July 14, 2008

Wedding at Punta Coral and under construction at new Casa Calypso

 

Dear Dad,

 

Last week I had a wedding at Punta Coral.  Since I have not done one in a while it was a little hectic for me to remember all that needed to get done before the big day.

The couple married in their home country of Norway before they moved to Costa Rica.

It was important to them to present their newly adopted country to their family and friends in Norway, Africa and their new friends here in Costa Rica.

Since the wedding was on a Friday, David and I drove to Puntarenas Thursday so that we could meet with the architect and head of construction before we took the Amapola (PC dingy) to Punta Coral.

Bill was invited to go along again since his wife was off traveling around the country with her family and he was alone.  On our way to pick him up, we passed through the little town of Bello Horizonte and saw that a giant Eucalyptus tree was being cut down and on the sidewalk were branches with the wonderful smelling Eucalyptus lying on the ground.  David stopped the car and the two of us filled the already packed car with branches to use for decorating the top of the amour/closet in the little house.

David’s car was packed tightly with two giant boxes that have a new glass display cabinet in each (needs to be assembled) that we want to use in the new Casa Calypso.  Also packed were our suitcase and two small ice chests. Of course, little Happy – the new kitten – was snug in his carrying case in the back seat and a space for Bill too.

 Since it was Thursday and not Friday David was able to drive to the office

 (remember David cannot use his car to drive into town on Fridays because his license plate ends in the number 9) to pick up a giant box that held the center piece for the lattice arch and another floral decoration with a wooden clipper ship in the center for the Bride and Groom table, two bunches of orchids – one yellow and one purple and a bag with 600 loose orchid flowers.. The darling tiny tiered wedding cake was packed in a small box and placed snugly between my front seat and the back seat .  We were packed.

Half way to Puntarenas we stopped at the Calypso breakfast stop to get something to eat.  The lunch buffet was ready and after filling our stomachs to stop them from growling, we were once again on our way to Puntarenas.

David stopped at the new Casa Calypso to talk to the workers.  We all were surprised to see that the building that housed the guard and a tool shed and small bathroom was almost completely demolished.  We are officially under construction.

Puntarenas was hot.  I was able to take Happy out of the car but not the cake and David went out twice to put on the air conditioning to cool the inside of his car so the cake wouldn’t melt and the flowers didn’t wilt.  I was getting nervous.

Finally we drove to the dock expecting to find little Mario waiting for us but there was no Amaploa in sight.  Where was he?

After a few phone calls we received the message that Mario was on his way and had gotten the wrong information about what time he was supposed to be at the dock in Puntarenas. He thought that he was supposed to leave Punta Coral at noon; but he was supposed to pick us up at the new Casa Calypso at noon.

You can imagine my surprise when I looked up a few minutes later and saw that the Amapola was being towed to the dock by the Costa Rican Coast Guard.  What was going on???

Well, ………………there has been lots of activity around Puntarenas and the surrounding islands since 2 ½ tons of cocaine was found floating beside an upturned small fishing boat earlier that morning around dawn.

A small government plane had also hit the live electric lines that go across a narrow passage of water to the islands of Cedros and broke them.  How no one was electrocuted is a miracle.  A live electric line falling into the water could have been fatal to anyone swimming nearby.  How near?  I don’t know but do know that hitting the lines with a government plane is a big embarrassment to them and it was repaired in record time.  This is one for the record books.

Back to little Mario……………….  Well, while crossing the Gulf of Nicoya with blue pachingas (plastic containers to haul fuel) on the deck, the patrol boat stopped him and asked for his identification and the boat papers to see if maybe he was carrying fuel to drug dealers hidden in the gulf area.

Interestingly enough, the captain recognized that the boat belongs to us, mentioned our names as someone he knows and let little Mario go.  This was fine, except that Mario could not get the boat started and the patrol offered to tow him to the dock.

Once at the dock, Mario took out a battery and went to charge it.  I sat in the boat with Happy worrying about my flowers and wedding cake.  I sent Mario out for ice cream for me and an old lady who rows a dug out canoe and uses our dock sometimes.  She was thrilled and the delicious sugary cold treat was just what I needed to ¨cool off¨ and wait patiently for the battery to charge and be on our way.

