Monteverde

Hey, all. Long time, no blog. Life got a little slow. School is out for the summer. Sorry, don't mean to rub your noses in it. But it is HOT here, so we spend a majority of the day holed up in our house in front of fans (we have three beautiful oscilating fans). About 3:30ish we head to the swimming pool and by the time we get out, the sun is setting. Next day, repeat. But we recently had a change in our schedule, so I will blog about it.

We drove up into the "mountains" (in quotes because they just don't strike me as mountains, more like big hills) to visit a community called Monteverde. It is a community founded by United States Quakers from Alambama, if I remember correctly. They came here in 1951 dodging the Korean War draft. Costa Rica was appealing to them because this country abolished its army in the 40's. They started dairy farming and now they sell their products all over Costa Rica. Monteverde produces lots of cheeses that we are used to in the U.S. that other Costa Rican cheese makers do not produce. So if you want to find Cheddar or Parmesan in Costa Rica, it will be Monteverde brand.

For the first part of our 2 hour drive the roads were truly the best we've encountered in Costa Rica. Beautifully paved, no pot-holes. Gorgeous. But then you reach a point where the pavement ends and you drive 20 km up the mountain on a rocky, bumpy, dirt road, sometimes with nothing between you and a drop off. Sometimes there are nice little fenceposts with barbed wire

that probably wouldn't do much to slow you down if you lost control and plummetted over the edge. But because the road isn't paved, you really can't go very fast, so there wasn't much chance of losing control. And the view was so beautifully distracting! I'll include a photo or two, but they really don't do it justice.

For me, the best part of Monteverde was the climate. It is in a cloud forest, so there was mist or drizzle and breezes to strong winds almost the entire time we were there. It was cool and we wore jeans and sweaters and sweatshirts for the first time since we came to Costa Rica. I sometimes felt chilly and I LOVED it!

Monteverde has some pretty cool things to do, like zip lines or trams or suspension bridges over and through the cloud forest. Hiking trails where you can spot some cool wildlife. Coffee plantations to tour. But the kids did not want to do any of those things. In fact they wouldn't have anything to do with the zip lines and suspension bridges. But since the road to those particular attractions was very muddy and our car is not a 4-wheel drive, we let the kids have their way. Instead we visited the Serpentario and saw many cool snakes and lizards (in cages) and the Ranario, where we looked at cool frogs (in cages). Interestingly, we learned that the huge toad that we'd found on our back patio a month ago was called a Cane Toad. It secretes a milky poison from its skin when scared. This poison, however, is not fatal. It is a hallucinagen. According to a friend, dogs can become addicted to licking these toads. We also hiked in the beautiful Children's Eternal Forest.

The day after we returned some friends of Jana's who live in Orosi (I'm sure you all remember that Orosi is where we started off in language school when we first arrived) came to visit us for a night. They were our first house guests. It was so nice to have visitors! (hint, hint)

We have another trip up another mountain planned for this weekend, so more blogging may follow soon.

It is so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Christmas is in a week! It just doesn't feel like Christmas to me when the sun is beating down and it is 90+ degrees! But because the calendar says it is so, I will end by saying MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish we could be celebrating with you all. Oh well, next year.

-Laurie

Panamama mia that was stressful

We have officially passed the 1/3 mark of our trip. This also marked the time that we had to leave the country to renew our visa. Panama beat out Nicaragua as the destination of choice mostly because we heard good things about the spot we ended up heading to. Our itinerary was to leave at dawn on Saturday, drive the 7-8 hours to Panama cross over, drive to the harbor town, leave the car in a secure lot, ferry over to Bocas del Toro, Isla Colon stay three nights, return to Costa Rica and stay one night close to the border then make the long drive back returning home before it got dark so as not to have to drive at night. Nice plan; we wish it had worked out that well.

First of all, Although we bought the car weeks ago, we didn't receive the title. On Tuesday before the trip we asked the lawyer if it had arrived and after much searching we were told it hadn't but we could come back on Thursday. On Friday we went back and the lawyer was out of town until the evening, Friday was full of fun. This was the day we found out that we actually needed a gov't permt to drive our own car out of the country. Not in the plans. Friday was also the day that Sidne decided to come down with some sort of infection in her throat. Nothing like going to a new country (without a car to use), isolating yourselves on an island with a sick child especially not knowing what was wrong with her. This wasn't going to happen, so Laurie with lots of help from Isue, took Sid down to a private clinic to get her checked out. It cost about $20.00 to see her at 6:00 pm on a Friday night if you can believe that. They were back at home with antibiotics in hand within an hour. Meanwhile I had procured the title and asked what could be done about the permit we didn't have to drive across the border. The lawyer and folks at a hotel close (but not very close) to the border suggested trying to take it across without the permit and if we couldn't we would be able to find a spot where someone could look after it. As you can imagine, at this point I and probably everyone else was thinking: Damn! this trip is looking like a lot of fun.

