Costa Rica--Nature at Its Finest

Costa Rica has one of the most diverse populations of birds and wildlife in the world. This is one of the reasons Costa Rica rates so high in tourism and is its number one industry. That and its miles and miles of beautiful beaches; which by the way are hardly ever packed, maybe because there are literally miles and miles of them.

John and I have always enjoyed nature, that is one reason we chose the southern zone on a mountain. City life is not for us, rural living fits us best.

The following pictures are not taken from stock photos.  These White-headed Capuchin Monkeys live on a nearby mountain; if they live here I haven't seen them yet.  On our mountain we have Howler monkeys, often right in our yard. The males make the strangest sound, hence their name. We have pictures in past blogs of the Howlers.

Toucans call out with a loud unusual call, signaling to us to search for them. They are a very large bird with an equally hefty bill. There are two types, the one pictured is common to this area, the Chestnut-mandibled. One recent day Aldemar spotted the other type, Keel-billed, that is not common here. It is a little smaller with a multi-colored bill. One of my birding buddies was extremely excited to hear a “visiting” Keel-billed toucan was spotted here in Serenity. As birds migrate “birders” often spot unusual types flying through. I am not yet well versed enough on Costa Rican birds to know a resident bird from a visiting one but I am learning.

Cusingas (called Aracai in English) are the small relative to the Toucan. We have a water apple tree next to the house which has brought Cusingas visiting morning and afternoons along with many other types of birds and squirrels.  It is common to have 6 Cusingas at a time in the tree, just outside our windows!   

The Bobo (called Motmot in English) is a fairly large gorgeous bird.  We have one that lives in our yard and the jungle tree line. It was very exciting to discover it the first time just sitting on a branch seemingly posing for us.

The Guaco (called Laughing Falcon in English) also signals to us by its call. It gets it name of Laughing Falcon, and in Spanish Guaco, because of its strange call. One day I spotted one from the veranda on a nearby branch with a coral snake in its strong beak. It had already swallowed the head and was sucking the remainder up like a string of spaghetti. It sucked down that whole snake and sat on the branch for the longest time because it was so full.

 

This snake came up on our porch railing during a hard rain. It sat there all day long, preferring our railing to the soggy rain soaked ground. It was a harmless type and since it didn't bother us, we didn't bother it; other than John repeatedly taking its picture while I am in the house looking on the internet to check if it was poisonous.  I am calling out to John, “please stay away from it until I can find out more about it, please stop getting so close!”, as he gets closer and closer to it. Men!  It turned out to be a harmless snake but still...

 

 

 

 

No need to write me and explain these aren't wildlife!  But I just had to show you what we find as entertainment on this mountain.  We all came out to see the oxen till a new garden for neighbors, Mike and Di Gill.  This is what you get when you want a garden tilled instead of a machine.  The farmers who brought them up our mountain walked them for miles to get here, the men and oxen worked and then walked back home.  All for $15.00!

 

 

Come to visit Costa Rica!!  The mountain views, beaches, waterfalls, rivers and wildlife are amazing!!

  The Ticos are pretty great too!

December in Costa Rica

Sunshine Returns

It is been interesting to go through the rainy season, which some Ticos call “winter”.

Everyday we get a little more sunshine with less rain with each passing day. No more days of 10 inches of downpour with the following day bringing 8 inches! We do appreciate how those hard rains replenish the rivers and water tables though. And here in the Southern Zone, it always stays green. Now that we are coming near the end of our first year here, we know more what to expect of our new home of Costa Rica.

 

Jungle Waterfall and Swimming Pool

That really is us, not just a advertisement.

It truly is an adventure many days, sometimes just little things like a new critter comes across our path, swimming in a jungle river or unusual migrating birds showing up for the first time in our yard. Or we go to town and discover they are having a celebration and parade for events we are clueless about. Ticos love their parades! We are finding and using more unusual produce at the market and learning more Spanish. We hired a local young lady, a Tica, to teach us Spanish. She is happy to have the job and we are thrilled to have her help.  It has been frustrating to learn new Spanish words that aren't used here, so we are turning to a local expert!! 

We have a Tico friend that likes to take us to out of the way restaurants, always introducing us to new places worth going back to. These are places we would never find on our own because they are either very remote or hidden. Gratefully we have a Garmin in which we can save new locations so we can easily go back to gems.

