I got the following warning today on the PC
Multilingual MIME warning
I realise that MIME must be some sort of techinical term...but I'd be worried if I saw a multilingual one of these!
June 29, 2005
Hooray for the internet
The lions are touring NZ...to the uninitiated this might sound like a safari gone wildly wrong (don't we go tour lions?)but to anyone else that cares about Rugby, it's a big deal. To the Kiwi's who lost in the world cup, its a chance to banish that ugly memory...and for me in the US, it's a nightmare trying to find some way of watching the tests.
God bless the internet and video streaming...hopefully if we can get it working tonight I'll be able to see the second match on saturday morning...so don't you all go and tell me what the result is please...
and the other big news is that today we got our house. We were at the real estate office at 8:00am this morning for the closing (as they call it here)with our lawyer, their lawyer, their agents and someone scurrying around providing documents to sign called...the closer...so 2 hours of reading and signing papers and 5 minutes to hand over a large cheque and get a key in return and it's all ours...M is taking some 'before' pictures today and we'll be emailing the new address soon.
Lots of home renovation ahead...why would anyone paint the smallest room in the house maroon!
God bless the internet and video streaming...hopefully if we can get it working tonight I'll be able to see the second match on saturday morning...so don't you all go and tell me what the result is please...
and the other big news is that today we got our house. We were at the real estate office at 8:00am this morning for the closing (as they call it here)with our lawyer, their lawyer, their agents and someone scurrying around providing documents to sign called...the closer...so 2 hours of reading and signing papers and 5 minutes to hand over a large cheque and get a key in return and it's all ours...M is taking some 'before' pictures today and we'll be emailing the new address soon.
Lots of home renovation ahead...why would anyone paint the smallest room in the house maroon!
June 28, 2005
holy volcanoes it's a smoking!
holy volcanoes it's a smoking!
Originally uploaded by zela.
thanks Jeff, for your faboulous pictures in Costa Rica
note the grip of death
note the grip of death
Originally uploaded by zela.
thanks Jeff, for your faboulous pictures in Costa Rica
identify the berries
identify the berries
Originally uploaded by zela.
thanks Jeff, for your faboulous pictures in Costa Rica
June 27, 2005
Another 4 days and it will be all ours...Hooray
3 sleeps to go and we get our hot little hands on the keys to the new house...and email with new address will be going out shortly.
There is a wee problem with the new phone (internet) that we've had installed to cut down on the cost of overseas call...it seems that if you call from NZ (the place I get the most calls from) you get the disconnected signal...hmnnnn, not part of the master plan. M called them last night and they are now ringing telecom NZ to see if they are a carrier and they have it hooked up ok. Which part of 'NZ is part of the international community' don't you understand?
So hang in there if you have tried to call us and think we have gone AWOL...
There is a wee problem with the new phone (internet) that we've had installed to cut down on the cost of overseas call...it seems that if you call from NZ (the place I get the most calls from) you get the disconnected signal...hmnnnn, not part of the master plan. M called them last night and they are now ringing telecom NZ to see if they are a carrier and they have it hooked up ok. Which part of 'NZ is part of the international community' don't you understand?
So hang in there if you have tried to call us and think we have gone AWOL...
June 24, 2005
Friday Feast time
Appetizer
What time do you usually wake up each day? If you could choose your wake-up time, when would it be?
When I was a single girl, usually around 6...now that I have Mr 'Set alarm early hit snooze hit snooze hit snooze then get up at 6' sleeping next to me...who knows. This happened in the weekend as well, until he bought a clock that lets you set the time different in the weekend to the week, much better for marital calm.
If I could choose then it would be 6:30 in the week and unless I'm catching a plane.....not EARLY at all in the weekends
Soup
When was the last time you bought groceries? What store did you go to? Name 3 things you purchased.
Monday night
Jewel (weird name for a supermarket) has it's own kosher aisle since we live in a Jewish area. I'm working my way through the strange and interesting food to be found down there.
1. the wrong skim milk again (they have swapped the colors around from the UK) 2.a late birthday card for my brother 2. Rainier Cherries...yuuuuummmmy
Salad
How many books have you read so far this year? Which was your favorite and why?
