Though being unemployed has left me with some free time, all of this is being devoted to finding trabajo. The blog´s gotta take the back seat for a little bit. But have faith, it´ll hopefully be back up and running sometime in the near future.
Big things are happening… or at least that´s what it feels like…
It´s all about the PMA (positive mental attitude)
So I´ve finally gotten around to adding the Rachid post. It´s down below Bistro Baby Shower.
So it`s come back around again… just got a big bite from the unemployment bug. I actually officially lost both of my jobs on the same day.
I was taking a break from Kafka because I had been working there so much before I left for Costa Rica. My plan was to continue working on design stuff here and there at Kafka and to work on getting another formal bar tending job somewhere else. Unfortunately, when I went back to talk to Morgan about finishing the bar, he told me that there weren´t any available hours for at least a few weeks.
This is the same song that I got from Bistro. Tourism is down… which is true. The past few weeks had been very slow anyways. With everybody going back to school, the bars really don´t fill up like they used to.
So what does this mean??? Hmm, good one, I`ll have to get back to you on that….
Things are on the horizon though… and I really have my ear to the cosmos to tell me what to do. Like being laid off last time, I don´t think it´s a bad thing. This will make things happen alot faster then they normally would have…
So I´ll be spending a lot of time online in the next few weeks. Looks like it may be time to try to find a {suspense music} real job.
Oh, and if anybody knows anybody in Argentina please let me know…
Bistro 5 (one of the places I´m working) threw a babyshower for one of the waitresses I work with. Mariza is about 5 months pregnant.
So I´ve never been to a babyshower. I have no idea if they are all like this or not. There were a bunch of ridiculous games followed by a lunch and then present opening.
The Bistro team. Look closely in the back and see David flipping me off... this is how they roll here.
Here are a few of the games that were played:
Blindfolded baby food race
Eat it up
Don´t spill
Mariza and Evelyn... ended up winning
Guess Mariza´s waistline
Jonathan and his sister Mariza. Jonathan is the one who is teaching me how to bartend... he`s basically a pro... and he´s 19
Aurliano takes it
Dress the baby blindfolded. I didn´t get involved in this one. All of these guys have experience with this already.
Johnny
Marlon. Marlon was all gameface in this one. Alejandro was "helping" dad out... unfortunately he´s dressing the wrong baby...
Mariza
Passing a lime with your necks
Aurliano and the new girl
Incriminating photo 01
Incriminating photo 02
Popping balloons
This one lasted about 30 seconds. Marlon´s son Alejandro ended up getting totally confused/overwhelmed with what was happening and started crying...
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So Rachid (otto´s brother) was in the GT for some time. I unfortunately happened to be in Costa Rica during the majority of his stay, but did however happen to catch him for the tail end of his visit. Right before he took off I was graced with the opportunity to spend a few nights with him.
Rachid informed us that he wanted to do a bit of bar crawling to find Antigua´s best redbull. Though never having dabbled in the Antigua redbull scene myself, I ventured an educated guess with Nokiate… feeling a bit adventurous, we decided to give it a shot… but arrived only to find that it was closed. Somewhat disenchanted, we then decided to make our way down the street and settle for Cafe No Se* to scope out the redbull situation there (if one existed at all). At the time, Melissa and I were completely unaware that we were accompanying one of the foremost authorities in Red Bull. I in no way, shape, or form consider myself to be any kind of connoisseur when it comes to the upper echelon of imbibing, so I must say, we were both extensively impressed with the sheer expertise (and I may go so far as to say “awareness”) that Rachid commands when it comes to Redbull.
We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality of Cafe No Se`s Redbull (Melissa and I were actually surprised not by the drink itself, but that Rachid, one of such understanding and experience with such a fine cocktail, would even finish a beverage served at one of the more “unpolished” establishments of Antigua). Rachid was in fact so satisfied with his finespun libation that he decided to order a second… After some quality conversation and general good times, we all decided that Rachid, since it was already quite late, should err on the side of moderation and keep his drink count at 2. Rachid, being the responsible fellow that he is, agreed to call it a night and head home.
The following night, Rachid and I decided to meet up again. Persistent about his quest to find the finest RB, we made our way back to Nokiate. We were both contented to find that Nokiate was in fact open. While ordering up, I told the bar tender that I had heard that Nokiate was known to make a mean Bull Rojo. Tending bar with a bit of class, he played it modest and said that he wasn´t sure that it was the best, but he´d see what he could do… and then did in fact make the best one that Rachid had experienced in Antigua… and it went well with some sushi tambien.
Right before Rachid took off we decided to go to Mono Loco. He had yet to try the nachos.
The nachos
The nachos were good, but we had to eat them fast. I had to get to work and Rachid was already late to go get picked up… and he hadn´t even packed yet. I ended up having to skip out with nachos still on the plate. No tips (and alot of harassment) if I´m late to work.
