New Year's in Boruca - New Friends

A great Time was had by all on New Year's Eve - first at the neighborhood bar and then at the ever friendly Dona Rosa's

Pictures of Our New Friends

Sarah - our Amazing Tour Guide
Mike ("Dad")- an angel from Bainbridge Island, WA
Pedro - font of knowledge on everything Borucan
Julio - font of knowlege on Costa Rica
Peter - always smiling & helpful (Mike is his Dad)
Annalisa - a year in Argentina & now in Costa Rica
Alexis - a year in Thailand, 6 mos in Nicaragua (Mike is her Dad)
Norma & Jose - from Sacramento, Calif - loved Costa Rica
Jose, Alexis,Rochelle & Tom - from Canada
Rochelle - likes to have fun
Gosia - the one with the pink hair - from Poland - then US - now Costa Rica
Christine - 63 countries so far ...
Annalisa - after talking with her I just know we have to go to Argentina
Gene had a great time!!!
Norma & Jose with Julio

Christmas Day

Christmas Dinner was great. There were only an even dozen of us this year, which made for comfortable conversation, as well as comfortable seating.

Unfortunately I'm still trying to get over this horrible cold, but at least I can talk now. Dale and Gene spent 2 days running errands and shopping. Then Judy and Bob arrived and handled a lot of the last day prep work. All in all I relaxed more than usual and took naps while they did all the work. Not a bad deal. Christmas day actually turned out to be rather relaxing. I'm thinking that 12 is a good number to stick to. In past years when we've wanted to invite everybody, it has been nuts all day.

A New Restaurant!

Well, not new. Actually it's been there for years, but we just discovered it and are very excited. It is La Lluna de Valencia and they actually specialize in paella and other great Spanish food, including a nice selection of tapas! They are in San Pedro de Barva de Heredia. Easy to get to. Gene and Emma and I spent the afternoon there - and we definitely plan to go back soon.

Christmas Tamales!

Tamales are a Christmas tradition in Costa Rica. It's quite a process and is usually turned into a party with everyone in the family participating (or all the women anyhow!) So our friend Jackie decided we would have our own tamale making party.

We definitely did it the easy way since her Tica assistant gathered together all the ingredients and did the major part of the preparations in advance. When we all gathered yesterday afternoon, she had the banana leaves cut to size and spread out on one counter. On the kitchen island were bowls of prepared pork, rice with red chiles and peas, and a bowl of cooked and diced mixed green beans and carrots. There was also a large bowl of prepared "masa," a mushy corn meal mixture.
We each got to take a turn (this included not just Jackie, Emma and me, but our husbands Joe, Jon & Gene, equal opportunity kitchen such as it was!) as our "profesora" patiently showed us how to spread a large dollup of the prepared masa onto a double sheet of banana leaves, then a dollup of the rice mixture and a spoonful of the veggie mixture. Next a couple strips of pork, and then the wrapping process.
We learned to wrap them, folding the leaves over in a precise manner so that the stuff would stay inside when cooked. Two tamales were placed together, seams facing each other and then tied together with twine. After being steamed in water for about 1/2 an hour, the tamales were ready for sampling. And sample we did! Not only did we have a great afternoon with our friends Jackie and Joe at their beautiful cabin in the mountains, but there are now six more tamale experts in our part of Costa Rica!



A Toast to La Profesita!

Crime, Security & Returned Camera

On an online group that I participate in, Costa Rica Living, a woman recently asked about safety in my town of Heredia. Someone had posted about being attacked on the street and his gold necklace stolen. She had decided to move to Costa Rica and was now questioning her choice of Heredia as a place to live. We hear a lot about crime here. We sometimes don't hear enough about the other side of the coin. My answer to the concerned woman:

I honestly don't know if Heredia is a "much safer place to live," but I have lived here (up the hill from Universidad Internacional, so relatively close to downtown) for over 4 years now. Although I am aware of crime in the area, and even in my own neighborhood, I must say that I do not live in fear. I go where I want to go when I want to go. I have walked on the downtown streets and in parque central after dark without feeling threatened. It's also true that I had my day pack stolen from right on the floor by my chair while I wasn't paying attention in Pop's ice cream place. And yes there were once some small items stolen from our garage. On the other hand, my home was broken into when I lived in Tacoma, Washington (and the door was broken down to enter); I had stereo equipment stolen from my home in a "safe" suburb of Houston, Texas; my apartment was broken into and several items were stolen in Hollywood, Florida. I feel no less safe here than I did living in those places or in other places where I've lived. I know that no matter where I live I am not exempt from crime. But I do not feel threatened. Most people here are so friendly and helpful that it's amazing to me. If anything, most seem to need to look out for my welfare, knowing that I am an "ignorant foreigner!" Yesterday, getting off a bus, my husband Gene somehow dropped his camera. He didn't realize it until the bus driver came running down the sidewalk looking for him to give it back. Another passenger had noticed it and told the driver. This morning after our neighborhood exercise class, my Tico neighbors reminded me (twice!) to close my garage doors! I like living here. Sometimes there are things I do not like. I could say the same about any other place I've ever lived. But by and large I am much happier with my lifestyle - and my neighbors - than I was in the other places.

