Week 13 was our last week of house and dogsitting in Atenas, followed by a trip to Panama. My daily diary habits never seemed to kick back in, so daily recaps have now turned into weekly summaries. But let’s face it, does it really matter which day we walked to town for that yummy cappuccino? OK, so that was every day. But still.

Marching Bands Galore

Our last week in Atenas was punctuated by Costa Rican Independence Day, which we celebrated by heading to town and watching the parade (before we went for the cappuccino). It was fantastic! We stood in the town square and watched as families filed in to get a good spot to watch the parade. People were selling agua de pipa (water from young coconuts), the snow-cone man was well stocked with every sugary syrup you could want, and meats were on large grills, slow cooking to feed the crowds. The aroma from the large pots of beans and rice cooking away wafted through the air. Enough to make a girl hungry! Except it was 8 AM.

We had plenty of time to people watch, as the parade didn’t exactly get started on time. Suddenly, we heard sirens. Loud ones. And lots of them. It was jarring and for a moment, I worried something had gone terribly wrong. Nope, it was the start of the parade. I’m fairly certain the entire police department, fire department and ambulance team were in the parade, and each vehicle was cleaned and polished so you could see your reflection in the paint. Of course, getting close enough would have put you at risk for burst eardrums.

Turn It Up

Costa Rican’s LOVE things loud. Is that a generalization? Well, yes. But it was our experience that they like their sirens like they like their bus music – as loud as it goes. Yes, I said bus music. I failed to mention that when I described our 2:30 AM bus trip to San Jose. At around 5 AM, just as the sun was beginning to shine, the bus driver cranked up the jams. And by jams, I mean Spanish music mixed with a fair amount of static. Apparently in the mountainous jungle, getting a good radio reception is tough. But that didn’t stop him from turning it on, and up. Make no mistake, that bus ride still makes it on our list of Top 5 Things We Love About Costa Rica. It was awesome!

After the loud sirens, came the loud bands. For such a small town, they have a surprising amount of children, and each one must be in a marching band. I hustled to take pictures when the first band came by, assuming it was “the” marching band. Not even close. By the time we stopped watching the parade (nowhere near the conclusion, it would turn out) the bands and little girls twirling batons were still streaming by. Remarkable!

What This Parade Needs, Is More Coffee

Costa Ricans are serious about their parades. We got parade fatigue after 1 1/2 hours. In our defense, we had walked a few miles to get to town and stood for 45 minutes waiting for it to start. My feet screamed “sit” and my brain screamed “cappuccino”. {If it seems we are obsessed with this yummy little espresso drink, you’ve made a correct assumption. So. Good!} We sat and drank our coffee, talked, considered getting another cup, did a little grocery shopping and finally headed home. The parade was still going. I am not kidding. Apparently it goes for several HOURS. Which explains everyone setting up to sell lunch at 8 AM. Serious parade stamina, Costa Rica! Well done!

Hasta luego!

When you come to Costa Rica, you get a stamp on your visa allowing you to stay in country for, at most, 90 days. After 90 days, you have to leave. But you can come right back. A favorite topic of conversation among “ex-pats” living in CR is where to go for your “90 day out”.  Most everyone goes to Nicaragua or Panama and there are whole tours devoted entirely to getting you out of the country for the required amount of time and getting you back in. Since we were close to San Jose Airport while our 90 days neared expiration, we decided to take advantage and fly somewhere. We chose Bocas Del Toro, Panama.

I was worried about the weight of our luggage, and how much we were going to have to pay to take it. What I didn’t realize I should have been equally as worried about what what the cappuccino habit may have done to our waistlines. Why? Because for the first time in my life, after my luggage was weighed, I got weighed! I know, crazy! OK, it wasn’t just me. It was all of us. Thankfully, I had to hold my carry-on as well. My very heavy carry-on, I told the guys behind the counter.

Bocas was interesting. This will probably make some of you groan (sorry!), but when you are living in a tropical paradise, having to pay a pretty hefty chuck of change to travel to a place that’s not quite as nice as where you live is a bit of a bummer. Just being honest. But we did have a nice time. We enjoyed walking around town, laying on beaches, sampling various food and drink and meeting interesting people. Good times!

Back Home

Our travel day back home was pretty epic. It began at 8am checking into the Bocas Del Toro airport, we landed in San Jose at 10 AM, got through customs and immigration (where we got our new 90 day stamp), hopped a bus into the city where we would catch our bus back to the jungle, when we realized we were dropped at the wrong station, walked through the city (with a heavy suitcase complete with now defunct wheels), and eventually got on our correct bus that would take us 5 hours to the final bus back home (about 7.5 hours of bus riding total). Long day! We finally made it into the house, flipped on the lights, and what energy we had left was sucked right out of us.

You know how when you’re getting ready to go on vacation, you get the house all cleaned up so you don’t have to come home to a mess.? Or at least you swear that’s what you’ll do next time, because coming home to a mess is such a bummer? OK, well we cleaned. You may recall we were without water for a large chunk of our prep time the day before we left, but we still managed to get it all cleaned up and looking spiffy. In our absence, the mold that had previously relegated itself to merely our clothing, shoes, belts and purses, decided to take over the entire house. Everything was moldy. When I tell you that our metal stove was covered in it, you will realize I am not kidding. No surface or item was spared.

What Are You Made Of?

This is not a ploy for sympathy, I promise! But it was already late, so I decided we’d call neighbor Patty to let her know we were home and tackle Mr. Mold in the morning. After a warm welcome home and a little catching up, Patty revealed the news that we had fewer chickens now than when we left. What? What do you mean? She said she didn’t really know, but that something may have gotten in the henhouse and attacked the chickens. I had noticed someone released the babies and momma (from their separate living quarters) while we were gone, so I asked about them next. She told us that gardener Jonathan let them out a few days prior and the next day they were gone. He suggested someone stole them. It was dark and we were exhausted, so Dave and I headed to bed and decided to deal with it all after some sleep. The next morning we learned it was our rooster who was gone, as well as the babies and momma, AKA Little Red Hen. Sad, sad day!

We dealt with our sadness, by, you guessed it, cleaning mold from every surface. OK, not every surface – since daily I find something I missed (yesterday it was the cement stairs leading to the cabins). It felt good to clean and as the hours went by; our sweat mixing with Lysol, we eventually began to soften. A few jokes were cracked; we laughed and we smiled, and by the time the sun went down that night, we had declared victory against Mr. Mold. Surveying our hard work, I realized what we were left with was much more than just a clean house.

The entire experience of being here has changed us. Though still as imperfect as ever, we are more patient, more adaptable, more tolerant and more cappuccino dependent. We spend much less time worrying and a whole lot more time fixing. We fall in love with people and animals, even though we realize they aren’t permanent fixtures in our life. And through it all, we lean on one another. And as long you you’ve got someone to lean on, you’ll never fall down.

——-XO

In case you missed Week 1, Week 2, Week 3,  Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7 , Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 or Week 12 of the big Costa Rica Adventure – you might want to go back and get caught up. If you’re curious how this adventure began, check out the FAQ to cover most of your burning questions. If we missed one, leave it in the comments below and I’ll do my best to get you an answer.

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If you think you might like to buy the Bed and Breakfast we are care taking this year, here is the link with all the info. And then make plans to come see this paradise for yourself!