April 10, 2008

A New Casa Calypso?

Dear Dad,

The end of another busy week is approaching.  Where does the time go?

Today David is at Punta Coral.  He left yesterday with Bill to look at a property in Puntarenas we are thinking about buying.  What?  Well, since we are renting a dock and the kitchen and at the mercy of two very difficult landlords, we have been looking for something we can call our own.

When we first started the Calypso business, we had Casa Calypso to use as a ¨staging¨ area or reception area for our guests.  We had not only the house, but a big rancho – where we served coffee in the mornings – and the gardens to walk around in and a small shop to buy Calypso souvenirs while waiting for the boat to leave.  It was very successful and made the tourists feel like they were in a special place.

Since we sold the house we have been at the mercy of landlords, who are always greedy and want ridiculous amounts of raises on the contracts when we go to renew them.  Calypso is always the goose that lays the golden egg, and when the landlords see the amount of people we move, they want more money.

There are no docks available in Puntarenas and yet we found a property that has a house very similar to Casa Calypso with a dock.  No, the gardens are not at all what we had, but the idea that we can have a staging area that is attractive, private and home to Manta Raya and the Calypso kitchen is a big plus for us.

Our first move after we sold Casa Calypso was to a small hotel owned by a friend.  His hotel was a disaster and we redid the kitchen- building a costly sink and spent days scraping thick grease off the ceiling and walls, scrubbing the filthy kitchen before we could start preparing the Calypso lunches before we moved in.

  I made new table cloths and also new covers for the bar stools.  I also redid the landscaping at our expense.  The change was remarkable and after I finished, the owner demanded that we re-decorate the 10 rooms too, but at our expense. Our agreement was to rent the kitchen part only.  Why should we pay to redecorate the rooms?  Granted I could have done a beautiful job, but the cost would have been at least $3000 or more per room. So we moved the kitchen again instead.

The next kitchen we moved to was a new apartment, but the wife of the landlord and the cooks didn’t get along.  The landlord wanted to raise the rent 100% or we had to move, so we left and he threatened the crew and tried to sue us for moving at his request.

We moved again, the third time and there was another hard to deal with landlord.  We rented one of the four apartments and he demanded we pay for water in all four apartments. I wasn’t working in the office at the time and the other woman who had my job, agreed to his ridiculous demands.

When we fired the cooks, we moved to where we are now.  Everyone is happy, but we are at the mercy of a landlord who can raise the rent to whatever he wants after three years when the contract comes up for renewal. The same problem we have with the owner of the dock.

Since there are no laws or rental raise restrictions, we are at the mercy of greedy hard to deal with people who make and have made our lives miserable.

Where we dock the Manta Raya now costs $800 a month, up from the $300 a month charged when we first started renting and now the landlord, a very difficult man, wants to raise it 50% to $1200 per month.  Why?  Because he can.

The dock we rent has a small souvenir shop too and the woman who runs it complains that our clients don’t buy anything.  How can that be our fault?  We bring the people into her store, sometimes more than 80 people a day and if they don’t buy anything isn’t it because the shop doesn’t carry anything the tourists want? See the problem?

We will receive the contract for the new house today.  The owner will let us lease the property for a year with the rental going towards the purchase price. 

We will once again be the only aquatic tour company in Puntarenas with a private dock and kitchen. Casa Calypso will be reborn.  We can add to our income with a small shop that will sell Calypso souvenirs and snacks for our tourists. It will also make us look like – for lack of a better term- very high class and elegant – a place where we can decorate with palm trees and patio furniture and flowers in pure Calypso style.  We will once again reign as the ¨kings¨ of the island cruise we made world famous. This a good reason, no a great reason for buying and it also separates us light years from any other boat leaving from Puntarenas.

The new Casa Calypso has a big patio area where we can place tables and chairs under awnings for the tourists.  Where we are leaving from now has no place for the tourists to sit. Because the area looks shabby we look shabby too.

David wanted to see the level of the water at the property at low and high tides to make sure we always will have the necessary depth for Manta Raya to leave and return to the dock without any problems due to lack of water.  This was a big problem with Casa Calypso – we only had enough depth to leave from our own dock 1 week each month.

After the inspection of the house and dock area, David and Bill went to Punta Coral to spend the night. David paid $100 – a payment that is as good as a signature on a contract until final papers can be signed. Casa Calypso will reign again.

Today there is a group, spending the day at Punta Coral who work in the government and are doing a study of our facilities to see if we can lease the water in front of Punta Coral and have permission for a small marina.  We want to protect the waters from the fishermen who use illegal nets and also dive near the shore and take everything.  It is important to try and save what little marine life there is now so that they can reproduce and also of course we want to have a nice area, an underwater scenic area, for the tourists when they snorkel.

