Life at the beach

Timing and coincidence has brought us to the beach for 2 months. We’re watching the house (and puppy) of a good friend of ours who lives one block from Cocles beach in Puerto Viejo. Instead of waking to the sounds of howler monkeys we hear the waves from the nearby beach. We’re also an easy walk to any number of restaurants, bars, and shops. We’ve been taking full advantage of the calm Caribbean waters that occur each September and October in this area and have been able to snorkel several times each week. We still make the trip back to the jungle a couple of times a week to visit but for the rest of this trip in Costa Rica it looks like we will be “beach bums.”

Friendly freaks…of nature

There seems to be an endless supply of strange creatures in Costa Rica. At least strange by Arizona standards. Within a few days of each other, these two moths visited our house (shown in photos). It’s a pretty easy assumption that their appearance helps them to hide from predators. And the toad, well, he apparently has taken a liking to dog food – much to the dog’s surprise.

The one that got away

Jaimie and Martha, our next door Tico neighbors, stopped by one afternoon to see if we wanted to go searching for camarrones (shrimp) with them in the river behind our houses. Within minutes we had changed into swim suits and were enjoying the cool waters of Rio Carbon. Jaimie brought a home-made spear and directed us to look along the tree trunks and under debris along the river’s edge. He successfully showed us how you can stick your hand into a hallowed tree trunk and pull out a shrimp. Gordie and Martha then discovered what they thought was another shrimp in another hallowed trunk. Gordie stuck his hand in and was almost immediately pinched. Determined, he stuck his hand back in and began the battle to remove this shrimp from its hiding place. We didn’t appreciate the viciousness of the struggle until he pulled out the animal’s claw which was at least 10 inches long (see photo). He tried again and pulled another claw. Somehow the creature retreated into the recesses of the tree trunk and never made it to the dinner table, but the claws were delicious.

Learning the language(s)

It’s no secret that I have been trying to learn Spanish. I find reading to be the easiest and I can struggle through writing (with the help of a dictionary). It’s conversation that I find most difficult. So, I was thrilled to happen upon 7 young students in the park in Zarcero who greeted me in English. Seizing the opportunity, I responded in Spanish. We continued this way for awhile. They were studying English in school and I explained that I was studying Spanish. It was great fun and I think I will begin to search out other Spanish speakers who are trying to learn English. It seems to put us all on the same playing field.

Topiaries of Zarcero

We were having a few problems with the rental car but didn’t want to waste time waiting to have the car fixed so we made arrangements to meet the mechanic in a town named Zarcero. Zarcero, less than an hour northeast of San Ramon, is a typical Costa Rican small town. The center of town features a beautiful park which sits in front of a large Catholic church. Here you will find some of the most whimsical topiaries imaginable. We spent about an hour wandering through the many topiaries while the mechanic fixed on our tie rod ends, right on the side of the road. Time well spent.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

At the crack of dawn we were up and heading from San Ramon to the airport San Jose to drop friends, Bill and DorisAnn, off for their flight back to Arizona. I always build in a little “just in case time” into the schedule to allow for any surprises we might encounter. In the past we have come upon bridges being welded together while we waited, protesters blocking main roads, random police inspections and cattle crossing the road. This day it was simply a flat tire that slowed us down. After a quick change on the side of the highway we made it to the airport and bid adieu to our visitors. We returned to San Ramon to relax. That evening we were back at the airport picking up two more guests, Robin and Melissa who were arriving for a 9 day stay.

Fishin’ for our dinner

I have been fishing numerous times in my life. I have caught branches, boots and a whole cadre of miscellaneous items, but never fish. So here I was at Stephanie’s place in San Ramon. We decided it would be fun to catch our dinner from the tilapia pond. Now, you may look at my photo and wonder how I can possibly call “that” a fish. For the record, I actually caught 3 of them – all similarly sized but all fish, nonetheless. Lucky for us some of the others had more luck catching “fry-sized” fish. What fun!