Sunday, Aug. 19
(To read El Gringo Feo’s Costa Rica Diary from the beginning, start here.)
I wake to a gentle rain drumming on the Treehouse’s metal roof. And that same strange braying noise I heard yesterday. (Donkey? Mule? Some exotic jungle critter?) I’m sleeping well, despite being in my fourth day of not getting high after a stretch of pretty heavy use. It’s always been pretty easy for me to quit smoking when I want or need to, but sometimes that precipitates a few restless nights. I guess I’m digesting so much new stuff every day that it’s wearing me out. It helps that we get about 12 hours of sun and dark each day, so I’m getting to bed around 9 and night after it’s already been dark for an hour or two. And the sensory overload each day is exhausting.
Yesterday, Jeff and I had breakfast (eggs, fresh papaya and pineapple) before he took me on a daylight tour of the grounds. PurUvita is a narrow strip of land that juts up from Highway 34 and into the mountains. It essentially lies on two levels, though there’s not a lot of flat ground. The first is where Jeff started his project, several buildings in various stages of construction, including the Treehouse, where I’m staying. It’s a one-bedroom standalone with its own deck and a loft. I sat for a while on the deck reading Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 for a while later in the morning, which was as incongruous as when I read Beowulf at the beach in Jamaica a dozen or so years ago. Poilu is a remarkable account of World War I written by a French soldier, or Poilu as they were known (similar to the way the Brits were called Tommys). The carnage of the War to End All Wars is hard to get your head around when you’re interrupted by a band of white-nosed coati (coatimundi) foraging on the forest floor below. Maybe I should switch to Thoreau?
As we walked the grounds, Jeff explained how it’s all going to come together. He’s accomplished a lot in the five years since he bought this place, and he’s doing it all incrementally and with sweat equity. It’s impressive. The other buildings include a kitchen/bar area with living space above it and another building that will be divided into four or five units. But what really impressed me is his vision for the entire grounds. I’ve always been crap at looking at a swath of land covered in trees and undergrowth and trying to imagine how it could be developed. Not Jeff. He’s planning a jungle pool, a yoga deck and multiple other units as he goes.
The site is up a steep concrete driveway that ascends from Highway 34, and the first phase is located about halfway up the lot. He hasn’t poured concrete the rest of the way up the driveway yet, so it’s a steep walk up the gravel track. As we reached the top we came to a shack and a gutted Suzuki SUV. Oh, I probably should note a stunning view of the pacific and the Whale’s Tail a curious tombolo formation along the beach that looks like, well, a whale’s tail when viewed from above.
The top of the lot will be phase two, where Jeff hopes to create a building that could accommodate groups an an infinity pool. While there are ocean views at the first level of the property, they’re nothing like this, and I was wondering why he didn’t start at the top. Apparently, several sources he read on developing land suggested his current approach. It will be more expensive and difficult to do the work at the top of the lot. so this gives him a chance to learn by trial an error as he builds out the lower section. It’s seems a very sane, incremental way to build create PurUvita, which is a play on the Costa Rican phrase, Pura Vida.
Ask a Tico (Costa Rican) “¿Como estas?” and the answer is likely to be “Pura Vida,” which translates roughly as pure life or simple life. But it’s more than that. It’s the Tico way of taking on the world.
The sad blue Suzuki atop the lot is possibly why I’m here. Jeff was living in the shack while he was doing initial work on the lot and went back to the States for for several months, leaving the Suzuki behind as well as bikes and tools he had locked up in the shack. Apparently a few Tacos realized the place was unattended and used that opportunity to strip the Suzuki and grab the bikes and tools. They took the SUV’s engine, seats, wheels … everything except the frame, basically. Jeff responded by putting up a fence, complete with security cameras and warning signs that anyone messing with the property is being recorded. While the cameras aren’t functional, I suspect this will give future evil-doers pause. And I’ll be here to ensure they know the place hasn’t been left unattended.
I then spent a few hours reading and catching up on tasks related to home before we set off for a tour of Uvita. “Our beach,” Playa Colonia, is accessed by crossing Highway 34 and heading south on a dirt road. It’s walkable, and it likely will become part of my morning routine once Jeff leaves. The town doesn’t have much of a center. No Zócalo, as is common in Mexican towns. There’s a small cluster of strip malls and restaurants hugging Highway 34, and then a maze of dirt roads in the land between the highway and the beaches. There are restaurants and other businesses scattered through that area, including Flutterby House, where we had lunch. The fish tacos were awesome and the vibe was totally beach. Mostly younger folks in various stages of surfer attire hanging out and enjoying a sunny day that was emerging from the morning haze.
Jeff has been awesome. In addition to taking me around and pointing out key places I’ll want to explore after he’s gone, he’s a great guy. We’ve had a series of rambling conversations on everything from the current political mess in the States to music, books, movies and the role of sports in human culture,. He’s been putting together a list of things I should check out, and I’m going to reciprocate.