I Work at an Insane Asylum

We have a houseful of guests tonight at TexMex. After reasonable tranquility all these weeks, suddenly every room at the Inn is occupied.

Usually, I avoid other guests because they are either weird or just plain tedious. However, when I approached the cappuccino machine yesterday morning, I came across a group of young, healthy looking American kids that looked friendly. We began talking and immediately connected. I started showing them how to make coffee and asked them the usual expatriate question, “So, where are you from?”

“Michigan”, came the reply.

“Michigan! What part of Michigan are you from?”

“Kalamazoo”, said the twenty-something redhead kid.

“ I’m from Kalamazoo too! And I’ve got a T-Shirt to prove it! ‘Yes, There Really IS a Kalamazoo’.

So lots of back patting and reminiscing ensued and we had a nice coffee together. We were from different generations but felt like long lost cousins! Since then, those Kalamazoo kids have been out non-stop partying – thanks to a ‘host’ sister and her party-hardy Costa Rican tribe. The Kalamazoo Kids drank a lot of espresso this morning and the redhead declared himself off the booze forever. Yeah sure, that will last until about 6PM tonight!

I told them that the Flying Borracho Brothers would be playing at Tex Mex tonight and invited them to stop by. Maybe. They said they would definitely-maybe pop in as soon as they got back from This-Or-That Disco Club. No way. Those Kazoo Kids won’t get back until after 3AM – just like last night. And I suspect that the Borracho Brothers and their lively crowd will be back home in bed asleep. Something about different generations, but who knows? Stay tuned!

Meanwhile….
A pair of ‘Easy Riders’ from the upper Midwest stayed at TexMex a few days back. I avoided them – definitely not my cup of tea - but Gerry and Dr. Bob had a few words with them as they checked out. It was their first trip to Costa Rica and their plan was to ride their Harleys all over the country to sightsee and have some fun with the Ticas. First stop was Jaco. Dr. Bob admonished them to be careful out there. The horrible Costa Rican roads and insane drivers have produced a lot of accidents – and the bad ones almost always involve motorcycles. Easy Riders nodded indifferently and left.

Gerry turned to Dr. Bob and said, “Guess we will see those guys at CIMA Hospital!”

“Yeah”, Bob replied, “Maybe we ought to reserve a room for them right now!”

Well this is a bizarre coincidence, but not more than two hours out on the road, one of the Easy Riders skidded out of control at a curve. He sustained blunt trauma on an ankle and required some 24 stitches for cuts on his elbow and knee. And the worst of it was that he didn’t even get taken to CIMA – The 5 star version of a private hospital. Instead, the ambulance took him to the Social Security Public Hospital, San Juan de Dios. It was absolute bedlam there and the injured Easy Rider couldn’t speak any Spanish. The only English speaker they could find was a very busy physician who just didn’t have time to take care of him. His injuries weren’t life threatening so he just had to lay there in pain until they finally patched him up and sent him back home to ….

You guessed it! Back home to TexMex. Poor fellow. On the first day of his first trip to Costa Rica, he ends up with a cast on his leg. But on the bright side, he can join the crowd for the Flying Borracho Brothers tonight!

Dr. Bob just walked by and declared:

“I work at an Insane Asylum!”

I was holding a ‘Ward off Monkey’ Taiji pose at the time so not sure if his comment related to me or to his other guests.

So Where is Gerry in all this goofy mix?
Gerry left Costa Rica today for New Orleans. Yep, and leaving me here with all the construction. His original plan was not to return until May 10th. Well that pesky trial has ruined his plans once again. He has to return back here for a court appearance on March 20th. He’s furious about that and only plans to fly in for the court date and right back out to New Orleans.

Why is it so important that Gerry has to be in New Orleans? So important that he would even miss out on a British Birthday Party tomorrow for the Four Horsemen? Actually, it’s War and Death having the party. Pestilence AKA David Scott is in Jaco and Gerald AKA Famine needs to be in New Orleans. Why? Because Gerald AKA Famine needs to take delivery of his beloved Chesterfield Sofa, which arrives around the 22nd.

Tomorrow I hike down to the waterfalls for a bit of Tigre centering.