Buying a car while wearing a bikini...

Yes, I am back at the yoga center. It is a really good vibe there and I wont have to clean out Oxygen tubes. No joke, the old lady is really sweet but had the idea that I would be a caretaker, which wasn´t our original deal so I bailed. Took some photos of the yurt, packed up and was back at the yoga center in 15 minutes flat :)

I have a car! Azul is great, everyone wants rides. I met with the lawyer yesterday to sign it into my name. Its the only time I´ve ever bought a car in a bikini and shorts. The odometer doesn´t work, the speedometer doesn´t work, not that you can even go fast on these bumpy dirt roads. The most important thing is the gas gauge does work. And the four wheel drive also works.
My roomie, Tessa is great. Since we are sharing expenses it is costing me less than $5 per day to stay at the Yoga center. Technically I´m living next door to the Yoga Center at a place called Ocean Travelers. The people there are great. An artist and a masseuse live upstairs. Tessa is also a masseuse, the yoga center is called Manos Que Sanan, meaning hands that heal and doubles as a massage place so Tessa will be able to work there. They book massages for three different hotels also. They are also putting in a vegan and fish restaurant. I might be able to help in reception to make a little money.

Some things about this country are slow and laid back, but some things happen really fast and you feel like you are in a time warp. I never seem to know the date and time is relative. I´ve been in country less than three weeks and I know everyone in town, I have a home and a car and am looking around for a job. My spanish is improving little by little.

We have also been cooking every day. Better go I have to arrange a bank transfer for the car. Pura Vida!

Disregard Most of the Last Post

Mal Pais - In the last two days I ended up not buying the quad for $3800 and instead I´m buying a little Suzuki Samurai for $2000. It has working four wheel drive and it rattles really loud on these bad roads but it runs great. I´m buying it from two Canadian guys who have owned it for the last three months, they are headed home and wanted to sell it. It´s cheaper than the quad and I´ll be able to move around these remote towns much easier. And I won´t have to eat dust on the roads.

Also, I ran into this sweet deal for housing. I managed to find a beachside Yurt to rent for one month. The owners live on the property as well. It is an old couple who need help sometimes, so in exchange for my help I get the Yurt pretty cheap. If all goes well with that trade I´ll rent for an additional month or I will head up to Nosara, Playa Giuones area.

I have not made too much progress in the last couple days on my writing due to having to move and trying to buy the quad. I was unable to complete the purchase after trying to three different ways. It was not meant to be. So I came back to town feeling slight dejection due to not having my wheels and ran into these two Canadians selling the Suzuki. It´s name is Azul.

I should be able to post some pics really soon as the old couple has broadband.

I did make it to Montezuma a couple days ago, it´s really nice there as well all though much more cramped than this place. Now that I have transportation I can go there for day trips, it only takes about twenty minutes by car.

I actually have time so I can describe where I am a little better. There is basically one long dirt road that runs parallel to the beach. Between the beach and the road is a strip of land about 150 yards wide. Alot of it has private beachfront homes and alot of it is for sale. It is all dry forest (as opposed to rain forest). Tall leafy trees and palms with a mix of fruit trees like bananas and plantains. There are some residences here that are incredibly luxurious and some are just shacks. On the other side of the road are additional cabinas, restaurants and hotels. A cabina is basically private rooms with shared kitchen and bathrooms.

To the south on this long road is MalPais. About 500 people live in Malpais year round with another 300 or 400 visitors like me. There is a surf camp, lots of little restaurants and hotels, a fishing boat area called the marina that has about five small boats in it and many private residences. The mix is about half Ticos and half ex-pats.

To the north is Santa Teresa. Here is where the beach and waves are best so all the activity is centered around there and Playa Carmen. The place is litterally crawling with surfers from all over the world. There are parties every night on the beach. This is where the hostel is where I have been staying until yesterday. It is called Traquilo Backpackers and it is full every night. It´s a really fun place but too much activity for a writer to get anything done. I have met some great friends there.

My main companions down here so far are Tessa and Christa, two great girls from Washington State, along with their entourage and Ben, from Colorado, he owns a house not too far from me in MalPais. There´s also Jamie from the UK, a small statured blond surfer who speaks the Queen´s English and cracks all of us up, Andy a great guy who is lives in Portland, my home town, and is in school to be a chiropractor. Also there´s Yaron, a hilarious guy from Isreal who has literally been all around the world. He is about to start his law practice back home near Tel Aviv.

There are so many others but those are the major players. They are all here various lengths of time so it is a scene in constant change. People coming and going.

Overall my favorite thing about this trip so far is my sense that my individuality and energy is being entirely cultivated by this place. I have an incredible sense of center here, aided by meeting great people and working on my book. I also have a meticulous journal which is as long as my novel so far.

Today is two weeks in country, I have a home, almost have a car and tomorrow I might look for a job. Just so I don´t go into debt here. There is a really nice restaurant in Santa Teresa called Flor Blanco. It might be a high enough ticket price that I could make some cash. I will post more next week sometime. Tonight I´m going to a rodeo in Cobano. Should be a good time.

Housing found...

I only have five minutes so here is the quick update, I will try to post more tomorrow. I am still in Santa Teresa although technically I'm in PLaya Carmen, Santa Teresa start thirty yards from my hostel. I have found a place to rent for the next month and a half. It is a small cabina in the yoga center here. Great energy and it's my own room for $275 per month. It is two minutes to walk to the beach and the people that run it are english speaking. My friends that I have here now, one of them teaches there. WHen I was hitchiking to there house for dinner I got picked up by Sheryl who owns the place and she gave me a great deal. THe room usually rents for $325. It share a kitchen and bathroom with two other rooms.

