July 16, 2007

Dear Dad,

I think I forgot to tell you about the tour and the treasure hunt.  It was a big success.

We hired Marlon to make up the clues and the treasure hunt. Marlon asked me to write a story about a pirate.  Why?  How else did the treasure get to Punta Coral, buried treasure always has a pirate.  I started forming the story in my head first and then while at Punta Coral the weekend before the hunt I wrote a two page story about the pirate Mario.

We went in a day early with friends so David and I and Marlon could watch them use to clues and look for the hidden treasure.

The clues are difficult and you really have to have your thinking cap on to understand them.

After Marlon, who was the guide and masters of ceremony, gave the small group of 14 people a tour of the property and everyone had time to change into swim suits, we met in the rancho or thatched roof/bar area.

As soon as everyone was settled I asked a little about the company.  They were from Houston and their boss takes the office on a wonderful trip every year. The all work for her second mortgage company.  Eight people from the office didn’t come to Costa Rica – too afraid to fly. Besides the owner and her assistant and photographer there were 11 fortune hunters.

I asked how they found us and one woman told us that they knew they were going to Costa Rica and looked for a tour that offered group activities – that’s us.

This group requested a treasure hunt and we really had to put on our thinking caps to make up this activity as we never have done one before.  Now, sitting before me were the treasure hunters waiting to go look for the lost treasure of Mario.

I reminded the group that we are in the jungle and that there are all sorts of critters living with us and to stay on the paths and to watch where they walk and put their hands.

I didn’t want to scare anyone, but the week before we saw three thin garden snakes.

That very morning, when I went and grabbed the coffee sock to make coffee there was a scorpion hidden inside.  It jumped out when I put my hand on the coffee sock and shook it open.  I was lucky I wasn’t stung.  The little creature jumped about more than a foot landed on the counter and open up to full size.  ¨Don’t kill it¨? I screamed and went to get a dust pan and broom. In the meantime David put a glass over it and I gave him the dust pan to slide underneath the plastic glass and David carried it outside.  I have good scorpion karma because I never kill them just take them outside.  Hey, don’ wrinkle your nose, they have a right to live at Punta Coral peacefully with us – just outside.

I asked if they had ever done a treasure hunt before and the owner told us that when they went to the Bahamas there was a hunt, but no clues, just a cross hidden someplace that had to be found and the treasure buried underneath.

Then it began.  I asked if the group had paid attention to the orientation of the property because there was a lot of information that was given that would help in finding the buried treasure.  Then I read the story about the nasty pirate Mario to set the stage.  We had given all the guests a bandana and a black eye patch to wear.  The stage was set.

Even the crew wore them as well as the workers on the property.

On the bar was sitting an ice bucket filled with the maps.  Marlon had made maps of Punta Coral using our web master and the computer.  He had landmarks placed and then he burned the edges to make the map authentic looking, rolled them like a scroll and tied them with ribbon. 

The sight of the maps thrilled the small group.  After I read the story each was given a map and a coin.  The coin was $ so that if needed one clue could be bought.

We read the first clue and sat and watched the fun begin.

The first clue was to find the copper dolphin on the roof of the big house that is also a weather vane so that they would know the true directions and make the map reading easier.

It took a while and then we saw that one woman solved the clue and went on to the second clue that took her to the Vista Tortuga Trail and the third clue and so on.  It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to find the treasure. 

We learned a lot watching the group try and figure out the difficult clues (we didn’t want the game to be too easy) and some of them dropped out but most of them continued on.

Finally a man and a woman began digging and brought up a treasure chest filled with gold coins.  Not real gold coins, but because Costa Rica had gold colored coins we used them and had $100 worth in the treasure chest. 

The owner of the company gave a prize too.  She gave each winner a trip to Hawaii for two.  Wow!!!  No wonder they were excited about looking for treasure.

We learned a lot and now know that we have to have more clues hidden in water to give the hunters a chance to cool off.  The hunt involved a lot of running and searching for some and although the weather was cool, if we want to do this again, and we do, someone could get sun stroke if they get dehydrated in the heat.  We also had a few clues that required the person to complete a task before they could get a clue.  One was tossing horseshoes, another was a rope was tied around the waist and a string hanging with a key tied to it and by moving the hips the person had to get the key into a bottle.  Also, the players had to paddle a kayak out to where Misael was at anchor to get a clue.  They loved the game and the lunch and the day at Punta Coral so much they gave the crew a $1000 tip.  Now that is a great tour and a compliment to our hard work.

 The web master, Maria, put the story up on our web site and we are adding the treasure hunt to our tour – for extra cost to the client of course.  We have signed up 60 people for December already. 