Mini Vacation From Our Mountain Retreat

We were able to spend an impromptu weekend get-away at a gorgeous home about an hour away. This house is on the market for 1.4 million, way beyond our lifestyle. What a treat that was, we made new friends, the owner played his accordion after an amazing dinner on their incredible huge octagon veranda and the next morning we had a lovely breakfast in the jungle overlooking the Pacific with Norm, Gina and Victor.

Just one view of Victor's lovely home, Pacific in background

(hard to tell where ocean is and horizon starts)

 

"We Will Be Right There!"
The following week we got another call from Norm and Gina, saying to meet them at another special location and stay for the night in luxury accommodations. During those two days we discovered 2 great Pacific beaches, 3 excellent restaurants, 1 beautiful waterfall with a large pool for swimming below and swam in the warm water of the resort pool. Thank you to our friends to inviting us. It was an amazing time, great place to stay and incredible discoveries. We are just getting to know Norm and Gina, they were Rocky Gardens' farm members and when we announced to our farm members we were moving to Costa Rica, they started keeping track of our adventure. They too are preparing to move down here when retirement comes.

Jungle Retreat, Villas Alturas

 New discovery, a beach that is fantastic and close by

 Being from the Great Lakes area, it is amazing to us how warm the Pacific is.

  Truly incredible!  Next time we are taking boogie boards!

 

 

The end of a beautiful day at the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica!

Community Center

The Community Center is beginning to take shape nicely. We now can see where the kitchen, bathrooms, office/classrooms and large community area will be. It is huge!! We have new neighbors along with visitors renting in Serenity that have brought smiles, laughter and good party celebrations. Life is indeed Pura Vida. Oh yes, we are happy with our move to Costa Rica!

October in Costa Rica

What Time of the Year Is It?
I had the oddest thing happen the other day. I am in a grocery store and see Christmas Trees and decorations. I think, “what are those things doing out, it is summer?” Then it dawns on me that it really is October, it's me that is confused as to the time of the year. For 10 months, every day is another summer day to us, so we get confused as to what time of the year it really is. Glad the rest of the world is keeping track because we have lost track of time around here. We keep track of the days of the week by “Milk Pick-up Days” and “Thursday Farmer's Market Day”. If not for those three days to keep us on track, I have a feeling we would be totally confused!

For those who think “But I like the changing seasons, maybe I wouldn't like a perpetual summer.” Let me offer an observation: we both enjoy nature and take time to observe trees, plants, animals, rivers, mountains and more. It has been very interesting how each month has subtle changes. It might be leaves falling off certain trees only to grow back new leaves right away. Or different birds and insects have arrived. Having had an organic vegetable farm ourselves, it is interesting what the farmers are planting or tasks they are performing on their land and what produce we find in the market. Obviously there is a difference between the rainy (some Ticos call it winter) and dry (summer) seasons but although it seems like summer to us all the time, we can pick out changes from month to month and find it extremely interesting.

 Cattle Drive--Some cattle came across the river last week and needed to be escorted back to the farm. Local Ticos used motorcylces in front of our house to direct them back home.

While having breakfast this little hummingbird hit our window and was a bit dazed for awhile.

  We set it upright and after posing for pics, flew off. 

Would We Do It Again?

This was a question many family and friends asked on recent our trip back to Michigan. The short answer is YES! We are so enjoying our new lives in Costa Rica. Life here is full of beauty, new experiences, adventures and new things to learn. Our days can be laid back quiet days or hectic. Some days bring surprises and we don't get done what we thought we were going to tackle. But what is nice, if you don't get it done today, there is always tomorrow. John doesn't have an employer and we don't have the farm to run so what does it matter if it gets done today or not? Simply put, life is very enjoyable and we can relax for a change here in Costa Rica.

We are getting settled in our lovely home and each day a little more gets done; things like towel bars, hooks for hanging things, unpacking, computer and phones set up, etc. Living here is truly wonderful, we are so blessed. Still don't have a TV set up and really don't miss it much as we are so busy with other things.

Breakfast on the Veranda, our favorite place to have breakfast. 

Newer Improved Internet

The new internet in Serenity is now up and running and we are so grateful to have better internet. We can also use Magic Jack. Finally we have a house phone! We have a Michigan phone number so for any of you who live in the 248 area code, calling me won't even cost you anything!! 248-747-4941.

We are 2 hours behind Michigan until the time change, then only one hour behind.

