Did you miss me? :-)

[merimask]

In the immortal words of Sam Gamgee, "Well, I'm back."

Costa Rica was an incredibly beautiful, frightening, exotic, remote, wild place.  I have much more to say and pretty pictures to share, (the ocean was absolutely insane!  The surf was HUGE and the snorkeling was amazing!!!) but for now I just wanted to let my F-list know I survived the ordeal with only a little sunburn and LOTS of bug bites (I'm apparently yummy to Costa Rican bugs).

Also, no horrific flaming plane crash so yay me.  :-)

Umm...  I've been completely (Utterly!  Totally!  No cel phones, no internet, no nothin'!  We were lucky to have electricity...I'm totally serious)  out of touch, so if anything really earth shattering and/or important (or just plain funny) happened to any of you, plop a response with a link to the pertinent entry in here so I can go see.  I'd hate to miss anything, but I'm lazy and you are all such busy folks!  So spam away!  Tell me what's new and exciting.

Here's a quick reflection for your edification:  wandering Mariachi bands in Costa Rica are vicious mercinaries.  The restaurants act in collusion.  They seat Americanos in obvious, visible positions that are easily viewed from the road.  The Bands wander about, on foot in the jungle heat, looking for prey.  When they spot a group of touristos they pounce with instruments blazing.  They ask if you'd like something romantic or happy (DON'T ANSWER AT THIS JUNCTURE!  IT IS LIKE OPENING THE WINDOW FOR THE VAMPIRES!!).  Once they pin you down, they start playing.  Loudly.  And they'll just keep on playing louder and louder until you pay them to go away.  You must pay them enough (whatever arbitrary amount that is.  Depends on the size and arrogance of the band) or they'll just hang around...playing.  They don't care if you are eating or crying or waving frantically to stop...they just keep playing.  If you are stubborn, they get annoying with the marraccas and the loud  "EPA EPA!!  WAAAHAAA!" and freaky Central American toungue trills that make your hair stand on end.  It's exactly like a musical shake down.

Best thing to do is look 'em right in the eye (look for the leader...dude with the guitar usually) and say firmly "No mas, por favor!" and usually they'll go away quietly. 

*smooch*  Missed you guys! 

Comments

[zipis1.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha! Evil mariachi bands. Obviously this info is an important survival technique ;P

And yes! I missed you! I don't know what to do with myself when all my friends aren't around ;_; *huggley smoochy liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick*

[merimask.livejournal.com]

There should be some kind of Mariachi survival course you could take, before going to Costa Rica. Just so you could, you know...prepare. For the marraccas. And stuff. ;-)

*smooch* I missed you TOO! *wipes face*

[moonphased.livejournal.com]

EeEe! Photos, right??? Photos?? You have photos and stories and goodies that you got that you're gonna tell us about right? :D :D :D

*clings*

XDD And now I don't think I'll ever listen to mariachi music in the same light again. It'll be like, "Aahh! EVIL!" XD

[merimask.livejournal.com]

SO many photos! So many many photos. Of sunsets and waves and monkeys and family and the REALLY FREAKING AWESOME MANSION WE STAYED IN!!! And me in a bathing suit (but I think I'll spare you the horror).

Yeah, mariachi bands SEEM so innocuous...like all they want to do is play happy music for you while you sip your margarita...but the truth is much more sinister!

[empath-eia.livejournal.com]

You're ba~ack! Colour me overjoyed! *tackles* I missed your vibrant posts on my flist. So glad to have you back.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Whee! I was in the JUNGLE! Things tried to EAT me there (you know...bugs. Jungle bugs.), but I knew I had to live another day to get back here and share my stories...so I survived. :-) It's good to be back.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

Nothing interesting has happened to ME lately. But Shveta is gone to Clarion for...what, six weeks?...as of this morning/last night. So you might wanna pop back to her last entry if you want updated on that, anyway...just in case you wanna know. :) I think the most interesting thing I've done since you left is that I finished my garden and I made 7 new sticks...but that might have been just before you went. :)

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I saw! Shveta is gone for a bit, I'll miss her.

Seven new sticks is a lot! I'll have to go see all the pretty. :-)

[pzb.livejournal.com]

*huggles* Glad you made it back safe and sound, though perhaps a little deaf from the ... pardon the pun ... sounds of it.

Lucky to have electricity, huh? Doesn't sound like my kind of place...I thought I had broken my computer addition....until I got my laptop. Oh man, I'm so screwed now. XD

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I'm safely back, in spite of scary storms in Atlanta that freaked me out (cloud to ground lightning ALL over the place...very worrisome). *bad in planes*

Yeah, Costa Rica is what is known in polite terms as a "developing country". If you want to be blunt about it you say "third world". If you want to be even more blunt you say "backwards"...but that's a bit harsh. It's freaking lovely though...just not as comfortable as we soft Americanos are used to. :-)

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

LMAO

Roaming Mariachi Bands. The new threat to mankind. And you can't run away from them either since you're surrounded by bug-infested jungle. Oh they're clever.

We were lucky to have electricity...I'm totally serious) out of touch, so if anything really earth shattering and/or important (or just plain funny) happened to any of you, plop a response with a link to the pertinent entry in here so I can go see.

Earth shattering eh? Well I was almost abducted and/or raped. Don't know if that's every earth shattering but it sure as hell unsettled me. Go here if ya wanna see my escape from d00m. Other than that, it's been a very quiet week.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Nearly being abducted and/or raped certainly qualifies as earth-shattering in MY book (or at the very least, terribly upsetting). :-(

I have to go look now...