Finally the Amapola was started and we were on our way. (Since we have been having a lot of rain Mario thinks that the bilge pump was working over time to bail out the boat and maybe used up the battery charge.) David was the captain and going a million miles an hour and the water was choppy making the boat bounce and the sky threatened rain.

 I gave him one of those looks and pointed to the cake hidden in the small box.  I was afraid to look thinking I might see crumbs or a puddle of frosting at the bottom of the sealed box. I used one of the soft ice chests as a cushion for the cake, crossed my fingers and prayed.

Luck was with us and we arrived at Punta Coral missing the rain by seconds.  It was a rush to get all our bags and boxes into the house and we arrived inside in time to prevent us from getting drenched by a big downpour.

Finally I had the courage to break the seal on the box and take a peek at the wedding cake. It was perfect ----- a miracle of fondant frosting. J I placed the box with the flowers on an outside table and opened it to let in fresh air and placed the two white orchid leis in the ice chest.

To our surprise the bride and groom had been waiting for us at the Punta Coral dock to talk about last minute details about the wedding the following day. They happy couple stayed until 9:00pm and it was almost midnight by the time Bill, David and I went to sleep.

Earlier I placed the wedding cake in a plastic bag and tied it and placed it in the kitchen sink and once again said a prayer that the Army ants wouldn’t find it and carry it away, crumb by crumb during the night.

Up at dawn, thanks to Happy and his habit of rising at first light and waking us up; the three of us made a plan of what needed to be done before the bride and groom arrived at 9:00am.

I didn’t think I had much to do but the clock was ticking faster that I was working.  It was hot and soon sweat began to pour down my face.  David was soaked with sweat too.

The first job was to set up the bar.  Juan Jose was in charge and began to put the drinks on ice and get the champagne glasses ready for the toast after a short ceremony.

Edgar was busy raking the sand on the beach in front of the main dining area and smoothing out the deep holes left by the crabs and little Mario was cleaning up the plastic and floating logs from our little bay.

 

I went to a closet expecting to find a plastic case with the king sized sheets for the bed in the casita.  Something got there first.  What ?  It was filled with large ants and ant eggs.  I couldn’t get too mad; at least they hadn’t eaten the cake.

I was able to find two sheets that were not stained by any ant goo and took these to the little house as well.  I took a beautiful duvet cover ( a gift from my friend Cindy) some netting to hang over the bed, pillows and pillow shams and new white towels for the bathroom.

 

Like magic I turned the casita into a beautiful suite with clumps of beautiful purple orchids decorating the window sills and a bottle of champagne and glasses on the small table that was now covered in a white table cloth with the two white orchid leis on top.

David brought the rugs (made from rice stalks in Indonesia) from our bedroom and we covered the floor with them only making the little house cuter.

The eucalyptus branches we brought from the cut tree near our house in San Jose, I placed on top of the armoire or closet and placed orchids between the branches for a more elegant look.

I finished just as the bride and groom arrived with her mother.  They gave me the place cards for the tables and then walked to the little house to change clothes and wait for their guests who were to arrive at 10:00am

That damn clock kept ticking the minutes away.  Good, they were out of the way and I could concentrate on decorating the table for the wedding cake while David was busily putting the floral arrangement in the center of the lattice arch that had been carefully moved to the center of the front lawn.  The lawn was a brilliant lime green freshly cut by the gardener who traveled to Punta Coral from San Jose with his wife two days earlier to get the gardens and lawns ready for the wedding. 

The two cooks and bartender and waiter had arrived earlier and they two were busy. (they got a ride from Luis who has a panga/dingy and goes to Tortuga Island every day and runs the snorkeling tours)

I had made flower arrangements for the tables earlier in the morning.  I have tiny white bud vases and into each I placed stems of white and purple orchids.  I gave the seating arrangement cards to Leo who was busy setting the table.  I had a ¨light bulb¨ moment and took a spray of yellow orchids to the little house and pinned them into the bride’s hair.  I had successfully completed all my jobs.

Now it was time to take a shower, a cold shower to cool off and rinse the dripping sweat off my body.  I was exhausted and so was David.  Where was Bill?  I sent him with the bag of loose orchids and he was placing them on the white tile shelves in the two tourist bathrooms.

With all of this commotion where was Happy?  He had been playing on the patio all morning but as more and more people began to arrive, I guess he got frightened and I looked for him and found him hiding under the couch in the living room of the main salon.