I get through a couple (at least) a week so with 26 weeks already that's about 52...and it think its way more than that (I've read 4 this week so far). To M's despair, there is always a teetering pile of books on my bedside table, waiting to clobber me in the night if i stick a fumbling arm out to get the glass of water.
To many good ones to remember...but we have just read The Kite Runner for book club and it's wonderfully written book with a riveting story and I couldn't put it down.
Main Course
What is something you consider to be very elegant? In particular, what about that item/place/person conjures up the feeling of elegance?
Being in France is always elegant, the French manage to make any place in France, from Paris to any little town seem elegant. Hanging out at the food market, drinking coffee in the little cafe's ...even the goddamn supermarkets are elegant in the way they lay out the food, how do they do that?
Dessert
Who taught you how to drive?
The driving instructor in his Morris minor with the gear stick that had about a metre between each gear. We would trundle down the very long straight Beach Rd, turn around in the car park in the end and trundle back. I think it was 2 lessons before we even did stop signs. And as we lived in a town without traffic lights, the cops wouldn't let you pass your test unless you had said you had driven in Tauranga, cos they had lights AND roundabouts.
What time do you usually wake up each day? If you could choose your wake-up time, when would it be?
When I was a single girl, usually around 6...now that I have Mr 'Set alarm early hit snooze hit snooze hit snooze then get up at 6' sleeping next to me...who knows. This happened in the weekend as well, until he bought a clock that lets you set the time different in the weekend to the week, much better for marital calm.
If I could choose then it would be 6:30 in the week and unless I'm catching a plane.....not EARLY at all in the weekends
Soup
When was the last time you bought groceries? What store did you go to? Name 3 things you purchased.
Monday night
Jewel (weird name for a supermarket) has it's own kosher aisle since we live in a Jewish area. I'm working my way through the strange and interesting food to be found down there.
1. the wrong skim milk again (they have swapped the colors around from the UK) 2.a late birthday card for my brother 2. Rainier Cherries...yuuuuummmmy
Salad
How many books have you read so far this year? Which was your favorite and why?
I get through a couple (at least) a week so with 26 weeks already that's about 52...and it think its way more than that (I've read 4 this week so far). To M's despair, there is always a teetering pile of books on my bedside table, waiting to clobber me in the night if i stick a fumbling arm out to get the glass of water.
To many good ones to remember...but we have just read The Kite Runner for book club and it's wonderfully written book with a riveting story and I couldn't put it down.
Main Course
What is something you consider to be very elegant? In particular, what about that item/place/person conjures up the feeling of elegance?
Being in France is always elegant, the French manage to make any place in France, from Paris to any little town seem elegant. Hanging out at the food market, drinking coffee in the little cafe's ...even the goddamn supermarkets are elegant in the way they lay out the food, how do they do that?
Dessert
Who taught you how to drive?
The driving instructor in his Morris minor with the gear stick that had about a metre between each gear. We would trundle down the very long straight Beach Rd, turn around in the car park in the end and trundle back. I think it was 2 lessons before we even did stop signs. And as we lived in a town without traffic lights, the cops wouldn't let you pass your test unless you had said you had driven in Tauranga, cos they had lights AND roundabouts.
June 23, 2005
GeoffRossNiagara
GeoffRossNiagara
Originally uploaded by zela.
as Tracy Tebear says today is H-O-T-T hot...its already 21 and we expected to hit 30-31 today...I LOVE summer. So even though I'm sitting in an interior office and have to lean right back to look through my door window to see Amy's window to see the bright sunshine outside it still feels good as I know it will be waiting for me when i finally get out. And if I shut my eyes and blank out the tasks unfinished and unstarted, i can imagine myself back on the boat on the Wisconsin river lying in the sun and snoozing (for only 1/2 hour on each side mind you).
We had a very exhausting weekend on the river...what with all the getting on the boat, snoozing, eating, snoozing, chatting, snoozing, lying down, reading, snoozing and getting off the boat to read/chat/snooze, it's a wonder I got time to get 4 swims in...and yes, I did go in first thing in the morning (get up yer porpoise...in-joke- -sorry). The fresh water is cold when you're hot and warm when the outside is cooler. No sharks or other bitey things (FIL can testify that nothing was biting when he went fishing too), although the tea color (due to the tannin from all the pine trees) does take a little getting used to.
