Well this summer has been extremely busy with Costa Rica and our RV trip. I decided to write a journal down for everyday that we were gone. I would have blogged about it everyday except did you know that the internet is not always EVERYWHERE? Cell phone service is sketchy at best as well. Hello AT&T where are those orange curtains that you keep advertising are in 97% of the country. Anyways, I decided to take my journal & add it to my blog. Dates won’t match up but at least you get an idea of what we went through, experiences we had and all that good stuff. Stay tuned for the journey. When I get more time I will post what I can.
Nicaragua Border Crossing in Costa Rica
05
Aug
Ok, so in June we were back in Costa Rica and we attempted to go to Nicaragua. We were in a rental car so guess what? You can’t take a rental across the border. We had to go on foot. Once we actually were in the border area, as soon as we got out of the car we were bombarded by “border groupies” (that’s what I call them) that are overly helpful if you will give them a propina, spanish for tip. We did take the help of some because this was our first time crossing the border. But since I speak Spanish, I was more help to myself than they were. First step in crossing the border to go to Nicaragua from Costa Rica is to park the car and get in line for your passport stamp on the Costa Rican side. You must fill out a customs form before getting your passport stamped. It is all the regular questions…birthday, country of residence, blah blah blah….
Then, after you get your Costa Rican exit stamp you must proceed on foot about 1/4 mile to the Nicaraguan entry stamp line. Fill out another customs form (the same exact piece of paper) and wait in line to pay $7/person to enter Nicaragua. Once that is paid and you received your stamp you are now free to walk across the border. The Nicaraguan border officials like to throw their weight around and make you feel like you have done something wrong when crossing and they are a little crooked. (I will get to that later). Once actually crossing the border you must pay a $1/person entry tax into Nicaragua. We paid our tax and negotiated a taxi to take us into a town called Rivas to go shopping.
We only had the day to be in Nicaragua and we heard that everything is so much cheaper than in Costa Rica so shopping was a head of us. It was extremely hot and our taxi had no a/c. Plus we were squished in it like sardines. We finally got to our destination and proceeded shopping. Everything was half price. My dad purchased what he wanted and we decided to head back. Before shopping we did stop at a quaint little restaurant for lunch. It was quite delicious and it was extremely cheap.
We were headed back for the border this time. We exited the taxi and started to proceed into the border area. The Nicaraguan border crossing guard tried to not let us back across. He kept saying that we had to stay over there for 72 hours and that to let us back through he needed a propina. Oh please, this is where my Spanish came in handy and not so handy. I knew what he was asking and I knew the law. You do not have to stay out of Costa Rica for 72 hours unless you have extended your 90 day stay in Costa Rica. Then you must stay out of the country for 72 hours before returning. Anyways, I just pretended not to understand the word propina and eventually the border crossing guard got tired of wasting his time with us and he let us through.
Then it was fill out more customs forms for the Nicaraguan side. We waited in line again. Then we got our exit stamp for Nicaragua. Then we had to fill out the same exact form to enter Costa Rica, and stand in line again for our entrance stamp. If you have purchased any major items in Nicaragua you also have to declare them before reaching the Costa Rican side of the border. Finally back in Costa Rica. It felt like we were coming home. Also, for another propina, the “border groupies” will get you through the long lines faster if you want to fork over the dough. All in all it wasn’t a bad trip. It was a great experience, but I doubt I do it again. The Nicaraguan border is full of some very corrupt money feening idiots while the Ticos may be a little corrupt it wasn’t near as bad as the Nicas. If I ever go back to Nicaragua, I think I will fly.
One of my pet peeves…
03
Jun
I don’t know if anyone is interested in hearing my ranting but here it goes anyways. One of the biggest things that I hate is that people forward emails about politics, religion, global warming, big corporations, etc…. without checking out the facts. If people would just care to dig a little deeper to find out the truth before spreading rumors we wouldn’t all believe the dumb malarky that some of us forward on to every single one of our contacts.