A Sloth in the Road!!

John is finally off the hook, we came across another sloth crossing the road and we got pictures!! (If you don't know about “we are in too much of a hurry and can't stop for pictures of a sloth in the road” story, then go back to January 2014 blog.)

We now know how to help a sloth safely cross a road. You offer the sloth a sturdy stick which he will readily grab unto. They really don't walk on the ground very well so an offered stick is a welcome sight to a sloth. Once he is holding on take the “sloth on a stick” to the side of the road in the direction he was going. Hold the sloth near a tree or branch and it will quickly transfer to the tree. Pronto! He is across the road in record speed!

Heirlooms!! Really!

I finally found some tasty tomatoes! When I saw these tomatoes in a little store in San Isidro, I was excited. All we have been able to find for 10 months of living in Costa Rica are the typical round basic red tomatoes, as shown in forefront of picture. Compare them to the oddly lobed tomatoes in the background, which are heirlooms. Heirlooms taste so much better than typical hybrid red tomatoes. Although the typical store tomato doesn't have the superior taste of an heirloom, they handle and ship well. So many growers don't want to bother with heirlooms, which I admit are harder to grow, harvest and handle. But, OH! the flavor is sooooo worth it!! We have favorite stores and markets, now I have my favorite “tomato” store, right next to the bread and meat stores in a little strip of stores.

Ticos and Ticas

Someone asked me if it was, “OK to call Costa Ricans Ticos?” (Ticos are men, Ticas are women and a mixed group is Ticos.) Costa Ricans are very proud of their country and heritage, which they should be, they have a beautiful country and they are truly wonderful people. Costa Ricans themselves use the names Tico and Tica, I am not sure but think they named themselves those names from what I understand. So yes, it is just fine to use those names.

In Our New Home, Yea!

Sorry I left you all hanging about our move into the new house. I was reminded today by a reader of my blog (thank you Catherine for the heads up advice, so nice to meet you today also) that many of you are wanting to know our housing status. We are IN!!  But we have been swamped, I explain below.

 

Knock, knock...Who's There?

 

Christian's father wanted something special for our front door so he added a little door. 

Love it!  I was so excited when I saw it!

It was pretty hectic those last days getting ready for the move to our new home. The morning after we got to sleep in our new house, I called a friend in Michigan to tell her we got in only to be reminded that she would be seeing us “next week”. “What!! Are you kidding me?!!? Next Week?” In the hustle and bustle of moving I lost track of the date and was shocked we had to leave for Michigan one week after we moved in. Rats!! I really did want to see family and friends in Michigan but not in one week! I just got into my new house! But we had a daughter's wedding to attend so we left our new home, all the unpacked boxes and Serenity on a beautiful day and headed back to Michigan.

Our Trip to Michigan

We had a wonderful 3 week vacation from our perpetual Costa Rica vacation. We loved seeing family and friends, I always wondered what it was like for people who take their vacations to go back “home” and visit. Now I know, it is great!

A BIG Thank-you!!

Thank you to our two host couples who invited us stay in their homes. Kay & Tony and Kim & Carl, you made our Michigan visit even better than hanging out in a hotel room in-between visits with family and friends. We got to spend extra time with our host friends; after-all visiting was what we went to Michigan for; it was not for sightseeing.

We had great visits with loved ones we miss; dinner, brunch and lunch invites and just stopping by to see people.

We also got to go “up north” for 4 days to Carl & Kim's lodge and had a great time. If you have never been up north in Michigan, or other northern states, it is a real treat. Peaceful and beautiful like Costa Rica, but obviously different vegetation. During our whole visit we had weather very similar to Costa Rica's mountain areas (beautiful!) but the day after we left a storm came through and has been chilly since. Whew! Left just in time! I hear many are already heating their homes!!

Our New House

It is very nice to be in our house. The house is fantastic (thank you Christian Arce and his crew-you guys did a great job) and the views are constantly amazing. We get to unpack things we haven't seen for 9 or 10 months. Now the million dollar question is, “If we have done without this for so long, do we really need it?” Both John and I sold and gave away soooooo much stuff that we really did feel we had downsized a whole lot. I mean A WHOLE LOT!! Now we have to ask if we downsized enough. ??? I don't know. I DO know that I don't really like packing and unpacking to move. And poor John REALLY hates being without proper tools to get jobs done. I understand somewhat because it has been nice to have my kitchen tools back; working in the kitchen is easier and more productive. I am sure John's tools are even more important to him than mine are to me though.

