After a couple of days relaxing to acclimatize to the tropical rainy season and convalesce from jet lag I began my ‘training’ with Rubby (pronounced like the gemstone ‘ruby’) and Britta (the former managers) for managing at the Rancho. Here’s a list of most of the things that I needed to be informed of: things that need to be done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis; where things are at; who the 5 ‘Spanish speaking only’ delivery people are , how to get ready for them, and what to do once they get here; who the staff are, what they do & don’t do, and where they live; who in the village does what in case I need something done (taxi, electrical work, tree maintenance etc.); how some of the equipment here operates, how to get around in the Excel spreadsheets to enter the bookkeeping; where stuff is; where the compost gets emptied; how to ‘process’ guests and handle reservations; making the menus for dinner; how to get around in Golfito (a once a month trip to see the accountant, get the mail, and do some shopping … it’s a $4 - for one person - 3 hour one-way trip by bus or a $70 1.5 hour taxi ride); payroll for the staff; and stuff like that. Of course, there are details within each one of those items and variables and exceptions and improvisations … right? Yes. Rubby and Britta did a fabulously thorough job of relaying all that information in the short amount of time that they had before the left for Holland. Of the 7 days that we were together there were only 4 that were available for preparing me for ‘getting the key’ so to speak. I felt confident and ready to take over when it was time for them to leave.
I mentioned that there are 5 delivery people. These 5 are actually usually groups of 2 or 3 people of which one of them is in charge. Martha arrives in her truck on Mondays with an order of fruits and vegetables and Ricardo does the same on Tuesdays. Don Jesus delivers the meat on Tuesdays with his son and the beverage truck also makes its appearance (2 men pick up our order and get $ on Mondays – one of the guys has a gun and a bulletproof vest). Wednesday Geovanni comes by to pick up the order for our ‘dry goods’ which he delivers on Friday. And Martha makes a second visit on Fridays also. On Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday there are no deliveries but there are orders that have to be placed – except on Thursday.
To get ready for an order to be made you need to go over the existing inventory and decide what you think the Rancho needs based on how many guests you guess might be eating meals. Of course, you never really know for sure because besides the guests in residence and the reservations that you are aware of it is always possible that other guest may arrive unannounced via foot, rental car, taxi, or bus … at any point in any given day. The first time I had to make an order for fresh food I was quite overwhelmed. But, I got through it and the second time was much easier.
When the ‘fresh food’ people arrive at the gate you need to take a wheelbarrow to them so they can load it up. When I was here by myself the delivery men pushed the wheelbarrow for me … now that Otto is here he does it. Then the food gets taken to the kitchen where it gets put away in various places. Some of the ‘grocers’ get paid at the gate, some inside the restaurant, and some before the delivery. Some of them have a cup of coffee and a couple like a glass of water and others don’t take anything. Most of them are afraid of Ranger – the Rancho’s Rottweiler. Some of them ring the bell at the gate, a couple of them honk their horns, some do both, and a couple just walk in. And nobody ever shows up at the same time of day from week to week. But they do show up. For that I am very grateful!
One of the things that has taken a bit of time getting adjusted to … actually, I’m still adjusting to it because I dislike dealing with it … is how quickly food spoils in this salty humidity. Most of the fruits and vegetables are placed in a rack of stacked open plastic crates as there is not enough refrigeration available. That’s the reason there are deliveries more than once a week. Anyway, the food needs to be checked at least every other day to check for spoilage. There’s nothing quite like the smell of rotting produce in a hot kitchen … gasp gasp! Unless it’s stepping in fresh smelly giant toad poop first thing in the morning! Sometimes you get both!!!
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