Taking care of business.

Well, we’ve been in Costa Rica for one month now. We’ve spent as much time as possible in the ocean. We have “discovered” a new beach (separate story) – to us anyway. Had time to visit with friends, and, make time to take care of the “business” of living here. One of those important "yearly" requirements is taking your car through the infamous “Reteve,” or Revison Technica.

Each year your vehicle is required to pass this strict inspection process.  You receive a sticker for the front windshield after you pass, and, yes, it is very important to have the sticker. There are transit police (traficos), who periodically set up road blocks to check that your vehicle and papers are current, you really want that current sticker.

Our closest inspection station is about an hour away in Limon. I signed up for the appointment online, we cleaned the car, checked that everything was in order and headed for our first inspection. There were only a few cars in front of us so the process went quickly. There are several “stations” to stop at; first the lights, blinkers, windows and exterior condition of the car. Then, under the hood to check cables and connections. Yes, they care about the WHOLE car. Next they test brakes and shocks. And, of course, they check the car’s emissions. I was very impressed with the whole process and enjoyed watching the results on large monitors at each station. The last station required that we drive and stop over a “pit,” similar to those you see in oil change shops in the US. From this vantage point we were able to watch all the working parts of our car from the bottom up – very cool.

The whole experience was far less stressful than I had anticipated. Unfortunately, we failed the emissions portion of the test. We now had 30 days to have it repaired and retest. Back home, oil change, gas cleaner and a few more tweaks. Next, back to a mechanic in Limon who looked at the results of our previous inspection and sent us on to another mechanic down the road. This mechanic took a look at the results, looked under the car and sent us to another mechanic down the road (everyone specializes here). The sign on this shop was "muflas." Turns out we needed to have a new catalytic converter installed and were able to get that done as we waited. $70 dollars later we had a brand new catalytic converter, passed our test and proudly displayed a bright red 2013 sticker on the windsheild. Business completed. Back to the beach.

Aspiring Beachcomber.

Be honest, who hasn’t aspired to be a beachcomber at some point in their lives. I could credit growing up on Long Island Sound or possibly my fascination with old Gidget movies. Whatever the source, it is an aspiration that has stuck with me. Perhaps because the requirements are simple. Location. Check. I am living on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica with access to miles and miles of tropical beaches. Free time. Check. Retired. No schedule to keep, except perhaps “Taco Tuesday” at Tasty Waves Beach Cantina.  Coconuts. Check. Coconut water, milk, meat. Coconut crusted everything. Coconut oil. Coconut carvings. And lastly, Sea shells to collect. Well, believe it or not, there are not many shells on the beaches. Miles of smooth black, white and golden yellow sand beaches, but not many rocks or shells. Great for swimming, not so great for collecting. Each morning I’d go out and walk along the beach to see what I could discover. My favorite finds have been sea urchin shells. Usually 3 or 4 a day is all I would come across. You can imagine my surprise yesterday morning when I came upon hundreds of sea urchin shells that had washed ashore. I have cleaned them all and already begun to string some to hang on the porch. Something every good beachcomber would do. I think I will be successful in my new endeavor.

Finding special places

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. - Mark Twain 

As a young child of 7 or so, I anticipated Mondays. Summer Mondays to be exact. That was the time when mom would walk us kids up Downs Avenue to visit the Bookmobile. I’d go inside the converted bus lined with books and begin the serious business of selecting something to read over the next week. Then, book in hand, I would hurry back home to see what adventures awaited me inside the pages of my “find.” I never remember reading inside the house. It was always outside. In the yard under the maple trees, or in the shadow of the large weeping willow in my backyard. By high school we were given mandatory summer reading lists. Ten books, as I recall, with a test to be given on the first day back to school in the Fall. The thrill of reading faded quickly. College brought more years of mandatory reading. And who doesn’t feel obliged to read financial, technology and career-related titles just to “keep up” in the workplace?

Well, I am retired now and rediscovering the joys of reading just for pleasure. Good books, I like to think. Many have been titles that were “mandatory” at an earlier stage in life when reading the “Cliff Notes” seemed to be an acceptable solution. Not now. Now I am drawn to the language and style of the author as much as the plot. And, I am recapturing those “special places” to read. One of my favorites, a tree stump overlooking a creek by the side of my yard in Costa Rica. With birds and lizards as my companions I can escape again into the magical world of reading.

