tico

Beside the Lens #2 /  by Stephanie White

"Learning The Ways of The Tico"

Saturday, September 6

Was it our stomach's rumbling or the birds chirping that woke us up? Regardless, we woke up to a stunning view of a little beach called Playa Hermosa. 

Not knowing the lay of the land yet, we decided to have breakfast at the hotel. The meals on-site were held on this beautiful deck looking out across the water. We were one of maybe 5 tables that morning and we had no shortage of staff to assist us with our breakfast experience, even though we had no idea what anyone was saying. Regardless, the hospitality of the employees at Condovac was nothing short of fabulous. We did have some difficulty paying our check. I'm not sure we ever figured out how to pay our tabs at the timeshare. Every exchange was different. it was either to our credit card or to the room, or both??? It sounds like it should be easy, but there was a process they followed, and we just never quite got it. But alas, this sunny morning, we met our first friend. This adolescent iguana joined us along the deck railing for our first animal sighting con comida tipica. 

Following breakfast, we took a walk along the beach to the "town." It's hard to call Playa Hermosa a town really, they only had a few local businesses. One supermarket and a couple Soda's (local restaurants) is pretty much the offering, besides random strangers asking if you want to go on their boats or buy their trinkets. Also, most places were closed due to it being the rainy season. We found El Supermercado, and bought a few staples for the week: coffee, rice, beans, peanut butter, tortillas, cheese, milk, tang, of course some bacon for Rob, and oh... rum definitely rum.  

$70 down to "El Super" and the local economy, we were on our way, walking back up the hill to Condovac in the hot, humid sun. I walked back cool and collective, however, a wave of fear engulfed me at the same time. When I went to purchase the groceries, I didn't see my debit card. "Why wasn't it in my wallet?" I had it yesterday because I used it to take out cash from the ATM (twice). I normally freak out about the littlest thing "I'm Freaking Out Man, I'm Freaking Out" many of my friends can hear me say aloud. But I remained calm the entire time. I waited till we unpacked the groceries to search my purse, my wallet (nearly a dozen times), my clothes from the previous day... I looked everywhere. My debit card, our only access to cash for the next 10 days... gone!! Great! How do I tell my brand new husband we have no access to cash? It's not like Rob would ever freak out over money, like seriously ever, but our only access to cash in a foreign country on our second day...c 'mon. I know better. 

But being the oh so savvy travelers we are, I immediately called the bank via Rob's internet calling workaround. Nobody had used the card, and the bank cancelled it immediately. This still didn't solve our no liquid fund problem, but at least we weren't robbed within two days of being in country. So we tried to forget our worries by pounding some rum and sea kayaking for a couple hours. 

Since we had a kitchenette in the timeshare, our logic was, "let's save money by cooking breakfast and lunch in the room, and go out for dinner." Well, that reasoning made for a quiet honeymoon. It took us a few days, but we realized Tico's eat a large breakfast (always rice and beans con anything) and a large lunch (mas arroz y frijoles con anything). And for dinner they eat their lunch leftovers. So, more often than not, even though Playa Hermosa had beautiful beachfront restaurants lining the coast, Rob and I were one of only a few other patrons each night. Probably one of our most delicious and favorite meals was at this beachfront restaurant called Aquasport Bar and Restaurant. They had a diverse menu, chicken, fish, casado, but they also had these divine Peruvian dishes, called Causa. If you see one on a menu, order it! Picture a slice of pie, made from potato, with a filling of avocado. It's served chilled, topped with an assortment of options. The one we tried was topped with fried calamari. AMAZING!! Toward the end of dinner, the rains came again. Rob, with his servant heart and ADD, helped carry tables and chairs from outside into the restaurant. I carried one or two chairs in, they were solid! They topped us off with a traditional Costa Rican shot, called Chili-Guara I believe. I'd call it a bloody mary shot!

Then a nice rainy walk back up the hill to our room, and a perfect second day. Pura Vida!