Muy lluvioso!

Thursday, June 29

So far this has been a fairly un-eventful week, as I’ve been very busy with our course at the Institute finishing up our projects prior to the end of our 1^st “mini-semester” on Friday. Everything looks pretty good, and all the students (and I) are getting ready for a week off. Mostly it has been rainy (lluvioso). The weather pattern this time of year is fairly unpredicatble, but usually it is clear in the mornings, clouds over near mid-day, rains through early-mid-afternoon, and clears again near sunset. This week (when the car is in the shop and I have a 45 minute walk to the Institute), it has rained the past 3 mornings. And not just a drizzle, but a hard, driving downpour. No fun for walking. Thank god for Goretex. Beyond the rain, the only “unusual” thing was the discovery of our first scorpion in our new house. It was bound to happen sometime, and while cleaning up after dinner on Tuesday, a little one showed up perched on my kitchen window sill. I tried to capture him in a coffee mug, but only succeeded in knocking him off his perch into the small space behind the kitchen counter-top. In about 15 minutes he showed back up on the edge of the sink, where I decided a better tool was needed. I decicded I needed something that leaves a bit more buffer between me and the business end of the scorpion than a coffee cup. Eventually I settled on a pair of needle-nose pliers, and I grabbed him as gently as possible and tossed him out into the yard. No sign of him since, so we’ll see how often we run into these guys… I don't mind them hunting flies on the window sill, but I definitely don't want them lurking in my shoes & other stuff!

Over the next week, I’m planning on traveling on an exploratory trip to Nicaragua. One of the students from Maryland (Dan Pugh) who is older (the same age as me actually) is coming along for the adventure, and we see what we can see. I’ve heard great things about Granada, the oldest “colonial” city in the western hemisphere (some cities like Mexico City or Cuzco in Peru are older, but they have roots in the indigenous cultures prior to the arrival of the Spanish). The Nicaraguan coast also sounds very nice, and much less developed that in costa rica, so I also plan to visit the beach for a few days of basic relaxation. I pick up my car from the shop at the dealer on Saturday morning, so I have my fingers crossed that all the repair work will have taken care of the various problems, particularly the engine.

Everything looked simple for traveling to Nicaragua until I mentioned the idea in passing to some of the Institute staff. They of course looked surprised and responded, “Oh, so you already have your ‘Permiso’ for the car?” My blank look pretty much summed up my response. Apparently, one is required to have a document called a “Permiso Salida del Pais” which translates to “permission to exit the country” and acts as sort of an exit visa for your car. Oddly enough, this is one of those things that the guidebooks simply don’t address. It is universally assumed that if you are going to Nicaragua from Costa Rica, you will be doing so by bus or private tour group. Apparently no one writes tourism guidebooks with the Tico audience in mind, and they are the only ones who might actually own their own cars and drive over. Just as frustrating, there is NO mention of the document or how to get one anywhere on-line, even on the website of the Costa Rican government agency that issues the documents (the Registro Nacional). After about a day and a half of querying individuals here at the institute, web bulletin boards, and phone calls to the Registro Nacional, I was able to find out where and how to get the documents for the car. Unfortunately, I can’t get them ‘til Monday, so I guess I just have to wait until then. At least this trip, I seem to be short-circuiting the “language tax” before the embarrassing stage! In the meantime, I’m planning to explore the ferry from Putarenas and spend a day in Playa Naranjo on the Nicoya peninsula. I’ve heard good things from others who have visited, and the more places I can inspect before dragging Norma and Niall on a wild goose chase, the better.

Well, that’s about all for this somewhat short week, but I should have lots of stories next week from my adventures in Nicaragua. With luck they will be interesting, but not so interesting as to cause excessive cringing or outright belly laughs. Well see…