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.
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.
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.
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
