Falling through the Floor
Our last blog post included some video discussing how well our residency application/meeting went but not about how that meeting going so well lead to some extra time so that we could go and visit our farm. I am not being dramatic when I say that a little piece of my hope nugget withered and died that very day.
We took the bus to Siquirres early that morning so that we could meet our contact around 9am. We could drive back to her farm, pick up a kid that could help with some chopping and then head to our own to say hello to Don Antonio and see how the cabin was. We also had to pay our annual property taxes in Matina so this visit would be useful. When we arrived at the farm we saw that the area around the cabin had been sprayed with some kind of weed killer. The pineapples were dead and our chances of growing organically in that area would have wait until…well NEVER! It seems that when we paid Don Antonio to chop down the weeds in the orchard area he decided that it would be easier to simply kill everything.
Meanwhile, Barry is checking out the cabin. He yells out that there are termites everywhere and that I have to come and see this. I walk up to the cabin and several of the decking boards are bouncy, which means that the termite damage and water damage are pretty bad. I get in the cabin and look to where he is pointing. There is a termite nest twice the size of Barry’s head and it is attached right above what will soon be our new front door. As saline drops start to separate themselves from my person, I walk outside to hide my faucets which now have a constant drip. The guys are discussing how to remove the termites from my new home and I am slowly walking on the deck. One step, two steps and poof! Kim disappeared. The board underneath my right leg was so damaged from termite teeth that it gave way under my weight. The fright that falling through the floor gave me was nothing compared to sensation of hundreds of termites crawling all over me. Then add seeing them through moist eyes that magnify everything and there it was just like me poof! A piece of my hope nugget died.
The only bright part of the day came when Drusilla and I headed out to pay our annual property tax of $43 USD. (A little back story – We have been trying to purchase a small piece of property next to ours so that we can have easier access to the spot that we would like to build the house on. D has been calling the owner and his phone is either temporarily disconnected or it’s working and she doesn’t feel it is appropriate to leave a message. So, for months now it has basically been our wish to contact this owner and make him an offer.) So, we are heading down the hill and sitting right in front of his property gate is Felipe Coto, the man we have been trying to reach.