 

The party began and I was at the bar checking that all was in order.  To my horror, the case of champagne was on the floor with the bottles still in it and not on the ice as it should be.

The wedding ceremony was almost over and the bride and groom were expecting a champagne toast – cold champagne toast -  with their guests.  What do I do?  I was paid to be the wedding coordinator and this was a big blunder. L

I had another ¨light bulb¨ moment and went and told David to direct the bride and groom to the wooden swing for photos while the bartender filled a small ice chest with ice and water to quickly cool down the champagne.  Brilliant. J

I walked with the guests and bride and groom to the swing.  The groups of guests stood behind the swing and photos were taken.  By the time the picture shoot was finished the champagne was cold and everyone walked back for the all important toast.

After the toast I was able to get the bride to pose for more photos and we even walked back to the casita with her mother and took some pictures inside the little house. 

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly.  David, Bill and I sat at the bar and had lunch and listened to the party going on in the dining area.  Everyone was happy.

I can’t wait to see the pictures.  The bride’s brother is a photographer and had a special camera and was shooting all day.  David unfortunately, left his camera in the car. L

 

After the guests left and the property was cleaned up and the dishes and glasses all washed and put away and showed no evidence of the wedding celebration, David, Bill and I sat under fans in the house and talked about the successful day.

We all were exhausted and went to sleep early.

The following day I repacked all the linens and decorations that I had carefully used to decorate the little house and packed them away.  After a quick breakfast, we left in the panga/dingy to return to Puntarenas and check up on the work being done at the new Casa Calypso and return to San Jose.

On the way to Puntarenas, once again the patrol boat stopped us.  As soon as the captain saw that David and I were in the boat, he let us go.  It is nice to have friends in high places.

 

Sunday, David played golf and I washed laundry, tons of laundry.

Monday morning, while sitting on our back patio drinking coffee; David  and I spotted something moving in the flower beds.  We investigated and saw a rabbit - and he was happily munching on some plant. We watched as the three cats stalked the little rabbit, really not so little and almost the size as the adult cats, and we were amazed that the rabbit and the cats seem to be friends.

 

Tuesday, David and I went back to Puntarenas to see the construction.

Now that all the old building was gone, I could see the actual size of the area for the new bathrooms.  It looked very small to me. 

I asked the architect to use a stick and mark the walls of the bathrooms on the ground so I could understand the plans. I have trouble when reading plans on paper and imagining the finished structure.

The man in charge of the construction crew had a piece of chalk and together the two of them marked the plans on the ground.  I could see immediately that the 3 new bathrooms were going to be small especially after I included the width of the walls- this would make everything narrower. 

I went to sit down while David talked to the guys and then it hit me – another ¨light bulb¨ moment.  Instead of building one wheel chair access bathroom and then a woman’s bathroom with a toilet and a sink and later a man’s bathroom with two urinals and a toilet, I had the great idea of just building two bathrooms with wheel chair access each and make them bigger than the required size the municipal government is asking. 

I jumped up and went over to David and the architect and construction boss  and gave them my plan.  At first they looked surprised at my plan but then all three could see that I had a better idea.  We all agreed on the change.  Since we are not building a big project, something over 30 square meters of new construction, we do not have to have formal architectural plans that need to be presented to the municipal government and approved (this could take weeks or longer). The architect only had to present a basic plan.

I think he was a little disappointed that I came up with better plan but at the same time happy that I was able to finally agree to something.

We are very busy with the new construction and want everything to be perfect when completed.  The idea is that once the bathrooms are finished, they will look like the rest of the house from the outside and hopefully everyone will think that that new section has always been part of the original structure of the house, just remodeled. 

The carpenters will carefully remove the wood on the outside of the original house where the bathrooms will be attached and use the wood and save it to cover the cement block of the new construction and really give it an ¨always

been there¨ look.

We have a two week deadline; but I think it is wishful thinking and we may have to go to plan ¨B¨.  What is plan ¨B¨?  We may have to pay another month at the dock and kitchen where we are now and wait until the bathrooms are completed before we can move.

 

After a busy day, David and I returned to San Jose and the cooler weather.

This is the news for the week.

 

Hope all is well with you.

 

I love and miss you.

 

Besitos,  Cecs