Beware Nicaraguan Cow Killers!

We’ve had some military drama over the last couple of weeks here in Costa Rica, a nation, you’ll recall, with no military. So when a neighboring country, in this case Nicaragua, starts to step on toes, it does make one a little nervous. From news bulletins, we learned that the Nicaraguans had started dredging the eastern end of the San Juan River, which forms the international border between the two countries, and was dumping the resulting sediment onto Costa Rican soil. According to a farmer whose property was being damaged by the dumped materials as well as by the unauthorized clearing of trees on his land, the man in charge of the dredging project is none other than Eden Pastora, formerly known as Commandante Cero (Commander Zero) during the Sandinista Revolution and later a Contra rebel leader. Interestingly, Pastora spent eight years in exile in this same area of Costa Rica, after breaking with the new Sandinista government in the early 1980’s.

 

Marco Reyes, the owner of a large farm on the Costa Rican side of the river, claims that the trouble started earlier in October when a number of armed men led by Pastora entered his land, informing him that the land belonged to Nicaragua. When Reyes objected and stated he was in Costa Rican sovereign territory, the Nicos, as Nicaraguans are known, harassed his workers and killed several of his cows.

        

As the situation has developed, it appears that Nicaragua was hoping to carve a new channel for the San Juan in order to open the river to more tourism, but in the process, chopping off a piece of Costa Rica for themselves. Naturally, Costa Rica lodged a protest with the Nicaraguan ambassador to Costa Rica and sent some 90 members of the National Police, a sort of army-lite, to a small village just south of the disputed river area. A Tico Times report says the police force was dressed in military fatigues and carried M-16 assault weapons, but apparently most of their duty involved periodic flyovers of the area to assess environmental damage. As of last Friday, the dredging had been moved to the Nicaraguan bank, according to one report, on the direct order of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, but a number of police were still stationed in the small town of Barra de Colorado as diplomatic efforts to settle the dispute dragged on. The river has served as a border between the two countries since a treaty in 1858 but has been a point of contention on many occasions. It’s times like these when it is nice to have a big, strong friend like the good old U.S. of A.

And it’s Halloween weekend in the States and although Costa Rica considers that a “foreign” holiday, they still find a way to celebrate. It seems to be a part of the Pura Vida lifestyle here to celebrate for just about any reason and since kids of all ages love to dress up and hide behind masks, Costa Rica has its own Día de la Mascarada Costarricense. A decree in 1997 made the fiesta official but masks have been part of the cultures of indigenous people such as the Boruca and Bribri Indians since pre-Columbian times. So Sunday will see parades full of colorful masks and costumes in cities across the country, along with dancing and music in the central parks. In Aserri, the party will last all day with a Feria de Tamal (Tamale Market) and fireworks in the evening.

But there’ll be no masks for Layne and me as we join the festivities at Kay’s Gringo Postre for a Halloween dance party tonight. Putting a costume together here just seemed beyond us this year. The best I could do was to buy a lovely seed necklace from an elderly Tica in a small home along our walk the other day. That, along with a yellow  hibiscus in my hair, will have to suffice to turn me into a “Sweetie from Tahiti,” as my beaded capri pants and top will attest. Layne says he plans to go as “a Gringo.” How’s that for creative? Just as we left the woman’s house, we encountered this spirited horse and rider, a typical Costa Rican high-stepping steed. But the caballero was cooperative enough to stop and pose for my photograph.

 

As we enjoy the music tonight, we will remember fondly the many great Halloween parties at our friend Ruth’s home in Auburn when we adults all dressed up in the most outlandish costumes and half-scared the kids who came to the door for candy, unprepared for crazy costumed grown-ups. Happy Halloween to all! 

Progress Report: Eyeglasses ✓ Hair Dryer ✓ Swimsuit ✓

         Two hours ago I was lying in the sun, occasionally swimming laps in the pool in my new hot pink swimsuit. Now there’s a torrential downpour with raindrops as big as grapes pounding through the jungle outside my office window and occasional sharp claps of thunder in the near distance. But as our landlady Odie says, the October rains are important for the rice and bean crops. Plus, that’s why things are so green here: lots of sunshine and lots of rain. Life in the tropics!