Here is an email I received today, the subject line read “Another Slap in the Face”:
My Son achieved the Eagle Scout badge and it has served him well—–shame I can’t say OUR country is being served by “their ” elected office holder”.
——-Original Message——-
It is with tremendous sadness that I send this to my friends, unfortunately this information goes a long,long way to confirm the worst possible motives behind the man who fooled so many gullible people into voting for him. Please send this information along to the folks who need to see it for themselves.
The story you heard yesterday about President Obama refusing to sign Eagle Scout Awards is true.
He won’t sign life saving awards either.
Every President since 1912 has been the honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America …
President Obama refused that honor.
Did you hear anything about the Boy Scouts 100th Anniversary? Why did the press ignore it?
Let’s see, they promote honor, integrity, putting others first, love of country and of course they believe in God.
Not much press coverage on this story, the first president in 100 years to insult his finest citizens, Eagle Scouts.
John Beaurguard, CEO of the South Texas Council of the Boy Scouts of America joins us just after 7AM.
David Haynie has two sons who have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.
Dave Hiser’s son is working on his Eagle Scout award now.
This is the E-mail Linda Thacker, sent to Glenn Beck and I forwarded to Glenn’s producer Adam.
Dear Mr. Beck,
On March 24, 2009 I had the honor of attending my Grandson, David Osborne’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor. I imagine you have attended one of these wonderful ceremonies. I also feel confident that you are very knowlegable of what it means to have earned the status of Eagle Scout. Our entire family is so very excited and at the Court of Honor we were all just beaming as our wonderful young man was honored for his acheivements. After the Court was closed David’s leaders pulled him aside and explained to him that they regretted to have to explain to him, as sad as it is, that his certificate was different from others they had presented because his certificate did not have the signature of the President of the United States . They explained that Obama does not support the Boy Scouts of America and therefore does not sign the Eagle Certificates. To date I believe there may be as many as 10,000 of this countries finest young men who do not have the signature of the president of the country they have taken an oath to respect and serve on thier Eagle Certificate. To my knowledge Congress chartered BSA in 1916 part of which the President of the United States is the Honorary President of The Boy Scouts of America and President Obama is the first sitting president to personally refuse to sign these certicates. I believe if the country were to be educated on national televison of what the Boy Scouts of America stan ds for they would join those of us who already know, and would be as outraged as we are!
Also, your good friend Jim Lago was also in attendance at this Eagle Court of Honor. I had the privliege of speaking with him this morning on his radio talk show here in Corpus Christi and shared with him this same information. He was equally alarmed to say the least.
This information should ignite in every parent the urgency to instill the great values held by the Boy Scouts of America in their young men for the cause of maintinaing this great nation. We must stan d united. With appreciation, Linda thacker, grandmother to eleven of Americas finest future citizens, David, Erikka, Adam, Ryan, Hailey, Tygh, Mana, Gerritt, Maya, Ezra and Lynden Osborne.
So, that’s the story thus far, calls have been made, citizens are angry, especially the parents of Eagle Scouts.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if ex-president Bush announced, he would be willing to sign all Eagle Scout Certificates for as long as President Obama is in office?
We have a very small man in a very big office.
Ok, So I am not really a big fan of Obama, but after searching online in a minimal amount of time I found out that according to snopes.com that the whole thing is NOT true. All these stories fly out of everyone’s computers and it is just another silly thing to get upset about over Obama. Let’s get upset over real issues here people, I mean, seriously.
This isn’t the only email I have ever gotten either. I get them all the time.
DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!!
Do some digging and find out if it is even true before sending it on to someone else who may not know any better. And if you don’t want to do some digging…..don’t add me to your forward list – please – leave my name off. I may not like Obama or the big corporate entities that people like to bash, but I want to read the truth about them, not some heinous lies.
