Expat Life in Costa Rica: Ping-Pong Death Match

Photo: rjp

Part of Matadors Tales from a Frontier of Expat Life account series.

During a day, a landmark which best sums up hold up in Playas el Coco, Costa Rica, is probably a outrageous building a whole crane in a center of a half-finished apartment house complex. Up upon a razed hillside, a visible from roughly everywhere in town. Locals discuss it me it hasnt changed in over a year.

At night though, a towns emblem during least for a little expats has got to be a charmer outward of La Vida Loca bar. Larger than hold up distance as well as done of concrete, a statue looks similar to a cranky in in between a Hottentot Venus as well as a hulk toad.

La Vida Loca has a thatch as well as tin roof as well as no walls. Ive heard a place is where expats of a sure age go to meet internal girls of uncertain as well as perhaps unlawful age. You get there by walking along a dim stretch of beach.

This competence not hold up in court, though were starting for a ping-pong.

The 3 of us me, my boyfriend Dave, as well as his aged crony Jim, who lives here fool around ground where a travel dead-ends during a beach, near internal crackheads lounging underneath a palm tree. One disorder across a sand towards us; over his wasted bare torso he wears a shredded Day-Glo orange vest a kind Costa Rican freelance parking attendants wear. Ill watch your car, he croaks. We give him mock salutes to compare his quasi-official garb. Weve already taken everything out of a automobile so as not to lure even a most unfortunate thief.

Photo: Erin Van Rheenen

The beach looks opposite given they tore down all a ramshackle structures encroaching upon a nautical zone, which is 50 meters up from a tall tide mark. Building upon this publicly owned frame has regu! larly be en illegal, though usually in a past couple of years has a Costa Rica supervision done great upon a hazard to bulldoze any structures in a zone. Coco Beach looks better right away without all a aimless buildup; theres even partial of a running/biking trail along a beachs north end.

You listen to La Vida Loca prior to you see it1960s rock booms out in to a pleasant night. Rumor has it which a man tending club has been by most of a internal girls as well as is frequency sober. A unchanging points out to me what he says is a bartenders kid from a singular of a women working a bar. The child, ready to go usually in a diaper, bangs a hang upon a cement floor. We make a approach by hockey banners, hub caps, as well as fish tanks to a ping-pong list during a back.

Theres more fish now, says Jim, who changed here over a decade ago. He surveys a tank with full of color fish as well as a pre-Columbian-style statue of a grimacing male with a outrageous erect phallus. you recollect when which gar was in a little tank, didnt have enough room to turn around. Look during him now! The long, spare fish with a toothy grin has a tank all to himself.

And a on. The Jim Nabors gusto of round upon list belies a heavyweight turn as well as torque a players put in to a game.

Jim married a internal lady (she worked during a road house where he first landed, fortyish as well as wash out with US cash) as well as right away has dual daughters which hes putting by private school. About his wife, he says, It was in in between her as well as a head maid. They were both after me.

Unlike a bartender, Jim frequency drinks prior to 5 p.m. Hes chugged usually a singular or dual tonight, often to counteract a strong coffee he drank to prepare for a match.

Jim as well as Dave have been here before. When they lived as well as worked together upon a ranch in a Guanacaste highlands, a trip down to Coco for ping-pong was a highlight of their week. They take a diversion seriously. One year they even brought wood to ! repair a table, as well as they regularly bring their own paddles as well as balls.

Dave hasnt played for a while; Jim plays often as well as has never been beaten upon this, his home table. Jimbo a club owner once offering free drink for hold up to any a singular who could kick him. Jim kick a bartender, though a lifes supply of drink met an black genocide shortly after a first night.

Even a convene for offer is serious business. you go over to a fish tank several yards during a behind of Jim to get a closer look during a gar. Jim stops, paddle in a singular palm as well as round in a other, as well as looks over his shoulder during me.

I competence harm you during a behind of there, he tells me, his face serious, his body twitching with squirrelly energy.

And a on. The Jim Nabors gusto of round upon list belies a heavyweight turn as well as torque a players put in to a game.

The first dual games go to Jim.

The third goes to Dave. Im removing him up here, Dave tells me, drumming his temple. Its all mental. Dave reaches for his Pilsen as well as takes a prolonged lift prior to streamer during a behind of to a table.

Photo: David W. Smith

Old surfboards have been stuck pellmell in a rafters. Theres a foosball diversion over in a corner as well as a mannequin rocking a little FlashDance garb. Oldies though something great to eat fool around upon a receptive to advice system: Blinded by a Light. Hey There Little Red Riding Hood.

Someone comes over to watch. you sense which when a fish in a heavily populated tank arent looking too good, Jimbo feeds them to a gar.

Rallies dont final long. Serves have been not often returned. One return hits a edge of a list as well as shoots underneath a fish tank.

Someone else tells me, Jimbos doing flattering great here given all a alternative bars were ripped down. This is a usually beachfront club left.

Ove r closer to a bar, a flattering dark-haired lady sits in front of a laptop computer. Middle-aged group from a U.S. discuss up poetic internal girls a third their age. Skanky dudes hover around a periphery, ready to supply a substances which allows a group to keep upon celebration as well as still be able to remove their wallets from their during a behind of pockets to pay for an additional round.

Theres a singular North American lady sitting during a bar. Like me, shes forty-something, as well as similar to me, she looks out of place here where there have been really usually dual categories of clientele: comparison foreign group as well as younger internal women. The group have been here to live out sure kinds of fantasies which dont quite fly during a behind of home, most of which include underage girls.

Even working class stiffs from up north have been large fish down here where jobs have been scarce as well as it seems most women have 3 kids (and no husband) prior to theyre 20. A singular male with a little disposable income looks strong great to them. And a voluptuous young thing whose Northern equivalent wouldnt give these dudes a time of day looks strong great to a men, who often profess to be fed up with a feminists up north.

More than a singular man arriving in Costa Rica has dumped his age-appropriate swain to frolic unobstructed in a fields of nubility.

One Canadian expat told me which you could discuss it American society was being feminized by a sitcom characters. All a women have been efficient as well as intelligent, he said, as well as all a group have been doofs.

Back during a ping-pong table, a compare is starting fast as well as furious. When Jim loses a point, he recites his mantra: ping pong ping pong ping pong. He jumps up as well as down, rolling his neck similar to a fighter in in between rounds.

At this indicate you lose lane of a game. Im nursing my Coca Light, watching a play of first universe group as well as third universe girls. That you am neithe! r gives me an peculiar feeling of dislocation, especially when you see a girls eyeing my man. More than a singular man arriving in Costa Rica has dumped his age-appropriate swain to frolic unobstructed in a fields of nubility.

You usually live once, is a usual mantra down here, ironic since this is precisely where people come to live out second as well as third as well as even fourth lives.

Jim wins a match, thank god. If he hadnt he would have demanded a rematch, as well as Im more than ready to go. Before you leave you have my picture snapped with a petrify charmer out front. Later, when you look during a photo, you briefly see a aged lady as regulars contingency see her. Beautiful as well as benevolent, shes a fishtailed mother enchantress as well as a patron saint of starting over, night after night after night.