Costa Rica 6, Fourteenth Day In Monteverde

Another meh day, so I will think twice before sending this post, just because I don't want to bore everybody. It seems that the theme of this trip is rest, and whether I want it or not, I'm getting it, and I'm getting it in spades. I have also been sleeping unusually well on this trip, but my sleep seems to have been gradually improving over the past six months or so. So, I've had two naps today. This morning before breakfast, and this morning after breakfast. Then I catch myself feeling guilty for doing nothing, but really, what do I need to be doing on this trip? So, I'm cutting myself slack. I go out and walk, spend time in a cafe with my sketchbook, then go for another walk, and grab something to eat somewhere else, then walk back here, write something on my blog, share it with Esteban if he feels like it, chat with him and his parents in Spanish, work maybe on some other writing and research projects, go to my room, work on some art, watch a couple of a Youtube videos, read a novel in Spanish, and it's usually lights out at ten. Last night I was asleep before nine because I was feeling really wiped fron caffeine withdrawal. I'm much better today, and tomorrow I will probably enjoy a cup or three. So, I got up at four thirty this morning and was down for a nap within a couple of hours. Following nap number two, I left the bed and breakfast at noon, went for a walk, didn't see any morphos today, but that's okay, since I have so far been enjoying daily sightings of those magnificent butterflies (the big bright blue ones, should you want reminding), then I walked down to the elegant and super overpriced Cafe Caburé for a cup of decaf and a brownie with chocolate sauce, mora sauce (a local wild loganberry, much like our blackberries), and vanilla ice cream. The price? 6380 colones, or fourteen bucks Canadian. Back home in Vancouver, in the super elegant Gallery Cafe, for a similar or even better treat, I would be paying almost half that price. Go figure! So, I don't go to Cafe Caburé very often, especially since Susana, the owner, raised their prices this year, but I still go there maybe once a week, max. Still, she is a nice person, from Argentina. The name of the cafe, Caburé, comes from the name of a tiny owl in Argentina, and legend has it that a magic love potion can be made from one of its feathers. I find it curious that the place would have an Argentinian-themed name. It would be rather like a Canadian opening a burger joint here in Monteverde and naming it the Magic Loon, or the Happy Beaver, or whatever, or something like that. But here I digress. If it's hard enough for me, a low-income Canadian visitor to afford a place like Caburé, think how difficult it is for the average Tico, given that, according to Esteban, the minimum wage here is around two bucks an hour, US, or in Canadian funds, at around two sixty-five Canadian, which was the minimum wage in my province around forty-two years ago. Still, Caburé is a lovely place, I enjoy chatting with Susana and some of her staff, and the other customers, being well- off, are also going to be more aloof and are going to leave me alone, and right now, I am sort of peopled-out, so I am enjoying this lack of attention right now. And I spent a good two hours plus there today working on my art and enjoying the view and the tranquility. I went for another walk, then had something to eat at the soda in Casem, the local cooperative. Not only is the food decently cheap, it is abundant, delicious, nutritioous and the ladies who work there are really nice, very regular Costa Rican women, friendly and unpretentious. It feels very homey there. Well, that wraps up another thrilling day in Monteverde, best explored on foot. Since I don't drive, that is my way of getting around. Good exercise, I can take my time, and really see and absorb my surroundings. Also I am not contributing to global warming and climate change. Okay, I will stop now. You are most welcome, Gentle Reader!