Eating and Hiking: Calories In, Calories Out

Carmen patiently teaches the Gringos

What a busy week it's been with Thanksgiving, a festive dinner party for the Santa Eulalia gang here at home (yes, another one!) and the 1era Caminata y Paseo Recreativo La Zopilota (1st Walk and Recreational Outing of La Zopilota - at least I think that's more or less the translation) held this past Sunday the 25th. Now I'm rushing to get a blog posted before I have to stop and do my Spanish homework. Layne and I have been hosting a Spanish class on Thursday mornings in our home with friends Stephen, Bonnie and Eroca. Carmen, a delightful Guatemalan friend who has helped us with organic gardening questions in the past, is our teacher. We've all learned a lot although I must admit that I started out somewhat ahead of others in the class by virtue of two years of Spanish in college and then some dedicated effort through Rosetta Stone; more recently I expanded my knowledge on LiveMocha.com, a free online language tool. Even though my vocabulary is pretty good, the problem I face is in understanding Tico friends and neighbors. Most of them speak so fast - as do all native speakers, of course - that as soon as I grasp one word in a sentence, they are on to the next paragraph. It's one of the few frustrating things about living here. I sometimes wonder if I'll ever be able to carry on a real conversation.

Thanksgiving Dinner is served!

But I get plenty of opportunities to work on my language skills, such as at the Thanksgiving dinner party I enjoyed last Thursday evening.  Held at the spectacular hilltop home of Dennis and Gerardo, the charming proprietors of Pure Life Development real estate company, the thirty-five or so guests included many members of Gerardo's large Tico family, friendly folk who are always ready to engage in sociable banter. Dennis is an excellent cook and the juicy turkey and all the trimmings was fabulous. Although Layne stayed home because of a bit of an upset stomach, I certainly enjoyed the evening and met a few new friends as well.

Almost in the clouds

The 1era Caminata y Paseo Recreativo La Zopilota mentioned above was a challenging hike through the extensive coffee finca of El Toledo Coffee, the excellent organic brand we buy most weeks at the feria. Gabriel, whose family owns the farm, is usually staffing the booth at the feria, ready with a pleasant smile and some new Spanish phrase for me to learn. For some weeks he has been promoting the Caminata, a benefit for the San Isidro neighborhood where the farm is located. We Santa Eulalia weekend hikers were eager to put our walking skills to the test and signed on for the event. During the long and exceedingly hilly taxi ride up to the farm, I began to have trepidations. Just what had we gotten ourselves into?

Had we known exactly what "La Zopilota" referred to, we might have been better prepared for the steep inclines we faced as we confidently marched off through the quaint streets of San Isidro. 

Off we go! 

Onward!

La Zopilota is a huge rock perched at the very top of the Aquacate mountain range that separates the community of Palmares from Atenas. That peak was our destination! Getting there took us through the beautiful hillsides of El Toledo farm, covered with lush deep green coffee plants, each dripping red berries ready for harvest. 

Coffee plants and magnificent views

The incredible vistas from each turn in the trail made the day well worth the effort but it was a challenge. So much so that at the rest stop about 2 miles in, Layne and I opted for a ride the rest of the way up the mountain. Even that ride was a test for the four-wheeler we were riding in: dirt tracks deeply carved by rainfall into a jagged ruts studded with big rocks, climbing up incredible slopes and skiing down steep precipices, all the while passing the more stalwart hikers and bikers still on the trail. With my foot pressing an imaginary brake and my hands gripping the seat, I was mentally exhausted by the time we made it to the finish line at the top.

But what a view and what a rock! Rejuvenated by fresh watermelon and pineapple along with cool water, we enjoyed the Mariachi band and chatted with Stephen and Bonnie who had also taken advantage of a ride up. 

