Don't drink the water...

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This is our last day at the Villa on the beach until we come back in 6 days. It's been a very relaxing week and we really haven't done anything very exciting. After reading the Internet news in the morning (yes we even read the Kansas City Star), we have breakfast, take a walk on the beach and then decide whether to sit under the trees and watch the ocean (while reading a book) or go to the pool (and read a book). Either way we stay in the shade so although we have gotten a little color, we're being careful and haven't gotten burned. We are only eating two meals--a late breakfast and an early dinner. We're usually the first ones at a restaurant and are back 'home' when all of the younger surfers hit the town.

The second night that we were here we drove into town and decided to have some fresh fish and then purchase some to take back to our villa to fix for another night. We had a delicious Grouper dish over brown rice. We brought our own bottle of wine and they gave us drinking glasses to drink it. It's mainly a fish market (run by Canadians) but they do a little cooking and it's part of a bunch of stores, restaurants, and bars that form around a square where they have tables set up to eat outside. We made the mistake of asking for water with our fish and the waitress brought us tap water. In our villa, we have a regular water dispenser that they replace when empty so we don't drink the tap water there. Jim was not affected (probably resistance built up from all his previous adventures in tropical climates) but Karen woke up that night with a bad stomach and for the next 6 days hasn't felt like she should. She finally went to the doctor today and got some meds so hopefully the rest of our trip will be better. Along with meds the doctor said she should drink Gateraid or Poweraid. We bought some and drank it but when Karen told Tara (owner of the villas) she said coconut milk has lots of nutients and electrolights so Brad, her husband, found a coconut, cut it open and brought me some fresh coconut milk. It's very watery and not much flavor but so far so good!

We mentioned the Howler Monkeys around here last year but it's hard to get a picture of them. We usually hear them early in the morning. If you didn't know better, you'd think a huge gorilla was out there making a lot of noise. They are black and about the size of a chimpanzee (at least that's what they look like high up in the trees). They are aptly named!

The iguanas are all around and are fun to watch. They don't hurt anyone (although we were told they eat flowers). It's not unusual to see 3 or 4 of them around the edge of the patio where the pool is or climbing up or down the tree.

We had an interesting experience with a loaf of bread. We bought a long skinny loaf of bread in a brown bag at the store and were planning to have it when we cooked the fish or when we made spaghetti. We left it on the counter over night. When Karen reached to open the bag, she found it covered with small brown ants (they'd either come through the closed window? or through the electric plug in). We hadn't noticed any on the counter near the bread. Anyway, we threw it outside and the next morning, the whole brown bag was intact and all of the bread was gone. No ants on the bag either. We don't know if there were a lot more ants, if an iguana ate it or some other night creature but the untorn bag makes it a mystery.

We've taken some pictures of the flowers around, of the pool and rancho where we eat breakfast.

Tomorrow we drive back to catch the ferry and then drive up in the mountains to Monteverde & the Cloud Forest. We believe the trip will take about 5 hours (not counting the time we have to wait for the ferry). It's only about 50 miles so you can get an idea of the roads. The next blog will be from there (if we can get on the Internet while there).

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Photos

These are contantly falling from a tree above.
They smell like honeysuckle. People are contantly sweeping them away.

Comments

[Joy]

Hi
So sorry you got sick.. hope it goes away soon so you can enjoy your time in the mountains... Love all the pictures. the flowers are all so beautiful.. take care and stay well.. will wait for the next blog posting :o)