So we had a very relaxing weekend, got to wish the FIL happy fathers day and my wee brother R happy birthday all the way over in Ing-geer-land. Can't believe that he's 32 already...seems only yesterday that I was helping mum change his nappies and stepping on his lego bits.
Here he is on the right of his cousin Geoff (they've always been close) when we all went to Niagara earlier
June 17, 2005
Friday Feast
Appetizer
What's one word or phrase that you use a lot?
'Super' as in 'I've just spent an hour on the phone with Comcast an we got -insert long list of specials- from them for the next 6 months' 'Super'
Occainsonally i intersperse this with 'faaaaaaanstastic'just for a bit of variety
Soup
Name something you always seem to put off until the last minute.
Doing taxes...i have all the bits of paper ready but it's hard to hand over that money even if they already have it.
Salad
What was the last great bumper sticker you saw?
My sister saw one that said 'If you're not a hemmeroid get of my ass' and we're still laughing. My all-time favourite is 'my other car is a broomstick'
Main Course
If you could be invisible for one day, how would you spend your time?
Given than being invisible would also give me other powers like travel at the speed of light...I'd pop in on all my friends and family (starting with NZ when the sun rises) to see how they are doing in their day to day lives...you have been warned!
Oh and accidently stray into the allblack training camp changing rooms for a brief moment on the way
Dessert
Describe your hair.
I think brown might be it's natural colour but who knows!
What's one word or phrase that you use a lot?
'Super' as in 'I've just spent an hour on the phone with Comcast an we got -insert long list of specials- from them for the next 6 months' 'Super'
Occainsonally i intersperse this with 'faaaaaaanstastic'just for a bit of variety
Soup
Name something you always seem to put off until the last minute.
Doing taxes...i have all the bits of paper ready but it's hard to hand over that money even if they already have it.
Salad
What was the last great bumper sticker you saw?
My sister saw one that said 'If you're not a hemmeroid get of my ass' and we're still laughing. My all-time favourite is 'my other car is a broomstick'
Main Course
If you could be invisible for one day, how would you spend your time?
Given than being invisible would also give me other powers like travel at the speed of light...I'd pop in on all my friends and family (starting with NZ when the sun rises) to see how they are doing in their day to day lives...you have been warned!
Oh and accidently stray into the allblack training camp changing rooms for a brief moment on the way
Dessert
Describe your hair.
I think brown might be it's natural colour but who knows!
June 15, 2005
It still makes me laugh
An ambitious software engineer finally decided to take a vacation. He booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life. At least for a while. A hurricane came up unexpectedly. The ship went down and was lost instantly. The man found himself swept up on the shores of an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing. Only bananas and coconuts.
Used to four-star hotels, this guy had no idea what to do. So for the next eight months he ate bananas, drank coconut juice, longed for his old life, and fixed his gaze on the sea, hoping to spot a rescue ship.
One day, as he was lying on the beach, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye! It was a rowboat, and in it was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She rowed up to him. In disbelief, he asked her: "Where did you come from, and how did you get here?" "I rowed from the other side of the island," she said. "I managed to get ashore there when my cruise ship sank."
"Amazing," the software engineer said, "I didn't know anyone else had survived. How many of you are there? You were really lucky to have a rowboat wash up with you."
"There's only me," she said, "and the rowboat didn't wash up: nothing did."
He was confused, "Then how did you get the rowboat?"
"Oh, simple," replied the woman. "I made it out of raw material that I found on the island. The oars were whittled from gum-tree branches, I wove the bottom from palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a eucalyptus tree."
"But, but, that's impossible," stuttered the man. "You had no tools or hardware - how did you manage?"
"That was no problem," the woman said. "On the south side of the island, there is a very unusual strata of exposed alluvial rock. I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. I used that to make tools, which I used to make the hardware. But enough of that. Where do you live?"
Sheepishly, the man confessed that he had been sleeping on the beach the whole time. "Well, let's row over to my place then," she said. After a few minutes of rowing,she docked the boat at a small wharf. As the man looked onto shore, he nearly fell out of the boat. Before him was a stone walk leading to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white. While the woman tied up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man could only stare ahead, dumbstruck.
