Day 23: PRE-Earthquake (Deposit Day!!)

When we aren’t being woken up by our angry mother of a neighbor yelling at her teenage son or husband, a neighborhood dog feels it necessary to pick up her slack. This morning came a little earlier than normal and with incessant barking. I was able to subconsciously incorporate the barking into some sort of barely awake dream until Mike felt it necessary to have a one-on-one with the canine. As soon as he saw Mike, he ran over to greet him, laid on his back for a few minutes of belly-rubbing before he jumped up and ran away. From all Mike could see, he was barking at the rising sun…it was about 5:30am.

We had to head out early anyways since today was Deposit Day for our new place. Since there’s no direct bus from our town to Dominical, we needed to make it to the station in Quepos to transfer. And while I wrote that we have been fortunate to get neighborhood rides, I realized that I seem to jinx us when I put statements in the blog (like that one about the rainy season not affecting us…and then we got flooded. Or my joy over a magical SIM card that didn’t end up working. Or Mike’s bike got repaired just to break again). This morning was no exception seeing as we walked 100% of our dirt road with dust in our eyes from cars flying by. Guess that’s alright since we spent the rest of the day sitting on buses. Here’s our timeline:

8:05am – Leave the house for the bus stop
9:15am – Arrive at the bus stop
9:25am – Bus picks us up
10:30am – Bus drop off in Quepos
10:32am – Find out the bus to Dominical isn’t until 11:30am
10:38am – Head to the internet café for good coffee and a quick email check
11:20am – Return to bus station to catch the Dominical bus
11:30am – Bus leaves for Dominical (in the tightest, stickiest, most uncomfortable school bus seats)
12:45pm – Arrive in Dominical
12:48pm – Check in at Saul’s office and get psyched because our house is being prepped for our arrival and we can go check it out, meet our landlord and pay our deposit
1pm – Reach the house and it’s awesome!!! (I’ll be describing it a little later; it deserves more than a line in our travel schedule)
1:30pm – Get the key to our new place!
1:40pm – Drive back to the rental office and say goodbye to Saul
2pm – Wait for the 2pm bus
2:15pm – 2pm bus arrives (told you it’s all approximate)
3:30pm – Get to Quepos and are lucky enough that the bus to our town is just leaving, we catch it.
4:15pm – Arrive at our bus stop
4:16pm – Begin the hour walk home.
4:20pm – Juan Valdez (not really his name, but that’s what we call him because of his thick black hair and mustache and oversized straw fedora) and family recognize us and bring us home.

All that for about an hour in Dominical. To put it in perspective for our fellow Enfield-ers…it’s like travelling to and from the West Farms Mall. What would typically take someone a little over an hour (there and back)…was equivalent to a typical work day. If it was considered a job, it would be described as a bad one: miserable and boring with a lot of sitting around.

It was worth it though. From the moment we stepped in the door of our three story light blue house, we were impressed. The entrance opens to a tiled foyer with cushioned furniture, a small flat panel television with cable soon to be mounted on the wall, a bathroom with hot water, and a kitchen with a six burner gas stove, a crockpot, a coffee bean grinder and more than just one pan. Up the winding stairs brought us to the sleeping level; a master bedroom with an air conditioner and balcony with a cozy hammock. The guest bedroom (aka Matt’s room for the month of November – and anyone else that wants to come…hint hint) also has its own balcony hammock combination. And the upstairs bathroom not only boasts of hot water, but also a jetted tub. One more winding wooden staircase brings you to a finished attic, which I’ve already envisioned as my writing nook. Not sure if that’ll be possible since it wasn’t furnished yet and I’m not sure what furniture will be hanging out in there once it’s complete but it would be nice to have a real writing area rather than a kitchen counter. Speaking of kitchen counters though…

It was clearly custom built for our landlord's 6 foot 3 inch stature not for someone who just manages to get on Six Flags rides. With the countertop coming in at about my chest I also envision cooking being interesting…especially since I won’t be able to stir what’s on the back burner. Since I’m the primary chef of the household, Mike’s agreed it’s necessary to invest in a stepstool so I can actually see what I’m doing.

Other than that, it’s clearly an upgrade. Our current house has seven fans, half of which don’t work each for a different reason; the kitchen fan’s pullcord is rusted and will most likely snap in half if you try to pull it any harder. A spare bedroom fan was not strategically placed between the rafters and makes it known that it’s done a 360 with every half second thud on the wooden beam. And with a shower with water pressure equivalent to a leak – a jetted tub is just spoiling us at this point. But just in case it wasn’t, by November 15th, a kidney-shaped pool will be steps from our front door. So it’s no substitution for a soft sand beach but if we need our fill that’s only a 10 minute walk away. Along with anything else we need: the post office, supermarket, phone card company, surfboards, ceviche, live bands…

Along with our house upgrade came the knowledge that’s our creatures have also upgraded. Overhearing a conversation between Saul and two of his surfer friends, one of whom had a nasty gash on his ankle from a stingray he accidentally pinned to the ocean floor, we found out that we aren’t dealing with the average spider bite or a random cockroach in your shoe. Since he’s been here, he’s been bitten by a snake and stung by a scorpion. Stingrays, scorpions and snakes…oh my. It’s ok, I learned how to protect myself; shuffle your feet in the ocean, check your shoes before putting them on, and for snakes…I’m pretty sure just run in the opposite direction. And as long as none of them live in my home, I’ll be more than happy keeping myself out of theirs.