Angels and Pit Bulls and Saints! Oh My!

With all the desperately bad news worldwide, it’s hard to muster up the energy or happy state of mind needed to write a blog post. Even here in Costa Rica we’ve had some troubling headlines: a recent 4-day strike by Caja (the national health care program) workers amid word that the Caja is in serious financial straits, and we’ve seen an uptick in crime in Atenas in the form of one home invasion of a Tico family at gunpoint and a few burglaries. Good grief!

Our new home!

But at least we have some good news personally. After weeks of searching, we have finally found the new home we’ve been seeking. We put down a deposit yesterday and will move in September 1st. We can hardly wait to begin enjoying a bigger space with two bedrooms and two baths, the modern open kitchen and great room and our own swimming pool! It’s only partially furnished so we will have to buy some “stuff,” but we got the house at well under market value so we feel pretty pleased with the decision. Best of all is the location: walking distance to town (mostly downhill), on a frequent bus route, slightly higher (i.e., cooler) elevation and friends who live nearby. And as you can see, the place looks like a Mediterranean villa!

It’s very hard to think of leaving our home here and our wonderful landlords -- who have become friends -- but I guess we are somewhat spoiled Gringos and need our “comforts.” More importantly, we very much want to be able to host dinner parties, cocktail get-togethers and pool parties and that’s not easy in our small apartment here. So it’s on to the next adventure.

One of the many things we knew we would miss in moving from here is Roscoe, the friendly pit bull neighbor who has been such a consistent visitor to our front porch during the late afternoon cocktail hour. Lately, we noticed that he had not been around and we have become concerned that he has run off and gotten lost, was stolen or worse. Two young men came by yesterday afternoon with their own pit bulls on leashes and called out to us asking if a dog was missing from here. I said yes and called Eduardo to come speak with them. They talked in animated Spanish about Roscoe for several minutes, although exactly what was said we don’t know. We expect to talk with Odie, our landlady, later today and find out what has befallen him. We are heartbroken to think something bad might have happened. He is such a sweetie. We miss him and hope he comes home soon.

We had quite a surprise last Tuesday as we headed out on our morning walk to town. As we turned the corner onto the main road here in Barrio Los Angeles, Layne and I were surprised to find the street festooned with tall plants and white flowers and energetic Ticas were laying a red carpet up the steps to the church, then further on blue and white angels on posts stretched as far as the eye could see. 

We knew it was a holiday, a religious celebration honoring Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, also known as La Negrita, the patron saint of Costa Rica. On that day, thousands of devotees make a pilgrimage to visit the Basilica in Cartago dedicated to this religious figure, some walking barefoot carrying rosary beads, or even crawling for many miles to pay respects to their saint. What we didn’t know is that because our small barrio is named for this “Lady of the Angels,” local Ticos go all out in decorating the nearby church and entire neighborhood to welcome the faithful who come here for the holiday instead of trekking all the way to Cartago. And apparently many from Atenas do just that because as we continued into town, foot traffic was all going the other direction, heading to Barrio Los Angeles. In our typical Tico style, we greeted each one with a “Buenos Dias” and a smile, but soon the sheer number of the faithful coming our way made speaking to everyone a bit much. We persevered, however, in honor of Pura Vida, our patron saint. We hope Our Lady of Los Angeles appreciated the courtesy to her followers. 

Update on Roscoe: We learned from Odie a few minutes ago that he ran off and, according to the two young men, is being held at a home nearby. We are hopeful that Eduardo will be able to rescue him when he goes there tomorrow. 

Singing in the Rainy Season

August 31, 2010

         It’s packing day here, getting ready for our move tomorrow. But I’ll take a break to draft this post and bring my devoted Followers up to date. We found our “almost perfect” apartment on Saturday. It turned out to be the very one that Dennis had mentioned before we arrived but then thought was already rented. Apparently, it was just miscommunication with the owner, so that a week later it was available after all. Just as we did last spring when we saw Hazel’s chalet, we fell immediately in love with the place. It has everything we wanted except for that second bedroom, but the “great room” is large enough to accommodate a futon for guests, there is a small office, and the rest of the place is simply delightful. All new and modern construction with lovely furnishings, it has a wonderful kitchen with a gas stove, which will make dinner parties a pleasure to prepare. There’s a big covered rancho a few steps away with a gas grill for cooking outdoors. And… ta da! … a gorgeous swimming pool. All this for $640 per month, including utilities -- not quite a Tico price but affordable. The landlords live in a beautiful home uphill on the sizeable property, which has a citrus orchard adjacent as well as acres of jungle and views of the mountains beyond. We can’t wait to move in tomorrow and finally unpack from our long summer of vagabond life.

