Whirlwind tour!

We had our first visitor! I had gone home to the states and my bff Trisha decided to come back with me to visit! What fun!! We had a blast and she took some kick ass photos of all the stuff we did! This is me and Mario at the table at the top of the driveway. I have never quite figured out why they put this table here, well the view is incredible, but there is no way coffee would stay hot to get up here. I have been trying to get a little more exercise, well a little exercise(since more implies I was getting some), since I spend my days sitting at a desk, and so I walk up to the table and then down the steep road back to the back of the house. A few times around and I am worn out! as are Dora and Diego, so I guess it's doing us all a bit of good.

This wonderful spot is a hotel/restaurant near our house called Papa de Paramo (there should be an accent over the second a in papa so that it is the father of Paramo and not the potato of Paramo, but I forget how to do that). We came here the first time when some new friends invited us to a party when their brother came in to visit from Texas and we just LOVE it. It is so tranquil and the food is great! Trish and I spent the day here - just the gals -

and I looked up and saw this sloth in the tree. How cool! He hung out for a long while going up and down the tree. The waiters were worried about him when he went out to the teeeeeny branches way up top to eat. He finally came all the way down to pose for a picture.

We made the obligatory trip to Manuel Antonio to see the monkeys and other wildlife. Sadly, there were no monkeys to be seen. I have never been to Manuel Antonio and not seen a single monkey! Rotten luck - but we wound up renting beach chairs and a tent and sitting out on the beach. We drank some girlie drinks with flowers and umbrellas and Trish got a massage from a woman who gives them right there in the chairs. What a great relaxing day!

The day ended with this incredible sunset. We really couldn't asked for more - ok maybe monkeys - but what a nice day!

We also FINALLY made it up to Arenal. I had such hopes of seeing my first volcano spew lava. I was really worried, but for naught. Arenal apparently has been napping for 7 months. We saw a huge cone shaped mountain covered in fog. Trisha and Mario thought it was great, but I was a little let down. We stayed in a hotel with a great view of the volcano for $30 for the night and drank the BEST sangria in the restaurant next door. Boy is it expensive though. After a pitcher we really didn't mind. I had bought a thermal coffee pot when we got stuck in San Jose so we ordered a second pitcher to go!

The next day we splurged and went to Tabacon. It was expensive - but well worth it. What an escape from reality. Tabacon is a series of thermal springs, all piping through a natural setting. The gardens were unbelievable. The water was really HOT but you eventually got used to it. There are waterfalls everywhere which give a nice massage. We found a few falls that were cool water which was nice too. We had a few drinks at the bar, Mario managed to sit on the stools, but we stayed out of the water because it was too hot. We paid for the included lunch, but I would skip it in the future as we found the food mediocre.

 We found this really cool shop outside of La Fortuna. The sculptures were so beautiful. Trish couldn't resist cheesing it up a bit. I really enjoyed having her visit. Hope she comes back soon!

Creepy crawlies

We are moving from summer into winter and have such an abundance of wildlife. There are TONS of butterflies in the flowers and birds that I have never seen before flying by on their way to who knows where. Probably north I guess. Yesterday was the day of weird bugs. Mario called me into my office to see the mula del diablo this morning. It's weird because they use the word bicho (I have no idea how to spell it but it sounds like beecho) to describe any pesty kind of thing, so a bicho can be an insect, bird, lizard, mouse, you get the picture. So since he was talking about a mula (mule) I figured we were in the mammal category - but nope. He is pointing out the window and I don't see anything, when I realized what he is showing me is ON the screen. A walking stick about a foot long!! How cool!! He said it's called mula since the head looks like a mule's head. I thought it looked more like a seahorse. Anyway this guy hung out all day and then left in the night. He didn't even run when Diego went to sniff him.