Been Out of Pocket for a while…
18
May
Well, I just got back from a 2 week trip to Costa Rica. The weather was awesome. I even got a little bit sunburned. Now it’s time to get back to business. I have been getting a lot of questions on Costa Rica. If you would facebook me or leave your email of preference in your comment I will be sure to email you back with answers to questions, suggestions or advice that I may have on Costa Rica.
On another note…we haven’t listed anything on Ebay in a while but we are back in action right now. Auctions will end Sunday. We have over 100 quality used DVD’s online as well as 2 worn only once bridesmaid dresses. Please give these a look by clicking on the links to the right.
As always, we have items listed on Ecrater. There should be more to come later this week. Hopefully we can give our Ecrater store more attention in the weeks coming. So much to do, so little time….
Costa Rica
28
Apr
I have been getting quite a few questions about Costa Rica lately so here are some suggestions of where I have been and what I have done or seen there:
Depending on the city you fly into you are quite close to quite a lot of different areas. San Jose is close to a lot of different National Parks, including the Poas Volcano, different coffee plantations, and of course downtown San Jose is something every tourist must experience. I would not venture downtown at night as a tourist. May – November is Costa Rica’s rainy season and it rains in most of the country at least every day. If you are looking for a little bit of a drier vacation I would head towards Guanacaste. It still rains but not as much and it’s normally light afternoon showers. The beaches in Guanacaste are spectacular. Hence the name Gold Coast.
If you are looking for a jungle/volcano adventure I would reccommend going to the Arenal Volcano or heading to Monteverde. Monteverde is quite a drive though but well worth the canopy tours and sky walks they have put in place for you to see the entire jungle. An overnight stay near the Arenal Volcano is a must so that you can see the dispensing from the cone. Daytime viewing is usually very cloudy and hard to see. Then you can relax the next day in some of the hot springs around the area or take a horseback adventure around the volcano.
Another must see in Costa Rica is the Rio Celeste. This is a pretty good hike into the jungle to see one of the world’s greatest phenomena that pictures just can’t do justice. 2 rivers come together that each have a different mineral and combine to turn the water an extremely beautiful blue color. This area is full of natural hot springs as well. I would suggest hiring a guide at the entrance if you go any later than noon. The Rio Celeste is supposed to be the only place in the world where 2 rivers meet and form this beautiful blue water.
Some National Parks and Jungles that are close to San Jose are Manuel Antonio. This park is amazingly beautiful and the jungle comes right onto the beach. Normally this park is normally abundant with monkeys and if you leave your bags laying on the beach unattended you might just see it swinging in the trees while you are swimming. Watch out for that.
Jaco is another area that is fairly close to San Jose and pretty popular. I have only travelled through Jaco and I have never been to the beach in this area. This is popular for surfing.
Sarchi is another town close to San Jose but not on the beach. This is a well known town for woodworking. They still make oxcarts and other wooden items in their traditional ways. Very interesting and great for a day excursion from San Jose.
Moving up to Guanacaste area:
Guaitil is a colonial type pottery village. They also make pottery in traditional manner and you can drive through and actually see the people of the village stomping clay to make vases or other items.
Tortuguero on the carribbean coast is supposed to be an amazing place to watch turtles nesting. They don’t nest until later in the year. I haven’t been yet, but I am planning on going next time I am in Costa Rica.
Pacific Coast:
Playa Conchal used to be this charming and secluded beach on the pacific, but now with all the tourists coming in, many all inclusive resorts have sprung up and many bars and restaurants are around. This beach is a must see. The sand on the beach is made entirely of sea shells and the water here is amazingly calm.
Playa Flamingo is a charming fishing village will many hotels and homes. This area has a very nice beach and many great places to eat. The waves here in Flamingo can get quite big and can roll you around a bit if you are trying to swim. It is also a little more family oriented.
Playa Tamarindo is a great place for beach and nightlife. This town used to be known for surfing and still is. Mostly college kids from all over come to Tamarindo to surf during the day and party all night at the bars in Tamarindo. This town is great but a little rough for a family vacation, especially if you have small kids.
