Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
Cabinas Casa Verde
7:30 AM
Spanish verb of the day: llavender (yay-vahn-dare: to wash – clothes in particular). Even though we didn’t wear many clothes at La Tortuga Feliz, pretty much everything in our suitcases needs to be washed. We found a llavanderia very close by to Cabinas Casa Verde. We’re not sure yet if we take our clothes there to be washed or if it’s more of a Laundromat. Will find out today.
9 hours of sleep later here at Cabinas Casa Verde, and I find that I am still feeling completely exhausted. Woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night and noticed I was scratching my bites from La Tortuga Feliz. Not sure if I was doing that in my sleep as well.
Turning on my computer, I’ve smashed about 12 ants already this morning. They’re little tiny ants – about the size of two pinheads put together. I didn’t know they were there until I turned on the computer. They may be inside of my computer as well… turning it on is the best way I can think of to get them out of there… the heat inside my computer should push them out (I hope), and then from now on, I’ll always just store my computer and other electronics in a Ziploc bag while they’re not in use. All it takes is one ant who sees that some copper or silica would be a nice addition to his home, and one little nibble from that ant on a small wire…
One might assume that we’re in a bad hotel or something, between the ants in our hotel bedroom, and the slug and ants in the bathroom. However, we actually opted for a nicer hotel here… not the nicest ($150-$200/night), but a nice hotel. It’s just that bugs (cockroaches, ants, spiders, etc.) seem to be a way of life in Costa Rica (at least from what we’ve seen so far). Anyway, I’m not really sure there is a 100% effective method anyone could use against an army of invaders this small.
Cabinas Casa Verde itself seems pretty nice. They do massage by the side of the pool, have wifi, and normally a nice coffee shop, but it’s closed for renovations (we’re here in low season). You can stay in a joined room, or get your own cabina (cabin) here on the grounds. Some of the cabinas have their own bathrooms, and some of them have shared bathrooms.
However, there’s this hum that is kicking in about every minute, for about 5-10 seconds. The sound is coming from outside and has a pitch like the sound that accompanies a test pattern on TV. The constant on/off of a high pitch reminds me of the solar moler that my parents have (which is designed to keep moles and small rodents out of your garden). The sign for Cabinas Casa Verde says that they are a place to find “peace and quiet,” but this (at least the room we’re in with the constant on/off sound coming from outside) is really not peaceful or quiet. Regardless, it is still significantly quieter than San Jose, and will give us a good place to catch up on sleep.