Sorry I haven’t reported in yet. I’m still adjusting to my surroundings. It’s warm and humid here – highest temp has been 80 but it gets down to 72 at night. Humidity is constant at about 95%.
My hip is extremely painful if I walk over a quarter-mile, so I haven’t seen the beach yet. Cabs cost $1.90 to anywhere in town so I should probably just give up and ride to the beach, but I’m trying to walk to strengthen my back. I did walk 2 miles one day last week. It was excruciating and it took 2 days to recover. I am now stopping when it starts getting too painful, and calling a cab.
The rainy season arrived on Friday – it rains for 45 minutes to 4 hours, then stops for2 to 12 hours. It rains mostly at night, though it rained all day yesterday. It’s really not a problem, since the temperatures sre in the mid-70’s, there hasn’t been a breath of wind when it’s raining, and the rain is the fine, light maritime type. I bought an umbrella so I’m set. Shooda brought one with me.
I’m pretty dissatisfied with my apartment. She said it’s 2 blocks from the beach, but that’s as the cow flies. It’s about a mile and a quarter to walk there. The apartment is built onto the back of the host’s garage. One wall is a fence, with 4 feet of open air above it; the opposite wall has a 4-foot open hole between the top of the wall and the roof. The bedroom is quite large but all the light switches are in inconvenient locations. There are very few electrical outlets – it’s a good thing I travel with extension cords and 3 power strips.
There is a 2-burner electric portable cooktop. There are enough pots and pans to cook a feast, but there is no place to fix food – NO counters! The refrigerator is a little dorm-room model that will hold about 8 bottles, but little food.
The amazingly good news is that there are almost no insects! I had expected to be bathing in DEET to avoid the mosquitoes, but I haven’t seen one yet. There is one mosquito per night that whines near my ear, but I sleep with the sheet pulled over my head so she can’t find a place to bite.
Jacó is twice as expensive as on my last trip – about the same prices for food as in Alaska. A simple meal in a budget restaurant (called a “soda”) runs $9-15. I had a simple meal (1 course + naan) in an Indian restaurant for $40, then decided I can’t afford to explore my palate. I did make friends with a couple from Argentina who make delicious smoothies for $5.28 – best deal I’ve found in Jacó. The supermarket charges about the same for groceries as Carrs.
There are meetings every day, so I’ve made some friends. They like it here – maybe it’ll grow on me. It’s safer than Ecuador but perhaps it would be more fun to participate in the open warfare between the Colombianos and the Ecuadorianos than to hang out here. The worst they could do there is kill and dismember me – cheaper repatriation costs since my parts would all fit in a box.
Ah, well – I’ve made my bed so I guess I’ll just lie in it. It’s only for another 69 days; then I’m off to California and Italy.