Green Parrots and Monkey Pee

 With the turkey in the oven, the broccoli ready to steam and the hors d’oveures all prepped except for deviling the eggs (which I can’t do early or Layne will eat them!), I’ll take a moment to bring you readers up to date on our latest adventures. Our friend Marcy from California left on Saturday happily sporting her new set of teeth, so the last few days have been filled with writing my column for TheCostaRicaNews.com and preparing for Thanksgiving. The guest list has ranged from a high of perhaps eleven people to the expected seven or so today. Our good friends Patricia and Kevin (featured in my last post’s Halloween report) were planning to join us but, sadly, their beautiful big (and I mean big!) dog Splash is gravely ill. In fact, they may face what Layne and I had to do two years ago with our sweet Emily and have to put him down here during the holidays, making a sad anniversary for the future. Our thoughts are with them today and with Splash.

Last week we enjoyed more festive times with Patricia and Kevin as we took Marcy along on another one of our group gatherings at Playa Doña Ana, the picturesque private beach we like near Puntareñas. Earlier than usual, the capuchin monkeys showed up almost as soon as we arrived, gamboling through the trees and cautiously snatching a piece of banana from our hands before scrambling back up the branches. Marcy was thrilled since seeing monkeys was on the “bucket list” for her Costa Rica trip. As we sat at one of the covered picnic tables, chatting and munching on our snacks, the monkeys boldly climbed on the top of the roof, looking around corners at us with their intense and nearly-human black eyes. Suddenly, a splatter of liquid fell on the table next to me. We looked up to see one of the monkeys recovering from taking a pee right on the concrete table! Layne’s sunglasses took the brunt of it, with my camera barely missing a baptism. All we could do was laugh. Pura Vida indeed!

Life in our new house is comfortable, with plenty of space for the entertaining we so enjoy. We had two dinner parties the first weekend and assorted other drop-bys since then as friends and neighbors are anxious to see our new place. The bus service into Atenas is great with frequent runs throughout the day that take about fifteen minutes; with our cedula and being “seniors,” we get to ride at no charge. By timing our shopping thoughtfully, we can ride into town, shop for an hour or so, then catch the next bus back up the hill to Santa Eulalia. Excellente!

The bird wildlife around here is phenomenal, with dozens of varieties flitting through the skies and singing their melodious songs. But the stars of the show are the gorgeous emerald green parrots that soar through the air in huge flocks of twenty or thirty, screeching loudly in a chorus as they move from feasting in the cornfield below us to perching high in nearby trees. I love them and delight in watching them jet across the backyard, their exuberance a feast for the eyes and a shock to the ears. In jest, Layne says, “Where’s my shotgun?!” He claims their loud cries are too much for him, disturbing his muy tranquilo world. My response: Get over it, buddy. They were here first!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope your life is filled with blessings. Mine certainly is. Pura Vida!

Mango Manna from Heaven

Well, it’s time to travel again. We’re off to the USA tomorrow morning for visits with my mother in Texas, Layne’s sister and family in Oregon, his son and family from Washington State and my son and grandson from California. We may even make it down to our place in Pilot Hill to check out our house, see what needs painting or repair and get “stuff” from the barn. It promises to be a fun-filled but busy six weeks or so.

Juan Santamaria Airport

We’ll head out early in the morning to catch the 7:00 a.m. bus to Juan Santamaria Airport, a 40-minute ride that will cost us about $1.50 each. Our 9:30 a.m. flight on American Airlines will deliver us into San Angelo, Texas, at 5:40 p.m., a good schedule but pricey tickets. Travel to the States is no longer the bargain it was only a year ago, but family calls so we find a way to make the trip.

Of course, it’s hard to think of leaving Costa Rica, even though we are heading into the rainy season, or as Casey Bahr, another Costa Rican blogger calls it, “The Emerald Season.” Having now gone through two dry seasons here, we can definitely appreciate the "green" season a little more as instead of dry patches, the grasses are now abundant, the flowers are blooming, the trees have filled out with shiny leaves. Everything is… well, vibrant green again.

Mangos ripe for the picking

And boy, are the fruits coming into season. Everywhere we walk, it seems, we pass under mango trees, branches literally drooping with ripe fruit. We hurry to get out from under them for fear a mango may take that moment to fall, and a grapefruit-sized mango hitting you on the head would not be good! Piles of ripened mangos and other fruits unfamiliar to us litter the ground, free for the taking. Wild cilantro grows like a weed and tall yucca plants produce edible underground roots. Our neighbor’s orchard is flush with limons (lemons), limes and mandarinas (mandarin-like oranges). Coconut palms are heavy with their crop. It is our considered opinion that no one should ever starve to death in Costa Rica. Just grab some produce off a tree!

Flowers grow year-round here but they seem of even richer color now with purple bougainvillea, crimson and yellow helaconia, red hibiscus, glorious buds of pink and orange and the lovely yellow flowers that line our driveway all in blossom.

The dump truck gets a tug from the backhoe!

When we return in early July, it will be interesting to see what changes have been made in our local surroundings as some major bulldozing and grading work has been happening on the slope below our front patio. Our landlords have put in a switchback road leading to a bridge across the creek and up the other hillside where their property continues. Our landlady Odie wants a little gazebo or picnic area up there so this landscaping is the first step toward that goal. It is a rather steep slope so watching the big backhoe do its work then the heavy truck with its load of gravel tear up and down the hill has been a little heart-stopping now and then. Let’s just say these heavy equipment workers drive about like Ticos on the roads! At one point, the truck tried to back up the newly graveled slope but when the tires started slipping and churning up the gravel, the backhoe operator had to fasten a chain on to the truck and haul it back up the hill.

I just hope all the noise and human activity doesn’t scare away the monkeys from visiting now and then. Recently, this little guy showed up in a tree in our backyard, apparently all alone, perhaps a young male that’s been shoved out of the troop by some jealous macho monkey. Such is life in the jungle!