1/15: parking attendants
(Note: we are currently in an airbnb where the wifi can not support multiple people online, many of whom are streaming or uploading/downloading pictures so I will have to add pictures later.)
We had a leisurely morning. It was about 75 degrees at 8:00am.
Here's what it looks like out the back of the property. Not bad.
And here's the front.
It is a modest home, clearly not built to be a rental, unlike the properties we stayed at in the mountains. First, it was much larger. There were not only two bedrooms but two bathrooms. The floors were worn, tiles were cracked with some permanent stains. The shower had wiring that makes you understand why there is such a thing as code enforcement.
The showerhead that you're looking at has a heating element in it and it generates either a hot dribble or a warm slow flow. Since the air temperature was warm, we didn't really need hot showers but we were hoping not to get electrocuted. I told the girls that I would sing in the shower and if the singing stopped, please see if I am well done. I actually found it enjoyable to sing kid songs in the shower.
When we were finally ready to go, we discovered that the RR wheel was completely flat. Here was the culprit.
Given the rough roads that we had been traveling this was not a surprise but it was still a bummer. There is no "roadside assistance" in Costa Rica so we had to change the tire ourselves, get it fixed if we wanted a working spare, and they would reimburse us for the repair.
Because we had a slow start, our first stop was lunch. Here we are at a table at an outdoor patio in the back of the restaurant, El Milagro.
After lunch, we made our way to a beach and there was a guy whose role apparently was "parking attendant". There were a lot of signs like these posted on the fences:
We're not exactly sure what would happen if you didn't pay the guy but Lara said that there was a time in Spain when if you didn't pay the extortion fee, you would come back to a slashed tire.
We did hear on multiple occasions that you could not leave things in your car because petty thieves would break and take anything of value. The guy from the rental car company explained their techniques and what to do if we did get hit.
I was attacked by ants again. This time you can see the damage more clearly.
The girls enjoyed snorkeling although the water clarity was poor. I enjoyed the Washington Post that was almost a week old and walking along the beach and into the woods.
On the way back to the airbnb, we stopped El Amigo Elias's place to get the flat repaired.
They advertise fast and they were, in fact, pretty fast.
They fixed it while we waited. There's no "waiting area", so we were basically on the shop floor. Insurance companies apparently do not determine architectural design in CR.
Lara has been teaching and testing me on Spanish and she asked me about this sign. They didn't have a bathroom that we could see and apparently don't want you to relieve yourself here either. I wonder what that stain is?
We decided to stop in town for dinner and groceries before going back to the airbnb. The town reminded me of Ocean City. Most of the restaurants were fast food joints and the other shops were full of tourist junk.
When we got the car parked, we were approached by a grizzly old guy with a vest that made me think he was a city employee. When I told him "Yo no hablo Espanol", he said, "No problem - I speak English". I still let Annie and Lara deal with him. He was a self-appointed parking attendant. We decided to move the car because we didn't have small denominations of colones to make him go away.
Honora and I were intrigued with the idea of Chinese food in CR but the place on the main drag looked really terrible. Lara found a place a few blocks away and it was passable Cantonese.
It was a typical Chinese restaurant because there were two kids playing on the floor.
We had a leisurely morning. It was about 75 degrees at 8:00am.
Here's what it looks like out the back of the property. Not bad.
And here's the front.
It is a modest home, clearly not built to be a rental, unlike the properties we stayed at in the mountains. First, it was much larger. There were not only two bedrooms but two bathrooms. The floors were worn, tiles were cracked with some permanent stains. The shower had wiring that makes you understand why there is such a thing as code enforcement.
The showerhead that you're looking at has a heating element in it and it generates either a hot dribble or a warm slow flow. Since the air temperature was warm, we didn't really need hot showers but we were hoping not to get electrocuted. I told the girls that I would sing in the shower and if the singing stopped, please see if I am well done. I actually found it enjoyable to sing kid songs in the shower.
When we were finally ready to go, we discovered that the RR wheel was completely flat. Here was the culprit.
Given the rough roads that we had been traveling this was not a surprise but it was still a bummer. There is no "roadside assistance" in Costa Rica so we had to change the tire ourselves, get it fixed if we wanted a working spare, and they would reimburse us for the repair.
Because we had a slow start, our first stop was lunch. Here we are at a table at an outdoor patio in the back of the restaurant, El Milagro.
After lunch, we made our way to a beach and there was a guy whose role apparently was "parking attendant". There were a lot of signs like these posted on the fences:
We're not exactly sure what would happen if you didn't pay the guy but Lara said that there was a time in Spain when if you didn't pay the extortion fee, you would come back to a slashed tire.
We did hear on multiple occasions that you could not leave things in your car because petty thieves would break and take anything of value. The guy from the rental car company explained their techniques and what to do if we did get hit.
I was attacked by ants again. This time you can see the damage more clearly.
The girls enjoyed snorkeling although the water clarity was poor. I enjoyed the Washington Post that was almost a week old and walking along the beach and into the woods.
On the way back to the airbnb, we stopped El Amigo Elias's place to get the flat repaired.
They advertise fast and they were, in fact, pretty fast.
They fixed it while we waited. There's no "waiting area", so we were basically on the shop floor. Insurance companies apparently do not determine architectural design in CR.
Lara has been teaching and testing me on Spanish and she asked me about this sign. They didn't have a bathroom that we could see and apparently don't want you to relieve yourself here either. I wonder what that stain is?
We decided to stop in town for dinner and groceries before going back to the airbnb. The town reminded me of Ocean City. Most of the restaurants were fast food joints and the other shops were full of tourist junk.
When we got the car parked, we were approached by a grizzly old guy with a vest that made me think he was a city employee. When I told him "Yo no hablo Espanol", he said, "No problem - I speak English". I still let Annie and Lara deal with him. He was a self-appointed parking attendant. We decided to move the car because we didn't have small denominations of colones to make him go away.
Honora and I were intrigued with the idea of Chinese food in CR but the place on the main drag looked really terrible. Lara found a place a few blocks away and it was passable Cantonese.
It was a typical Chinese restaurant because there were two kids playing on the floor.
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