Our New Office

We still have two months left in Costa Rica so I’m sure there are many more great experiences to be had, but here are my top seven experiences so far.

1 – The time my mom and I went to the post office and asked for five stamps. We gave the post office worker 1,000 colones, but then he couldn’t give us change…because he didn’t have any, I guess. After checking his pockets he just shrugged his shoulders and asked us to be on our way.  Okay, so those words didn’t really come out of his mouth, but he said it with his eyes.

I guess I can live without the 22 cents. It was certainly worth the laugh.

2 – The water slide and swim up bar at the Tabacon Hot Springs Resort.

3 – The canopy tour and zip lining experience is a must-do when in Costa Rica. Just be prepared for the biggest wedgie of your life.

4 – The day Jason fixed the Internet and we didn’t have to work outside by the pool anymore.

5 – Swimming underneath a waterfall(s). Who knew a waterfall could really take your breath away?

6 – Seeing a tarantula and a scorpion for the first time and the second time. Well, it was the first time seeing these bugs when they weren’t behind glass at a zoo or something.

7 – Jason’s expression when a butterfly landed on his face and the other time when a hummingbird flew circles around him.  I think the bird wanted to eat him because it hovered over Jason’s shoulder for a bit.

Travel to the Pacific side of Costa Rica from the US has proven to be a little difficult at times. And when I say difficult I mean expensive. The closest airport to Coco Beach is in Liberia. The facilities are really not much more than a hangar, but based on the cost of an airplane ticket and the cost of a cup of coffee from the airport’s only restaurant, you’d think you were flying to Club Med.

Despite all that, the Liberia airport is still pretty nice and easy to navigate — you can even sneak on to some Wi-Fi if you sit in the right spot.

Here’s Jason writing a blog post for OurNewOffice.com before we boarded our plane back to Denver.

Last week we flew to Denver to catch up on a few things and take care of some business. We were only gone for about a week so it wasn’t long before we were back on a plane headed to Costa Rica again.

On the return flight we decided to take the red eye from Denver to San Jose and then take a smaller flight on Sansa Airlines to Liberia. The Sansa route was less expensive and it was far more adventurous to sit on a 12-seater over a 747.

The biggest hassle wasn’t that our flight left at 12:10am. It wasn’t even that difficult to pack four months worth of supplies into two small suitcases.

The hardest part of our return trip was the fact that the two flight attendants on the Denver-San Jose leg would not stop talking. Not only were they talking a lot, but they were talking loudly and right next to us (of course we were in the back of the plane).

Having both took a Benedryl we were ready for sleep almost immediately and were not too happy about the constant interruption. Is it so hard? I mean, isn’t it obvious I don’t want to drink? I’m sleeping!

Jason resorted to a few deep sighs and at one point I even put my fingers in my ears trying to shut it all out.

So learn from us. Travel tip number 1,216: Bring earplugs on each and every flight. They might even be more valuable than some silly pillow that hardly helps anyway.

August 28, 2008. After staying with our friend Mark last night (thank you), it was time to head to Tahoe. Sara’s friend Kim is getting married on Sunday, and since Sara is in the wedding, we’ve got to be their early. Last night I decided that staying in Winnemucca, Nevada made the most sense. Twelve hours from Denver, it left only a short trip to Tahoe in the morning.

Driving from Denver to Winnemucca wasn’t too bad – aside from some very strong headwinds in Wyoming, we managed to get to our destination at a decent hour. We would have arrived sooner, but we stopped a couple of times so I could check email and make a phone call.

I’m not sure why, but I still haven’t managed to come to terms with the fact that WiFi isn’t commonplace. We saw a few billboards on I-80 during our drive today, and quite a few hotels and motels were advertising that they had “Free WiFi.” To me, it seems like a given. Yet for many parts of the US (and the world) being able to connect to the internet wirelessly is new – even a luxury.

I imagine that once upon a time “in-room telephones” were a feature that hotels advertised, but it’s hard to conceptualize. I’m sure that someday we’ll all look back on ads for “In-room high-speed internet” and guffaw – and I’ll tell my grandkids stories about “the days before the internet” that they’ll pretend to believe. What’ the big deal – it’s a $50 router and a $40 month cable internet bill. Get it done already America!

The bikini girls in the Bonneville salt flats.

The real Bonneville Salt Flats beauty.

Here’s an odd site – at a rest stop near the Bonneville salt flats, these two women decided to strap on their bikinis and get some photos in the desert. Luckily, my camera (not Mark’s camera, btw, but mine with the 10x optical zoom) was at hand to take some photos. I shudder to think what these photos might have looked like with a lesser camera zoom.

We had dinner at the Red Lion Hotel in Winnemucca. Talk about edgy. Filled with cigarette smoke, the restaurant had a suspicious looking salad bar (”Oooh – tuna salad!”) and a tired waitstaff. I’ve decided that the Red Lion in Winnemucca is where Nevadans go to gamble – it’s too far for anyone outside the state to bother to visit.

Honestly, it felt a little bit like gambler’s hell. This seemed like the kind of place a mediocre professional gambler would eek out a living. It was so low rent that I would bet a guy with $1000 to spend here would get treated like a high roller. I’m guessing that’s part of this place’s appeal.

At least Sara liked the french fries.

Winnemucca isn’t without it’s charms, however. The scenery is nice, and the town has a very homey feeling that’s hard to describe. It seemed friendly and welcoming, and all the people were nice. We stayed at the Holiday Motel, btw, and it was just fine.

Next stop – Lake Tahoe.

