Giant Grasshopper Attack and Other Costa Rican Excitement

Life is sure full of surprises here, some quite dramatic. The other morning as I was sitting out front putting on my shoes before our walk, I had one such experience. Because of the rains lately, I had taken to leaving my walking shoes on the front porch to avoid tracking mud inside. As I pushed my socked foot down into the shoe, I felt a lump by my little toe. Wondering what could be the cause, I pulled off the shoe and was shocked when a huge insect jumped out and right onto my shirt! I screamed, threw down the shoe and quickly knocked the creature off. It was only a big 3-inch grasshopper but, poor fellow, he took the worst of it as I fear I injured his legs when my foot pressed against him. Still, in my rush to be rid of him, I pushed him off the porch into the grass without memorializing him with a photograph. Needless to say, I have stopped leaving shoes outside.

         A more enjoyable surprise of late was when sitting here at my desk, I glanced out the window and noticed a very large, beautiful green-toned bird sitting on the tree limb. I wanted to grab the camera and take a shot but I knew that he would fly away if I opened the back door, so I settled for studying him carefully enough to locate a photo online. Adding to the day’s amazements, we then spied the same kind of bird while on our walk down the hill. This one perched in trees nearby, always just out of sight for a photo, then landed on the ground where I could almost - but not quite - get the camera focused on his stunning feathers. As we strolled the grounds of Capre Verde apartments at the bottom of the hill, we noticed another strolling critter: a large Iguana. He stopped long enough to give us the eye and for me to shoot his picture before scurrying under the curb. Those are the kind of surprises I like!

         Another pleasant discovery in our first month here has been the growing friendship with our landlords, Odilie and Eduardo. They have proven to be a delightful couple who share many of our interests and some common values. One evening last week, we invited them to meet us “at the rancho,” the covered barbeque area near the swimming pool, for dinner. Back on the day we moved into this apartment, Odie had driven us to PriceSmart to shop and we had bought some bacon-wrapped filet mignons - six for $12, or $2 each. In our first sample, we found them to be quite tasty and we wanted to share them with Odie and Eduardo. Over dinner of the filets and grilled organic zucchini, we laughed and chatted like old friends. Odie described her childhood in a poor family here in Costa Rica where she was working cleaning houses by age nine. Her mother, however, had a vision for her children. Understanding the value of education, she insisted on good grades -- nothing less than a B would do, Odie said. With those good grades as ammunition, her mother applied for scholarships for Odie and her sister and the two young women won an educational trip to the United States. That experience, Odie said, made all the difference. She now runs a successful Spanish language school here in Atenas, which brings people from the United States, Canada and beyond to learn the language in a community-based, interactive program, becoming fully immersed in the Latin culture of Costa Rica.

         Her story led us to a broader discussion of the importance of education in improving people’s lives around the world. I introduced her and Eduardo to the micro-finance concept so well embodied by Kiva.org, my favorite charity, which makes micro-loans to people in developing countries, who cannot qualify for regular bank loans, so that they can grow their small businesses. I told her that the loans that I make are often influenced by the personal stories of each entrepreneur. If the businessperson talks of wanting to build their grocery store or sewing business or farm in order to send their children to school, that individual is very often the recipient of my modest $25 contribution. I mentioned that one of my loan recipients lives right here in Costa Rica on the Caribbean coast and I expressed my desire to go meet that woman and see her operation in person. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make that trip.

         One recent development that is not exactly a surprise is the successful completion of our residency file. That is because our attorney Monika about whom I’ve written here before is so competent and thorough. At her appointment at Migracion on September 13th, our paperwork was deemed satisfactory and we are now legal to stay here beyond the tourista limit of 90 days. Because of the backlog of applicants, it will be about two more months before we get our cedula, the card that proves our legal resident standing.

         On Saturday night we celebrated our new status and braved the continual weekend rains to join two dozen other dedicated music lovers at Kay’s Gringo Postre for her monthly dance party. Layne and I are popular with this crowd due to our energetic footwork and our reliable participation. The one dance we don’t join in, however, is the inevitable “YMCA” line dance with its goofy, but hilarious arm work, forming the letters of the title in rapid-fire timing. But Kay and several zealous women dancers put on an enthusiastic display for the rest of us. As usual, it was a fun evening!

         So now we are preparing for a journey tomorrow across the Central Valley that will undoubtedly be full of surprises. Although we have never met our hostess Desiree in person, we discovered via email and telephone calls that we have much in common. I originally contacted her after seeing her moniker “CdnMorganGal” on the Association of Residents of Costa Rica forum website. I read that as someone with Morgan horses like me so I got in touch through the forum message system. Through a series of emails, I learned that Desiree is a Canadian and that indeed she does have Morgans up north. Since moving here with her husband Tim a year or so ago, she has bought or rescued three Costa Rican ponies as well as a couple of cows. She is even making her own cheese! They have purchased some thirteen acres of land and built a home near Turrialba, where the active Turrialba Volcano belches smoke and steam on a regular basis. That alone will make the trip rich with excitement, no doubt. But we also plan a visit to her friends’ biodynamic farm (see my travel article on biodynamic gardening), a hike down to her very own 90-foot waterfall and perhaps a Saturday night dance party in nearby La Suiza. Sounds like we should expect the unexpected!
(Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge.)

Oh, Give Me a Home Where the Wild Monkeys Roam!