Well, what's worrying gonna get you (besides a restless night and an upset stomach)? Isn't funny that three adults can toss and turn all night and still over"sleep"? We did. So instead of a 5:00 start we got a 6:45 start. Oh it gets much better. Ten minutes into the trip we are no longer miving becasue for some reason someone thought it would be a good idea to route a road race on the one and only true freeway in Costa Rica. Once we made it past the bottleneck, we had to dodge rummers for the next ten miles (16 km) or so and each runner seemed to have their own attendant vehicle driving beside them. We finally made it to the first cutoff toward the Caribbean coast and missed the exit. All this meant that we were just as unsure of how to get to the next main road as if we had not missed the exit; we were just further down the road. Three stops later asking for directions we were on the correct path. Being this the land of no streets having names makes it tough, but when to road signs point out upcoming turnoffs but not exactly where to turn, really frustrates the already stressed and weary. And believe me some of the turns we passed up really looked like dead ends rather than entrances to major connecting roads, which is why we passed them up (and maybe they really were dead ends; we will never know).

Once we finally got to where we knew exactly where we were, we found ourselves in the midst of another road race, this time it was bicycles that we had to share the road with for another 10-15 miles (16-24 km). Once past them we started our climb through the mountains that separate the two sides of the country. There were many curves, no passing lanes in our direction and to top it off lots and lots of rain. Not a very fun stretch to drive, but on the bright side the temperatures were quite pleasant (cool and cooler but I still haven't found cold here yet even though the natives keep telling me it is out there somewhere.)

Nearing the border, we found ourselves in the midst of banana country. Imagine Midwest corn or wheat fields. It was bananas as far as the eye could see; each tree having its own blue bag protecting the fruit. According to our map, the road was supposed to be undeveloped, but Chiquita or Dole must have put a little money in improving them. A little, not a lot, because there were stretches where the nice beautiful road would disappear into something out of a war zone. Imagine Beirut. Sometimes there would be a warning sign and sometimes not. And then we were at the border.

We found out within seconds that we were not going to be driving across. We were however conveniently introduced to a man who told us he could be our everything in the border crossing process. It turns out that indeed he was. He found us a lot to park our car, took us through the immigration line, (even cutting to expedite the process; time is money when dealing with tourists) walked with us across to Panama to more lines and finally put us in a taxi. I am sure he gets a kick back for each non-governmental contact along the way, nevertheless he was worth the $10 we gave him. His advice and guidance actually saved us at least $64 in the legal border scam that Panama runs. The taxi was expensive compared to finding a bus, but at this point these tired, stressed, frustrated gringos were willing to pay for the taxi rather than spend who knows how long looking and waiting for a crowded bus just to save some money. That might have broken us.

Ninety minutes and a water taxi later found us on Isla Colon in Bocas del Toros. We spent the next three nights in a strange third class tourist destination. Other than the surfer type with rich parents, I am not really sure who this place caters to. The town itself is a bit run down with not much to offer other than scuba/snorkeling tours.

The first full day was spent swimming off of the hotel dock. Leif was too scared to snorkel as he seemed to have trouble breathing out of his mouth and the mask covered his nose. There were a good number and variety of fish under the dock and my mon and I swam out a ways and got to see a little more (nothing much to write home about and barely enough to mention in a blog). The next day we hired a boat to take us snorkeling and dolphin watching. We saw a few dolphins which was fun but nothing like the mental image I had prior to getting on the boat. We snorkeled for an hour or so and Leif eventually got brave enough to ride piggyback on either me or my mom. Laurie dropped her watch in the water but I was able to dive in and wrestle it away from some vicious

We did eat some good food and rediscovered hard liquor althought even that took some working at. We had an interesting experience (actually more than one or two) with the restaurant in our hotel. The wait staff was very green to be polite. They were nice enough, they just had no idea how to work in a restaurant. The food was okay, not always what we ordered but who is perfect. We ate our complimentary breakfasts there (the kids shaaring most of theirs with those fish under the dock which explains why there were so many of them) and the first dinner but had to find other place for all our other meals. The end of the first full day we came back from checking out the town, passing up many happy hours because our hotel offered a two for one special. The only problem was that the lady working the bar didn't know how to make any drinks. More beer. We finally did get some tequila in us but I am not quite sure what they used for margarita mix.

It's not to say we didn't have fun, especially the kids, but in the backdrop of all the stress, real and imagined, the trip as a whole wasn't whaat we had hoped it would be.

The trip back across the border should have been easier but it wasn't. We were lacking some info which we had to retrieve and print out via internet at the local pharmacy down the street. Incredibly we were allowed to drop our bags off at the car, which was still there, without them ever being checked by anyone (probably because there isn't any drug smuggling going on in this part of the world.) Fortunately obtaining the needed info was not very difficult at all except having to pay three dollars for the two pages we printed out. Luckily all the info was in a group and not individually otherwise it would have been $15. The unfortunate part was that upon our return to immigration, there was a line. It was only six people deep and five of them were a family from Paraguay who needed the same paperwork done, but it took nearly an hour and they had to replace the lady who didn't know what she was doing before we made it through.

