Happy New Year

Felicitaciones! It's dos mil once. We have never seen so many fireworks displayed at once in our lives. At midnight the five of us watched from our balcony literally hundreds of simultaneous displays across the valley. It's 12:35 and many continue. Anyway, to our faithful blog followers, we say thank you, more to come, enjoy the pictures, and happy new year!

Networking

The boys are here for a two week vacation. As you see, we've found the perfect way to connect.

Workmanship (or the Cringe Factor)

At one am on Monday morning, Jim and I were awakend by a loud crash. It sounded like someone had broken a large window. Jim headed out of our bedroom as I thought that it must have been the 2 strings of lights that I have taped up in the front bedroom window. But they were still secure in their place. Then we thought it must have been one of the reclining deck chairs being blown off of our porch during the gale force winds we have been “enjoying” night and day for the last week or so. (It had happened during the day once before) A flip of the outside light proved that they were both still pushed snug against the wall. We searched all over the first level (all of 3 minutes, our house isn’t that large) and couldn’t find anything out of place. Jim remembered that a co-worker had said that sometimes the roof tiles blow off, so we looked in the yard but didn’t find anything. When we went back upstairs, we flipped on the balcony light and it didn’t turn on. On further inspection, we found that it had fallen from the ceiling and was on the tile floor, wires still attached. It is amazing how it’s always the last place that you look that you find the problem. (Think about it) The next morning we found the builder had “secured” the light fixture to the ceiling with a two inch plastic screw into drywall.

I know that MN has been having quite a winter, with record snowfalls, etc. But, so has San Jose. On Monday night, the low temperature was 12C, the coldest it has been in 15 years. Yes, that is only 12 C (55 F). As mentioned above, we have also had massive winds howling through all of the cracks in the doors and windows. It was reported that the winds were up to 70 km/h on Monday morning. Obviously, the wind rocked the fixture enough that the screw finally enlarged the hole and fell out. The other side effect of these great winds, was that our tile floors were covered with a very fine volcanic ash. Our bare feet and socks are always dirty. (The picture is from sweeping a 2 square foot area, after 2 days)

The light falling prompted an e-mail to our landlord, where we also mentioned two other water issues that had not been handled from before. So a guy (and his girlfriend) came out to fix everything yesterday afternoon.

First, the leak under the kitchen sink. Oh, I wish Jeff (our friend and plumber) were here. He would just shake his head at the mismatched pipes under the sink. So, instead of replacing pipes that would then fit properly, our handyman just gooped a lot of silicone around the joint in hopes that it is now sealed. I haven’t run water in that sink yet to test that out.

Second, the leak above the shower ceiling. This isn’t a major issue now since the rainy season is over but it should be fixed. Mr. Fixit started by painting some Kilz type of product on the mold on the ceiling.

Third, he then attacked the balcony light project while the paint was drying. That entailed crawling through the trap door in the master bath and pulling up the wires and somehow fastening them in the empty space below the roof. That went smoothly and he was back to the bathroom. While in the crawl space he patched up the hole in the roof above the shower. The girlfriend was getting impatient for the paint to dry, so she asked me for my hairdryer. When we went back to the bathroom, we realized that the cord was too short to reach the shower. I did not pack any extension cords for Costa Rica, so our man General Electric went out to borrow one from the construction crew in the complex. He came back with the Tico equivalent of an extension cord: a wire with a plug at one end and two exposed wires at the other. He then proceeded to insert the bare wires directly into the wall socket. (Yes, you read that correctly) Two exposed wires just inserted into the wall socket. Are you cringing , yet? He finally painted the ceiling and left after being here for two and a half hours.

Later, I went to plug in our Christmas lights and they didn’t work. Plus, they had been partially ripped out of the tape from the window. Using my own extensive knowledge of electricity, I found out today that the fuses were blown in one of the strings. I am guessing that General Electric tried to use my Christmas lights as an extension cord for my hair dryer. (Cringe, again)

Oh, yea. The paint is already peeling off the shower ceiling.

Spanish lesson

There is a cell phone ad on TV where Santa Claus is texting.


He types in, "jo jo jo jo jo jo jo jo"

A Major Milestone

Happy 30th Anniversary, Jim!
It is amazing looking at those two "young kids" getting married. On that day, I could not even image what life had in store for us. A move from Ohio to Minnesota. The birth of three sons. Memories of raising the boys; scouts, baseball, education and vacations. A couple of job changes. And now a year in Costa Rica. Wow!

