Costa Rica, Day Ten: August 24, 2014
Stressful day, for me, anyway.
The signs that the elevator is broken are gone but were not taking a chance, so we walked up the stairs just before 8:00am.
There were more landslides overnight during that thunderstorm.
We went looking for the snorkel place where we were supposed to be at 8:15 – and rode around for 30 minutes. We had “directions” and a “map” but we still couldn’t find a restaurant called “Gloria and Claudio” where we were supposed to meet.
Tom asked in two other restaurants. It turns out that we weren’t told we were supposed to part on the street and walk up the boardwalk to find Gloria and company.
Finally, at 8:45, we were walking up the boardwalk and someone approached us and asked if we were O’Connors – right place!
She complained that we were keeping everyone else waiting and said to take off our shoes. We started wading through the low-tide mud and surf towards a rubber dinghy that was to take us to the snorkel boat. Tom said NO and we left. The person who met us was astounded that we wouldn’t do that. Fortunately, we had our car there so we weren’t stranded.
In our driving, we had seen a tour place. We went there to sign up for a tour to Nicaragua. We’re not using the tour place here anymore. We signed up for 3 things and got discounts on all, more than what we lost on today’s trip. The guy wanted $150 US in cash as a deposit. The rest could be paid by credit card on the actual trips. We only had $60 between us so we owe him $90 on Monday at the first trip. Watch for Monday’s post!
Upcoming tours: Monday, a different snorkel trip; Tuesday, Nicaragua; Wednesday, break!; Thursday Monteverde; Friday, NYC; Saturday home
Tom got our money back – grudgingly – for today’s trip – I don’t know how he does that.
At 4:00 we were supposed to do a presentation. Over the years, we have done several timeshare presentations. AARRGGHH! It was supposed to be 90 minutes. It turned into 4 hours. We told them we weren’t going to buy but they kept pushing and pushing.
They said they weren’t selling timeshares, they are selling vacations.
It started with lunch/dinner here and the first guy. In passing, he asked about our place here and we mentioned the front light and elevator. He called someone called “Dan” and said he didn’t want something like this interfering with “his sale”.
Then, he took us to Ocotal to see some of the rooms and we talked to another guy.
There were scammy-sounding schemes where we gave them some of our existing timeshares and a pile of money and we would live happily ever after, vacationing all over. We had no way of leaving because we were in the middle of nowhere with no car.
They had some units built and they were building 40 more (construction noise OR an untruth).
Tom gave the second guy suggestions on quitting smoking and agreed to be a contact on LinkedIn.
Finally, they got the message that we would not buy today no matter what and took us back to Coco Bay.
On the way, guy number one asked if our light was fixed, could he make “his sale”. NONONO! English is even his first language. We kept getting big hints that if they didn’t sell 10 of these in some amount of time, he would be fired. Yada Yada, violins in the background.
We got back here and there was a third person for “another company” trying to get some of our money. Apparently the first 2 people had included his “services” in their presentation and he was there seeing if he could salvage anything out of this non-deal.
Finally back up the mountain, down the 4 flights of stairs and our light was fixed. One good thing out of four wasted hours.
Costa Rica, Day Eight: August 22, 2014
A “Rest-Up” Day after Arenal Volcano
We spent a leisurely morning checking the internet and email. In the early afternoon, we got a snorkel trip lined up for Sunday.
Then we set out to find Playa Hermosa. Not too exciting. When we found the beach, an aging hippy materialized from nowhere and demanded money to park on “his beach” so we just left.
When we first came down, I wanted only carryon baggage because our flight times were so tight and there wasn’t much time in New York to get from one terminal to another. I also hate paying checked baggage fees! JetBlue doesn’t have them but our flight from DC to NYC does. So…we didn’t bring some stuff we would normally bring to a place like this, like snorkel, mask and especially fins.
There is no way I will use a snorkel they provide as a loaner. I’m ok with mask and fins but not snorkel. So, we spent the rest of the afternoon in dive shops around looking for two snorkels. The price we paid for those was more than we would have paid for the checked baggage to bring ours from home in. Oh, Well. There was still the time in the airport to consider.
Since it was a boring day, I’ll share some food info…
As I mentioned earlier, beans and rice is the basic variable in almost all Costa Rican cuisine. A typical meal is the casado, the name referring to the eternal “marriage” of its components. Consisting of rice and beans, meat or fish, fried plantains, and a carrot, tomato, and cabbage salad, this basic and well-rounded meal strikes a good nutritional balance.
The plantain, or plántano, is the typical Tico (Costa Rican) snack. It looks like a large banana, but can’t be eaten raw. It is sweet and delicious when fried or baked, and will often accompany most meals. When sliced thinly and deep fried, the plantain becomes a crunchy snack like potato chips.
Arroz is a dish of fried rice which may be offered with chicken (pollo) or shrimp (gambas). For breakfast, it is common to be served a hearty dish of black beans and rice (gallo pinto) seasoned with onions and peppers, accompanied by fried eggs, sour cream, and corn tortillas.