For those making the move to Costa Rica, here is a tip. You don't need as many clothes as you probably have. We really brought too many clothes. I will have to ask around to see where I can give some away. It is not that we go naked up here on the mountain but warm weather requires much less. Plus since we are on a perpetual vacation, clothes are more a necessity, not a fashion statement as it is very casual here. There are nights, (even some mid-days if a storm comes through) where I do have to take off my sundress and put on pants and a shirt. Some mornings we even are chilly and need a lightweight jacket, sweatshirt or sweater. But soon that extra layer is coming off as the sun warms things.

There is the “ahhh, my stuff” feeling as you unpack things you shipped. There is something to be said for moving to a new country and having familiar things around you. But I do know we are determined not to accumulate all we had before. So if you are coming to Costa Rica, start giving away and selling your stuff. Selling will help finance your moving expenses. It was great to give special things away to family and friends. It was nice to see who wanted what, much better than waiting until we are dead. And I just loved going to people's houses this trip and seeing “me” at their houses! That was great! I didn't miss my stuff when I saw it, just thought it very nice to see someone I love have a part of me in their home.

Looking forward to hosting family and friends in our new home. Can hardly wait!

Café Anyone?  Can you picture having breakfast with us on the veranda?

 

John squeezing lemons and oranges for our fresh fruit juice.  I add mango and pineapple, Yum!

 

 

 

John playing with Halisku, who has adopted us.  He is a beautiful dog and he missed

us greatly while we were gone but kind neighbors fed him.

  Costa Rican dogs are very gentle and sweet and abundant!

Early August News

Getting Ready to Move into New House

We are excited to be moving into the new house in the next couple days.  I will post pictures as soon as I can get some nice ones after the house is cleaned, it is very messy right now.  Just waiting on the final cleaning and some minor installations. The granite guy held us up waiting for him all last week, he finally showed up on Friday!  Urghhh!  We have had beautiful weather up till now, hoping we have a nice day for moving; this is the rainy season after all.  Praying for no rain Wednesday. 

The house is beautiful and many touches beyond our expectations. Christian Arce (New Age Construction) and his great guys are truly professionals and pretty easy to work with. Christian speaks English well and although most of his guys don't speak much English, John has a very good working relationship with them and communicates with pointing, hand signals and Spanish words here and there.

Our Spanish is improving, not in conversational style but with simple phrases and words. We have found the best way for us to learn the Spanish WE NEED is to look up words and phrases common in our journeys, put them on my Ipad in a translation program and practice over and over, often while in the car. For example, what Spanish program is going to teach us to say, “No knot in the bag please” ?? We found with other methods we were learning stuff we don't use and soon forgot. We try to add more to our personal Spanish program each week.

Permaculture Project at Serenity Gardens Eco Village

View from above of the permaculture project. Here you see the “bones” of the project. Many plantings, ponds, trees, etc., will be completed over the coming weeks.

Created by Eco Oasis, Brendon McKeon 

PS: that is our rental house in the background.

Outdoor Kitchen of Brendon and Sarah McKeon

We visited a lovely family a couple Sunday's ago and have a pic to share of their outdoor kitchen.   They also have an indoor kitchen but this outside kitchen was my favorite, I loved it!! (Sole McKeon shown in pic.) They have a huge L-shaped veranda for outdoor living with gorgeous views of mountains and valleys. One of my favorite pastimes in Costa Rica is visiting with new people and the day visiting Brendon, Sarah and their 3 adorable kids was a highlight. They also have a cool organic permaculture farm.

Bridge to McKeon's Farm, An Amusement Ride for Your Car!

When Brendon drove his truck over the bridge before we crossed, all I could think was, “Ah! An amusement ride for your car!” It flexed and bounced so much that it reminded me of videos you see of bridges in earthquakes.  Pictured is the bridge, our car and what I admiringly call a "cement tree".  Cement tree isn't its real name but these trees are so straight, huge and solid that they look like cement to me.  We pass several "cement trees" on our way to San Isidro and I always admire them.  Wonder how old this one is? 

Back Up!  Beans in the Road!