All in all it was not the nightmare others have lived to tell about but it was bad enough that Laurie does not want to walk across another border. For our next visa renewal, we bought tickets to fly into exotic Boston in February. Our friends the Martins thought that by sending us a boatload of chocolate for Halloween they would have done enough but now they have to host us as well. Talk about tough. Believe it or not the tickets to Boston were the cheapest we could find going anywhere. I can't understand why flying into Boston in February would be so inexpensive. The laws of supply and demand must not apply in this instance.

I would be amiss if I didn't mention the drive home from Panama. No races, we didn't get lost (at least not until we got back across the mountains and had to change roads), traffic was light, the weather was perfect and there were plenty of passing lanes through the mountains. Except for the twenty minutes of sheer terror (driving the curviest, hilliest [up/down] and car strewn road, through very thick wet fog, not knowing whether to slow down and get hit from behind, move over and hit someone else or to plow on through chancing missing a curve and falling off the mountainside, the entire time thinking we were going to die) it was a nice drive. Needless to say we made it home safely. We even had enough daylight to spare so that we could stop and enjoy a Price Smart (Costco) dog and ice cream. As a sidenote it should be mentioned that this particular route was suggested by our friend Karoy and when I recalled the drive to him, he let me know that it was the most dangerous stretch of road in the country with people dying on it all the time. I am not really sure to make of his suggesting we drive that way.

It didn't take us long to fall back into our Costa Rica groove. The kids were back in school the next day (Thursday) Leif for half of it anyway and neither of them had school on Friday. The Duck game was on t.v. and we had a pork rib dinner. The weather is in the high eighties and we have been regulars at the local pool. Yep life is good and it is good to be back "home".

As a side note this is the third time I have typed this out as the blog page kept saying it was saving it but it really wasn't, hence the reason for the delay.

Nothing important except one very important thing

A few quick updates, then some observations that make me smile.

We dropped Carolyn off at her hotel the other day as she has headed back to Portland. On the way into town we stopped off at a nice souvenir shop which has an iguana theme. In back of the store there is a nice (for us maybe not so much for the iguanas) enclosure containing some beautiful iguanas. They tell us that when they have babies they release them nearby to add to the ambience.

We leave tomorrow for Panama; our first trip outside the country to renew our visas. The trip is not the best of planned outings but we should get along fine. I hope. We haven't figured out exactly the route once we cross the border be it should be easy to figure out. I hope. We don't know where exactly we can store our car before we cross over to Isla Colon but we should be able to find a secure spot. I hope. We need to be out of country for 72 hours so when we cross back over into Costa Rica it will be too late in the afternoon to drive all the way back home so we will need to find a place to stay for the night. We haven't booked a place yet as we want to check out three possibilities. There should be room in one of them. I hope.

Tomorrow is Laurie's birthday. It will mark the third time she has been out of the country and missed spending her special day with friends and family. She is a bit bummed especially since hearing Jennie is throwing a little party and she won't be there. So if you want to make her feel better about being away from friends and family you could refuse to attend Jennie's party or I guess you could also send her an e-mail. We are going to be taking our computer with us so she can Skype; if you see us online drop her a little b-day greeting.

We have a new mascota. It showed up today. Who knows where it came from or how long it will be around but we love our little puff-ball.

We went to a singing contest/festival at the kids' school the other night and enjoyed some wonderful food and some not so wonderful singing. Actually there were a few acts that were very good and even those that didn't bring their buckets were still either charming or entertaining. Overall it was a very nice night.

We went to a farm of an ex-American living Puerto Rican. I met him at the local farmer's market and he invited us to his farm. When we showed up unannounced he was in the shower but the much younger lady who is always with him at the market invited us in. As we were waiting Laurie tried to break the ice by trying to convey that we were invited to show up any time we wanted and we would be welcomed. So she asked the lady "Is the man your father?" Of course he wasn't he; she informed us he was her husband. Luckily Laurie didn't ask as she was about to "Is the old man your father?" In her defense he is about twenty or more years older than her. Anyways, he showed us around. We got to see four very new calves including one that was born the night before. He also took us/me around to show how his pineapples grow. Very educational. Along our walk he opened up quite a bit about his family and how disapointed he is in his son who moved to the US to go to school, couldn't find work so went to law school but after passing the bar decided he like that line of work so isn't really doing much now. He couldn't believe why his son wouldn't want to come back to run the farm. He was probably even more upset seeing how he kept complaining about how his "peons" (his word not mine) are not working as he thinks they should and his place (72 acres) is going to pot. He invited us back when things were drier and he would show us his horses and maybe even let us ride them.

