Heat Wave

We’re having a heat wave. I’m sure it has something to do with no rain for the 3rd day in a row. The house we are in now is terribly hot. They have no screens on the windows so open them at your own risk. Personally, I do open the ones in our room to get some air flow through there during the day. I pull the blinds down and so far there doesn’t seem to be any bugs coming in.
Last night was horrendous trying to sleep. We had a storm come through here at around 10. The power went off and we were not comfortable. We all went to bed at about 8:30 and it was so hot. The ceiling fans help but not much. I finally got up and took a cool shower. Jack got up at around midnight to take one too. They have air-conditioning but they took all of the remotes so we wouldn’t use it. I’m sure they were thinking that we are users and not conservers and thought we’d run up the electric bill. Although, they did leave us with the electric bill to pay ourselves for last month. We can’t take it personally as I told Jack. They live a very untrusting life almost to the point of paranoia. I guess the first time you get ripped off here it changes the way you live and that is what happened. It’s sad, though, to see. We are the perfect house sitters. I am a cleaning fool and Jack is a fixing fool. But, they don’t know that. They had a hard time leaving the house in the hands of virtually, well, strangers. I hope we make them happy when they come back. They sure have nothing to worry about. Especially with the dog. Julietta is a sweetie and it’s nice to have a dog to take care of and spoil. She’s a good girl.
I keep thinking of my Mom with the air-conditioning thing here. As much as the power goes out, how would someone, who truly needed the air-conditioning to help her breath, survive this place? And, we have been in two places where it just plain didn’t work. I mean, if we ever built here, she would never have been able to come for a visit. But then again, we live in a similar place as far a convenience is concerned, and she did manage to come out often. There was a time though where we all agreed she couldn’t visit us anymore because of the altitude. It kicks your butt. My mother in law doesn’t come to our house because of the same reason. It’s just too high in the sky. We are literally 2 miles high.
We keep comparing our life at home and the way we live there compared to here. It’s so similar here only we are at the beach. Everything is 2 or 3 or 4 steps and the convenience of having everything at your fingertips is a drive. The big difference is that you can get things done at home pretty quickly and easily without too much waiting around. Here it’s always a wait and things are on Tico time. Tico’s don’t have a time. Usually it’s mañana. Getting quick service in a lot of restaurants is just unheard of. It may take 15+ min to get your drink after you’ve ordered it. And if you ask for water, you may or may not get it. Especially if you order tap water, which we always do. It’s never quick and usually there are things added to the bill. We’ve studied our bills very closely and there always is a discrepancy. An extra beer or the price of the beer changed from before when we ordered there. Jack is so funny when he gets the check in restaurants. He studies it like he’s studying for the ACT or something. A few times the waiter will stand there and ask him what’s wrong? He’s just being cautious but sometimes its overkill. We have adjusted to this life very well and as long as you realize that it’s just the way things are done here you’d do fine. Many people are too impatient and cannot handle it. Those are the people who wait longer. I’ve noticed. We are patient and we don’t complain. It’s a good way to be. Nobody likes a complainer, especially the Tico’s. EVERYTHING here is Pura Vida to them and if you ever get a chance to come to Costa Rica, you’ll see why.
Jordan has a terrible ear problem. It started a few days ago swimming in the ocean and now it’s escalated to a very painful problem. About the only thing we don’t have in that darn first aid kit is antibiotics. If her ear is infected, we are going to be scrambling for a Dr. For now we are trying to flush out the wax with a bulb syringe and warm water. It’s painful for her and I hate to see her uncomfortable. Especially when we have a ways to go with water surrounding us. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to do it would be appreciated. The last time we were here Jack had to go to the clinic it got so bad. They kept flushing out his ear and all of this wax came out. Water gets trapped behind the wax which I’m sure is what is happening to Jordan. I’m hoping we can eventually flush it out ourselves. She was up from 2am this morning to 7. A huge no bueno. She’s sound asleep now.
It looks like another beautiful, hot day for the beach. Jack rode out to the lot this morning to see if the back hoe did the job. And to bug the lady who’s in charge of turning on our water, to turn on our water. She just won’t get that process going with us. It’s the same old story. Mañana.