Friday the 13th and On

So we had a bit of a crazy day on Friday the 13th. Started normal enough, headed out bright and early to the beach for the day. We were only there about an hour when I had the misfortune of stepping on a sting ray! I don't know if everybody knows what a sting ray barb looks like but it's basically a small serrated sword that injects poison.....perfect. Medieval beast of the sea. So he whipped that bad boy out and lanced me with it, and I proceeded to experience the worst pain of my life! Also I think he hit a vain or something because the blood was gushing!! I hobbled up to the beach with Naomi's help, and luckily this had happened to my little brother before (at the same beach actually!), so my mom knew that heat was the only thing that helped the pain. They started filling up bags of scorching hot beach sand and pressing it on my foot while I struggled with life. Finally we got me in the front seat of the truck with my foot in a cooler full of hot water for the drive over the mountain to town, where we stopped at a pharmacy for a shot of painkiller. My foot had stopped bleeding during the drive, but as soon as I stepped out of the car in front of the pharmacy, and a whole street full of people waiting for the bus, the hole in my foot started spurting blood again. Like squirts shooting out all over the place!! Ohhh the looks of horror! People were concerned that us being gringos thought that a pharmacy was good enough for this issue and one guy told my dad that we should go to the hospital! Pharmacies here are great, we just walked in and the doctor gave me a shot of this kick ass painkiller and sent me home.  And on top of that there was an earthquake in the capital that the whole country felt (luckily it was a deep one and didn't cause any damage) and a lightning storm that night that knocked out our power for a few hours, and our phone and internet for a few days! Arg

Here are some photos of Rocio and Naomi making "Pan Casero" a typical little spiral bread thing...

Here I am doing some staining on the bedroom unit...first coat!

Here I am wizarding some math skills into Adrian.  He comes over every afternoon to work with Naomi on his math (and then gets to use the computer!)

The Garden is coming along, we've got some greens planted and built a bamboo support for the cherry tomatoes. I found this little Fer de Lance in the wood pile just chillen', don't worry only the most poisonous snake ever. Off with his head! Below is a shot of a super sketchy kids' ride we spotted in San Isidro....wish I could have seen it in action to watch it shake!!

Pura Vida!!

Corcovado!!!

Crocodile in the Sierpe River

Shwelicans

Bearded Tourist

Happy May, and a late Mother's Day!!  We wanted to share some photos from our latest adventure.  Naomi and I took off for a few days down to Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park. We stayed a a beautiful little place on a hill just up from the beach. We had a deluxe tent cabin sent back from the future, raised up on a platform. Drake Bay is a boat mainly a boat in only community as the roads are pretty borderline. The boat ride starts in a little town called Sierpe and winds down the Sierpe river, through mangroves till you hit the Pacific.  From there you go south till you hit the bay.

Mangroves

After dropping off our stuff, we toke off for a hike along the south-coast trail (think West Coast trail but Tico style).  You hike right along the water, past so many hidden beach and through awesome jungle.  The next morning we woke up at 5 for a guided tour of Corcovado National Park, which is an hour away by boat. Amazing animal party!!!!  We went on a 5 hour walk through the forest and saw........four kinds of monkeys, a tapir, a bunch of birds, a sloth, an aguti, some bugs and things, and some amazing trees and forest! 

Our Uber tent for 4 days

We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were in the wild because there were so many animals it felt like a zoo. After getting back to the tent we decided to take the kayaks out for a paddle down the coast and up the Agujitas river. The sea was a little rough with a few swells but once we got to the river it was some tranquil paddling! (It was sort of a Lincoln adventure, for those who know about Naomi's dad -kinda sketchy...but really fun!) The next day we went on a snorkeling trip to Cano Island and on the way there we spotted some spotted dolphins having breakfast! Snorkeling was amazing, lots of bright tropical fish swimming around. We also saw a White Tipped Reef Shark and a Hawksbill Sea Turtle!!!! Turt!!!!!  Naomi conquered her looking underwater through goggles phobia, too.  We beached on Cano for a deluxe lunch laid out by our tour guide Vincent. Then it was back to the mainland!!

