We flew back to MN on Friday, May 20th. It has been a whirlwind ever since; going to Brad's graduation, catching up with friends, getting in some dr. appointments and of course Jim did work from Maple Grove.
Here are some numbers from our year in Costa Rica.
Rain:
May 31 - Dec. 1 : 85.9 inches of rain; 122 days of rain and 62 without.
Dec. 2 - May 18 : 8 inches of rain; 15 days of rain and 153 without.
Earthquakes:
We felt a total of 6 earthquakes. Nancy and Jim each felt 5. Magnitudes were 6.0, 4.6, 5.1, 5.9, 4.8 and 6.0
We took 23 Day trips and 10 Overnight trips.
Jim ran 831 miles.
Nancy read the whole Bible and 57 books and listened to another 24 books.
Nancy sewed 6 complete quilts, 5 tops and a ring bearer's pillow.
Jim heads out to CA on Monday and I'll follow him on the next Saturday.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Sabana Park
A couple weeks ago, we spent the afternoon at Sabana Park. This is on the edge of San Jose and was the international airport from 1933 - 1977.
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| Picture taken in January when we hiked up Pico Blanco. Sabana Park is the green area in the middle of the picture. |
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| Once the main terminal of the airport, this building is now the Costa Rican Art Museum. |
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| Inside of the building. I loved the architectural details. |
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| This beautiful room was the diplomatic lounge at the airport.The walls are bas-relief and chronicle the history of Costa Rica from pre-Columbian times to the present. |
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| The museum also had a great sculpture garden. |
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| More sculpture garden looking towards the large trees in the park. |
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| The new stadium is at the opposite end of Sabana Park from the museum. |
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Going out with a Bang (or is that a Shake)
Yes, there was an 6.0 earthquake yesterday afternoon in Costa Rica. We saw that it was even reported on CNN last night.
Jim was in his second-floor office at work when it hit. He explained that the floor was vibrating under his chair, the ceiling was shaking above him and the interior walls were creaking. Jim stayed seated in his chair and "rode" out the tremor. He knew exactly what to do because earlier in the day he had discussed emergency evacuation drills with a co-worker and knew that you only exit the building during a fire.
Meanwhile, Nancy was at home flipping through TV channels. All of a sudden, she heard a loud noise and the sliding door behind her head started to vibrate. She bolted out of the chair and didn't really know what to do. Her heart was racing a mile a minute. She didn't really feel much of the vibration but was very aware of the front doors violently shaking and the stairwell windows rattling.
This is only the sixth tremor that we have felt during the past year. And thankfully most of them were much smaller.
Tell me again why we are moving to California?
Jim was in his second-floor office at work when it hit. He explained that the floor was vibrating under his chair, the ceiling was shaking above him and the interior walls were creaking. Jim stayed seated in his chair and "rode" out the tremor. He knew exactly what to do because earlier in the day he had discussed emergency evacuation drills with a co-worker and knew that you only exit the building during a fire.
Meanwhile, Nancy was at home flipping through TV channels. All of a sudden, she heard a loud noise and the sliding door behind her head started to vibrate. She bolted out of the chair and didn't really know what to do. Her heart was racing a mile a minute. She didn't really feel much of the vibration but was very aware of the front doors violently shaking and the stairwell windows rattling.
This is only the sixth tremor that we have felt during the past year. And thankfully most of them were much smaller.
Tell me again why we are moving to California?
Monday, May 9, 2011
Bosque de Paz
After our brief stop in Zarcero, we headed east into the mountains on a road that progressively got narrower the further we drove. Right after the road turned to gravel we arrived at Bosque de Paz Reserva Biologia Privada. This “Peace Forest” was tucked into the valley of a lush Rain/Cloud Forest. After being greeted by our hosts, we learned that we would be the only guests at this lovely retreat. (We tried to go the weekend before, but were told that the 12 rooms were full.) So, for the next 24 hours, we had this is a 3,000 acre piece of land to ourselves.
After checking into our spacious room, we spent an hour going through their Orchid Garden. Although this wasn’t really prime blooming time for the orchids, we managed to find quite a few and shot over 40 pictures. After lunch we ventured out to find their main waterfall. We hiked for 1 ½ hours before coming around a bend to a spectacular view of the top of the waterfall. We needed to hike down in the gorge to see the full view of the waterfall, which was probably about 150 feet high. We hiked the rest of the afternoon among the huge trees and babbling creeks.
On Sunday, it was raining. We tried to go for a birding hike but the weather just didn’t cooperate. We did see a hummingbird’s nest and the 2 babies inside of it. They were about the size of the tip of your baby finger. We hiked more trails in the rain and left late morning. We decided to take a different road home. Wow! Sorry, we have no pictures. But it was probably the scariest road we’ve ever been on. We creeped straight up a huge hill to the top of a ridge and then drove along a cut in the face. It was completely covered in fog and at many times only wide enough for only one car with a steep drop off the side – often with missing pavement along a landslide. We felt like at any minute the road would just end.
