Buts the Builder, Eat My Dust …

Sooo a new week saw us with a new volunteer – come on down Nick from Kent! Now Nick got asked if he was Julios dad (thank gawd no one has asked me if I am his mum!!). Cue Nick saying he was papa, however, depending on how you pronounce ‘papa’ it can either be a papa aka daddy, the pope or potato. Go figure. Cue english accent and him saying potato. This father/son thing has got them doey eyed and is kinda cute to watch with their banter, boy humour and laughter.

Back on site the build is progressing (as is my waist – yay!). Below some shots of progress along with ‘Buts the Builder’ in action … ok ok ‘Buts the Shoveller’ doesn’t quite have the same ring ok? The drainage ditch has to be 90cm deep and on this particular day I worked on it alone (the guys were assisting with the concrete panels of the house). It was rewarding to be told that I was a good ‘companera’ and ‘superwoman’ whilst Jason backed that up with the muscleman pose – I would have mirrored said pose but could barely lift my arms let alone flex them …

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I mentioned before that La Balsa is a very poor area and as well as our scenic walk to work (after said bus ride) some of the houses are shown here. It’s good to hear music coming from the abodes and receive smiles from the occupants as well. Oh along with a tad fair bit of dog barking! The last couple of shots are from the opposite side of the ‘road’.

Now after a hard day’s work there’s nothing I like better than a hot shower. With mama tica Xinia she had a cold shower, here with mama tica Grace, I have the luxury of a hot (I use that term loosely) shower. It was only 2 weeks in that I sussed how to get the ‘hot’ bit working … low pressure, dance about a bit and catch them there drops. Below an example of a (rather scarey) hot shower at one of the ‘ostels but the format is the same in that you fear electrocution. Also the houses here tend to have, hmmm a kinda cage around the front of them or grill bars or just think jail look. Mama tica Xinia’s and Grace’s abodes shown here. Carlos on saying it was a lovely safe town (and certainly all locals have been lovely) on drop off day was then very emphatic about not to walk about at night. Hmmm ok what’s night as it gets dark here at 6! Then asked Grace who said 7-8pm ok and after that started doing strangle signs!!! Not convinced it´s that bad and met an english guy who has lived here 3 yrs and said ok up to 10pm . Either way latest walk home for me has been around 7.15pm with plenty of men, women, children on the street, being sensible and all that. No hoodies about and feel more nervous in Croydon! Now San Jose is apparently a different story and have steered clear of there – only visit was with smilie John.

Soon the long weekend came round and this time we headed off to Playa El Carmen, Santa Theresa (home of beautiful beaches and surfing) and Montezuma (ditto re beaches/surfing and apparently wacky backy) via the ferry ex Puntarenas. A nice early start of 05:15 saw us all looking like zombies as we were worried our respective alarms wouldn’t go off (even though I had 2 on the go!). 09:00 ferry and I kinda figured that as I had been up since 04:20 it was infact middayish in the hot hot sun and hmmm beer o’clock ,o). In the order shown Puntarenas, bit of view ex ferry across the exquisite Golfo de Nicoya , rather pretty teeny weeny port of Paquera, sunset/surfing combo at Playa El Carmen end of day 1.

Now don´t get me wrong … I love the beach … but … can get a tad bored so for days 2 and 3 (extra extended weekend this time) Nick and I decided to hire a quad bike – $30 each a day plus $2.50 each a day for fuel (whoop!). This proved to be a great investment and we set off to explore other areas … some shots of beaches enroute at Playa Hermosa and Playa Manzanillo (where we did some whizzing up and down the beach on said quad (rebels as not allowed but hey we´d seen a convoy go by – guvnor). That evening saw us check out Pizza Tomate as there is only so much rice n beans one can take.

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Next day it was checking out the graveyard at Isla Cabuya (to the right of the boat in the first pic) which you could walk across to at low tide. Stunning location and only a graveyard on there (oh and vultures?) and onwards to Montezuma where we managed to take a wrong turn coming home and hmmm ended up back at Montezuma. Take 2 … a wee bit of rush hour in the dark and ‘eat my dust’ most definitely apt when you are on a quad on dusty roads with cars whizzing by … Nick looked like a bank robber with strategically placed bandana, whilst I used him as a shield along with my sunnies 😀 however was definitely dusty the sandman when I got off.

Travelling back to Puntarenas was reminiscent of being in Brighton … had my knickers on pre these cars and post they were jigged off with the boom boom BOOM bass. We had also stumbled across a bikers convention. Now I am soooo NOT a biker however I can appreciate the aesthetics of such mean machines. A bit of Queen and Van Halen blaring completed the scene.