GITANA CORAZON

I have been  writing a journal of our time in Costa Rica. Here are the first 3 days of our journey. I will post more everyday till your caught up. Im still behind, catching up to writing in the moment...I LOVE YOU ALL...
Monday May 3rd , 2010
The adventure begins!
5:30 am St. Augustine, Florida
The alarm goes off and I wake at Rich and Chrissy’s . The  house is dark, quiet and not even Kevin is ready to wake. Our shuttle to the Orlando airport picks us up in an hour. I sneak downstairs for my last shower in the states, so much different than what I would experience in the first 10 days of  our journey in Costa Rica. If I knew then what I know now…that shower would have lasted a lot longer…
Leaving a “love note” for Rich and Chrissy, thanking them for their kindness and help in our last days in the here, was my last thing to do. Having no car or a place to stay proved to be a challenge they were willing to rescue us from.(I am eternally grateful for the friends who have helped us along the way on this Gypsy Heart journey.)I got Kevin up in time to get it together, as the driver was right on time …at 6:30 am he pulled into the driveway. On time, but in true St. Augustine fashion, complaining about the long boards…lol.
The ride was quiet and dreary. Melancholy? Pensive? Excited? Yes.
We arrive on schedule.  No problemo. Then we go to check in our bags. Funny how you can whittle your whole life down to a suit case and a carry-on, and it still not meet the weight requirements to fly. A few hundred dollars later and some juggling of items in said suitcases, we where on the flight.
Off we go…
10:00 am Orlando, Florida
1/2 hour till our flight leaves for San Jose Costa Rica...waiting at the airport, Kevin eats his last McDonalds breakfast while I opt for an everything bagel, toasted, with cream cheese and coffee.
Arrival in San Jose
12:15 pm San Jose, Costa Rica
As we are getting off the plane the flight attendant says, "Did you have a good nap?" Funny, don’t exactly remember sleeping. On JetBlue, the planes have TV's in the back of the seats and  I do remember watching Johnny Depp in ‘Alice in Wonderland‘. I also remember ordering a Bloody Mary. I found my self wondering if I was snoring as I disembarked the plane.
Finding our baggage, going through customs and seeking out our driver of the Costa Rica Shuttle was all pretty easy. Soon we were on the road to Quepos to meet Ben at the Best Western on the bay front.
The drive, of 3 hours, went fast. Looking back I don’t remember much of the ride, the terrain or what I saw out those shuttle windows...makes me wish I would have started this journal sooner. Kevin reminded me of the Imperial beer we had the driver stop and get to drink on the ride, reminiscent of our taxi ride in Roatan.
Meeting up with Ben
3 pm Quepos Costa Rica
No sooner did we pull up to the bay front and we see Ben walking up. We were so happy to find him so easily. So far everything has gone off without a hitch...smooth sailing into our new life...or so it seemed.
We all jumped back into the shuttle, as Ben had some groceries to pick up and we wanted to pick up a few things like rum and dog food for Pixie. (who, by the way, is now the jet setting-est poodle in the world. She sat quietly on my
lap the whole fight under my jacket, instead of in her carrier...what a good girl she was!)
So we had the driver stop at Pali, the Costa Rican Walmart...owned by them and all. Its a bare bones little grocery, a la Save-a-lot, but they have the basics at a good price and is a local favorite.
Funny thing is...when the guys returned to the shuttle bus, Kevin had spent 20 colones or $40... and Ben had spent none. This should have been a red flag, but we were so happy to be in Costa that we just took note and overlooked the incident.
So, off we go to the harbor to take the water taxi to Playa Cocal, where we will be officially residing. As we arrived at the harbor, it was nothing that I had expected. It was a small river like inlet that was full of fishing boats and water taxis. Seemed small enough to just have at least a foot bridge, because at low tide all the fishing boats are lying on their sides, but water taxi is the way to go.
Once we reached the other side, we had to wait for Jason, the island taxi guy to finish up with some clients bringing cinder blocks to their land.  Jason has a small pick up truck that he runs up and down the 1km stretch of road in Cocal. Without Jason, or a bike, walking is the only way to get you and your stuff home…or to town. Soon enough we were loading up Jason’s truck with our suitcases and surfboards heading for Casa de Rasta.
Arrival at the Casa
4;30 pm Casa de Rasta Playa Cocal Costa Rica
Pulling up out front and unloading, the property was exactly what I expected. Pictures don’t lie. It was quaint and primitive. Yet, fundamentally had all you needed. It was pretty with all its young coconut palms, banana trees, birds of paradise, almond trees , hibiscus, noni, mango, among other indigenous plants. I could easily see the future here when these all mature. A tropical garden oasis…gotta love it.
We met Dan, our adopted “head camper”. The one person chosen by Ben and Lori to be the 3rd person in this labor intensive, watch your back life on Cocal. The person they chose to be the one to make our life here easier. Then, later in the night learn that Dan might just up and leave us in 3 months. Funny how stories change after time.
