Living Here

Well, it is different.  Here are some stories to get you in the correct frame of mind.  

3/1/08 - Last week I went with some friends down to Drake Bay to go deep sea fishing.  Once again, we stayed with Fred at Hotel Ojala.  
The day we arrived, we took a shuttle boat over to Corcovado National Park.  We hiked in to this waterfall.  


On the hike back we saw these monkeys.  While I do see them rather often, this is the first time I've been this close to monkeys when I had a camera in my hand!  




The fishing was absolutely awesome.  This is a tuna. When we caught it, I said "Yeah!  Sashimi tonight!" And then we went on to catch seven more.


Look carefully at this picture.  When Richard hauled in his fish, a big red snapper came along and chomped it off.  
So poor Richard only "got a little head."  (Tee hee.)


Randy got a bonita.  We caught a lot of those, and just threw them back.  They are only used for bait and we didn't need any.


Barbara turned out to be the best fisherman of the day.  


Check out this 50-lb. red snapper that she caught.  
That's our buddy Fred on the right -- AKA fishing captain extrodinaire, and really darn good chef too.  


After a long day fishing, it's nice to just hang with your parrot friend, Juanita.

Randy, trying to be Popeye I think.

Ricardo is a much better pirate, don't you agree?

Of course I couldn't resist taking a picture of the mama and baby grazing out behind the lodge.



2/8/08 - Today I went up to the Baruca reservation with my friend Lara and a couple of other women.  We visited my friend Lourdes, a Barucan Indian woman.  Lourdes is one of the few indigenous women who actually carves and paints her own masks.  She gave us a demonstration of how the masks are carved.  




Lourdes also took us on an impromptu tour in the village.  We visited the homes of several of the other artisans and learned about their crafts.  For example, at the home of this woman we learned about the colorful woven cotton bags that are typically sold here.    


This woman grows her own cotton, spins it into thread using her fingers, and then dyes it using various local plants, certain colored soil, and other natural items.  


This handwoven handbag, for example, is dyed orange using achiote, a local plant. Achiote is also used as a main flavoring in rice dishes in Costa Rica.  When the cotton is soaked in a solution of achiote, it creates the lovely orange color you see here.


At another artisan's home, we learned about drum making.  These painted cylinders are the start of decorated drums.  They will be finished with calfskin drumheads on the top and bottom.   


We enjoyed our day so much that Lara and I have decided to help Lourdes organize this tour for other visitors.  It is a fabulous, informative way to learn about indigenous Costa Rican culture.  Lourdes has also built a typical Barucan home in the old style, using sugar cane stalks as the main wall material.  The house has a dormitory-style room upstairs with four beds for tourists.  One of the ladies that came with us today is an artist, and she's going to come stay with Lourdes for a day or two and learn some of her painting techniques.   If you are interested in visiting Lourdes and meeting the other Barucan artists, please contact me for more information.  




2/17/07 - I got to go down to the Osa Peninsula (south of here) to go fishing for a couple of days.  (Even people living in paradise need a vacation once in a while!).  

We stayed at the Ojala Lodge (www.hotelojala.com ) I highly recommend it.  Great laid back atmosphere, pool A/C, food to die for (all included for around $70 per night).  Fred, the owner, is also the captain of the fishing boat.  He's a wonderful guy.  If you plan to go, ask to stay in the cabina -- very private, sleeps 6, views to everywhere.




There are two red-lored parrots that hang out in the house.

Every morning, Fred's wife feeds them from a spoon in the kitchen.


The Osa peninsula has a lot more wildlife than my area of Costa RIca. I saw a scarlet macaw!



Fishing was not bad, though not great. Due to El Nino, the ocean temperature is 88 degrees so a lot of the fish aren't around.  We did see a lot of sailfish jumping (and laughing at us).  We caught some tuna and bonitos.


Boobies, hanging on a log.




Girl, happy to be on a boat again.  


Some views of the Osa on the way back.


We also went to the Boruca Indian reservation, where they make fabulous carved masks.  Next time you come down, I can take you to my new friend Lourdes' house for a typical Baruca lunch & the opportunity to buy these gorgeous souvenirs for less than half the price of the tourist stores.  



2/12/07 - We had a party at Bryan's "upper pool" yesterday.  Jan and I rode down on her quads.  Way fun, I'm still picking the dirt out of my smiling teeth.


The pool is set in a natural spring, so water flows through it all the time.  


