Report from the tropics 1

Report from the tropics 1 this is actually the first thing I wrote after arriving down here, so these blog entries are not in order. Ah well, you cant have everything perfect. Im sure there is a way to erase what ive just posted and then repost em in order, but I cant be bothered. In future they might be in order. Maybe. Maybe not. well, ive no idea how it happened, but when i went to this blog to try to reorder them they were already in correct order. i have no idea how that happened. but this is manzanillo, cr. i have no idea how many things happen. so, here we go.
Well, the weather has been nothing short of incredible. Today is my 6th day here and its rained maybe 2x, both at nite, and no more than 10 minutes each. Disgusting. Remember that last year I experienced rain every day for the first 2 weeks, and in dec, the month before my arrival, they had the most rain in the 60 years someone from the govt had been paying attention. Many homes flooded along the entire coast, from limon to manzanillo. My back room which is at ground level had a few inches of water for a day or so. abel raised the land before building. Some others did not plan as well, and had more problems. Abel used poison to get rid of the leaf cutter ants that were decimating my garden and my flowers and colorful plants look superb. Plants in front are so high, I may have to cut em back so I can people watch from my hammock. The decisions and work here just never ends. Ricky is the son of maxi and now runs maxi's famous restaurant. He has an annual birthday bash which draws people from the entire coast and at least as far as san jose, that I know of. Well the huge bash was sat nite, and a good time was had by all. not as huge as 3 years ago [i arrived too late for last year] but still filled the village as far as the evangelical church. They give away platters of snacks, and ron don soup which translates from the local pigeon as run down. What ever they can run down goes into the soup pot. I drank some but was reluctant to eat the solids. Lots of suspicious activity amongst some very interestingly dressed women going out to cars with men and then back to the dance, but who am I to cast aspersions on local customs? The music was surprisingly good, 2 fine bands, first latin stuff, 2nd great calypso/ reggae, separated by one ego centric clown doing beyond boring rap at full volume. Ah, how I do love rap, especially when done by roosters crowing about how cool they think they are. One bright note was that my fantasy lady love [she of the loose morals and economic necessity] visited from her new home in panama, and I surprised her with my gifts of thrift store clothes for her kids. Two Nevada city ladies came by for few days visit and as they hired abel for a jungle walk, I finally succumbed and went along. 3-4 hours in deep jungle, and could have been longer if we had brought food. Abel is highly entertaining and gives a great tour. One poisonous bright yellow snake, several frogs, some spider monkeys, a brief sighting of a toucan, a few other birds, sounds of howler monkeys in the distance [probably from the trees behind my house], a pregnant tarantula lugging her egg case behind her, lots of botanical info, and finally had to tell one of the ladies to stop talking about herself so we could hear what abel had to say. Im continually amazed by some peoples belief that their guide [and fellow tourists] are interested in their experiences back home. That’s the ticket. Hire a guide, stomp off with them into new territory and then dominate the airwaves telling all within earshot about your life back home. unbeatable combination of insecurity and insensitivity. Isn’t that what therapists are for? Geezerhood may yet bring me tolerance for fools but it obviously hasn’t happened yet. Now for the important news. Football playoffs last weekend. Great games. A pleasure to watch great qb’ing. Peyton is a master. Amazingly few penalties in both games. Either they swallow their whistles for the line play or it’s the disciplined teams that make it this far. Sure were fun games to watch. Watched at Richards which is a trip as its party central and he thrives on the energy. Ends up with too much alcohol so I depart soon after. The young Dutchman who owns the nice white cabinas up my road has a serious drinking problem and its interesting to overhear others discussing it with his wife, who is concerned. No one has asked me so I haven’t said anything. Get over your shock. We shall see how long that lasts. He’s into mixed drinks and as the self regulating mechanism is absent he just pours em down. White mans malady of the tropics. Keep your mind occupied or it will lead you to the bottle, and with some folks, even when the mind has better things . Having a problem with my water system pump, but other than that, all seems to be in order, and will finish setting up my house and doing odd jobs in a day or so, and turn to working on my handwriting project and maybe editing a few stories. Maybe not. We shall see.
Still in love w manz. tranquil, and filled with characters. The ex pats have instituted weekly poker nites, but as I was about to go, the girls emailed me they were on their way. So it waits till next thurs nite. So save thurs nites when you come down here.
Taking it very slow so far. Have not ventured out at all. Filepe deliverd my moto but haven’t even ridden it yet. No trips to pv, no trip to see the tree scrunched ruin on my beach property, nada. Walked to maxis for rickies party, several times to Richards, a few times to the beach, and the jungle walk, and that’s the farthest ive been. The world awaits. It will still be there when im ready. Did make it back to check out carl/lyles property. Its still there. No one seems to have stolen any trees nor rocks. A banana plant is growing near your expensive culvert system. Pablo or abel will reap the reward as it wont fruit when you are here. That seems to be a rule. Able informed me that Pablo got the fruit from one of mine and the bastard wont reciprocate. Low class locals. Im continually delited by the greetings from the locals. It does feel like home. 2 black pre teen girls came over to hit me up for chocolate. Their story was that before I left I promised to bring them chocolate. Im blaming it on carl, so you owe me. Im still waiting for my true love, but it’s a hell of a fine place to be waiting. Well, time to head to the French café for breakfast. One can only go so long on love alone