 

On our way to San Isidro the other day John stopped the car and backed up to look to see if what he thought he saw really was correct. People are so trusting up in the rural mountain areas of Costa Rica that you will see things you likely wouldn’t see in the cities. Someone laid a heavy cloth on the road at an intersection of another road to dry their red beans.  Just right out in the road, trusting that no one would drive over them. Sure enough, when we returned many hours later the beans were just as we saw them in the morning with no tire tracks and every bean in place.

A common phrase in Costa Rica is Pura Vida; which I have heard many translations of: Pure Life, Good Life, Enjoy Life, Take It Easy, All Good, Hello, Good-bye, and more. When you can see others respecting beans drying out in the road and driving around them, life is indeed good!!

One Very Lucky Lizard

John found this little guy trapped in a chicken coop. Lucky for him the chickens were out free-ranging or he would have been dinner for the gallinas (hens). When John set him down the lizard posed very nicely for this pic.

Anteater Crossing

And finally we saw this little anteater crossing the road. At least we think it was an anteater because of his face, it looked like an anteater. Of course John stopped, (he never wants to have another “sloth in the road and can't stop story” told against him.) This anteater is smaller than those we typically see in pictures.  The fur and markings are just beautiful; John said it looked like someone threw a teddy bear along the side of the road. Too bad this cutie didn't pose like the lizard.  He didn't move real fast, but really didn't want us to see him, so we couldn't get his face in the shot.  Honestly, this isn't a stuffed animal, it really was crossing the road.

July 2014

July has been rather dry so far. This is to be expected before the onslaught that comes in August, September and October. I read that the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, especially the northern parts is having a hard week of too much rain and high seas but not us. I even had to water my pots of herbs this week due to little rain.

Cable Trolley recently put in by Aldemar and other Serenity Workers to get supplies and

 guys across the river.  That's John getting a thrill ride across the river.

Our house is almost ready, waiting on the cabinets. Unfortunately I just 'had to have' light colored wood with little grain pattern not knowing this would be a problem and hold us up for occupancy. Our builder specially handpicked Costa Rican logs for my request, had them milled and dried. (Could kick myself, hope it is worth it!)  But unfortunately the company he used for the drying kept having their kiln break down so drying took longer than expected. Now we are waiting for the cabinets to be stained, sealed and installed.

Mamon Chino are in season now.  Somewhat grape like taste, very nice flavor.

  Peel off the hairy outer skin, pop the white part into your mouth and chew.  There is a large seed in the middle that you discard after working the white part off with your teeth. 

Buying Kitchen Appliances

We got our kitchen appliances the other day so that was exciting. We did check out Golfito but were too apprehensive to pay in cash for 3 large purchases and hope that “guy over there with a delivery truck” would bring our apliances 2 hours north and another 45 minute drive up the mountain; (as long as he had 4 wheel drive.) Some of you other brave souls can buy in Golfito and tell us how it went. Can you say “chicken”, yep, that was us.

Golfito is a town south of here, almost to Panama, that was a thriving city when Chiquita Banana was present for employment. But when Chiquita pulled out of the area it became so depressed that the Costa Rican government allowed Golfito to become a “duty free” town, no sales tax. It is a hopping place now known for selling appliances, both big and small along with some other things but mostly appliances at really low prices. When we visited it was like a carnival! Very crazy place.

Our nearest town of Pejibaye has an appliance store along with oh so many in San Isidro. In SI, they are so plentiful it is hard to remember which appliance store you visited. With us wanting to boost the local economy, we talked to Adan in Pejibaye, thank heavens he could speak English. In Pejibaye, being a little mountain valley town, they mostly do business with Ticos, very few Norte Americanos probably have ever bought appliances there. But we Serenity residents are coming!!! We told the guy to expect more of us and he was pretty excited. Since they don't cater to Gringos all their appliances were very small, not what we were looking for. Adan (with 'n', not 'm') told us if we found what we wanted in San Isidro he would order it and give us great prices. And he did! Along with delivery!

Our local Pejibaye Appliance/Furniture/Bikes/TV Store.  Very nice English speaking Adan works here, ask for best price for cash.  Look at the character in the upper left corner of sign.

  Very strange, really instills trust, a hooded evil guy!  What was the Ad Designer thinking?!?!

So there we are paying in cash for three kitchen appliances and when the paperwork is done he says, “I will call taxi now to deliver.” The “taxi” is a small pickup truck and shows up in minutes! He must have been sitting at the corner waiting for Adan's call! Now, we know the condition of the dirt part of the road to get to Serenity, we normally take it at 10 miles per hour or less. So we are rather worried about our appliances riding in the back of a little pick up “taxi”. But Adan promised us they would protect our goods with ropes and mattresses; they sell mattresses too.

