Working for Room and Board

Bought a motorcycle this weekend. Met a gringo which arrived back in November and is leaving in 1 week. He purchased a Honda 125 new when he arrived. The bike only has 800 Kilometers usage. I will be able to travel along the coast and visit other places on my off days. I bought a backpack which straps to the seat nicely.

Been upgraded to a real cabina with a wood floor. The tent dorms were filled the last few days and nobody wanted the more expensive room. So my roommates and I were moved to the luxurious cabina.

I now have 2 jobs, my main one is still tiling the shower for a free room, however, I still am not a very good masonary person, so as luck would have it when I am in town and when I find a traveler or two. I bring them back to the Flutterby hotel for which I receive credit. I am way ahead of the game on this. We have been almost sold out for 3 nights. I tell Pam in the morning I am going trolling and she just laughs. With my other job, I meet alot of people looking for a place to stay. For every night that a guest stays in the Hostel I get a free night of lodging.

Bartending at the Toucan Hotel has been a blast. Trey the owner pays me 10% of the bar revenue. I have averaged 130,000 per night over the last two weeks. Which sounds like I'm getting rich, but that is Tico money, about 5.60 to the dollar. I also receive a free dinner and couple of drinks. Since I am in charge of the money, no drinking till last call. Hardly any tips at all. In Costa Rica tips are not expected, so even the gringo's do not leave a tip. I plan on putting a tip jar out and slowly changing the culture.

My surfing, well, more like paddling has improved over the past week. I was finally able to stand up and ride a wave for awhile yesterday. The waves were really good the last couple of days.

Found a new place to eat, Soda Marsla, right across from the bus stop. They have the best fish tacos in town. Lunch is only 1800. or about 3. dollars, for a huge plate.

Still no camera, with the duty tax, they cost twice as much as I paid in the states.
Stay warm, Best wishes.

1st week in costa rica

Hola, I have added a little spanish to my vocabulary. Enough to get to the bathroom and get an extra serving of Gallo Pinto, the national breakfast/lunch of Costa Rica. Quite good and filling. I stayed at a nice place, last week, that was only charging me 400 dollars for the month. but they had some issues that I could not handle. Cashed out. Today, I moved down to a surf camp, Flutterby House, 100 yards to the beach and staying in a dorm room for free. Worked out a deal with another guest (Pam) on vacation from Santa Barbara, CA. I buy the food and she cooks the meals, which should work out cheaper in the long run. I hope she does not eat much. I will tile one of the showers for the free bunk.

This week has flown by. Enjoyed my time with some nice German guests. They departed for a trip down the coast, which was way out of my budget. We would go to the beach or the waterfall everyday and just hangout.

I ran into some guys, from, of all places, Murphysboro, Il. They were walking down a dirt road near the beach, we started talking. I cannot remember their names at the moment, but one guy's wife is the manager of memberships at the CO OP. Small world! They were staying in a tree house at the hotel Toucan We did find the back way into the beach area, without having to pay the tourist fee of $6.00 to get in. ripoff.

They went snorkling off of the whaletail jetty, and did not realize as the tide came in that the jetties would disappear. I really thought I was going to witness three drownings.

On New Years eve, I went to a great party. It was also a birthday party of the owner of Toucan Hotel. He threw himself a great party. Through out the night, actors would perform. One was a girl who had worked in Circus Ole, she did the ballet from the curtins hanging from the tree. Spinning, dropping very cool stuff. Then fire dancers came out and threw and juggled with fire. Followed by one of the local mountain indian tribes with swords and spears fighting each other. What a great show. The music was incredible with a band playing hard blues/rock accomidied with a guy playing a Didgeridoo. What a sound! Uli boge is his name. He has some stuff on Youtube. Long stumble back up the mountian.

A couple of days later "Victor" from the Canery Islands built a

sweat lodge with bamboo and palm frawns. He then built a huge fire in order to heat the rocks, Upon entry, eight of us sat on the ground and as the rocks were placed in the pit, a person would score the rock with a pine tar ball, which generated a powerful, cleansing scent.. Then you would start to chant. I do not know any chants. I just sweated, very easy . He would come in and pour water over the rocks for the steam. The tempature would soar to about 125 degrees and you sweat like mad. We did three, 10 minute sessions or as long as you could stand it. During each session, as we would exit, Victor would pour a herbal green tea completly over you, then rub you from head to toe with a red clay mud. Not all of us got naked but my friend Uta, did. Those crazy German's!! I hope she is not mad with me for posting this but it was the only one that came out because of the mud on the camera.

Monday, the little banddito's got my backpack!! I was walking down to the beach and set my stuff down, for 2 minutes. BAM gone! MP3, camera, 20,000 cahones. = 10 dollars, and my hammock. I hope to find that little bastard. They local kids have a little gang down here on the beach. No worries.

That's about all for now, the food is very good and cheap. The only restaurant of note, thus far would be "Madras" which specializes in French, Thai and Indian Food. Which is a very well presented and decorated french modern. The food "Voondaba". I am heading back there with a group from the surf camp Friday night. The cook brings in freshly caught bluefin tuna in the morning to serve only on Friday nights. I will post pictures next week. The place is truly special.

