Los Días Típicos

While Nik is back in Portland working, the kids and I are continuing on with daily life.  We are feeling fully enveloped in the rainy/ green season which seemed to start the moment Nik and his parents left for the airport last week.  Their departure was followed by a deluge and impressive thunderstorm.  The weather matched our mood, having to say goodbye.  While it has been off and on rainy, the temperature is still quite nice.  We still eat all of our meals outside, and the only reason to close our windows at night is to keep the bird and monkey sounds from waking us up too early.

One surprising drawback to living in a tropical climate in a house with no heat or air conditioning is that mold has taken a liking to some of our belongings.  Suitcases, backpacks, toiletry bag, hats, shoes, banjo case, camera strap.  Who knew mold liked to grow on these items?!  In my experience it has only been forgotten veggies in the fridge.  We need to find a way to turn our household mold into a 6th grade science project.  Anyway, I am battling back, armed with bleach.  So far we are winning.

We made a trip to Tilaran last week to visit the eye doctor to get contact lenses for Madeleine.  I was prepared to use my meager Spanish, but the eye doctor, who studied at UC Berkeley many years ago, spoke pretty good English.  When I did make a comment in Spanish, I received in return a fast and long response (in Spanish) that mostly went over my head.  So we mainly stuck to English, and that got the job done.  The cost for the rather low tech exam and fitting and 8 pairs of 4-week lenses was 80,000 colones, or $160.  We are taking advantage of low health care costs here for sure.  I do wonder how many Ticos can afford contact lenses though.

We considered a weekend trip, but found ourselves housebound for part of Saturday with an accidentally locked bedroom door.  We tried all we could think of and were finally rescued by Ed, our very helpful and skilled property manager.  Our weekend outing (aka escape from rainy day at home with 3 children) was to Termales Los Laureles near La Fortuna on Sunday.  It was only moderately crowded and only rained part of the time.  The pools were evacuated briefly for a thunderstorm, and we were glad to have a rancho/ cabana to keep us dry while we waited out the storm.  We only had a brief view of Volcan Arenal’s lower half; the rest of the time it remained hidden by clouds.

Lunch in our little rancho at Termales Los Laureles, with Madeleine's friend Aubrie.
Volcan Arenal is hiding in the background.

Without Nik here to share the taxi service responsibilities, I am putting in a lot of kilometers on the road between Las Flores, our little gringo enclave, and Nuevo Arenal where the kids go to school, 5 km away.  Sullivan goes to school in the morning, and Madeleine and Henry flip flop between morning and afternoon each week, on different schedules.  I average 4 round trips per day.  There are 7 kids who live near us, so we often have extra passengers to and from school.  While I have a captive audience, I can practice some Spanish with them.  At least being the carpool mom makes me feel like I am helping out our local friends in a small way.

Our neighbor friend, Nataline, in 4th grade.

Her sister, Mariel, in 5th grade.

Today while Madeleine was at school, the boys and I went for a little walk to the ponds of Las Flores.  We saw little fish and howler monkeys (congos) in the trees.  Meanwhile Nik was taking a walk in Portland, from the South Park Blocks to REI and Powells in the Pearl.  It felt like we were sharing walks, as we texted and sent photos of what we were seeing back and forth.  Yay technology!

Howler monkeys crossing the road, a rare sight.  Usually we only see them in trees.

Sully with his car monkey.

The Resplendent Quetzal by Henry

Guest blogger Henry has learned some interesting things about the Resplendent Quetzal.  On our recent trip to the Monteverde area, we did not see any of these amazing birds, but we hope see one before we leave Costa Rica.

