New Blog Site

Please visit me at http://movedtocostarica.wordpress.com. Google Blogger does not work anymore and I can not access it from my computer for some reason. A lot of other people are having the same issue, but it seems like Google is not responding so I started a new BLOG, one that works!

Thanks.......... See you on the other side!

Trying something new

Over the past year I have been using Windows Live Writer to upload my blogs. The only problem is that it does not work very well. I usually have to restart it about 5 or 6 times before I can upload my article. It is a real pain to use. All of the "Help" that Microsoft offers is well, you know, not w orth the effort to look it up, as it seems it is always your fault and never Microsofts. I googled blog client and came across this one, Zoundry Raven which is a free open source software.

So I will put this thru its paces to see how it works or doesn't.

As they say, down the hatch.

July Day

Well I guess there is no such thing as July Day, maybe Canada Day since it is their birthday today.  This month marks our first year without working (for the mon).  We have done a lot of work since we have moved down here, for sure, but all has been on and around the house trying to make it work just a little bit better.

Over the past month we had a visit from my oldest daughter and granddaughter for a week.  A week sometimes is too short, especially since a couple of those days are spent traveling to and from San Jose.  Almost all of the flights back to the US are at the crack of dawn and there is no way to get there except by spending the night in San Jose.  A small draw back to live on the Carib.  No way do I drive the roads without it being light out (a 12 hour window).  We still had a great time, but miss them both.

June was a very dry month, only six inches of rain.  Not exactly what you would expect in a rainforest.  The other good news is we only had one report crime all month.  You can tell that it is not tourist season now, not sure why the weather has been perfect.

Rainforest Moon

It is not very often that you get a chance to see the moon at night here in the rainforest.  By nature as the air cools, clouds form and they block the view of the sky.  There are times when the sky is clear and you get to see things that normally you don’t.  On this night, the almost full moon was peaking over the tree tops on its way to circle the earth.  Each full moon I am hoping for a clear night, but that doesn’t always happen so you take what you can get.

Walk in the Park

Yesterday we went on an adventure to Cahuita National Park.  We went via the park entrance in Cahuita since it only requires a donation to enter as opposed to the Punta Vargas where it costs non-residents $10/ea to enter.  Along the way to the park we passed a tree full of nest of the Oro Pendola.

The trail starts out by either walking in the trees along the beach or walking on the beach itself.  We chose the beach.

As you walk about 2 Km’s the trail turns back into the trees.  Along the way you  get to see some interesting things.

Here is a small yellow eyelash pit viper waiting for supper to pass by.

There is even an elevated section to get over the water prone areas.  It hasn’t rained here in quite some time so everything is really dry.

This is a shot of the Jesus lizard which can run across water, an adult male.

Some rather large trees along the point, usually full of monkeys waiting for handouts from the tourists, but not today.

There were hundreds of these little hermit carbs all fighting over food found on the ground, the biggest ones always seem to win, hum.

Shay is leading the way back home.

This big iguana was hanging out way up in a tree, these guys get to be around 4 feet long and this one is close to that.

On our way home I just wanted to include the typical Cost Rican hazardous road sign.  The tape says precaution.

This will probably remain like this for some time to come or when the palm leaf rots and falls over.  It is kind of hard to see in the dark but if you are from around here you know it’s there.  Anyway, it was a good road while it lasted.

A Little Before and A Lot After

The lot that we purchased in between the two houses that our builder built was quite the mess when we took it over.  The lot was full of old material and many Cacao trees, not to mention the billions of mosquitos that lived in those trees.   So this is what it looked like before we started the process.

And this is what it looks like now.

It has been a lot of hard work, I just hope that it starts to rain soon so we don’t loose all of our plants we have planted.  Cloudless skies and bright hot sun does not work well with these plants.   It never rains in the rain forest when you want it to!

Summertime

I know that here in Costa Rica everyone always talks about summer, but that’s in December not June.  I guess that’s because the school kids are out of school during that time.  Now, in the morning the temperature is around 80 degrees and with no clouds to stop the sun it raises up to around 92 degrees.  For here that is HOT!

Looking at the wave report it looks like we catch a break since we will have 4 to 5 foot swells by Sunday, lately there has been no (zero) waves to speak of.  You can’t even hear the ocean it is eerie quiet at night.

One thing one can do when it is this hot is hit the beach and feed the little flies that want to bite the livin crap out of your legs as you sit there enjoying the shade. 

But you know as you sit there all is good you just deal with the bites later.

When the water is this calm it is very clear and is super warm (which is why most of the coral has died here).  The coral does provide hiding places for the smaller fish and adds backdrop to the pictures.

Great day for the water.

More Creatures

This strange looking creature was attached to our chair one morning.  It looks like it just found some leaves and made it into a hat, they are actually it’s wings.  It later met it’s end like most bugs not very long life spans here in the forest.  The other part of nature came and carted it off.  Things happen fast.

Ah, June

June usually makes the beginning of Summer for most people.  Summer is like 24/7 here and I am not complaining one bit.  I know a lot of folks that are still faced with scraping their windshield in the morning from the frost and wearing heavy winter garments.  Not my idea of summer.