Now for the really exciting parts, I went Quad shopping today in Cobano. I'm buying a really cute yellow Quad which I'm either naming Dolly or Squire. It will cost $3800 including license and notarized registration but it includes s three month warranty and I already have a potential buyer for it (Sheryl) for when I need to leave. I get to pick it up on wednesday. Than I will have all the freedom I need.

MY writing is going great too, Dad, I working on dialogue. THat is very tricky to write.
Mom, you can stay in my place, It has two bunks in it and it will be no extra charge.
Love you all, more tomorrow, promise ;)

Still in Santa Teresa...

I keep finding that I have no reason to leave this place. I will head off to Montezuma eventually but I guess there is no sunset there so my people here think that I wont want to stay and I'll come back here. It is about an hour busride away so no big deal. I might have a lead on place to rent here for a month or two for pretty cheap and am considering buying a bicycle to get around on although walking is really easy. I'm on a timer here so if it is a little choppy just ignore.

I have enjoyed the most amazing sunsets here the last three nights. Everyone is as good as the last. It is hot and beautiful everyday like the one before. I got a little writing in today but I haven't been able to block out the distractions yet. I think by tomorrow I will be able to be a little less curious of my surroundings and get down to the business of writing. I went to a pool today with a couple ex-pats from Colorado. They own a beach front home here and know everyone in the town. Malpais is a calm area with no "town area." Santa Teresa is on the same road but has stores and stuff. Santa Teresa is the busy beach bumb area where everything is usually happening. Surfers from all over the world mill about the street (one dirt road) and there are tons of little restaurants and cabinas. It is so small that I recognize everyone I pass, we don't remember each others names, just where we are from. You call out "Hey seattle," "Hey Montreal" or "Hey Argentina" depending on where they said they were from. I'm "Portland" of course but there's a guy here from Portland so we actually know each others names:) Now we have all started cooking together at the hostel which is fun. There's always a new face from somewhere different. I'm starting to feel like a veteran as this new girl arrived today and she's paler than I. I actually am pretty tan already so I'm not "right off the bus" anymore :)

I wish I could post pics here but they are all on my laptop which doesn't connect to the internet. However my new friends who own the home here have a dail up connection which might make it possible for me to upload a few. I will try to keep posting regularly. I'm having a blast! Buenas!

Finally...Hot sun and sandy beaches

My bag finally showed up late saturday night shortly after making that last post. The only problem is I packed way too much stuff in it, I'm going to have to ditch some clothes here or find permanent spot. Sunday I took the bus to the Nicoya Peninsula. It was three hours on the bus, one hour on the ferry and another hour and a half on the bus. I was intending to go straight to Montezuma but some people told me to check out Malpais/Santa Teresa first. IT is a huge surf spot. Only problem is I'm not a surfer...yet. It is about 90 degrees with a breeze here. Nights get cooler though so you can still sleep. I'm staying in a hostel where every language is being spoken at once. Internet is much harder to come by here so I will try to post every other day. I met a couple from Port Townsend last night. That's about the nearest to home I have met. before leaving San Jose I was able to catch the superbowl on the bigscreen at the hostel. Everyone there was rooting for the seahawks so we were all groaning together. Poor Hawks. I'm off to the beach now. I'm starting to dig the vibe here a little so I will stay one more day before heading to Montezuma.

Also funny, the prohibition was still in effect last night but nobody here stopped serving until the white polo shirts of the alcohol monitors showed up and shut them down for the night. Adios!

Don't know what happened to my Feb 3rd Entry

I know I made a post to this blog last night when I first arrived but somehow it has completely disappeared so that last entry doesn't make sense. The airline lost my luggage. My big pack contains all of my clothing and toiletries and it never made it. So I made a baggage claim and they are supposed to deliver it to my hostel when the airline manages to track it down. I have only my electronics and the clothes on my back. Now the entry below makes more sense.

Roughin´ it

So this is a really good excercise for me. No hair products and no makeup. I have to completely get over my appearance. My jeans are all stretched out. Actually a really nice Israeli girl gave me some panteen so I could wash my hair last night. And a surfer dude on break from Princeton donated some soap and my new friend Prateek (Indian by decent but a New York native) that I met in the Pheonix airport actually lent me some pajamas. He happened to be on my flight and then staying at the same hostel. Fellow travelers are really incredibly open and warm. I bought a toothbrush today and if my bag doesn´t show up by tomorrow night I will officially go shopping.

So Prateek and his travel buddy Paul (from D.C) and I had dinner at a really cute little restaurant tonight. Cafe Mundo. I recommend it. We walked about the city today taking in the various sights, even though it´s been raining.

This isn´t the rainy season according to LP (Lonely Planet) however there seems to be alot of it anyway, and not just light sprinkling, heavy downpours, I actually bought a $2 umbrella.

The other funny thing, I expected sun and pina coladas by the pool. Instead the entire country is on lockdown prohibition for four days due to the election. The whole country is basically dry (kinda ironic considering the rain :) At dinner I couldn´t order wine, the supermarkets have cardboard over the liquor and beer aisles and cops are monitoring the bars to make sure they aren´t serving, most of them are simply closed. Word on the street is this continues until Tuesday, two days after the election.

In any case I´m stuck here in San Jose until my bag arrives or I give up on it. I wonder what the chances really are that it might be lost forever. From what I have heard they do almost always eventually turn up. It´s just not telling when. I have a tag on it so it should at least make it to my parents´ address in Vancouver. This free internet is nice. Makes blogging easier. Ciao!