…more Before and Afters…

We have also been busy on the inside of the house this year. The original house had 3 small bedrooms. Since there are only 2 of us (most of the time) we decided to keep the front bedroom as a guest room and combine the other 2 into one master suite. We added cabinets to the guest room, under-bed storage and a “fold-down” desk. The master suite was a little more involved. We closed off one of the doorways and turned it into additional pantry storage for the kitchen. We then took out the middle section of the adjoining wall, painted and trimmed. The room now has 3 windows with outstanding views of the yard, a sleeping area and a sitting/dressing area(see photo 1, photo 2 is the original master bedroom). The original 9-1/2’ x 8’ master bedroom is now a 9-1/2’ x 16’ living space.

…more Before and Afters…

Telling people in Arizona that our bathroom is outside has always brought a few laughs. Here, in rural Costa Rica it is very common. Through the year we have grown to appreciate the many benefits of our bathroom / shower / laundry room area and have spent a good deal of time improving it (first photo is "after"). We added a “suicide shower” – the local way of having hot water showers. We tiled the floors. Added a stainless steel sink in the laundry area and a porcelain sink in the bathroom. And of course we painted inside and out to complement the great “monkey curtains” I brought to Costa Rica from Target.

Christmas greetings from Costa Rica

Our sincerest greetings for a Christmas filled with joy, friendship and love go out to all of our friends and neighbors back in Arizona and elsewhere. We miss everyone and wish you all the best. Christmas traditions here are much like those in the States. You see many homes with decorated Christmas trees on their front porches (houses are much smaller here but almost everyone has a front porch). Their are also lights decorating many of the homes -- not quite as elaborate as some of the displays "back home" but festive nonetheless. Familes and friends get together to share food and libations. We went to a "pot luck" party last weekend and some tico neighbors invited us to their home for a delicious traditional lunch a couple of days ago. They also invited us to their parents house on Christmas eve where we had some delicious home-cooked tamales. Here they are wrapped and steamed in banana leaves instead of corn husks. Yum. Although the language difference still makes it difficult to communicate as well as we would like, we are still able to socialize. Thank God. Today we are going to an expat friend's home for a Christmas meal -- and more libations. She spent most of the day yesterday cooking so I guarantee we will be well fed this holiday season. Merry Christmas, keep in touch and make it a New Year's resolution to visit us down here!!!

A very unexpected visitor

It was a quiet, peaceful morning. The sun was shining. The dogs were quiet. There was no TV blaring unpleasant news. All was well with the universe. Gordie was relaxing in the living room playing a video game from the comfort of his favorite armchair. Patches, the cat, was on the front porch frolicking with a bug. A Norman Rockwell moment, indeed. When suddenly, without warning, something fell from a rafter onto Gordie’s back. He turned around to look and saw that it was a snake. Yes, another of those 135 species of snakes that live with us in Costa Rica. Gordie jumped up. Quickly brought Patches in to take care of the situation. The cat was intrigued and initially played with the snake but lost interest when it slithered behind a bureau in the bedroom. Thinking all was safe it then slithered out and into a plaid bag that was on the floor. Our advantage. The bag made a convenient carrying case as we brought our visitor down to a neighbor’s to see if it was poisonous. Neighbor #1 thought it might be but decided to check with neighbors #2 and 3 who confidently declared the snake to be harmless. We let it free and now our unexpected visitor is slithering its way through the jungle -- never to return – we hope.

New addition to the family…

Right before we left for our 6 weeks in AZ, one of the dogs brought a tiny, baby kitten home in its mouth. The poor little thing appeared to be not more than a couple of days old and our attempts to feed it drops of warm milk failed. Luckily our new neighbor, Alfonso, heard the kitten’s cry and came by to tell us (in Spanish of course) that he had the mother. He told us we could keep the kitten when we got back so we gave him some money to feed the mom and babies while we were gone. When we returned to Costa Rica the house next door was empty and Alfonso was gone but there was a cat hanging out at our house…our new cat, Patches. Patches was anxious to impress us during her first few weeks…she would hunt down anything that moved and even caught a bat mid-air as it flew through the house. Patches hangs out with the dogs and has now become a full-fledged member of our menagerie.

What are the odds?

Today I read that there are 135 different species of snakes in Costa Rica but that the likelihood of a face-to-face encounter with one of them is rather small. Well, statistics aside, yesterday I came face-to-face with boa number 2. This one was compliments of a young neighbor who brought it by the house for us to see (the arm in the photo is hers – not mine). So, although I have been told that the boa is not dangerous to humans, odds are I will do a lot more reading about this animal before my next encounter.

What’s a visit to Costa Rica without monkeys?

Early each morning before 5 and each afternoon about 4, we can hear the unique roar of howler monkeys who live in the jungle canopy near our home. Although we have become accustomed to their daily chatter, hearing these characters for the first time is a memorable experience for visitors. And, naturally, they want to see the monkeys in person. We have found two places nearby that are almost guaranteed “monkey sighting” spots. One is at Cahuita National Park, and the second is on a side road near Punta Vargas (halfway between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo). Since the National Park was closed because of the heavy rains and flooding when the family was here, we took them to the spot by Punta Vargas. High in the trees on one side of the road were white-faced capuchins (the organ grinder type) and on the other side were howler monkeys. One of the capuchin monkeys looked as if he were posing – complete with a banana in hand. Better than a zoo any day.