         The day we were scheduled to go out with Gerardo and Nelson to look at housing options, there was a torrential downpour, a blustery drenching that we feared might delay the trip. In the midst of the storm, we heard a huge boom of thunder nearby and promptly the electricity went off, increasing our concern of a canceled tour. But shortly before our 2 p.m. appointment, the rain slacked off and soon our intrepid guides showed up. Still, the rain had taken its toll; as we neared town, we encountered a large dead tree fallen across the main road, requiring vehicles of all sizes to detour carefully around it. But by the time we returned to Vista Atenas two hours later, the authorities had already cut it back to allow passage and the electricity was back on, proving that sometimes things can move quickly and efficiently here.

         On our shopping trip into Atenas on Friday, we wandered through the farmers’ market and were delighted to find jalapenos, something we longed for all spring but never found. Contrary to what many people assume, Costa Rican food is quite bland in general and picante peppers are hard to find. With plenty of room for container gardening at our new apartment, I plan to grow my own jalapenos, tomatillos, basil, mint, tomatoes and turnip greens from organic seeds I brought from the States. Our new landlords seem to share our appreciation for organic foods, as well as other values such as recycling. The charming landlady we met, Odie, even mentioned her plan to get some chickens. How lovely to have fresh eggs!

         Friday night we called a taxi and headed up to El Mirador, the discothèque we frequented last spring, for an evening of karaoke and dancing. Our friend the owner seemed delighted to see us and Lenny, a Tico gentleman we remembered from earlier visits, came rushing over to greet us, a huge smile on his face as he pumped our hands in welcome. Unfortunately, the new D.J. had no English language songs or I’m sure Layne would have been on the floor, mike in hand, crooning old Eagles or Sinatra melodies. As it was we sipped our Imperial beers and enjoyed watching Lenny and others perform.

         On Saturday night, celebrating our success in finding a new home, we went downtown to Kay’s Gringo Postre for the monthly dance party. This time it was in celebration of Kay and Tom’s seventh wedding anniversary and the place was pretty packed with Gringos and Ticos alike. Not shy when it comes to dancing, Layne and I were on the floor more than most and when ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” came on, we had center stage to ourselves, flamboyantly improvising and giving expression to the lyrics. When the music ended, the crowd applauded our duet, with one man saying “I’d pay to watch that!” As the evening wore on, one of the Ticas approached Layne, inviting him to dance with her, a high compliment to his terpsichorean skills. He was flattered and delighted, reveling in the honor even after we returned home.

         The monthly dances are just one of the reasons that Layne and I feel we will settle in the Atenas area where we’ve learned the stores, made friends and know our way around. So yesterday we stopped in at the post office, or Correos, to rent a mailbox for a permanent address, only to learn they have none available until next March, when renewals come due and many will abandon their boxes. In the meantime, we’ll settle for General Delivery. No problema.         

         While we were there a Gringo entered carrying a big package to mail and struck up a conversation with us, asking how long we’d been in the country. As we chatted, he offered all kinds of cautionary notes to us newbies, from warning me not to wear fancy jewelry (what fancy jewelry?), saying thieves will “cut your hand off” to get a diamond ring, to urging us never to carry a computer in view. Although he allowed that Atenas is relatively safe, Alajuela and San Jose, like large cities the world over, are less so. There the criminals are willing to hurt you to get to your valuables. Indeed, already in our brief visits to San Jose, which have totaled only a few days, we experienced a near miss on a purse snatching while sitting at a sidewalk cafe, foiled only by the loud warning shouts of a nearby elderly Tica, so we are distinctly cautious anytime we visit the city. But I would feel the same way in Oakland, California, where drive-by shootings and random violence are so prevalent. Here in Atenas, we feel no such fear, comfortably exploring this charming pueblo and gradually becoming an accepted part of the community.

         (Drafted yesterday but unable to post due to Internet problems and photo transfer issues. Enjoy -- and look for another post soon now that we are moved into our new place.)

