What`s Up Doc?

March 26, 2011

It has been longer than usual since I last posted, and for that I apologize; Todd and I have been entertaining company, as well as preparing for several groups of vacationing guests arriving later this week (aside from our house, Todd also handles rental requests for a number of other part-time and local homeowners, and we have recently taken on property management duties for a couple of those).

Also, I am in a quandary. I write every day and originally thought it would not take me much time to edit my earlier notes and post accordingly to catch up to present day. But it seems that the faster I go the behind-er I get, and I am eager to post current events. Still, in order for my comments on “now” to make sense, I need to touch upon some happenings since November occasionally. My past narrative last left off with “Boose”, and I will be bouncing between then and now for awhile.

Bear with me as I figure out how to toggle between now and then.

Our beach on a
normal day

One last thing about the tsunami…Those waves never went past our normal high tide line (though there was one more additional alert sounded around 2AM our time – almost 24 hours after the Japanese earthquake – when our tide did get scarily sucked out further than normal in the dark – but with no resulting inland surge). 

However, the recent proximity of the moon generated huge waves that came further ashore than we’ve yet seen; a few nights ago the tide came all the way up to the beachfront cabanita restaurants (a good 25-30 feet past normal high tide) and I noticed that waves were "breaking right" (the Montanita side of the point is known for this, but I have never seen the waves “break right”* on our side).  Several locals told us these monster waves occur about twice a year, so maybe the moon’s nearness was only a small factor.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a good picture of the high tides because it was either dark or early, early morning (at least earlier than I generally arise).

A few nights ago I checked out a traveling bazaar that is set up near our town park for a few days. They were hawking everything from kettles to bras, and included an M.C. to liven things up (I am still not fluent enough in Spanish to understand a lot of what is said word for word, but he was demonstrating various items for sale, and it almost sounded to me like he was auctioning a few things as well – see the below video).  Much of the merchandise is not normally available locally, and I’m sure it’s a great convenience for those who would otherwise have to drive to Libertad/Salinas (cities 45 minutes-hour away) and lack adequate personal transportation to do so.



Recently, we also spent some time with a New York native visitor – Frank – who for the last 3 weeks stayed at a rental house in nearby Curia, owned by an Iowa friend of ours. We got acquainted with him through this blog, and really enjoyed getting the chance to know him better. One of the great things about living in this area is the opportunity to meet interesting travelers, and we certainly enjoyed getting to know Frank.  He also brought us paperbacks, a ton of Q-Tips (upon our request, because the Q-Tips here are relatively expensive and as sturdy as a strand of spaghetti) and he brought tabloids (next to bacon and hot chili peppers in jars, they are another thing I crave). NOT that I am hinting or anything……

Okay, so to go back a little…

Janie, Tom, Payal

We ended up having a GREAT time with the three doctors (Payal, Janie, and Tom) who are finishing up their residency at George Washington University and were here for a month last fall to do volunteer work at the Manglaralto clinic and for some much needed R&R. The weather was gloomy and drippy during their stay, but they were great sports about it. They dragged a twin bed mattress from the downstairs bedroom into the living room and made a comfy DVD watching “fort” on the floor in front of the TV for their down time. We ended doing a lot together, fixing dinners at our house, playing cards, and hanging around Montanita some evenings.  They were also great about letting me slip into our outside utility room to do our wash a couple of times a week, and we kind of became a big, happy family with our doctor “kids”. 

One night we all headed into Montanita for the evening and drank “Adios Mother F..kers” at a Bar Alley cocktail stand (“Galen´s” –our favorite) until we were adequately “adios-ed”.  Another morning we took an interesting trip up to a nearby hillside spa/retreat to find out more (ask questions) about the shamanic healing ceremonies they offer that include the"sacred" ayahuasca plant (Payal, Janie and Tom - if you are reading this, kids...remember that interesting little expedition?).

All in all, we had such a fun time with them that I felt bad about my initial sourpuss attitude about moving to the rental apartment earlier in the season than Todd and I anticipated.

One more thing....The other day, while walking across the soccer field on my way to catch the bus, I realized my shirt was inside out. Many a fashion faux pas can be committed here,but that is not one of them. Daisy sat with me while I waited for the bus for a half hour. Once I got on the bus (which thankfully wasn´t crowded) I went to the very back, where I dived underneath my seat and flipped my shirt around, barely getting it done before the money-guy came around.  **

* As seen from a surfer´s perspective from the ocean, waves generally veer to the left as they head towards the beach (at least along the Pacific shoreline). I might not be accurately informed about this, so feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But waves “breaking right” along our 8-mile stretch of beach is an unusual sight.

**  PS to Dr. Tom - I can`t find the copy of the “Daisy” group hug video you took when you all were leaving… If your cute, scrawny Chinese butt has time (inside joke, folks), please send it again.