Yours Truly, leaning on La Zopilota

Stephen greets Seidy as she approaches the Finish Line

Marcial and Seidy, of course, along with their sons Daniel and Gabriel and Gabriel's wife Alou, made the whole trip on foot. Seidy looked like she hardly broke a sweat! In fact, they were still so energetic they all walked the long way back down the mountain to the partying taking place at the starting point, food and drink, beer and tequila, music, craft sales and a raffle.

Daniel and Gabriel on top of La Zopilota

One delightful surprise I enjoyed was meeting one of my blog readers at the finish line, as we were all relaxing after our strenuous walk. A vivacious redhead whose name escapes me, she had a lovely smile and some nice comments on my efforts in chronicling our lives here in Atenas. Of course, I've often come across newcomers to Atenas at the weekly feria who have discovered the blog in their research before traveling to Costa Rica, and customers of Marcial's Italian Sausage are sure to be given one of my cards with the blog address on it. (Marcial is my one-man public relations firm here.) But it was an unexpected pleasure to meet one of my fans on top of a mountain! Muchas gracias, señora!

  

Rough Road to a New Year's Bash

Dennis & Gerardo

We’ve had a great start to the New Year, beginning with a festive New Year’s Eve party at the home of our friends, Dennis & Gerardo of Pure Life Development real estate. In the two years we’ve been here, they have been our go-to guys in finding great places to live in Atenas. They are building an “eco-development” up the mountain from our first apartment in Alto del Monte in an mountaintop area called Estanquillos and they are now living in one of the first homes they’ve built there, a magnificent hilltop villa with an indoor pool, out-of-this-world furnishings and fantastic panoramic views of the Central Valley and the surrounding mountains.

When Gerardo invited us to bring in the New Year with them, we were delighted. We so enjoy their sense of humor, zest for life and big smiles that we knew we’d have a great time. And indeed we did, AFTER we managed to get there!

In English, the directions to their house sounded easy enough: “Take the road to Estanquillos. Go up till you come to a pulperia on the left.  At the next curve, turn right and go down the hill...Cross the bridge and then up the hill.  Our entryway is on the left hand side (bright Orange)!”  But the Spanish directions for the taxi driver were something else again: “200 metros norte del recibador de cafe, Calle Iris....Entrada naranja....” Unfortunately, they didn’t mean much to our cab driver, who was unfamiliar with Estanquillos. So after some hits and misses, we found the  bridge and started uphill as instructed, only to encounter a road that embodied every dire description of Costa Rican streets you ever read. Rocks, dirt, gullies, washouts, big humps. And remember, it was after dark. Oh, and of course, there were no streetlights.

As we slowly eased up the steep slope, our taxi high-centered with a wham. “Oh no, señor!” I said to our driver. “Este es no correcto!” This can’t be right! He understood and began slowly backing down the rough roadway. I had already tried Dennis’ cell phone but there was no signal this far out. In desperation, we returned to the pulperia, a small grocery, to ask for directions.

Dennis & his mom, left; new friends Peggy & Rick, right

With the driver and Layne waiting in the car, I tried calling on the store’s landline but Dennis’ cell phone still didn’t respond. Then I described Dennis and Gerardo to the proprietor. Yes, she told me, pointing up the mountain to a lighted house at the top. That’s where those two gentlemen live and yes, that’s the right road. Unsure that I understood correctly, I sent our taxi driver in to discuss the situation with the grocers. Layne and I watched anxiously from the car as the animated conversation carried on. Finally, our driver returned and despite our protests that it would wreck his car, in true Tico style he headed back up the road, determined to transport his passengers to their destination.

Which he did, bless his heart, gunning his engine and banging his oil pan in order to make it up and over the rough spots. He totally earned the big tip I gave him. Finally, we arrived and hiked up the last steep slope of driveway to a festive atmosphere of music, laughter, salsa dancing, great food and new friends to boot. At midnight, we opened champagne then watched firework displays all across the nighttime vista. Thanks, Dennis and Gerardo, but maybe we’ll wait until that road is paved before we come for another visit!