As the Summer Solstice approaches everyone waits for the longest day of the year.   We will have 12 hours and 41 minutes of sun light here on June 21, just like most of the days we have here.  After a while you do get used to the fact that there is only going to be 12 hours of light each day and you plan your day around that.

This past month of May we had about 17 inches of rain fall.  Sounds like a lot, but I had to water a lot this month with it being so dry and hot.  The “soil” here does not retain much moisture so to keep all of the plants alive that I have been planting in our back garden I had to water in the morning and afternoon.  Hopefully that will end soon as the plants become established.

Another topic is how many crimes were reported over the past month.  As you can see it has gone down, especially since all of the tourist have vanished.  It is amazing that people don’t come here when the weather is the best.  They wait until they think the rains have gone only to find that it’s raining!  This month the ocean was the calmest I have seen it so far living here, bright sunny days, hot and empty beaches.  The surfers don’t like this kind of weather for sure, no waves to catch.

Just Add Water

It was just about 2 years ago when we bought our house.  I just remember when we first saw it how barren everything was, after all, they had just finished building it and just began to plant.  So anyway after just two year of rain things have changed here a lot.

This it what it looked like in June 2009.

This is what it looks like now, totally different.  It’s amazing that by adding a little water the landscape can change so much in such a short time.

Hand Me Down My Walking Stick

Growing up as a kid in Illinois, I found these all the time in the woods behind our house.  That was many years ago.  So today as I started to hang laundry I noticed this stick hanging off the clothes line (yes the clothes line is used ICE telephone cable, it’s called recycling).   I could not resist and grabbed the camera to show you this strange looking creature.  Granted the ones in Illinois did not look anything like this guy.

24/7 Discovery Channel here in the rain forest.

In the Neighborhood

Well it seems like the mom and baby have made this area their neighborhood.  This would be the third time we have seen them crossing from one side of the road to the other using the wire as a means to stay above reach of the dogs who run lose around here.  Our dogs don’t, we have them fenced in or on leash when we head out somewhere.  It is a shame how many of these animals are attacked by lose dogs, once on the ground they are defenseless. 

Here you can see how the mother moves along with her little one.

No Power

There are some morning when you wake up there is no electricity and feel powerless.  The main irritating factor is you can not make coffee, the juice of champions.  So instead of getting up tight about it there was only one thing left to do.  Take the dogs for a walk on the beach.  This morning was really quiet, no sounds other than the normal birds that announce the coming of dawn.  Once we reached the beach you could see why, no waves!  OK maybe a 6 incher but nothing like we normally have between 2 and 3 feet.  Could not even hear the water, very strange.

Upon returning to the house we were still without power so I thought I would take the time and wander around and take some pictures since the sun rise had such soft light.

We have a new crop of bananas growing in the back yard and should be ready in a few months.

Constant Battle

Living in the rain forest does present more challenges than normal life in the USA.  One thing are the insects that inhabit this part of the world.  A while ago I found that our garden was disappearing. The leaves were being striped by the leaf cutters and being hauled away underground to grow their fungus.  After talking with a local expert on the subject, he mentioned that by using a chemical called mirex, that these creatures would stop everything and carry it into the nest.  I finally found a place that sold this chemical in Bribri this morning and soon began to spread it around the tunnel opening of the nest.  This is the main entrance for the ants that carry the leaves, it has to be higher for them to fit the leaves.  So anyway, I sprinkled a package of this around this opening and it’s just like he said, they dropped everything to carry this into their nest.

You have to keep this up for a few days in order the get rid of the whole nest since the eggs hatch at different times.  I am hoping that soon our plants will be safe for a while, until the next attach from the creatures of the rain forest.

Rainy Daze

This morning when I got up I went out and emptied the rain gauge to see how much rain had fallen yesterday.  Only 1 inch, that was at 6AM this morning.  The rain gauge now has 3.5 inches in it and it is only 645AM.  The weather people said we could expect up to 5 inches of rain in the next two days.  Hum, I think maybe in the next two hours and then what.  Shades of November 2008 when it rained 15 inches and washed out the bridge into town.

Maybe time to get the boat out.  This is good for the trees, but I think the sloths are the ones who lose when it rains this hard, they just get soaked.

Another Project Done

Well almost, there is a difference here in Costa Rica between being done and being completed.  Anyway, we wanted to change out the fixtures in our bathroom.  Not to say the others where not ok, just that there wasn’t any room to put things especially with that small sink.  So, one day while we were in El Colon, the local ferreteria, we noticed that they had a special on toilet and sink combo.  At that point we could not let this deal pass by without taking advantage of it.  So we brought home and new toilet and sink.  The toilet went in right away, it is a one piece dual flush system to help save on water.  The sink took some time, we got these the first of March and now it is the first of May, so you see my point about construction here in CR.  Slow, but sure.

We had our local muebles carpenter build the cabinet  to set the sink on so it was a special build.  The cabinet cost more that the sink and toilet combined but well worth it.  We now have a nice sink and counter space to set things on without falling on to the floor plus storage underneath for extra things.

This was before.

This is after.  Much better.

