Let the House Sitting Begin!

At the end of our last post we had just arrived in Managua, Nicaragua. Well, I wish I had great tales to tell about our visit, but no. We did manage a walk to the local mall, very nice, before we were both struck, consecutively with some rather nasty gastrointestinal challenges. The only good thing I can say is, it ends. Luckily the hotel we were staying at was lovely and when we were healthy we could enjoy it while our partner was suffering.

Though it is a little bit outside the downtown area I would highly recommend the http://www.wayakhotel.com as a pleasant boutique hotel to utilize.

Our trip back to Costa Rica was absolute nirvana after the trip north. The border crossing still took about 90 minutes but that is ok when you are expecting it. As well at midday at least all the duty free shops are open and the open air market is in full swing.

The added bonus that absolutely made our day was when we discovered that our bus made a slight scheduled detour to Puntarenas and we ended up getting dropped off about 400 metres from our house sitting destination in there. I can only assume it is our good living that allowed this karma to occur.

We spent the first few days with the husband of the couple that own the home we are house sitting at. This was excellent. Odie, their dog was able to get used to us and questions were able to be addressed immediately. As this is our first house sitting gig we were rather nervous about what to expect. So far it has been wonderful. We are truly in a Costa Rican neighbourhood and as far as I have seen so far we are the only gringos around.

If I can digress for just a moment I would like to suggest to anyone who wishes to travel to lands who do not speak your language, you start learning theirs ASAP. For the last few weeks we have been working with http://www.duolingo.com . It is an awesome program Karen and I find very effective. Especially when you consider it is free.

We have been for a couple of exploratory walks around the area now. After talking to our host we now know not to go to a couple of the places we had walked through. It is so reassuring to know that crime and drugs seem to affect all areas of the globe. Not really a big deal I don’t think. Just keep your head on a swivel and take in all the sights. And if the hair on the back of your neck ever starts standing up, just leave the area. Seems obvious to me, but maybe I am a bit tainted. We have found all the people we have met in all areas to be quite friendly.

On our last jaunt we came upon a primitive little bar right on the shoreline. The hot air coming off the water and the ice cold beer were the perfect combination. One of the other things we noticed as we walked up the beach were the amount of dead fish, and one snake that had been washed up on the shoreline. The surf here is quite heavy. This little fellow below was on his last leg when we came across him. He was at least 45cm long if you were able to stretch him out. However, because he is venomous we chose to just leave him be, unfortunately for him.

After +10km of walking we took advantage of the excellent bus service in the area and hopped on our bus for 455 colones (just under a buck) and were driven back home. The buses are anywhere from almost luxurious to spartan. But they all seem to be clean and function on a consistant schedule. Really can’t ask for much more.

And of course, when one returns home, one must take care of proper hydration.