Monster Moths in a Mountain Cabin

Friday, March 19, 2010

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Nothing like a trip away to make you appreciate “home,” at least weather-wise. We returned last night from a two-day visit to a small pueblo in the mountains outside Cartago where our friends Kate and Gilberto reside in their hand-built rustic bungalow, surrounded by jungle and filled with local artwork. Kate (aka Kathi Galante) is Layne’s ex-wife, his first spouse of some 40-plus years ago, and Gilberto is her Spanish-speaking Tico husband. Kate tells us that the locals find her and Gilberto’s friendship with us odd indeed since they are immersed in a machismo culture from an early age and cordial relations with exes is almost unheard of. But from my first acquaintance with them four years ago on our initial trip to Costa Rica, I found Kate and Gilberto absolutely delightful! She is a linguistic genius, the master of several languages, and he is a dashing Latin hombre of many talents, from mechanical device repair to philosophy to fine art. Plus, over many years Kate has cultivated a unique and valuable role in their small village of La Estrella (which means “The Star”) by developing a wonderful theater program for the children. She showed us photos from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which they did a few years ago, with adorable kids in brightly colored satin costumes (made, of course, by a local Tica mother) dancing about on the small stage in the village community center. Using lush green branches from regional tropical plants adorned with twinkling holiday lights, she and the children had created a perfect backdrop for the fairy dancers. As her next production, Kate hopes to produce “Beauty and the Beast,” but she qualifies that ambitious goal with the following caveat: she will attempt it IF she can muster the energy once again to re-write and condense the script for children and for a small theater, choreograph and teach the dances, handle the rehearsals (in spite of some obstructionism from the local priest who doesn’t fully approve of these goings-on) and mount the production - all for only one performance, as that is the size of this small town audience. It’s an inspiration to see how much she accomplishes having so little with which to work and how much the children adore her. Our sombreros are off to her and her sweet and competent assistant Jessica!

         La Estrella sits in a tiny valley far up in the mountains of Costa Rica, with the blue-and-white metal Catholic Church, small school and soccer field centered in the basin and colorful but modest Tico houses scattered up the steep hillsides. Kate and Gilberto’s home is far up the mountain, so high on a ridge they have views of another valley on the backside of the house. The weather is cool, the air moist with cloud cover much of the time. I found myself in layers of tee shirt, sweatshirt and long pants, wondering how Kate could be comfortable in a light cotton dress. She claims that I would get adjusted to the temperatures, but somehow I doubt it. I was very happy to return to the warm and balmy climate here in Atenas.

         Insects were our constant companions in La Estrella. Kate claims the vast majority of the animals in this beautiful country are the creepy-crawly kind. Some were gorgeous, such as the huge Atlas moth, as big as a man’s hand, which first parked on the wall, then landed on a lamp and later flew around over dinner. Believe me, it is quite exotic to dine with such a fabulously beautiful creature hovering nearby! Others were very strange, including a preying mantis-type animal that was so thin and twig-like, I never would have guessed it to be a living creature except that Gilberto called me to the window and pointed it out, laughing at my amazed reaction.

         The bus ride back from La Estrella was an adventure in itself. The views were incredible, at every turn lush green mountains covered in tropical trees, occasional cattle in verdant pastures, tiny mountain villages, sheer cliffs along which our driver edged oh-so-close to the precipitous rim. But we never felt in danger, despite the steep terrain. Still, our efforts to take photos were foiled by the bumpy dirt road and the hairpin curves.

         We were fortunate in all our bus connections: La Estrella to Cartago, Cartago to San Jose, San Jose to Atenas, all in about three hours, costing only $12.50 for both of us. We love the Costa Rica bus system! When we arrived, our little chalet looked very welcoming, sunshine streaming in and a brisk breeze blowing. It was good to be home.

         Today we headed into town for the feria, or farmers’ market. On the way, our taxi was slowed by a police roadblock, the result of a car theft in our neighborhood earlier today. Although we weren’t happy with that news, we were impressed with the quick police action. You wouldn’t find a police barricade on Los Angeles streets after a simple car theft!

         We picked up the organic order we placed last week of broccoli and spinach, green onions, fresh wheat bread, eggs and pina (pineapple) chutney then walked a few blocks to the park where numerous local vendors had their home-grown products on display. There we picked up fresh corvina (sea bass) for dinner along with bananas, chilies dulce (sweet chilies) and some homemade cookies. It promises to be a delicious meal this evening!