Next I went out to feed the birds and there was a single strand of web across the path to the yard. I broke it and realized the garbage hanging from it was the weirdest spider I had ever seen. He clung to the fence and rolled the broken web into a ball and ate it! I looked him up on the internet and found he is a crab spider. A fitting name if you ask me. The "shell" on his back has spikes around it so I am thinking he doesn't have a lot of enemies waiting to gobble him up!

I am heading home again on the 1st of April. The family is spreading my mom's ashes in the ocean and it's my 3 month get out of town time. I think I explained before that when you come to Costa Rica you get a 3 month visa. You need to leave before it expires for at least 72 hours. I have been leaving more often since my mom was ill. We are thinking to go to Panama next time because flying home is so expensive. Although, if Mario's divorce comes through, which it may since they have had the paperwork for a while, we will be getting married and then I can apply for residency and won't have to leave. Anyway, the point is we are getting our first visitor!! My friend Trisha is coming for a week! I am uber excited! I hope she loves Costa Rica as much as I do!

Freedom!

I haven't written in sooo long so this may be a long post. Firstly I want to share the flowers I received over the past few months. I didn't even know you could send flowers here, but a little while after my mom passed away I got a call and was told that a new friend, Phil, had sent me flowers. What a wonderful surprise!! I was able to give the florist directions to my house (another surprise) and on Monday I had this beautiful bouquet! Thanks Phil! I think my mom had a hand in it because they used her favs - gladioli and gerbera daisies. It lasted a long while and definitely cheered me up everytime I saw it.

On valentine's day my honey came through with this beautiful arrangement of roses. How creative to make a heart from the palm fronds. I loved it!

So on to freedom ...

