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.

Groundhog Day or the Biggest One Yet

It often feels like “Groundhog Day” here. For those of you who have not seen the 1993 movie, Bill Murray plays a weatherman stuck in a time warp where the same day (Groundhog Day) is repeated ad infinitum. Because only he is aware of the situation, he initially takes advantage of the situation, but eventually he finds the true meaning of love and breaks the cycle. For us, the Groundhog Day syndrome only applies to the temperature, but it is definitely happening to us. Day in and day out, the temperature doesn’t change. It is hard for us to believe that it is close to the middle of October. We are missing the clues that nature gives us back home, like the changing of the leaves.

Nevertheless, every day is not the same. Last evening we were watching TV in our bedroom when all of a sudden the bed started shaking. At first we thought it might have been the wind since we have had howling winds here the last few days. But then the bed started shaking big time and the windows started rattling. As we realized it was an earthquake, we waited for it to end, but it seemed to just keep going and going. It felt a little like an amusement park ride, except it seemed to grow in intensity and there was no way of knowing when it would end.

This was the third earthquake we have felt since we arrived. In the middle of September, Jim had felt a 5.1 while at work. He vividly remembers the ceiling mounted TV’s swaying along with other noises. The four gringos in the room (including Jim) had eyes like saucers, while the Ticos remained calm and quickly checked their web enabled phones for the epicenter and intensity information. They soon announced that they considered it only a tremor.

But the quake last night got their attention because of the intensity and duration. The USGS registered it as 5.9 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter about 20 miles north of our house under the Poas volcano. Even though there was no damage to house or belongings (our house is made of cement covered steel reinforced concrete blocks) and no reported damage in the news, we would just as soon not have a repeat experience.

Enough Already!!!

We heard on the radio this morning that “tropical depression #16 in the Caribbean is causing the unusually heavy amount of rainfall for San Jose and the Pacific Coast” and that “in a day or two we’d be back to our normal ‘rainy season’ rain”. I guess my first clue should have been when I dumped 4.1 inches of rain out of our rain gauge this morning. How’s that for a great way to start off the day.

Then, I read this newspaper headline in La Nacion: “Fenomeno climatico extendera aguaceros hasta enero” (Hint: the last three words are “showers until January”). What this means for us is that the rainy season may extend three extra months this year. This is a little reminiscent of our first winter in Minnesota with a record-breaking 100 inches of snowfall, including 10 inches on April 30. We’re guessing we’ll get that in rain here for the 12 months we’ll be here.

“Winter” has really hit Costa Rica. The Tico’s are freezing. They are all dressed up in coats and scarves. They are also sick. We’ve seen plenty of people who have major colds. “Winter” has also made us “turn the heat on” at night; aka closing the bedroom window. We have enjoyed the side benefit of a quieter night. We no longer hear the dogs, trucks, roosters or river. Jim went to work yesterday in his usual garb, pants and a short-sleeved polo shirt. He was sitting in a meeting when his boss looks at him and says, “You know that it is winter, now.” I also had fun telling my Spanish teacher (who was wearing a fleece in the 70 degree open air room) what “real” winter temperatures are like.

So, now the September weather report. We had a whopping 21 inches of rain. And over 7 inches in the last five days.

On a positive note, on Tuesday Jim and I picked up our Costa Rican cedulas. These are our official ID cards. We now have proof of our residency and I believe (but I’m not quite positive) that we are officially finished with all of the rig-a-ma-roll that started in the middle of March.