It Must Have Been the Wrong Place but, It Must.....

One of the guilty pleasures about having company in a foreign country, is the opportunity to transform oneself from the reliant to the relative self-reliant. With Scott visiting, this seemed like the perfect time to dazzle with my local knowledge. After all, I knew the walk downtown, could locate the carnicero, panadero y el fabricante de vela. My time to shine. Following our day at Arenal, we chose to travel a greater distance to see Gary Lindquist, a former Richmond teacher who has live in Costa Rica for eleven years. I have never met Gary but have communicated with him on a number of occasions over the internet. He lives with his Costa Rican wife in the beach community of Playa Hermosa where they run a company which provides advice and assistance to those who wish to relocate here. I phoned him the morning prior to the day we left to get detailed instructions. I thought I might have awakened him as the directions seemed a bit odd, but I knew where Playa Hermosa was and teemed with confidence that once there, my ever increasing Spanish vocabulary would stand us in good stead. Off we went, to the Province of Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast, my first visit to a Costa Rican beach town.
The drive was long with many delays as there are major highway improvement projects taking place throughout the country. Like many countries, Costa Rica has decided that infrastucture spending is one key way to boost a sagging economy. Finally, we passed Jaco Beach (party central for visitors wishing to indulge) and turned the corner to see miles of sandy beach with only about a dozen people scattered throughout. Paradise for sun worshippers; however, no sign of the Century 21 office where we were supposed to take a left hand turn. In fact, no sign of anything resembling a town. Finally we found a small real estate office, oddly enough, Remax, not Century 21. I must have been right; Gary had been half asleep.
Describing the directions I had gleaned from Gary, the helpful realtors informed us that indeed, Playa Hermosa is a beach community on the Pacific Coast; however,there are two such places of the same name. Apparently, the one we had in mind is a much larger Playa Hermosa located in Guanacaste only four hours to the North providing the roads are free of delays.
We had a great day, despite the directional problems. We swam, ate lunch in Jaco, where we watched, in our Canadian self-restraint, the antics of American tourists drunk at noon, loud, obnoxious and inappropriate.
So much for my fearless feelings of confidence; better to be humble than humbled!