Thank you for the adventure.
Here's to 30 more great years.
I love you! Nancy

November Weather Report

As I reported earlier, we received 11.3 inches of rain in the first 5 days of the month. This caused much havoc across the country, with landslides, collapsed bridges and flooding. 30 deaths were reported from around the country. The rest of the month was much quieter. We received another 1.1 inch of rain during 5 other days of the month; for a total of 12.4 inches. The country typically gets 70 inches of rainfall each year. We have received 83.9 inches in the first six months we have been here. Even though we have received above average rainfall for the year, a co-worker of Jim’s reported that he was at Lake Arenal a couple weeks ago and that the water level was down. (This suggests that we might have more shortages in power in the Spring.)

The weather is changing, as we enter the “dry season”. This past weekend, we had two cloudless days. A first since we’ve been here. The wind has also picked up. It just howls through the spaces around our doors and windows. There are no latches on the screen doors, so they are constantly being blown open. It is fun watching the hummingbirds valiantly fight their way to get to the feeder. Jim enjoys driving home from work on dry roads. We can actually see the moon and stars at night. We have noticed “Orion’s Belt” is directly overhead at night.

Last night, we learned that the farmers look at the first 12 days of January as the indication of the yearly weather. Each day is suppose to mimic what the weather will be like for the corresponding month. For example, if it is rainy on the 10th, then October will be rainy.

Monteverde, Part 3

After the tour, we visited their little hummingbird garden. It was active with several types of hummingbirds, including the Violet Sabrewing. The hummingbirds also shared their feeders with the small bananaquit bird. We ate lunch at the café and hike some more on our own. We hiked to an overlook but couldn’t see the Pacific Ocean through the clouds. We also went on the hanging bridge, which allowed us a great view above much of the forest growth. At one point, a hummingbird started to dash around me. I guess it confused my red rain jacket as a possible food source.

Monteverde, Part 2

We took a 2 hour guided tour and learned all about the four types of plant growth in the Cloud Forest. We also got to see the elusive quetzal, although it was only part of it and through the guides spotting scope. We don’t really have a clue how these guides actually spot these birds. We think (or are guessing) that the bird was in a tree that was about 200 feet from us and it was at least 120 feet off the ground. The picture was taken through the spotting scope. (The guides are also quite versed in working all types of cameras). And if you look directly left from the bottom of its wing you will see an avocado (beyond the little red bell shape). I guess there are 3 avocado trees in this cloud forest and that is where the quetzals are most likely to be found.

We saw a huge cedar tree that was 500-600 years old(Jim is standing in front of it). We saw how the ficus (one type of hemi-epiphyte plant) could grow down around a tree and would eventually kill the tree (in 400 years). Included is a picture with the vines growing down a tree (we plan on going back in 250 years). Another picture, with us at the bottom of a tree after 400 years. The inside (where the tree used to be) is totally hollow. As you can see, it becomes quite a massive structure.

Not everything is huge in the cloud forest. We also saw really small orchids. Included are two pictures; one is taken through a magnifying glass and the other is a blurry picture with my index finger so you can “picture” the size.

Monteverde; Part 1

Saturday the 20th, we ventured to the Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Reserve. The village of Monteverde was founded in 1951 by Quakers from the US who wanted to escape the threat of war. They chose Costa Rica because it had abolished its military in 1948. In 1972, 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of land was set aside to be preserved and studied.

Although it is only 146 km (90 miles) to Monteverde from our house it is quite an adventure to get there and a 3 hour trip. During the last hour, we drove 35 km uphill on an unpaved road with spectacular views of the “green mountains”. We had to dodge piles of rock that were dumped on the road to be spread out later. This explained why the road was so bumpy, since the piles included boulders. We had a little reprieve of paved road through the towns of Santa Elena and Monteverde and then another dirt road that ended at the Reserve.

For the Record (and Recordkeeping)

A gazillion is a little high but it is close. We are talking in the tens of thousands range for a 20 pound turkey. The price is 3.600 colones per kg. So, for a 9,072 kg turkey, the total price is 32.659,2 colones. If we use the easy factor of 500 colones to 1 dollar we end up with a 20 pound turkey costing $65.32. (Of course that doesn’t account for the extra you have to pay on your credit card for a “foreign transaction fee”.)

You may have found it difficult and confusing when you read the sentence above. In Costa Rica, there are two major recordkeeping differences from our practices in the US. The first, is that they interchange the use of periods and commas when writing numbers. So, 3.600 colones per kg. should be read as “three thousand – six hundred” colones not “three point six” and 9,072 kg should be read as “nine point zero seven - two” and not “nine thousand – seventy two”.