We were given a tour and educated on the ways of the land and property, your daily to-do list , all chores that need to be done and how often.
We also met our new pets, Tavo the dog and Nalu the cat…and were given a run down on the rules of the animals.
Tavo seems to be a Retriever/Chow mix. Sweet as can be. Nalu? Barely 4lbs….just like Pixie. Love him, my Pixie sized black and white kitty.
Beers and rum drinks were shared, a large Tico meal, a casado, prepared for all. Black beans, rice, tuna along with a cabbage and carrot salad piled on our plates.
Riley and Taylor, Ben and Lori’s kids are adorable, but as different as night and day. 7 month old, Taylor, is outgoing and funny. While 20 month old Riley, shy and introverted.  We were told Riley was the reason for their return to the states. She wasn’t developing properly…not talking yet.
Good night Costa Rica
9pm Casa de Rasta Campground
A lot to take in during one day. The sun goes down here promptly at 6:00 pm, and rises almost exactly 12 hours later. We retire to our tent, a small blue tent with 2 foam pads to sleep on. Not bad, till it rained. Our feet got wet, but we were so tired that we just slept though it all.

Tuesday May 4th, 2010
Day  One …a Full Day in Costa
6 am Casa de Rasta Campground
The funny thing about Costa Rica is everything …wakes with the sun. People, radios, dogs …and roosters. The sun is up by 6am, the locals up by 5:30.  Music bumping from the neighbors casa, dogs barking and rosters crowing. This is the typical morning on Cocal. Ben prepares a large breakfast of coffee, eggs, beans and rice. Hearty as all hell, considering I am not a breakfast person….but I guess this is the Costa Rican way.
Quepos . . . Local Style
10am Downtown Quepos
Well, with a hearty breakfast and a good nights sleep I decide to take Lori up on her offer to show me around downtown in Quepos. We take the bike and Riley. Riley sits comfortably in her bike seat and Lori pushes the bike. Seems that both bikes we were promised they would leave for us to use are broken. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but broken promises, half-truths or the “Tico Way” permeated our information once we arrived to the Casa.
Taking off from the Casa, the walk to the water taxi seemed so different than the ride in form Jason. Walking has a way of slowing down the average person just enough to take in, absorb, their surroundings. Tin shacks, barbed-wire property lines, dogs wandering freely. All this, mixed in with more stable “structures”, canopies of almond trees, tropical flowers and plants…and Ticos. Children playing marbles in the dirt street, elder women sitting in the shade, and the occasional passer by on bike or even dirt bike. I felt comfortable walking this path to town, a stranger in a strange place. Oh, and I forgot…Tavo was with us! When we boarded the water taxi, Tavo jumped in the water and swam along with the boat to the other side, following us all through town. Tavo the wonder dog! He’s amazing…LOL.
I can honestly say, I got the whirl-wind walking tour of downtown Quepos.  With bike, Riley and Tavo in tow, Lori points out all the key places to know and go. The internet café, book store, travel agent, bank, Pali, Super Mas, the butcher, post office, the bakery, where to get what and above all else, the Chicken on the Run. Costa Ricas answer to fast food. At this point, my head is spinning and I feel more lost than centered. I was left with no real understanding of the layout of the town and how each place related to the other in distance or via landmark. But, it was all OK, I at least knew that I could find much of what I would need in this maze of information.
I have to admit, the highlight of the tour was Tavo. He knew his way around town as well as Lori. I made a mental note that maybe it would be a good idea to bring Tavo with me, once I got the nerve to make the trip into town alone. As impressed as I was, the people at the Pali weren’t so thrilled to see Tavos navigational skills. He followed us right in, soon after with clerks casing him around the store waving brooms at him …what a sight!
Somewhere in the beginning of our downtown journey, we locked the bike up at a bank. Once all the errands and tour was complete we picked up the bike, put Riley and the groceries in it and took off for home. I must say that the route back to the bike was starting to look familiar…there was hope! I’d caught some sense of direction on this trip. Until the walk back to the water taxis had me lost again. Just as my head was at the peak of spinning around, Lori showed me a house where a woman puts out star fruit for the locals to take. What an awesome surprise! Unfortunately, to this day I cannot find the woman’s house with the free star fruit.
Along the way, back I took command of pushing the bike filled with groceries while Lori carried Riley. With help from the taxi drivers I was able to navigate the laden bike up and down the steep inclines to and from the water. Hours had passed on our trip to town and the journey back up the dirt road in Cocal to the Casa, putting us in the
heat of the day. My body was sore and I was over heated, but I continued pushing the grocery laden broken bicycle down the dirt road. Admittedly, during the walk back the cool feelings of comfort experienced on the way out had dissipated. The road seemed to never end until Lori asked if I knew where I was. Was she kidding? I was lost, hot and hurting, I had no idea where I was. She informed me that just past the coconut tree up ahead was the Casa. Finally! By the time I got the bike on the property, Kevin came out to greet us. All I could say was, “Please come get this bike!”