My new home does not have internet so my post and email replies might be slow to respond.

Pura Vida

December update

I do not know where the time has gone since my last post, as most know I headed down to South Padre Island for some warmer weather, along the way I stopped at the Elks Lodge. Too much eating and drinking! I met a great guy, "Clyde" from Missouri, who comes down here every year. He has a great sense of humor. He says he can play golf. But he has yet to get a round in since arriving. He lent me movies from his collection and went to the other Lodge to sample their fried fish. I was able to obtain the title and tag for my scooter. I love that it only cost 4.00 to fill up and I can go 130 miles between fill ups.

The weather has not been very good for the month of December. Very wet and and cold, like most of the country. I was expecting more like south Florida, but the locals say this is very unusual. I headed over to the Island on the 4th and was invited out on a boat to join in the parade of lights. (left camera)

My campsite offers a great view of all the marine traffic going into and out of the bay. It has been great watching the shrimp boats going in and out of the bay.

I had to replace the refrigerator on the roof. The old one had become very brittle and the top was falling off

I have since been working on making the rv solar project. This will allow me to camp for a couple of weeks without having to plug in somewhere to charge up the batteries.

I have three of these 230 watt panels along with some new batteries to install. They just arrived today. I have already made the mounts for the panels so up they go.

I have not been out to eat at a restaurant since leaving the Elks earlier in the month. I started making everything from scratch. Pizza crust, spring rolls (raw), burritos. Made fresh daily. Learned to work the convection oven. The best pizza's come from it. No more burned crust! That brings this part of the month to close. I will continue to work on the solar project for the next week. I plan on going a little bit further south in the coming weeks in search of better weather. My job search with the BLM is on going, posting my resume and applying online for openings in the high desert, or something with trails. That's about all for now, I have to stow the dish before it goes flying off, the wind is blowing about 35 knots today.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Smithville, TX

I left Rockyhill Ranch driving into the town of Smithville. Spending the night on the square, stealing electricity from the lighted Gingerbread cutout. One of the first people I was introduced to was Rob Remlinger. He is a cyclist and owner of the best restraunt around these parts. Backdoor Cafe has fresh salads and seafood. He closes down during the summer months and goes to Northern CA to run a place during the Texas hot weather. I have only been out to dinner one time other then tonight. His number one, is a very nice gentleman named Izzy. He has a fetish for all bikes. Also, the only bike mechanic in these parts. I really can stumble into the best situations.

I had a great time at the Ranch and met some great people. None better then R.B. and his wife Karen(pictured). We had some nice evenings in the saloon, where they showed me the finer points about saloon running. LOL. R. B. just got back a clean bill of health. He won a long battle for his life. Karma paying him back! I wish them all the best in the comming years. Also the owners of the ranch and their kids. Grey, Pam, Rebecca and Trey. They were all terrific, Grey can cook some mean greens! And a big shout out to Oscar who provided the firewood. Thanks everyone!

I did get a extra project done right before I left. The bike wash needed to be upgraded, found some extra wood and a pole. 2 bags of concrete. What a sight! The reroute never got finished, but something to look forward to someday. Replaced the battery isolator again!! Think it is right now. Pulling the trigger on solar panels next week. My friend Garry is a great teacher. He has already been through it, why reinvent the wheel.

Leaving in the morning and driving to Harlengen, TX. Staying at the Elks club. $8.00 nightly, down by South Padre Island.

Austin City Limits

Drove into Austin today, camping out behind the whole foods, which will get all my money before I leave. the fish tacos are great here.

Going to see Guy Clark and Elizabeth Cook tonight at the Union Theater. the weather is terrible. I left my scooter out at the ranch, so little sightseeing on this trip. Just getting my bearings. My first impression is a cool city. very hip. I plan on staying sat and walking around if it clears up.

Lance trails

Great day, Paul with his daughter and son, picked me up. Both those kids are nationally ranked racers. His son has been to Italy, France, Austrialia racing and his daughter is on her way. She is only 16.

The weather was perfect around 70 and sunny. We arrived and took right off. the trail is an open 7.5 miles around the property, 500 acres. currently listed for a small 13.5mil.

The trail was in great shape with very fun elevation changes and trail features that kept you laughing and in awe the whole way around. The picture of the house with a barn off to the side holds some 50 bikes for his use.

Funny as hell when we almost ran him over, leaving the property!

Trail work at Rockyhill Ranch

Mike started construction of the bridge last week, before I arrived. He is an emergency room surgeon. I can assure you, the way he built this bridge, I want him to put things back together on me. He is a skilled carpenter. We spent a nice day out in the woods finishing the ramps up and down. The race was going to be held in 2 days and it needed to get done. I dragged a part of the old bridge and attached it to his new bridge. OLD meets NEW. It is a thing of beauty!

The next project I want to get done is a reroute on "Longhorn Loop".