As they walked into the house, she said casually, "It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down, please. Would you like to have a drink?"
"No, no, thank you," he said, still dazed. "I couldn't drink another drop of coconut juice." "It's not coconut juice," the woman replied. "I have made a still - How about a Pina Colada?"
Trying to hide his continued amazement, the software engineer accepted, and they sat down on her couch to talk. After they had exchanged their stories, the woman announced, "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable. Would you like to have a shower and a shave? There is a razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom."
No longer questioning anything, the man went into the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow-ground edge were fastened to its tip, inside a swivel mechanism.
"This woman is absolutely amazing," he mused. "What next?"
When he returned, the woman greeted him wearing nothing but vines and leaves and smelling faintly of flowers. She told him to sit down next to her. "Tell me," she began, "We've both been out here for a very long time.
You've been lonely. I've been lonely. There must be something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now." She stared into his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing - this was like all of his dreams coming true in one day.
"You mean...," he replied, "I can check my e-mails from here?"
Used to four-star hotels, this guy had no idea what to do. So for the next eight months he ate bananas, drank coconut juice, longed for his old life, and fixed his gaze on the sea, hoping to spot a rescue ship.
One day, as he was lying on the beach, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye! It was a rowboat, and in it was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She rowed up to him. In disbelief, he asked her: "Where did you come from, and how did you get here?" "I rowed from the other side of the island," she said. "I managed to get ashore there when my cruise ship sank."
"Amazing," the software engineer said, "I didn't know anyone else had survived. How many of you are there? You were really lucky to have a rowboat wash up with you."
"There's only me," she said, "and the rowboat didn't wash up: nothing did."
He was confused, "Then how did you get the rowboat?"
"Oh, simple," replied the woman. "I made it out of raw material that I found on the island. The oars were whittled from gum-tree branches, I wove the bottom from palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a eucalyptus tree."
"But, but, that's impossible," stuttered the man. "You had no tools or hardware - how did you manage?"
"That was no problem," the woman said. "On the south side of the island, there is a very unusual strata of exposed alluvial rock. I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. I used that to make tools, which I used to make the hardware. But enough of that. Where do you live?"
Sheepishly, the man confessed that he had been sleeping on the beach the whole time. "Well, let's row over to my place then," she said. After a few minutes of rowing,she docked the boat at a small wharf. As the man looked onto shore, he nearly fell out of the boat. Before him was a stone walk leading to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white. While the woman tied up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man could only stare ahead, dumbstruck.
As they walked into the house, she said casually, "It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down, please. Would you like to have a drink?"
"No, no, thank you," he said, still dazed. "I couldn't drink another drop of coconut juice." "It's not coconut juice," the woman replied. "I have made a still - How about a Pina Colada?"
Trying to hide his continued amazement, the software engineer accepted, and they sat down on her couch to talk. After they had exchanged their stories, the woman announced, "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable. Would you like to have a shower and a shave? There is a razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom."
No longer questioning anything, the man went into the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow-ground edge were fastened to its tip, inside a swivel mechanism.
"This woman is absolutely amazing," he mused. "What next?"
When he returned, the woman greeted him wearing nothing but vines and leaves and smelling faintly of flowers. She told him to sit down next to her. "Tell me," she began, "We've both been out here for a very long time.
You've been lonely. I've been lonely. There must be something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now." She stared into his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing - this was like all of his dreams coming true in one day.
"You mean...," he replied, "I can check my e-mails from here?"
The heat wave has broken
and we're down to 25 high for today...a bit less humidity is nice but I'd still trade it for the lovely 30's anyday.
Since I'm feeling a bit blue at the moment(not to mention nonbloggingguilt), on the advice of my sister I'll console myself with a wee list of all my blessings (and I'm starting from Sunday cos of the first one)
Golf...whilst I'm not getting much better (2nd game in a year and a half), I'm out there and loving playing it. Played Texas Scramblefor the first time...and we even hit of some of my shots cos they were good, so I think I'll resign the gym membership(i hardly ever go) and get me some more lessons
Dinner last night - working in the office to finish off some stuff and hubby (like to call him that just for the hell of it) come in with chinese for dinner. Sweeeeeeet thing that he is
Plans Saw the plans for the proposed extension and all was good. If (and its a very big IF) we can work out how to afford this, will turn the 3bed2bath into a 4bed3bath...that's positively a mansion, what will I do with all that space! and best of all he did a free rework of the kitchen to make it a much better living space, which can wait for later cash if needed. Better start buying those lottery tickets I think...I might have a spare kidney for sale if anyone wants it.