         At least Layne’s cold has improved enough that we went for a walk earlier this morning while the sun was shining. Along the way we met a Gringo couple from Chicago and their little Beagle dog, who moved to Atenas only three weeks ago after living a couple of months up the mountain in San Ramon. Although they found that town to be too cool and too large for their taste, they are quite enamored of Costa Rica in general. Like us, they are working on legal residency and have achieved the “active file” status. We got their contact information and hope to get together soon to cultivate our new friendship.

         Our big outing this week was in search of new eyeglasses for me. In Spanish, they are called anteojos, which is so amusing to me because “antes” means “before” and “ojos” means eyes. So literally, it means in front of the eyes! I’ve been wearing the same scratched up, out-of-date prescription lenses for at least three years so I was overdue. And since part of the reason for this blog is to inform my readers what life is really like in Costa Rica, I will describe in some detail my search for new spectacles.

          Last summer in California, I got glasses made while still covered by Kaiser Permanente insurance but the result was unsatisfactory so I returned them. With only a few days before our departure for Oregon, however, it was too late for Kaiser to make another pair so I got a refund and took my prescription to Lenscrafters, where they can produce glasses in an hour or so. But we were shocked to find that they wanted more than $500 for a new pair, even using discounted frames. At that point, we decided prices would surely be better in Costa Rica and we held off until our return to Atenas.

         A few weeks ago, we stopped by a local optician’s office with my prescription and were quoted a price of one hundred seventeen thousand colones or about $235, using my same frames but with top-notch progressive lenses. They warned us that although we could have glasses made for much less through CAJA, the Costa Rican universal health insurance which we have, they would not be of the high quality that I am used to. Apparently, CAJA keeps their costs down by using lower quality laboratories for such items.

         But the price seemed rather high to us so I put off making an appointment until I could talk with our trusted landlady about it. When I did, Odie frowned and shook her head no. That was too much, she said. And besides, she didn’t really trust the level of competence and knowledge of the company here. Better I should go in to San Jose to a store she could recommend. Since we needed to visit the U.S. Embassy to give Social Security our new address anyway, we headed out on the 9:00 a.m. bus last Thursday. After the brief stop at the Embassy, we walked a few blocks to Plaza Mayor shopping center where I found a great deal on that pink vestido de bano, or bathing suit, in a shop just across the from the optometrist’s office. We found it curious indeed that the cigar kiosk in the center of the aisle was filled with colorful hookah pipes since drugs such as marijuana are quite illegal here.

         Optica Vision was sparkling clean and high-tech, the doctora (female doctor) was in, the staff was friendly and with no other customers around we got quick service. Using my old frames, I was quoted a price of ninety thousand colones ($180), which sounded pretty good compared to the Atenas or U.S. prices. But after I mentioned that we were getting our pensionado status, they tacked on a 10% discount, dropping the total to about $165. They offered to have the glasses back within two days and even gave me a free pair of contact lenses to use while I would be without glasses. We picked the anteojos up yesterday and once I tried them and found the result so excellent, with the progressive lenses sharp, the anti-reflective coating clear and the prescription apparently perfect, I inquired about getting some single-vision computer glasses. I spend a lot of time at my computer and the drugstore pair I use can cause eyestrain. How delighted we were to find that for a simple prescription like that, they offered a “promocion” of only twenty thousand colones ($40) including the frame and the lens! Needless to say, we ordered a pair of those as well as a pair of reading glasses. Now I’ll be set for all my vision needs.

         On our return to Atenas by bus, we stopped by to check on my hair dryer repair, the one that was supposed to take only two days but which, at that point, had been over a week in the shop. I am happy to report that we did indeed retrieve it, fully repaired and for only 2000 colones, about $4. That’s the good news since there’s no way you could have a hair dryer repaired for that low price in the States. Thus, back home one would just sigh and head out to by a new one. Here, the new one would cost quite a lot but the repair is cheap. The bad news is that it took so much longer than I had expected. Each time I went to pick it up, the clerk on duty was unable to locate it, to the point that I had begun to worry that it was actually lost. Apparently the repairman had placed it high up on a shelf out of easy sight, leaving the other workers at a loss as to where it might be found. Finally, I happened in when the repairman was there and it was quickly returned to me with sheepish smiles and apologies for the delay.

