Batte of the Bands

Sunday afternoon fund raiser for the benefit of PAWS, the local group that cares for dogs. The band was terrific. A local musician, Kim Carson from Canyon, Texas (lives now in New Orleans and Uvita Costa Rica) played with her band and was our favorite. Mike spent a lot of time doing the Texas bonding thing, doesn't hurt that she is a pretty woman.

 

Lots of older gringos in the audience. We fit right in.

 

Quepos Marina sunset

 

The Marina at Quepos is being developed and beginning to look like a real resort seaside marina. We had dinner and enjoyed the sunset there. We took this photo for sister Pat. We are certain some friends of Pat and David must own this boat and we want to go for a ride. Please arrange it Pat. Dinner was good but way too expensive. We learned that the smart money goes in the bar for happy hour and bocas (small appetizer plates) at about $1.25 a whack. Guess where we will be next time.

New Road

A new road was completed just after we left last season. It extends from Greg's gate above our house at Nancy's property and covers the Y in the road and down past our house and just below Bob and Gitti's lower driveway. It isn't very long but it sure is nice. No more maintenance needed on this strip after the rainy season. And what delights me is less dust in our rancho and in our house. What luxury.

We just finished lunch. I made cream of celery soup with evaporated milk instead of cream. Better for us. I never think of evaporated milk. Now it is time for a siesta.

Catch up

It has been nearly a week since I posted anything. We have been BUSY. We are trying to knock off all the TODOs right at the beginning so that we can relax (and probably do more todo's. hah) Trying to gi
et in a year's worth of truck maintenance and house maintenance during a relatively short visit is not easy. Anyway, mostly we have been engaged in that work. Paying taxes in Quepos, getting new tires for the car, new printer for Mike's work. But we did take a nice break on Sunday when our friends Scott and Joyce invited us to afternoon dinner by the pool. In addition to Scott, Joyce, Mike, me, Bob and Gitti, we caught up with our Canadian friend Patti. We met two new people, Gerta and Jim, also Canadians and newlyweds. Gerta and I had met before but really had not yet gotten to know each other. Scott and Joyce put on a FEAST. Here are a few photos. Excellent filet mignon. Mon dieu!

A Painter Must Paint

Bought this little folding table from Maxi Pali yesterday. (Owned by Walmart) Looks perfect for holding my pallette and everything else I need. The canvas on board looks like it will work though sitting down isn't ideal. Vermeer painted in candlelight. I can put up with this. Of course the excuse for driving to Quepos was paying taxes. But we all know why I wanted to go. 

Weekly market - Check

These pics are of the weekly market in San Isidro. This is where the professionals shop, buyers and sellers. The produce could not be fresher, cheaper or of greater variety. The market  is held weekly in this huge permanent structure. Good thing to keep us all out of the sun. Fruits and veggies are sold by the kilo or fraction of same. Few vendors are organic but there are a couple. This is still relatively low carbon footprint eating. Fertilizer from animals is used and the truck that brought the produce from the farm did not drive far. I bought a mountain of produce, including organic kale.

Landed

This is the scene 24 hours after we arrived at our home in Matapalo, on the Pacific Coast. We are 99 % unpacked and I made a  big pot of beans. It is going to rain in a bit. It will be great to bring down the humidity. It is  a shocking temperature contrast to the 30's in Texas. Here we have 84 degrees and humid. Tomorrow we will be off early to the weekly market in San Isidro.

Heading out of the cold

This is a test message to see if this blog can be restarted for our upcoming time in Costa Rica.