Girly gossip... L and I got to talking as we drove our golf cart mostly on the road. Did you know they were 4wd...no really they are, at least out if eyeshot of the course official. I realized how much I'd missed face to face girly gossip about stuff, what to wear to a wedding, various foilables of partners, the best places to buy stuff, politics etc etc etc. Hope I might have made a friend there.
MIL & FILWho very nicely bought a cottage by the river all those years ago, a great big floating pontoon boat to go with it and a collection of BBQ's to rival your nearest hardware store. And best of all they let us come and stay, eat there home cooked goodies and lavish parental-in-law love and affection.
They also produced a pretty damn good sister in law for me to...well done you two.
lo-stress moving...for the first time in my life I'm not stressed about moving. I've moved more than I can remember and like a turtle, usually carrying it all on my back (or whatever car my friends/men with van and I had) We've got movers this time, hopefully MIL and FIL's trailer (and MIL and FIL as an added bonus) and we should be done. I'm sure it will be more stressful than that but I'm not worrying at the moment, and besides, I'll have to be at work that day - yippee.
Life's not so bad..oh wait, I need to go to the airport this afternoon...oh well
Since I'm feeling a bit blue at the moment(not to mention nonbloggingguilt), on the advice of my sister I'll console myself with a wee list of all my blessings (and I'm starting from Sunday cos of the first one)
Golf...whilst I'm not getting much better (2nd game in a year and a half), I'm out there and loving playing it. Played Texas Scramblefor the first time...and we even hit of some of my shots cos they were good, so I think I'll resign the gym membership(i hardly ever go) and get me some more lessons
Dinner last night - working in the office to finish off some stuff and hubby (like to call him that just for the hell of it) come in with chinese for dinner. Sweeeeeeet thing that he is
Plans Saw the plans for the proposed extension and all was good. If (and its a very big IF) we can work out how to afford this, will turn the 3bed2bath into a 4bed3bath...that's positively a mansion, what will I do with all that space! and best of all he did a free rework of the kitchen to make it a much better living space, which can wait for later cash if needed. Better start buying those lottery tickets I think...I might have a spare kidney for sale if anyone wants it.
Girly gossip... L and I got to talking as we drove our golf cart mostly on the road. Did you know they were 4wd...no really they are, at least out if eyeshot of the course official. I realized how much I'd missed face to face girly gossip about stuff, what to wear to a wedding, various foilables of partners, the best places to buy stuff, politics etc etc etc. Hope I might have made a friend there.
MIL & FILWho very nicely bought a cottage by the river all those years ago, a great big floating pontoon boat to go with it and a collection of BBQ's to rival your nearest hardware store. And best of all they let us come and stay, eat there home cooked goodies and lavish parental-in-law love and affection.
They also produced a pretty damn good sister in law for me to...well done you two.
lo-stress moving...for the first time in my life I'm not stressed about moving. I've moved more than I can remember and like a turtle, usually carrying it all on my back (or whatever car my friends/men with van and I had) We've got movers this time, hopefully MIL and FIL's trailer (and MIL and FIL as an added bonus) and we should be done. I'm sure it will be more stressful than that but I'm not worrying at the moment, and besides, I'll have to be at work that day - yippee.
Life's not so bad..oh wait, I need to go to the airport this afternoon...oh well
June 13, 2005
although i missed posting the Friday Feast
here it is anyway...the Friday Feast is something to think about on Friday's, and to make you think...what would your responses be?
Appetizer
Name one thing that made you sad this week.
My sister is still having problems with changing medications, we can only hope it will come right in the end.
Soup
What was the last object (not person) you took a picture of?Looking on my cameraphone, the sun setting on Chicago skyline from the Dan Ryan motorway as we were stuck behind the queues behind the burning cars after a 5.5 hour trip from Cincinnati (should give you some idea of how crap my week was last week)
Salad
Who do you talk to when you need help in making a decision?For home, my husband of course...that's what he's there for righ?...he's good on moral support, even if we are both indesicive.
