i hate sunburn. it takes the energy right outta ya. shoulders seem to be the favorite spot of burning, which sucks cause that’s what i primarily use to carry gear around.

it’s saturday and our clothes stink. so i agree to go do laundry in exchange for some internet time while dee and john go have coffee and breakfast at Cafe Milagro in Manual Antonio (MA). kind of funny/concidental since i do laundry ever saturday in NYC and here i am in Costa Rica doing laundry on saturday. i think i may have deep connections to my habits than i realize.

the laundry lady was very nice. i got the place from the good book and turned out ok. she had the clothes ready when i asked, and she even separated them based on gender. so, i grab the laundry, drop it off at the room and head to the beach to meet john and dee. on the way, i noticed a sign that at first looks legit but reading it again, i realized the mistake.

another sign also grabbed my attention as the saying,

“where the locals eat seafood” is in english. :-/

anyways, john and dee were waiting at the bus stop in MA when i arrived. they, of course, weren’t hungry and i was about to fall over from starvation. so, we head to coconuts where i could grab some grub.

after i ordered my quesohamburgeusa (say that three times fast), john and dee told me the story of how they meet three gay guys at cafe milagro. john spotted them first and immediately knew they were gay. the guys kept turning around looking at john and dee, but never signaled or anything. as the guys were leaving, john waved goodbye, which provided them a way to say hello. dee was quick to confirm that she wasn’t with john by saying he’s gay as soon as they approached, which spoiled the fun for john to mess with them. after the trio attempted some flirty conversation, they made plans with john and dee to meet at Barba Roja (red beard), which is a bar with a sunset view, for happy hour.

while we waited for the food, i spotted some serious beach bums. check out where her bottle of water is (you can’t see it in this pic, so click on it)!

the food came and they offered several packets of ketchup. the whole country doesn’t have a squeeze bottle of ketchup. they deliver it in packets, which is frustrating to open each one and they never give enough. after asking twice for more ketchup, john suggested buying a bottle of ketchup to carry with me. even though it sounds lame, here is my bottle of water, ketchup, suntan lotion, … ketchup?, it is practical in my case since i love ketchup so much. the only upside to their condiment scarcity is that they do provide mayo automatically. dee and i saw a weird mayo commercial on tv where a family was having salad for their dinner and they were putting mayo on it?!?!

even though the beach was ten feet away from us, the thought of taking our shirts off to expose our burnt bodies made us quiver. the sun is so powerful in costa rica, it’s scary. while i was in town doing laundry and such, i bought a bottle of spf 45 lotion, not that spray shit, and some much needed aloe. we hadn’t applied either one to our bodies, so instead of hitting the beaches, we were going to explore quepos, which should only take about an hour. it is so tiny.

before we left MA for the last time, i took some more shots of the beach

and a boogie board with credit card symbols on it. who rents a boogie board with a credit card?

instead of exploring quepos, dee and i decide to take a nap while john went into town to see what quepos had to offer. dee applied the aloe to my sunburn, and the lotion extinguished the burn. the problem was that i couldn’t lay down. so, dee took a nap and i wrote in my journal to later transfer to the web.

john returned from his trekking around town with a bottle of ketchup for me. he is such a superstar. the bottle of ketchup came in handy so many times! his return was also the sign that we needed to get ready to meet the new peeps at barba roja.

i jumped in the shower and washed myself using the exfoliating body wash we bought in san jose. i lathered up and suddenly realized my stupidity. microbeads and burnt skin do not like each other. my sunburn turned into sunflame. i quickly rinsed off and turned the water to cold and stood there trying to put out the flame. when dee applied the aloe, the soothing kicked in and i learned a lesson, which should have been common sense.

we got purdy, meet up with the belgians and headed for the bar. The trio was there when we arrived. we exchanged hellos and handshakes and what not and got a table. the sky had overcast clouds so the sunset wasn’t spectacular, but i took a photo anyways.

i was sitting next to john and dan. dan lived in SF and Santa Cruz and worked for Seagate technologies as a business management analyst that worked directly with the CEO to make seagate more efficient. we had loads to talk about from SF to how i love seagate hard drives. across from me was david, who lived in chicago and worked as an regional insurance salesman, and alex, who owned his own business in costa rica doing bathroom renovations. his company had grown from a simple shop in san jose to a global company that had offices in central and south america. dan and david were in town visiting alex, who they had known for many years. alex was born in nicaragua and lived in san jose, but went to school in the states where he met dan. he met david some other way.

this is alex and dan.

this is david and john.

last but not least, the belgians.

anyways, dan, alex, and david (D.A.D.) were a lot of fun and we had a blast hanging out at the bar. a girl duet appeared and started singing songs and went from table to table with a playlist and would sing a song for some money. they were religious missionaries and trying to raise some cash to support their cause. they sang two songs for us, time after time by cyndi lauper and the other i can’t remember.

they also sold CDs of their singing for 15 a pop, which is too pricey. i haven’t bought a CD in years. they handed me the CDs and i immediately hand them to Dee.

Dee and i have a system. i don’t like saying no and dee has a way of saying no thank you in a very nice way, but she doesn’t want to be the mean one who made the decision. so, when i don’t want something, i hand it to dee who then asks me if we should buy them. i say no and dee gives a nice sorry, but no thank you to the person.

this is what unfolded here. the girls smiled after dee let them down softly and said no problem, thanks, and they walk away.

everyone started to become hungry, so alex offered a suggestion of a good restaurant in quepos that is owned by the same people who own cafe milagro. when we arrived, we had the whole place to ourselves. dee and i shared a salad and the tuna. wow, the food was so good. it was the best we ever had in costa rica. the tuna was perfect. dan’s mahi mahi was delicious as well.

the night wouldn’t be complete without some after dinner drinks, so we head up the mountain to the bar where we were last night, the tutu bar. the IT place for gay people and the only place that doesn’t play reggaeton (thank god!).

i fell asleep in the taxi on the way up and dee was feeling tired as well. we would stay for one drink and then head home. but the music was really good and i got a second wind. i have to admit that i did some dancing in my chair, and dee got some tips from dan about getting started in a management consulting career (HINT to anyone who can help Dee get her foot in the door with a management consulting firm).

after a while, dee gave the signal that she wanted to go, so we said our goodbyes to D.A.D. turns out that D.A.D. was traveling back to San Jose tomorrow like us, so we exchanged numbers so we could meet up for dinner or drinks the next night.

as we were heading back down the stairs from the bar, john proved his point about how stupid it was to have several flights of stairs leading up to the bar by slipping right next to me. he scratched his elbow but other than that he was fine. the rest of the trip john joked to dee about how i pushed him down the stairs. i told him to watch himself!

we make it back to Villa Romantique for some much needed sleep.