here until Wednesday. As a reference- Beebee has sent jewelry to the states via regular old Costa Rican airmail dozens of times and it nearly always arrives in six days or less… and is always much less than the $40 some-odd that DHL charged. Oh, and after all of that waiting they went ahead and delivered it to the wrong DHL office.

The only good thing that came of fetching the tickets (other than the pleasure of having the tickets, which was considerable!) was that we got to poke around San José a bit more and Steve ended up finding us a great little eatery (a "soda" here) where we feasted on Pollo Caribeño (Chicken w/ spices and coconut) and "Riceandbeans" (said just that way, is rice and beans cooked in coconut milk). Super-yummy food, but the best part of the lunch was a ginger-ale-esque beverage that was simply delicious! All that for a mere $3/person.

And we had a great time in Sarchí, mostly looking at handicrafts, for which the town is famous. The most typical of which are the hand-painted wooden oxcarts made there. We seem to have missed most of the artists as we arrived to the oxcart "fabrica" at about 4:45, but there were plenty of their wares on display and we enjoyed poking around the relatively cool town. The town itself is also quite lovely with a beautiful church and colorful wagon-wheels everywhere. Even the trash cans are hand-painted.

We finally made it home at 8:30pm, which is well after dark, in the rain. Everyone here was on the way to bed as they had a 5am date with a river-rafting company, so we all called it an early evening.

Joe, Nicole, Bb, Steve in front of a huge wheel replica	"Gaudy English Spoken Here"	Sandy's replacement?	The oxcart factory