A Room With a View

Sam says that every great adventures needs a little bit of adversity.  Throughout our time in Monte Verde, we encountered no adversity whatsoever.  So it stands to reason, we were due.  Our trip to the coast began well. Getting down the mountain was a lot easier than getting up it, and I thought to myself that perhaps this time, going from one place to another wouldn't be so difficult.  Nope.

It seems that in Costa Rica there are only directional signs on one side of the road.  So, for example, if you are going north and wanted to take an exit to the beach, you might see a sign, but the southbound person will have no sign and will need to go to the next town past his exit before realizing his mistake.  Thus, we saw much more of the scenery than we intended.  Happily, it was very nice scenery.

The next difficulty I have no good explanation for.  At lunch I drank the water.  That's right, I drank the water.  Even though new born babies in the hospital know not to drink the water in Central America and I've known it since I was a new born, still I drank the water.  We could ask ourselves why I did this all day long--maybe I was crazed with thirst from being the navigator all day, maybe I wasn't thinking clearly; it doesn't matter.  It happened.  Unlike popular belief, you do not spontaneously combust when you drink the water.  What happens is that you get to see many gas station bathrooms between the restaurant and your destination, which, not surprisingly, are quite comparable to U.S. gas station bathrooms in enjoyability.

Sam at the gas station 

Again, I loved the scenery.  I don't think I've ever driven through so many miles of coconut and pineapple groves and I felt I'd truly landed in paradise.  To distract myself, I took many pictures of the groves out the car window.

So you can understand that by the time we arrived at our destination, I was a little tired and (forgive me Dad!) whiny.  Our receptionist at the Best Western was not so excited to see us.  We weren't on her little paper and that did not make her happy.  Even worse, we had a discounted rate from booking online.  In my opinion (which may be colored by earlier events) she took out her revenge by giving us a room (and for your information this is a motel across from the ocean with a great pool) with this view:

What?  You might be saying to yourself.  Is that actually a folding chair and a concrete wall?  Let's get in for a closer look:

Yep.  It's a blank wall all right.  I tried to reign myself in.  Obviously, I was lucky enough to be in paradise and there were great benefits to this room.  It had air conditioning, it had a t.v. with some channels in English.  I laid down on the bed and practiced radical acceptance of my tummy troubles, the pulsating music coming from directly below us, the dingy walls, and the lack of view.  After I while, I felt better and we went to dinner, which was lovely, and headed to bed.

We got the goods seats by the giant fish

Have you ever had a smell wake you in the middle of the night?  Before this room, I hadn't.  Half asleep, I tried to shake it off, but it wove its way into my dreams.  Then the herds of gamblers being released from the casino below started screaming and laughing on the street below and I woke up enough for the smell to really bother me.  I went through the whole place, trying to figure out where it came from.  I smelled the curtains, the bathroom, the bedclothes, even Sam (sorry, honey).  When I couldn't find the source I tried to wake up Sam and ask him if he smelled it.  Sadly, I trained Sam to be a hard sleeper since for several months now I've been trying to counsel him in my sleep.  I ask him about his feelings and how he is doing all night long, so now he just ignores me.  It was a long night.

At last morning came.  By then my nose was numb.  We went to breakfast, and when we came back the smell practically knocked me over.  I talked to the same cheerfulness-challenged lady at reception and she sent a maid to determine if the smell was bad enough to move us.  The maid walked halfway in the door, turned around and directly took us to another room with a wonderful poolside view.  While I hate that some little creature had to die (for certainly there could be no other reason for that smell) in order for us to have a better room, I am grateful for its sacrifice.

Our new room happiness