Costa Rica was beginning to bug me ...

I was starving, as we like to say here in the US, when driving from the airport to the lodge.  But, I didn't want to stop anywhere.  I wanted to reach the lodge, throw the stuff in the room, and then get something to eat.

"Where can I get a simple rice and beans?" I asked Andreas after I had collected the keys.  And I walked up to the place he suggested.

The food was lovely. In the presentation and in the taste.  The trip was getting better with every passing minute.

Rice with vegetables, a salad, and fries

Later in the evening, I got into the shower.  The lukewarm water coming down like rain felt soothing.

The corner of my eye signaled to the brain that there was something crawling along the edge of the tiny shower stall.

I turned around, making sure i didn't bump into the wall.  I hadn't been in such a tiny shower area since my experience in Milan, fifteen years ago.  This, I should admit, was bigger than that Milanese bathroom.

The bug was struggling to get a grip against the wet floor and sides.  And with more water falling, the bug had quite a challenge.

My first inclination was to run out of the stall.  It didn't take long for that to subside.

The second thought was to kill the bug.  "I am in a tropical rainforest area, and I should expect bugs here" I convinced myself.  Thus, I continued to shower while not taking my eyes off the bug.

After I was done, and after toweling myself, I grabbed my glasses and peeked into the shower stall.  I wanted to make sure my myopic eyes were not imagining things.  There it was--some kind of a beetle.

A beetle, different from the one in the shower, here on the potted plant in the balcony, right outside my window--you can see the window colors and the drapes in the background

The morning came, and after breakfast I was off to the volcanoes.  On returning, I rushed into the bathroom.  A long line of small ants is what I saw first, and then I saw a dead roach by the side of the pot. "I hate the damn bugs in the tropics" I cursed at nobody. And shook my leg when I imagined ants crawling up on them.

But, a man has to do what a man has to do especially when he has to go.  Even one who might have fought and subdued a ferocious lion with his bare hands would not have felt as victorious as I did after successfully peeing despite the immediate presence of a dead roach and live ants.

Lunch was spectacular, though I felt violated that "my table" was occupied and that I had to sit at a different place.

The outdoor dining area of my lunch place--this is the side that is away from the road, and not my favorite

At the lodge, I saw Connie chatting with a couple who had checked into the adjacent room.  "I have neighbors, I see."

"Yes, I didn't want you to feel lonely." A sharp, witty woman she was.

As Connie started walking back to the front desk, I told her about the dead roach.

"Oh, I am sure the ants have taken care of it by now" Connie said as she walked into the bathroom.

No roach.  Connie probably thought to herself that I am one big wuss.  If she did, well, she is on the mark.

It was time to shower.  This time, I wore my glasses into the bathroom.  I checked the shower area.  All clear.  I sat on the pot for some serious business.  Across the bathroom, under the sink area was the dead roach.  I suppose the ants had moved it there for safekeeping!  Smart ants!  And a stupid human me!

I showered with my glasses on.  Life was easier that way.

The inside of the room at Orosi, with the entrance door to the right of the switch panel.  No, that is not a real, live, one; thankfully!