Welcome Greg - July 20, 2012

Greg arrived 10 minutes early in fine form. The little Sansa plane was full so they took off early. Of course that meant that we were 10 minutes late collecting Greg. Greg had texted from S.J. when he arrived so we learned that we can get text messages on our Costa Rican phone.

I had to get in on the action too to get my photo taken with the newly arriving celebrity.

We took Greg on a brief tour of the village of Matapalo then stopped for dinner at La Felix Langosta (The Happy Lobster). As always, the fish was excellent and the price very reasonable. Hannah and Jock arrived later at the restaurant and introduced us to the Mason's.

On Saturday we plan to drag Greg off to Uvita to a yard sale so we can clean out a bit of our stuff from our bodegas. He is a good sport and we can use an extra pair of hands. Since this is the rainy season we don't have high hopes of a big windfall at our yard sale.

Nature Amazes - July 18, 2012

You never know what you will see here. Eventhough we have been coming here for so many years, there are always new things to discover.

I hope that you can see this bug well enough. On the trail up to my sister Nancy's land above us, we bumped into this brilliantly green blue flourescent bug, shimmering in the sunshine. He looks like some kind of a stinger so we didn't get too close.

This beauty of a mushroom was on Nancy's lot. There was only one. The petticoat is really amazing. I guess it is clear where the entrance is. Any mycologists among you who can identify this one? Why would a mushroom have a lace petticoat? What is its function?

Last night we had the kind of rainstorm that makes you feel that you are trapped in a car wash machine going full blast. Talking wasn't an option so we ate a nice dinner and read books. Ever since living through the La Nina rainstorms and floods in California, a lot of rain makes me nervous.

Coping with Nature - July 17, 2012

We strive for peaceful coexistence with nature here. Let me give you a couple of examples.

First example, is bats. We love bats. We live near the bat capitol of Austin after all. But we get sick of cleaning up bat poop by our back door. (see photo)

Mike is not hanging Christmas decorations. This is plastic tape adorned with tin foil to discourage the bats from flying through this space at night and flinging poo.

Example number 2, we are currently under attack by army ants. It isn't too bad since the ants have stayed out of the house so far. It started Sunday, nothing yesterday, and then again this morning.

They don't look too bad here do they on Sunday? Below as they are today behind the house this morning, this time acting more in a swarm than a column. There could be lots more. Mike's theory we are just on the fringe of this swarm.

Curiously enough we had dinner with friends who live in the next village and they showed us a video they made of their army ants that had been swarming their house that same day. The distance between the two towns is significant. We don't know if this is one colony or several. Wikipedia says that a swarm can cover 20 meters. The ants either remain in a column or swarm, or both. What do you do when they attack? You leave. They clean up all bugs in their path so you save on house cleaning.

Friends Hannah and Joch at dinner. Strange fact: Phyllis lived in the same town in Newburyport, Massachusetts at the same time but we did not know each other though we frequented many of the same places.

Uvita Farmer's Market - July 14, 2012

Uvita has a Gringo Farmer's Market on Saturdays. The prices are much higher than at the Tico Feria on Thursdays and Fridays, but it is way closer too. There are other attractions in Uvita, like....

the bread man. We refused to eat the Bimbo bread (for you Texans out there Bimbo now owns Mrs. Baird's bread in the U.S.) or other poor quality white bread that is generally available. Uvita also offers organic veggies, fresh sausage (the guy in the back in the red cap), The Pickle Lady, and fresh fish.

We stopped off in Dominical to visit the bank and got a good look at this lizard, phonetically called a gorobo. He was about 18 inches long. The gray stuff to his right is concrete taht hhas been stuffed into the hole in his tree. We don't know if the concrete was meant to keep him in, out, or had nothing to do with him at all.

After all of this strenuous driving, Mike has to chill out and read in his favorite spot in our house.

Did you mean to do that? - July 12, 2012

In the tropics, stuff grows fast. We are constantly trying to keep our view to the sea open.

I asked Ricardo to chop off the top of this tree yesterday. Because of the way it had grown, this is what we had left. (see the bushy part to the right of the amputated part) I probably should have asked him to chop down the whole thing but we are addicted to the daily 4:00 high of the tree's perfume that the breezes carry up the hill. This is a llang llang tree, used by some of the world's most expensive perfumes as an ingredient. Oh well, we'll plant a couple of baby trees in the same general area and in a couple of years we will be hacking them back again.

Welcome to the new MaxiPali superstore in Quepos, owned by WalMart. Yesterday we made a trip for provisions to Quepos. It is NOT my favorite town. We have decided to avoid it in the future and head South for shopping. Quepos is really a tourist town and too expensive, even at this store. Bob says the only reason to go there is to buy cheap beer. If you have keen eyes you will notice that the entrance door is wide open. No air conditioning here! Actually, it was so cool yesterday after the rain that I had to dig out a flannel shirt to stay warm.

Ahh...We made it. - July 11, 2012

Our ritual morning begins, drinking coffee while waiting for the sunrise.


Today is overcast so we may not see the sun for some time. Sometimes you just have to sit back and accept things as they come.

Before long Mike hops up to replace the dimmer switch in the dining room followed by a quick sanding and coat of paint on the front door. Phyllis continues the cleaning she and Mike started yesterday. Normally our house has been cleaned by Teresa before we hit the threshold. We have been spoiled. There we so many big fat dead bugs they blocked the vacuum cleaner. Tomorrow will will continue to jump into house maintenance chores like painting. We need to get some work done before our nephew Greg arrives next week. So far the rain has been fairly well-behaved. It rained the night that we arrived but was sunny and clear for getting to the house and getting our gear stashed. Today it has rained off and on since about 11 am. We don't mind the rain. It drops the humidity and cools us down.

 Mr. Pisote (coatimundi) has already visited. If you look closely at the upper right corning of the frame you can see little finger-shaped "blossoms" that are favored by the pisote. We also saw the agouti twice. He appears to have made a home down by the mango tree below the driveway. But he is too fast for me to shoot.

Ricardo, our trusty worker says so long to y'all just before he jumps on his moto and takes off for the day. Lucky for him there is a break in the rain for his ride home. 

Getting There - July 9, 2012

Jane and Ricky treated us royally at their home in South Lake. Thank you so much Ricky for the early morning drop off at DFW.

After 12 hours of travel - Fort Worth to Miami to San Jose, CR by plane and then by Musoc bus to San Isidro - we were ready to pack into a motel and put our feet up.

Hotel Montecito, San Isidro, CR.

This is our first stay at this hotel. It was clean and inexpensive but will not be our favorite choice. Since it was dark when when we arrived, about 7:30 pm, I took this photo the morning after. Notice that the cleaning service hangs the comforters out to get refreshed in the sun. Tomorrow we will get up when the traffic on the road outside wakes us. Mike will trek over to Manuel's to pick up our truck. After quick pitstops at the bank and grocery we will head to Matapalo.

We will spend the rest of the day today cleaning the house so that we can unpack, and then unpacking.