The second difference is how they write dates. This past week, I went back down to the Immigration Office so that I could have my picture retaken, so that they could replace my stolen Costa Rican cedula. I had to look at the computer screen to verify my information and had to think twice before agreeing to the information. My birthdate was written 4/3/1959. This was written correctly, but my birthday is March 4th, not April 3rd.



Two weeks ago, Costa Ricans started to put up their Christmas decorations. There are now holiday posters on the light poles along the highway, Christmas trees in front of stores and inside of stores and businesses. People have put lights on their fences and houses. There are blow up Santa Clauses and wreaths. I haven’t yet seen anything that looks unique to Costa Rica or different than our holiday decorations.  

Two Questions

How much do you think a 9.072 kg (20 lb.) frozen Butterball Turkey costs in Costa Rica?


If Thanksgiving is just another Thursday in November and the daytime highs are still around 80 degrees and there isn't a foot of snow on the ground; when would you put up your Christmas decorations?

A National Emergency

Yesterday morning our rain gauge was full. That’s 6 inches of rain. I’m sure you’ve heard that Hurricane Tomas is headed towards Haiti but it has already left its mark on Costa Rica. Costa Rica doesn’t get the full force of these Caribbean hurricanes but it does get lots of rain from them.

Pico Blanco is the mountain that towers over Escazu that we see from our back balcony. The top picture in the October Weather Report is Pico Blanco and the town of Escazu. Early Thursday morning, there were massive landslides on Pico Blanco. 20 are dead and another 10 are still missing, buried under tons of rocks and mud. Other parts of the country also suffered landslides and flooding.

Guayabo National Monument

Last weekend we ventured two and a half hours from our house to see the largest and only archaeological site in the country, Guayabo National Monument. We traveled through San Jose, over several mountains, through the city of Turrialba and continued another 19 km over roads with steep hills, hair pin turns, one lane bridges, shoulders that ended in cliff like drop offs without guard rails, landslide damage (the sign read “calle esta mal”) and finally gravel, until we arrived at our destination.

One thing that we have discovered driving these back roads is that no town is complete unless it has a futbol field. Even if the town is on the side of a hill, there will be a flat rectangular piece of grass with two goals.

The first excavation of Guayabo ruins was in 1968 and it was deemed a National Monument in 1973. It has remained for the most part unexplored since…probably because all of the interesting gold, pottery and stone sphere artifacts were moved to the National Museum. We read that the place was inhabited between 1000 BC and 1400 AD, with the height of the civilization coming around 800 AD, when the population approached 20,000. We’re not so sure about these statistics – we doubt there are 20,000 people living between Guayabo and Turrialba even today, although the road there was probably better in the 9th century. Other sources estimate a peak population of 500.

The excavations reveal many rocks and stones arranged to form a calzada (a road that is in pretty good shape by Costa Rican standards), monticulos (mounds), acueductos y tanques (for water distribution and collection), tumbas de cajon (tombs) and the monolito del lagarto (a stone carving of a lizard).

We enjoyed a couple of short hikes through the rain forest and by the ancient ruins and came to the realization that given the relatively remote location and the ability of the rainforest to grow rapidly on any surface, whomever discovered Guayabo was lucky to do so.
On the way back we enjoyed a lunch at a restaurant (Bocaditos del Cielo) with fantastic views of the patchwork farms on the slopes of Irazu and other volcanic formations beyond the valley below.

October Weather Report

When we first moved here at the beginning of the rainy season, Jim’s boss had told me that I should go back to the “States” for October, to escape the rainiest month. But, October has not lived up to this title. We had 5.3 inches of rain in the first three days but that did not last. We had a whopping 17 days without rain. I’m sure that is some kind of a record. We ended up with a total of 13 inches of rainfall.

A friend informed us that it is good to get a lot of rain now because that will limit the number of days in the Spring when they will need to ration the water and electricity (it is hydroelectric). When supplies get sparse they start announcing which cities will “go without” for the day. (Alajuela on lunes, Rohmoser on martes, Escazu on miercoles, etc.)

Happy 90th Birthday, Dad (Bob)

Random pictures for you to enjoy! And a few humorous stories.