Lately I have been feeling trapped here in Costa Rica. I think it is because I gave up so much of my independence. I rely on Mario for so many things. Everyone says I speak a lot of Spanish, and I can usually get my point across, but it isn't always easy and there are many people I have a hard time understanding. Mario is always there to help, but I am used to fending for myself so it is hard. I also have developed phone-phobia and have a hard time calling for things since I am afraid the person on the other end won't understand me. I have also been petrified to drive here. We have a Suzuki Sidekick that has a standard transmission. When we bought it I was leery since I barely drove a stick in the flatlands of New Jersey. There is no way I can handle one here. The hills/mountains are STEEP and I am afraid of sliding backwards trying to get into first gear. Mario has always taken me wherever I need to go, but lately I have been antsy to make my own way in Costa Rica. So I bit the bullet and bought a little piece of freedom - my own automatic, Geo Tracker! So cars here are REALLLY expensive. I think there is an 85% import tax which jacks the prices HIGH. This little baby ran $4,600 and it is a 94! Still it is 4 wheel drive which I thought I could do without and then found out - nope - need it. The first big trip we took was to Panama to get her some tires. There is no tax in Panama so the tires are supposedly cheaper. We bought other things that turned out not to be cheaper so I didn't look into the tires cause they were expensive in my book too. The frontera - the border between Panama and Costa Rica is really interesting. We went to Paso Canoas and one side of the road is Costa Rica, the other Panama. You have to remember which side you are on to figure out if you are getting a "bargain". We bought a stereo for Mario's car - yes now it's his - I couldn't drive it anyway. It has an ipod connection so we can  listen to the ipod on long trips. I took his stereo since my car came with a casette player and I haven't seen a tape in years. Now I can play CDs! The deal is if you bring stuff into Costa Rica you need to pay taxes on it so everything you buy gets installed in Panama and you say you bought nothing if asked. Worked for the tires. While I was shopping I thought wouldn't it be nice to have electronic entry into my car. I had to use the key (oh my) and I prefer the remote. So I asked at a store and they said it would be $90 for an alarm system. I really didn't need an alarm, but they said they always come together and I could get it deactivated. What the heck - I figured it was safer to have the remote so I could get in the car quickly if I was shopping and an alarm couldn't hurt. So I went for it. The man said he was throwing in this little gadget that would turn the car off if it was stolen. Well that I REALLY didn't need - but hey if he was giving it for free... an hour later - boop boop my car locked and unlocked like a charm. The installer shook the car and the alarm went off. He showed me the little button under the dash that I had to push to start the car and off we went. An hour and a half into the 3 hour journey home the car turns off. hmmmmm - so we push the little button and no luck the car won't start. Uh oh. Luckily Mario had managed to coast the car to a little pulperia (corner store) in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea what to do. There is no AAA in Costa Rica. The people in the store tried to help but they didn't know anything about alarms. I had the receipt but no idea how to call Panama for help. Finally I thought to call information, who told me the country and area codes to dial Panama. We got the installer on the phone and he starts telling Mario to disconnect and reconnect wires. Of course it is dark now so it is impossible to see, and we have no flashlight in my new car. Thankfully when the store owner heard me start to cry he remembered his brother was a mechanic and nicely went to get him. Marco worked on our car for at least an hour to no avail. Finally we called Panama again and the installer told Marco which wires to disconnect. Yee haw we were in business!! So we paid Marco like $6 and his brother $4 for the gas and went to leave. Well we hit pavement and the car shuts off again. hmmmm blown fuse. So he replaces it and looks over the wires and off we go! Now we make it a few feet onto the pavement when the car dies again. I am panicking now. I don't want to get in the car and make it another hour and the car dies. We decide to call for Mario's brother to come get us. He says it will be $140 - risking my life doesn't seem so out of the question now. So they put a bigger fuse in and voila we are in business! Off we go!! Everyone cheers, we wave, and hit the road! About 100 meters down the road - guess what - yup car dies. Luckily there is a bar there so we coast in. Mario calls Marco and he says he will come, we can take the car to his house and he will work on it in the morning. The bartender says Marco doesn't know what he is doing, but their son is a top notch mechanic and he can fix it in the morning. They offer to put the car in the bar for the night and we accept. So Marco comes and tells us that it would be better for us to look for another mechanic the next day since he doesn't know what is wrong. My dad is an electrician so I am pretty sure we have a short and I want someone who knows wiring to fix it so my car doesn't catch on fire. 4 hours and $140 later we are home -thank God! We get home at 2 AM, sleep until 7 and start the process of trying to figure out how to get the car home. We got a message from the bar folks, seems their son is ill and can't fix the car. So we start calling everyone we know to find an electrical mechanic willing to drive 2 hours to hot as hell town near Panama to fix a car and drive 2 hours back on a Sunday. Unbelievably we find someone! He removes the alarm system, fixes the short and drives my car back home. So like $400 later I have the same car I had on Thursday - joy. Supposedly I can have someone here install the alarm correctly, but I have had enough excitement for the time being and think I will wait.

On a brighter note - I wound up getting sick with the stress and lack of sleep. I got my annual strep throat or toncilitis. In the states I would have to make a doctor appointment because they don't trust my diagnosis after having the same illness for 50 years. Once I get to the doctor they have to do a culture because they don't know if it is strep or toncilitis. The treatment is the same - antibiotics - which the prescribe before the culture comes back so I never get the reason why they need the culture. Then after the $20 -$30 copay I would get to go to the pharmacy and pay 80% of the antibiotics. Well here in Costa Rica, we went to the pharmacy, I opened my  mouth and they said yep you need antibiotics, I paid and off I went. Man I love it here!!

Ode to my mom

I usually don't write much about my family and friends here, but my mom passed away yesterday and I can't help but remember how she has influenced every aspect of my life. My mom encouraged me to move to Costa Rica, she said that she was proud that I was doing something so adventurous with my life. One of the only regrets I have about my move here is that I wasn't able to be with her and my dad for her final days.

 I am going to post more pictures of our gardens here. My mom was the one who taught me to appreciate gardening. She always had spectacular gardens. She taught me about cultivating new plants from seeds, realizing that plants had specific needs for sunlight and water, and just to enjoy and revel in the beauty of nature. So these pictures are a tribute to my mom:

I don't know much about the after life, but I know where ever it may be it's a much more beautiful place now that my mom has arrived ... and it will be filled with flowers.  Rest in peace mom, I miss you.

