semana santa and an unwanted visitor

now for the local news: i now have a resident cat and 2 of her friends often visit, to chow down and wrestle in my living room. last nite as i was on my computer i noticed my resident cat toying with the tail of a small snake which had crawled behind my bedroom door, which was opened flat against the wall. hum, thats not a good sign. where there is a snakes tail, there must be the rest of the snake. rather than investigate myself and perhaps scare it into a less accessible place, i decided to call pablo, who of course was in san jose, just when i need him, so sandra called abel, and we soon had a convention of the entire bustamante clan; adults kids, and dogs, as abel opened the door away from the wall, and killed the snake. it was maybe 12 inches long and its head was so small he wasnt sure what kind it was but his reasoning was that since a boa of that small length is usually thicker, it was probably a fer de lance, which in case you ignorant snow freaks dont know, is highly poisonous, so best dispatch it. Even after it was dead and motionless, the head was so small it didn’t exhibit the telltale triangle or round shape that differentiates poisonous from harmless. So we then lit incense, rang bells, said appropriate prayers wishing it a better incarnation , and put it into a bucket and i then dumped it down a crab hole for the crabs to feast. fun and games in the tropics. i enjoy having the cats around but had no idea they would be so valuable. maybe i should be worried, but im not. the universe is taking care of me.
semana santa [easter holy week]is fun so far. each day more and more people arrive, but the vibe is still mellow. i have a new favorite place to eat- maxi's soda, the little soda below maxis. in past years i avoided it as the girls working there seemed quite unfriendly. however this year the wife of one of maxis relatives from limon is working there. her husband works the bar, and she works in the soda. she worked on cruise ships out of limon and speaks very good english, and is fun to talk with. Just as important, she is willing to make me mashed potatoes, so I can escape the deep fried French fries that accompany all local meals. It helps that she is also drop dead gorgeous and has a body and bodice that bring me to tears. she is about 30, happily married but we talk, and i lust. Oh yeah- semana santa. when i went to dinner tonite, at all the [3] sodas the tables were almost all occupied, and there were lots of people in the street, and i suddenly realized that so far at least, it simply feels like puerto viejo, nothing bad at all, simply strange for our sleepy village. it is predicted to get much crazier tomarrow nite thru sat nite, but so far its entertaining, and nothing more. and of course the people who warn it will get crazy live in a sleepy village all year, so reactions may be relative to their norm. im looking forward to observing and being entertained. today it rained on everyones parade. Nice change after the almost repressive heat of the past few days. hope for clear nite skies for rest of week, especially since there is a regae concert fri and sat nites. there is an interesting twist on things. by law, in the entire country, no alcohol can be sold from sometime tomarrow [thurs] until midnite sat nite . seems like a very short sacrifice for lent, but then again, these folks dont take religion that seriously. the concert and party starts at 11:30 pm, the idea being that after working up a 3 day thirst, everyone will be dying to toss em down and party hard. at least that’s the talk. we shall see, if i bother to stay awake that long.