San Jose has more umbrellas than Seattle or Portland! When it rains the umbrella vendors come out in force! There is one on every street corner selling both full and foldup types. $12 for the best to $6 for the compact (foldup) ones. I did get caught at the National Theater during a downpour and bought a second one. I had to inspect three to get one not defective. (They come from mainland China!)

This is the San Jose downtown police
motorcycle force. Because cigarettes
are hard to light when wet, the cops don´t ride when it is raining.

Plenty of wood means plenty of termites. They nest in the trees because of the high water table. Once abandoned the wasps take over. If the nest is put on the fire, the smoke and aroma drives the mosquitos away. An excellent survival tip. My experience is that the mosquitos problem is light.

Name: Nonis. Boil in water

and cool and drink. Good for a bad stomache. (I think the vomiting might be the remedy?) I did not try this one. Smelled like dung.

The green one is not ripe. At least one every square foot on the beach under the tree. I called them beach grapes. The taste is grape. We filled a bucket in about ten minutes and ate on them all morning. Name: Igual.

The interior nut is about the ratio of an olive´s. Very tasty, like a tangerine. Name: jobo. Everywhere.

These jungle nuts are plentiful. After spending twenty minutes trying to cut, saw and pry I resorted to the original too, a rock, and smashed my way in!! The meat is about that of a small peanut. Hardly worth the effort, unless you can get your date to do it for you. Name: almendra.

Have my mail forwarded to Spenser´s by the Sea in Chauita!

$15 per day for two.