Life's simple pleasures

After almost 5 months in the USA, visiting with family and friends, we are back on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. There are always surprises when you come back to a house that has been unoccupied for that long. The first, and most obvious, was the rapid growth of plants in the yard. We had a small, "volunteer" papaya tree that took root in our front planter before we left. We returned to a tree with leaves on the roof. Another great surprise was finding out how much our black pepper vine had grown. There were dozens of stems filled with the ripe green fruits. We hand separated them and dried them for 2 days in the sun. We now have an amble supply of black peppercorns to put in our grinder (the "bunny" is our pepper grinder. The pepper is spicier and tastier than any I have ever bought in a store or been served in a restaurant. I'm not sure if it was just the fascination of being able to make such a simple, everyday staple that makes it taste so good, or if I should be planning for worldwide distribution.

Continuous Improvement

It's been 4 months since I have updated this blog. We were back in the States - 7 of them to be exact - to attend weddings, visit family, and plant a pumpkin patch.

Costa Rica is as green as I remember. The 5 banana plants that went in the yard before we left are already approaching 12 feet high. Three of the papaya trees I planted are each about 3 feet high. A fourth papaya is growing in the planter in front of the house - it already has the beginnings of 4 papayas fruits on it - and I don't even remember planting that one!

Our new "project" on this trip has been a kitchen update and remodel. And, of course, if you remodel one room it ends up affecting several others as well. So, the living room is now larger thanks to repositioning of the entertainment center/bookcase, which opened up the wall between the living room and kitchen. The kitchen has a new, sleeker sink and new shelves. Plus the refrigerator and stovetop cabinet have been repositioned. We're not quite done - still need to tile the work counter, finish the tile behind the sink and replace the old storage shelves with the larger ones we varnished today. It's so open and roomy - I love it! One of the photos shows the "old" version with concrete sink. The other photo shows an in-progress shot of the "new" kitchen. I hope you can tell the difference.

In Search of Leatherback Turtles

Leatherback turtles, the world’s largest turtle species, spend their lives traveling the tropical and subtropical seas of the world. But, amazingly, when they are ready to lay their eggs, they return to the very same beach where they were born. Lucky for us, from February to July, hundreds of these Leatherbacks return to the warm beaches of Gandoca, Costa Rica, to build their nests. The Gandoca Refuge is at the southernmost tip of Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, about 15 miles as the crow flies from our home. By road it’s more like 50 miles accessible by the highway through Hone Creek to Panama or alternatively by unpaved roads parallel to the beach then over the mountain meeting up with the highway near the Panamanian border.

There are several tour companies in Puerto Viejo that offer all-inclusive trips there but, since we now have a car, we decided to take the drive ourselves. We easily found the small sign on the highway indicating the turn off. Another mile or so down the rural road we came across the free-standing ATM and a fork in the road with a turtle picture and arrow pointing to the left. A few more miles through Del Monte banana plantations, over one small sketchy bridge, and past several monkey trees and we were now in the very, very small community of Gandoca. We continued straight through town to a pristine palm studded beach. At the beach is a prominent sign informing visitors that no one is allowed on the beach between 5 PM and 5 AM during nesting season without a guide. The beaches are patrolled by community volunteers This is one of the many ways that the community protects and preserves the nesting turtles.

We soon found a hostel right next to the beach, procured a guide for the evening and had a bite to eat at a small “soda” - snack bar - in the town. At 8 PM we met our guide on the beach by the “turtle egg nursery” - at this particular turtle nesting area, the locals and volunteers place a plastic bag under the turtle as she lays her eggs. They then bring the eggs to the designated nursery area where they are re-buried in the sand and continually watched until they hatch. We waited for the turtles to come. We waited until midnight but no leatherbacks showed up. Early the next morning we took a stroll along the beach and we able to identify 3 different sets of “turtle tracks.” I guess they came very, very late. Although we were a little disappointed at not being able to see the nesting turtles we had a great trip. We will try again!!!

Celebrating Costa Rica-style

Family is very important to Costa Ricans and the whole family loves to get together to celebrate birthdays, holidays and special occasions. Over Easter weekend we were invited to a neighbor's wedding at a small neighborhood church. The invitations were handmade and delivered in person. The church was decorated by the couple's families with balloons, streamers, local flowers and palm fronds. Reception food was homemade and the 3-tiered cake was made by another neighbor. Although we didn't understand most of what was said, the music was great, and everyone was very welcoming and friendly. We were pleased to be part of this very special day.

On Easter Sunday we attended a special concert at the Catholic Church in Puerto Viejo. The 35-person choir came from throughout the Caribbean coast, from Limon to Puerto Viejo. They were unbelivable good! The Banda National de Limon accompanied the choir to standing ovations. Our town is very small so it was quite a thrill to be entertained by such professional musicians.