I have included another picture of the papaya tree in our backyard. This was taken 8 days after the previous photo. The mango trees in the driveway are still healthy and really need to be dug up. Where to put a tree that you won't be around to enjoy? and won't cause someone else future problems? The watermelon is doing well; I will pass on your regards.

We watch quite a bit of television. Sadly, other than sports, we watch a lot of reruns of friends, three and a half men, the big bang theory, new adventures of old christine, and some other oldies but goodies. We get a chance to chuckle a bit. However the thing that might be most entertaining is the commercials and our ad-lib interpretations that go along with them. For example, there are tons of Colgate toothpaste commercials. The funny thing is that in reality a person's only choice here is between which of the 15 varieties of Colgate they will buy or go without brushing. There is also a commercial for tampons that is set with a woman watching all the wonderful tampon information though a view-finder. Needless to say we have all sorts of fun with something like that. Finally, these Costa Ricans have a real infatuation with women's armpits. There are a number of different commercials from different brands touting how wonderful clean dry pits can be. There is one in which a man takes an up close sniff at one such armpit.

Pride and Papaya

I have wanted to take a photo similar to this one for some time now, but didn't want to face the shame of having to explain it. Upon further reflection as to what the heck else I am going to do today I decided to face the music. Here follows the long version ,sorry there is no short version but it comes down to how much free time I really do have.

When we first got here I went to a nursery and bought three huge tropical houseplants (here they are called "plants" and grow everywhere.) I also ended up buying a six-foot lime tree and a small, one-foot papaya tree. I got all of these for less than $20.00.

I eventually got the lime tree into the ground; after breaking our shovel, getting it replaced and almost breaking it again. There are a lot of big rocks in our front yard. I didn't get the papaya in quick enough and by the time it was planted it was doomed and died a week or so later.

Meanwhile, we noticed that there was another one foot or less papaya tree (pictured above, now standing a proud six feet or so) growing wild in our back yard. The thing grows at least six inches a week. My plan was to take a photo standing next to our trees to show how quickly they grow, but alas, one is dead and the other doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as the guy at the nursery said it would. Nonetheless I will swallow my pride and continue to take regular pictures of the wild, un-nurtured papaya tree that I can't really claim as my own (I will be claiming the fruit from this tree as my own however.)

I have also been trying to grow fruits and vegetables in big pots but without much success. I am however much better at growing things when I dig a hole in the yard and bury compost. Right now there are a few large-ish watermelon plants that have started to flower (and between the time I started this post the other day and now, a small fruit has developed - see photo below). There are also four mango trees in the middle of our driveway strip (obviously they will have to be moved before the end of the week or we won't be able to park our car near the house), a number (a very large number) of yet to be identified plants throughout the yard in the various compost holes and at least a hundred papaya starts making their own little lawn in one corner of the yard.

Halloweenies

We spent Halloween evening trying to bring a little US tradition to this heathenless country. We carved a pumpkin, a pumpkin-esque squash, and even a little watermelon (top photo center jack-o -lantern). Don't laugh at the sorry attempt at carving the pumpkin (far right) that damn thing was like carving stone. At one point, I seriously considered breaking out the hammer and flat-head screwdriver, except we don't own a hammer. It took nearly an hour not including the numerous breaks I had to take to rest (and watch the Ducks smash USC which by the grace of god we got to watch live on cable. Not that I don't appreciate watching them through the Skype feed. Thanks again Ricardo.)

The kids, ours and Isue and Karoy's then made balloon Jack-Os and then went trick or treating. Since no one here celebrates it in the proper gluttonish fashion we had to improvise. The kids started at our front door and then moved through the house from room to room including the bathroom. They made this circuit until the two bags of candy were exhausted. Not exactly the same but they seemed to enjoy themselves nonetheless. It helped Sid and Leif that the other children really got a kick out of the experience. I think I was probably the most devastated, (due to the absence of the whole neighborhood involvement thing) but only because I am really jonesing for chocolate and usually get a good month's worth from the kids hauling in a pillowcase full of candy from which I can pilfer. This year all the chocolate was eaten by the next day. The photo of Sidne above gives a good depiction of how I felt and continue to feel whenever I think about how much we gave up to come to Costa Rica. I have yet to see a Reese's peanutbutter cup since we arrived. Enough said!

October 2009, by Laura Birt

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Housebound no more

One of my major worries in writing a blog in lieu of a journal was not updating it very often especially in light of how bad I am in keeping a journal in the first place. So my apologies to myself and everyone else.

It has been a busy ten days or so. We went through the experience of buying a car in a foreign land. There is a lot more to it than one would think. If you don't like the thought of car shopping in the states you would not have enjoyed the process we had to go through to get ours.

