The Midnight Who

I rode to Jaco, a touristy beach town. I booked a hotel online, but check-in didn't start until 3PM. And there wasn't anyone at the office. There were people working, but evidently not in reception. So I sat and waited until someone showed up. I found a lavenderia to get my laundry done. They promised it would be ready by 10 AM the next morning, so after dropping it off, I walked into the center of town to look around. There were lots of Realty companies displaying their listings in their windows. Plenty of very expensive places for sale, either on the ocean or with an ocean view. Seems to be a lot of ex-pats in the area. I was also asked if I needed marijuana or Coke. Mexican Coca-Cola is supposed to taste better because they use sugar instead of corn syrup, right? On the way back to my hotel, it started to rain. Lightly at first, but with increasing intensity. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was soaked. I'm glad I was walking, because I do not like riding...

A week of vacation from my vacation: Susan had booked an all-inclusive resort hotel on a fairly secluded area on the Pacific coast. Her flight from Denver to Miami, and then into Liberia, Costa Rica, would arrive about 8 PM. I had arrived a couple of days earlier in Liberia, staying at a Best Western in town, until the reservation at the resort. This allowed me time to figure out the logistics of getting Susan from the airport to the hotel that didn't involve her riding the motorcycle, and certainly not in the dark. Hotel Resident Wildlife On the day that Susan was arriving, I could check into the all-inclusive resort at 3 PM, but it was on the Pacific about 50 minutes west of the airport. She wanted me to meet her at the airport, which is what I wanted to do also. But if I checked in at 3, I would need to get back to the airport, and then get both of us back to the resort. A shuttle ride was $70 per person each way. And that was if I booked the rides 24 hours in adva...

Many of you...well...one of you...asked what is The Midnight Who? So this post is about how The Midnight Who came to be. And it is completely appropriate that I tell you today, on November 30. Because today is my only grandchild Max' 6th birthday, and I owe The Midnight Who entirely to him. About 2 years ago, Max began talking about The Midnight Who. At first, I thought it was some television or storybook character. But Max insists that he dreamed about The Midnight Who. I Googled it, and couldn't find anything that would disprove what he was telling me. I found Midnight, by Dr. Who, but not Midnight Who. Max talked about The Midnight Who several times and finally, I asked him what The Midnight Who was. He said it was a tank. At one point, I asked him to draw the tank for me, and he did. He drew what appeared to be a turret on a vehicle, so I figured it was like an army tank and not a water tank, and Max confirmed that it was. I searched www.themidnightwho.com and lea...

The volcano tour was offered as a day tour or night. Sign me up for the night tour. While waiting, I wandered around Grenada. Grenada sits on Lago Nicaragua, which is, I think, the largest body of water in Central America. The Malecon was dirty and smelled like sewage.  There were pigs rooting around by the water. It didn't look very appealing. Actually, all of Grenada smells like sewer. I couldn't see the attraction of the city, but there were lots of tourists. I wandered off the tourist trail into the street market. Near the end of the street, vendors were selling fruit and vegetables that were, shall we say, well past the "sell by" date. In fact, it looked rotten. It is a shame that people have to resort to selling stuff like that. It is even sadder that it may be the only thing other people can afford to buy. Seeing that, while knowing everyone in the US was celebrating Thanksgiving, really makes me appreciate my country. We have problems and aren't p...

El Salvador is very beautiful and green in the parts that I have been to. It's a mix of mountains or volcanos and a lot of flat arabIe land. But I suspect that the countries are poorer as I head south. I don't know for sure; I am speculating based upon what I see the people using for transportation.     In Mexico, automobiles and motorcycles were the prevalent types of private transportation, with big Greyhound type buses for inter-city travel; taxis, and vans for shorter distances. In Guatemala, I see autos and motorcycles, sure, but now the Chicken buses had replaced the large luxury coaches for the most part. And also, the 3-wheeled tuk-tuk taxis were common. Then, in El Salvador, the chicken buses seemed less elaborate; less chrome on them and not as flashy. Also, they prefer the cab over, flat front school buses here. But Toyota appears to own Central America. I am only estimating, but I think maybe 70% of the cars or pickups are Toyota. The Toyota Hilux pic...