Life in Puerto Viejo

First World Schocker!

Owning a hotel in a place like Costa Rica gets kind of scary when your largest market starts to have financial problems.  One of the big wild cards in all this game is the US tourist market.  But so far, it seems to be holding even though evidence of financial meltdown is in the air. 

I was just in a hotel in San Jose and met 2 gay guys (separate travellers) that changed destinations from Europe to CR because of cost.  You know the economy is bad when even the freshly 'fake n baked' homos are cutting back.

So, welcome to the reality of first world living.  I am back in Canada for a couple weeks visiting family and friends.  I needed a reminder me why I had to make so much money to live before I left to Costa Rica. 

I was at San Jose airport and bought an Economist Magazine.  It was $10.75 and the bag of chips I bought was $3.25. I am surprised that they did not have to board me in a wheel chair after that sticker shock.  I guess I was spared because I passed on the soft drink and the 20 measily chips in the puffy bag were organic.

Too funny... Last night I went out with friends to a nice classy lounge.  I bought the first round of drinks.  Almost $100 for 7 people. (includes tax and tip).  $100 was all I had.  Thank God, I am an recovering alcoholic and bought just a soda.  It was all I could afford.  At least it was in a classy place.

I noticed that the price of beer was $6 (before tip).  And to think I was agonizing 2 weeks ago for raising our beer price at the hotel from $1.80 to $2.25. Would our guests feel I was gouging?  It is such a price difference from drinking on the steps of the corner store where the locals and budget-minded expats drink and enjoy beer for just over $1.  I had to remind myself that a clean glass with ice served by a sexy latino bartender, does not come cheap.  (Maybe we could charge more if I had him take his shirt off?)

Then the taxi ride home ($8 - no tip. who could afford it?), I had to stop off at bank machine to get money, only to have my card refused.  (They assured me it was international. I should have known better).  So I had to wake up my house hosts to borrow money to pay the cab driver. 

Now, that is not classy.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I just had these 2 girls from New York stay at the hotel that just raved about my blog and were really sad I have not been posting.  It is so weird to feel like you actually have fans.  I did not know what to say except that I promised them I would get busy and publish something.  So here I am...

I guess the main reason I have not published a piece in so long is that I have been basically working from dawn to well past dusk.  I had no idea that a small hotel was this much work.  We have a complete compliment of staff (13 in total) , yet it still seems to demand almost all the waking hours I have for a day.

In hindsight there are a few key things that I underestimated in taking on this project. 

1) Not knowing how much work it was.  I really thought we would lie in a hammock with a cordless phone and tell people the key was in their room, help themselves to drinks and pay us on the way out.  Hell, we have even had clients cook us breakfast.

2) I did not realize it would be such a challenge to find qualified staff.  It appears that tasks like replying to email is a specialized qualification.  It did not dawn on me that people would not even know how to use a North American style washer, let alone a computer.  It just shows how out of touch I am with reality outside of North America even though I espouse to be worldly.  I mean why would people know how to respond to email.  Apart for working for people like us what really is the need and Tico style washers work just fine.

3) I had know idea that we would be this successful this fast.  We have absolutely no experience in running a hotel apart from staying in a few budget style places in my lifetime.  Many local expats thought we were crazy and were supposed to budget for 1/3 occupancy rate.  We are currently running at about 80% for the past 6 months (last 3 months, almost 100%).

4) Having worked in almost isolation and virtual enviroment, I forgot what it was like to deal face to face with general public.  We are fortuneate that given our location and my blatant website, we screen out the average traveller and 95% of our clientel are great.  But, that one person that is hard to please can really take it's toll on you despite efforts to not let it get to you.

5) I got totally carried away.  Our idea was this was supposed to be a Key West style guest house.  May be 8 rooms with a cozy atmosphere.  Well, I started to run the economics, we realized that we needed more rooms to make the numbers work.  Also, I have stayed in such ugly cramped rooms in many places in Costa Rica, I wanted ours to be spacious and look like someone had paid attention to decorating them.  So, our building cost on the project almost doubled.

6) How little profit there was.  Despite our success, I am surprised that there is little money left over at the end of the month.  Because of both of our neurosis to make everything look nice, we keep spending money on fixing up the hotel with no end of projects in site.

Regrets? None!  I am still happy to say given a choice of doing anything I want and living anywhere I want, I can't think of anywhere I would rather be.  I can not remember feeling like that for most of my life.  Life always seemed greener somewhere else.

Yes, I am Alive...

I have been getting complaints about not updating my blog, so here are a few pics and a video to share about what's going on down here.

Watch this video and see if Puerto Viejo is for you.

Fall is coming and waves are getting rough.

 

How I wish my life was this simple...

Taking in the local colours...

We are just heading into a real busy season.  I hope to find some time to write soon.  Hugs to all.

What Do I Miss Living Down Here?

You know, I get asked that question often.  It is hard for me to answer the longer I am not living in North America. 

There are always friends and family.  Those I will always miss, and I get never want that to change.  Then there are conveniences and stores you don't have access to.  I miss that somewhat.  In someways, it just makes life less complicated, because you juts learn to do without.

But what I really miss is I feel is my Canadian sense of identity.  I did not really know I had one, until I was put in a culture of many Americans and had access to only CNN news.  Their concept on the world and what is considered worthy news is beyond comprehension. 

I finally decided to splurge another $11/month and buy the upgrade to BBC on the SatTV.  I guess if you want anything that might remotely come close to objective, truthful and have some semblance of intelligence, you have to pay.  The rest... "Let them eat shit..." I think it was once quoted.

But what I really miss is CBC News.  It is cornerstone of Canada.  I was so exited to find I can watch old programs and seeing that they were so different then US television, that is this kind of journalism was happening in the US, it would have been deemed treason.

One of my favourite shows, was Canada's version of 60 Minutes, Called 5th Estate.  Watch the YouTube episode below and try and imagine this program episode being aired on a major US network.  Then you will see why the US Republicans hated the Canadian Liberal Government and have pulled out all stops to bring the US Style Conservatives to majority power.

I Love a Parade!

No, it was not Gay pride or Santa Claus Parade. Local Costa Ricans take their Indepence Day Celebrations seriously.

No Parade is complete without a band...

Months of Practice, Roberto prepares the kids for the event.