Monday 2/13- After a very long wait for our ATV, Ramie finally got the call from the dealership that it was sitting in their shop, they just had to go through it and check it out to make sure that all the fluids were full and everything was in working order before letting us take it home. First, though, they needed Ramie to come in and fill out the purchase paperwork. He was so excited that he left right away after he got the call and headed to the dealership. He was gone for about an hour and a half, which seemed like a long time for some paperwork but sometimes he gets side tracked when he's in town and who knows what else he could have found himself doing. Finally when he came home he told me that they had given him the full walk-through of the machine and showed him how everything functioned. He could have waited a little while longer for them to finish going through everything else that they had to check over and brought it home right now, but since he had the truck there and no way to get 2 vehicles home right now he told them that he would come back later to pick it up.
Around noon Ramie left the house again but this time walked to the dealership. Fortunately it isn’t too far away! Once Ramie was in the driver's seat they explained just a few more things about the machine, and gave him the official paperwork that says that it is his, you know, just in case he were to be pulled over by the police. You see, there were no license plates on it yet, those would be coming later, so this paperwork is our only current proof of ownership. The machine technically has to have the inspection stickers, and a license plate to be legal but since this is a brand new ATV it doesn't have any of that yet and takes months to get. After they sent him on his way with his new machine, where was the first place he went? Well, of course it wasn't home to show it to me!! His first stop was Loren and Nancy’s! They were just as excited to see the machine as I was, but they lived just down the road from the dealership so it was a convenient stop on the way home. They oooohed and ahhed over the machine and after a little bit of chatting Ramie headed home knowing that I was expecting him with our new toy. Of course, the dealership didn't put any gas in it so he had to make one more stop at the gas station on the way home and eventually I heard him pull into our driveway.
I needed a break from work anyway, so I jumped up from my desk to head outside & check it out. Wow, this thing is bigger than I was expecting.
 |
| Ramie backing up to head out for our first ride together... don't run into the house! |
We switched sides and he explained some basics to me. It drives very much like a car but things like the blinker locations, some of the knobs, etc. are different than you’d be used to on a car. The road that we were driving on is very rough and the ride in the truck is quite bumpy; the ride in the ATV however, was much smoother. I know I wasn’t driving super fast, but I even think we made it all the way back to the waterfall in better time than we would in the truck, just because it’s a smoother ride. There was no one there when we got there so it was a perfect opportunity to take some pics.
 | |||||
| Yes, way off in the distance you can see Whales Tail. | |
 |
| There are a lot of River Crossings when you get back into the mountains. |
The new Maxi Pali actually opened a few weeks ago, but because it was “new” it was always super busy and we didn’t want to deal with all of that, so we decided to wait for all the hype to die down before we went to check it out. We decided that today was finally a good day to go see what this store would be like.
We were pleasantly surprised by the selection that they have, and the prices were definitely better than comparable items at the other big grocery store in town. Some of the prices were even better than Walmart in San Isidro, at least for now! This was very good news and hopefully it stays that way and it wasn’t just because of the new store opening promotions. Unfortunately they don't carry everything that we need that we buy on our trips to San Isidro, so we will still have to continue our trips to Walmart, not to mention that we’ll still want to go to San Isidro for the big Feria and all of the vegetables that we find there. Yes, I know, I’m pretty lame for being excited about a new grocery store in town, but hey—if it makes life just a little bit easier, I’m all for that!!
Friday 2/25- Today I decided to take a much-needed day off from my main job, but I did work a few hours in the morning on the side job. Ramie reached out to Deiner (from the coffee plantation) while I was working to ask if they would be available this afternoon for us to go up there to visit and have some afternoon coffee. Of course, Deiner is always happy to see us (or at least he makes it look like it) and opened the invitation for us to visit. Ramie then reached out to Geoff & Tracy to ask if they would like to go for a ride in the new ATV for some afternoon coffee. I don’t know if they were more excited to go for a ride or to check out the coffee plantation, but they were excited to join us and completely on-board with our adventure. The plan was set, just a few more hours of work and then take the afternoon off for a fun ride. We haven't had any rain recently and everything is super dusty so we made sure that everyone had sunglasses and some sort of face covering to protect us from clouds of dust in case we got stuck behind a vehicle (no windshield here!!). We picked them up around 12:30 with the intent to be at the plantation around 1:00.
After we left Geoff & Tracy’s house the first few miles of the drive are on paved roads, but the pavement eventually ends as you head toward the plantation and it turns into a rough, dusty mountain road. The ATV made the trip very smooth and we were able to make the trip much quicker than we did in the truck. Thankfully we barely even needed our face coverings!
When we first got to the plantation we went looking for the mama sloth and her baby that Deiner posted a picture a couple days ago. Unfortunately we didn't find them, but here is the picture that Deiner took.
 |
| Do you spot the baby? |
As we returned to the plantation, Deiner was just finishing up with a tour but when he saw us he quickly introduced us to the group and brought out the shot glasses. Homemade moonshine for everyone!
We toasted to the group and had a seat at the table they had saved for us. I think Geoff and Tracy were still trying to swallow the burning feeling in their throats from that first taste of the moonshine as Emilio & Rita came out to greet us and welcome us into their plantation & home. Eventually the tour group left and the 4 gringos and 3 Tico's all got to sit together & catch up. They were so happy to see us, and told us again that they really do consider us part of the family. Emilio brewed some fresh ground coffee for us and poured us all a cup, and of course brought out the homemade Baileys and poured more shots for everyone. We laughed, talked, took more shots, drank more coffee, ate some delicious sweet bread and chicharones that Rita made for us, took more shots, and laughed some more. I know this is a coffee plantation, but they really do keep the homemade liquor flowing and by the end Tracy was really feeling the effects of the shots. Everyone was having a great time, but it was getting late and we had to start making our way back down the mountain. Geoff and Tracy had dinner plans that we had to get them back to. We bought some delicious fresh coffee to brew at home, said our goodbyes and made our way home before it got dark out. We dropped Geoff & Tracy off at their house and we all agreed that we would have to do that again. However, next time maybe not so many shots for certain people. 😉 What a fun afternoon and a much needed break for me!!
The Official Casa Costa Breeze end of February rainfall total was 0.3 inches
Pura Vida!
always enjoy reading your blog ! thanks for sharing your adventures
ReplyDelete