Deviling it Up for Last Friday’s Halloween

Living in Costa Rica is turning out quite nicely. On occasion, I find myself shamefully indulging in the taxi habit, even though taking the bus is not much of a bother. Slow they might be – chugging me up the Boulevard – but in comparison to Colombia, the bells on Costa Rican buses are a joy to use and easy to find. Perhaps this explains why travelling gringos dare brave the public transport system. Spoiling my cultural experience though they may be guilty of, their presence does ensure that Lindt’s Lindor is a stable chocolate import in local supermarkets. Long live the tourists!

Out to dinner with a Costa Rican friend, dear Carlos asked me how much I knew of culinary delights in San José. Confessing that I had not got very far, we took ourselves on a road trip to find a boutique restaurant in the mountains. Rolling up high on one of Costa Rica’s non-tarmac highway escapades, the clouds turned ghostly as we arrived to find the bistro cerrado, shut. Oops! Turning to seafood instead, I asked Carlos to burn off the prawns with a little dancing in the street. The big bad outside world deemed safe enough, we hip-jigged and spun to merengue in the car park.

Indeed, security is headline news here. Being told that I can walk nowhere alone at night in Costa Rica, nor that I can have pre-dinner dances on spooky mountain roadsides, I think I felt safer in Colombia. It is hard to find any building without bars or barbed wire, electronic gates or hired street guards. Even the beauty parlour that I, uh, just sometimes like to go to has a doorbell to open its bolts. One of those sometimes was earlier this week, where a tough day at work had ‘obliged’ a massage. The verdict was tense calves from high-heeled partying. What a suggestion!

Well alright, perhaps there was a pinch of truth to that. Friday night saw Halloween celebrations and fancy dressing into weird and wonderful masquerades. A very fun night with very lovely people, this diablita devil danced a turn too many to too much salsa. At least, that was the intention – my months of classes still need refining, having learnt the strictly structured steps of my Colombian dance teacher. Tripping up more than once, I am in dire need of real ‘street’ lessons. A visa run to Cuba, perhaps?

I am assured that in just one short week the rains will cease. This morning was actually gorgeously clear, easily boosting that bouncy ‘Friday feeling’. In addition, pizza for lunch eased off the mid-week blues and brought on the weekend fun. And a lovely weekend it shall be – an invitation to work’s stunning luxury villa (www.mycostaricavilla.com) means that I am headed, once again, to Guanacaste. This very cool ‘job’ has very cool perks: infinity pools and Playa Coco, here I come!

_____
Find out more from Samantha next Friday about ex-patriot life in Costa Rica:
“Life in TicoLand”!

This post's rating:

Related Stories

Filed under: Living on November 7th, 2008