Advertisement
Published: September 5th 2007
Edit Blog Post
5 a.m. B & B time!
This a what a sunrise can look like here! Hola from Angel Valley!
Sorry to have been out of touch. Genetics are a pain sometimes and it seems I have inherited procrastination from my parents and it is a toss up from which one. But in the end...it's all good!
For the better part of 2 months, the end of June to the middle of August we had guests almost everyday, with the exception of one or two. This is good, however the one thing I would recommend to anyone thinking of opening a B & B is to have seperate living quarters! Even if your guests are the best in the world, you still need that seperation! We lucked out this go around and none of your guests were too dramatic unlike others in recent history.
We have had nothing out of the ordinary going on here. Other than the day to day life in a third world country. July 22 was my birthday, or as I call it, removal day, I was a c-section baby. Oddly enough, 2 of my neighbors share the same birthdate. One by 32 years and the other by 20. Althought we had guests, I took the day off and spent
Rain moving in!
This is what a storm looks like coming our way! it with friends in San Jose. Like always I watched HGTV...one of the things I do miss here at least at the B&B. My friend Kurt and his friend Char cooked dinner for me then we went out and about! Always interesting here, at least for me. There is a word in spanish, Papi, which is a term of endearment for Dads. Well, my age couple with my naturally OFF BLOND hair color it seems to put me right in that catagory!
I organized a spanish class for my neighbors and I. It is going well, but slow. I have a bit of a hard head and If I am not mistaken I think it got it from someone pretty close to me! Naturally my sense of humor comes through, although getting it to translate into espanol is difficult. When going out and with friends I have made here, I have been fortunate to meet those who are bi-lingual and are kind enough to work with me on my spanish. After my birthday some asked me how my spanish was coming along, and I stated slow but good enough for me to have a nice birthday!
The end
My Favorite Guest!
Best guest to date. This Preying Mantis stayed for about a week. Each day he would change positions and hold it all day! of July my friend Lynda came over for a visit! The 2nd one of my friends to do so. She and I had worked together in DC and kept in touch. She was looking for some time just to relax and detox from the craziness of the city and by the end of her week here, I think she accomplished that! We hiked, cooked, navigated around town. On one of her days here we the to a hot spring that is about 2 hours from here. I had never been to San Carlos before. It is located north of here across the valley from Arenal. All I can say is that it was in the middle of the rain forest with a stream running next to the pools of hot water! I will let the pictures speak for themselves! After Lynda left, I still had guests so I did my thing. I still am getting rave reviews on my cooking, and I don't have to pay them anymore. Which is a good thing!
We had 10 chickens! One day Andrew had let them out to play and one got a little to close to the dog run where there
Our New Neighbor!
This calf was born about 2 months ago! Looks like she was hungry! was a gap and well, then there were 9! Osita and Reigna are as big as small horses. They tend to be pretty gentle, but at times can be aggressive. I had heard some stories but had never witnessed it other than between the 2 of them. While Lynda was here we took them on hikes with us. This particular day, within the span of an hour I saw them corner a male german shepard and chase one of the neighbors little yeppie dogs. I got them under control both times but was still surprised. After that I told Andrew that they needed to be walked instead of roaming free! Which we have now done and I walk them! They are adjusting, however I don't think they are too crazy about.
This leads me to my comment that you can Take the Amurican out of Amurica, but not Amurica out of the Amurican! A week or so after the incident with the other dogs, I hear through the grapevine that the neighbor with the yeppie dogs is taking a petition around to the other neighbors to request that the girls be kept from roaming free. In addition, one of
Thermales De Bosque!
The hot springs we went to while Lynda was here! This was are favorite pool! her buddies who is building a house up the hill, allegedly stated that she was going to get a pellet gun and put poision out around her house! Well this got everyone in a uproar on both sides of the subject. This is a person who has no problem voicing her opinion on any subject. It made me mad becuase she or the other concerned neighbors never bothered to have conversation with us first! Not that the petition holds any water, it is just the idea of it and the fact that they didn't bother to talk to us.
She is someone who was a guest here, who house sat when we were both gone and I thinking It never crossed your mind to talk to us about the situation! It is stuff like this that was part of my departing north. In addition it is just bad neighboring in my opinion! I shared my thoughts with her, but I don't think she understood. So be it! She doesn't realize that she has miffed a good portion of the folks around here...and in a community of about 15 to 20 Amuricans, you would think that we could all get
View from the Restaurant!
This is looking from the bottom up! along! At the end of our conversation I told her, what if the roles were reversed and I started a petition prior to talking with you, can you honestly tell me that you would not be upset! She eventually admitted that she might be!
After the guests cleared out, Andrew and I headed to the beach for some R & R. We went back to Manuel Antonio. It just happend to coincide with my year anniversary of my first visit. Some people have commented that they would like me to share about being single and dating here. Well it is just the same as anywhere, although most times, Gringos (amuricans) have more money than the ticos. As was the case for my weekend at the beach. Was hanging out and talking with the locals practicing my broken spanish! After our time on the beach I told them that we would be out later and they were welcome to join us! This is the part were they thought my name was ATM (automatic teller machine) or Banco de Terry! It was well, you invited us and we donĀ“t have money for drinks! It's raining and we don't have money for
The stream next to the Pools!
It was refreshingly COOL. Compared to the heat of the pools! a taxi! I was having translation issues so I got a friend of mine to interpret. I was like, tell them I am glad they are here...but I am not financing their night out! Surprisingly they left shortly thereafter and it only cost me $3000 colones, or about $6 dollars.
It is not a lot of money, but it is still irritating, cause no one is financing me...so don't expect it to be the other way around. I am happy to offer to buy a drink, but never assume that you are owed one! That is the most difficult part about dating, do they like you or the fact that you might have money! It is a tough call. But you do luck out every now and again!
Well, I think I am typed out. Thank you for reading and I will catch up with you later!
Terry
Advertisement
Tot: 0.215s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.044s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
David W
non-member comment
Hang in there...
Hi Terry---yes it seems gossip and back-stabbing are common the world over--not just among Americans. As far as dating goes there is a similar "do they like me for me of because they thing I'm 'paid'" feeling in Buenos Aires as well. But, like anywhere else there are a few roses among the thorns, so keep on truckin' David