Sadie and Marcial

Still, it was satisfying that my Spanish is improving enough to converse as I managed to do that night. But Layne and I have begun a new system for learning Spanish --  “language dinners” with our Tico friends Marcial and Sadie. Sadie wants to learn English so it seems a good fit for us to get together and speak our different languages over a good meal. Layne and I hosted our first evening “class” last Thursday and it was a grand success. Marcial served as our “teacher” due to his fluency in English gained from teaching physical education at an English-language school for some eight years. Over guacamole and big bowls of chili, we alternated English and Spanish, with Marcial correcting us and offering grammar rules here and there. Sadie made homemade tortillas in a matter of minutes that were so much better than the packaged kind. And Marcial, who plans to compete in the big Chili Cookoff next month, was impressed with my chili recipe, which I had adapted to incorporate his wonderful Italian Sausage as the meat. We plan to repeat these dinners every two weeks or so and “poco a poco,” little by little, I know our Spanish will improve even as we have a lot of fun learning it. 

Happy Holiday Party Time!

Happy Holidays to all my loyal readers! I hope your holidays are blessed with joy, good friends and beloved family and that the New Year brings you prosperity, peace and good health.

Flowers on our fence

We are in full-blown Christmas party mode here, imagining that the sunny skies and warm temperatures actually harbor snowflakes and icicles. If you delight in fall colors, winter snows and spring blossoms, Costa Rica may not be the place for you. Well, the spring flowers certainly burst forth, but oddly that happens here during what is North America’s winter season. Since the end of the rainy season a few weeks ago, colorful blooms have sprouted everywhere and the trees are neon green with new leaves and flowers, promising abundant fruit just weeks from now. So it’s Christmas in Springtime here in Costa Rica.

A beautiful couple, Sadie & Marcial

Daniel, Sadie, Marcial and David, neighbor dog Bean

This week has been party central for us. Thursday night we enjoyed grilled sausages at Marcial and Sadie’s home a few blocks from us, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. We sat around a small campfire they have in their yard and listened to their son Daniel play his guitar. It was a really fun evening and made Layne and I nostalgic for all the cozy wood fires we used to enjoy in California winters. On Friday afternoon there was a community party honoring senior citizens of Santa Eulalia and our neighbor had invited us. With a clown to entertain and some tasty pork stew for sustenance, the elderly crowd seemed to enjoy themselves. Layne and I were tested on our ability to follow instructions in Spanish as we got picked along with several other couples for one of the playful exercises on stage. We held hands, then let go, hugged then released, touched cheek-to-cheek then backed off and finally we danced. Everyone was gifted with a small picture frame and lotion for the women and socks for the men.

Daniel serenades us

Today it’s a pool party at our Japanese friend Hisano Bell’s bed and breakfast down the hill in barrio Rio Grande. I’ve made a big pot of Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce with Marcial’s great sausage (do you see a pattern in our food these days?) for the potluck and look forward to some relaxing at poolside. Then tomorrow we’re off to our friends Glynn and Darlene’s place in Turrucares with local pals Sally and Leonard, Neil and Jackie and our sidekick Marc. New Year’s Eve will find us partying with our favorite realtors, Dennis and Gerardo of Pure Life Development, an event we’re looking forward to enthusiastically. These two guys, along with their office helper Nelson, are some of the nicest people we know here and they have been so helpful to us in our long house-hunt before finally settling here in Santa Eulalia. We know they will host a kick-ass party!

So we hope your holidays are as full of fun as ours are and that 2012 brings Pura Vida to your doorstep! 

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.)

Return to Costa Rica - The Hunt for Housing

         Flying back to Costa Rica on a Continental Airlines jumbo jet, I had a chance to try out my new Panasonic Lumix ZS7 camera and wow! it’s a real winner, offering a wide-angle Leica lens and a 12X zoom. My blog photos should improve dramatically.

