Python Goes One Chicken Too Far

(Correction: I've been informed by a reader that Costa Rica has no "Pythons" so consider all references to Python to be Boa Constrictor.) 

Words are hardly adequate to describe the incredible past week and a half for Layne and me but words being my coinage, I'll have to try and pay the price. As my readers know, the highlight of virtually every week around here is our Sunday hike with "the Santa Eulalia gang" and Sunday the 30th of December was no exception. It started out normally enough: we'd spend a couple of hours traipsing the back trails of our barrio with a loose plan to end up at some restaurant along the way for lunch. As we followed picturesque Calle Vanilla that runs below the ridge behind our house, the adventure began to unfold.

First of all, this remote dirt lane is beautiful just on its own, with huge stands of bamboo reaching to the sky and the yellow-flowered vanilla trees for which the road is named offering their own charm. As we meandered up the last unpaved portion into a small village, we noticed a rustic house with a large covered patio nestled deep in the jungle. Seidy liked the look of the place snuggled in the greenery, so we stopped for a closer look. Just inside the front foliage was a group of men standing over a huge  they had just slain, capital punishment for poaching their chickens. The fearsome creature was magnificent, really, with its complex brown, beige and black pattern and enormous as you can see. Amazing!

With Marcial and Seidy's inimitable networking skills, we were all soon chatting in English and Spanish with Don Yeyo, learning that his brother uses the large patio area to make furniture on the weekends, including the wooden rocking chairs that Layne and I covet for our veranda. Good information to have. 

Bonnie and Seidy look on as Don Yeyo chats

Orchids... 

... and more orchids!

More beautiful flowers

Amazing foliage

Seidy admires the garden as Marcial enjoys rice pudding

The lady of the house brought out dishes of a yummy rice pudding and showed us her yard full of orchids and other lovely plants. Ho-hum -- just another day on the trail!

By contrast, our return trip was uneventful, unless you count finding a hidden river. With the help of some bamboo walking sticks machete'd for us by "Costa Rica Dundee" aka Marcial, we strolled down a steep grassy slope along a narrow cow trail, discovered only the day before by Marcial and his son Daniel, to a pretty little babbling stream. 

Seidy, Marcial and Yours Truly relax by the pool

We carefully picked our way across the rocks to take a break by a quiet pool before hiking up the other slope to the road and on to a convenience store for cold water and cold beers. Exercising a little restraint this day, there was no tequila in our plans as we all made our happy way back home.

But the next night was a different matter: New Year's Eve at Stephen and Bonnie's house was a festive affair attended by the whole gang, including our long-absent friends Chris and Sue who had returned that very day from packing and shipping duties back in the States. Their container won't arrive for another month or two but they were ecstatic to be back among their Santa Eulalia friends. We managed to hold off on the champagne until close to midnight when the multitude of large and small fireworks visible across the valley offered the perfect way to bring in the New Year.

With everything closed for the holidays, life slowed to a quieter pace for a day or two but for Layne and me there were more adventures in the offing. My son Damian had written a few weeks earlier asking if I might come to California to assist him following knee surgery he was facing in early January and, of course, I was happy to say Yes. But with the prospect of a month in chilly and damp San Francisco, I was longing for just one more trip to the beach before I departed, a little more sun and surf to hold me until I return in early February.

So with some help from Marcial we made last minute arrangements to bus down to Esterillos Oeste for an overnight stay at his friend Wilberth's beachfront hotel, Rancho Coral. It seems Marcial met Wilberth and his wife Eve Araya some years ago and bonded on many levels, not the least is that the two men share the same last name of Artavia and were born and raised in the north central portion of the country. Although not directly related, they nevertheless call each other primo, or cousin.

Rancho Coral gardens

Rancho Coral is a real find! Comfortable and secluded with only seven apartments, the gardens rampant with greenery and adorned with an abundance of hammocks strung from tree to tree, chickens running free along with a dozen or so friendly dogs rescued by Wilberth and Eve, the place is an absolute delight. The broad beige sandy beach is just steps away from your room and the surf is wonderfully clean and clear and delightfully warm. The breakfast is delicious, the coffee good and strong. One night was not nearly enough. In fact, we plan to return during the low season with the whole Santa Eulalia gang and take over the place. Look out, Wilberth and Eve!