Monkeys!

Mario's kids are visiting us from Canada so we went to Manuel Antonio to see the wildlife and spend some time on the beach. Manuel Antonio is a national park. It is well worth the trip and the price of a guide. It is not a zoo so each time you go you see different animals. The guides carry telescopes and set them up so you can see the animals clearly. They are very knowledgeable. We saw many different species of bats on this trip.

 Not being one of my favorite animals, there are no pictures :).

You don't need a telescope to see the monkeys. They run along the beach stealing food and fun things from the tourists. The parks discourages contact with them, but they don't seem to care.

You need to secure everything if you hang out on the beach. We saw them steal a cracker from a toddlers hand!Still they are really cool to watch. I never get tired of seeing them. The kid's got a kick out of them too.

You usually can catch sight of a sloth or two as well. This baby was hanging out in a tree very close to the trail. I missed the shot where he looked right at us, but the smiling face is unforgettable. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

San Ramon del Alejuela and back

This past weekend was the busiest we have had in a  while! We went to San Ramon del Alejuela to the 50th birthday party for Mario's brother-in-law. They have a furniture factory (all handmade), that's where we got the balcony furniture. They cleared out the main gallery and had the party there. Everyone had a wonderful time! We stayed in town because their house was packed with relatives. We wound up at La Posada Hotel in the center of town. It was beautiful! We stayed in the end room on the second floor (#27). There is a sitting area in front of the room with comfy rockers that looks out on the road in front. The woodwork in the hotel is unbelievable. The beds are all carved as are the doors. It was fairly cheap too, we paid $52 for the room with no breakfast.

On the way home we stopped at El Quetzel Mountain Lodge for a bite to eat. They have a lake where you can fish for your lunch, but we didn't. The most incredible thing (aside from the delicious casado we ate) was the hummingbirds! They have a deck where you can watch them come to eat. The guy from the restaurant, also a bird-watching guide, came out and told us all about them. He put his hand out by the feeder and they landed on his finger to eat! You know we bought a hummingbird feeder when we got home!

Aren't these guys spectacular?! We are getting better at taking photos. Although we wound up with lots of finger shots sans hummer. These guys are QUICK!

On the homefront - Dora got her first haircut! She looks even more like a monkey now!!

We also witnessed a caterpillar turning into a butterfly - way cool!! I tried to get photos but I was working so this was the best I could do. I went in to do some work and when I came out there was a floppy winged butterfly. I came out later and startled it and off it flew.

I got my first bird at the feeder! Mario put out pineapple. I thought he was nuts but this beautiful baltimore oriole came to munch. It's a regular visitor now!

Christmas Prep!

I am having the hardest time getting into the Christmas Spirit when it is so hot out. Usually I am freezing my ass off putting up lights and decorations and this year I had to worry about sunburn!

We decided to put the tree on the balcony, it seems that a lot of people here put the tree outside. At first it seemed too wierd for me, but we use the balcony like a living room so now I am OK with it. In fact we almost NEVER use the living room except to watch TV, so we will see the tree more on the balcony. It was fun to decorate it outside with the birds and the butterflies flying by, but so strange to see my flowers blooming next to it. I have always lived in the NJ/PA area so I am used to it being really cold for Christmas.

The lights looked spectacular at night and we can see the tree from our bed. The downside is that every bug in the valley can too so we had a living display of moths and such fluttering around the lights. Mario let me know that we will have to peel them off of the ornaments when we put the tree away. Nice - not! He also reminded me how happy the spiders will be to have the tree as a home. I really wish he would have mentioned all this sooner lol, the tree may have gone in the living room after all.

The stores are now staying open on Sundays woo hooo another shopping day! There are all these little shed like things for sale in the nurseries. Mario told me that they are for nativity scenes. Apparently that is the decoration of choice here. There are tons of lights too. It is really cool how everyone decorates for Christmas. We drove around visiting family this weekend, and the poorest of neighborhoods still had decorations and lights. I was worried that I would miss the glitz of the US, but nope! They do it big here too!