         Upon our arrival, we breezed through customs and Immigration, easily found our driver and were soon back in Atenas. But the next day when we called Dennis Easters at Pure Life Development, we learned that the apartment we thought we might rent was no longer available. Rentals here are going like wildfire through dry grass -- this, even though it is technically the “low season,” the time of year when fewer tourists are arriving. So it seems there will be no early end for us to the vagabond life. Still, we are confident we’ll soon find just the right place. Tomorrow we will go with Dennis and his partners Gerardo and Nelson to see several other places and perhaps one of them will be the little paradise we want.

         Meanwhile, we’ll spend a few more days here at Vista Atenas Bed & Breakfast while we continue looking. As you can see, it’s not as if we’re stuck in some dumpy hotel. Vista Atenas is located near the top of a hill just outside of town in an area called Sabana Larga, or Long Savannah. The breakfasts prepared by owner Vera and her charming associate Jonathan are superb: fresh pineapple, watermelon, tomatoes and cucumbers, all plated artistically; delicious local coffee, a few slices of smoked sausage and eggs seasoned with fresh herbs. Perfection!

          Being the dedicated bus riders that we have become, on our first morning here Layne and I walked down the long, very steep hill to the bus stop, learning the hard way just how unaccustomed our downhill muscles are. Yesterday and today, we have endured stiff sore calf muscles and tight gluteus maximus muscles, a testament to the extreme terrain. Hopefully, we’ll have loosened up by tomorrow night as we plan to attend the monthly dance party at Kay’s Gringo Postre.

         As we wandered through town Wednesday morning, we were surprised to hear our names called out by a woman emerging from a car ahead of us. It was Lee Cortes, the owner of El Mirador, the cool discothèque up the mountain where we used to go dance or listen to karaoke. After hugs and laughter, we learned that she’s just reopening the club this weekend. Good timing for us! We waved goodbye, promising to come dancing soon and continued on to Banco Nacional to withdraw colones. Inside the bank, once again we heard a woman’s voice call out to us. It was Carmen who works with Genevieve running the organic farmers’ market. What a small town it is and how lovely that in our short two-month stay here last spring, we made some buenos amigos.

         Our real estate tour on Wednesday afternoon was lengthy and, although we saw several places that were attractive in some way, none really appealed to us immediately, as Hazel’s little chalet did last spring. For example, one three bedroom, two bath house up the hill in Santa Eulalia was very attractive at first glance, with a well-kept lawn, flowers along the porch and a large backyard with a great view. The living room was expansive and the ceramic tile floors beautiful. And the price was great -- only $300/month, plus utilities -- but the kitchen was awful. In fact, toward the back of the house, the appearance of the rooms deteriorated. Plus, there was very little furniture. With the right décor, it could be made into a real jewel of a home, but to do so would be a major project, costing us most of the savings in rent. And after we bought all those furnishings, what would we have? More stuff!

         The search for housing took us to a number of different neighborhoods in the area, from a brand new apartment at the bottom of our hill here in Sabana Larga to a choice of three oddly-configured apartments just out of town to a stunning cabin on a big coffee plantation in Morazon, fifteen minutes up the hill above Atenas. The largest of three cabins on the property, it had views to die for and a front patio as big as a living room. At $650/month, including all utilities (even broadband Internet), it seemed like a good deal and we were ready to take it. Unfortunately, we learned the next day that the owner of the property is living there and has apparently decided not to rent that cabin. There remains a chance that he’ll change his mind but at this point, it’s not an option.

         However, our criteria became clearer with each stop. We know we need to be close to a bus line or within walking distance of downtown or at least a small market. We prefer two bedrooms and hopefully two bathrooms so that we will have a comfortable space for guests. I am determined to have a well-appointed kitchen since I enjoy cooking and hosting dinner parties. Ideally, we would have a view since this country is so amazingly picturesque. In a perfect world, we would even have a swimming pool to enjoy. And of course, price is very important to us since we are on a fixed income now. Like a housing search anywhere, there are trade-offs. In San Francisco, where our son Damian lives, he chooses to rent a smaller apartment, which is more affordable, but near the beach since he loves to surf. Here we have to balance the priorities of price and location against the desirable features we want. Lucky for us, there are some real bargains in Costa Rica if you look for them. So that’s what we plan to do.