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| These flowers were small. The clump is much smaller than the palm of my hand. |
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| The first view of the waterfall |
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| Down by the bottom part of the waterfall. |
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| A black guan |
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| Hummingbird in its nest. The nest was about the size of a tennis ball. |
Zarcero Topiary Garden
One last trip, took us to the remote and peaceful Bosque de paz. We passed through the small town of Zarcero on our way and stopped at the center square, which had a beautiful church and wonderful Topiary garden.
Friday, May 6, 2011
The Countdown Begins
The countdown has begun for our repatriation back to the United States. We will be returning to MN on Friday, May 20th, just in time for Brad’s graduation on the 22nd. Afterwards, we will probably be moving to CA and to start another adventure, but no details have been finalized.
So, last weekend we took two day trips. We revisited the places of our first two weekends when we arrived last June. On Saturday, we trekked through Alejuela back up the mountain to Poas Volcano. This was our third time to see this natural wonder and the weather was the clearest. After, viewing the volcano, we hiked up to the lagoon and then through the woods back to the visitor center. Poas remains one of my favorite sights to see.
On Sunday, we took the Caldera Highway down to the Pacific Ocean and to Playa Hermosa. After arriving at 8 am, we walked the long beach, watching the surfers and frolicked in the ocean for several hours. By the time, 1 pm rolled around it was extremely hot on the coast and in the sand and we were hungry.
Two memorable trips!
So, last weekend we took two day trips. We revisited the places of our first two weekends when we arrived last June. On Saturday, we trekked through Alejuela back up the mountain to Poas Volcano. This was our third time to see this natural wonder and the weather was the clearest. After, viewing the volcano, we hiked up to the lagoon and then through the woods back to the visitor center. Poas remains one of my favorite sights to see.
On Sunday, we took the Caldera Highway down to the Pacific Ocean and to Playa Hermosa. After arriving at 8 am, we walked the long beach, watching the surfers and frolicked in the ocean for several hours. By the time, 1 pm rolled around it was extremely hot on the coast and in the sand and we were hungry.
Two memorable trips!
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| Poas Volcano |
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| Poas |
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| We started walking at the far end of the beach, where you see the notch in the trees. This was our turn around point. |
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| The rocky point where we began our walk. |
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Repelling Redux
Blogger fans will recall that we had an exciting time canyoning near the Arenal volcano shortly after Christmas while the boys were still here. Nancy and I were having dinner with friends a few weeks ago, and Nancy mentioned that canyoning was on her “top 5” list of favorite things to do in Costa Rica, so the next morning, on the spur of the moment, we headed down to Uvita, just south of Dominical where we met up with “Costa Canyoning”. Yes, you read that correctly, the Broge’s did something on the “spur of the moment”.
This trek proved to be quite a bit different from the first adventure. On that occasion we received about 3 seconds of instruction, but had 3 ropes of protection as about 30 of us were led by six or so guides as we repelled from platforms with fixed belay points, and started with the biggest cliff.
With the Costa Canyoning team, there were just the two of us with two guides and one rope. We trained on our way down the creek, starting with the easiest cliff and preparing for the final drop. There were no trails or walkways – we waded our way down the stream. Nancy was quite proficient at hitting every deep spot in the stream. Rather than “hopping” down the waterfalls, we walked our way down the cliff face while belaying ourselves – with one of the guides acting as a back-up belay on the same rope. After the 6th repel, we had a short walk to a small swimming hole, before we walked back to the waiting pick-up. We made it to the pick-up just as the sky opened up and it began to pour.
A wonderful afternoon in the wilderness. And yes, Nancy was sore the next day.
This trek proved to be quite a bit different from the first adventure. On that occasion we received about 3 seconds of instruction, but had 3 ropes of protection as about 30 of us were led by six or so guides as we repelled from platforms with fixed belay points, and started with the biggest cliff.
With the Costa Canyoning team, there were just the two of us with two guides and one rope. We trained on our way down the creek, starting with the easiest cliff and preparing for the final drop. There were no trails or walkways – we waded our way down the stream. Nancy was quite proficient at hitting every deep spot in the stream. Rather than “hopping” down the waterfalls, we walked our way down the cliff face while belaying ourselves – with one of the guides acting as a back-up belay on the same rope. After the 6th repel, we had a short walk to a small swimming hole, before we walked back to the waiting pick-up. We made it to the pick-up just as the sky opened up and it began to pour.
A wonderful afternoon in the wilderness. And yes, Nancy was sore the next day.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Animal Behavior
We live next door to a farm complete with cows, horses, roosters and dogs, not to mention the menagerie of wild animals around the place comprised of birds both large and small some of which sing beautifully while others exude a noise akin to the proverbial clanging cymbal.
