The move, part II

So, I'm on the side of the road, it's after 5pm, I have everything I own in the car, no place to stay, and monkey turd on the roof.

Rancho Sancho
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I started to drive down the road to look for somewhere with cabinas where I could stay for a couple of nights. I saw a sign for a Mexican restaurant and a hotel called Hotel Buenissima, which had 'casitas' or little houses. I turned and drove up the very uneven road. The bottom of the car scraped off the road a couple of times. I went into the restaurant, and the guy said that they had casitas for $75 a night. I said that was too much, and he directed me to a cheaper place across the road. It was very basic, and there was no answer at the door. So I came back and asked him to show me the casita. He phoned the owner, and told me to wait.

Charlie, the owner, is an older American guy. He came down on a quad bike, and told me he had me covered. He had beautiful casitas and he'd give me one for $55 a night. I explained my situation, and he said that he'd help me unload my stuff. He told me to follow him up the hill. Now, the car I rented was a 4x4, because you need that to travel the roads to Santa Teresa in the rainy season. But it was entry level 4x4 and it wasn't very powerful. Halfway up the hill it got stuck. It wouldn't budge. I kept revving to try to get it to continue, but although the engine roared, nothing was happening with the wheels. Then thick black smoke started coming out the engine. After a little while Charlie arrived to know why I wasn't following. He saw the smoke, and from the smell told me immediately that it was the clutch on its last legs. So I wasn't going to be able to get up to the casita. I had to reverse back down to the restaurant.

I thought that was it. Then Charlie followed and told me that he had a pickup truck. And that if I wanted we could load my stuff into it, and bring it up to the casita that way. So that's what we did. I was mortified to have so much stuff, but he was really helpful.

Casita Amarilla
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When we got up the very steep hill, I saw the three casitas. They are three beautiful wooden, octagonal, cabinas. Each has a different colour roof. Blue, yellow and red. Mine was the yellow. Casita Amarilla means the little yellow house. As opposed to the big Yellow House in Rathfarnham where I've spent many a long night.

When we walked down the steps I saw that it had an ocean view. It was just coming to sunset, and the sky was a mixture of red and orange cloud. It was so beautiful. The porch had two wooden armchairs and a hammock. Inside, it was one big room, with a couch, a double bed, and along the opposite wall, a kitchen area. Off was a bathroom with a large walk in tiled shower. I immediately saw how perfect it was. It's like how I imagined living on the coast would be.

I asked him how much it would be to rent. He said that he couldn't get anything close to Laura's price. But then I had to admit that the place wasn't anything close to Laura's place. He said he could give me a good price, because it was off season. However, it was still out of my price range. He told me to stay the night and see how I felt in the morning.

Decision time
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I really agonised about whether to stay or not. And in the end it just came down to gut feeling versus money. My strong feeling was that this was the place for me. And although it's more expensive I am getting more money for Rathmines too, and it's only three months. So I decided to go for it.

Plus, I'd have had to drive around in the dodgy car looking for another place. Then I'd have had to load all my stuff back into Charlie's pickup, driven down to the car, loaded into that, then drive to the new place, and unload it all again!

Back to San José
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I had hired the car until Tuesday, so I could have a little time to explore the area before dropping it back. But given the clutch situation I didn't use it on Monday at all, and then took the journey back to San José very easily. I had come here before by bus, and I didn't realise how bad the road was. From the previous town, Cóbano, the road is unpaved. So there are many areas where it's just crumbled away, and many parts where it's just a complete mudbath. But the car made the journey back to San José. I left at 6.30 in the morning, and got back at midnight. From the centre of Santa Teresa to the road at the bottom of the hill is 15 minutes walk. Then it's currently taking me, in my unfit state, about 10 minutes to walk up the hill. It's not a very long distance, but it's really steep. And I'm wrecked by the time I get up here. But I'll be fit after three months.
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm writing this on Monday morning out on the porch. The mornings are beautiful. I can see the ocean from my bed, from the kitchen, and from the porch. The pic of the week shows the casita as I first saw it coming down the steps with my bags of stuff.

So until next week,

Chao,

Éamon

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