Monday, January 17, 2011

Chapter 7 - THE SAGA OF THE SECOND CHAIR

I didn’t share in the trip for the first chair..  Melaney and Rita made the trip.  They missed the turnoff for the small center that they were headed and almost went to Limon which is on the Carrribean coast.  The town that they were looking for was Cervantes.  That was fairly close to Cartago where Victor works.  They stopped there and had a tour of the big plant which turns out 17,000 pounds of cheese a day. They were making mozzarella while she was touring. They also make yogurt for Yoplait, and ice cream. There was a special store outlet where Victor gets a good discount, so Melaney brought a bag full home, cheeses, meat, sour cream, all the good stuff. Then they picked up the recliner.  By the time they got home, they had been gone about six hours.
            Little would we guess that the excursion for the second chair would end up being another six hours.  It should have been three.  We took a wrong turn in San Jose and were completely off course.  We had seen the Ashley Furniture outlet from the highway when we returned from Jaco (another story). We knew it was to be on the right side of the highway.  It’s a very large stark white building.  It shouldn’t be difficult to see. We completed a couple of circuits, and I was ready to chuck it all and try another day.  Then suddenly (and without warning) we popped up on the correct highway, travelled a little further, and found the store.  The day wouldn’t be a loss after all.
            There was a large selection of American furniture.  We found the recliner section and started the choice process. A young fellow came to talk with us, and Halleluyah, he could speak English.  I knew there were places that there were folks who could understand us.  The choice finally came to two chairs, and I opted for the one because the fabric seemed a little tougher.  It is a sage green and will do well with the dark green chair that we have.
            I won’t go through the sales process, needless to say, we got a reduction of sorts which paid for the 13% tax plus a little.  In the long run, we opted for them to deliver it.  That will cost another $70. But we spent nearly that much in gas trying to find our way there and back, and the warehouse where they wanted us to pick up the chair was another town that we didn’t know, and would mean another lost episode.
            On the way home, we tried to save some miles.  Melaney knew the Airport was in Belen out of San Jose, so we took the turnoff for that town.  We saw Airport facilities but in trying to find the correct highway, we must have overshot somehow.  We got into Alajuela, found a directive to Mount Poas and travelled on.  We were actually on a strange road to the Volcano, and ended up at the waterfall park, nearly at the park site. I convinced Melaney to turn around, that we wouldn’t find Poas that way.  Well, with jigs and jags, we came down the mountain, and instead of ending in San Pedro de Poas, we were back in Alajuela.  We had come in a side that Melaney wasn’t familiar with. We drove around and aimed for a more central location where she could see some landmarks that she recognized.  Voila!!! She spotted the Pizza Hut on one corner and the cemetery on the other corner and oriented herself. Soon we were in familiar territory, and arrived home shortly after three.  That was another six hours.  I said I was glad I insisted on topping the gas tank before we left.

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