New neighbors

The neighborhood has grown since we were last here. Construction is underway on a gas station on the highway. This will save us from driving 45 minutes to get gas and 45 back as we now have to do. There is also a Palí market on the highway where the old Hone Creek Super market used to be. Palí is a national food store and is 51% owned by Walmart. The locally-owned Hone Creek market has built and opened a new store on the same road a short way down from its original location. There is also a new clothing store next to the market. Any day now I expect to see Hone Creek listed on maps. Not too much has changed along the 2-1/2 mile un-named road we take to get home. The jungle is greener than ever (Gordie has already spent many hours cutting down plants so we could find our burn barrel and front porch). All of the cats have left and most of the bats left once they realized we were back. There are still 3 dogs hanging around, Brownie, Tiger and the mom, Stripe. Sadly, my favorite dog, Spot, passed away a short time before we came back. Life can be difficult for animals in the jungle. We were happy to see we have new next door neighbors – a Tico-family that formally lived 3 houses down. Geese, chickens, puppies and kids are all part of the entourage they brought with them. They will make great neighbors and we are looking forward to the next 3 months down here (even though it has rained since we arrived – another day, another story).

Heading back to Hone Creek

We landed at the airport in San Jose on Sunday night only an hour or so past our expected arrival. Not bad. In addition to 4 bags of luggage plus carry-ons we brought two friends back. The rental car man was waiting for us and gave us directions on how to get from the airport to Highway 32 which heads out toward Limón and Puerto Viejo – our destination. But, we didn’t like his route and decided to rely on instincts and past experience. On our new route we found a beautiful park, a striking church and a working girls’ neighborhood. But, our best “find” was the taxi driver at a gas station who let us follow him to the highway entrance. Weather was also not on our side. The low, dense clouds through the mountainous Braulio Carrillo National Park kept us at a snail’s pace. When we hit the other side of the mountain it was approaching 11 PM. We decided unanimously to spend the night in the first town we hit, Guápiles, at the Hotel Talamanca Pococí (see photo). The hotel was only $44 for a 2 room suite, which slept 6 and included a delicious “typical” breakfast of juice, eggs, rice and beans, tomato, plantain and of course coffee. Can’t beat that. As a bonus, it is adjacent to Lucky’s Casino where we stopped for a few well-deserved beers and a little extra spending money.

The door-to-door Optometrist…

Our house is on a dirt road about 2-and-a-half miles from the pavement. There are about 50 houses from the beginning of the road to ours. To put this in perspective, there are about 24 houses (12 on each side of the street) on the city block in Scottsdale, Arizona where I also have a house. Since we are in such a rural area, we were very excited to find out that two different vegetable trucks come up the road every week to sell us fresh produce. Then there were the people selling large, very large, heavy-duty aluminum cooking pots. A different day there were people selling very nice twill bedspreads. Oh, I almost forgot the vendor who was selling some type of powdered drink mix – at least that’s what we thought it was. There have been bamboo furniture salesmen and bread sellers. You just never know what someone is selling until you go out to the road and take a look. The other day I heard the traditional call coming from our gate: “Upee!” I walked outside and to my surprise it was a traveling Optometrist. He was very polite, very professional and ready to give us a complete eye exam in the convenience of our home. Now that’s service!!!

I lied….

A few weeks back I wrote a short piece announcing the end of the rain. I lied. It was only sunny for a day or so and then the rains came back. We’re still averaging about an inch a day. Everyone agrees that it is unusual for this time of year but still it rains. I am determined to get a good “beach day” in before we head back to Arizona next week. Maybe tomorrow!

