We have been venturing out of Puerto Viejo the past week. Yesterday we rode our bikes to Manzanillo which is right beside the border to Panama. We did about 25 miles of biking and it was over 90 degrees. We were on the beach and I was bitching about how hot it was and I told John it was February and it seemed crazy to both of us!
We are planning a trip to Boca del Toro, Panama next Monday. You have to go through customs and get a ferry over to the island. Costa Rica has become EXTREMELY expensive since we were here last. The only thing that is still cheap here is housing and local produce. A tube of itching cream like Lanacaine costs $15 here! I could go on and on. Most of the time when I feel like we are being gouged I just do what the locals do and do without!!
I keep thinking that I am going to get tired of being here but it hasnt happened yet (I still cant figure out how to get the apostrophe on this keyboard and the guy that works here cant speak English). The hardest part of leaving here and coming back is acclimating to the tropical climate with no air conditioner and then going back to it or even worse - going back to cold weather. John will not be driving a car for more than a month and that is going to be tough to get used to as well.
I have gotten addicted to pipas and I wont be able to get them at home. They are baby coconuts that have been chilled and the vendor takes his machete or knife and opens them up and puts a straw in and you drink the coconut water out of it. It is the most refreshing drink I have ever tasted (except wine). Yesterday there were two little boys on the road selling them and we stopped and bought some - it wasnt like buying lemonade from kids back home and they get so terribly excited to be making money - these kids were helping support their families.
I still love it as much as ever but its definitely all palm frongs and pineapples here - there are definitely some down sides. I have documented everything in photos and will be posting them all as soon as I get back. This is the longest I have been without a computer in 25 years - my hands started shaking when I realized I was totally isolated and then I remembered that I had tucked our phones and charges away in the luggage for when we came back! Voila!!! We have email, Facebook, and I added some money to our Skype accounts so we could call home occasionally. Except for wanting to blog about this trip we are probably better off.
I went through all the analytics with the computer we found the issue to be with the motherboard. It wasnt the power supply as I had originally suspected. The closest computer supply house that I know of around here is in San Jose and they would probably charge me more than the computer is worth. Another reason I havent pursued fixing it any further is because it is still under warranty and if I open the case it will void the warranty. I just wanted to answer the questions we keep getting about how many computer people does it take to fix a computer - LOL!!!
I have got to post a picture of this keyboard when I get back - I am going to end up in a Costa Rican jail somewhere for busting up the keyboard in this Internet cafe - nothing is in the right place and I type faster than I talk so it is making me a little crazy.
We havent seen any indication that there is anymore crime here that there was last time we were here. Several different people told us that they heard things were pretty bad here. Puerto Viejo is very close to the Panamanian border. It could be that the drug trafficers are going through the Central part of the country. Columbia is the biggest drug producer in the world and the US is the biggest consumer so all the countries in between will be affected. I dont know why drug traffic would affect tourists anyway. Can you imagine the man with 1,000 pounds of heroine in his trunk pulling over and snatching someones purse? Surely they screen the runners a little better than that -LOL! I think that the trouble comes in when someone tries to stop them.
There is a lot of marijuana here. You smell it everywhere. A bar down the street had a live band the other night and the drummer was smoking a joint while he was playing - it still amazes me every time I see it.
Hopefully, I will be able to post some pictures soon. I will as soon as I can - these computers are archaic and it will take FOREVER to download.
¡Pura Vida!
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