April 2021: Lots to write About....

Monday, April 5

So many things to write about…….

To cap off a full week of hosting four house guests for the past week, a couple of socially distanced dinner parties, a full day shopping, dentist and vet visit, some rigorous house cleaning, and of course……. a car breakdown. We are finishing up the week with another Golfito and border run today. After today I’m hoping things will calm down a bit. I’ve collected some wonderful little vignettes along the way. 

Hamptons Anyone? This luxury yacht (over 200 feet) parked itself off our beach for a week. Its tenders were a 27 foot sports fishing boat as well an inboard inflatable. We still see the same sunsets, though!

Semana Santa

Easter week, Semana Santa (week of the saints) brought hordes of traffic passing our little metal box on the hill. It has been blistering hot and dry for the past few weeks, and coupled with cars and truckloads of beachgoers, (not to mention the family motorcycles stacked with families of four and five) our peace and quiet was shattered by crackling gravel, noisy motors and billowing pulvo (dust). Compared to previous years there were a lot less visitors due to lingering Covid restrictions, but still….. Semana Santa also brought some waves which attracted a good number of surfers - many of them international travelers. 

Juanita's birthday. We went to the beach at Punta Banco and took Briana along

La familia de Eli

I outdid myself making encucatas. Mmmmm!

Locally, our casa was bustling. Eli and his family moved in for the week, which involved massive amounts of food preparation, lots of rice and beans, as well as a few more hungry visitors dropping by. After weeks of solitude, our heads were spinning. I enjoy having company, and the associated cooking, cleaning and “being on.” But some down time is good, too. 

Unfortunately, at this writing, we’re still waiting for that “down time.” 

Seriously HUGE bamboo. Look for Big Ray on the right.

Bamboo Tales

 

Easter Sunday mañana Eli decided it was time to gather bamboo. We have been wanting to build a new frame for Ray’s boat cover in Golfito, and I am anxious to my get my covered garden area out back, as well as a few odds and ends projects needing bamboo. We first visited several Tico families in nearby Langosta to seek permission to harvest bamboo. 

Eli wields his machete. No need for a chain saw here.

Giant buds about 3 + inches in diameter.

Armed with chainsaw, machetes and tape measure, we hiked over to a truly enormous stand of bamboo towering above us nearly 75 feet tall. Yellow, striated with green, these hefty poles are covered with an annoying hair that is a potent skin irritant. Newly emerging buds measured several inches in diameter, and feet high. 

Eli expertly hacked away long pieces, while Ray (mostly) dragged the heavy poles across the field to the car. Not easy, each 25 foot piece weighed in the vicinity of 40-60 pounds. Once we had a stack of ten they were lifted and tied onto the car roof. Once again the old (not always trustworthy these days) Suburban delivered the goods. There were a few stressful moments when they loosened as we were driving. Most of the poles will form the frame for my garden enclosure. It was a hot, dirty, strenuous job, rewarded by ice creams from the local “super” on the way home. 

A Long Day (Yet Another!)

A few days before we had stopped by Ray’s farm property and discussed with Alexis, the former owner and now caretaker, the need to get a legal paper taken care of. So early Monday morning, we (Eli and family, as well) packed up and headed into Golfito. We delivered Eli and family to their house, the rest of the bamboo to the boatyard, took care of the lawyer, filled our water bottles, and had yet another unsettling car stalling issue. 

The "finca" (farm) property in Cuervito

The new porton (gate)

We stopped by our favorite mechanico, who felt that we should be OK, and continued on to the border for some fencing and construction supplies. A few more times the car stalled, but always eventually started back up again. Mission accomplished but not without much trepidation. 

An all too familiar sight - Luis, the mechanico, under the hood, checks for spark. 

We arrived home in time for a late afternoon “wallow” in our new favorite tide pool. We recently discovered a perfect spot among the rocks at the nearby point where you can sit in chest high water, and when the waves break they push bubbling water into the pool - our very own saltwater jacuzzi! Sometimes walking the beach or swimming is just too much exertion.

Ray and Briana wallowing in the tide pool

Thursday, April 8.  Jobs Well Done

The week has continued to be eventful. On Tuesday a visit from Mechanico Luis confirmed that our starter needed replacement (I had brought one back with me in anticipation of this), as well as a faulty distributor cap. Then unexpectedly the tree guys showed up ready for some trimming. Felling one of the trees resulted in smashing a couple of huge beautiful heliconias, so I spent the afternoon doing garden repairs. 

Yesterday was my culminating day of a month long project of thorough cleaning and organizing. Both containers have clean interior walls, the yard is looking really fine, lots of small repairs, linens all clean and Mama’s dog bed washed and stored away (just in case there is an adoption in our future). Eli is staying out for a few days, so his work list includes legs for our not to be swinging any longer, couch. We haven’t been able to find replacement rope that is impervious to sunlight, and, as the original was fraying it made sense to change Also on the list is my garden enclosure, and whatever else we come up with.