For work - anyone that will agree with me!!!
Main Course
If you were a weather event, what would you be, and why?I'd like to say a nice peacefull sunrise...but suspect that I'd be labelled as a hurricane by those who have seen me in full steam...leaving a trail of debris behind
Dessert
Suggest a website that you think your readers would enjoy visiting.http://www.dilbert.com will always brighten up your work day
Appetizer
Name one thing that made you sad this week.
My sister is still having problems with changing medications, we can only hope it will come right in the end.
Soup
What was the last object (not person) you took a picture of?Looking on my cameraphone, the sun setting on Chicago skyline from the Dan Ryan motorway as we were stuck behind the queues behind the burning cars after a 5.5 hour trip from Cincinnati (should give you some idea of how crap my week was last week)
Salad
Who do you talk to when you need help in making a decision?For home, my husband of course...that's what he's there for righ?...he's good on moral support, even if we are both indesicive.
For work - anyone that will agree with me!!!
Main Course
If you were a weather event, what would you be, and why?I'd like to say a nice peacefull sunrise...but suspect that I'd be labelled as a hurricane by those who have seen me in full steam...leaving a trail of debris behind
Dessert
Suggest a website that you think your readers would enjoy visiting.http://www.dilbert.com will always brighten up your work day
June 07, 2005
It's 30 (90) degrees today
hot hot hot...and lovin it, cept I have to be inside working not lying by the pool. Oh well, lets hope it holds out for this weekend too.
Back to work, catch you later
Back to work, catch you later
June 06, 2005
Costa Rica baby
I've been having some blogging probs over the last few days and seemed to have lost days 2-4 post...hmmmnnn. In the meantime, here is a link to tracy's photo's, pretty damn good photos to
June 01, 2005
Tebear-Weaver-Starks do Costa Rica for Memorial Weekend
Day one
The day started early with the alarm set for 3:00 and the need to b e out the door by 3:45…managed to see the sunrise over O’Hare airport, something I’m pretty sure I’ll never need to see again if I’m lucky. A short flight down to Atlanta (love that southern accent) then onto a rather old and dingy Delta flight, complete with the mandatory seat kickers and interesting airline food.
Kept getting little glimpses of the sea and land, but since my geography is pretty naff, not sure if that was the last sight of the US or first sight of Central America.
Getting off the plane you could feel the heat and humidity (lovely…missed the heat for sure) and after standing in the looongest line in customs (we thought we were smart avoiding the line with all the Baptist missionaries going to paint something for a church), but managed to get behind the ‘family that did not fill any papers in!’…they took so long that the entire line applauded when they finally got through…and they slunk of to collect the luggage. I don’t think that many kiwi’s go to Costa Rica as the customs man had to check which stamp I needed. Steam was coming out of M’s ears at this point…We trundled off to the car rental place…somehow when she booked they had said to T that she didn’t need any insurance, and they also forgot to mention the tax as well. He might have well been wearing eye patches and a parrot on his shoulder, the pirate! A couple of hundred dollars more (cos they didn’t have the car we booked and we had to go to a slightly larger one)…rather gritted teeth and we’re off…singing ‘Do you know the way to San Jose…
The outskirts of San Jose had shanties and light industry, ranging from ferriteria (iron works) to the guys on the side of the road selling banana’s, round flat bed and some sort of flowers, and lots and lots of pineapple. Using a combinations of maps, printed directions from the hotel and large signs with volcano’s on them, we make our way through little towns and up and down hills towards the hotel.
The Lost Iguana is situated in Arenal, an area in the centre of Costa Rica dominated by the worlds second most active volcano…the nearest big (a somewhat subjective term here) town is La Fortuna…somehow resembling a small farming outpost cum tourist town cum wild frontier town, uneasily coexisting together. Apart from the somewhat bewildered tourists wandering around trying to figure out where the town begins and ends, the biggest excitement is when the long distance bus honks and hoots its way into town, disgorges the crunched up passengers, stuffs them full of mama Olga’s pizza, comidos and dodgy looking lottery tickets before adding a few more people and sending them on their way.
