The Silence of Sabine

Yes, I know, I haven’t posted anything in ages. And that has a reason: a guy named Cristian. He worked in the same hotel (Hotel Le Caméléon) as a waiter. Pretty soon after I arrived we started dating and the cool thing was that he lived in the apartment next to mine. So, right from the beginning he pretty much moved in with me. And that was great because he can cook and he cleaned my apartment when I had the early shift and he the late shift: great guy!

However, now he moved to Guanacaste (in the north of Costa Rica) because he has a much better job there. And that’s why in ten days I’ll pack my suitcase again and will make my way up north. I was planning on staying in Puerto Viejo for 2 more months, but I just don’t like it as much as I had hoped. The hotel lacks management and working there is totally chaotic; working in 90% humidity, 30 degrees Clesius and the sun shining into the reception makes you feel like in a sauna; going out in Puerto Viejo is not so much fun if you (like me) don’t like reggae music or being felt up by guys when you go towards the bar; and I miss Cristian. But at least, I’ll be with him for Christmas. I think, right now neither he nor I know what the future is going to bring, but who cares!?
However, I also have some pictures to show because Cristian showed me Manzanillo (a little village with less hotels than Puerto Viejo) and Cahuita (a village with a nice natioanal park). Unfortunately, the day in Cahuita was quite rainy. Here in the Caribbean it’s rainy season although it’s dry season in the rest of Costa Rica.
The drive to Manzanillo was quite interesting. After we had missed the bus because Cristian was being slow taking a shower and getting ready, we met the manager of the hotel bar, Alex, who had his day off. Since he was bored anyway and was just cruising around in his car, we asked him to take us there and he agreed. After a few minutes, we stopped at a gas station where they filled the tank by hand (with a canister and trichter). There Alex bought a beer and opened it right away to drink while driving. (Here I don’t want to forget to mention that he had had enough rest alcohol in his blood from the night before.) Then we stopped at Punta Uva which is supposed to be one of the prettiest beaches in the world. It was pretty, but I couldn’t quite figure out what puts it under the tops 5 beaches of the world.

Then we continued to Manzanillo. Now Cristian took out his joint and shared it with Alex while he was driving, of course. (At this point I want to add a little story about drugs: In Puerto Viejo it is absolutely normal to smoke a couple or more joints a day and you are also allowed to come to work high if you are still able to work well. Everybody in town know where to buy the stuff, including the police, but nobody does anything. And the most interesting thing for me: The joints we smoke in Europe contain mostly tobacco and only a small amount of marihuana. But here it’s pure marihuana; after three puffs of a joint here I’m totally high!) However, Manazanillo is really cute and pretty and Cristian and I went for a little walk.

On our way to Cahuita we did not miss our bus and first went to Puerto Viejo because I wanted to talk a look at this town which so far I had only seen through the windows of cars or buses or at night. (I don’t live and work in the centre of Puerto Viejo. It’s about 4 km away, so I don’t get to go there every day, especially because taxis are expensive and the bus only goes 4 times a day.)

We did a little window shopping and then went to the bus station to get the tickets for Cahuita. While waiting for the bus, we saw a sloth and then Cristian got a phone call from my manager and she wanted to talk to me. And here is what she said: “You have to change your day off because you have tow work today at 2 pm.” Well, since I had already bought my bus ticket and I would like some friendliness if somebody wants me to work extra hours on my day off, I simply replied with: “No, it’s not possible. I already have tickets to go to Cahuita.” And she said: “I’m gonna talk to Don Ben (who is the owner of the hotel)!” and hung up. I was totally sure I was fired and was actually happy about it because that way I could have gone with Cristian to Guanacaste right away. Well, it turns out that I was not fired and that would actually like me to stay.
In Cahuita we saw some monkeys who tried to throw things at us. Other than that the national park was pretty animal-free. I guess, they didn’t like the rain!