Hammocks, Horses and Crazy Geese

A milestone: Fabulista de Costa Rica has now passed the 50,000 all-time page view mark! A big thank you to my loyal readers!!

Time to bring you up to date on our busy lives here in Costa Rica. I say "Costa Rica" instead of Santa Eulalia because we traveled last week to a different part of the country, the Monteverde area, to enjoy Bonnie's 60th birthday with her and Stephen at a beautiful secluded rancho. Monteverde is a popular tourist destination, a remote mountain region of misty cloud forest, centered in the small town of Santa Elena almost 4700' above sea level. The weather there is chilly and predictably rainy much of the year. Fortunately for us, after one night in Santa Elena, we spent our next three nights some 3000 feet lower - though only 18 kilometers away - near the small village of Guacimal at Rancho El Rio, a working ranch and rental cottage located along the banks of a river, where the days were warm and sunny and nights crisply cool. 

Rancho el Rio

 

Bonnie and Stephen had discovered this little paradise by virtue of their friendship with the owners, Veronica and Alex Alvarado, who also own Casa Cielo, an A-frame cabin further up the mountain with spectacular views of the Gulf of Nicoya. Casa Cielo was the first place Stephen and Bonnie stayed when they arrived in Costa Rica two years ago and they quickly became friends with their charming hosts. With Bonnie's big birthday coming up, we all decided Rancho El Rio would be an ideal place to celebrate.

Hammock-time for Yours Truly

If snoozing in a hammock to the sounds of a rushing river, communing with chickens, geese and horses, hiking through pastures or relaxing with a book on a patio swing are your idea of a holiday, then Rancho El Rio is a great choice. Veronica and Alex have spent the last few months renovating a dilapidated cottage on the 112-acre property, creating a comfortably rustic and handicapped-accessible retreat. Bonnie and Stephen, who had seen the building before its overhaul, were amazed at the transformation. 

Geese pay a visit - watch out for that gander!

With a focus on environmentally friendly construction, the Alvarado's have built a snug two-bedroom, two-bath bungalow with a broad patio overlooking the river and a big open-air kitchen fully equipped for a comfortable stay. Having stocked up on food in Santa Elena and with Stephen's excellent cooking skills (with a little help from the rest of us), we took full advantage of the barbeque unit as well as the ranch fruits, which Veronica supplied on our first day. Other than my having to fight off the aggressive gander once or twice, our days were relaxing and tranquil. 

Stephen readies the BBQ 

Layne mounted and ready to ride

The highlight of the trip for me was our Thursday morning horseback ride with Veronica to explore the ranch. The couple has a string of mostly rescued horses that with their wrangler Memo's help, they have brought back to health and trained to be reliable but energetic mounts for guests. 

The Palomino mare I rode, Soñadora (Dreamer), was their newest addition and although she was still thin to my way of thinking, she was an enthusiastic partner as we cantered up the hills or trotted along in that smooth Paso Criollo gait. For me, there's nothing like the view from the back of a horse!

View from aboard Soñadora

Bonnie gets inspiration from "Spirit Rock"

We wound our way up a long hill to an unusual rock formation, a huge monolith sprouting straight up out of a level plain. We mulled the mystery of that rock in that position and agreed it was a very special place. After an hour or so of exploration, looking at the baby water buffaloes and the herd of cattle, we made our way to the river, tied up the horses, changed into shorts and waded out into the rocks for a cooling dip in the rushing waters. Wow! What fun!

Bonnie & Veronica - ride 'em Cowgirls!

A refreshing dip in the river 

Afterwards, I helped Veronica and Memo with the unsaddling and then led Soñadora to where dozens of ripe mangos lay on the ground. Veronica joined me with her horse Raya and we laughed as we watched the horses gobble up the delicious sweet fruits. Oddly, Costa Rican horses don't seem to like carrots (I've offered them to several), but they sure love mangos!

The next morning I took a long solitary hike along the dirt road and enjoyed the pastoral scenery of white cattle grazing on steep hillsides.
Along the way, I noticed a gorgeous Turquoise-browed Motmot in a tree down below and tried to get a good shot. Then I looked up and saw two of them perched just above me on the telephone line and another half dozen in trees nearby. Slightly smaller than the ones we have around our house in Santa Eulalia, they were still stunning with their iridescent green and blue coloring and distinctive long tail. 

The ubiquitous Iguanas were also easy to spot, such as this guy crossing the road in front of me.

He scurried up the steep side of the hill and disappeared into the roots of a large tree that seemed almost suspended above me.

Layne and I hiked along the river

The incredible variety and abundance of wildlife in Costa Rica continues to amaze us and we feel lucky to have opportunities like this to enjoy it.

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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.