It's just wierd seeing snowmen decorating the houses and grass. I am thinking most people have never seen one in person. So the tree and most of the decorations are up - let the season begin!

It doesn't get any cuter

Diego and Dora have their afternoon siesta. He does this so she stops bothering him.

Guess who came to lunch?

 These toucans came to eat the platanos that were in a tree near the house.

As I was watching another bird about the same size came to eat along with them. They all rallied and sat on the bananas so he couldn't get any!

 When the rain came the tree fell so we lost our friends.

I just love the view from the balcony!

The portulaca is filling in the driveway nicely. Mario has fallen in love with this plant and looks for it in every nursery in town. I think we have bought the country's supply!

But they are really pretty close up and they will be spectacular once they fill in all the space. He has been adding abono organico (compost) to them and they are really thriving.

I thought I lost the lantana near the bird bath, but it came back after he fertilized it. We have a lot of butterflies that visit this spot. They also seem to love the dog crap in the yard (yuck).

The aftermath - there is a sun!

Annie was right - the sun did come out tomorrow! So far I am REALLY impressed with Costa Rica! There was a lot of damage in our area, there were three washouts from our house to the city. We waited until about 11 to check it out on Saturday. They already had filled in the holes and were moving the debris from the landslides off of the roads. I think it will be a while before we are paved, but we can pass through to town. At one point we had to take a detour and drove through a really scenic neighborhood (with lots of lots for sale - definitely taking this route with pen in hand for the numbers). The detour took us over muddy unpaved roads. There was a steep slick incline that the people without 4 wheel drive were having problems getting up, but the road crews were on it! They had a few dump trucks full of rocky dirt and a roller. We had to wait around a half hour as they dumped the material into the road and rolled it flat, then we all made it up the hill and back out onto the pista.

Costa Rica also stepped to the plate to help those people who had lost everything. Banco Nacional sponsered a food drive and has a link to donate on their website. Banco Costa Rica has a donation line and internet site to donate money.  It is a shame because there really is no house insurance here so these people have lost EVERYTHING, including family members in some cases.

On a lighter note, daylight savings started or ended (I never get it straight) in the states so I am going to enjoy getting up a little later for work.

The plants have benefitted from all the rain and look great! I thought that maybe the fruit hadn't ripened on the trees in the farm this week so I ran out to get bananas. I am still trying to have birds come. I put half of them out the day before yesterday and saw no birds, but when I got up in the morning the bananas were gone! Even the peels. I thought maybe we had early birds. So I put out the second half of the bananas yesterday. Last night we were on the balcony with Mario's brother and his family when I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like the buzz electricity makes. It was pitch black but I could tell the sound was coming from the bird feeder. Mario grabbed a flashlight and the mystery was solved. BATS! I HATE BATS! but there they were all in my feeder eating the bananas. So now I think I will be retiring the feeder. Yeah Yeah I know God's creatures and all that, but did I mention that I am terrified of bats? of all the banana eating animals I could have attracted....

Oh on the pest note, the other night I went downstairs and found the doors still open. We usually close them at dusk, but I guess we both thought the other had done it. The dogs went outside and when they came in I shut and locked the door. Diego made a beeline to the sink and started chasing something along the wall. I screamed for Mario just as a mouse came running right for me! OK so I am also petrified of mice. Who knows why, it's not like the would kill me, but at this point I am not thinking, I am screaming at the top of my lungs and dancing all over the kitchen trying to get past the 2 dogs and the mouse and onto higher ground. Mario came running because he thought it was a snake in the house. When he heard it was a mouse he calmly opened the door and out it ran.

I am starting to identify with Eva Gabor.

Still raining perros y gatos!

Here are some pictures of the area courtesy of Perezzeledon.net:  Floods and landslides.

