I Killed A Lizard Today (again) and 8 Things About Costa Rica

December 18th, 2008. Our first week here in Costa Rica has been exciting – here are the highlights.

1. Our place is pretty nice…but where the $%@# is the TV?! I didn’t realize how mentally dependent I was on TV until I had to go without it. It’s not that I need to watch television (the only “shows” I really miss are re-runs of the Simpsons and watching NBA games), but I never realized how much I enjoy watching a little TV to “unwind” before I go to bed. I had a little meltdown the first night we were here about no TV, but I’m better now.

2. We’re staying in CoCo beach (technically Playas del Coco), and it’s a lot like a small beach town would be in Southern California. There are a lot of wealthy Americans and Canadians here who have left their homes in North America and moved to Costa Rica. Most of them operate tourist friendly businesses (B&B’s, restaurants, etc.).

3. The weather is awesome. After freezing cold nights in Denver, it’s fantastic to be in 85 degree (F) heat.

4. Our rental car is a heap, but it’s one of the nicest heaps we could have hoped to rent. It’s dingy and dirty, and it’s dinged up, but it’s perfect and we love it. The A/C works, and because it’s so beat up it doesn’t scream “tourist” like a shiny new rental car would.

5. The internet service is not as advertised. Our hosts here in Costa Rica (who are quite nice) have absolutely no idea just how dependent we are upon the internet. We were told that our unit would have WiFi access, but it does not. You can imagine my frustration. We are working it out, however.

6. People here are nice. Everyone we’ve met – from the guy at customs to the people that run our resort to the grocery-bagger at the grocery store – is nice. It’s a sort of laid-back feel that you would get in a small town.

This is our little house during our stay. It’s one of 20 or so houses at a small resort in a secluded jungle valley just outside of CoCo beach. It’s about 10 minutes away from Playa Ocotal, 15 minutes from Playa Hermosa.

7. We’re staying in the jungle. Our house is in a secluded jungle valley. Every night we can hear howler monkeys barking at each other and the sounds of insects – every day we can see and hear birds everywhere. There are huge toads that roam the paths at our resort too, and they know no fear.

8. Bugs and geckos like our house. we’re staying in a smallish 2 bedroom one bath home, and bugs and geckos love it. We’ve seen spiders, “scorpion killers,” grasshopper like locusts, praying mantis, beetles, and a bunch of “other” bugs inside the house. We’ve also seen quite a few small green geckos that have the ability to walk on walls. We’re a little freaked out, but thankfully we haven’t seen a cockroach, so we’re doing great.

Finally, a bit of sad news:

It’s not fair. After my public admission that I inadverdently caused the death of an innocent little Aruban lizard, I ran over a large Iguana today (nicknamed ‘Launa’ by my oh-so-supportive wife) that just didn’t know when to cross the road.

This is not cool – not cool at all. Why would these lizards “sacrifice themselves like Samurai?” Am I at war with them?

If so, why wasn’t I informed?