Playa Esterillos Oeste

Enjoying some Aqua Pipa, fresh from the coconut

View from a hammock #1

View from a hammock #2

The real drama was in our bus travels. When we pre-purchased our tickets in San Jose in order to assure ourselves of seats, the cashier said that the bus leaving San Jose at 7:00 a.m. should arrive at the Atenas bus stop on the main road about 7:30 a.m. When we stepped out of our taxi at 7:15, however, we had barely time to catch our breath before our bus arrived. Even then the driver somehow missed our stop and let us off a mile down the road at a deserted parada where Wilberth soon came to pick us up. 

Waiting for Wilberth

Returning on Saturday night, it was just the opposite: along with a half dozen Ticos, we waited almost an hour and a half for the big vehicle to show up. Go figure. Or as we say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida!

(PS - As a holiday gift to my readers, Layne's novel MORAL TURPITUDE is available for FREE through January 31st. (NC-17 but not erotica.) To download it, click HERE to go directly to the book page; then click Add to Cart. You will have to register but it's very simple and you will get no spam. At the Cart page, enter Coupon Code QN77G, then click Update. The price will change to $0.00. Enjoy!)

Bamboozled in the Jungle!

After spending a couple of hours earlier this week sawing down huge bamboo stalks in the jungle with no ill effects, this morning I pull a muscle in my back making up the bed! Go figure. But with Layne’s devoted care - ice and ibuprofen - I am recovered enough to sit here at the computer and bring my faithful readers up to date on our latest adventure: bamboo harvesting! Through one of the Costa Rica online groups, I had seen a call for volunteers to help in cutting bamboo on Finca Amanecer in the tiny pueblo of Londres a few miles outside of Quepos, a beach town on the Pacific Coast. The vision and dream of Elena Ross, Finca Amanecer is part of the Intentional Conscious Communities of Costa Rica or ICCCR. ICCCR bills itself as a “work in progress,” established to create “our own online, open-source directory, Costa Rica specific, that seeks to educate (inform and empower), promote and market, match conscious investors and stewards with progressive communities, and most importantly, protect Costa Rica’s natural resources and its people from being bought out by BIG developers. The ICCCR seeks to enable ‘conscious people’ and their communities in making their eco-sustainable programs, permaculture and green communities, eco-tours and holistic communities, centers, and small businesses economically sustainable.”

Quite an ambitious goal, needless to say, but one that appeals to Layne and me with our belief in organic foods, sustainable agricultural practices, humane and free-range animal husbandry and pro-active efforts to preserve and protect the environment. And since we’re always on the lookout for another adventure that will introduce us to new people, places and projects, we decided to volunteer. After a pleasant phone call with Elena, being sure to forewarn her that our senior status meant a measured approach to chopping down bamboo, we made a plan to join her and other volunteers for a morning of harvesting and a couple of nights of socializing and good food.

Elena is a vivacious and creative woman who has lived in Costa Rica some twenty years and who claims that in the late 1990’s, she had what she calls “a Noah experience” -- referring to Bill Cosby’s comic bit where “God” calls down to Noah, saying “Noah, this is God! Go build an ark!” In Elena’s case, the heavenly voice that spoke to her declared, “You are supposed to manifest an intentional community.” Since 2002, when she bought her beautiful seven or so acres, absolutely bursting with bamboo forest, she has been working to do just that. Her vision includes a “longevity center” helping residents to “live younger, longer,” sharing a community van, building housing from the property’s bamboo, an apartment complex with a library, pool, gym, art studio and much more. Currently, she runs a bed-and-breakfast eco-lodge from January to April then works on developing the property in the “green season” months.

Which is where we came in. With all the gorgeous, gigantic bamboo available on her land, Elena had hoped that with some volunteer laborers who would benefit from the educational experience, she could harvest and cure a supply of bamboo with which to build experimental housing later this year.

Rio Naranjo

The Londres Bridge

So on Monday, we hopped on the early bus to San Jose in order to catch a “directo” bus to Quepos, where Elena had said we could get a bus to Londres, which would drop us off right at her driveway. All we needed to bring were beach clothes and a saw, which we borrowed from our landlord. Aided by the excellent directions on her website, all went according to plan, even the “shake, rattle and roll” of the Londres bus -- definitely not the comfortable modern buses we are used to here in Atenas. But as we approached the final bridge across the Rio Naranjo, the bus stopped and all the passengers began to disembark. We sat there, looking befuddled. The kind bus driver tried hard to explain to us, the only Gringos onboard, that we needed to get off, but then as we finally picked up our bags to exit, he shook his head no, indicating we should leave our bags on the bus. Finally, we remembered that Elena had warned us we might have to get off the bus and walk across the bridge due to worries about its safety after suffering damage last fall from the heavy rains of Hurricane Tomas. Smiling sheepishly at the patient Ticos when we arrived on the other side of the bridge, we re-boarded and were soon at the entrance to Finca Amanecer.