August 11th, 2008. Since I was feeling much better today (Sunday was a sick day), Sara and I decided we would make the most of our last full day with the rental car. We got up early, got quite a bit of work done, bought groceries for the rest of the week at the Ling & Sons, and then spent a little time at our local McDonalds working online.

I realize that I have yet to fully discuss the wi-fi situation. Here are the top 7 things you need to know about finding wi-fi in Aruba:

1. There is no such thing as a “normal” coffee shop in Aruba (normal isn’t the right word, but you know what I mean). You can’t find a latte-mocha-frappa-soy-chino here, and that’s OK.
2. Because they don’t have coffee shops in Aruba, no one is familiar with the concept of working/reading/loitering in a relatively quiet place that offers coffee, tea, free books, old magazines, climate-control, hobos, places to plug-in a laptop, and of course free wi-fi (most important characteristics in bold). Reasonably clean surroundings and a decent bathroom are nice too.
3. Free wi-fi can be found at a variety of restaurants, but they lack in one or more of the aforementioned important characteristics.
4. The best locations to “wi-fi it” in Aruba that I have found are, in order, McDonalds, HuChada before 11:30am, and Dunkin’ Donuts by the marina between the hours of 7am and 11am and then 7pm to 10pm. Dunkin’ Donuts must be avoided in the afternoon because the only booths with power outlets sit in a glass enclosure, meaning you’ll get quite hot.
5. McDonalds is like a freakin’ zoo for human children. Screaming, yelling, throwing, hiding, peaking, crying, and feigned attacks are all common. Working at McDonalds feels like an afternoon with 10 Will Farrell wannabes competing to see who can be most over the top.
6. HuChada is awesome. They have great coffee (strong stuff), pastechis (like hot pockets but they’re filled mostly with air – just a tiny amount of meat and cheese), and everything I need from a coffee shop. Yet, for some strange and inexplicable reason, the internet connection slows to a crawl right around 11:30am.
7. Dunkin’ Donuts downtown is nice – the only problem is that they keep the inside a little colder than a refrigerator. It’s downright cold in this place. Seriously. I know that I’m complaining about strong A/C in the tropics, but Santa would say this place is cold.

Working at the downtown Oranjestad Dunkin’ Donuts. It would be a perfect office for us if it wasn’t so darn cold.

Now that we’ve settled that business, we can get on with the story.

Sara and I were rested and energized about snorkeling. We were going to find the famous Antilles wreck and visit it. We were going to see lots of fish. We were going to snorkel for at least an hour. We were going to enjoy ourselves.

We had a little difficulty with our masks fogging up, but we started to figure it out. I saw a fairly large snake-looking-thing about 3′ feet long (probably was an eel, but it sure moved like a snake). Sara and I swam with a big school of yellow and white fish (they were small – 2-4 inches long – but there were at least a 1000 of them). We saw some starfish, lots of different corals, etc. It was a good snorkel.

On the way back to the beach, Sara and I steer ourselves into an exceptionally shallow area of coral. Shallow water is a little scary because your chances of touching something (and getting hurt) are greatly enhanced. Panicking, I do the best I can to turn around and get out of the shallow water. Unfortunately, I don’t turn around and find Sara – I just buzz off as fast as I can. Realizing that she’s still in the shallows (and probably freaked out) I turn back and charge in just in time to see her hit her back on a rock. I help her get out of the shallows, but it’s too late – her finger is bleeding and she looks scared.

I could see blood in the water from her finger, and I could see barbs and/or quills in her fingertip. We were both worried (and a little shocked), but the only thing to do was get to shore. We got back to the beach and Sara tells me her finger is starting to go numb. Uh oh. I don’t say it, but I know that means there was some venom.

Let me just pause right here and say that everything was fine. I’m not trying to be dramatic – it’s just a better story if you understand our state of mind. After all, we don’t know anything about this stuff. I’ve snorkeled half a dozen times in my life, Sara just twice. We’re like two cave people who just realized that fire can burn your fingers…

Realizing that Sara was stung by something, I get us in the car ASAP and we’re either headed to the condo or the hospital. After a few minutes pass (it takes about 5 minutes to get back to “town”), it’s clear that the worst part is over. Sara is going to be OK. The numbness is staying in her finger which means the venom is minor (like a bee sting). Still, I’m going to look online for more info.

After a tedious internet search and a phone call to the Diver’s Alert Network emergency dive doctor phone line, we reach the following conclusion:

Most likely, Sara’s finger was stung by some sort of fish. The dive doctor seemed to think it was a type of rockfish/lionfish/stonefish. He says that medically speaking it’s no big deal – happens all the time. It just hurts. Still, it was a little scary.

We spent the rest of the night working. It was an exciting day and work seemed to be the best way to relax.

August 6th, 2008. Today was challenging – at least mentally. Faced with the need to print, sign, and either scan or fax a document, I anticipated I would have little or no trouble accomplishing this simple task. However, it wasn’t nearly as simple as I had hoped.

The plan was to head to downtown Oranjestad and use a business center that we read about online. It would have worked just fine too, but the scanner (and therefore the fax) was broken. So, we walked around for a while searching, and I became increasingly frustrated.

This is a great example of the mental attitude that won’t work while traveling. Never expect anything to be fast, simple, or easy – at least if you’ve never done it before in the place you’re in.

I had what Sara would describe as a meltdown. As uptight as I am, it’s amazing they don’t happen more often. My apologies.

The second challenge of the day was trying to find the “ideal” working environment. I had hoped that Aruba had a coffee shop with free wifi and places to plug in a laptop, but so far nothing. I’ve come to expect (there’s that word again) the ubiquitous “Seattle style” coffee shop, but no luck. So far.

At least the local McDonald’s offers free WiFi. It’s not perfect, but it works.