         Now the rain is rattling through the trees as it does most every afternoon here during the summer rainy season. Mornings often dawn bright and sunny with everything washed clean by the night’s downpours. Only in the afternoons do the thunderheads build and the steady showers begin. Our little cabin here at Vista Atenas has a large front patio facing into the jungle, offering a sense of quiet privacy. The hammock is tempting even during a rainstorm. As I look out my louvered window with the breeze coming in, I can see a bright green hummingbird, undaunted by the rain, still flitting from purple to pink flower, offering a model of Pura Vida: patience and persistence will pay off in the sweet honey of a good life.  

Crawfish Tales and a Great Blue Heron!

August 15, 2010

         Like Costa Rica, every place has its own unique flora and fauna, which brings the color and vibrancy of the environment and the ecology of the area to life. Geology, biology, geography, resources, elevation and climate all play a part in the natural history of a locale. Here in Portland, Oregon, where we are spending our final week in the States, the natural world has been greatly influenced by the city’s proximity to the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and the numerous smaller streams that feed into those two majestic waterways. A jewel of the Pacific Northwest, Portland lies between the Cascade Mountain Range to the east and the Coast Range west along the Pacific Ocean. It enjoys a “marine west coast” climate of warm, dry summers and temperate but rainy winters. The beautiful and fertile Willamette Valley just south of the city produces an abundance of vegetables, berries, grass seed, greenhouse and nursery stock as well as vineyards, which produce highly prized pinot noir and pinot gris wines.

Portland also boasts an amazing number of distinctive birds and wonderful trails from which to view them. According to the Audubon Society of Portland, some 500 species of birds migrate through Oregon during part of their life cycle and over 200 of these travel through the Portland Metropolitan Region annually. Layne and I had the incredible good fortune to see one of the most remarkable of those birds on our walk yesterday: a Great Blue Heron! The enormous creature was sitting on a log in the middle of the Fanno Creek, a 15-mile tributary of the Tualatin River, which flows into the Willamette.
Along the part of the creek that runs through Tigard, the small Portland suburb of Layne’s youth where his family still lives, the wetlands attract a variety of wildlife as the trail meanders behind new apartment buildings, crosses streets, then wanders back into dense riparian woods. Layne and I have made a habit of walking through this park each morning as he points out places of interest from his childhood. Today we passed under the roadway that Layne remembered as the site of crawfishing in the Fanno when he was young and he pointed out parts of his old newspaper route. We lost the trail briefly then found it again as we headed back to our car parked at Tigard City Hall. Just as we approached the turn into the parking lot, we noticed the large bird sitting out in the creek, quietly watching for prey. As I crept slowly and silently along the back of the building to snap a few pictures, he turned his great beak my way as he observed my movement, but he didn’t stir from his perch. He must have been three feet tall with gleaming blue-toned wings and a pale breast. Even from our distant viewpoint, the heron was a splendid and dignified being.

         Three days later: This may be a case of time flying when having fun because we have definitely had fun here in Portland, but I suspect it’s more a case of the mad dash to the finish line in a race against time. In spite of my best intentions to get this posted, there has simply not been time in the last few days. First, we were focused on getting our Subaru Outback ad up on Craigslist, a task we thought we had completed on Saturday. On Sunday, however, we discovered that our ad had been filtered out by the Craigslist gremlins due to our use of commas separating the description of features on the car rather than listing them in a column. Having lost a day, we re-submitted the ad, then held our breath to see if it would appear online. Fortunately, it did. Still, it was Monday before any calls came in. As we soon realized, it only takes one buyer and that buyer showed up Tuesday morning and we completed the deal today! One more big thing to check off the list.

