Sept 2008

Sept 2008. NY to CR

We are back in Nosara and adjusting to our way of life here—it is intense and rugged here and your emotions can easily go up and down—and it is also beautiful and natural.

The last three weeks of August, Joe and I visited family and friends and we had several days together in NYC. It was good to see everyone but it was hectic and we didn’t see everyone we wanted to see. While we were in NY Joe had a physical and the MD was concerned that Joe’s years of smoking may have resulted in mouth cancer- luckily it wasn’t. Then I broke a tooth from a filling falling out. I was able to wait till we got to San Jose, where I went to Prisma Dental, www.prismadental.com, —my new crown cost $250—and the care was excellent.

While in NYC Joe and I visited several bars—the best was the Blind Tiger Ale House in Greenwich Village: great beer, a great owner, and a friendly environment. Our 2nd favorite was 4th Avenue Bar in Brooklyn, near the Atlantic/Pacific stop in Park Slope. It is too new to be in the guide books and it has CASK beer, friendly staff and patrons, and it is still a neighborhood bar. We were told about it from the guys at the Black Sheep (Brooklyn has its own Black Sheep Pub). My sister came down for one day with my 10 year old nephew—after looking at the lines to the Empire state building, we invited them to the Blind Tiger Ale House for lunch and we had a nice visit walking around the village. Jeremiah has changed so much in one year—last year we were worried about him on the crowded subways because he was so small-- now he can hold his own.

Our trip back to Costa Rica was initially uneventful. We had bought a lot of goods in San Jose and hired a van to take us to Nosara—while en route we heard about flooding in Nosara and were advised to stay in Nicoya. While we were looking for a hotel, we got a call from a mechanic who had our car and said it may not be fixable-- we did not know why Gunter had taken the car to a mechanic and we tried think about it too much until we got the full story. The first hotel we looked at was on fire!!—as we pulled up so did the fire engines and black smoke was coming out of the entrance!! After several tries, we found a hotel and the next day we decided to hire 2 4 wheel drive taxis to Nosara. We were told that if we left early while the tides were low we should be able to cross the bridges. The ride went well until the Santa Marta Bridge which is quite close to our house. As we approached, the mud was thick and though the tide was low, the bridge was damaged and not passable. A local Costa Rican recognized Joe from the Black Sheep and arranged for his friend with a pick-up to meet us on the other side of the bridge. His friend turned out to be Valentin, a young man who had rescued us from the mud with a tractor 2 years ago. This time he backed up his pickup onto the bridge and we walked our stuff from our taxis to his vehicle-- 2 kegs of beer, CO2 tank, several cases of beer, several suitcases, boxes, groceries, and plants we bought in San Jose. We got home and then realized we did not have our phone. No car, no phone--boy did we feel beaten down. Over the next two days we discovered that we had left the phone in the Nicoya taxi. With our neighbors, Eric and Lenore’s help—they had stopped by to see how we were--we dialed our phone number and the driver answered. Joe spoke with him and he agreed to send the phone by bus Monday morning. We were not sure he would actually send it, but he did!! As you can imagine, we were overjoyed to get our phone back and also very thankful that we do not have to go to the trouble of getting a new phone.

Now we have to worry about the car but for now we are stranded in paradise. Come visit in the dry season—it is not so dramatic. Despite the surreal feeling of trying to deal with all of this, it is great to be back. Love Joe and Helena