         On a final personal note, I would like to thank all you readers for your loyalty to this blog. My page views are now well over 2600 and my audience just in the last week has included visitors from China, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Slovenia, Denmark, Djibouti and of course, the United States and Costa Rica. Thank you so much for coming to visit this page and keeping up with our adventures in the land of Pura Vida!

Life in Costa Rica: Birds, Bees and Other "Bugs"

         For the last week, we’ve been fighting off bugs around here, both the creepy-crawly type and the cold and sore throat type. Poor Layne came down with a horrid cold complete with the stuffed up head, sneezing and rattling cough. I hesitate to ramble on about such mundane matters but the experience taught us a few lessons about life here in Costa Rica and that, after all, is partly the purpose of this blog.

         It has been years since either of us had a cold so we were unprepared for this attack. My guess is that at the well-attended food festival last weekend Layne encountered a Costa Rican “bug” for which he had no immunity and it hit him hard. So for much of last week I played nursemaid, running into town day after day as I tried to find medicines that would give him some relief. This was no easy task because the brands we are used to in the States are either unavailable here, are sold under a different brand name, or as I learned, are very expensive due to the duties on imported goods.

         Last Tuesday, at the onset of Layne’s ailment, our housekeeper Cidia suggested a gel-capsule called Tabcin, a Costa Rican product that comes in two versions, one for daytime and one for night. Unfortunately, the first farmacia I stopped at sold me the daytime version so it didn’t do much to help him sleep. That night his cough was so severe our upstairs neighbor commented that she had been worried about him. The next day I went to another pharmacy and got the nighttime version so we all got some sleep that night. But when I asked for Afrin nasal spray, I was dismayed to pay $10 for a small bottle. Then at Layne’s request, I bought Claritin, known here as Clarityne, and had total sticker shock at the $2.40 per tablet price tag. Since pills are sold here individually or in packets of two, not in bottles of 50 or so, it makes you painfully aware of the per-pill price. It seems we need to find local brands for such products.

         The most effective cough medicine I found for him came from Macrobiotica, our favorite organic, health-food store here in Atenas. After doing some online research, I went there looking for slippery elm or horehound and was pleased when the English-speaking owner suggested an affordable Costa Rican-made syrup which included those ingredients as well as expectorant and immune-boosting products, such as ginger, Echinacea, and such.

         My own bout with the “bug” was short-lived, I’m happy to report. A few days into Layne’s illness, I felt the beginnings of a sore throat. Uh oh, I thought. But with massive doses of Vitamin C and Echinacea, plus some throat lozenges from Macrobiotica, I kicked it. We’re both almost back to normal.

         “Normal” here in the tropics, however, includes other kinds of bugs, namely, the flying or crawling types. As I’ve reported in other posts, we are blessed with many beautiful exotic birds, including some stunning rufous-tailed hummingbirds. (Thanks to Terry Thormin for this photo. These little guys are hard to photograph!) In an effort to attract those iridescent green and rusty-gold beauties to my back patio, we bought a small plastic feeder at the local pet store, also an expensive item since it was an import. But the problem now is the amazingly aggressive small bees, which hover around and even chase away the hummers when they try to feed. After some online research on this topic (what did we do before the Internet?), I tried some of the techniques recommended there, such as giving the bees their own yellow plate of nectar since they are attracted to that color, or just taking the hummingbird feeder down for a few days, on the theory that bugs are stupid and will forget, whereas hummers will keep checking a good feeding spot. None of that worked. Then our landlord came and destroyed what he thought was the bees’ nest, which does seem to have cut down on the sheer number of flying critters coming around, but they are still out there, driving me nuts! I swat them down by the dozens and still they flit around the feeder, intimidating the birds. My next step is to buy a bee-proof style feeder online and have a friend ship it down to me. Still, the hummers do show up, especially in morning and evening feeding times. Today one even flew into the house and got panicked behind the curtain trying to get out. Gently, I managed to catch the tiny thing in my hand and as I let him go, I hoped he was grateful and would come back to my feeder.