Day Trip to San Ramon

We had been meaning to get over there for a long time. Our friend Jose has a used book store in the town of San Ramon. We love used book stores! Actually it's a book store / internet cafe / coffee shop / real estate office / furniture store and probably a few other things I can't think of. But mostly it's a charming little shop called "Solo Bueno" in a pleasant small town. Yesterday we went with our friends Emma and Jon to check the place out. The four of us can make the smallest thing into an all day trip. It's part of the fun of discovery here. We'll never run out of places to see.

As always, just getting there is a big part of the fun. We all live in the town of Heredia, but the simple place to meet is in San Jose at the end of the Red & Yellow (bus line), where we have a cup of coffee and a pastry at Musmanni and then walk the 6 blocks to the Puntarenas bus terminal. From there the bus to San Ramon takes about an hour, first through town and then through some beautiful hills where coffee and other things are grown. We didn't know exactly where Jose's place was, but knew that San Ramon is a fairly small town and figured we could find it. Bravo, Jose! Your "direcctiones" were perfect. Once the bus turned off the highway into San Ramon, we traveled about 1/4 mile and pulled the "parada" chain when we came to the traffic light. We could, at that point, see the "Twelve Disciples," the tallest palm trees in the world. The bus stopped at the parada (bus stop) right in front of the bookstore. We recognized the colorfully painted building, with its cigar store sign (ah ha! I knew there was something I was missing in my description of what is sold there!) immediately.
Once there we met Jose's charming wife Joanna, as well as Adela, the manager, who, although we had never met before, greeted us like long lost friends! We all browsed and bought a few books (as well as trading in a few). We admired the beautiful bamboo furniture, which I would love to have if only we had room! There were quite a few people using the computers. Gene tried the coffee and told the rest of us it might be better to wait and have coffee elsewhere. Solo Bueno is apparently the gringo place to hang out in San Ramon these days. If we lived there, I'm sure we would be there often, or at least whenever we needed something else to read!
We ran into Tom, who we had met a couple of years ago (funny how you keep running into people you know in this country) and he offered to introduce us to a good "tipico" place for lunch right across the street.

This adorable place definitely fills you up with their casado. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the place.

After lunch we walked to el parque, admired the beautiful church (every village in Costa Rica has at least one beautiful church to see), wandered through the market, tried to visit the museum (which is closed for repairs), and ate ice cream in the park. A full day's adventure, and then it was time to catch a bus home. After all, we all had new books to read!

Museo de Arte Costarricense

After watching all the ox carts lumber out of Parque La Sabana and down Paseo Colon today, we spent some time in the park at the booths of the annual Rural Tourism Fair. A lot of interesting businesses were represented, with some good ideas for future trips around the country. The booths were spread out behind the Museum in the sculpture garden, one of the really neat places in San Jose.

The beautiful building on the east side of Parque La Sabana which now houses the Museo de Arte Costarricense (Museum of Costa Rican Art) was originally the terminal for the San Jose international airport. Opened in 1940 and closed in 1955 when the new airport was built in nearby Alejuela, it’s hard to envision an airport in this busy downtown location. Photos of the area on the museum’s web site, however, show an area that probably was thought of as “outside of town” at the time it was built. Today Sabana Park is a huge urban park with walking and running paths, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, baseball diamond, soccer field and a fish-stocked lake. This in addition to the national stadium, national gymnasium, and of course the museum.
There’s a lot of impressive art inside this building. My favorites though, are outdoors, in an area called el Jardín de Esculturas (Sculpture Garden). Among many interesting sculptures are my friends Tres Mujeres Caminando (Three Women Walking).
The natural flow of their dresses, the gracefulness of their strides, the realness of their expressions fascinate me. The artist is Francisco Zúñiga. Besides the fact that they are so beautiful, maybe part of the reason I feel such an attraction to las mujeres is that they, too are recent arrivals, having only found their home in 2003, the year after our move to Costa Rica.

Desfile de Boyeros

The Christmas season is officially here. Not only is our neighborhood already being decorated with lights (including the tiny guard shack) but the house two doors down is sporting a house-sized snow man! So to celebrate the season, this morning we bussed into San Jose with our buddies Jon & Emma to view the 10th annual Desfile de Boyeros (parade of ox cart handlers). What a show!
Originally meant to haul coffee beans, the colorfully decorated carts (carretas) have become a major symbol of Costa Rica. No longer needed to take the coffee crop to the Pacific port of Puntarenas, a 10 – 15 day trek over muddy roads, the decoration of the ox carts and wheels has become a national art form.
It was a fun morning. I didn’t try to keep count, but there must have been way over a hundred carts in all sizes and colors. And the oxen, decked out in beautifully decorated yokes, were as colorful and interesting as the traditional carts.
As always in Costa Rica, the kids stole the show!