Agujitas River 

The following day we had to pack up and head home, which was the usual bus riding epic, other than when the bus got stopped by some cops! The cops came on and were looking at everybody and ended up stopping right in front of us and asking these two guys some questions. I guess they didn't answer them right because next thing we knew they were taking them off the bus and cuffing them!!!! After this happened I remembered that one of the guys had changed his shirt a little while earlier, like he was trying to change the way he looked or something.  I think they were illegal aliens from Nicaragua.

We hope you like the photos!  Pura vida!!!

Scarlet Macaws

the Magnificent Frigatebird

Spotted Dolphin

Squirrel Monkey

Baird's Tapir

Sunset in Drake Bay

Easter! and the Beach

Full Speed!

Pancho and Tormenta

Last sunday (Easter) we went up to the neighboring town of Santa Marta to check out their Feria, which is basically a day of food, soccer games and a competition on horseback. The soccer teams didn't show up though so there wasn't soccer. Pancho was participating in the "carrera de cinta". What they do is string a rope across the street that has 6 clothes pins in the middle of it and each pin has a small ring attached to it, about the size of one you would wear on your finger. Then the guys take turns galloping down the street and trying to stick a fancy chopstick- like thing through the ring!!  It was really fun to watch, and we think Isaac should practice in the back field so he can compete in the next one (they happen often).

Farm surgery

We also forgot to mention that a couple of week ago, Fierra (the stray that moved to the farm right before we got here) got fixed - yay! no extra puppies!  The vet came out from town, and did the operation on a table right behind the cabin.  We used one of our headlamps for some extra light!  It was really neat, Isaac's mom helped, and Isaac got to hold her legs up at one point.  We carried her up, and put her in Koda's kennel when it was all finished, so she could wake up and not be bothered by the other dogs.  She is recovering well, although her outer stitches have fallen out, so it looks a bit gross.  We just spray her with "purple spray" now and then, and that does the trick!  Costa Ricans use purple spray for pretty much any animal cut type thing - it's magic!

Playa Arcos

We took a trip to the coast on Monday, and spent the day at Playa Ballena and Playa Arco.  The current was really strong, and the park people wouldn't let us in the water AT ALL until after lunch.  That was okay though, because we had lots of hammocks and books!  Playa Arco  only exists at low tide, with really neat caves, and stunning tall rock cliffs that drop right down all around you.  You can only get to the beach by walking along Playa Ballena, and over a little hill.  We had both beaches to ourselves!

Naomi hanging out

Its alright i guess...

Semana Santa!

Parakeets at Rafas

Happy Semana Santa!  We've got lot's to update...

I'm on a horse!

We managed to get out for our first horse ride the other week.  Tormenta and Caramela were great, and didn't seem to mind the weight on their backs.  They each got a bucket of molasses as a reward for not bucking anyone off.

We spent a morning at Rafa and Digna's house just down the road.  Isaac's family has known Rafa since they first came here, and he and his wife both spent some time in New Jersey, so their English is really good (lucky for me!).  Rafa breeds song birds, and in their back yard they have two big houses for the birds (parrots, cockatiels, budgies, and many more!)  It was so neat!  Rafa pairs the birds up, and then they lay in these little bird houses.  We got to peek in a few boxes at some babies (terrifying and cute at the same time?). 

New fence

Isaac and I finished the bamboo fence around the garden.  I had two jobs (sand the edges to make them look nice, and hold the bamboo up while Isaac wired it all together).  Isaac pretty much did everything else.  It was a beautiful, bright YELLOW bamboo fence for about 4 hours before the sun bleached it to dull beige, but it's still pretty!

Check ma specs!

We had a delicious lunch on Thursday at Rocio's.  Lis and I went over early in the morning to help with tortilla-making and vegetable chopping.  It seems to me that a lot of the delicious food here involves really A LOT of chopping.  It was delicious! Green papaya picadillo, palmito/veggie soup, rice, yummy salad, fresh handmade tortillas, and yummy arroz con leche (rice pudding),  topped with miel de chiverre and miel de coco (basically blended coconut cooked with cane sugar until it is delicious!) for a desert.

We'll head to a fair in Monte Carlo tomorrow that should be fun.  And Isaac and I are planning a little trip to Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park in a couple of weeks, which will be really neat.  You have to boat down a river, and then south along the coast to get there!  Let the adventures continue!

Isaac washing the dog

We’re almost at our 2 month mark, time is flying!!  Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you!  And have a happy Easter!