We hosted a small party yesterday with some great comida (food), so now there is little on the agenda for a couple of days. I’m giving myself full permission to call family and friends, do some writing, and maybe get out the sketch pad. Ha!)

Relaxing with my little buddy

 A Day in the Life

After our flurry of social and other assorted activities, I decided to take it easy today. As usual I woke up around 4:30 just as daylight crept in. Often when I’m in the bathroom /kitchen area at that time I feel a flutter of wings as Batty arrives home to roost in our bodega (storage part of the container). I prepared coffee and gallo pinto con huevos (rice and beans with scrambled eggs), and settled in to catching up on the news, indulging in a few games of Scrabble and doing some writing. 

Denis's panga is so large it needs a tractor, rather than 4-5 guys and some balsa logs (the usual way) to bring the boat in and out of the water.

Sounds

The pounding surf competes with the increasing chorus of birds. Overhead pairs of parrots flying by adding to the din. A regular stream of motorcycles drives by at daybreak with farm or construction workers - our usual morning “rush hour.”  I put some overripe bananas on the bird feeder and immediately draw in a hungry crowd. We still have a few late bloomers noisily trying out dining independently. Several hummingbirds make their rounds sipping water and nectar from our heliconias. A ritual they perform every few hours. Creatures of habit, they will perch briefly on a couple of the same bare branches to rest before continuing foraging. Sometimes they methodically canvass the inside beams of the deck searching for spiders or insects trapped in the webs. 

Across the street at the beach Iobani and his crew are preparing to take a group of surfista tourists out for the day to a spot accessible only by boat, barking orders and thumping as the boat rolls unevenly on coconut logs down to the surf. 

Peaceful

Meanwhile, Boquette is dozing, feet upward on her rocking chair, while Zsa Zsa is curled up in fetal position behind my chair in her bed. Whiskers, Boquette’s father, from next door is curled up in the tree roots under the stairs where he thinks he’s incognito. If he times it right he may stick around for feeding time and get a handout. And…since it is before 7:30-8:00 Big Ray is still comatose.

Ray checks out the morning waves

Always, unless rainy and or stormy, the temperature hovers from high eighties to nineties. Always comfortable in the shade, though. Likewise, the ocean water is constantly in the mid 80’s so its cooling. but never chilling. We are undergoing the "tempranos” now when, in early April, we begin experiencing overcast showery days, the precursor to the upcoming rainy season 

This is my special time. Everyone else is sleeping so I have the luxury of a clear fresh mind with no distractions. 

The Day Progresses

While Ray puttered about cleaning, squeezing oranges for juice and making lunch, I lounged. He later hitched a ride into town with Denis, a neighbor, for some bolts for the sofa project, while I spent an hour varnishing the new sofa legs, watering a few plants and jotting down some thoughts. A massive grader had been scraping and sculpting the road bed followed by a roller most of the day. Ray went down and chatted up the operator to see if they could detour up our newly graveled driveway to smooth it out. He didn’t think it would happen but at 5 o’clock the roller came rumbling up the driveway. It would stay here for the night and we will get a few “rolls” in the morning. We put the sofa together, cleaned up the sawdust and tidy up our “living room” deck in time for dinner. 

First a truckload or rocks and gravel was dumped off in the street. Then the local dozer guy spread it out and did a rough smoothing out.

Later we hosted the Town's roller for the night, which meant the operator had to go up and down our driveway for further smoothing. 

Denis and Raquel, sans their daughter who was at Grandma’s, joined us for a lively pasta dinner - Ray’s specialty. With our broken Spanish and their increasingly improved English we managed to get most points across. They departed just before 8 so Ray and Denis would be able to watch their favorite Turkish soap opera in Spanish. What a hoot! These big macho guys hooked into this incredibly campy, corny series. 

Maleska turned 7 recently, and we were invited to celebrate with her family. Delicious food, elaborate decorations and good cake!

Smashing the piñata is a rite of passage at birthday parties. Adults are blindfolded and turned around several times, while someone pulls the piñata up and down. Not easy. Kids were given a break on the blindfolds.

Beef Stew for the Masses

Expecting Eli and Co. to be staying through the weekend I made an enormous beef stew for Sunday’s meal and beyond. But that morning they informed me they would be leaving midday on the bus, so it looked like Ray and I would be eating a lot of stew for a while. However, being a holiday the bus never came, so that lightened my stew load considerably. Then a local guy came by on Monday as we were eating lunch, so that helped. The next day the tree guys shared the last helpings with us. Whew! 

Sometimes I look at photos of myself and all the wrinkles, along with Ray's greying hair and bushy eyebrows and think how old we look. Of course at 67 and 68, 70 is just around the corner. Then I think that we do a lot of physical stuff, including walking and swimming most days. We feel good, eat well, and can still do most things - so, Life is Good! Pura Vida.