Now that ´going green¨ and conversation and sustainable tourism are the focal points of the world, our efforts should be recognized and the project approved. 

I have been watching HGTV when I get the chance.  Celiece loves the channel and it is what she likes to do when she visits us because she doesn’t get the channel at her house.

It is addictive; but the great ideas are wonderful.

This last weekend, I got a burst of energy and David and I went shopping.  Since we have limited bargain shops it is not easy to get what you want to need at prices one can afford, comfortably.  Luckily, we have a small import store that carries a variety of ¨stuff¨ and it

was there that I was able to finally find small plastic cabinets that fit under the sinks in the bathrooms to neatly keep all the stuff that accumulates in the bathroom – extra soaps, shampoo etc.   We have very limited closet space where we live now.

I worked until after midnight ¨organizing¨ and am very happy with the results.  Celiece was thrilled when I told her.  She is a neat freak. She will be home in a few days and I am anxious to show her what I have been busy doing.

On Sunday, the gardener came over and he planted the garden with all the new plants David and I bought on Saturday.  He is so fast that we knew he could do the job a lot quicker than us.  He worked for five hours until an unseasonal thunder and lightening storm hit and he had to quit. 

The work is in the back yard and even though we need a few more plants, it is beautiful.

I selected lots of flowering plants to attract butterflies – or as I like to call them – cat toys.

Boarding the flower beds now is a long leafed grass and this really makes a difference in the look of the yard. This Saturday, I will go and but a few more plants to complete the look I am going for.

At the office we are busy on getting the banner and stand ready for Expotur in May.  Since we are not going to be here, it is important that we have everything approved and ready early. Mauricio and Marco will work the three day tourist show.

The new brochures are at the printers and the banner for the stand is missing a few minor details and as soon as David sees and approves the finished product we will send the artwork out and have the banner printed. 

Tomorrow we will look at some give-aways for the show, probably key chains. A representative will come and show us some samples.

Just as I wrote this, the representative arrived.  I looked at the catalogue and decided on sun block for lips that hang on a string around your neck.  It fits our yacht theme and won’t break the bank.

It looks like San Jose is not going to get much more summer weather. We had very little and now the seasons are changing.  The flowering trees blossomed early, always a sign and now we are having early rains; that is causing some flooding in some areas.

The local newspaper has announced that electricity is going up.  It will be at least 11% higher for poor residential areas and businesses will pay a whopping 41% increase.  It is difficult to adjust our prices for a year in advance because no one knows when the government will raise prices.  They do it whenever and our prices, once quoted are set in stone and we have to live with them for a year because our customers send the prices out to wholesalers or have put the information in their printed material and then we are stuck with the prices printed.

Sara, the office maid, who keeps the floors, walls, rugs, desks, kitchen and everything else clean, just delivered chocolate cake to everyone. I may be drooling but I didn’t let myself be tempted and had an apple instead.

I have been really good doing my 45 minutes of exercise on my Nordic track, practically every morning.  I am getting firmer, but still have a tummy no matter how many sit ups I do, but I know that one piece of temptation will be at least 2 days of exercise to work it off. It is really not fair.

This coming Monday is a holiday or Juan Santa Maria Day, a national hero who supposedly stopped William Walker from taking over Costa Rica, as he did the rest of Central America, in the year 1856.  The International Airport in San Jose is named after him.

The story about his bravery differs depending on whom you talk to.  It reminds me of a really old story Kipling wrote and later was made into a movie about when the British were at war with India and a young boy climbed to the top of a tower to blow the bugle and sound the alarm. 

It will be nice to have a three day weekend.  Because David went to Punta Coral on Wednesday and is returning today – Thursday, we will wait and go next weekend.  It is a long drive to make two days in a row.  I am sure he will want to play golf anyway.

Watching the news about the cancellations of 1,200 American Airlines flights is distressing.  We are planning on starting our vacation in just over two weeks.  I hope that everything is better soon.  Flying always makes me nervous anyway.

Marlon is very excited.  He will get his visa when he returns from a tour around Costa Rica.  Since he has ever been to the United States, or Disneyland or Hawaii it will be a really big adventure for him.  He is also really looking forward to meeting you.

This is all the news for the week.  The sky is grey and I am on my way to the grocery store and also a local florist for Gladiolas and tulips.  I learned, watching HGTV that if you put a penny in the vase with the tulips they will stand up and not bend.  I bought tulips last week and put a penny in the water and it works.  Usually they start drooping and bending the first day. The tulips lasted until this morning and they were still standing straight up but the petals were falling off.  It just shows me that I am never too old to learn something new.  I love that.

I hope you are well and happy.  I love and miss you.

Besitos,  Cecs