The concrete wall on the right separates the "overflow" canal from the main pool  When there is a lot of rain, the canal lets the water bypass the pool, keeping the mud out. He can also turn off the flow into the pool & keep the main spring flowing to it's regular route.   


It's fairly deep, too.  That fire in the background is our barbeque for the party.  Note that you can't really get charcoal as you know it down here.  Instead, we burn wood from coffee plants -- gives everything a great flavor.


There is also a "rancho" (little thatched-roof hut) where all the food was served, and an outhouse.  Pretty cool little spot.  


10/1/06 - One of the typical things in Costa Rica is the "living fence."  Basically, you cut a stick from a particular type of tree, dig a posthole, stick it in the ground, and it grows.  


When the fence posts get big, as here, you just chop off the branches and stick them in the ground to make more fence. Eventually, you end up with a fence that is mostly living trees.  Very cool, huh?  









9/22/06 - Went to Panama today with my friends Stephanie and Harley.  The Panamanian border is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from here.  We went down to shop because prices are WAY cheaper there.  

Checking out of Costa Rica at the walk-up Customs office.


There had to be a pit stop or two on the trip.  This is us in a local bar at the "frontera," (frontier, or border).  


Prices in Panama are VERY cheap.  This is the drink menu at the bar. Note that these prices are in US dollars.  

On the right side, check out the prices for "Jhonny Walker Roja (Red)" and "Jhonny Walker Negro (Black)."  These prices are per shot, and again, are in US-same-as-yours dollars.  
Paging Fred...I'm sorry to report that your customers have all moved to Panama....

Here's another example (I was fascinated by the prices in Panama).  Note that nothing costs more than $1.  By the way, "Pollo Frito" is fried chicken -- for 60 cents?  


OK this will really make you ill.  I bought all this booze in Panama today for $47.  Total.  

Here are some examples of the prices:
- The big 1.75 ml bottles of Bacardi Oro - $8 each
- Absolute vodka - $7
- Stoly vodka - $3.50
- Luna y Luna Pinot/Chardonney blend - $3.50 each


9/18/06 - Check out the updates to Property for Sale -- I'm now offering owner financing!  

There are some things you just can't get here.  English muffins, for example.  I recently got a recipe from a friend.  Bet you didn't know that English muffins are cooked on a griddle, not baked.  It was news to me!
 

This Sunday, I'm going to have a traditional Sunday brunch featuring Eggs Lisa (straight from the Rhumb Line -- thanks Fred) and homefries with, of course, Bloody Marys.  (Horseradish is one of those things that is also very difficult to find here.  I have some that I bought last time I was home.)  

For those of you who remember my days of cooking with "boxes and bags," all that has changed.  There are no boxes and bags here.  I've started making all kinds of things from scratch.  My pizza, for example, is the talk of the valley and I've been encouraged to open a business with it.  I don't know, it sounds an awful lot like work to me....    


9/8/06 - On Thursday or Friday nights, my friends and I get together for "Dart Night."  (Now some of you may not know this, but back in my early days in Gloucester when I lived with my sister Nancy, Marcy and Moe, we played LOTS of darts.  It's been a long time, but I've actually gotten fairly good.  On dart nights, I make pizza -- from scratch! (Go ahead and laugh, you disbelievers, but I've been told that my pizza is the absolute best.)  


4/07/06 - My friend Brian's property has this wonderful natural pool, formed in the river at the base of several waterfalls.  This time of year it's a wonderful place to spend a morning.  

	If you swim across the pool and hike up the river about 50 feet, there is another natural pool next to a 30 foot waterfall.  Sorry I don't have pictures, but I can't swim holding a camera over my head.  You'll just have to come down and see it for yourself.

1/7/06 - Now that the rainy season is over, lots of things are happening.  

	The girls and I have been going to the beach on a regular basis.  This is Meddy and Judy.  (I try not to stand next to Judy at the beach.)   I took these pictures during the week between Christmas and New Years -- the busiest time at the beach because everyone comes down from San Jose. You can see how busy it gets from the pictures below.  Not exactly Good Harbor, eh?

12/28/05 - Here in Costa Rica, there are many local Christmas traditions (besides the fact that the stores start stocking ornaments in September!)  I'm still figuring them out, so bear with me....

One of the traditions seems to be "the Giving of the Tamales."  Everyone makes tamales this time of year, and I have been given no less than 16 of these little treats.  (By the way, forget Mexican tamales, ours are totally different here!)   In Costa Rica, tamales are made with corn meal, rice, meat (varies, but usually pork), and some veggies, all wrapped up in a banana leaf.   Two tamales are tied up together and steamed hot. WARNING:  Jaime at Jalapeno's is going to get all emotional about this...just ask him.