Eating nachos while talking to uncle Carlos.
So it was good to have Rachid in Antigua. Didn´t get to hang out too long, but at least we were able to meet up a few times. By the way, so what makes a good Red Bull? It´s all in the ice…
* Cafe No Se is a very respectable and popular bar in Antigua. However, at the time, I had falsely assumed that they did not cater to the refined palates of upper tier clientele.
While in Manuel Antonio, Melissa and I tried surfing lessons. For $30 each we each got 1 hour with a private instructor, 1 hour together with a private instructor, and then 1 hour with the boards alone. Not too bad of a deal.
So the lesson went well. While surfing, I came to a moment of clarity. I`ve decided to quit both of my bartending jobs, forget about my architectural education, move to some surf bum beach town, and just surf. I am now very into surfing. And I´m not one to toot my own horn, but I`d have to say that I was pretty friggin´ good for my first time out. I quickly graduated to paddling and then finally to catching my own waves.
Riding the rail. Sorry about the photo, it`s kind of a bit hard to see me in this one...
My teacher Mike was pretty awesome. He´s a Costa Rican guy who´s been surfing forever. He´s got a heavy surf lingo vocab and throws out the surfer hand signs (fist with thumb and pinky held out) whenever the hell he feels like it. Oh and his mother taught him how to surf when he was young…. He was also missing one of his frontal teeth and told me that he had just lost it by catching one his student´s boards in the face…
On Friday we went to Manuel Antonio. It´s a small, touristy beach town on the Northern Pacific side of Costa Rica. It´s famous for its surfing and beautiful landscapes.
Manuel Antonio
On the road between Quepos and Manuel Antonio there`s a bar called El Avion.
El Avion. It is a Fairchild C-123 that has been converted into a bar.
The bar
Trying to tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue. Need a bit more practice for this one...
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On Wednesday and Thursday we made our way to La Fortuna y Monteverde. Costa Rica is very famous for its preservation of the wildlife and rain forests. La Fortuna and Monteverde are two of the most famous areas to visit both.
When we arrived in La Fortuna we were tired from traveling (and eating), decided to skip out on all of the hiking and other strenuous activities, and opted instead for visiting the Baldi Hot Springs.
Group shot at Baldi hot springs
The hot springs proved to be quite nice. There were about 25 pools of various temperatures and sizes, two wet bars, and 3 huge water slides. I thought the rain would have ruined it, but it actually ended up making it pretty nice…
We did pretty well at Baldi, Melissa and I got a special deal at the bar, we had a huge buffet dinner, and we then tore it up a bit on the waterslides.
As for the animales… although we didn´t get crazy with the nature tours, we did manage to see quite a few things. On Wednesday night in Monteverde we decided to go on a guided “night walk” through the jungle. We saw a tarantula, a huge rodent about the size of a small dog, many different kinds of insects, leafcutter ants, and a sloth. We were lucky enough to even see the sloth move. They sleep 20 hours a day… ridiculous.
On Thursday we took a guided tour through Monteverde´s “Cloud Forest”. Our guide David was excellent and really taught us quite a bit.
David going over a bit of the natural flora and fauna. That´s a scope next to Melissa´s head. He could show us bees on a tree at about 300ft away...
Hummingbirds. (Pablo photo credit)
Cloud Forest canopy (Pablo photo credit)
And we found these things roaming around on our hotel beds. Towels with eyes. Melissa was a big fan of these...
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So my self prescribed exercise/health food regiment was completely derailed about 5 minutes after landing in Costa Rica. Though San Jose did not strike us as the most beautiful place to visit, it did start growing on us… This had almost everything to do with the fact that Hotel Aranjuez offers an all-you-can-eat mega breakfast every morning… gratis.
Breakfast (omelet station and multitude of other breakfast dishes not shown). $15/night... Needless to say, Hotel Aranjuez became our home base in Costa Rica... it´s not too hard to see why.
Pablo and I began to throw around the word “aprovechar” (to take advantage) quite a bit. And so this is what we did… and Pablo can eat… and we all know that I´m no slouch when it comes to facing a big meal either…
Before I left to Costa Rica, I`d have to say, my rigorous exercising and mi dieta de parasitos had treated me quite well… I was right on the verge of having a six pack (although this has been disputed by certain other parties). Unfortunately, dreams of a toned midsection have been postponed until further notice (or at least until I get back).
Aprovechando at Baldi Springs (all-you-can-eat buffet incluido)...
After 2.5 days wandering around San Jose alone, Melissa and our friend Pablo joined me from Cuba. They spent a week exploring Cuba and then have 8 days in Costa Rica.
Melissa and Pablo manning the hot pot...
Cooking hot pot allowed for a little Photo op time con mi señorita bella...
As you can tell, I am somewhat slow on the update process of the trip. Life organization has taken priority…