A message was received today, and it looks like the Gentleman Friend’s childhood home may be sold. It is sad for him, as it is not only the place he grew up, it’s in fact the literal place where he was born, in the smaller room on the first floor. It is a lovely house, […]
Juice king
This afternoon my class was earlier than usual, at 1230, so we walked into town for an early lunch/ late breakfast, only to be stymied as all the places we wanted to eat at did not open till later, earliest around noon and the Caribbean speed of service made it unlikely I would be able […]
Wet sloth
It rained and rained this morning, and when we made our way into town, we passed a pair of Germans staring intently at a tree. ‘A sloth!’ they said and indeed there was a sloth, a metre from our noses. A very wet sloth, climbing up a tree, moving very very slowly but constantly with […]
The mouse that roared
I work with many mice that roar. There is a particular type of person, loud and fighty and very macho (regardless of gender) and with intense favourites and hatreds, who seem to be particularly common in this line of work. I’m quite good at handling them usually, and most of them really like and even, […]
New class
Today I had two sets of classes: one with my first Spanish teacher and a second with a different one I am trying out this week. It’s not been the most successful run thus far, but I think the second teacher will do for my time in Puerto Viejo. I was extraordinarily lucky, I think, […]
Poke in the eye
Today I had my first ever surfing lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was not entirely successful. I was actually reasonably good at getting to my feet and staying balanced; the difficulty was paddling out to catch the waves. This was extremely tiring and my sore arm soon objected so I took a break […]
Unforced error
I went for my first class yesterday. I have to admit, I have my doubts about it. It is run by an American woman who is fluent in Spanish, but her style of teaching is very much of a unversity class, heavily dependent upon grammar terms and memorising conditions when one form is used or […]
To the sea
Early in the morning a van collected us and took us off to Puero Viejo, where we’ll be for the next month. The journey was long but fine enough. I listened to three podcasts on Hinduism: one on kingship in low-Himalayan kingdoms during the colonial era, one on small religious sites in Mumbai, and one […]
Waterfall
We decided not to go for the long drive to a national park to stroll through the jungle to some colourful pools, instead choosing to make it a more relaxing day with work in the morning, a leisurely lunch and then off to La Fortuna waterfall. This required walking down (and later, up) several hundred […]
Slothwatch
In the morning the washing was still damp but there was a bit of hot muggy sun so I hung it up on the rickety terrace, which brought it part of the way. But I’m afraid it’ll smell of damp. Then, once the Gentleman Friend had woken, done his morning yoga and eaten some fruit, […]