       Of course, we do have some lovely “bugs” here as well and indeed, I have been photographing them lately. My efforts were rewarded recently when a butterfly landed on my hand. Luckily, my camera hand was free and I snapped several pictures of the little beauty sitting there quite contentedly. Then this morning the gorgeous Turquoise-browed Motmot paid us another visit, but I failed to catch him in my camera and must rely again on the wealth of photos available online, this one by Noel Urena.  

         Not everything is as expensive here as medicines and bird feeders. When my hairdryer recently quit on me, I decided to take it to the local “Repuestos Electrodomesticos,” or repair shop for domestic electrical gadgets, to see if they could fix it for a reasonable price since I knew that a new imported one would be pricey. The man at the counter said of course, they could fix it. When I asked about price, he shrugged as if to say, “who knows until we look at it?” Then I said in my modest Spanish, “menos de nuevo, si?” meaning it would be less than a new one, right? He laughed and said yes, it would probably be about 2000 colones. That’s only $4! Where could you get a hairdryer repaired for that in the States? That’s part of why Americans have such a “disposable” society: It costs more to repair things there than it does to buy a new one! Here, it’s just the opposite and maybe that’s a good thing.

         P.S. Just as I was ready to post this story of “the birds and the bees,” I noticed a little work crew of ants efficiently carrying a dead moth across the living room floor, right out the front door! Pura Vida, I suppose. 

Domingo (Sunday) Exercise Plan: Walk, Swim, Eat

       With the dawning of another beautiful day here - five in the last week - we’re beginning to think that we may have seen the worst of the rainy season. Of course, we’ve been told that October can be the nastiest month so we’ll see. Meanwhile, it’s definitely a day for the swimming pool so this post will either be brief or will be interrupted with a swim.

         We do deserve a day of rest since yesterday found us lugging bags of supplies and foodstuff downtown for the Atenas Cultura International Food Festival, then serving bowls of Texas Chili to dozens of appreciative attendees, Tico and Gringo alike. One thing about these local events: they are ever so festive with lots of adorable children and friendly adults, colorful costumes, loud Latin music and traditional Costa Rican dances. This free two-hour festival was no exception as representatives from some of the many countries or regions of the world who reside here in Atenas took the opportunity to offer a native dish for visitors to sample. There was sushi from Japan, eggplant from Iran, lemon curd from the Napa Valley, wines from Argentina, cheese and bread from France, salmon dip from Indiana, barbequed pulled pork from the Midwest, my own Texas dish and, of course, Costa Rican dishes such as ayote custard desert made from pumpkin. Since this was the first time the event had been staged here in Atenas, organizers had no idea how many people might attend but we were all pleasantly surprised at the large turnout. My pot of chili with optional toppings of grated cheese, red onion, cilantro and hot jalapenos was a big hit, with many tasters returning to my table to tell me both in English and Spanish how much they had enjoyed it. In fact, I was encouraged by several to enter the chili cook-off, which will be held in February. But I didn’t get a rave review from everyone. As one little boy who had tried the chili earlier wandered back by our table, I asked if he had liked it. With the painful honesty of a four-year-old, he shook his head slowly side to side, his cute face turning to a frown. Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all!

         On Friday night we experienced a 5.9 earthquake here in Atenas, and from the U.S.Geological Survey report, the epicenter was located not far away, although about sixty miles deep. It’s the first quake we’ve had since moving to Atenas but having lived through several major temblors in my life, I knew immediately what it was as the house started slowly rocking. The first sway was quite minor and I thought it was over but then another wave pushed it up the scale a bit and the shaking continued for a few seconds longer. At that particular moment, I was typing a comment on Facebook; I just kept on typing, adding to my note the fact that we were right then in a quake. Perhaps that’s too nonchalant, eh? The funny thing is we had just had a conversation with a local Tico who bragged that Atenas is particularly safe from earthquakes or volcanoes because it is located some distance from any of the active volcanoes in Costa Rica. So much for that theory!

