News from the Jungle

Greetings Amigos!

It’s a relaxing, quiet Monday afternoon with clouds coming and going.  This keeps the temp down a little and the humidity up. As yet no rain, so the laundry is actually drying.  Yes, I’m getting a good lesson in washing all of our laundry by hand.  Somewhere down on the priority list is a washing machine, but for now by hand is fine.  I flash on visions of my grandmother doing the laundry for her family of 10 and think this ain’t so bad.  Besides, all the neighbors do the same thing.

Gary is taking a much needed and deserved break for a couple of days.  Our friend from Roseburg, Lenny, who lives just 5 miles away with his wife Donna, went to Drake Bay on the other side of the peninsula to go sport fishing.  They have been friends with some folks who own a resort over there and make periodic visits.  So this was a ‘guy trip’ and Donna and I are both reveling in the peace and quiet too.  I spent yesterday at her house on the Internet.  I now have my computer set-up to work on my cell phone, so as long as I can get a signal on the cell phone, I’m okay.  YEA!!  At this time, it means traveling at least a mile or so to receive a strong enough signal.  (Photo-our tailgate Internet cafe).  But I finally feel somewhat in control of our communications.  We also finally got the ability to use our cell for international calls.  The Family was happy to hear from us.

Only one worker today and Henry too (our caretaker).  Things are winding down on the bodega (aka bomb shelter).  The final touches being applied and a metal door to be built and we’re ready.  Good thing as our container has arrived in Limon (on the Caribbean side) and will be heading to San Jose this week.  We’re pretty anxious about the whole customs thing as it’s anybody’s guess how much they’ll hit us with.  After it clears customs, the container will arrive at our doorstep and we’ll have a few hours to unload it.  We’ll amass an army of trustworthy neighbors and friends and will get ‘er done. 

We live in what’s known as the “campo” meaning it’s the country, remote and simple.  And it is!  Often when we are in one town or another getting supplies, a local will ask if we’re from Matapalo or Carate, or Ocochal.  These are higher end areas of gringos who are wealthier, buying up lots and building nice homes or summer condos.  All gringos are rich in their eyes (and of course we are by comparison).  But when we say we live in Mogos in the campo, they look at us like we’re crazy.  They know how beautiful it is here because they often vacation at the beaches in the gulf.  But it has few services.  Gary and I are but a handful of gringos in the entire upper part of the gulf.  We kind of like it that way, at least for now.  Visiting almost any town within a 2 hour drive is a venture into places where we usually see no other English speaking people.

Each morning I am awakened by a chorus of animal calls.  About 4:00 the chickens across the street start in, followed by the interchange of howler monkey troops.  From miles around they wake up the Osa (peninsula) and prepare their family for the day ahead.  If I’m still in bed by daylight, the Chestnut mandible toucan starts his call from the tops of the tallest trees.  Then the various parrots and parakeets squawk and shout.  We usually see Scarlet macaws fly overhead on their day journey.  An hour or so later we have a fruiting tree that fills with the toucans and a smaller relative, the Fiery-billed Aracari (one of my favorite birds here-they’re gorgeous and gregarious). 

We have a regular supply of food items at our door.  Our neighbors provide eggs from the above mentioned chickens a couple times a week.  The men in their family fish every weekend and we can buy fresh fish from them.  Got a barracuda yesterday that’ll be ceviche soon.  Lunch today was red snapper.  The organic vegetable/fruit truck passes every Tuesday from a town up in the hills called San Vito.  (Photo-Oscar delivers fresh fruits and veggies every Tuesday).  And now a local woman makes bread and passes by once a week with her offerings.  There’s even an espresso stop near Donna and Leonard at a local artisan shop.  She uses the home-style espresso makers and sells it for about .75 a cup.  We’ve got a Dutch Bros. sticker we’re going to give her and take a photo to send back to them in Roseburg.  They’ll get a kick out of that I’m sure. 

Sydney is settling into his new lifestyle.  (Photo-Sydney on a waterfall adventure with Gary).  He’s an anomaly in Costa Rica.  Virtually all dogs are ‘perros bravos’ and are not dogs you want to go up and pet.  Dogs get very little love and attention as their role is as guard dogs or they are street dogs.  None are neutered.  When we want someone to be able to interact with Sydney, we have to introduce them slowly as the locals have an instant fear of him.  We can use that to our advantage because when we want to have people fear him, we just don’t let him be approached.  This works when he’s in the car or someone walks by we don’t know.  However, once he’s made a new friend, he really steals their hearts.  They really don’t know what to think about a dog that is so in-tuned to them, as he is.  He’s soooo mellow with kids.  He just adores one of our workers, Jorge, because he’s attentive and gentle.  The others are somewhat disinterested.  The locals are very amazed at the privileges we afford Syd.   I mean to allow a dog in the house, let alone sleep in the house is pretty unusual.  Sydney makes many dog friends too.  Something he didn’t get to do in the states much.  He also has a ‘little sister’ now. Henry has a 4 month old female mix that’s a doll.  Her name is Wissa. She’ll out weigh Syd by the time she’s grown.  With Henry’s permission, she’s going to have a date with the vet as soon as possible.  With about a dozen male dog neighbors, we’re not even going to let her go into heat.  He definitely doesn’t want puppies!! 

Last week was another for the record books.  It really tried our fortitude and commitment.  We spent Tuesday buying much-needed new tires in Golfito at the duty free mall.  Got stopped that night by a ‘transito cop’ who informed us we didn’t have the right stickers on our truck and could have fined us about $80.  A stern warning and a few jokes with us at our expense and we we’re set ‘free’.  In the process we realized Gary didn’t have his passport, so the next day we returned to Golfito to retrieve it (luckily the mall had it) and get our proper stickers.

The next day I made a fatal error.  While trying to clean the totally iced-over freezer, I punctured the wall and it lost all its Freon.  What a sinking feeling to have a freezer and fridge full of food and know it was not long for the world!  So, it was off to the closest store (1 ½ hours away) to buy a new one.  I was gone the next day paying property taxes ($40 for the year, though it will be going up) and the new refrigerator never got cold.  So, we spent Saturday returning the first one for a new one.  But now we have a beautiful, bigger, frost-free one. 

Lessons learned; too many to list!  You can see why Gary needed a break and went fishing!