October 8, 2008

 

New garden at Casa Calypso, new floor at PC plus more

 

Dear Dad,

 

We are as busy as ever this week and last.

Manta Raya was put up on a sand bar to scrape and paint the bottom and raise the water line.  With all the repairs to tanks and such, Manta Raya is heavier and the part of the hull under water is painted black and was no longer visible.

Since we did a major haul out last year, we only had to do minor jobs this year to get ready for the season.  We also gave vacations to as many employees as possible

 

David and I went to Puntarenas to see the work in progress at Casa Calypso.

On the way, I asked David if he remembered the name of the vivero/plant nursery in Esparza and he did.  I called and was given a name of a man who sells sterile dirt mixed with rice husks, and was able to order 6 meters or 120 sacks of dirt to be delivered to Casa Calypso. J

The nice man agreed to deliver the dirt and I promised to have the accounting department deposit money into his account when the dirt was delivered. I gave him the office number so he could give the banking information to Michael in accounting.

I didn’t have any information on this man except his name and was very excited that he trusted me enough to deliver the expensive but necessary dirt for the new gardens.

In the meantime, Leonal a gardener turned crew member, took out a depth of 10 inches of the contaminated dirt and sand from the areas I wanted to place the new dirt.  We will use this as filler when we are ready to make a new side walk.

When we got to Puntarenas, there waiting for us was a truck filled with indigenous carvings made from river rock, something I was thinking about buying for the new house.  They are made in Turrialba, a 4 hour drive from San Jose and even longer from Puntarenas. (the area of Turrialba is famous for making reproductions of Indigenous stone pieces of art). I thought of putting a big stone something in the yard, but didn’t know when I would have the time to travel to look for one and then how to transport is to Puntarenas, because of the weight, was another problem.  Needless to say I was very surprised to see a truck load of stone animals and Indian figures in a truck parked in the street in front of Casa Calypso.  I could not believe it when David told me that what I had wished for was there and to go and take a look.

The man and his sons in the truck told us that they had carved the figures from river rock with the guidance of his wife and the mother of the two young men.  She is Indigenous and had small examples of real pieces that were copied to make the bigger pieces. I picked out a stone turtle and David picked out a warrior for the front of the new house J

Of course we had to negotiate prices.  I told him that just because I was born in California I was a Costa Rican and would not pay tourist prices. I told him he was asking too much and that I had $50 to spend.  (He wanted $120 for a stone turtle)  It was very hot and I went to get my parasol from the car for shade and also to find David to see what piece he liked.

David, of course liked a different piece, but because we took so long and the man had been waiting two days for us to arrive, we were able to buy both pieces for less than half of the asking price.

We put the stone turtle in the new garden on top of the cement top for the septic tank and the Indian man statue in the small area near the steps to the driveway. 

Delfina bought some more red ginger flowers and because Leonal had placed the new deliciously rich dirt in the garden area,  I was able to plant the red ginger around the statue and thus finished one small area of the front yard. J

The electrician was there and he was finishing installing interior lights and I also gave him two new lamps for the front porch.  They look really beautiful and match the black iron gate at the street entrance. J

Now, the carpenter is building a roof to place over the new bathrooms that can be removed and part of it used again when we build an office over the bathrooms.

The new ramp is almost finished and beautiful and very strong.  The welder is finishing the painting.

Also we have a new carpenter, Juan, who has been working on the verogeta

or rub rail on the side of Manta Raya.

He had to cut it open, like a surgeon, and scrape out the old two part insulation ( a two part product that when mixed together comes out like foam with a yellowish color and gets hard as a rock)and then soak up the water that had leaked in through some nail or screw holes. When this was finished, he placed new insulation in the area (about four inches wide, and 4 inches deep and almost the whole length of Manta Raya) he mixed a new batch of fiber glass and closed the hole.  This took days.

While checking on all the pending jobs, who should walk through the front gate, but Omar and Myrna, friends from San Jose who were returning from Tango Mar, a resort area that you have to take the ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya to get to.  (David went with Omar and his son to Florida to play golf  few weeks ago).

Omar is a builder and an architect and also David’s best Golfing buddy.  Both he and Myrna were amazed at all the work we have done to the house in less than three months and since the last time there were there.

After the grand tour we went to one of our favorite restaurants for ceviche, shrimp and cold beers before heading back to San Jose.  Omar bought me a lottery ticket too. (I checked the winning numbers the following day, but didn’t win L)

On Friday we invited friends, Sherry and Tim who own and operate a small Bed and Breakfast Hotel, to go with us to Punta Coral for the weekend.

We stopped at Casa Calypso so they could see our new house and also check up on the work going on there.

Both Sherry and Tim love the new house and were impressed with all the work we have done in a short time too.  I guess to an outsider, it looks like a lot but I suppose - because we have been driving up and down the hill checking on the different jobs - besides opening Pandora’s box with un-expected but necessary jobs -  it seems that the work has been slow and there is still a lot more to do. When looking at it from someone else’s view, and explaining what we have done  - it is a lot we have accomplished in only three months. Remember everything is 100 years old.