There are even a few roaming squirrels. Now these are not your typical fat and happy grey squirrels that we are used to seeing frolicking amongst the oaks in our yard in Plymouth. No indeed, these are slim and scrawny squirrely squirrels who seem to serve no purpose other than to walk along the top of our back fence, waving at Nancy as if to say “hey, go get your camera and take a picture of me”. Poor Nancy, so easily enticed, rushes for the camera, flips the on switch, stretches into a pose that a ballerina would envy (a bit of an exaggeration) to capture the perfect shot, only to have the aforementioned critter turn tail (with said tail often uplifted) and heckle “get a shot of this”. Not a pretty picture.
In one of our early blogs we mentioned a pleasant journey to the aerial tram at Braulio Carillo national park. Our biologist guide was comparing Tico culture with North American culture using squirrels as an example. “You have squirrels in Minnesota, right?” he asked. “Yes, and they’re fat and happy” we replied. “Have you seen a squirrel in Costa Rica?” he continued. “Yes, and they’re scrawny and ill mannered” we responded. “I don’t know about ill mannered” he said, “but why do you suppose they’re so thin?” he posed. “It’s because they don’t have to gather food for the winter” he said, “they know that tomorrow will be the same as today. Meanwhile, if a Minnesotan squirrel was brought down to Costa Rica, he would continue to collect and store nuts and the Costa Rican squirrels would be watching him and wondering what he was doing” . And so it is with people. The Ticos figure they can find a mango tree or some other edible plant, day after day, so they only gather enough for that day, even at the grocery store. In the states, you always figure you’re going to need more, and so you work really hard to be able to gather more and more, just in case the winter is long.
There are even a few roaming squirrels. Now these are not your typical fat and happy grey squirrels that we are used to seeing frolicking amongst the oaks in our yard in Plymouth. No indeed, these are slim and scrawny squirrely squirrels who seem to serve no purpose other than to walk along the top of our back fence, waving at Nancy as if to say “hey, go get your camera and take a picture of me”. Poor Nancy, so easily enticed, rushes for the camera, flips the on switch, stretches into a pose that a ballerina would envy (a bit of an exaggeration) to capture the perfect shot, only to have the aforementioned critter turn tail (with said tail often uplifted) and heckle “get a shot of this”. Not a pretty picture.
In one of our early blogs we mentioned a pleasant journey to the aerial tram at Braulio Carillo national park. Our biologist guide was comparing Tico culture with North American culture using squirrels as an example. “You have squirrels in Minnesota, right?” he asked. “Yes, and they’re fat and happy” we replied. “Have you seen a squirrel in Costa Rica?” he continued. “Yes, and they’re scrawny and ill mannered” we responded. “I don’t know about ill mannered” he said, “but why do you suppose they’re so thin?” he posed. “It’s because they don’t have to gather food for the winter” he said, “they know that tomorrow will be the same as today. Meanwhile, if a Minnesotan squirrel was brought down to Costa Rica, he would continue to collect and store nuts and the Costa Rican squirrels would be watching him and wondering what he was doing” . And so it is with people. The Ticos figure they can find a mango tree or some other edible plant, day after day, so they only gather enough for that day, even at the grocery store. In the states, you always figure you’re going to need more, and so you work really hard to be able to gather more and more, just in case the winter is long.
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| One of the many pictures of the back view of a red squirrel. |
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| When an oak tree isn't available. Notice the lack of "bushy" in its tail. |
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| A cow and his friend, a cattle egret. While traveling, we have seen fields of cows, where each one has her own bird. |
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| Mama and her colt |
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| A green bird, Jim and I don't know if its a parakeet or parrot.One day when we came home from a walk, we saw 12 of these birds flying overhead. |
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| Blue-gray Tanagers |
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| A Mango tree |
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| Close-up on all of the mangoes. The students at this school will eat a mango as a snack between classes. |
Friday, April 15, 2011
The “Old Way” to Los Sueños
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| A "cerca" fence along the side of the road. |
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| A place where the road is starting to fall away, with a typical Tico warning. Yeah, that yellow tape really gives a sense of security. |
Way back at the beginning of March, we headed down to the “dream” resort of Los Sueños to visit with Mark and Kari Hooper, friends and former Peace members we had not seen for 17 years. The much touted Caldera highway was closed between the burgeoning towns of Atenas and Orotina to repair a section of road that had slumped (ok, disappeared) down the side of the hill (ok, cliff). Thus we joined the rest of humanity heading to the Pacific along the “scenic” route. This winding road that took us up, down and around the mountains through oh so many small towns used to be the main drag until about a year and a half ago. As can be seen in the accompanying pictures, there were spectacular views along the way, but what I saw the most of from behind the steering wheel were white knuckles. The trip took nearly twice as long to get to the resort, which is near Jaco’. Nevertheless, we arrived in time to meet Mark and Kari for a sumptuous breakfast buffet, followed by a long walk around the yacht filled marina and along playa Herradura. We had a great time renewing our friendship while catching up on family, jobs and ancient history. Truly a resplendent visit.
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