May 21, 2008

No matter what strange stories you may have heard about Costa Rica, if you stay here long enough it will happen to you, and you will believe. The ants came today. They have the new house surrounded. They are all around the sidewalk on the ground, and all around the tops of the walls. The line seems to be coming and going from Jose’s lot next door, and going here to the old house. There aren’t many insects for them over there, but I suspect they will do better in the new lawn here. I got a little too close, they seem to spread out when they hit the grass, and two got on my foot. They were the hottest ant bites I have ever had. The little red ants are bad, but these are big ants, and they are moving, not nesting.
I couldn’t get close enough to count them. There was at least a bunch, maybe a bunch and a half. And I can’t find the camera, so no pictures. But it’s just like on tv. I’m keeping the dog in, and I don’t plan to go to close myself.
On another subject, one back window wouldn’t go up last Friday. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so Jose and I went to Canas on Saturday. He needed parts for his motorcycle, and I knew two men who did electrical repairs on cars.
Basically, it went well. I went to the shop first. It was closed, and two fellows outside were calling him from their cell phone. They couldn’t reach him. So, Jose and I went for a coffee. The other man works out of his house, and we wanted to wait a while to go there. We walked to his house and he said he would look at it after breakfast. We left it there and walked over for the bike parts. When he was done he did some testing and figured it was the switch in the door. We went to a used parts store and got one that allowed me to close it from the front, but wouldn’t work from the door. We got a reduced price, I drove him home, and we were on our way.
The only thing I don’t understand but, accepted as being normal, is that the guy wouldn’t fix my defrost fan. Jose asked him in Spanish, and I asked him two or three times, including showing him in the car that it didn’t work. I guess I’ll go to Canas again and hope that the shop is open. I’ve tried to find a simple test light. If I can, I should be able to figure it out myself. For now, I’ll carry a towel with me. The windows really fog up when you drive in the rain.
In the time it took me to write this, the ants have arrived at the old house. I think I’ll wait a while to hang up the laundry.