As soon as our friend Karoy heard that we were seriously wanting to get a car (we thought we could survive without one but we couldn't and it has already paid dividends) he was very much on the job. That same day he took us by an acquaintance's house to look at his car, an Isuzu Rodeo. The car was not at home. So he drove by another house who he knew was selling a car. It turns out it belonged to an ex-priest who gave up his calling to get married and then the two of them gave up their jobs to sell the equivalent of Nutra-system type products. Things were not working out for them career move wise, financially or socially so they want to move away and start anew. It was a nice car but I had was not ready to jump at the first car we saw especially since it was a Suzuki. Then he drove us around a nearby neighborhood looking for his boss' brother's house because he had a car for sale. Three times around the same "block" called the street of witches in the dead of night we still did not find it. As we decided to give up the car drove right past us. It was an older Ford Explorer so we continued on our way without looking back (sorry Amanda & Ricardo but I wouldn't want a Ford back home why would I want one here). Strike three.

The next day he brought his wife, Isue, over for an English lesson with Laurie. We looked through internet classified ads for used cars. It seemed that after hours of research the Suzuki might not be a bad little car after all. Just as they were about to leave we spotted an ad for a car in Heredia about two hours away. Karoy quickly called and it was still available. He asked if we wanted to go look at it that afternoon. We wanted to but we were in the middle of laundry, no one else was home and the others didn't have keys not to mention Karoy said we would have to take the bus back if we didn't buy the car. Karoy was in a hurry but he had his mind made up to help find us a car and he thought this might be a good one. We packed for what we knew would be a long day (every adventure with Karoy turns into a long day), wrote a note, asked the neighbors to hold our house keys and were out the door.

We had to pick up a mechanic Karoy knew, a Cuban, on the way about 20 minutes from the car dealership. We looked at the car, took a quick test drive, got the okay from the mechanic and struck a deal. So far so good. We had to then drop Karoy at his old workplace, take the mechanic back and stop at the bank to withdraw enough money to complete the transaction. We weren't even going to have to take the bus back. After a quick bite to eat (at Mc Donald’s of all places but Laurie was very hungry and it was too dangerous to cross the busy street to get to Taco Bell) we went to the bank. After waiting in line (sitting down then getting up and moving a seat then sitting back down every time we moved up) for 45 minutes, the teller told us that he couldn’t help us and we had to go to another line. It wasn’t our fault, the concierge sat us there after asking us what we needed and he said. “perfect” when we answered that we did indeed speak English. After a 20 minute wait, we found out that there is a limit to how much of our monwy we had access to. It turns out that it wasn’t enough.

All this time Karoy is late for work. When we picked up Karoy, sans money to buy the car, he informs us that the dealer’s lawyer was not available today anyways but if we put down a small deposit they would not only hold the car but would bring it to us the next day. We did indeed end up on the bus, and didn’t arrive home until after ten (there was a fatal accident two miles from our stop that blocked the road for to extend our day just that much longer). Karoy did not get fired so it was not all bad.

We heard that the dealer’s attorney would not be available for a few days so we struck out on our own. Actually Karoy asked around and got us a recommendation. This attorney also happened to be in San Juan for the day so we wandered to the office of a lawyer who had introduced himself to Laurie one day. He made a few calls including to Karoy and after some discussion hooked us up with another lawyer who lives three blocks away and set the meeting with the car dealer. The next day we met with the lawyer, signed the papers and were on our way with our “new” car (a 1998 Yoyota RAV4) it actually said Yoyota in the paperwork. You cannot purchase a car without using a lawyer; who acts as not only the go between the buyer and seller but as a government liaison to collect taxes and fees (including their own). We didn’t take a picture of the car so if you are curious google white 98 RAV4 and I am sure you will get a good idea of what we purchased.

This was actually going to be about our trip to Baldi Hot Springs but I got carried away I apologize once again. And thanks Karoy for all the help. It just may be worth it to you seeing as how now you won’t have to think you need to cart us around from place to place. Thanks for that too, we appreciate it.

One more quick aside. We were throwing the idea of moving to a new location with a more gringo-friendly climate and Karoy within an hour had made a few calls got a line on a place and three more numbers to call with places to rent. We have made no moves on that front as of yet (we would hate to lose our address as it is so catchy and easy to remember)

Do we derserve this?

Here are a few of the dozens of pictures we took while staying at the Baldi Hotel (spa and resort). How we ended up here I am not exactly sure but we somehow rationalized that since dinner and breakfast were included not to mention free access to the array of natural hot springs/pools it was indeed the most economical way to go (if economical is Latin for luxurious). The rest of the photos will be posted to the online account shortly (I don't remember which service it is but they will be there). There are some good flower/plant photos so i would check it out if those kinds of things interest you.

We got off to a late start Wed. morning for a few reasons, mostly because we are Gregory/Birts but also because Leif was sick and running a fever and we were deciding whether or not to cancel the trip altogether. In the long run I figured he could just as easily be sick in the lap of luxury as in our quaint hot little house driving each other crazy for three days of no school. Reason won out and thank goodness it did, as we got to enjoy three lovely days in paradise.