September 4, 2010

It’s Saturday and we’ve been invited to our new landlord’s birthday party up by the swimming pool in the shelter of the rancho. We’re all settled in with bags unpacked, groceries bought and our complex address memorized for use in calling taxis. Try this on for size: Barrio Los Angeles, Calle Capre Verde, tres cientos metros norte, mano izquierda. It translates something like: Los Angeles neighborhood, Capre Verde Street, 300 meters north, on the left. For us it translates into a resort-like home with a friendly neighbor upstairs and helpful and generous owners up the hill.

         Moving day on Wednesday was an adventure from beginning to end. Our friends from Pure Life Development, Gerardo and Nelson, picked us up and somehow stuffed all our bags into the back of their SUV. Upon our arrival, landlady Odie met us and provided the important information: our new phone number, garbage days, the cleaning lady’s name, schedule and cost ($10) and her own phone numbers. Odie is a highly educated woman who speaks fluent English and runs a Spanish language school in Atenas called Spanish Immersion. Her husband Eduardo is a charming Tico who is working on his English as we are working on our Spanish. We’re told he loves to sing and dance so we look forward to his birthday fiesta later today.

         Wednesday afternoon Odie kindly offered to drive us in to San Jose to PriceSmart, a Costco-type membership store, where we could purchase a few things we needed to set up house-keeping. At the last minute, our Texan neighbor Linda decided to join us and in a light rain, we all set off, chattering as we got acquainted. Shopping went well until Odie ran up to us, with alarm on her face, saying she had just discovered that somehow in all the bustle of our arrival there, she had not only locked her keys in the car but had left the car motor running! After a few phone calls and an hour or so wait, we were on our way back home, laughing at the small calamity. That evening, Linda fueled a celebration in our new home with a bottle of Spanish champagne and lively conversation.

         On Thursday, Layne and I set out to test the theory that we were within walking distance of town. It turned out to be a half-hour hike each way but we made it to the large grocery, Coopeatenas, and picked up a few things before heading back down the gentle slope to Los Angeles. Not too bad. The biggest challenge is our own street, Calle Capre Verde, a muddy, rocky lane with trenches cut across it by rain runoff. On our trip to PriceSmart, we learned from Odie that neighbors had chipped in to do the necessary gutter work along the sides of the road in preparation for the city to come in and lay down caliche topping to improve the street. But in a scenario all too typical of Central America, after the pipe work was done, they were informed by the authorities that the city had no money, so the road remains unimproved.

         There are other challenges to life here. One rather delicate issue is that of the septic systems and the disposal of toilet tissue. In hotels we’ve stayed at including the recent Vista Atenas B&B, many restaurants and even our current modern abode, visitors are asked to refrain from flushing toilet tissue. We have been told that the septic systems can’t handle the paper. Instead, we must dispose of tissue in a trashcan, a habit that takes some getting used to. We find it hard to understand such a limitation in septics, but nonetheless, when in Costa Rica, we do as the Costa Ricans do.

         Still the pleasures far outweigh the difficulties, in our opinion. On Thursday evening sitting on our front porch, Layne noticed a large odd-looking bird moving in the tall grasses below. With its long pointed beak, blue-grey feathers and stubby tail, to us the creature resembled a wild chicken. A Google search suggested we were not far off. The fellow is a Great Tinamou or Tinamus Major, also called a Mountain Hen. According to Wikipedia, it lives in tropical and subtropical jungles, rain forests and cloud forests, making its nest at the base of a tree where it lays beautiful blue-green eggs. According to Linda, these are the creatures that make a noisy ruckus in the jungle just downhill from our apartment.

         But Friday night’s nature presentation exceeded our imagination as to what this new home might offer. Not only were there fireflies flitting about (how long since you’ve seen a firefly?), but out in the big trees just yards from our porch we watched a half a dozen or more capuchin monkeys frolicking in the branches, stopping here and there to nibble on some tidbit and leaping across huge swaths of air from tree to tree. Often hidden by large leaves and limbs and moving fast, they were difficult to capture photographically. Still, even at twelve-time zoom with my hands shaking from eager excitement, my new Panasonic did a good job of snapping a usable shot. What a thrill to watch those creatures in their own environment and to know we can look forward to many more evenings of such wildlife entertainment.

         It’s now Sunday and I’m only just returning to this post after a wonderful afternoon yesterday at Eduardo’s festive birthday party. We had a fine time meeting new Tico amigos, learning new Spanish words and dancing to Eduardo’s hot DJ music. Too bad he was unable to dance because of minor knee surgery on Friday, but it didn’t stop him from entertaining us with his vibrant karaoke songs. What a great voice he has! The group included Jennifer, Odie’s business partner in Spanish Immersion, and her husband Rob, and several of Odie and Eduardo’s long-time amigos, Anna, Roseanna, Memo and his wife Annie. Proving himself to be a karaoke pro, Layne even chimed in on the Elvis Presley song, “It’s Now or Never” in English, joined by Memo on the mike.

         To finish off the evening, we “crashed” Linda’s family get-together upstairs, meeting her simpatico son Dillon and daughter-in-law Anna who live here in Atenas with their two young children, as well as her visiting sister and cousin. What an excellent end to a fine day of Costa Rican Pura Vida.

         Now the thunder is booming around us and heavy afternoon rains have begun, but not before I had time for a lovely swim in our pool under sunny and warm noontime skies. As the steady downpour rustles the trees and lightening flashes across the valley, we understand why the “green season” here is so very green. 

(Just a reminder: You can click on photos to enlarge them.)