There is a very beautiful bird called the Resplendent Quetzal.  It is 14-16 inches, not including their 65 inch tail that only the male has.  They have a pretty green body with a red breast.  The Resplendent Quetzal has very thin skin that is easy to rip.  They have large eyes.  The Resplendent Quetzal lives from Mexico’s to Panama’s cloud forests.  Their diet is very big; they eat fruit, insects, frogs, lizards and wild avocados!  The Resplendent Quetzal is Guatemala’s national bird and the name of their currency!  The Resplendent Quetzal is a weak flier.  The Resplendent Quetzal has some predators like hawk, owl, emerald toucanet and the brown jay.  The Resplendent Quetzal breeds at different times.  In Mexico they breed from March to April, in El Salvador they breed from May to June, and in Guatemala they breed from March to May.  The mother lays two pale eggs a year.  It takes 18 days to go from egg to chick.  Next time you go to Monteverde, if you are lucky you might see a Resplendent Quetzal.

- Henry

Male Resplendent Quetzal

Female Resplendent Quetzal

Quetzal in a tree

Where the Resplendent Quetzal lives

Guatemala's currency, the Quetzal

Playas Flamingo y Conchal, Costa Rica, more vistas and fun

Pura Vida!

We had the good fortune to return to Playa Flamingo and happily basked in the sun, enjoying the surf, the large pool and drinking coconut water straight from the source, spending two nights at the Playa Flamingo Resort.  I think that my parents could have easily never left this spot.  We did our job enjoying happy hour with several of our new iguana friends.

Life is good

We did discover a couple of beaches new to us near Playa Conchal and will return for sure.  The water is as clear as I've ever seen and there is plenty of solitude, even on Sunday.  There surely is an abundance of gorgeous beaches open for exploration on the lovely Pacific coast.

A definite highlight for visitors to our adopted hometown is a trip to "Pottery Island" for a beautiful stroll on a peninsular extending out into Lago Arenal.  The views simply cannot be beat.

Erica admires the view

Sullivan hangs on his grandfather's every word about UFOs

Lago Arenal

The evening views were followed by a fantastic meal at a new bio-organic, locally sourced restaurant nearby called "Rancho Las Tinajas".  The food did not disappoint but could not match the sunset views, multitude of toads, the friendly pet parrots and newfound friends with whom my dad practiced his Spanish.  A magical evening for sure.

Sunset dinner view, Rancho Las Tinajas

New friends

Unfortunately, the great and late evening before was not without a price to be paid the next morning.  Sullivan, short on sleep, had a pretty rough day in kindergarten.  It turns out that this particular Friday was the day for the annual school elections, for student government.  This may be a nationwide event.  In any event, there was a lot of sitting around and loud music.

Student government elections

For part of the day, the kindergartners also had to wear flower costumes.  Long story short for our little man too short on sleep was that he couldn't handle all the festivities and daily attention from his classmates and he acted out, having a meltdown and even hitting some of the other kids.  It was a rough day for him but we're continuing to work with his teacher, who is quite understanding and patient, and he's been doing just fine since.  It's just a lot for our young man to handle sometimes, especially since he still attracts a lot of attention from his classmates and can't yet fully express himself in Spanish.  We will keep working with him.  There is no question that he is an energetic and opinionated guy like his father and grandfather as well.

Lago Arenal rainbow and sun

We also managed to make it to Tierras Morenas, a nearby pueblo, during its annual oxcart celebration.  Though we missed the oxcart parade and saw only a few oxcarts, we did enjoy the evening subasta, or auction.  We managed to avoid purchasing any livestock but left before the "running (chasing?) of the bulls".  Sullivan insisted on a great "cowboy" belt to go with the rest of his outfit.

Our caballero

Church, Tierras Morenas

It's been a fantastic couple of weeks with my folks. They've developed quite an enthusiasm for Costa Rica and learning Spanish.  Tomorrow they head out to return to the States and I will head back as well, to work for a couple of weeks.  We are fortunate to have this time in such a lovely setting, together.

Monteverde: a biological paradise. . . with coffee and chocolate

Tarantula of the night

With much excitement and only a little nervousness about snakes, we trekked to Monteverde.  From our house in Nuevo Arenal, we drove a half an hour on the beautiful paved road around Lago Arenal to Tilaran before embarking on one of the most famously rough roads in Costa Rica, leading to Monteverde.  After having navigated this road last October, at the height of the rainy season, in a small sedan, I knew it'd be no match for our 4x4 Montero.  After an hour and a half of rough dirt roads with sweeping vistas, high clouds and bright blue skies we arrived in Santa Elena, gateway to Monteverde.

