The
last thing I ever expected to do in Limon, Costa Rica was get a pedicure. But
there I sat in a wicker chair with my bare feet in the lap of a lovely
Caribbean Princess.
It’s
alright.
Sarah
was sitting in a wicker chair next to me getting one too. We were in a Market
that was selling the usual tourists crap made in China but stamped Costa Rica.
It’s almost Jodee Sadowsky’s birthday so we were shopping when we stumbled upon
eighteen different women giving Pedicures.
Jodee’s
birthday would have to wait. We couldn’t resist.
If
you’ve ever been to Limon, Costa Rica then you know there’s not much there. Oh,
they have an abundance of broken sidewalks; trash in the streets and fruit
stands piled high. There’s also a Burger King and a Pizza Hut but both were
empty. I immediately liked it and told Sarah it beat the hell out of Cozumel,
Mexico (which we really didn’t go to anyway).
The
first thing we do when we hit a new place is check out the Grocery Store. We
wandered past sidewalk meat markets, fish markets and, I swear to God, an open
air Pig market with two skinned Pig heads for sale … complete with eyes! I
assumed the flies were free with every purchase at each of these
establishments.
The
Grocery Store was about the size of The
Tybee Market back home and boy was it packed! Over a hundred people were
standing, and yelling, four deep at the meat counter. In addition to screaming
at the two masked people behind the counter, customers were screaming at each
other. They were also passing money, baskets and at least one child. Everyone
had received a number but they were buying and selling them to get to the front
of the line.
Sarah
and I were fortunate enough to visit on the day the Chicken Boat arrived. Behind the counter were stacked cases of
fresh chickens and they were going fast! People
were
buying twenty chickens at a time!
I
like to experience a culture when I visit so I got in line. Of course I looked
completely out of place wearing my faded and ripped UGA baseball cap, Kevin’s Irish Pub tee shirt from Key
West and black running shorts. Everyone else had dressed up nice for Chicken boat day.
All
those chickens made us hungry so we left to search for lunch and found a tiny
bistro with white table cloths, open windows with views of the sea, fans and
cold Pilsner beer. It was hot and we
were hungry so we had a three hour lunch. We were the only Americans and, other
than a table fill of German kids, everyone else seemed local.
“I’ll
have the Chicken Gordon Blue,” Sarah told the waiter.
“Who
the hell is Gordon Blue?” I asked.
I
ordered shrimps and rice along with another Pilsner
and lunch was on.
Afterwards
we were sleepy and making our way back to the docks where we discovered the
Costa Rican Pedicure Patrol and let me tell you something: THIS IS WHAT I’M FRIGGING TALKING ABOUT! You don’t get this in the
United States! … unless you’re elected to Congress!
It
was so nice, so romantic, quite exotic and pleasing that as soon as we got back
to our cabin I looked at Sarah with great anticipation.
“Don’t
say anything for twenty minutes,” she said and fell fast asleep on the bed.
That
was two hours ago.
I’m
almost finished reading War and Peace.
But
our toes look nice.
We
never did get Jodee anything but I’m wondering how to sneak the Costa Rican
Pedicure Patrol on to the boat.