We stayed home this weekend.  Friends of ours had an opening of their new Bed and Breakfast in Alajuela on Saturday.  It was fun.  The husband also works as a disk jockey for a local radio station and he had a contest for an invitation and a one night stay at the hotel.  Who won?  A woman who is a body builder and her muscle bound husband. Hard bodies. 

The woman is Marlene and she is on her way to the US for a body building competition.  She looks like a smaller Arnold, the governor of California.  We learned that we need to eat more protein if we want to loose weight and when Marlene and her husband return from the trip they will come to the office and give us lesson on how and what to eat and when.  They told us that the best way is more smaller meals each day instead of one or two big meals.  Also to exercise before eating anything that has sugar  and then wait 1 to 2 hours before eating.  This will burn more calories.

It was a party of odd balls, and I guess that includes us too.  Celiece and Marlon and Bryan were there too.  We had delicious meal of ceviche and hot breads with delicious spreads and muscles from New Zealand (I didn’t eat the muscles because once we were in Spain I ate a bad muscle and poisoned myself with hallucinations and vomiting and I never want to eat another) There was curry chicken on skewers and a delicious salad too.

It was fun.

Sunday we stayed home and I read a book.  On Friday, the owner of our house had a worker repair the roof so there is no longer a leak.  He had to replace what we call umbreras or folded lengths of thin metal that covers the seam of tile on top of the roof.  Also we were missing 50 red roof tiles.  It took two days.

Today, Aurora had to boil the two duvet covers and a rug to boil out the black mold stain.

We had tried everything else the week before, and thankfully the boiling worked.
At least we were able to save them.

It rained really hard all Sunday.  After I checked that there was no longer a river of water in the linen closet, I sat and read a really good book.

Now it is the beginning of another busy week. I added 15 minutes to my time on my Nordic Track.  It was hard, but I did it and then I waited an hour before eating the oatmeal and 9 grain cereal.  I am going to put her eating and exercise plan to the test 

I have almost paid for my car.  I have four payments left and the car is mine.  This is the first really big thing I have ever bought.  I am excited that I will own my car.

Other news, we have been in our new home for 1 year.  Time certainly flies.  We are so happy where we live now. It is quiet and secure and ¨cat friendly, ¨which means that there are no dogs running loose to scare them.

David and I bought new dishes for an anniversary gift to us.  They aren’t expensive, and I won’t mind if and or when the get broken. They are a sage green with a bamboo leaf on one side.  I think they are very nice.  I will pack the old dishes and take them to Punta Coral.  Most of the dishes I have there have been broken. A change at both places will be nice.

Today, David and I went to see an old friend.  If you didn’t know him you would think he is scary.  He is a very tough guy covered in tattoos and owns a biker bar and motorcycle shop.  I certainly wouldn’t want him to be mad at me, buy we like him a lot as a friend.

He is going to sponsor a fund raiser for a 15 year old girl who was shot in the head while driving a car.  Apparently, the boy in the back seat was handling a gun (no-one knows why he had a gun with him) and it went off shooting the young girl through the chin and up through one eye and out her head.  She lived, but lost an eye and will need re-constructive surgery.  Guns are so scary and they seem to be everywhere.

The ex-maid from the office, who is on maternity leave, finally had her baby.  She had it at home while waiting for the ambulance to get there.  Xochilts, our person in charge of purveying was with her and told us that the baby popped out.  It must have been exciting for them both.

In the meantime, we are breaking in a new maid for the office, a guy.  He seems to be working out well.  It takes a little adjustment, but for the first time everyone has clean windows to look out of. I also had him pack up a lot of garbage, old stuff no longer needed that just takes up space.  He filled 4 big garden sized garbage bags of stuff and little by little the garbage men are taking it all away.  I still want to clean out a closet or two.  It amazes me how much this office has accumulated in the four years since we have been here. Most of the stuff was located in the wealth corner of the office and cleaning it all out is a Feng Shui cure  (remember I took a one day refresher course a few weeks ago)and I hung a ceramic wind chime in the corner.  Now we will wait for all the money to come pouring in . J

David told me last night that he thinks that this July is going to be the biggest month in our history.  Usually the busiest month is in high season between Dec and Easter; but we have been going out almost every day even in the low or green season.  It is nice to see that hard work pays off.

I think this finishes the news for the week.  Tomorrow David and I are off to Punta Coral.

This time we are going alone.  We will take the new car to Puntarenas and the new boat to Punta Coral.  It will be fun.  I have lots of interesting reading I can do too.

Hope all is well with you.  I love and miss you.

Besitos,  Cecs