Just when you think it can't work out...

11/12/07
Day #7 without a car and no complaints. There is plenty of stuff to do around the house and yard, plus everything is within walking distance so it’s not too difficult. Even during the hottest part of the day it’s not so bad since there’s always the ocean nearby to cool off. Yesterday was my first solo venture – I rode our new bike to the Mini Super for groceries. Even though I went at 9:30 in the morning, there were already men outside the store drinking beer (it seems to be a popular way to pass the time). I guess when your day starts at 5 am, by the time 9:30 rolls around the day is already half over

Our weekend was very tranquilo and we stayed very close to home. We saw neighbor Barry on the beach on Saturday evening and ended up sitting and talking to him for quite a while; he offered some interesting insight on some of our other neighbors and had absolutely nothing but good things to say about our landlords. We plan to invite him over for dinner soon.

11/14/07
We found out today that our car has not yet shipped out of Florida. We were given a shipping schedule which dictated our plan to go without a car for the week before our own car arrived. The schedule said the ship carrying our car would leave on November 10th and arrive on November 17th, and now they say it will not ship out until Friday the 16th. The logistics company shipping the car left us with the impression that they would ship all the necessary documents to us via UPS. (I was told there was a $65 fee for shipping the docs, unless we had a UPS account number of our own…now what would that lead you to believe?) So we provided them with the address of the UPS office in Tamarindo; the way UPS works here is when your envelope arrives in their office, they call to determine the exact delivery location (they only ship documents, no packages) and to make sure someone will be there to sign for the shipment, then they bring it out to you on motorcycle. We have been hounding the logistics company for tracking information, and finally received an e-mail on Friday saying they had shipped the docs via USPS Global Mail. USPS? Are you kidding me?! So now we’ve got a USPS shipment going to a UPS office for final delivery. Tim has been calling every morning to see if it has arrived and so far no luck. Our new friend in the UPS office, Rodolfo, says he’s looking for it and will set it aside and call us when it arrives. Hope he’s on duty if/when the envelope arrives. What’s in this important envelope, you ask? The original title to our car, plus the export manifest signed off on by US customs…documents that must be in our possession to retrieve our car from customs on this end. It’s the waiting that’s killing us right now, not knowing if the docs will make it, and not knowing what we will do in the event that they don’t.

To top everything off, the phones have been out all day. Welcome to Costa Rica!

11/17/07
Day #12 without a car

The days just kind of blend together and most are about the same right now. We clean up the house, we walk the dogs on the beach, we piddle around in the yard, we take turns riding the bike to the store for a couple more days’ food & beverage, we trek to Rudy’s to check the internet, we cook, we wash clothes, etc. We don’t do all of these things every day, but over the course of the last week I couldn’t tell you which days we did what. A couple of days stand out…

We had a productive day around the house on Thursday and decided to treat ourselves not only to wireless internet service at Rudy’s but also dinner (I’d cooked for many, many days in a row). We needed a couple of things from the Mini Super too, which is conveniently located just up the road from Rudy’s. As we got close to Rudy’s, what looked like a small parade was heading our way on the road. There were several guys out in front, and then a backhoe with 2 guys in the front end loader – each with a machete in one hand and a beer in the other. As the thing crept along the road, the guys in the front end loader whacked low-hanging branches out of the way, and the entourage on the ground tossed them to the sides of the road. All of this was to make way for a huge 18-wheeler inching its way along the pot-holed roads behind the backhoe and all the guys following. It turned out to be a jobsite office trailer being hauled down to a site near our house, where a multi-million dollar condo project is getting underway.

After we got our fill of dinner and surfing the net, I walked to the store to pick up the things we needed and went back to Rudy’s, where Tim was waiting with the computer packed up and flashlight ready for the 30+ minute walk home in the dark (it was about 7). We were about 2/3 of the way home and coming down a slight incline when I slipped on the rocks in the road and fell down on one knee. It happened really fast and I was back up in a second, but I skinned my knee all up and punctured the side of my knee on a sharp rock. Tim wanted to check it out and as soon as I saw it in the light I didn’t want to look at it anymore. My lower leg was all bloody and even thinking about it made my stomach turn. I just wanted to get home because I knew there wasn’t anything we could do about it in the dark on the road, and anyway we still had to get home no matter what. Tim was worried about me because as soon as I saw the blood I started sweating profusely, so he didn’t know if I was really OK or not. We got home and cleaned it up and saw that it was only a skinned knee (skinned and really bruised). Skinned knees hurt – how did I manage to go through childhood with one or both knees always scabby?

Friday was a mellow day around the house, with many phone calls made to determine the whereabouts of the documents we need to retrieve the Montero from customs when it arrives (which is now supposed to be 11/19). We still do not know where the docs are or when/if they will make it to us. We are both ready to have this mess sorted out as it is driving us both crazy. We try to talk about other stuff, because it is a source of frustration and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. If you’re ever thinking if shipping anything internationally, I do NOT recommend using Ultimate Logistics.

As we were moping around the house on Friday afternoon, we heard a truck go by and honk twice. We looked at each other and Tim said, “Fish truck?” and went out to see. It did indeed turn out to be the fish truck; Steve told us they come through on Fridays, and it just so happened that our neighbor Barry had asked them to come all the way to the end of the road so he could buy fish. We bought a kilo of dorado and a kilo of tuna fresh off the truck. It’s funny but our sour moods turned around after buying fish, since we remembered the little things that we love about living here like the fact that fresh fish comes right to your front door!

Last week we were faced with the wonderful conundrum of having a beautiful sunset taking place in front of us while a double rainbow formed to our backs. Which way to look? With or without a car, life here is pretty amazing.

11/19/07
Today we got a call saying the documents have arrived! Tim leaves tomorrow for Puerto Limon to pick up the car. All is right with the world again!