This is a Guest Entry posted by Amanda
Hey.
Spent the last few days on the Caribbean coast in a tiny village called Cahuita. Spent my time on the beach reading and knitting and swimming and watching crabs.
Crabs are funny little creatures. In Cahuita they have these crabs that are a yellowy color when they're little and then a blue (up to a very neon-y blue) when they're older. I spent a lot of time watching them dig their little holes....at one point a big one started bullying a smaller one whom I'd been watching and they got into it and skittered over my shoes. Funny little creatures.
While watching these crabs, my bag almost got stolen. By a band of freaking monkeys. Capuchin monkeys (think organ-grinder monkeys) came onto the beach and started off with my bag. I knew people had rec'd bites before and I didn't want that so I started hollering and kicking things (coconuts, seriously) under the one monkey started to drop it but then his two psycho cronies tried to stare me down and I kept yelling and kicking.
Damn monkeys.
I left Cahuita today and the bus got stopped at a police checkpoint (there has been no military in Costa Rica since 1949 but sometimes the police are a good approximation) and we all had to show our passports. It was a little strange.
Taking the taxi from the Caribe bus station back to my hostel I got involved with a stupid cheat cabbie. I specifically asked in Spanish if la maria (the meter) was working. Yes. OK, fine, but then he wanted to call my hostel to get a reservation. I knew this was just to lie and say there were no rooms. I told him, in Spanish, no, I had a room. Then he tried to get me to go to another hostel. "No, no necesito." THEN when he finally did drop me off he said la maria was "broken" and it was 1,000 colones.
Well I knew that I took a taxi with a working maria from this hostel to the Caribe bus station it was only 600 colones.
It's amazing how quickly I knew Spanish when I was being cheated. I argued with him in Spanish that I knew it was only 600 colones. He said no, it was un mil colones. I said in Spanish "You said the meter worked!" He said it broke. I said, in Spanish, no, it was 600 colones and I didn't believe him. He said, in English, just yesterday they changed all the fares. I said, in English, "Then la maria was checked just yesterday" and then in Spanish, "why doesn't it work today?" He said it was 1000 colones, I said I didn't believe him (in Spanish.) I
said (in Spanish), that we would ask the hostel security guard what the price was. THEN all of a sudden don't you know it was only 600 colones. I nearly threw the coins at him.
OK, I know 400 colones is less than a buck, but don't treat the solo gringa like she's a freakin' idiot.
When I was walking to lunch some guy leered at me and said in accented English, "Why hello my little sweet thing." I ignored it but nearly doubled over with laughter. "My little sweet thing?" Is that the best he could come up with? I was however, walking especially pompously after dealing with that theif cabbie and the wind was blowing my hair about nicely. But come on...
Love,
Amanda
Flown by Amanda at 11:07 PM on July 05, 2005