They did indeed get everything protected well. That truck was loaded down with many mattresses along with anything else they could grab to keep everything in place. It was a funny sight. Since our builders live on-site Mon thru Fri. all the guys came to see what was going on when the delivery “taxi” arrived in the dark and helped too. Adan (yes, Adan came along for the delivery, it isn't everyday he gets to sell big appliances to Gringos!) went around shaking hands talking a mile a minute in Spanish; John said it was like reunion night. Adan knew some of the guys and was pretty proud of his big sale and excited to see the Gringo house. 

 

Delivery "Taxi" like the one that came in the dark loaded with appliances and mattresses.

So those of you coming Serenity and needing to buy appliances, go see Adan in Pejibaye. You can't miss his store, it is BRIGHT yellow!! He will take good care of you and give you the same price you can negotiate in San Isidro. And you get it delivered in a “taxi”!

Panama Border Crossing Adventure (Congratulations Costa Rica!!)

Congratulations to Costa Rica and their soccer team for their win today in the World Cup soccer games.  Few thought it was possible for them to win over the teams they have beat.  History has been made, never before has Costa Rica moved so far into the World Cup.  Ticos are jubilant beyond measure, it is wonderful to see their joy and you can just feel their pride bursting forth.  Even up on this mountain we can hear horns blasting in joyous thunder.  Bravo Costa Rica!!!

Our Second Panama Border Crossing

Until we get our cedulas (CR residency cards) we must leave the country every 90 days to keep our driver's license and car insurance valid. Immigration says we are good and don't need to leave since they have approved our applications but Dept of Motor Vehicles has their own rules. We are closest to Panama so until we are done building and finances are in order so we can travel (one of the big reasons we moved here) we go to Panama, it is easier than anything else. Easier is a relative term, easier than Nicaragua, easier than flying to Florida for a few days, easier than a longer trip back to Michigan. But easy it is not.
 

Under recommendation of several expats on a facebook group for Southern Zone Costa Rica, we got directions to go to an quiet border town, Sereno, to cross. When we went to Paso Canoas 90 days ago, the lines were extremely long, the noise and diesel fuel overwhelming and it took 3 hours just to get across to Panama.
 

Another person on facebook gave very detailed directions to Sereno but some of her landmarks were no longer easy to spot. Her café with several “statutes” was closed and statues gone, the woodworking shop has shrubs all around it and hard to see any wood furniture but the “big lawn” house was still there. We did eventually find the road to turn unto for the last leg of the 4 hour journey. Costa Rica does not have road signs; addresses have descriptions such as 100 meters north of restaurant Cusinga, west of the set of 3 palm trees, etc... Really, I am not kidding.

When we got to Sereno that was the end of the directions from our facebook pals. We are pretty new to border crossings and when we went across before, everything was in one place albeit a crowded one place. We had many stations, rooms and windows to go to but all in one place. So we start looking for something similar in Sereno. As we are driving around looking for an official looking border crossing I spot what I think might be an official building on another road. We are on a steep incline and have to turn around. John pulls into a drive and while backing out slices the side of our front tire on an iron grate. Spisssssss...

Now to find a place where he can change the tire that is relatively flat. He finds a drive in front of a business and backs up very carefully so as not to damage our wheel rim. Two young Tico guys help and make some quick cash. Ticos are very helpful and would have helped John without payment but we felt they were deserving of something.

OK back on the road again looking for the elusive border crossing. We turn down the road where I spotted a blue building (they like using blue in CR for official buildings) but it turns out to be a store. We keep slowly driving while I peer into each building, but they are all stores. I look ahead for a second, YIKS!! Two guys in military uniforms escorting children across the street and directing traffic. “STOP JOHN, STOP!! Pull over! We are in Panama! Oh no, we are in Panama! Oh no!!” It never dawned on my very intelligent (he really is a near genius on most things) that Costa Rica has no military so who are these guys in fatigues?

Panama School Kids working in garden outback. Notice the machetes?  EVERYONE has a machete in CR/Panama.  They sell them in the grocery stores next to the peanut butter!  It was so cute, the boys wanted their pictures taken so much that they kept coming up to us and posing for us.  If they only knew they are now on the internet they would be thrilled!