Spending time in Limón

Seems like we have been spending a lot of time in our provincial capital of Limón lately. It’s about an hour-and-a-half by bus at a cost equivalent of about $2.25 USD. We recently made 2 trips to motorcycle parts stores and the 3rd to the Instituto National Seguro (INS) to pay the yearly insurance on the motorcycle. In Costa Rica your vehicle insurance, called the “marchamo,” is issued through the government-run INS – you pay for each vehicle not each driver and it is mandatory and enforced. It expires the last day of December each year for everyone. Again, as far as I can tell, no one sends you a bill, you just know that it is due and payable in December and you go to INS and pay it. Since it was February we were already a little late, adding to my dread of dealing with government officials in broken Spanish. I practiced my few anticipated Spanish statements, questions and answers in advance. Based on “wait” times at other official offices we anticipated spending many hours here. As it turned out there was very little waiting – maybe 5 minutes – and the personnel from the guard at the entrance of the building to the cashier were all very nice, very helpful and somewhat bilingual. Since this went so smoothly we now had time to wander around the “big city” before heading back to our little hamlet in the jungle. The Limón area was sparsely settled before the late 1800s when a railroad was built by foreign coffee and banana interests. With the help of the Costa Rican government they imported a foreign labor force to build the railroad including 400 Chinese, 600 Jamaicans and 500 workers from the Cape Verde Islands. Afro-Caribbeans still represent about half the population today and a strong Chinese influence is also apparent. At first glance Limón seems a little “rough around the edges,” but you can already see many of the historic buildings and neighborhoods undergoing restoration. I have heard people compare the building styles to New Orleans (although I have never been there myself). For example, you can see the filigree railing and trim details in the photo of the 2-story building. There is a variety of exterior paint colors on the buildings giving them a “tropical” air. The town sits right on the ocean with a large indoor/outdoor market covering several city blocks nearby. There are parks and numerous restaurants, bars, and even supermarkets. We have eaten at least 3 different Chinese restaurants and stopped in at a few bars as well (see photo). But Limón was not established for the casual shopper or tourist -- it is very much a “working port.” This is where we would ship a car or container of household goods. Right outside of town there are massive “yards” stacked with shipping containers from around the world as well as trucks waiting to be loaded. Dole and Chiquita have their own shipping yards there. You’ll find all the major transport carriers here including DHL, UPS and more. Limón is also a port for a couple of the cruise ships – although more stop at nearby Moin.. Since this is the provincial capital there is a very large public hospital (also sits right on the ocean) and numerous private physicians and clinics throughout the area. There are stores for new goods and second-hand goods. There is even a 2-story mall with an escalator and a Pizza Hut. This is truly a big city compared to the area where we live and each time we go there we find new and interesting places.

How much does it Rain in Costa Rica?

“Back home” in Arizona an inch of rain is guaranteed to be the top news story of the day. So it comes as no surprise that we are often asked by our fellow desert dwellers just how much it really rains in the rainforest of Costa Rica. When we moved here in March of 2008 until we returned to the US in mid-September, almost nightly gentle evening rains were common. Never too much, just enough to cool things off, hold down the dust on dirt roads and keep the jungle a brilliant green. There were some exceptions to this – times when it would rain during the day or even a few heavy showers, but never too much. Some neighbors even expressed concern that it was a dry year and there might be water shortages. And then we returned in November. That month brought almost constant rain – somewhere past the 42-inch mark I believe. I remember a lot of rain in December too, but after November anything was an improvement so we did not even bother to measure. In January we got to 17-inches but stopped counting. Luckily the weather didn’t hamper everyone’s spirit or activities -- the town was filled with surfers from all over the world. There was even a surf school set up on Playa Negra. Then came February -- the first couple of weeks brought us more than 27-inches of rain. A section of road over the creek that runs next to our house was washed away by the force of the water coming from the mountains (see photo). The hose that supplies water to our house runs through this culvert so we were without running water for several days. Fortunately our buckets were always full of clean rain water. We’re in mid-February now. There was a crew of volunteers cleaning up the beach this past weekend. Tourists are appearing out of thin air, smiling, taking photos, happy to be here. The skies are clear and blue, there are a million stars in the night sky, everywhere you look things are growing and the ocean is postcard perfect. Last night you could hear the rain gently falling on our tin roof in the middle of the night. I think that we are again back to “normal.” Life in paradise begins a new year.

Hot Springs Cold River

After a restful night’s sleep we were ready to start exploring the area around Boquete. First stop -- the cafeteria with 25-cent coffee and a scrambled egg breakfast with tortillas, pancakes or 2 large fried breads for $1.25. Next it was off to find the bus to the Caldera Hot Springs. It was parked by the town square with a family of 6 from Denmark inside but no driver – seems it wouldn’t be leaving for another hour or so. We were ready now so our Spanish-speaking friend, Rosalinda, ventured out and found another van driver willing to take us -- along with our new friends from Denmark -- for $20 total. The drive there took about 45 minutes with 15 or so on the highway and the rest on paved and unpaved rural roads. The countryside was dotted with a mix of large, new homes on sizable lots and long-standing picturesque ranches. We passed through the small town of Caldera and made the final turn down a winding dirt road through a construction zone for a new hydroelectric project (very controversial). We knew we would never have found this on our own much less made the hike from the bus stop in the Caldera so we convinced the driver to come back and pick us up in 4 hours. We crossed the bridge that spans the Chiriqui River (see photo) for the final 10 minute hike to the springs. The Hot Springs are on a private farm with a resident caretaker who charges $2 per person to enter. There were 4 different hot springs in all, 3 surrounded by stone walls and the 4th alongside the river – all very private as we were the only ones there for most of our visit. The approximately 112 degrees F temperature in the springs is unbelievably relaxing. Our fellow travelers from Denmark said it is traditional to follow a hot soak with a cold plunge – Gordie followed their advice and took a plunge in the very very chilly Chiriqui River (see photo). I’ve been in Arizona too long and couldn’t make it any deeper than my knees.