Nancy says Hasta Luego to Sashi

We had half-expected to meet up with Elena on the bus trip from Quepos where she said she would be buying more saws but it was a half hour after we arrived at the lodge when Elena drove up with Nancy, an old friend she’d happened upon in town. Nancy was facing some personal difficulties, which forced her to find a home for her beloved dog Sashi, and lucky for her, Elena had agreed to keep the pup for a month or so while Nancy went to the States to work out her problems.

Rich, Layne and Gabriel on the patio

What Nancy needed right then, Elena declared, was a margarita, which sounded good to us as well. We were soon joined by two more volunteers, Rich, another retired Gringo who arrived on his motorcycle, and Gabriel, a charming 22-year-old Tico, who turned out to be invaluable on the project, putting in much longer hours and more muscle power than any of the rest of us.

The Crew

Tuesday morning, in spite of a too-festive evening of beer and margaritas, nachos and salsa, we headed down the trail, saws in hand, muck boots on to protect against snakes (yikes!) and gloves and other heavy-duty “finca clothes” provided by Elena. Of course, Layne and I were working with our dull and rusty borrowed saw, which proved to be our undoing. After thirty or forty minutes of backbreaking work, hardly making a dent in the massive bamboo shaft, we changed to one of Elena’s new saws and lo and behold -- we were cutting bamboo!

Ready to Go! 

Layne hard at work

Kat hard at work

Now these things are tall, perhaps 70 feet or so, and very heavy so it was hard work and somewhat dangerous as well. Elena managed to brace our cuts by tying our target trunk to another standing bamboo but even then, it was dicey business. After a couple of hours Layne and I had managed to sever two stalks, each about ten inches in diameter. Our fellow workers managed more like three or four with their sharper tools, but since each bamboo stalk should yield eight or ten sections of “lumber,” Elena has a good start on her construction project.

Layne and I learned a bit about bamboo and still more about our stamina for such physical labor. Elena learned something as well. Next time, she says, she will hire a crew of knowledgeable Ticos and let the volunteers learn more by watching. Sounds like a good idea to us. As grand as her vision is, the dream is a long way from realization, but as Elena says, “Believe in miracles!” We do - we consider it a miracle that we survived our bamboo adventure!

Horsing Around in Turrialba, Costa Rica

     Our weekend in the Turrialba area was a rush! One new experience followed on the heels of another, with hardly time to catch our breath. Although reports of road closures around the country due to rain made us question the wisdom of travel, Desiree assured us that in her region, things were normal: sunny in the morning with late afternoon downpours. No problema! So on Thursday morning off we went on a three-plus-hour bus ride, across the Central Valley and down the long Caribbean slope to Turrialba where Desiree met us with one of her four dogs, Bella, who had a vet appointment in town. We made our way to the central park as dozens of loud-voiced parrots in tall palm trees screeched a welcome and we sat down at a sidewalk café for a bite of lunch. Afterwards, we walked a few blocks to the vet and had good news on Bella - just a fatty deposit - so we headed to the car for the thirty-minute ride to Desiree’s home high on the mountain beyond the tiny village of Tuis.

         The first part of our trip from Turrialba to La Suiza was on paved roads, but words can hardly describe the last few miles of steep uphill pulls on narrow gravel tracks with potholes as big as barrels, Desiree hardly slowing her 30-year-old Toyota jeep as we growled our way to near the top of the 3500’ peak. Once we arrived, we could see why she loves it: a near 360-degree view across two valleys to the smoking peak of Turrialba Volcano and a grand vista of mountains all around.

         Desiree and her partner Tim (who was in Africa for his United Nations pilot’s job) have a huge spread for their dogs, horses, chickens, cattle and turkeys. With the considerable help of her farm worker Rudo, Desiree is developing a greenhouse and herb garden and growing enough grasses to feed the horses. The house boasts floor-to-ceiling windows in virtually every room; the views are truly incredible.