To eat them, you cut the string  and unfold the banana leaf. The plate is optional.

Unlike Mexico, tamales here are rather bland, so people add their favorite spicy sauce -- often a homemade chilero sauce (peppers and vinegar and who knows what else that burns your mouth out.)  I usually add a sprinkling of Tabasco Chipotle sauce, then dig in and enjoy!

12/19/05 - On Sunday, Enrique and Marjorie got married.  (Enrique has worked for me for the last year.)  

Now mind you, they have been together 14 years and have 3 children.   Obviously, marriage down here is treated differently.  Legally, you are considered married if you live together, and certainly if you have children together.  The actual church bit isn't at all important to the laws of the country.  I think these guys got married now because they had the money to throw the party. Someone asked "will the kids be take his name now?"  and that bears explanation.  In Costa Rica, everyone has two last names: their father's last name followed by their mother's last name.  People use the first last name as the main one.  So if your name is "Linda Rochford Gray" you'd be addressed as Senora Rochford.  You'll even see name tags (like at the bank window) that will say Linda Rochford G. -- note the second last name gets the initial.  When you get married, you don't change your name.   So, to answer the original question, the kids already have both names, no changes required.

The Story of the Padlocks
While there are no pictures, this story will give you an idea about the silly things we have to deal with down here.

11/11 - We went into San Isidro today to do various errands, one of which was to get three padlocks and have them configured so that all three would take the same key. We're going to use the padlocks to lock the paddock, the front gate, and the bodega (storage room) in the new stable.  We want all the locks to have the same key because it will just be easier.  OK, here we go....

10 am - We get to town & go to the ferreteria (hardware store).  Now shopping at a ferreteria here is a very different experience from Lowe's or Home Depot. First of all, you don't really browse through the aisles. You stand at the counter until you are waited on by a guy who generally doesn't speak any English. You draw a lot of pictures, make gestures, refer to the electronic Spanish translator we always carry, and basically do your best to tell him what you want. After he goes and gets your stuff, he makes out a slip & gives it to you.  You take the slip (minus the stuff) to the caja (cashier) and pay.  The cashier stamps your slip. You then take the stamped slip back to a third guy who now has received your stuff from the first guy. He checks that your slip has been stamped by caja, puts it in a bag, and away you go.   Notice that it took three people in the ferreteria to do what one person (the cashier) would do in the USA -- but then again, three people here have a job.  This is good.  

Back to the story. In this case, we pointed at the lock we wanted, told him we needed tres (three), and then told him we wanted all the keys to be mismo (same, identical) for each lock.  He gave us the slip, we paid at the caja.  He gave the locks to the guy who would put in the new locksets and told us to return in 2 hours.  

12:15.  We did some more errands and had lunch before returning to the ferreteria.  The locksmith guy was not there.  He hadn't finished the job before he went to lunch. They told us to come back in an hour.  

1:15.  Back at the ferreteria.  The locksmith guy was back and had finished the locks and had already given them to the third guy. We showed him the paid slip, he gave us the locks & we were almost all set.  The only problem was that he only made 2 keys and we needed 5.  So we went back to the locksmith & asked for 3 more keys.  Nope, no go, they didn't have the blank keys for that type of lock. (Doesn't matter that they sell those locks, or that each of the 3 locks that we bought most likely came with 2 keys.  At some point here you learn not to argue, they will just shrug their shoulders & you will get nowhere. )  They sent us to another ferreteria about a block away to have the additional keys made.  

1:30. We go to the next ferreteria, meet up with the guy at the counter, hand him a key and ask for 3 more copies.  He makes the keys.  We try them in each of the locks.  They work in two of the locks but not in the third.  He tries making new keys to no avail.  We finally decide that the keys are fine, but one of the locks is not right.  

1:45. Back to ferreteria #1.  Explain (gestures, drawing, etc.) that all the keys work in two of the locks but not in the third.  No problem, we will fix it, but the locksmith is now gone (AGAIN) and can we come back in two hours?  No, we can't, can I return the lock?  Nope.  We finally agreed to leave the bad lock and pick it up on Monday.  

Do you wonder why it takes a while to get anything done down here?  Someone asked recently "what do you do all day?"  Maybe this will give you an idea.