         Monday night found us chowing down on local seafood at Jake’s Famous Crawfish restaurant in downtown Portland, as guests of Tom G., a friend who lives nearby. Although the crab and shrimp cakes were not the best I’ve tasted and Layne’s Crab Louis was disappointing, the ambiance and the 118-year history of the place were distinctive. Perhaps we should have tried the crawfish! But Tom is always a fun conversationalist with his endless supply of anecdotes and stories of his world travels and our sampling of the local pinot wines was excellent, so dinner was still delightful.

         Last night we went off with Layne’s sister Annie to her regular Tuesday evening “Sex and the City Girls,” as Layne has dubbed this lively group of women. Much like the stars of the television show and movie spin-offs, Annie and her pals meet at a local bar to dish up the latest news on family, friends, men and memories, of which they have many from their long years of acquaintance. Last night was no exception as the six of us laughed over cocktails or club sodas, with Layne and me sharing tales of Costa Rica and them with hilarious boating dramas from thirty years ago.

         Our Costa Rican news included a last-minute report from our real estate friends yesterday that our charming chalet up the hill from Atenas was not available to us after all. Our landlady Hazel was fortunate to find a year-long tenant and had returned our deposit. But the good news is that Dennis of Pure Life Development has a few places for us to look at next week, including a nice-sounding apartment with a pool, a “rancho” for grilling outdoors and views of the Central Valley. Plus, it’s within walking distance to town, something we had wanted when we moved there. So we look forward to getting back to Atenas and finding the next cool place to live. We take it in stride: it’s all just part of our big Costa Rican adventure! 

Toucan Welcoming Committee

(Note to readers: Click on photos to enlarge.)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

         Much has happened, both good and bad, since my last post. Although I was past the worst of the intestinal distress by Saturday afternoon, Layne’s difficulties lasted another two days, forcing us to contemplate a trip to a Costa Rican doctor. Then on Monday, I was hit with a nameless malaise that had me in bed with chills and general misery but with few specific symptoms. We still don’t know what caused my discomfort but it served as a lesson on the perils of food in foreign countries, not that we really know what food it was. Different people, different symptoms; still it made us nervous about eating out. Even in Costa Rica, where the water is good and the people are clean, it gives one pause. I was certainly glad when by Tuesday morning, I was beginning to pull out of it.

         And none too soon since our much-anticipated moving day was coming right up. On Wednesday morning, after turning in our keys at Villa Roma, we loaded our hired van up with luggage and headed for Atenas where our real estate friends, Dennis and Gerardo, were awaiting our arrival to drive us to the new casa. Our charming landlady Hazel was here with beautiful cut flowers and fresh bananas to greet us in this lovely chalet. But when we tried to pay our rent with American Express Travelers Checks, we learned that the banks in Costa Rica have a policy of holding such payments for anywhere from 25 to 45 days! Needless to say, Hazel was hoping for a rent payment in dollars or colones. After some deliberation, Hazel offered to take us to the bank in town in the hopes of changing the travelers checks into negotiable cash. So off we went in her well-traveled Jeep-type vehicle, banging over the rough spots with aplomb.

         No problem at the bank! With Layne’s passport and signature on the checks, we soon had our month’s rent paid in colones and were off to the super-mercado (grocery store) for some shopping while Hazel patiently waited for us outside, drinking a cerveza and making real estate calls. Talk about a great landlady!

         We arrived back at our new home and with drink in hand, moved outside to the terrace to begin our new life in Atenas. And what a life it promises to be! Our chalet is positioned high on a cliff so that birds fly by at eye level. We soon had hummers, brown robins, yellow-breasted somethings, an occasional blue bird of some sort and completely manic swallows, flitting here and there capturing bugs for their dinner. The sun was setting over the Pacific against a haze of clouds and the breeze was wafting up the canyon, cooling the late afternoon warmth. As I glanced over Layne’s shoulder, I recognized a Toucan that had just landed in our backyard tree! What an exotic sight with his magnificent curved beak and colorful breast. Then three more joined him, hopping from limb to limb. Four Toucans in our garden! What is this? Paradise?