The pictures do a decent job of describing what we experienced. There were many pools with natural thermal spring water of various temperatures including a few that would around bars. They kids and Jana enjoyed ordering drinks while swimming even if Sid is going to have to take out a second mortgage to cover the tab. Thanks Sid and Carolyn. Besides swimming there was delicious food including a chocolate fondue fountain, incredible gardens throughout the estate, a great view of the nearby volcano (for the five minutes it wasn't covered in clouds) and an extremely comfortable KING-sized bed. One of the toughest things about living in Costa Rica is the double bed. For one it is a double and not a king and two it is not very comfortable (unless you are planning on visiting)

We spent our days living like tourists; which if you could afford it is not such a bad life every so often. The last day we hiked around the volcano for a few hours. We got to see some sort of new (1992) lava beds, some beautiful jungle, and were visited by the above coati who fleeced us of all our bananas. He actually scared us into giving them to him so as to leave us in some peace while we ate a quick bite before heading back home.

Swimming In The Rain

I have been thinking of how life is different here than in the US (not better or worse but different except for the school hours). There are so many differences and it is late and has been a long day so I am sure I won't get to all of them but I also know that we have seven more months to think of them and experience even more.

Today Laurie woke up sick with a fever and soreness in her joints so my mom and I walked down the hill at 6:15 to Karoy and Isues house, a seven kilometer jaunt. The temperature at 5-5:30 is the best but by 6:30-7:00 it gets a bit muggy. More than half of the way there are sidewalks so it is pretty safe going. Karoy took us down to Barranca to the farmer's market. We spent about $30 and got a bag of limes, three papaya, four pinapples, two watermelons, all kinds of bananas (finger regular and ripe platains), four mangos, one large guanabana (doo doo do do do) a bag of potatoes, three tomatoes, three onions, a head of lettuce, a head of bok choy, a bag of carrots, three avocados and a loaf of homemade Quaker bread.

When we got home I spent an hour and a half cutting and freezing fruit for the week's juices and to make room in the cooler for everything. The guanabana (doo doo do do do) itself took almost an hour cutting the seeds from the very large sweet, slimey guava/anone tasting fruit. I should have taken a picture but that is what google is for.

At one-thirty I walked down the street to meet with neighbor Carlos to ride the four blocks to our game together but he wasn't there so I just walked on over. There was no one there so I just walked back got some water, my swimsuit my mom and my son and walked back over with the plan that if no one was there I would swim with Leif and my mom. Sure enough I got a two hour swim in as my team never showed. It was a good time especially watching Leif improving by leaps and bounds his swimming and his diving. It was also refreshing that it started to rain because although the pool is just solar heated, it is solar heated and is a bit too warm for my taste.

After the swim I sat on the pool's edge in the nice cool rain while Leif swam a bit more. I was the only one sitting in the rain but it did feel very nice. I very rarely feel anything akin to cold except our now broken shower. We got home to find out my mom left her glasses at the pool so we walked back over then up to the store for some yeast to make some more pizzas (more on that in a bit).

When we got back I cut up some watermelon for Sidne and a papaya for Laurie. Caught a few innings of the Dodger game; can't remember who they were playing except I know it wasn't the White Sox. I missed the World Cup qualifying games as I was playing a game with Leif and Carolyn and Sidne were watching the Parent Trap in Spanish. Just as I started typing this entry my mom awoke from a nap and so we played a few games of bridge.

Ok here are a few differences with no judgement attached as although I may find them peculiar there may be some logic that I am not privy to. Some of the differences are between life in the US and in Costa Rica in general and some are differences between how I live in the US versus how I live here.

The concept of time could take up three or four entries on its own. Even if you could find a schedule for something it means very little here. The owner of the English school was telling us the same thing but in her school she demands that classes start on time but every class we have visited started fifteen minutes late and with less than half the class. Stragglers would wander in up to forty minutes late. I will get messages from my neighbor that there is a soccer game on a certain day at a certain time but then the next time I see him it has been changed.
The same thing happens with Natan's little league games. Karoy will tell us that he is coming at 5:00 en punto which I translated incorrectly to mean 5:00 on the hour but I have since learned from experience that 5:00 en punto really means 5:30 even if it is stressed that he means 5:00. If you can unburden yourself from the idea of being on time, much stress is lost.

In the opposite direction, people here stand in line for everything. They will stand 20 deep to use the ATM machine, they will wait an hour early waiting for the bank to open, they have to wait outside the clinic starting around 4:30 a.m. if they want to get an appointment that day (the clinic opens at 7:00 or 7:30. In grocery stores there are more than enough workers wandering around but unfortunately there is usually only one lane open for about every 6-8 customers waiting. No one seems to mind so I am trying not to mind. What the hell else do I have to do anyway?

Laurie and her mom were taking a taxi from Puntarenas and the driver asked them if it would be alright if he picked up his wife on the way. Can't believe that would happen in the US.

