Tasting the good old days down here in Golfito has been refreshing.
I've spent about 20 hours on the buses of Costa Rica this week traveling between Golfito and San Isidro: they're inexpensive, air-conditioning happens when someone opens the windows and no-one reaches to fuss with their hair, passengers stand up and offer their seats to the elderly or to women carrying babies, school kids are picked up and dropped off with no exchange of money, just "gracias" all around, many stops include being bordered by ticans selling their wares: green mango and chili, fried plantains, sodas and iced water, the heat is amazing but no-one complains as the bus driver stops for yet another random passenger along the road, which, of course, makes the journey that much longer, ... and, once I'd settled into my designated seat, I found it all so refreshing for my soul!
He doesn't look a day over 25 years, has a sutured eyebrow from a recent soccer injury, went to Johannesburg and Pretoria for the World Cup Soccer with some buddies and loved it, and will be participating in a two day 75km/day bicycle race around Laguna Atitlan early March: that sums up Dr Roger Araya, my dentist in San Isidro, recommended by a fellow crusier. He speaks enough english to communicate what he's planning to do, his offices are basic and clean, he does all his own prep work and clean up, and his prices are a fifth of what we were quoted in the States! The water splashes on my face and sometimes trickles down my neck as he drills, but he wipes it away gently... and I smile, thinking that I'd rather have this any day than some of the fancy dental suites I've been into with their equally fancy prices! In two weeks my Christmas wish will come true: two new front teeth and a bigger grin than ever!!
Between dentist appointments I had a free afternoon, and the girls at the hotel arranged for me to visit a ranch where I could go for a good walk. The family couldn't have been sweeter, especially when I arrived back from my hike drenched after having been caught in an incredible thunder storm with torrential rain! I loved it... I had taken my jacket, the ranch is in the rainforest after all, and they were relieved and fed me Costa Rican beef stew!
Marlene, from "Damiana", and I took the ferry to Puerto Jiminez on Friday, leaving Roy behind to keep an eye on the boats. It's a small, dusty little town, the gateway to the Corcovado National Park. We were had a delicious dorado lunch followed by the biggest, most interesting selection of fresh home-made icecream!! The ferry times varied to those posted, but no-one seemed bothered ... in the end it's all about "pura vida" here in Costa Rica... pure life at it's own wonderful, slow pace.
I think some of it has to do with the heat!! It mellows you out to where you'll do anything for anyone as long as you don't have to move too much!! On Monday night, as I climbed into bed, the thought crossed my mind that this truly would be the night that I would simply melt away... they'd find my bones on my bed a couple of days later, but there'd be no mystery to solve... the ticans in Golfito would just do some communal head nodding as they agree'd I'd finally succumbed to the heat! JUST WISH I'D SEEN THAT ICECREAM STORE SOONER!