Last Couple of Days

All grown up

Who knew baby birds went from being these tiny, baldish alien-like creatures, to cute little round bird-looking babies in about 2 days!  We had a nest right above the bedroom unit door, and were lucky enough to get to watch them grow (and get fed!). 

We went to a birthday celebration for Pancho and Estevan on Sunday.  Have you ever been to a birthday party that started at 9am? Yup, we were up bright and early, and eating chicherones (deep fried pig skin) by 10:30!  Pancho built a beautiful cabin for this guy, up above Monte Carlo, so we spent the day relaxing and visiting, and EATING.  I helped Rocio make green banana salad the day before, and chopped green bananas for 2 hours.  The salad takes a long time to make, and if you didn't know you would think it was some variation of potatoe or pasta salad, but it is DELICIOUS!  

Yogurt

We have made a couple of batches of yogurt from the cow's milk.  It's pretty easy to make, the only tricky part is getting it to cool slowly, so we have been putting it in a hot water bath, and wrapping it in about 5 towels.  It seems to work! Our compost adventure is ever continuing.  We didn't realize that we built the compost right where the water come barreling off the garden roof.  So, our hot compost is hot and SOAKED, way more wet than it should be.  We decided to move it to under the garden roof where it will be more protected.  It was SOOOO stinky to move.  

Isaac and Warren cut down some bamboo yesterday to build a fence around the garden that will hopefully keep the dogs out.  This morning Isaac and I re-dug some of the rain ditches along the house and chicken coop that had grown over.  Koda got a kick from Macho (the horse) on the way back from the river today.  Isaac actually caught it on film (because we were filming Macho line himself up with a Guyababa tree, and then walk backwards and smash it with his butt really hard, to get all the ripe fruit to fall - smart horse).  Koda acted like he broke his leg, and cried and cried, but he seems fine now.  Hopefully he learned something! 

Washing the dogs

The chicken or the egg?

Have you ever seen a chicken lay an egg? I have!  I saw it actually LAY the egg.  I was up early one morning to head to the market and went to collect the eggs. One of the hens was sitting in the basket, beside two other eggs.  I noticed that she looked kind of in the middle of something, so I just crouched down and waited…and then I realized she was going to lay an egg!  I wanted to yell for Isaac to come and watch, but I didn’t want to startle her, so I just waited.  Sure enough, within a couple of minutes out plopped an egg!  How cool.

Snake scales

Here are some other happenings:

Cesar

We’ve started a hot compost to make some good soil for our veggie garden.  Isaac’s mom and dad bought 700 sacks of chicken manure last year, so we’re using some of that, with a mixture of dry leaves and grass.  It’s actually been kind of fun to make so far, except for the ant nests that are surrounding it.

Pica Caballo

Isaac and I have been tutoring Adrian in math.  He’s in Grade 6, and most of the math is the same as Grade 7 math in B.C., so I’m familiar with it from last year! It’s pretty funny.  I figure out what we’re going to do, and then make up some little sheets, and flash card games, and then Isaac does most of the talking, while I cheer from the sidelines and add my two bits now and then.  He did really, really well on his last exam! Yeah tag-team tutoring!

We have been working on the side gardens, and came across a Pica Caballo yesterday, a BIG hairy, jumpy spider.

Fer de Lance

Rocio killed a Fer-de-Lance snake beside her house today, so we got to go down and inspect it.  It’s a bit sad it had to die, but kind of helpful because now I know what NOT to step on.   They are a type of pit viper, and if you get bitten they say you have to be within 4 hours of a hospital, or you’ll die.  I hope NEVER to see a live one. 

My Spanish is improving.  I am listening to this CD that we downloaded, and it’s magic!  I came back from milking the cow today with all this exciting news from Rocio (her oldest son got his drivers license, her trip to Golfito was really hot, we can help her make tamales tomorrow afternoon, and I will help her on Saturday with making the green banana salad for the Pancho and Estevan’s Birthday dinner on Sunday).  Isaac couldn’t believe how I “got all that out of her.” 

Naomi in the Garden

Pinapples at the market

Church in San Isidro

Loading Sugercane

Tucan in our backyard

 Also, we have been making the most delicious No-Knead Bread, it’s SO easy, and here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html. Try it out, we have been putting oats or sesame seeds on top – yum!  Next on the list is homemade yogurt!