         The “sounds of life” here are amazing - frogs, crickets, birds of all voices from chirpers to cacklers. We even have a big brown robin that visits our garden for worms and bugs, bravely hopping along only a few feet from us. (He’s here right now as I write this.)  This morning I watched him pounce on a worm and gobble it up before the wiggler knew what hit it!

         But the most incredible sound last night had us fooled. As the late afternoon sun faded in the distance, we began to hear a loud bird or … what? A sound like we had never heard before started out in chopping sounds and swelled into a shrieking continuous howl that actually made Layne’s hearing aide noise circuits cut out! What the heck was that? We tried to imagine a bird that could possible create such a noise! Well, today we learned it was undoubtedly a howler monkey. Indeed, they are out again tonight and add a unique, if raucous, sound to the evening’s entertainment. We surmise that they live in the dense jungles below us.

         This morning I was awakened just before seven a.m. by the certain sound of gunfire - two, three shots fired just below our property. What on earth? Since there was no going back to sleep, I arose to make coffee and see what was happening in the neighborhood. As I looked out over the railing, I saw several men beneath the trees handling a large heavy carcass, obviously a cow. While I watched in fascination, the men pulled and tugged on the legs of the animal to turn it on its back as another man began to cut the dead animal down the center of its belly. This was more than I could stand to watch but clearly, they had just harvested one of their cattle for meat and were about to butcher it.

         Over the course of the morning, we checked on their progress and sure enough, working as a team, the five or six men skinned and carved the cow into its edible parts and carried them away. As we sipped our coffee, we watched as dozens of vultures began to circle above, heads cocked to watch the progress below them. Numbers of them perched, vulture-like, in a dead tree nearby, waiting and watching. At one point, the men threw some of the innards into a clearing and the hungry birds quickly swooped in to devour it. Then after all the inedible parts had been collected, another man, with the last of the guts in a wheelbarrow, hauled it down to the clearing for the birds to clean up. As the men - and we - watched, some thirty or forty or more birds converged on the waste parts, fighting greedily, beaks viciously pulling each piece apart.

         By now, the men had become aware of us watching them and we’d joined them in laughing at the gluttonous vultures and waving down at them in camaraderie. For after all, this cow had had a good life on open pasture, was not subjected to cruel and filthy stockyard treatment, had no antibiotics or poisons in its system and had been fortunate to receive a quick and humane death. Now, in the way of nature, it would be used to perpetuate the lives of other creatures. It may not have been pretty but it was a very educational and somewhat profound experience. Pura Vida indeed.

The Chalet de Hazel

Thursday, February 25, 2010

It’s quite cool today and has been raining off and on all day.The English-language paper, A.M. Costa Rica, said that a “cold front” was coming in today and I guess it’s here. But this is unlike the cold fronts that we faced in Northern California. Just for my own amusement, I keep the Pilot Hill weather on my Google home page. Today it was in the low 40’s there with rain forecast for the next two days. B-r-r-r-r. It makes me appreciate this tropical chill of perhaps 68 degrees. In fact, I’ve spent much of the day on the front patio working one of my rompecabezas. Perhaps I should have gotten 1000-piecers as I’ve almost finished the first one, a 500-piece close-up of a hummingbird hovering over a pink flower.

Yesterday found us back on the bus, this time for a lengthy trip all the way to Atenas to look at a few housing possibilities. We are paid up here at the Villas until March 10th and are certain we don’t want to stay beyond that, not only because of the the cool temperatures but also for the high cost of these luxury digs. Atenas, on the other hand, is known as having "the best climate in the world," according to National Geographic. With daily temperatures around 80 F. and nights down in the 60's, the slogan "El Clima Mejor del Mundo" emblazoned on all Atenas buses is well-deserved.

Our appointment was at 10 a.m. with Dennis, a transplanted Florida realtor  and his Tico partner Geraldo of Pure Life Development real estate (http://www.purelifedevelopment.com/). Looking through ads on http://www.amcostarica.com/, I had clicked on a link to their webpage and found a number of very affordable and attractive houses for rent. A few emails had led to this meeting date. 