As instructed we turned right at the purple Alamo and headed further into the hills. The roads got windier and windier as as the dusk fell, we traversed the dam road (water on one side and long drop on the other), down a long bumpy metal road and finally made it to the Lost Iguana,
It’s a fairly new hotel and only has 20 rooms in two blocks. All the furniture is made of local wood or bamboo, and it was rather like living with the Flintstones. We had one room on one end and Jeff and Tracy had one on the other. One of the reasons we chose this place was the promise of volcano views from every room, and they were right. It’s very hard to see the volcano at night (and mostly during the day) due to cloud cover, but when it rolls back or lifts up somewhat and the mountain spews forth lava its quite spectacular. Red sparks and a stream down the side. In the day you can’t see the colour of the lava but if the mountain is visible you see the plume of smoke and ash when it erupts, then a few seconds later you hear thunder as the sound catches up.
A few drinks and a little tour planning down by the pool, a little salad or two then head hits the bed and sleep takes over…it was a very long day.
The day started early with the alarm set for 3:00 and the need to b e out the door by 3:45…managed to see the sunrise over O’Hare airport, something I’m pretty sure I’ll never need to see again if I’m lucky. A short flight down to Atlanta (love that southern accent) then onto a rather old and dingy Delta flight, complete with the mandatory seat kickers and interesting airline food.
Kept getting little glimpses of the sea and land, but since my geography is pretty naff, not sure if that was the last sight of the US or first sight of Central America.
Getting off the plane you could feel the heat and humidity (lovely…missed the heat for sure) and after standing in the looongest line in customs (we thought we were smart avoiding the line with all the Baptist missionaries going to paint something for a church), but managed to get behind the ‘family that did not fill any papers in!’…they took so long that the entire line applauded when they finally got through…and they slunk of to collect the luggage. I don’t think that many kiwi’s go to Costa Rica as the customs man had to check which stamp I needed. Steam was coming out of M’s ears at this point…We trundled off to the car rental place…somehow when she booked they had said to T that she didn’t need any insurance, and they also forgot to mention the tax as well. He might have well been wearing eye patches and a parrot on his shoulder, the pirate! A couple of hundred dollars more (cos they didn’t have the car we booked and we had to go to a slightly larger one)…rather gritted teeth and we’re off…singing ‘Do you know the way to San Jose…
The outskirts of San Jose had shanties and light industry, ranging from ferriteria (iron works) to the guys on the side of the road selling banana’s, round flat bed and some sort of flowers, and lots and lots of pineapple. Using a combinations of maps, printed directions from the hotel and large signs with volcano’s on them, we make our way through little towns and up and down hills towards the hotel.
The Lost Iguana is situated in Arenal, an area in the centre of Costa Rica dominated by the worlds second most active volcano…the nearest big (a somewhat subjective term here) town is La Fortuna…somehow resembling a small farming outpost cum tourist town cum wild frontier town, uneasily coexisting together. Apart from the somewhat bewildered tourists wandering around trying to figure out where the town begins and ends, the biggest excitement is when the long distance bus honks and hoots its way into town, disgorges the crunched up passengers, stuffs them full of mama Olga’s pizza, comidos and dodgy looking lottery tickets before adding a few more people and sending them on their way.
As instructed we turned right at the purple Alamo and headed further into the hills. The roads got windier and windier as as the dusk fell, we traversed the dam road (water on one side and long drop on the other), down a long bumpy metal road and finally made it to the Lost Iguana,
It’s a fairly new hotel and only has 20 rooms in two blocks. All the furniture is made of local wood or bamboo, and it was rather like living with the Flintstones. We had one room on one end and Jeff and Tracy had one on the other. One of the reasons we chose this place was the promise of volcano views from every room, and they were right. It’s very hard to see the volcano at night (and mostly during the day) due to cloud cover, but when it rolls back or lifts up somewhat and the mountain spews forth lava its quite spectacular. Red sparks and a stream down the side. In the day you can’t see the colour of the lava but if the mountain is visible you see the plume of smoke and ash when it erupts, then a few seconds later you hear thunder as the sound catches up.
A few drinks and a little tour planning down by the pool, a little salad or two then head hits the bed and sleep takes over…it was a very long day.
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