Thats about all I can think of right now off the top of my head. Hope this helps.
I will never run a hotel…
20
Apr
This weekend my parents rented out some of their rooms at their lakehouse to some fishermen because there was a huge tournament. I came up to help my mom clean since my dad is absolutely no help. I didn’t want my mom to have to do all that work by herself. Well, late Sunday they all left and my mom and I spent the majority of the day cleaning up after them. What I found was very typical. Trash everywhere, towels everywhere, grass and dirt tracked all over the rooms. Dishes needed to be washed. I guess what do you expect from a bunch of men? But some of what we found was just so disrespectful. Why can’t people just pick up after themselves? One particular person even left bloody fish water in the drawer of the refrigerator. That was gross. But it didn’t top what I found as I kept on cleaning. See, my mom only washes towels everyday for them. She doesn’t make beds or clean the room everyday. She just replenishes towels and when they leave the rooms are returned to their cleanliness that only my mom seems to be able to do (or so she thinks).
Anyways, I was cleaning along at a pretty good pace and I get to one particular room. The smell coming from this room was awful. I can’t even describe it. It really made you sick to walk in the room. I don’t know how this person was standing to be in this room. I was trying to figure out what this was and when I pulled the bedcovers back I realized that this person had had an accident in the bed…no it was not urine or blood. Those I could handle. It was diarrhea. Dried diarrhea to be exact and I guess he didn’t make it to the bathroom and he didn’t quite make it to the toilet, but at least he tried because the lid was down and he finished right on top of the toilet. Disgusting. But yet of course I cleaned this all up so that my mom would not have to suffer through this gut wrenching smell that permeated the entire room. At least the guy could have told us he had an accident and we could have made sure it was cleaned up before it soaked all into everything. I doubt the sheets, blanket, and comforter will ever be the same. To make it all worse, I think this guy slept in his bed the whole weekend with this smell, but I just don’t see how. Anyways, it is all clean now. I just had to express my distaste.
Poor guy, I know it was probaby an accident and he was probably really sick but he could have at least cleaned it up himself or told us about the mess sooner. Cleaning these rooms every year for my mom makes me have so much more respect for people in service industries. I will never leave a place trashed like some of the fisherman here have done to us. I have more respect for people coming in after me than that. I hope you all do too. My husband and I used to think that one day we would move to Costa Rica and open up a boutique hotel or B&B but one thing I do know now after cleaning up after all these people is that I will NEVER run a hotel.
Trying out Ecrater for the first time
04
Apr
Well with all the turmoil going on at Ebay, I have decided to give Ecrater a test run. Hopefully this venue will do alot for our online business. I have only had a few items up for an hour or so and already have had 5 or 6 hits. This sounds promising. We shall see if we gain any sales. The only glitch I have seen so far on Ecrater is how slow it is when you upload photos for a listing. I can’t complain since I can upload 10 pics for free. Plus the online store is free as well. We do have some interesting and unusual items on Ecrater right now. Here are a few pics. Check them out and check out our store and of course you can always check out our website.
Ebay vs Ecrater or other selling venues….
03
Apr
Okay, I am a relatively new seller to Ebay. I just gained my powerseller status in March! Yeah! But now with all the changes going on with Ebay as of April 1st I am afraid to sell anything else on Ebay right now. They are having some major glitches. Items aren’t showing up in searches at all. Categories went from having 1 or 2 thousand items to 16 and 17 thousand items in search results. I am reading that it is really hard to get your item visible to the right buyers. I am sure that most of these glitches will be worked out but all in due time. I also received my first negative feedback last week. I had a buyer that was upset that I sold her a new and unused item that did not work. I had no way of knowing that it didn’t work because I never opened the item. This buyer wanted me to refund all the money she had spent (purchase price + shipping and handling) and didn’t want to return the item to me. She demanded a prepaid postage sticker to be sent to her to return the item or else she would file a dispute with her bank. It is Ebay’s policy that the buyer return an item. I even offered to pay for shipping and handling if she would return the item and let me inspect it. If it proved to be defective I would have returned everything to her.