People ask me all the time about my Spanish. The other day, two of my co-workers were discussing a problem on the production line. As I joined the conversation, one of them switched to English, which is the bane of my Spanish. He said “But I have a good question”, to which I thought I would proudly provide a translation: “Pero yo tengo un bueno pregunta”, whereupon my coworker gently replied “Jeem, remember, the question, she is a woman.” That about sums up my Spanish.


We ran out of toothpaste yesterday and went to buy more. Don’t tell my Dad. They only sell coal-gah-tay [Colgate] here. He’ll be as understanding as when my nephew told him that he was a democrat. (Note: Jim’s dad worked for Proctor & Gamble his whole career and worked on Crest.)


A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to a Doctor. This was one of the activities that I had hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with but I knew that I was getting (or had) a urine infection. One night, after Jim came home from work, we headed to the CIMA hospital (the private hospital and clinic that we had a toured when we looked for a place to live). Most employees did speak some English but not always perfectly. As I was lying on the examination table, the Dr. asked me to “dis-cover myself” so he could perform a manual exam. After waiting for the prescription to be filled they realized that we spoke English, so they took it back to reprint the directions in English. The direction on the bottom of the label clearly states the way to take pills, ORAL ROUTE.

Puerto Viejo

We’re sitting here in the dark because the power went out about 15 minutes ago. It came back on, but only long enough to raise our hopes. Surprisingly, power outages in our neighborhood are fairly infrequent. I’d guess we have one a week, but usually only long enough to reset the clock on the microwave, and usually during the day. We have them often enough at work to be disruptive, but on the other hand, the power went out in Maple Grove last week as I was talking to one of my colleagues on the phone. This particular instance is annoying since it happened while Nancy was just starting to cook dinner and the Vikings were on TV.

Last week we reported on the “dark side” of Costa Rica, and I guess the opening paragraph seemed like more (literally) dark matter. But, no matter how bad things are, they can always be worse. When we spoke to some of our friends at Bible Study on Tuesday we learned that they had been stuck in traffic for 6 hours on Friday night because a boulder had fallen off a cliff and onto a car on the same road we took, killing a man and a baby. In the same vein, on Tuesday morning on my drive to work I passed the scene of an accident. The motorcyclist was still on the pavement – with a tarp covering all but his feet.

So all in all, our trip to Puerto Viejo was great. As the pictures attest, the jungle comes right up to the beach. Normally the area does not have a lot of rain at this time of the year, but it had rained before we arrived and was windy while we were there which meant we weren’t able to snorkel. We did enjoy a long walk on the beach, some body surfing and a dinner in possibly the seediest eatery we’ve ever been in. I wouldn’t really call it a restaurant.

We were greeted warmly by our host, Pepo, upon our arrival late Saturday afternoon at Kukula Lodge. We decided to walk to a restaurant he had mentioned since we’d been driving all day and the road through Puerto Viejo was one big series of huecos, causing cars to weave like a slalom skier. Anyway, it was dark, so as we walked we realized that our friends had said not to go into town at night because of crime and rampant use of “ganja”. Now we weren’t in town, but our recent experience with the tire changing bandit was enough to put us on edge. So we turned around, and as we headed back to the lodge, we noticed the aforementioned eatery - but from afar it looked like a restaurant – the sign even said “Caribbean food”. As we ventured closer, however, I noticed that the clientele was not your usual band of tourists, and I worried that the two dogs and a cat wandering about the place were adding more than ambiance to the food. The proprietor, an ancient stoner explained that “here we have food and some beers.” We were starving at this point, but even so I was all set to provide Nancy with an exit strategy when she shocked me by asking “what kind of food”. “Fried chicken”. “OK” she said, and we proceeded to wipe off a few lawn chairs and sit at a plastic table, while one of the clientele tied up the more rambunctious of the two dogs. The proprietor brought us two bottles of Imperial – la cervesa de Costaricienses, along with two glasses (cleaned sometime this century) filled with ice. For the beer. “We’ll just use the bottles” we explained, noting that even the regulars weren’t using glasses either. We gobbled down the chicken, mopped up the greased, swilled down the beer and high tailed it back to the lodge, along the way picking up a distinct odor that was not tobacco.

A “lodge” in Costa Rica means, as we have learned, that instead of windows and air conditioning, expect ventilation and noise. The walls are literally wood frames covered with screens and a variety of wooden slats to maintain privacy. Despite the high heat and humidity in the area, at night these lodge rooms maximize air circulation, and remain fairly comfortable. However, rain falls hard in the rainforest, and the metal roof rattles like a snare drum. When it isn’t raining, there are plenty of creatures to provide the cacophony. Frogs, insects, birds, howler monkeys, falling coconuts, you name it, you hear it and sleep becomes a series of sighs and turns.