After checking out a couple of potential hotels that could possibly house a crew our size, we made a unanimous decision to rent a cabin at Los Pinos for two nights.  This really is a beautiful spot whose many pine trees brought back memories of northern California.

Oranges!

One of the highlights of this particular place is a VERY large hydroponic garden, impressively run by just two men.  In one of the covered areas alone we estimated about 10,000 lettuce plants.  Apparently they use just a little fertilizer and natural insect repellants including chile oil and garlic extract, among others.

Lettuce, anyone?

The produce was amazing.  They sell to many local restaurants and families, and they happily offered us some beautiful lettuce and cilantro.  We saw a few other folks but my dad was apparently the first person to visit who was more interested in the (three) water pumps than the produce itself.  In addition, there was an elaborate rainwater collection system to supply part of the water needed to grow all the produce.  What a great use of resources.

Hank asks questions about the water pumps

Several capuchin monkeys were inhabiting the pines and seemed to be either antagonizing several large, very loud and unidentified birds, or they were trying to steal eggs from their nests.  The entertainment value was great, though.  Of course, the playground was popular with our crew also, not only for its equipment but for some of its denizens.

Playground pajaro bobo (mot-mot)

Playground leaf-footed bug (we think)

Playground Jones boys

Santa Elena is at almost 5000 feet in elevation and is a hotbed for ecotourism given its proximity to many large reserves famous worldwide for their biodiversity and opportunities for wildlife and plant viewing.  For this trip, we opted to bypass the most famous reserve, Monteverde, for an even larger and equally interesting reserve, Bosque Eterno de Los Niños (Eternal Rainforest of the Children).  This is actually the rainforest in Costa Rica supported by donations collected by children all over the world.  While in preschool, each of our kids literally collected money for the rainforest in Costa Rica and supported this fantastic place.  For more information about this wonderful forest reserve and how to help, go to:  http://acmcr.org/childrens_eternal_rainforest.htm .  There is much active research and volunteer opportunities are available.  There are ongoing efforts to learn more about the return of the jaguar to this area, for example.  Anyway, the extent of our exploration included an exciting guided night hike as well as a hike the following day.

Bosque Eterno de Los Niños

We were impressed by our guide's ability to coax tarantulas out of their holes that he was able to identify, simply by gently inducing vibrations on the ground with a small stick.  He had an uncanny ability to spot sleeping birds as well as frogs and insects.  We did not spot a translucent glass frog or a sloth but were not disappointed in any way.

Female rhinoceros katydid with large ovipositor

Fortunately we managed to avoid any major injuries, bites or stings during our hikes.  For this family it was no small miracle.  One of the highlights of our day hike was listening to the call of and eventually spotting the elusive and increasingly endangered three wattled bellbird.  Here is a (borrowed) link to a video of this crazy bird and its call:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnu8QbpImWw .

Good times

Plenty of leaf-cutter ants, blue morpho butterflies and a pizote kept us entertained.

Children's Eternal Rainforest with ominous clouds

On Mother's Day this year in our family, there were no sappy cards or bouquets of flowers.  Instead, we had a great coffee and chocolate tour at Don Juan's plantation.  None of us had ever seen either of these processes in any detail but everyone really enjoyed themselves, especially eating the dried cacao nibs straight from the shell.  The kids didn't mind drinking coffee either!

Happy Mother's Day

Coffee bean pickers.  If they were professionals and worked very hard, they could make about $25 in a day.

Henry helps process some sugar cane to make cane juice.

Cacao!

Madeleine, in action, processing cacao to make chocolate

The moms in the crowd decided on "typical" food and were quite satisfied by large casado plates at Sabor Tico, on the edge of town.

Sabor Tico, with every one still buzzing on caffeine.

