A rather mixed weekend!

Well it started to rain on Friday and has come down in stair rods, on and off! All my wet weather gear has been well tested. The jacket is fine except the pockets appear not to be waterproof, so have had some very soggy papers! Neither is my day rucksack Costa Rican rainproof, so I will give them my opinion on that. Fortunately I brought my small dry bag and various sealable polythene bags, so have addressed these problems! And have dried a number of things with the hairdryer, including my hair several times this weekend. But it is all a challenge and not unpleasant. Despite this there have been some stunning views.

However yesterday, the winds were dreadful, ( its  a feature of December I understand), and when I came back from lunch, the firefighters were up the road, removing a fallen tree and the power was off so quite exciting really!

That was until I discovered that the lantern in the apartment didn't work and it looked as if the batteries had leaked. Fortunately I managed to a nab someone who comes to let someone's dog out and he went down to the school and brought me a new one, just as the power came back on!

So as to my weekend's activities, after doing the laundry, I headed up the hill behind the apartments, passing the market garden and on to the biological research centre, which is a cross between a Swiss Chalet and a youth hostel. I enjoyed the views but decided not to tackle any of the paths as I had no map and was unsure if they were permitted routes.

On the descent I spotted another path which went up to a viewpoint, however, it was sooooo steep that after chatting to a Dutch woman, and watching some toucans, I came down and left her to it. I headed to the wellness centre where I do yoga where I had a fortifying hot chocolate made from cacao powder and lots of herbs and spices; she told me it would give me energy!

I passed a pleasant hour with her,chatting and practising my Spanish before returning home to dry off!

My next trip was to walk about half an hour towards the reserve, in the rain, to the Christmas Faye of the Los Amigos school. It is the Quaker school. I looked around and made a couple of purchases, and chatted to another student who had been at CPI this week. Then headed back to Stella's bakery where I decided to treat myself to lunch. I am quite sure, especially after talking to the waitress that this is a cafe I visited 8 years ago, that has now developed into a restaurant. Anyway I had a good lunch, visited the organic shop, where I had my first indication that the power was on the blink. Then headed home.

Well today was the day of the Spanish phone call and I was all geared up, but didn't get past first hurdle. I couldn't even get the phone to dial through, just kept getting an engaged tone. So had to get the cleaner to use her mobile! My only other options would have been to get assistance from the shop at the corner or Casem where I worked last year as I knew I didn't have time to walk there! So I arrived in time and had a very soggy walk. We saw a bird, some pretty orchids, a waterfall and some insects but not the Quetzal I hoped for, although it had been seen.

Once again, I came home and dried everything off, then went to yoga. And am now awaiting my roast chicken, having opened all the doors and windows as I have set the smoke alarm off twice today!