We’ve become quite adept at taking the bus into San Jose, of course, but making the connection for a bus out to Atenas, and arriving there by 10 o'clock, presented another challenge. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, Costa Rica has very few street addresses posted or even street names. Instead, most directions are given by landmarks. The major bus stop in San Jose is known as “Coca Cola.” You might think it was named for a soda bottling plant there but you’d be wrong. Apparently, there used to be one but no more, so unless you know the area, you could easily get lost. Our map of bus lines (http://www.costaricaweb.de/crweb/es/sanjoseweb/index6-sanjose-es.htm) indicated the Coca-Cola stop was at Calle 16/Avenida 3. But again, without the streets being labeled, that was little to go on. And of course, my espanol is still so limited, there was no chance of getting directions from the driver.

But hope springs, as they say! So we exited near what we thought might be Calle 16, planning to walk the two blocks to Avenida 3. After a few minutes of confusion and with our time rather short, we opted for a taxi and $1 later, we pulled up to a maze of buses.

Finding the Atenas bus was easy enough with big signs overhead but as we boarded and were given what looked like a transfer ticket, I tried to ask the driver if we would need to change buses somewhere. As so often happens here, a young Tico overheard my effort and quickly intervened, assuring us in perfect English that this bus would go straight to our destination. He sat down just in front of us and we conversed easily for awhile, learning that his brother works for Procter & Gamble in the Information Technology department and that he, too, hoped to get a job there after college. At last, he smiled and said he would now take a nap until our arrival in Atenas.

Upon arriving some forty-five minutes later, Dennis and Geraldo picked us up and started our tour, stopping first at a modest duplex within walking distance of downtown. But like the Grecia house we rejected, the ventilation here did not seem adequate, the bedrooms were small with only a twin bed in one, plus the neighbor dog was extremely aggressive, although our hosts assured us that he was ultimately friendly. Yeah, right. So Layne and I were in agreement that this was not our place.

We headed out of town, driving 10 minutes or so steeply uphill, well into the mountains above Atenas. Obviously, the next house would not be within walking distance of shops or the farmers’ market, so secretly, I was beginning to have my doubts. But as we rounded the last curve and looked up at a charming chalet above the roadbed, our hopes bloomed.

What a doll house! It turned out to be another duplex, our rental unit a mirror image of the one we could see from the road, the two units well separated by a broad tiled patio. The chalet, with huge windows all around, looks out over a deep canyon to a lush green mountain and beyond that to the Pacific Ocean on a clear day. The new highway nearby has cut the bus trip to the beach down to only 35-40 minutes. And the breezes blowing up the canyon promised the tropical ventilation of our dreams.

The house itself features beautiful polished wood and ceramic tile floors; there’s a nicely appointed kitchen - including a double sink, something we don’t have here at the Villas. The two bedrooms each have a double bed (the upstairs one seems to be a Temperpedic mattress - wow!) and the bath has both shower and tub. The furnishings are stylish and high quality.

There’s even a working fireplace, although I doubt we will need it. A large walk-through closet offers good storage space and an additional storage building is set away from the house. The enclosed porch holds a washer and a dryer - again, a feature missing at the higher-priced Villas. And of great pleasure to me, there are orchids growing in the big yard. The back patio has a bench overlooking the magnificent view. We loved it at first sight!

The owner, Hazel, was there to greet us and she was utterly delightful, a beautiful young woman with long brown hair wearing shorts and a halter top, which suggested the kind of weather we can look forward to. It didn’t take us long to decide this was the place for us. Buses stop at the corner and a taxi ride into town costs only a couple of dollars. And the price? Well, let’s just say it’s less than half what we are paying now! And did I mention? That includes phone, utilities and Internet. Yowsa!

When our good friends, Penny & Joel, arrive at the end of March for a visit, we’ll be able to entertain them in style. La Pura Vida!