The Trouble With Cash

Chapter 2

Chapter 2We left for the airport early Sunday morning. Lydia loved dogs and always spoiled Anny so Liz and I felt comfortable when she was available to house sit. There wasn't much traffic so we made good time on the Gardiner Expressway and up the 427 to Pearson Airport. I had booked us on the 9 o'clock Air Canada flight direct to San Jose and back the next Sunday.

“I hope you don't mind that I booked us in business class.” I said while we ate some breakfast waiting for the flight. I hated bending my six foot two inch, two hundred and twenty pound frame into a pretzel shape to fit the seating in the back of the bus.

“Not at all. Great idea,” she said. “No point in being uncomfortable for five and a half hours.

“Did Brad ever give you a number or a range of prices?” Liz asked.

“No, not yet. He kept skirting around the issue.” I said. “It was like trying to nail jelly to the wall. He wants to visit the property with us again and look at the survey carefully before giving us a number. He is coming over at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.”

“Perhaps he is afraid to give us a number.”

“Could be.”

I had corresponded with Mick and Barbara Scott, the couple who were renting the house and arranged for Liz and me to stay in the guest house. Mick and Barbara were getting a good deal on the rental and were very accommodating and understanding about the situation.

We always left our Costa Rica car in the safe keeping of a woman who made a little extra money by storing cars at her house near the San Jose airport. Maribel met us with our car when we arrived.

It was 1:30pm by the time we got out of the airport and onto the toll highway heading for the coast in our Toyota Prado. It would take us about three hours to get down the coast to the Dominical area.

“Would you like to go out for dinner tonight or pick up some groceries on the way and cook something at the guest house?” I asked.

“I'm thinking it might be nice to go out,” replied Liz, “but we should probably stop and grab a few things for breakfast anyway.”

We stopped at the Playa Herradura Auto-Mercado and picked up some things to get us through the next few days and got back on the road. The afternoon rains were coming down as we passed the seemingly endless palm oil plantations between Jaco and Dominical.

We were getting tired of travelling when we turned off the highway at Dominicalito. We crossed the small river and started up the hill toward Escaleras. After a couple of kilometers of gravel road we reached our gate and punched in the code. The gate opened to the long driveway through the forest to our house, Vista Linda.

Chispa, the oversized Chihuahua look-alike sounded the alarm while wagging his tail, excited to have company. The barking brought out Mick and Barbara as well as Roxana the housekeeper and Jimmy the gardener/grounds-keeper. After lots of “Bienvenidos” and hugs, kisses and handshakes, Liz and I were helped to the guest house with our luggage and groceries. We declined an invitation from Mick and Barbara to join them for a drink by the pool because we just wanted to put our feet up for a while but promised to get together with them the next day. The guest house was beautifully prepared with clean linens and fresh flowers from the gardens and Liz and I relaxed for half an hour or so. As usual, Roxanna had done a great job.

When we got moving again we decided to head over to “Porque No?” for drinks and an early dinner. We had been up since the c***k of dawn and had experienced a two hour time change, so we didn't feel like waiting any longer. It was close and had a terrific chef as well as being a great place to watch the sunset now that the rain clouds had mostly disappeared. The gin and tonics were just what we needed after the long trip. Liz had the almond crusted red snapper over watermelon & feta salad and I had the bacon wrapped fresh caught snapper over roasted sesame carrots. We shared a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc with our meal and returned to the guest house where we slept soundly.