October 16, 2007

Dear Dad,

I am back at work in Costa Rica after a wonderful vacation in Miami, the spoiled guest of Bill and Cindy, two super friends and incredible hosts.

I returned on Sunday afternoon and was delighted to learn that Monday was a holiday and I had a day at home to unpack, wash clothes and rest before going to the office.

You have no idea what was waiting for me; but most of it is easy to take care of because

the office staff did a great job

While I was gone, Costa Rica had terrible weather. There was a depression hanging over our little country for a week, dropping buckets of rain every where causing slides, floods and even the deaths of 15 people whose houses slid down a hill during a downpour. Very unusual weather for us here in the tropics.

Last Friday it was so bad that the first slide made the bus full of tourists take an alternate route and different breakfast stop. After arriving late at the dock, the boat waited for 45 minutes for another bus. It rained and the captain decided to take the tour anyway. Well, it rained all day soaking everyone but the worst part was trying to get the group back to San Jose. Apparently, the gold mine had a cave in and this caused a bigger slide that blocked all passages to San Jose – this plus accidents and more rain. The poor people slept 12 hours on the bus while they waited for the roads to clear. This is a first for us and hopefully the last.

I had a meeting with the guide and head of reservations earlier and both were saying we never should have gone. They are correct and should have used their heads and taken the responsibility and cancelled the tour. David and I were gone and both men have lots of experience and should have given the matter more thought and made a decision. I would have backed them up. The culture here is different and the people don’t like to take responsibility or make decisions.

Today it is cold. I am wearing a jacket in my office. Marlon just walked in with a BIG chocolate bar – my lunch. Yum!!! Celiece is on a tour and will be home on Sunday.

Today David took the fast train from Conn to NY and will be going to the theatre to see Chicago tonight. He will get on a plane tomorrow afternoon and should be home by 8:00pm. I say should, because we have had so much rain that there have been slides everywhere and I just got a call from a friend who told me her brother is in Guanacaste in the north part of Costa Rica and it is raining and flooded so bad that a car rental company has all the cars floating in the parking lot.

Thursday

David returned home last night. The flights were delayed because of the rain. It is great to have him home again. We are both attached to our desks and working on all the stuff

that was left undone while we were gone.

Manta Raya has a little smoke and the Captain and mechanic took out the injectors to have the points repaired but when they put both of them back in the boat, the smoke problem persisted and now it was a piston that had to be changed and this was a lot more work. Hopefully, as I write this, the big cat – Manta Raya is back together and ready for the tour tomorrow. Maybe it was a good thing that we cancelled the trip today as we are on red alert in some areas of Costa Rica, especially along the coast and yellow alert in other places here in the central valley.

Yesterday I worked with Mario, who works in reservations, decorating the office with Halloween stuff I brought back from Miami. We have giant spider webs filled with lots and lots of plastic spiders and two black cats with arched backs, red eyes and sharp pointed teeth. I also bought a mat for the floor that when the front door opens a banshee screams and scares the person. I have a big pumpkin made of plastic on one of the desks that lights up and I placed the cats in front of it. There are two really big, hairy spiders too, one that hangs from the ceiling and the other is near a model of Manta Raya and the catamaran is covered in a giant spider web with spiders and bats in it. I just love Halloween. All the employees are going to dress up in costumes and we will have a contest for the best one.

Tomorrow, David and I will go to Puntarenas and work on the new Calypso kitchen. The carpenters didn’t do anything while we were away, but promised that we should be able to move in next week, or at least before the end of the month.

We still have to build closets for dishes, food, beer, soft drinks and wine and also all the table cloths and napkins. I am also looking into the purchase of a industrial washer and dryer. We need one as the woman who washes by hand is ready to retire and her daughter, who wants the job, will only take it if she doesn’t have to wash clothes by hand.

Right now the laundry department is using too much laundry soap.

I have objected to buying a washer because they pack it with too many clothes and then

call the repair man who was coming every week at about $50 or more each time. Believe me this adds up quickly. Hopefully an industrial machine will hold more table cloths and solve the problem. I hope so as it will cost $1000 for a washer and if I buy a dryer it is $1000 too.

Bryan just went and got my car. I had it in the shop because the oil cooler or something like that went out and I decided to have the oil changed and a tune up. It is a good thing that Calypso can pay for the work because it was expensive.

Today is massage day and I am ready for one. It has been three weeks and everything is sore. I want to relax and a massage will do the trick.

Not too much going on this week, just lots of the usual paper work and stuff.

Hope this letter finds you well and happy. Say hi to Ira.

I love and miss you. Got your costume ready for Halloween?

Besitos, Cecs