Mathematically Challenged Me

Even though the Costa Rica trip is weeks away, I have my suitcase out on the floor of my bedroom with bunch of things piled around it. It’s not all going to fit. What will I do?

packing

I have a bigger suitcase that I could take, but that’ll make it harder to zip around the country, so I’d rather not do that. But I really do need things like:

  • Yellow rubber dry bag
  • Hawaiian sarong
  • Binoculars
  • Illuminated jewelers’ loupe
  • Electric water boiler
  • Notebook
  • Umbrella
  • Wireless keyboard
  • A couple pints of bug spray
  • Seven shirts
  • Four pairs of pants
  • Two bathing suits
  • You get the idea

I’m worried about a few things: getting up into the treehouse by ropes, rafting on the Rio Pacuare and staying in the boat, and rappelling down waterfalls, dragging my suitcase back and forth across the country.

This is what the travel agency says about the canyoneering:

This Arenal, Costa Rica canyoning adventure tour will take you where very few have had the privilege to roam: The Lost Canyon! Grab your helmet, strap on a harness and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime! Canyoning is a very popular activity in La Fortuna because the rugged, mountainous terrain near the Arenal Volcano. The perfect place for first-timers and experienced canyoning enthusiasts. Trek deep into the rainforest and rappel some of the most-impressive tropical waterfalls in Costa Rica in the Lost Canyon.

Today I went to Wells Fargo and got 330 dollars’ worth of colones. For your information, the grand total of colones is 165,000. It’s always hard to figure out the money when you’re in another country, especially if you have a bad math brain as I do. The teller told me that the exchange rate is 0.0020025633. What the hell is that supposed to mean? To put it another way, $1 is 550 colones. A thousand colones is $1.82.

money

On an unrelated note, I got my first social security payment a couple weeks ago. Now when people ask what I do, I can say I’m retired. But I can’t be retired because I need more than $720 per month. That hardly covers the basics like champagne.

In other news, I have absolutely no news. My life is very dull. Minutes creep by like hours. In an hour or so, I’m going to visit Anna and Frank, at whose house I will drink Frank-made margaritas and play board games.  On Thursday I’m going to visit TJ and Richard. Tomorrow I have my teeth cleaned. At 8:30 Thursday morning I have a Kaiser appointment.

Oh, I did have a wonderful visit with each of my girls: first with Molly last Saturday. We got our toenails a matching shade of opalescent royal blue, and we talked about our trip. On Sunday afternoon, I got all four of the Redwine-Papanikolas clan, for fun and chaos.

 

4 comments

  1. your life sounds good to me ginna. if you had to try on mine you would know.
    i don’t have my teeth cleaned. i don’t visit other houses to play games. no one makes me margaritas. i visit no one. i don’t even do kaiser appointments anymore. and i certainly don’t go to foreign places. and i’m not even retired or could be retired. what is the minimum retirement they give you? perhaps i would qualify for $2 a month.
    see? it could be worse.
    what kind of board games do you play?

  2. Hi, Marianna! I’m glad my life sounds good to you. It sure doesn’t seem great to me. I mean, I’m very lucky in a lot of ways, but I’m just not doing anything important or even interesting with it. Except for this trip to Costa Rica, of course, which DOES intrigue me. It’s the exception.

    Why don’t you do Kaiser appointments any more?

    Board games: backgammon, Sorry, Balderdash, parcheesi. And other non-board games: yahtzee and a fun dominoes-type game called Mexican Train. It’s hard finding games that are good for only two or three people.

    Love,
    Ginna of the Clean Teeth

  3. you must be joking, right? there are tons of games for 2 and 3 players, good ones, great ones, fantastic ones!. go to costa rica and then come back and let me show you. life will never be the same.
    i’m just sorting out our garage and then our house. perhaps i’ll be finished by the time you get back. and there will be a room for you to stay that is not the couch living room.
    we’ll play until we drop 😉

  4. Marianna: Okay, when I return from Costa Rica we will convene to talk about games. I welcome your advice. I really have had a hard time finding good games for 2-3 people. “Life will never be the same”: That sounds good!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *