1. Water - there's so many aspects that are unique about water in our travels.
In Playa Chiquita, there were water rations when we arrived. However - even with rations, the municipality didn't to send it on the days that they said they would and we ran out. Absolutely no water in the pipes for a day before the resident manager bought some and had it delivered to the holding tanks. That was our welcome to water in Costa Rica. During the rest of the time, we had water without issues.
The water in Playa Chiquita was not drinkable. Thankfully, there was a store about 150 meters from our condo which sold bottled water - Arden carried a large 18 liter jug that we exchanged every other day. We froze small water bottles and carried them with us on our bike trips and beach adventures - never leave home without drinking water!
Shells and sand were a part of the municipal water. The bits in the water completely stopped the shower head during the weeks were where there...some tapping and toothpicks fixed the problem.
No hot water in the kitchen - no problem just use a solid soap and a sponge to wash dishes. No hot water in the bathroom sink - no problem that's normal. No hot water in the shower - no problem because no one is cold and the water is refreshing. Here in our condo in Ocotal we have hot water in all three of these places - and it's luxurious and more what we're use to at home!
2) Food
There are pulperias in many parts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The mystery is what each one sells - they may have fruit, veggies, snacks, water, bread, oil, tuna, oatmeal, cheese, ice creams, chips, pop, pencils, paper, toys and the ability to recharge your cell phone minutes. There are no rules to the availability of items. If you don't find what you're looking for - ask and it may be up the road about 200 meters at the next 'store'.
Grocery stores are common. Finding rice, dry beans, pasta and sauces is easy. Suitable meats, dairy, fruit/veggies aren't a constant in these establishments. We've come up with recipes for the foods we find: chicken, carrot, and potato stew; rice, beans, tomato, and chicken; cheese quesadillas; tuna, cucumbers, tomatoes and bread plate; cold oatmeal with yogurt, bananas, and milk. With moving every few weeks, we can't buy large quantities of food, condiments and spices - and small seems to be the size for every thing in stores...a 250 gram bag of oatmeal disappears in 1.5 days. It takes a lot of figuring to keep food on the table.
3) Creepy crawlies
FUNNY!!!! I had left this post for a day and planned to come back and finish tonight. Well...I have more to add now - and I even have photos!
While we saw many creatures that creep at La Paz waterfall garden...what I'm writing about are the critters that came into our living space and changed my blood pressure levels just a bit. Although the one below was found in my hair...which actually didn't bother me too much. It's a slow moving beautiful beetle.
Count 4 or 6 for cockroaches: I was expecting some huge cockroaches and random bugs. In actuality, we haven't had many cockroaches at all on our adventures so far (when we were in Mexico for a week a couple of years ago, there were huge ones running in the portion of the hotel that hadn't been recently fumigated that's why I thought I'd be roach stomping). Time will tell...there's a few more locations ahead.
Count 1700 for black worms: We've seen lots of 1 inch black worms - that usually come out at night and are easily squished. They climb up walls. They come up shower drains. They can live in water. They come under doors. They silently invade - wiggling, wiggling and never really going anywhere to eat or with a purpose other than to sit at another place. Therefore, the mass squashing of little black worms was a part of our lives in several locations. Rather gross - but not terrible as far as bugs go. No harm really - just annoying.
Count 2 for tarantulas: We saw tarantulas in Grecia. As we drove up at night, we saw it climbing on the wall across from our condo. No problem. It's quite a ways from our place. The next night, Arden was going outside to clean something up...and he was about to put his hand on the door frame - when he saw this:
Count 1 for a scorpion: When we came to Ocotal, we did some decluttering of kitchen items (10 frying pans was a few too many in the cupboard...). So 6 days ago - each cupboard and each drawer was inspected and rearranged. We have been cooking all our meals here in those days - so today when Arden went to get the frying pan for making an omlete for lunch...there was quite a bit of surprise when this little creepy crawlie was sitting in the pan. Upon research, this isn't dangerous for humans - just a bit of a sting like a wasp. We've been told that no one else has had a scorpion in a second floor condo...or in a place that is often occupied. So...we're hoping that's the only one in here. Ojala.
Count 12 or so for lizards in the kitchen: it seems that little lizards really enjoy the kitchen and that is the main place they hang out. Although they don't seem to get into things or make a mess. Kind of cute...although a little startling if you get up for a drink at night.
Count 346,493,402,533 for ants...especially small sugar ants! A crumb, a couple of cookies defrosting on the counter, a fallen pasta on the floor - it becomes black with the smallest ants you've ever seen in a matter of minutes or seconds (honestly, we had one place that was so bad that it was almost maddening to cook because there were so many of these no matter how many times you wiped, cleaned, put things away and kept everything in the fridge they were there). It's definitely a learning curve to keep ahead of these little creatures...
I'm guessing I'll have to update this post in the weeks to come...who knows what other little things will bring me back. It's an adventure!
THIS is why I'm okay with -30°C.😃
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