 

Since there is no alarm system for the Amapola (the Punta Coral launch) at Punta Coral, we still don’t want to leave it tied to the dock in case the bad guys are still waiting their opportunity to steal the boat and motor.

Instead, we had Mario take the ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas to take us to Punta Coral.  Also, the representative for Yamaha, the 225 outboard  motor, was in Puntarenas changing a harness (I have no idea what it is for but only that it is important) for the motor and David wanted Mario to watch and see how the job was done as a learning experience. 

As soon as we finished our business at Casa Calypso, we all boarded the Amapola and headed across the Gulf towards our favorite place.

The water was choppy with big deep troughs and to make the ride as comfortable as possible; David avoided most of the chop by following the line of the troughs and maneuvering the launch out towards the entrance to the Gulf in a straight line and then turning back in towards Punta Coral.  The ride was longer than the usual 30 minutes, but saved our butts from being bounced too hard on the seats.

As soon as we landed and unloaded, Mario took Amapola back to Puntarenas where she is safe and once more boarded the ferry for home.  He tried to make the 4:30PM ferry, but was too late and had to wait until the 8:30PM ferry for the return ride across the Gulf.

As soon as we landed at Punta Coral, I walked to the casona and across the beautiful thick carpet of green grass (our croquet court)  to see the new red floor in our bedroom upstairs.  Wow!!!  What a floor.  It is not finished, but it looks beautiful. 

The wood is tongue and grove and about 1 inch thick with the planks about three inches wide.  It would be very expensive to buy this wood today if you could even find it.  The hardwoods are fastly disappearing and this is why parquet floors are so popular – the parquet pieces are 1/8 inch thick only.

Since we could not use the upstairs, Juan Jose ( the main man at Punta Coral now) had the little house or casita ready for Sherry and Tim. David and I planned to sleep down stairs in the room that the carpenter has already changed the ceiling so that the slanted beams are no longer in the way.

We still duck our heads when entering the room or walking to the other side because the beams have been there for more than 30 years; but we are adjusting and it is wonderful to have a ceiling away from our heads.

Because we are in the middle of the rainy season, the sky was not clear enough to use the new star watching and identifying toy that Dewey (David’s brother) brought as a gift when he and Cindy visited us in August.

Instead, we played Croquet during the day with the new official game David and Bill bought on E-bay. 

When David was in the states, he went to the Croquet center of the world and brought back rules that are easier to understand. We had a wonderful time playing.  The official game is a little more complicated that the game at Bob and Linda’s house and the mallets are longer and heavier and balls are some plastic composite and are heavy too.  Even the route of play is different and so are many of the rules.

 

While we were there I worked a garden plan in my head and showed the workers what plants I wanted to take to Puntarenas on Monday. I made a plan on paper so that I was sure to have all the ¨free¨ plants needed to make a beautiful garden at the new house. This way they could dig them up early Monday morning and we could take them with us since everyone had a day off Sunday.

 

Monday we had Carlos, the captain of Manta Raya come and get us.  We were able to take all the plants I wanted and also the 20 sacks of plastic garbage that the guys had picked up off the beach.

By the time we were ready to leave, it began to rain.  We arrived back at Casa Calypso drenched, but this didn’t stop me from planting the new garden with Leonal.  It took 2 ½ hours, but everything looks so much better now that we have a garden.

There was another surprise waiting for me when we arrived back at Casa Calypso. Curled on a chair was a young orange cat. Long before we had kids, the old Casa Calypso was the home of Leroy, also an orange cat, for 19 years and was popular with the guests.  He was friendly and became sort of a mascot for the employees. 

To see that the new Casa Calypso has once again attracted a new orange cat is an excellent good omen for us. He has no name yet, but seems very comfortable there.  When the cat woke up he walked around and found me when I was out on the dock placing a new palm plant in one of the new cobalt blue planters. He came right over and rubbed my leg.  He is friendly and all the employees like him.  The girls in the kitchen have begun to spoil him too.

We are only a few weeks away from the official start of the high season for tourism and there are still a lot of details that are not done.  We need to be finished and ready by the first of November.

Tomorrow we are going to Puntarenas and then Punta Coral for the weekend.  We will of course play more croquet.

We went last weekend; but because I am taking a three day course next week and then the following week is a 60th birthday celebration for a super friend and Cindy is coming from Miami to celebrate with us, I won’t be heading out for a few weekends.

Yesterday I went to an eye specialist.  I have a cataract on my other eye and

finally decided to ¨bite the bullet¨ and go to the doctor.  The doctor has 30 years experience and after all the tests and questions that I had were answered the doctor assured me that this surgery would not be a complicated nightmare like the last one.  It can be done with local an anesthetic in ½ hour and only a week of being careful afterwards.  I will keep you posted.  I will probably do the surgery the Wednesday before the elections.

I think of you every day. 

 

I love and miss you

 

Besitos,  Cecs