Our paths crossed yet again with our friends Valerie and Dan, this time in Monteverde.  We've had a great time hanging out with them the last couple of weeks and will miss not seeing them again anytime soon.  We finished off our stay with a visit to an almost surreal hummingbird garden that lived up to its billing.  An uneventful ride home returned us to our own small bit of paradise.

Here's to grandparents and special kindergarten memories!

Salud!

After much eager anticipation, my parents arrived from Ohio into the Liberia airport, of course with plenty of goodies for us all.  Maybe the toughest adjustment to make about living abroad is being farther away from family.  Ironically, though, here in Nuevo Arenal, we are about 200 miles closer to Ohio than we were in Portland, Oregon.  Even though my folks will be here for two weeks, no time was wasted in introducing them to the wonders of Costa Rica.

Who doesn't love pipa fria?

The parade of interesting animals to our house has yet to let up but fortunately has not included any snakes recently.  My mom is especially thankful.

Window stick bug

Yesterday, during this special week about health education at the school, my mom was greeted very warmly by the kindergarten class.  Sullivan's wonderful teacher had them gather in a circle and sing one of their daily songs.

Morning song

Yesterday I was tasked with giving a short presentation to the kindergarten class about bacteria, amoebas and the importance of hand washing, all as a contribution to this week's theme of health education.  I think the kids were most impressed by the photos and drawings of microbes from the internet, though.  Discussions about healthy and unhealthy foods served as a perfect segue to "El dia de la Agricultura" today.  Sullivan's teacher, ever thoughtful, brought in a hat for him because he didn't have full cowboy attire.  These kids could not be more precious.

Niñas

Kindergarten sure is fun

My parents have been impressed by just how friendly people are here and by the vistas, flora and fauna.    They've been making great effort to learn Spanish and have already been to two classes in their first five days!  We love the enthusiasm.  More adventures are in store.  .  .

Street sloths, gorgeous insects and anti-bug pills

Perezoso lento (slow-moving sloth).  Perezoso is also a word for lazy in Spanish.

The predominant theme for the last several days has been yet more new animals.  Our generous friends Valerie and Dan offered to hold down the fort at home while Erica and I headed out for a night on the town.  Turns out that the most exciting event was on the way into town when we saw a car stopped on the road in front of us, with its headlights illuminating something laying still on the ground.  Expecting the worst, I hopped out of the car to go offer some help.  To my great surprise, it wasn't a child that had been hit by a car but instead a two-toed sloth laying in the street, apparently unharmed.  The guys in the car in front of us had seen it slowly crawling out into the street before it stopped.  After a couple more folks showed up, it was easily convinced to grab onto a branch so it could be escorted to the side of the road where it crawled off into the forest.  Apparently sloths come down from the trees once a week with the intent of having their weekly bowel movement.  A fascinating story on its own.  Our margaritas were tasty but anticlimactic.

Really cool insect in need of a name

The diverse parade of insects to our patio continues with fervor.  The creature above was actually found camouflaged brilliantly in our front yard on a palm tree trunk.  At first glance it resembles a spider or possibly a shrimp but when its underside is examined or it moves, it looks much more like a grasshopper or cricket.  Even though he spent a couple of nights in our insect B&B, we still can't identify him.

Chicarra (Emerald Cicada)

In contrast to the 17 year cicadas of our youth in the midwestern United States, the locally famous Chicarra appears annually in May or June and heralds the onset of the rainy season, as we're told.  They can be extremely loud and the whistling teapot-like sound from several of the insects harmonize into a pulsating buzz that is really impressive.

No worms welcome here

Yesterday, all the kids in Henry's class were given two pills to take without any obvious explanation to him.  Sullivan's teacher sent home a pair of pills for him to take as well.  Apparently two times a year, a nurse comes from the town's health clinic to the school and gives a dose of abendazole to the kids.  From what I can tell this is for prevention (maybe treatment too?) of parasitic infections in the kids.  At least we know that some of us will be safe.  Tomorrow will bring yet more exams but more importantly, my mom and dad who are coming to visit for two weeks.