We’re going to the coast for a couple of days. Manuel Antonio to be exact. We might not have internet for a few days, so don’t think we’ve been kidnapped or eaten by a rabid band of spider monkeys until at least next Wednesday or something.

We’ve been learning a lot about ex patriots and banking in Panama. It will all be very useful in the future. Unfortunately, there is a 99.9% chance that we will be in Vegas for this baseball season. It makes sense that now more than ever the online sportsbooks are unsafe. What was possibly keeping the better ones honest and profitable was the influx of American cash. Without that, once reputable books could change positions quickly. It’s a fact that I hadn’t fully considered and sadly, it rings true. It’s something we would rather see play out from a distance for at least this season.

How much do you think a condo at the Hard Rock would cost for six months? It really would be worth the irritation of Vegas if we could be Billy Idol’s neighbor.

In Costa Rica, pedestrians NEVER have the right of way. This was one of the things that I read online, and now I can say I’ve experienced it in person. The cars don’t even slow down for cross walks.

San Jose is not a place we want to live. We’re checking out the costal towns on Tuesday. It’s not a bad place. The climate is amazing and the people are really friendly. It just isn’t resonating with me or Andy. Despite that, we’ve been having a fun time here with our host Cyril. He’s introduced us to all of his friends and taken us out everywhere. When we arrived last night, we dropped our stuff off and walked out the door to go out to a bar with Cyril and the three Dutch (or Duchies as we liked to refer to them) girls that were also crashing at his place. We stayed out until 3:30 am. We went to a few different places and as the night wore on, I got a little braver with my limited Spanish language skills. It really is much easier to pick up things and expand your horizons when there’s no other choice.

At the bar, I ran into a language quirk that was confirmed by Matt, Cyril’s neighbor. He’s from Kansas City and been in San Jose for two weeks. If you order a vodka (vadka) and Red Bull, they will not understand and just bring the Red Bull. If you order a vodka (voodka) and Red Bull, the drink will come correctly.

“The Duchies” had to be up at 5:45 this morning to leave for another location. We had to be up at 6:30 because we had promised to put together wheel chairs. None of us were all too excited about that commitment when the alarm rang this morning. But, we dragged ourselves up like troopers, got a cab and ended up putting together four chairs in the hour we were there. It was actually pretty fun. We only stayed for a while because Cyril had another commitment.

When we got home Andy and I crashed into our couchsurfing bed on the living room floor and slept like the dead for most of the day. How Cyril is still operating at 10 pm on three hours of sleep is beyond me.

Now that we’ve got our bearings a little and changed some gringo dollars into colons I think we’ll head out into the city by ourselves tomorrow and see what there is to see. A good English to Spanish translation book is high on my list of purchases.

I am too tired and still feeling a little fried to explain the entire debachle complete with hair pulling, major frustration and many phone calls to government agencies.

I will mention the crowning gem of the calls. It was to the passport agency itself. The recording would put me on hold. I would wait for ten minutes and then a recorded voice would cut into the hold music and say, a la the weakest link, “thank you….goodbye”, and then disconnect.

The passports have arrived here in Vegas. We will be leaving for Costa Rica tomorrow at 11:30 am.

On a more positive note. We’ll be putting wheel chairs together for a charity event on our first day in Costa Rica with many new friends that we haven’t even met yet.

I don’t know if I’ve ever told you all this but, Robbie rocks my world.

She saved our asses by rooting through our plastic bins of memorabilia sitting in her basement. The passport people needed many pieces of paperwork that had a name and a date of five years old or older. A rough thing to come up with for people who live out of backpacks.

This was one of the documents that made it happen:

I’m cracking up even now.

I was going to write a letter to my drivers license and credit card begging them to come home to me. But, they have, so I won’t.

puppy love
Originally uploaded by cindigodotcom.

Andy, Nova and I took care of a friend’s dog for a few days. It was nice having a pet around again.

Our time in San Diego is almost over. I’m excited about our future plans but a little sad to be leaving friends and this fun and comforting place. We’ll be in Vegas around Monday or so.

captain andy
Originally uploaded by cindigodotcom.

We took a sailing class this weekend. We are now certified to sail up to 25′ boats unassisted. The teacher was one of the worst I had ever had. He wasn’t a bad guy, just unbelievably unable to communicate and teach. In sailing there are new words for everything. On top of that, new skill sets that are unlike anything that you do in daily life. When we got in the boat he explained the outboard motor by standing in front of it, blocking my view while taking it down and starting it. He went through it quickly saying, “This is the whatever and that’s the thing. You do pull this handle up turn this knob and make sure the kill switch is on (or off, I can’t remember)”. The whole explanation took about fifteen seconds. Later in the day I was expected to dock the boat under motor power, which entailed using the motor. I won’t go into detail, I’ll just say that it ended with me crying a little underneath my sunglasses.

I think this guy had been sailing since birth and the concept that other people could be so foreign to it was beyond him. For me, it took a second or two just to discern which side was port and starboard so I could turn the boat the right way. Then throw in these questions you have to answer by feeling and looking at the direction of the wind so you can trim your sails it was a disaster waiting to explode. Are you running? On a close reach? A close haul, beam reach? What about a broad reach or in irons? I’m surprised and a little proud I didn’t have an all out break down. Not to mention the fact that every time Andy would try to repeat what the teacher said to explain it in a way I could understand, he would say, “She has to do it herself, don’t help”.

The funniest thing (now that it’s over) is Andy doing an imitation of what the teacher would sound like when he wanted you to do something. He would give a command, you would do it incorrectly. He would then say, “Leeward. No leeward. Leeward! LEEWARD!” It’s funny now, but I almost quit after lunch on the first day. Without Andy’s encouragement, I surely would have.

Captain Andy got two wrong out of a hundred and thirty question test. Crew Cindigo got twenty six wrong, the exact cut off number to pass the test. I felt a little bad about it, since I did study very hard. But, I’m cutting myself slack seeing as I’ve always been a little leery of boats, am generally skittish about deep water I can’t see the bottom of, have zero sailing experience and the only motor I’ve operated was a lawn mower more than five years ago. Even then my neighbor had to help me start it several times. But really, I think I will be a good sailor.

So, tomorrow, the weather should be beautiful. We’re going to the marina and renting a twenty two foot sailboat to practice. Then Andy is taking the 103 class maybe this weekend.

I don’t even know where to start.

Are we going to Vegas for the upcoming season? Are our passports going to arrive in time to check out Costa Rica before baseball season starts April first? If we do go to Costa Rica, will we be able to set things up with online entities in time to bet baseball? Are we taking sailing lessons this weekend?

For all you who travel by plane, I am finding these two sites invaluable:

www.sidestep.com
and
www.cheaptickets.com

Other than going to the bank, climbing with Andy and the gym with Nova (we are doing cardio tonight right?), that is all to report.

I have absolutely nothing to write.

Cursis.