         An hour in the sun and a few laps in the pool later, I can now continue. Layne and I took such a long hour-and-a-half walk this morning, I had little energy left for swimming but the sunshine felt wonderful.

         Our Sunday morning walk was strenuous as we covered probably 4 miles or more. Once I had called my mother and Layne his sister, we took off down the main street here in Barrio Los Angeles, heading away from town this time, instead of uphill toward the main part of Atenas. We recently learned of a Center for Sustainable Development Studies out that way, a school which offers environmental studies abroad, here in Atenas as well as in Australia, Mexico, Kenya and Turks and Caicos (wherever that is!). We set out thinking perhaps we could find the school if we just kept walking. And indeed, we almost made it. Just as we decided we had gone far enough since we still had a return hike to go, I asked a couple walking along the road where the school was and learned it was less than a kilometer further. Perhaps next time we’ll make it all the way.

         We have a few friends who live here in Barrio Los Angeles so we thought we might see one of them. At the Food Festival yesterday we learned that French couple who offered homemade cheese and breads also lives near us. In their business, they provide a “personalized gastronomic menu” in which they prepare a gourmet French meal in your home.  It turns out that the woman, whose name is Nathalie, taught sustainable agriculture in college in Paris, France, so she shared our interest in the local school on sustainability.

         On our lengthy walk, we spied a stunning green lizard along the side of the road. I snapped this picture just before a car drove by and scared him away into the bushes. There were some beautiful homes along the road as well, most hidden from view in gated estates, a few for sale or rent. As we passed a rushing creek alongside the road, I spied a limb with several bromeliads still attached, which had fallen into the water. My intrepid darling Layne stepped carefully down onto the rocks and retrieved a couple of the wet plants for me. We’ll see if I can revive them. Apparently they grow almost anywhere: Check out these growing on telephone lines above the road. I guess that’s the tropics for you!

Horsing Around in Turrialba, Costa Rica

     Our weekend in the Turrialba area was a rush! One new experience followed on the heels of another, with hardly time to catch our breath. Although reports of road closures around the country due to rain made us question the wisdom of travel, Desiree assured us that in her region, things were normal: sunny in the morning with late afternoon downpours. No problema! So on Thursday morning off we went on a three-plus-hour bus ride, across the Central Valley and down the long Caribbean slope to Turrialba where Desiree met us with one of her four dogs, Bella, who had a vet appointment in town. We made our way to the central park as dozens of loud-voiced parrots in tall palm trees screeched a welcome and we sat down at a sidewalk café for a bite of lunch. Afterwards, we walked a few blocks to the vet and had good news on Bella - just a fatty deposit - so we headed to the car for the thirty-minute ride to Desiree’s home high on the mountain beyond the tiny village of Tuis.

         The first part of our trip from Turrialba to La Suiza was on paved roads, but words can hardly describe the last few miles of steep uphill pulls on narrow gravel tracks with potholes as big as barrels, Desiree hardly slowing her 30-year-old Toyota jeep as we growled our way to near the top of the 3500’ peak. Once we arrived, we could see why she loves it: a near 360-degree view across two valleys to the smoking peak of Turrialba Volcano and a grand vista of mountains all around.

         Desiree and her partner Tim (who was in Africa for his United Nations pilot’s job) have a huge spread for their dogs, horses, chickens, cattle and turkeys. With the considerable help of her farm worker Rudo, Desiree is developing a greenhouse and herb garden and growing enough grasses to feed the horses. The house boasts floor-to-ceiling windows in virtually every room; the views are truly incredible.

The view from Maddie's back!