Rain Rain Go Away

We made the stupid mistake of going to the feria today. It has been raining here non-stop for days. Tropical storm Thomas. The roads were terrible! I never saw conditions like this. They put cement tubes under the road for runoff and I guess the water washes the dirt out around them so the road collapses. You see the cracks and the sunken part and hope that there is actually something solidish under the blacktop as you pass over. Mario so thoughfully pointed out pieces of the road that were caved in like that and said the rest would wash away shortly. SHORTLY?!! Like how shortly? While we are passing over it? He always thinks I am so funny when I am panic stricken. On the way down into town the police had all tractor trailers stopped at Trapiche. We asked if they were closing the road and the officer said not to light cars like our SUV. hmmmm sounded perfectly safe to me. We continued on because it wasn't raining and I foolishly thought it was over. While we were at the feria it started to downpour again. Here in Costa Rica a downpour is like someone tipped a bucket over and is pouring it all over the land. It's hard to distinguish that there are actual raindrops. I was so scared the road would washout to the house. We drove slowly and arrived safely. We passed a downed pole and a lot of the area was without power. Luckily we are not. Hoping that the side of the mountain holds through this bout. They say we are going to get 18 more hours. They have already declared a state of emergency for the country and a lot of people have been killed. Hope this is not a normal winter here.

Trying to stay warm and dry til next time ...

My 7 Dollar Fix

This is what $7 can give you in Costa Rica! We were at the feria when I saw these beauties and had to have them! The flower guy is always so nice. One of the luxuries I have here is fresh flowers. We buy a bunch whenever we go to the feria, well, that would be weekly. Usually I get daisies, he has beautiful yellow and white daisies that last for at least 2 weeks.

This week he had these lilies. They smell wonderful too! Funny thing is in the states I would have paid a ton for these and here it was $3500 colones or $7. Still I hemmed and hawed since I usually only shell out $800 colones for the daisies. But these look incredible in the dining room and have stayed fresh for about a week now so I am glad I splurged!

Here is our other splurge. Diego's new sister Dora. She is a Peke/Maltese mix. Diego loves her (mostly). She has stolen all of his beds and toys. They are playing together nicely, he is sooo gentle. She will stay about 10 lbs so she won't add much to the patas sucias (dirty feet). Mario has nicknamed Diego Patas Sucias since he has a habit of sleeping in the drainage channel in the yard and then coming in to the house. We are constantly mopping up his footprints. Luckily summer is coming so I hear the yard will dry. Thank goodness because the grass here is like a sponge and it squishes as you walk over it!

Last night I was sitting on the balcony when I noticed these wasps near the light. I thought how odd there is a ticket or something there that I hadn't noticed before. Upon closer inspection I realized they had built a nest that covered the whole side of the light! When it got dark Mario broke out the Mata Todo (Kill Everything) and sprayed them. He said there was no other way since these wasps were bravo (angry) and they would bite if we left them there.

Finally here are some of the flowers in bloom in the yard.

There and Back

I just got back from the states again, well on Monday, but it feels like just. It was great to see my friends and family but I really missed my life here. The most interesting part of the journey as far as blog material goes was the company I kept on the plane ride to and from. On the way down I met a guy who lives in Escazu. We had a wonderful time talking about our lives in Costa Rica. He told me that there are tons of American places in Escazu, and that you can get most everything that you would want there. Except apparently good lunch meat since he brought back a slicer and a backpack full of meat on his last trip. He said he caused quite a stir in customs lol. He also shared his story of a failed marriage to a Colombian woman and warned me to take precautions when entering a relationship with a person from another country. On the way home I met a woman who had lived in Costa Rica for 18 years. She also loved the country, but had decided to move back to the states to be near her grandkids. She had been married to a Costa Rican man and gave the same warning. She had many stories of people who had married here and then had to pay alimony when they divorced. She said that one man could not leave the country because of the alimony payments. Very scarey stuff. It's sad to think that love needs a lawyers help, but I think it is the same where ever you live. Just here I am in the dark about the laws. Better study up.