As promised, here is Nicoya from my point of view.
We went with a fairly long list of items to purchase. We started at the Walmart where we managed to get a couple of the most important items, including a number of household items, lots of dog food, charcoal, notebooks for Andy's new career and most exciting a cheap grill, which we wanted for the insert to replace the nearly rusted out one on ours. Though we had fabulous tuna cooked on ours, we feared for our lives with the amount of rust we consumed. No charger for the camera battery. No beach chairs or umbrellas. No lamps. Saw pretty good plastic tables and chairs for game playing on the lanai, but Bobbi said to wait for better deal or we could return for these.
Leaving the outskirts of town, Bobbi gave us an overview of the center, about 12 square blocks. She introduced us to her insurance agent who was happy to allow us to stash stuff with her until we connected with the car again. Seemed there were at least 8 shoe stores per block, some selling clothes as well. No way that many shoes could ever be sold in such a small city.
My favorite store of all is called Cleveland. It is a used clothing store, which of course thrilled Andy. He did like 2 little tie-dyed pillows in the window and allowed me to go in to get them. But I got caught up in even more tempting stuff inside. I eschewed the clothing racks and went directly to the linens bins where I found a bedspread I loved, a covering for a dining chair, a nice black linen tablecloth and a wool blanket with shredding trim. I mentioned I was felting on the ride to Nicoya. I brought tons of wool with me from Boston to work on a project here. The plans fell through, so I switched to making a rug for our new home. But, that turned out to be far too time consuming with the materials I had brought. This wool blanket, a pretty soft blue was the answer. I cut off the shredding trim and it is now a soft, comfy rug. I have begun with a flower sort of like those on the tie-dyed pillows and envision an ethnic looking masterpiece. All this from the Cleveland for about $12.
But that left the need for all those unfound items on our list. I did find 3 beach umbrellas in town and bought one and 3 beach loungers, 2 of which I bought. Finally found one better color plastic table and chairs set and bought it, at a very good price. We also were able to locate the only source for clip on lights and bought them out, having never found any floor lamp that would do. And if you can believe it, I found Japanese lanterns, with which I am going to cover all the ugly ceiling lights inside and out. Never located any seat cushions. Nor rubber tips to quiet the dining chairs, but I did buy some plastic fruit which I thought might work instead and be funny too. I did buy a $6 universal charger for my camera battery, which I suspected couldn't possibly work and it didn't. No one in town had the right charger.
I started out the day feeling a little car sick and really didn't recover fully until our lunch meeting. I got to the Chinese restaurant half an hour early to try to feel better. Ordered tea and Lo Mein. Got a bottled fruity tea. Delicious. I had 2 more and another meal once Andy and Bobbi arrived. That and bottles of water and more shopping and I bounced back. Bobbi always eats there. Many stories through the years, the most amazing of which was when she left her money bag there early in her career. The owner figured out whose it was from the passport inside and was out looking for her when she returned for it. There were thousands of dollars in it because of her payroll. He was so honest. But now he has quit smoking and put in air conditioning so Bobbi can't smoke inside anymore. Thank God he put in air conditioning and turned it on shortly after I arrived. It was sweltering in there at first. Bobbi says they don't turn it on until the first customer arrives.
Around 5:30, 10 hours after she first picked us up, Bobbi asked if we wanted to go to the big supermarket. No one was up to that, so my lunch guests the next day had to make do with what we had on hand, plus what Pam brought downstairs. Is that another full Cleveland?
We went with a fairly long list of items to purchase. We started at the Walmart where we managed to get a couple of the most important items, including a number of household items, lots of dog food, charcoal, notebooks for Andy's new career and most exciting a cheap grill, which we wanted for the insert to replace the nearly rusted out one on ours. Though we had fabulous tuna cooked on ours, we feared for our lives with the amount of rust we consumed. No charger for the camera battery. No beach chairs or umbrellas. No lamps. Saw pretty good plastic tables and chairs for game playing on the lanai, but Bobbi said to wait for better deal or we could return for these.
Leaving the outskirts of town, Bobbi gave us an overview of the center, about 12 square blocks. She introduced us to her insurance agent who was happy to allow us to stash stuff with her until we connected with the car again. Seemed there were at least 8 shoe stores per block, some selling clothes as well. No way that many shoes could ever be sold in such a small city.
My favorite store of all is called Cleveland. It is a used clothing store, which of course thrilled Andy. He did like 2 little tie-dyed pillows in the window and allowed me to go in to get them. But I got caught up in even more tempting stuff inside. I eschewed the clothing racks and went directly to the linens bins where I found a bedspread I loved, a covering for a dining chair, a nice black linen tablecloth and a wool blanket with shredding trim. I mentioned I was felting on the ride to Nicoya. I brought tons of wool with me from Boston to work on a project here. The plans fell through, so I switched to making a rug for our new home. But, that turned out to be far too time consuming with the materials I had brought. This wool blanket, a pretty soft blue was the answer. I cut off the shredding trim and it is now a soft, comfy rug. I have begun with a flower sort of like those on the tie-dyed pillows and envision an ethnic looking masterpiece. All this from the Cleveland for about $12.
But that left the need for all those unfound items on our list. I did find 3 beach umbrellas in town and bought one and 3 beach loungers, 2 of which I bought. Finally found one better color plastic table and chairs set and bought it, at a very good price. We also were able to locate the only source for clip on lights and bought them out, having never found any floor lamp that would do. And if you can believe it, I found Japanese lanterns, with which I am going to cover all the ugly ceiling lights inside and out. Never located any seat cushions. Nor rubber tips to quiet the dining chairs, but I did buy some plastic fruit which I thought might work instead and be funny too. I did buy a $6 universal charger for my camera battery, which I suspected couldn't possibly work and it didn't. No one in town had the right charger.
I started out the day feeling a little car sick and really didn't recover fully until our lunch meeting. I got to the Chinese restaurant half an hour early to try to feel better. Ordered tea and Lo Mein. Got a bottled fruity tea. Delicious. I had 2 more and another meal once Andy and Bobbi arrived. That and bottles of water and more shopping and I bounced back. Bobbi always eats there. Many stories through the years, the most amazing of which was when she left her money bag there early in her career. The owner figured out whose it was from the passport inside and was out looking for her when she returned for it. There were thousands of dollars in it because of her payroll. He was so honest. But now he has quit smoking and put in air conditioning so Bobbi can't smoke inside anymore. Thank God he put in air conditioning and turned it on shortly after I arrived. It was sweltering in there at first. Bobbi says they don't turn it on until the first customer arrives.
Around 5:30, 10 hours after she first picked us up, Bobbi asked if we wanted to go to the big supermarket. No one was up to that, so my lunch guests the next day had to make do with what we had on hand, plus what Pam brought downstairs. Is that another full Cleveland?
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