May Day, May Day

It is now the first of May, all the tourists have left, the streets are empty, the sun is shinning bright and hot.  The ocean is a turquoise blue.  Ah yes, the rainy season is upon us, you know that because all the tourists leave, don’t know why they just do.  When we were coming to Costa Rica to visit we would always come in May, there were no people, rates go down and the traffic is a bit better.  Here in Puerto Viejo, a lot of the restaurants close for the month so you know it is slow.  Hopefully, last week (Semana Santa) put enough money in their pockets to keep them going for a while.

During the month of April I decided to keep track of the rain fall and this month we only had nine inches of rain, normal is twelve.  I hate having to water my garden just to keep it alive, I would not expect that in the rain forest.  I am not planting anything else until the rains start up again.

Another thing that has happened here is a the formation of a group of people to help fight crime in the area.  There isn’t any violent crime per say, just a lot of petty robbery’s of tourists as they bicycle on their way to the beach.  Un Caribe mas Seguro (facebook) provides an opportunity for people to communicate what has happened, where and to whom.  In addition the group provides support to the victims to get these crimes reported to the authorities.  If things go unreported, everyone thinks things are just fine.

This is not real accurate but close.  A lot of the crime to is houses getting broken into.  People forget to lock windows, doors etc and the ladrones wait for the opportunity to rob you.  When ever we leave our house, everything is shut, locked and our fearless K9’s keep a sleepy eye on things.  So for a busy month of April there were 11 reported incidences.   

Return Visit

Yesterday the Mom and Baby sloth came back for a quick visit.  The problem is you have to be on the watch out other wise you will miss them.  She is using the man made highway as they travel from tree to tree.  The canopy here is not very good with all of the Cacao trees, not only do the sloths not like them there are short and don’t reach to the upper branches of the preferred trees.

Creatures of the Night

Last night while we were watching a movie, we kept hearing this cry or high pitched barking sound.  It was coming from high up in a tree.  We decided to go out and see if we could find it since we thought it might be a lost baby sloth calling for it’s mother.

I grabbed my little 2M candle power light and went out side to try and find where the sound was coming from.  Pointing the light down the road we saw two very bright orange eyes peering at us from behind a small bush.  I had not seen anything like that color before.  As I pointed the light up into the tree I saw the same color eyes looking down at us.  A little further up the tree was a sloth.  Mind you this light will turn night into day.  The pair of eyes watched us and finally scampered down the tree very quickly disappearing into the darkness.

The other pair of eyes moved off across the road exposing itself to us, it was a very strange looking cat, definitely not a house cat.  Anyway as it turns out it was a pair of Jaguarundi hunting for a meal.  I think we might have interrupted their quest. The Jaguarundi is the most vocal of the Costa Rica’s wild cats.  I makes thirteen vocalizations, including birdlike chirps.  That may have been the sound we had been hearing.

No pictures this time since it was dark and did not have the cameras.  Kind of interesting going out at night to see what lurks around the neighborhood, at least animal wise………

Easter Time in Costa Rica

This is the time of the year that every one looks forward to.  It is called Semana Santa or Saint’s Week and it is a time when most people who live in Costa Rica have time off from their every day jobs and heads to the beach for some fun and relaxing, not to mention much drinking.  While most are under control there are those who don’t follow the same rules.  The other day while the beach was packed with families enjoying the sun and surf, three young ATVer’s decided to use the beach as their speed way.  The policia was finally called and stopped it up until they left, then it started all over again.  I was surprised that no one was injured. 

As luck would have it one of our lilies decided to bloom in honor of the big event.  Another cool thing was the Costa Rican Coast Guard even showed up off shore looking for those Columbia subs coming up to drop off the real pay load.

I think they were curious of all the people on the beach and probably took a bit of time off looking for the Columbians while looking at something  more pleasing to the eyes.

To close off the night, Sarah and Rene provided us with a performance of songs at Stash’s Fusion Restaurant.  Kind of a farewell performance, since they we be returning to the UK the middle of May, to begin work in Sicily in October.  They will be missed.

A parting shot of all the volunteers at the Jaguar Rescue Center where Sarah and Rene have spend many hours of love laboring in the hot sun keeping the Center looking new as ever.

Trip to the Falls

 

Located just north of BriBri, the canton seat of the Talamanca is a water fall that people can hike to.  You can drive most of the way and park in the yard of the person who will look after your car for you for only 1500 colonies.  Once you park you start the hike into the Jungle…..

Here you start out by crossing the river. 

Then you cross the river again.

Then you head up this hill until you see a path that leads off to the right.

Here is the path leading to the falls, there are cement blocks used as the steps but slippery non the less.

Then you cross the river again and follow the trail up another hill.

You keep walking up this hill for a short ways until you come upon a split in the trail.  The high road leads to bigger and better water falls according to some of the local tour guides, the low road leads to the main falls that everyone stops at.

Here the trail goes down back to the river you have crossed many times before.

Almost there as you cross over the water again.

Finally you have arrived, the water is refreshingly cool.  After a bit of swimming, we hike back to the car, head back into Bri Bri and stop at a local soda for lunch.  Can’t beat it.