The idea of laws also has us a bit complexed. We know that there are laws because some of them are posted (stop signs, speed limits, littering is prohibited, turtle eggs are protected). However since we have yet seen a police officer do anything we think that these are actually suggestions and not laws. A guy is at the farmer's market every Saturday in the middle of everything yelling that he has turtle eggs for sale. A guy was in the middle of the road near the toll booths where traffic stops selling counterfeit auto registration stickers and the police station was less than 50 meters away. Stop signs mean that if you don't stop you will be at fault if there is an accident because no one stops unless they will cause an accident and even then they will try to find some room to maneuver without stopping. Double yellow lines (even around curves) must mean something completely different because it is possible to see any type of vehicle, even the old greyhound type buses, flying down the center lane passing whatever may be going three khp slower.

There are many more examples I want to chronicle and I will in the future but it is almost 1:00 and I wanted to share one other blog item. Every so often I hear a Spanish word that just makes me smile or has a nice ring to it; so every so often I am going to share my new words or phrases. The first one was liga de goma which is a cute sounding word meaning rubber band. Then I spent a day or two trying to use enhorabuena which means congratulations but no one uses it much so it fell out of favor. I then found the phrase tomar el sol which literally means to take the sun but is translated as sunbathing. I now think about taking as little sun as I can but I am starting to darken up a little bit even on my white belly. Leif and Laurie on the other hand are hogging up all the sun they can get their hands on. Both started out fitting in as a Tico but now both are darker than most and are probably considered to be Nicaraguans (another topic for another blog)

I forgot about the pizza stories. Oh well, Karoy and his family are coming tomorrow night(now tonight) for pizza and cake to celebrate Karoy's birthday, but that is only a small bit of the story. Maybe I will remember to write about it if and when I recount our celebration.

Montezuma

On the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula is a little town called Montezuma. Apparently this little town attracts Oregonians like butterflies to flowers. We six Oregonians recently spent a weekend in Montezuma at a hotel called Montezuma Gardens Mariposario. This hotel has a cool butterfly theme, centered around its large butterfly enclosure.

Anyway, on the ferry ride to the Peninsula we met a group of students on exchange from Linfield College. Granted, these students were not actually going to Montezuma. They were headed to a town called Santa Theresa. Still, in Montezuma we met 1) the owner of the hotel, Josh Bickle, a former Oregonian; 2)&3) a couple whose names I've forgotten who were visiting from Lincoln City; 4), 5), &6) A woman and her two sons (including a 6-year-old named, I kid you not, Leif!) from Eugene. Add the six off us and there were at least 12 Oregonians in the very small town of Montezuma, Costa Rica last weekend.

I heard two theories about why so many Oregonians were in Montezuma this weekend. The first theory has to do with the fact that this is the rainy season in Costa Rica. Although it has been a fairly dry rainy season thus far, the norm is rain all afternoon and evening. Oregonians can handle their rain, but who wouldn't prefer to do so in a tropical beach setting where the rain is a welcome relief from the heat instead of chilling to the bone? The second theory is that Montezuma is a tree-hugging, environmentally conscious, outdoorsy, hippie type town, as are two of the more populated cities in Oregon (I'll let you guess which two).

Walking east (I think) from the town of Montezuma, you can apparently hike along beaches and behind beach heads for 7 km. My mom and I walked about 2 of these kilometers on our last day in Montezuma. Each beach was different. One had gray sand, the other had crushed shells, another had a finer crush of shells resulting in white sand and another had mostly huge rocks that unfortunately catch alot of trash that washes up from boats. And as we walked we could hear the crazy growl/howl of howler monkeys. If you didn't know what they were, they would sound pretty scary!

We spent part of a day at a wildlife rescue center called Rain Song where they take in injured and orphaned animals. This is where we got to hold the baby howler monkeys in the pictures. These monkeys really like to climb up and cling to your hair. I think it reminds them of clinging to their mother's back. We also saw porcupines, turtles, a white throated capuchin, parrots, toucans, an anteater, a margay (sp?) missing an eye and some deer that licked us with their sandpaper tongues.

The butterfly enclosure at our hotel was pretty incredible too. Josh owns the hotel with his two brothers and his mother. Josh, his girlfriend and two volunteers were at the hotel while we were there. Leif spent lots of time following the volunteers around the butterfly enclosure finding caterpillars and eggs and chrysalises. He got to see quite a few butterflies as they were just emerging from their chrysalises. For anyone who knows a young 18-20 something aged person who wants an inexpensive way to stay in Costa Rica, the volunteer program at this hotel is a great opportunity. These young people pay $200/month and give some time each weekday working with the butterflies. In return they get a room, two meals a day and a family atmosphere. Actually you don't have to be young necessarily. Again, the name is Montezuma Gardens Mariposario. They have a website, so google it.

-Laurie

big beetle

How's this for a live creature, Karen?! It was on our screen last night. Luckily on the outside.

The end of boredom

The frog photo is for Tim and Margaret Martin who asked us how Costa Rica is like the Solomon Islands :)

This is Sidne, shading herself from the sun.