The not so good side of Costa Rica

At the Fourth of July picnic for US citizens, people were drumming up support for better protection for foreigners. We signed a petiton encouraging the police to be more active against thefts and stop their “catch and release” policy with criminals. We remember skipping over the box that said “have you been a victim of a crime”.

Well, we can no longer skip over that box.

On Saturday morning, we headed out of the Meseta Central to spend two nights on the southern Caribbean Coast near the town of Puerto Viejo. Many people had told us that this was definitely a place to see. The jungle goes right up to the coast and we should go in the Fall when they don’t have as much rain.

We drove across the north side of San Jose and got on 32, the road that heads to Limon. We’ve been on this road several times and are familiar with it. When we had gone about 10 km and were approaching a gas station, a motorcyclist went around us honking and pointing down to our tires. We pulled into the gas station and got out and found that our back passenger tire was flat. Jim was opening up the back of the car to change the tire when a guy came over and told us in Spanish that we were too close to the entrance where the trucks pull off and we should move. He directed us further back behind the station. We proceeded to change the tire with the help of this guy who obviously knew what he was doing. And then he just left in the middle of the process. When we got back in the car we realized that Nancy’s fanny pack, with wallet, cell phone and camera were missing from the floor by the front seat. We talked to the people at the station and they said there was nothing to do. We called the US Embassy and got a Marine manning the phones. He said that there wasn’t much to do about it, that he received this type of call about 3 times a day, and then he helped us cancel our credit cards. We had to drive back home to get more cash and take the car to National rental and got the tire replaced. We figured out that our tire had been punctured on the side. So, this “good Samaritan” punctured a hole in our tire and then followed us until we needed to fix it and took advantage of us. We don’t know if he was working alone or with others.

Fortunately, Nancy was only bringing her fanny pack. She didn’t have her passport. That is now her only form of ID. We’ll see how long it takes to get back to “normal”. We came back to San Jose earlier today and planned to pick up a few groceries so we can make it through the week. The banks were closed (Columbus Day) so we couldn’t exchange the $100 bill we still have remaining. The grocery stores will not take US $100 bills. They also wouldn’t take American Express (Jim has one for work) our only credit card between the two of us. So, we had one $20 bill and a 10,000 colones bill. Fortunately, Nancy had stocked up on meat last week. We bought 7 items for just under $20 (yes, food is expensive here). That should keep us for the week until we get our new credit cards.

Irazu Volcano, Orosi Valley and Tapanti NP

Being that it is rainiest part of the year and is at the tail end of a weather system, Jim and I headed towards Tapanti National Park, in the rainiest part of the country last Sunday. We had been to the east of San Jose earlier in August when we had company.



Flashback
Nancy’s step brother, Bill and his dad, Jack visited us the first week of August. They spent a few days on the Pacific Coast but on the weekend we enjoyed a few side trips around the Meseta Central. We had a very entertaining tour of Café Britt coffee plantation, complete with a visit from the company’s owner. Then we also made our way to the eastern side of San Jose. We visited our third volcano, Irazu. We drove up the arduous hill completely covered in clouds and near the top we came out of them and enjoyed a view of the volcano. Afterwards , we drove south to the Orosi Valley. After stopping at a breathtaking overlook, we drove down into the town of Orosi where we ate lunch at the Cabecar Café. We were waited on by an energetic 10-year old girl. We asked what the “Cabecar” name referred to and she got very excited and started into a long story, mind you this was in Spanish. We asked, “Despacio, por favor!” and she slowed down her story. It had something to do with her grandfather and that we were on (or around) the burial ground for the Cabecar Indians.



Present
We met up with one of Jim’s co-workers and his wife in Cartago. We drove down into the Orosi Valley, pass coffee fields, over the Macho River until we got to the end of the pavement. Then drove a bit further, over a one lane bridge, waited until the herd of cattle went around us and then climbed up the dirt road to the Tapanti Park entrance. We spent the morning, hiking on the trails, enjoying different views of the waterfall. It only started to sprinkle as we were getting into the car to leave. We continued to drive around a loop in the valley and ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant. The terrain is quite mountainous and I can never stop thinking about how difficult it must be driving on those roads in winter. Then, reality sets in and I realize that I’m in Costa Rica and it’s “winter” right now. We returned to our house late afternoon, through a rain storm, and saw that we had received over 2 inches of rain while we were gone.