We have been warned not to casually go over the border without your passport stamped and paperwork filed. Casually? How does one go over a border casually? I never thought we could screw that up! Well, in Sereno there are no signs to tell you where Costa Rica ends and Panama starts. No STOP HERE signs, (Alto) and since we don't read Spanish well, we didn't know we had passed the Costa Rica immigration office and Panama's office about a ½ block after that. A half block apart!! Who would have guessed you walk to one immigration office and for a ½ block you are in
'no man's land' of who knows where to get to the other country's immigration office? Go figure!

So John pulls over, gets his passport and tries to talk to a Spanish speaking military guy. Luckily he was a nice guy who didn't confiscate our car and send it to the large city of David with us following on a bus and it costing us hundreds or more to get it back, probably no sooner than the next day. This was explained to me as a possible scenario where we had lunch, which I THINK was on Costa Rican side; don’t really know for sure, no signs to tell us where we are. Just military guys in uniform escorting little children across a street and Panama license plates on vehicles to give us warning we have done something terribly wrong. We didn't have permission to drive our car out of Costa Rica, we would have needed official papers, inspections, insurance for Panama and finally a fumigating spray on our car. Taking a car from CR to Panama is a BIG deal.

We turn around and drive to where we THINK we should go. Now before you say, “dummies” remember we are all new to this and this border crossing is so different than the other CR/Panama crossing that we are doing the best we can. We end up in the Panamanian office with a guy who can't speak English any better than we can speak Spanish. We finally figure out we need to go back to the CR side, and end up at the police station. The policeman directs us 2 more buildings further away from the Panama office so off we go.

Panama Street Stores.  You can't really see but there are some descent things inside these little stores.  We purchased an electric tea kettle for 10 dollars!
  Panama uses U.S. dollars as their currency.

We get our passports stamped and proudly bring back to the Panama guy only to be told we need 2 copies of each of our passports. Where do we get copies; all the while I see stacks of copy paper and a printer within arms reach? (Copy machines and paper in Central America are considered gold. It is very strange how you can hire a professional to do a job only to have them tell you where to go down the street to make copies of the work you just hired them to perform; which has happened to us twice before.) So off down the street we go to get our copies, maybe it is his brother at the store that charges for copies! Back to Panama guy who finally stamps our passports to officially give us permission to enter Panama, just our bodies, not our car. Whew!

These ladies are dressed in traditional dresses.  The lady in red found us while having lunch to ask if I would buy one of her dresses like the one she had on.  Sorry, too MuuMuu-ish.  Plus they look hot to me.  I felt bad telling her no but did tell her that her dress was muy bonito, very pretty.

We do some shopping in the stores along the road we were just at illegally. We look for a tire but can't find one the right size, too bad, real cheap prices in Panama! Now we are going to have to drive on a small spare tire back along a seriously rocky road for a half hour. Then we have another 3.5 hours of mountain driving on the spare; not something I look forward to.

Now it is time to leave Panama and return to our home. After driving through a couple towns looking for tires, we stop at a service station so John can check the lug nuts. I go in looking for el bano (restroom) and am greeted by a big stack of tires. “John!!! Come here, they have tires!!” Within 15 minutes we have the right size tire on our car and the little spare back in the wheel well. History has been made!! 15 minutes to have something major done in Costa Rica! “Major” meaning, I wasn't buying a loaf of bread, we bought and had a tire installed in 15 minutes!! I could have hugged the tire guy!

During our full day of driving through southern Costa Rica we saw amazing beauty. We drove through adorable little towns, drove up a mountain where the scenery below showed towns with the Pacific beyond. We took a different route back that was along a mountain ridge with miles and miles valleys on each side. It was a lovely and eventful day that we can look fondly back on. And also give tips to newbies going across the Sereno border!

It's Getting Close! Yea!

Our house is nearing completion and we are anxious to get in.  My smarty daughter exclaimed, "This will be the fastest house built for John and Diane Franklin!" "Well" I tell her, "It helps when I don't accidently burn it down when it is halfway completed!"  If you don't know the story and want to hear it, just drop me an email, I will get back to you personally on that mishap!

I always wanted to have a yellow home some day.  Only in Latin American would I have the guts for

 such a bright yellow along with rusty red.  ChaChaCha!

The bamboo railings and balusters are supposed to be installed this week. Can't wait to see how that looks inside along the loft area looking down into the kitchen/living area. 