Finally we are finding some activities to take up our days. I have been volunteering with the English teachers at Sidne and Leif's school (The name of the school is Jose Maria Zeledon Brenes..or maybe its Brenes Zeledon...). We also started helping at a private English school here in Miramar. The woman who runs it is a Costa Rican who spent a couple years in Virginia. Her English is amazing for such a short time in the U.S. Teaching it for years has probably helped, though. Anyway, it sounds like Gary, Jana and I are going to split a full time job at her school to take some of the pressure off of her. She teaches English everyday and evening, manages the school, takes classes at a University once a week, and wants to volunteer at a nearby kindergarten! She needs some help and we need some money. In addition, one of the English teachers at Jose Maria Zeledon Brenes (or Brenes Zeledon) is taking classes in order to pass a test that English teachers here need to take. She wants Gary and I to go with her to her class once a week to help her and other teachers prepare for this test. Then today, Sidne's teacher asked if I would give her English lessons privately. Oh, did I mention that a neighbor volunteered her house for us to use as an English school? So we have lots of options to choose from.

It is nice to walk through Miramar now and bump into friends. It is not a big town and we are finally getting to know people. Yesterday, as Gary and I walked up the hill to the language school and back we ran into five friends. That felt good.

-Laurie

What to think

What just happened? Last night while we were preparing a lovely meal of spaghetti, we were visited by a 15 year old girl who goes to Leif''s school (which ends with 6th grade). I say Leif's school because she is part of a small group of older students who for one reason or another don't have the skills to go on to secondary school (grades 7-11) who have taken quite a liking to Leif. They are in a class of 6-8 and everytime Leif walks by or there is a break they call out to him.
Before I go further I want to note that the Leif phenomenom is not isolated to this group. Literally anywhere we go in town people call out to us "Leif" whether he is with or us not. It is strange.

Anyhow, last night Ines the 15 year old walks to the front door and asks if Leif is home. We recognize her from the school and invite her in. To make a very long story only sort of long, she ends up staying for dinner but also stays to play on the computer afterward and makes herself an "appointment" to come back again today. She also hinted a number of times to borrow Laurie's flip flops as hers were broken. Laurie and I stayed up in town to meet with Kiria at the English language school, so we were not around when our mothers got back to find Ines at the front door waiting to play. Seeing as Carolyn was not feeling great and neither of our kids were home my mom suggested another day would be better. As the story goes, it didn't end there. Ines went on to ask dozens of questions about where we were? what we were doing? when can she come back?and the like. She finally did relent and go away and she did return the flip flops.

So why is this story so interesting (other than the fact that our daily lives are so slow that squeezing one's own orange juice is a nice diversion)? We have read in books, have heard from our Cuban friends, and heard from our around the corner Costa Rican friends, that people don't go up to people's houses unless they are good friends or you have an "appointment". If you want to communicaate with someone at their house you should either call first or yell from the street. Before we learned this we couln't figure out why our landlady wouldn't answer the door when we came knocking even though we heard sounds/voices from within the house. Whether this is the reason no one answered the door is unknown but it makes sense.

So here is this very brazen young lady not only coming up to the door un-invited (we didn't even know who she was to invite her) but stays for dinner, eats seconds, than says she is coming back the next day. No one in the states would do what she did and we don't even have the same cultural expectations that she was raised with. She gave off a very strange vibe indeed. In reality she didn't do anything wrong by our standards it just seemed a bit odd. This anecdote is really mostly for us as the whole situation was kinda eerie and a you had to be there to feel as we did, so sorry to those of you that made it this far down the page.

As far as what we learned from our meeting with Kiria the director/owner of the English school there looks like real potential for some work and we will know more soon hopefully.
We hope all are well where your are. We also want to send thanks to those that have responded/commented, every little bit of contact really helps so keep it up.

More Pics

I was planning on writing a long post but laurie informs me that nobody "reads them they just look at the pictures" so here are some more. We would love to hear from everybody more often (or at all for some of you and you know who you are.)

Anniversary

Gary and I had a terrific 17th anniversary this weekend. We stayed at an awesome little hotel in the hills above Miramar. Most of it's awesome-ness was because it was up higher and therefore much cooler than Miramar. So nice!!!!! And there was this adorable little swimming pool of spring water that was cold, but not so cold that you couldn't get used to it. We hiked and swam and read books in hammocks and ate great food.

Anyway, I highly recommend this hotel to anyone coming to Costa Rica. It is not too fancy, just cute and small. It is called Hotel Vista Golfo (Gulf View) and it lives up to the name. It has a very pretty view of the Gulf of Nicoya and great sunset views as well. It is an "adventure" hotel, so it offers zipline tours through forest and by waterfalls, and horseback and ATV tours. There are also some beautiful hikes. It advertised lots of wildlife. We saw gorgeous butterflies (there are so many in Costa Rica that we see a new kind every couple of days), and lizards. Unfortunately, no monkeys or coaties (google it).