The view from Maddie's back!

         On Friday morning, we were up early for a horseback ride up the mountain road. Costa Rican ponies are much smaller than most U.S. horses, just over 14 hands, but sure-footed and steady on the rather steep ride to the top. Fearing crippling soreness, we opted not to complete the two-hour loop but we did enjoy amazing views from the upper section of Desiree’s land. Stopping back by her greenhouse, where Rudo was packing huge bags of freshly-cut horse feed, we tied up the horses and hiked down a treacherous steep path, slick from the night’s rain, to the top of the waterfall. A landslide had blocked off the trail to the bottom of the falls but the pools above were obviously a favorite spot for the dogs, who cavorted across the mossy rocks and chased imaginary fish in the small ponds. It was a beautiful spot for a picnic or just a tranquil hour out of the tropical heat.

         After our ride, we cleaned up and headed for the feria in Turrialba, which meant another half hour of bone-jarring bumps over rocky roads. The farmers’ market was alive with vendors calling out the merits of their produce, from the ordinary carrots, potatoes, bananas and such to the more exotic chayote, yucca and huge papayas. After a few purchases we stopped into Desiree’s favorite bakery for empanadas before heading back up the hill to the house. Our evenings were spent getting better acquainted, laughing and talking as we enjoyed Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics or Chilean wines, courtesy of Tim’s good taste in liquor, watching the afternoon sky darken into rain clouds and listening to the eventual boom of thunder and the rattle of heavy showers in the trees.

One of several stream crossings

         But if we thought we had seen the worst of the roads in Costa Rica, we were in for a surprise on Saturday when we drove several miles out of La Suiza to visit Ginnee and Phil, Desiree’s friends who are developing a biodynamic/organic farm and eco project in the middle of remote jungle alongside the rushing Rio Atirro. Located just beyond the tiny pueblo of Esperanza, the couple owns some 1000 acres, most of it protected virgin forest. But on the acreage under cultivation, Phil is growing a special type of bamboo, called Guadua Angustifolia, which gets as big as eight inches in diameter and is used for home construction in Columbia. Ginnee hopes to eventually build bamboo huts in the back of their homesite to rent out as vacation cottages. A former nurseryman with extensive plant knowledge, Phil is also cultivating Vetevier, a pasture grass that grows a three-foot root, which helps prevent erosion and the landslides so common here. As he showed us around the property, he spouted Latin names of plant species here and there like a music lover might name songs.

         After our brief tour through the orchards and down by the river, accompanied by seven of their dogs, Ginnee treated us to her delicious coconut flan, tasty fresh ginger tea and a cold treat of papaya faux ice cream as we all sat around the big dining table, with Layne and I doctoring a few bug bites, and talked the merits of organic farming, a back-to-the-land lifestyle and the “intentional community” they are planning. Ginnee told us of her blog, http://costaricamountain.blogspot.com/, where she chronicles the birth of every calf and shares other news of their life in the small community. Check it out - it has some great photos.

         One notable thing about the location of their big farm was the climate. Nestled down in a jungle valley surrounded by steep forested hillsides, we expected it to be hot and humid. Instead, there was a steady and strong breeze blowing through their windows, which were covered by screens but had no glass or shutters to shut out the weather. According to Phil, the thermal breezes move up the mountainsides in the mornings as the air warms, then reverse and blow downhill in the late afternoons, keeping the air fresh and cool virtually all the time.

         On our way back to Tuis and Desiree’s place, we stopped briefly at a macaw breeding facility. The beautiful birds were exciting to view up close, as they peered curiously back at us while we wandered through the three open buildings. But some were obviously stressed with feathers missing and a depressed look about them. Although some of them will eventually go to new owners or even be turned back into the wild, it saddened me to see these gorgeous, untamed creatures locked in cages.  

         After our return, as Layne and I relaxed in the afternoon shade, Desiree brought out two baby turkeys to give them some free-range time out of their heated nursery kennel. To my amazement, her dogs left the chicks alone. Even big Bru, who is part wolf, part German Shepard and part Collie, was politely curious but not the least bit aggressive. What a great menagerie Desiree has and how fortunate we were to share a long weekend with her and her critters. We look forward to a return trip! 

(Remember, you can click on photos to enlarge.)