In The Middle Of It

This morning at 8:00 A.M. a rental car company pulled up at Casa Del Ray, my new home here in Nosara to drop off a car so I could pick Dan up at the airport at eleven. I have been here almost one month on my own and the anticipation of seeing Dan and “feeling” Dan was killing me. Driving from Nosara is no simple feat. The roads are horrendous to say the least. The recent rains have been the worst in Guanacaste history with levels far beyond the norm and breaking many records. Robin, who owns an amazing café and makes the best homemade ice cream and sorbets in town, told me that these rains were going to have a major impact on the survival of the people living here because the crops cannot root in the saturated ground. There is going to be a famine here, she said. I witnessed first hand the result of the rains as I drove out of Nosara on my way to Liberia, an estimated two and one half hour drive away. The roads were muddy, washed out, and I had to navigate through at least four wayward rivers to get through. To be honest, I felt like a badass and fantasized about my driving prowess-a NASCAR future maybe?-it was like skiing moguls with a car. When I arrived at the airport Dan’s plane had just landed. I told him I had hired a driver to pick him up, not wanting him to know that I would be the one waiting there. I saw him coming through customs and watched him look all around at the waiting drivers, but he did not see me! I had to pull him out of the gauntlet of taxi drivers waiting to snag a needy tourist shouting “Me Esposo is here!” and dragging him into the parking lot where our rental car awaited. A sweet reunion. I drove, showing off my mad skills and after stopping for lunch at a cliff side soda (café), we landed in Nosara with plenty of time for re-acquaintance and napping before my gig at La Luna. At La Luna, the beautiful seaside restaurant, the atmosphere was very quiet after the full moon party held here the night before. With just a few tables of patrons, we played our music, Dan sitting in on a mellow sounding hand drum, adding a nice rhythm to the music. A lot of the songs I sang seemed to bring me to tears; Bonnie Raitts, Come to Me, The Beatles, Let it Be, I don’t even know what else, all I know is I had a serious problem keeping it together. Why all this emotion? When we got home we fixed plates of food prepared by La Luna’s staff and sat by the pool under a sky full of stars, afterwards swimming and sitting in the Jacuzzi. It’s late, we’re tired and questions can wait. Dan has put on some beautiful Costa Rican guitar music for me to listen to and he is now sleeping soundly in our bed. I know he needs it. The Gecko who lives behind the tapestries in this apartment is telling me to go to bed too.