The transition from backpacker with no responsibilities to bungalow lodge proprietor has been nothing short of surreal. Wake up every morning at 6:30 to the loud sounds of the jungle (we probably couldn’t sleep in if we wanted to) and get to work. Put on a pot of coffe, organic, free trade produced by a local indiginous group from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, by the way, and prepare to make breakfast for our guests. We put on some good tunes with our sophisticated music system, an ipod with mini travel speakers, and start cutting pinapples and mangos. When breakfast is through and the guests have had enough chatting, we are left with a messy kitchen and a list of things that need to get done so long it is almost laughable. Trying not to allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed we just dig in. Chosing a task is never very difficult because inevitably something crucial to the functioning of the business malfunctions, breaks, or doesn’t show up.
Our first day on the job, the very sweet couple from VT with thier UVM attending daughter came to us after breakfast wondering why there was no water in their bungalow. Our responce? “Hmmm, we don’t know.” So we all traipsed through the jungle to the shed/washroom and examined the two water pumps. Playing with the pumps and electrical boxes proved to be useless and we all looked blankly at eachother. We couldn’t help but chuckle at the situaiton and thankfully the good ol’ Vermont gang found it quite amuzing as well. The water kicked back on shortly after so it ended up being pretty harmless. We have had this issue a few times and not until three days ago did we actually get a knowledgable person over here to explain how our water system works. Few, that one’s in the bag!
Rule number one for running a business in Costa Rica is- Laugh! If you don’t find it somewhat humorous that the government decided to change all of the phone numbers in the entire country during Easter week, hands down the busiest travel week of the year, you’re probably not gonna make it. Water problems on the first day, HA.