Swiss Family Northrupson

There are a lot of ants in our bungalow.  I am trying to ignore them. Red ones the size of Carpenter ants.  Sugar ants too. And also a miscroscopic kind that gets in the pages of my book when I read by the pool.  (I have read over 150 pages of War and Peace) They are mostly in the kitchen, where we have a very large tree growing - a full sized tropical tree with a budding branch and about a 10-12 inch diameter trunk. It comes up thru the floor boards and leaves thru the ceiling and blocks the microwave.  Shelby is convinced that the Howler Monkeys were in this very tree the first morning.  My guess is that the ants could possibly be climbing up the tree to get in? Just a hunch.

Kitchen/treehouse/ant farm 

I have only found one of the big red ones on my bed. It was dead.  I wonder if they are Leaf Cutters?  Or Crumb Getters. Or. Not Awesomers. Or. For Pete's Sakes.

Every outdoor pathway here is paved with sliced, full diameter, tree trunk discs. They are set in cement - not very well tho.  My first image of Ilse was when she was coming to greet us and one of the wood blocks flipped up as she stepped on one side of it and her foot disappeared. It was like a booby trap.  Santos probably saw that too.

Shower. Wood floor.

The discs pave your way to the pool, the bar, and the rooms - there really isn't anywhere else to go.  The bungalows are "artisan" with a lot of stained and varnished wood.  Kinda cool.  Even our shower floor is wood.  I have never seen that before.  A wood shower floor.  Hmmm.

Termites are a major problem in Costa Rica to the point where most people build with concrete now.  I'm just sayin'.

So, with the monkeys, ants, wood-floor shower, four-poster bed, and organ, it really feels like we are in one of the Swiss Family Robinson rooms.  (There is no organ) It feels comfortable - almost familiar.  There is definitely a charm to these bungalows. They remind me a bit of our cabin.  And Nelson's Resort cabins.  The floorboards squeak like they are flawed and warped, and even slant in places, like the foundation has settled.  I know this type of living quarters well.

'Hallway' behind the bed.
Connects kitchen to bath.
Tight squeeze.

Same routine as yesterday: Howlers, breakfast, pool/hades, lunch, surfing, pool/nice, showers, dinner, stare at our phones.  Actually, I could put 'stare at phones' in between (and during) every event today (except surfing).

There is not much to do at the pool except watch for iguanas and lizards and read.  Quinn, the tanning goddess, thinks it's too hot to lay out - even tho it hasn't stopped her yet.  She has a point - it is 95 degrees and humid with no wind.  I wear a lite, long sleeved, water/sun-protection shirt I got in Belize.  One dip in the pool and it keeps me cool for about 30 minutes.

Surfing was a bit better (only one of us cried today), although our equipment was weaker today.  Some hotel guests ran off with all the good surf boards before 8:30am.  At 5pm they still had not returned them.  Lame.  Tomorrow we rent from a beach vendor.

Dinner was fabulous.  The owner/chef was really good.  Season's by Shlomy.  Go if you are here. A bit pricier than others, but worth it.

Nice lighting for your only signage.