Better A Thousand Times Careful Than Once Dead!
Our Hotel's Covid Security Plan
By April 2020, the Costa Rican border closure was extended another month, non-essential businesses and beaches had closed, and more and more Costa Ricans were getting laid off or losing their jobs. Our area, which was heavily dependent on tourism, was hit especially hard.
Costa Rica does not have an unemployment insurance program, so the locals who lost their jobs had no income at all.
Mark said that sometimes in desperate times, people do desperate things. He began to wonder if that might happen.
We were living at our hotel, fully stocked with supplies. There were plenty of people in town who knew we were there alone.
I hadn’t thought about that. I was living my best pandemic life - sun, outdoors, stocked supplies, pool time – but now Mark made me nervous.
So, we made a security plan.
Step 1: Create a “neighborhood watch” group
The hotel was near the end of a dead-end road at the top of a mountain. We had Canadian neighbors who owned the property ‘above us’ at the very end of the dead-end road, and an American couple who lived in a house ‘below us’ before you got to our hotel driveway. The only other nearby neighbor was another hotel where the manager of the hotel was living and caretaking since they were also closed.
We all knew that with both hotels closed and with all of us quarantined on our properties, no one should be driving up toward our end of the dead-end road. If they were, they shouldn’t be there.
We created a WhatsApp group. If any of us saw or heard any unusual activity, we would send a message in the group. We knew we’d have to be the eyes and ears of our end of the road during this time.
Costa Rica is a safe country, and we had never had any security problems before. But calling the police wasn’t a viable option for us at the top of the mountain. Once we had called the police to report poachers who were hunting near the hotel, and it took them more than 30 minutes to arrive – not very comforting. We didn’t want to take any chances.
Step 2: Secure hotel entrances
Our hotel didn’t have a gate that we could close, so we parked our hotel truck in the driveway which blocked and prevented anyone from driving up our driveway to the hotel. Mark and I didn’t want to be startled by someone driving right up to our reception area, and there was no reason anyone should be there. Blocking the driveway meant anyone coming to the hotel would have to park in the street and walk in on foot – giving us time to see them and react as necessary.
In addition, we had security cameras located in various locations, so we’d be alerted if someone came by. One problem with cameras in the jungle, is many times the cameras were tripped by a curious raccoon or pizote (coati) walking around!
Step 3: Keep valuables with us at all times
Our hotel apartment had a door that locked, but Mark thought it would be relatively easy for someone to break in if we were somewhere else on the property.
The only valuables we had were our laptops, cell phones, wallets, keys to our cars and hotel storages, our U.S. passports, and Mark’s birding camera. 😉 We could easily fit all these things in our backpacks, so we put everything in and kept the backpacks with us at all times.
We didn’t go anywhere around the hotel without our backpacks! If we went to our yoga platform to practice yoga, the backpacks came with. If we were cooking dinner or sitting at the pool, the backpacks were within arm’s reach. If we were watching a movie on the lawn at night, backpacks at our feet. If Mark went hiking and I stayed around the hotel, I had both our backpacks.
Then Mark hatched the final and most drastic step of our plan.
Step 4: Have an escape plan
A what?! Escape plan? From the top of a mountain to where exactly? This made me nervous.
He explained that we were alone (duh!) in an open-air hotel, no doors, no weapons, and far from any police help. People might think that we had cash – we didn’t, we didn’t accept cash. People might know that we had food and liquor – we did, but it was locked up in the storages.
You think we really need an escape plan, I asked? Can’t we just run down the road? WhatsApp the neighbors? I let out a nervous laugh.
No, he said. We need a place to hide if someone comes and we think we’re in danger.
You’re kidding, I said.
Nope, seriously, Marlo. It’s for our own protection. We hopefully won’t need it, but if you don’t have an escape plan and PRACTICE it, you won’t be able to do it if the time comes.
Mark has had many plans during our marriage (buying this hotel was one of them!) but this…shit!
He’s never steered me wrong.
What will this involve, I thought?
There were 2 parts to our escape plan.
Escape plan #1: From the common area of the hotel
Mark said the best place to hide if we were in the common area when an unwanted visitor arrived was under a villa.
Under a villa? What?!
One of our villas had an open-air crawlspace where we stored building materials. This crawlspace wasn’t obvious, and anyone who didn’t know it was there would never notice it. It was the perfect hiding spot. It was also in range of our Wi-Fi network, so we could monitor our security cameras to see what was happening.
Except, it wasn’t easy to get to. You had to scramble down a steep incline (read: slide, crouch or crawl!) around lots of foliage and then climb underneath the villa. And being outdoors and secluded also meant it could have who-knows-what-kind-of-creatures living there! Bats and snakes, possibly.
Oh, and I had to have my backpack! Shit!
We practiced getting there. This wasn’t an easy task. As I slid down the incline scraping up my legs, I laughed/cried/swore during this practice run.
Next, we had to practice the most challenging hiding place!
Escape plan #2: From our apartment
Our apartment was located above the kitchen and had only one stairwell to our door for entry and exit. If someone came up at night, we would be trapped inside, but Mark had an idea.
When Mark told me about this hiding place, I really did cry. Of frustration and of sheer insanity of this whole situation!
He proposed that we climb out our window!
To where, I said?! We’re on the 2nd floor! And the windows were small horizontal sliders about 5 feet off the ground. I couldn’t even open the windows without standing on a chair! How was I going to climb out one of them?!
Our apartment was adjacent to the roof of our common area. His plan was to climb out the window - with backpacks of course – and then scramble around the steel beam that framed the roof to the side that wasn’t visible from below. Huh?!
Easier said than done!
First, I had to get TO the window. To do that, I had to step on our bed and step up on the headboard. Then open the sliding window, hoist my ass up and out of the 2 foot tall window. Huh?
Oh, and once I got out the window, there was a gap between the window and the adjacent roof where I was to go! Can you hear my expletives right now? Mark, I can’t do that! Mark, I can’t reach. Mark, I’m gonna fall! There’s NO F***** way!
If we made it to the roof, we’d crawl on hands and knees holding on to the beam around to the hidden side and sit and wait. (Apparently for the perp to leave!) If the coast was clear, then we’d reverse and make our way back in.
With my backpack! 20 feet off the ground! Possibly in my pajamas! This was unbelievable.
And yes, we practiced.
We tried with me going first and Mark pushing my ass out the window (haven’t we been here before?!), handing me the backpacks and then he climbed out. Then we tried with him going first, me handing him the backpacks and then him coaxing me out the window across the gap to the roof. We scrambled around the side to ‘wait’ and then reversed and returned to the apartment.
I couldn’t have been happier to have that over with!
Fortunately, we never had to put our security plan to the test.
But for the next few weeks while we remained locked down at our Costa Rican hotel, I was glad we were a thousand times careful and not once dead.
Please like this post or share! I still can’t believe we did this! What an Adventure!!
Do you have a smart, idea-generating husband? Would you actually practice your security plan? Do you think we are nuts? It’s ok, sometimes I do too!
Wow. Okay, so i would've never thought about security while living it up in luxury lol. Good on him for even thinking it but I see, execution was a completely different ballgame!! This was amusing 😁
Yowza!❤