Wore out and ready for sleep
8:30pm Casa de Rasta Campground
While we were gone the guys had set us up in a bigger tent, an orange one, next to Dan’s cabina. It was defiantly bigger, roomier inside and stayed dry. Before we went to sleep, Kevin and I started talking about how some of the information we were given had been contradicted and how we were seeing a pattern of not treating Dan real well, but also, that Dan is adverse to physical labor. We even started noticing inconsistencies in the information Ben and Lori were giving about land ownership, their owing of the property…and the likely-hood that they actually owned the property was questionable. Their light & funny comments, along with truths coming out in general conversation, brought our inquisitive, analytical minds to a peak.

Wednesday May 5th, 2010
The Root of all Evil
8 am Casa de Rasta
After another large breakfast, this morning I was asked to pay the difference we owe to Ben & Lori for 1 years rent at the Casa. I had already sent $200 via Western Union and another $200 directly deposited into their US account, even before we got here. So. I doled out another $200 and told them when I could get to my other money, locked in their safe, I would give them the rest. Kevin was a little pissed that the monies got exchanged because we were gong to be stuck sleeping in a tent for 10 days…not the 2-3 we were told. It winds up they had to wait 12 days to get little Taylor’s passport. But, rest assured, Ben wasn’t going to start our “lease” till the 15th.
We were told that $200 of the money we sent went to fixing a water tower (before we got there) so that we would be assured water.  You see,  we are hooked up to public water, un-metered. This means that during the day, when everyone else, with meters, are using the water, you get none. There is a sign on the campers shower that says “beach shower, best pressure 7pm-7am”. Its more like 9pm-5am, but who’s counting. To cure the daily lack of water, Ben installed an eco-tank. At night, when the public pressure is there, it fills up and you have water to last the next day. Dan backed this story of rebuilding, but it wasn’t quite what they had said. The old water tower was built on a pile of sandbags and was getting ready to fall over. Seems like it would have to be done either way… not “just for us”…and surely a pile of cinder blocks installed by Ben and Dan doesn’t cost $200. Anyway…
Day of the Dentist
10 am Downtown Quepos
Come to find that both Ben & Lori have dental appointments today. Lori at 11am and Ben at 4:30pm. Kevin and I decide to walk to town with Lori to get lunch and go to the Pali. We find our way around without much problem, with quick directions from Lori before she ducked into the dentist. Across from Pali is Chicken on the Run. Kevin is
hungry and in need of a fried food fix, so he tried it out. Turns out Chicken on the Run is damn good. Hell yeah,
cheap good fast food for Kev’s. After, off to the Pali. We found what we needed, easily navigating the small grocery.
It’s been about an hour and a half, at least, Lori must be done by now. We go by and check, not ready yet. So, to kill time we shop at the little “tourist shops” in Centro, the middle of downtown where the bus station is. After checking-out hammock prices, I buy a little glass pipe. Turns out, Jason, the island taxi guy is the herb connection, and we had made a purchase with Ben. So, a new little pipe seemed appropriate. With Lori still in the chair, we decide to have a beer at a spot a few blocks up form the dentist, directly across from the bus station. We each had a Pilsen and talked about the possibilities we have in front of us, running a surf camp, while watching tourists pour off the string of busses pulling in and out of the station. It’s now close to 3pm and Lori is finally finished with her dental work. After following her on a hunt for baby wipes, we head home hot and tired.
Dinner with a Large Side of Questions
7pm at the Casa
Tonight I decide to cook dinner. I thought it would be nice, since Ben had been preparing meals for the time since we arrived. Plus, I knew that Kevin and Dan would be hungry. So, I did my best to concoct a tomato sauce with the fresh tomatoes and foreign ingredients we purchased from the Pali, meatballs and all. It was well received and we had leftovers. Lori, who announced she didn’t eat meatballs, even had one with her pasta. Not bad for a non-traditional red sauce. Funny thing was, while I was cooking, Ben tried to take over, locking me out of the house. There is a latch on each side of the door that locks it closed. Once I had gotten in, Ben proceeded to inform me that he filled the small pot with as much pasta as it cold hold. A complete waste of my pasta purchase, as there was only enough sauce for just the right amount of pasta. After dinner, I cleaned up the dishes. We had a beer with our hosts and off to the tent we went.
Talking about it, we thought it was obvious that without the money we had given Ben and Lori, they probably wouldn’t be having dental work or purchasing the plane tickets they waited till the last minute to buy. Especially since, as they talk with us, it is becoming more clear that maybe they weren’t leaving because of Riley, but because of financial problems. Even in Costa Rica, its expensive to raise a family of four.  Outside of things grown here, food prices are the same as in the states. This in a country where the typical Tico makes $300 a month. Not to mention having no real steady income. I know from looking at the website, that the Casa de Rasta has not hosted 150 paying campers in the past year, as Ben tried to tell us. It seemed as though they were lucky to have a pair of guests a month for up to 5 days at a time. Friday they have guests booked, so we will see how much income can really be generated, among other things.