         On Friday morning, we were up early for a horseback ride up the mountain road. Costa Rican ponies are much smaller than most U.S. horses, just over 14 hands, but sure-footed and steady on the rather steep ride to the top. Fearing crippling soreness, we opted not to complete the two-hour loop but we did enjoy amazing views from the upper section of Desiree’s land. Stopping back by her greenhouse, where Rudo was packing huge bags of freshly-cut horse feed, we tied up the horses and hiked down a treacherous steep path, slick from the night’s rain, to the top of the waterfall. A landslide had blocked off the trail to the bottom of the falls but the pools above were obviously a favorite spot for the dogs, who cavorted across the mossy rocks and chased imaginary fish in the small ponds. It was a beautiful spot for a picnic or just a tranquil hour out of the tropical heat.

         After our ride, we cleaned up and headed for the feria in Turrialba, which meant another half hour of bone-jarring bumps over rocky roads. The farmers’ market was alive with vendors calling out the merits of their produce, from the ordinary carrots, potatoes, bananas and such to the more exotic chayote, yucca and huge papayas. After a few purchases we stopped into Desiree’s favorite bakery for empanadas before heading back up the hill to the house. Our evenings were spent getting better acquainted, laughing and talking as we enjoyed Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics or Chilean wines, courtesy of Tim’s good taste in liquor, watching the afternoon sky darken into rain clouds and listening to the eventual boom of thunder and the rattle of heavy showers in the trees.

One of several stream crossings

         But if we thought we had seen the worst of the roads in Costa Rica, we were in for a surprise on Saturday when we drove several miles out of La Suiza to visit Ginnee and Phil, Desiree’s friends who are developing a biodynamic/organic farm and eco project in the middle of remote jungle alongside the rushing Rio Atirro. Located just beyond the tiny pueblo of Esperanza, the couple owns some 1000 acres, most of it protected virgin forest. But on the acreage under cultivation, Phil is growing a special type of bamboo, called Guadua Angustifolia, which gets as big as eight inches in diameter and is used for home construction in Columbia. Ginnee hopes to eventually build bamboo huts in the back of their homesite to rent out as vacation cottages. A former nurseryman with extensive plant knowledge, Phil is also cultivating Vetevier, a pasture grass that grows a three-foot root, which helps prevent erosion and the landslides so common here. As he showed us around the property, he spouted Latin names of plant species here and there like a music lover might name songs.

         After our brief tour through the orchards and down by the river, accompanied by seven of their dogs, Ginnee treated us to her delicious coconut flan, tasty fresh ginger tea and a cold treat of papaya faux ice cream as we all sat around the big dining table, with Layne and I doctoring a few bug bites, and talked the merits of organic farming, a back-to-the-land lifestyle and the “intentional community” they are planning. Ginnee told us of her blog, http://costaricamountain.blogspot.com/, where she chronicles the birth of every calf and shares other news of their life in the small community. Check it out - it has some great photos.

         One notable thing about the location of their big farm was the climate. Nestled down in a jungle valley surrounded by steep forested hillsides, we expected it to be hot and humid. Instead, there was a steady and strong breeze blowing through their windows, which were covered by screens but had no glass or shutters to shut out the weather. According to Phil, the thermal breezes move up the mountainsides in the mornings as the air warms, then reverse and blow downhill in the late afternoons, keeping the air fresh and cool virtually all the time.

         On our way back to Tuis and Desiree’s place, we stopped briefly at a macaw breeding facility. The beautiful birds were exciting to view up close, as they peered curiously back at us while we wandered through the three open buildings. But some were obviously stressed with feathers missing and a depressed look about them. Although some of them will eventually go to new owners or even be turned back into the wild, it saddened me to see these gorgeous, untamed creatures locked in cages.  

         After our return, as Layne and I relaxed in the afternoon shade, Desiree brought out two baby turkeys to give them some free-range time out of their heated nursery kennel. To my amazement, her dogs left the chicks alone. Even big Bru, who is part wolf, part German Shepard and part Collie, was politely curious but not the least bit aggressive. What a great menagerie Desiree has and how fortunate we were to share a long weekend with her and her critters. We look forward to a return trip! 

(Remember, you can click on photos to enlarge.)