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.