A new favorite food, Yucca Fritters!  YUM!
Typically yucca in Costa Rica is boiled and served mashed on your plate and you can add butter, salt
and pepper.  John was not a fan.  So I tried fried sticks of yucca, John said they were much better.  But the big hit was yucca fritters!  Absolutely fantastic!  If you can get some yucca, give this a try.  I guarantee, they are great!

Yucca Fritters

Peel off outer layer by slicing through tough outer skin down the length of the yucca.  Peel off skin.
Either grate yucca or put chunks of peeled yucca into food processor to make about 3 to 4 cups of semi-finely processed yucca.
Finely chop an onion and a sweet pepper or put into food processor
Put all in bowl
Add 2 eggs, salt and pepper
Mix well
Heat a good amount of coconut oil in heavy pan
Drop by small handfuls into pan, gently making them flat, gentle now, don't smooch!
Once browned on bottom, turn with spatula and brown other side
add some more coconut oil for the next batch.  Be happy you are getting your daily dose of coconut oil!
Serve with sour cream or ketchup.  I like sour cream and of course John likes the ketchup!

This waterfall is so far off in the distance, I don't even know how many miles away to guess it is.
 At every turn Southern Costa Rica delights.  It is a gorgeous area! 

Mr. Lizard keeps showing up around our rental house.  He is so well camouflaged that we often miss him.  When he runs he runs on his back legs, very exciting to watch. 

This Friday we take another "border run" to Panama.  We are going to a very remote border crossing recommend by a Facebook Southern Zone of CR group.  Hope to come back with interesting things to share. 

Adios!

May 30, 2014

Our house is about 6 weeks from completion. Plastering should be completed next week and painting started. Our builder prefers to plaster the inside drywall and put a special paint on to combat the mold and humidity from living in the tropics. He uses a greenboard where ever moisture is present, like in bathrooms and outside where water will splash up on the house, he uses cement board. Everything gets plastered over. Even our basement block has plaster, much more than we expected.

This is a sloth near our house, it was in a tree between the rental house and our new house. A worker told us that he has seen sloths here in Serenity about 6 times so far. But spotting sloths is very hard since they don't move very fast and blend in with nature. John would have missed it had it not been pointed out to him. He rushed home to get me and we got pictures. (Still no sloth crossing the road though.)

At a party someone brought Ceviche de Banano (green banana ceviche). Most common is ceviche made with fish. But this was a vegan ceviche and it was very tasty. So I asked Aldemar to find out who made it and could I get the recipe. He brought his sister Cecelia over and she taught me how to make Ceviche de Banano. This is a picture of us working in the kitchen. Aldemar stayed to translate and then I helped his niece with her English homework. It turned out to be a very interesting Sunday afternoon.

 

 

We mostly eat outside and have found it helpful to cook some things outside on the porch.  Here I am making pancakes on a Sunday morning.  At our new house we will have a kitchenette on our veranda so cooking out there will be easy.

Two weeks ago when we went to San Isidro many of the roads were closed in preparation for a parade celebrating Saint Isidore, patron saint of farmers. While at the bank sirens were blaring with a fire truck leading the procession right by the bank. Painted ox carts being pulled by decorated Brahma bulls were common along with horses, carriages, children with carts filled with produce, floats of agriculture displays, everyone dressed in traditional colorful clothing and more. This is a picture of one of ox carts and bulls. Costa Ricans love their parades, celebrations and holidays.

And finally but not least, as we were driving through a mountain neighborhood a pair of Scarlet Macaws came swooping down to our car and circling it. It was an amazing site. Normally we only see them high in the sky flying in pairs like 2 stunt planes, swooping, spiraling and making quite a spectacle; and sometimes in trees. The colors right in front of our windshield were vivid and the birds huge!! We got out of the car and a lady from nearby house came out to try to talk to us about the birds. Unfortunately she only spoke Spanish and our Spanish is very limited. It seems that she feeds them because one landed on a frame crossing her sidewalk to her front door. It allowed us to get near and take many pictures. As this one hammed it up for the camera the other stayed nearby calling from a tree along with many toucans flying back and forth. I've got to get back to this lady and find out how she attracts both macaws and toucans; somehow finding a way to converse with her. Oh how I wish we knew more Spanish! We are trying but our old brains keep forgetting all that they try to teach us!