Anyways, to make a long story short. She didn’t wait for my response and filed a dispute with paypal and gave me negative feedback anyways. I apologized for any inconvenience that she may have had and offered her the purchase price as a refund without returning the item since the return shipping charges were more than the actual item itself and she has yet to respond. I guess that is not good enough for her either. I will just have to go through the claims process with Paypal.
I posted on an Ebay discussion board about the matter at hand and a lot of responses I got were that I should have made her return the item because there are alot of people who try to “shop for free on Ebay”. Meaning they buy something and then turn around and claim that it was defective or broken and try to get the seller to refund the money without a return or return a completely different item to the seller all together. I am always skeptical but this kind of response made me even more skeptical. The only thing you can do is file a fraud complaint with the police department and open the returned package in front of a police officer while taking pictures. Then all this has to be sent to paypal for them to release the funds that were placed on hold during the dispute process. There are lots of hoops to jump through. Anyways, this dispute isn’t over yet. I hope that I am not being scammed but we will see….
On a different note, since all of the fee changes at Ebay and the horror stories I have been reading about (mine included), I have decided to move the bulk of my sales items over to Ecrater. This is a 100% free online marketplace and hopefully will be a good environment for my business to grow as well. Of course Ecrater doesn’t have as many users or items listed as Ebay but it seems like their website is growing stronger and stronger everyday. I do also hear of some people using “the ranch” to sell items but I can’t seem to locate the website they are talking about. If anyone knows please comment so that I can check that out as well.
Right now I have chosen to only sell small ticket items such as DVD’s on Ebay and put more valuable stuff on Ecrater. There really isn’t much weighing the options here. Ecrater may not have as many users or as many listings but you can’t write off that its absolutely free and this is something that online sellers are pining for.
Estate Sale Madness
22
Mar
This weekend my husband and I went gallavanting all over our area to find great buys for things to sell on our website and also on Ebay. We found some really great treasures that we cannot wait to match up with someone who is going to love the item. We actually happened upon some really great sales. One imparticular was so full that we stayed there for almost 2 hours trying to make up our minds on what we wanted. We found a Pachisi and Tiddlywinks game from the 70′s that have never been opened. As well as a Ladies Almanac from 1918, along with some other great treasures. I can’t wait til we get these up on Ebay.
Healthcare…
22
Mar
Like many of you, I was waiting last night to hear what was going to happen with the health care reform bill. I honestly think that there are some good policies and procedures that will change in this bill. I have been trying to find out where you can read the whole thing but I haven’t been able to find it online. The only thing I can find is an article that someone wrote on what is going to be in the bill. This article is all over Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal, all the major news websites, but not the actual bill itself. What happened to transparency Mr Obama?
In an article I read on yahoo last night a lot of things would be better for a lot of Americans. What I have a problem with is that everyone that makes over $200,000 is footing the bill on this bill. What happened to people working to pay for what they need? Now people don’t work and the hundreds of thousands that do work end up paying for the ones that won’t get up off their keisters. Not to mention that now I don’t have the ability to choose whether or not I even want insurance. If I do not want to enroll in the mandatory insurance I will be penalized upwards of $600. Where is our freedom of choice Mr Obama?
Why do I, the hardworking, self employed American have to pay for others that won’t do for themselves? At the rate this country is going with inflation, I am sure that $200,000 will one day be minimum wage and that we will all be paying for other’s healthcare in some form or another. The lower cost healthcare for all Americans is a really innovative idea but I don’t think that someone else should have to pay for something that I am going to reap the benefits.
You probably think I already have insurance right? Wrong. I do not have insurance. But I still want the choice of whether or not to carry it for myself and I don’t want to be penalized for that decision. I do not think the government should step in and tell me that I have to have it or risk paying a fee. Just my thoughts….