Ox Cart Parade

*****CLICK ON THE OX'S FACE FOR MORE PHOTOS*****<

Tico Time

One of the cultural differences that's hard to adjust to here is the concept of "Tico Time." I remember when we first moved here my friend Emma and I were invited by a friend to her 4 year old daughter's birthday party. "A las dos" she told us (at 2 o'clock). At two o'clock we showed up at her house. At four, just as someone arrived with the birthday cake, we apologized that we had to leave because Emma had an appointment she had to keep. The hostess was visibly surprised and disappointed and insisted that we eat a meal before we left! We had heard about "Tico Time," but we just didn't get it.
By last year, after 3 years in Costa Rica, you would think that we would have learned. We were again invited to a birthday party, this one for a gringo friend, hosted by his Costa Rican wife. We arrived at the appointed hour of six. At seven a pretty cake was set on the table to admire. At eight someone started cooking...
Yesterday I was reminded again that I'm still operating on "gringa time." A few neighbors have started getting together 3 mornings a week for an exercise session together. I am very excited to be invited to join in. Not only do I need exercise, but it's an opportunity to get to know my neighbors and to practice my Spanish. Yesterday was the third session and I finally realized that when they said to meet a las ocho (8 o'clock) that, of course means around about 8:30, or as they would say, "A las ocho, mas o menos!"

GDP or The Happiness Index?

GDP doesn't register, as Robert Kennedy put it, "the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, or the intelligence of our public debate." GDP measures everything, Kennedy concluded, "except that which makes life worthwhile."

Eric Weiner tells us in the LA Times that there is least one country in this world that takes happiness as seriously as economic growth.

Guy Fawkes Weekend

OK, so we're not British, have never played darts, tried horseshoes once at summer camp 45 years ago, haven't a clue what cricket is (some kind of bug?) and until moving to Costa Rica had never heard of Guy Fawkes...

The new experiences just never end. Our good friend Dale, who is also not British (does Kiwi count?) invited us to the big weekend party this weekend in Jaco. What a blast!

Talk about feeling like an outsider! You'd think we might be used to that, living in a foreign country and all, but on a day to day basis, this is just my home. I do not feel like an outsider. But toss me into a crowd of people who speak my own language differently than I speak it, people who actually KNOW how to play cricket, darts and horseshoes, and well, no one actually ever asked me if I was from the Colonies, but...

The whole weekend was actually one big party. And yes, the Brits certainly know how to throw one. The local was the beautiful Hotel Club del Mar at Jaco Beach. Great facility. Wonderful service. Excellent food. Right on the beach, which is where the cricket game was played. Now I have no idea if cricket is normally played on the beach, but it sure made it interesting. The darts competition, on the other hand, was held at the end of the pool, with 2 dart boards set up and probably 50 people competing. And no fatalities as far as I know!

Our group of 5 had reserved one of the 2 bedroom 2 bath cabinas. It turned out to be the one right in front of the beach. It was a beautiful little apartment, with ocean view. Go to sleep at night listening to the surf. Yes, I could live there!

Guy Fawkes

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Tortuguero

Tortuguero is one of the places we'd been talking about visiting ever since we made our first trip to Costa Rica some 8 years ago. After a trip to Playa Grande on the Pacific coast a couple of years ago to see the Leatherback turtles nesting, we knew that we had to go to the Caribbean to see the Greens. But getting there seemed difficult - and expensive. It seemed you had to fly there from San Jose, or take an expensive tour. Not our usual traveling style. When we got serious about it last month, we realized how easy it can be. And inexpensive. So we took our favorite bus trip from San Jose over to Cahuita, spent the night with our friends Judy and Bob, who live there, then took the bus up to Limon in the morning. From Limon we took a taxi to the port of Moin, from where we caught a 4 hour boat trip up to Tortuguero! Simple! OK. So maybe not all that simple, but relatively inexpensive. And definitely one of the most beautiful trips to take in this country. For more on Tortuguero, click here. Best place to sleep and eat in Tortuguero? Miss Junie's - we loved it. The people were great, Miss Junie is wonderful, and her food is awesome!

Tortuguero

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Quick Trip to El Caribe

Cahuita & Puerto Viejo

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Not much happening this month. After traveling in North America for 2 months, it's very quiet here. Our friends Judy and Bob are still on their boat in British Columbia. And Emma and Jon have taken off for Malta and Sicily. Our only travel was a quick trip to Hone Creek on the Caribbean to check on Judy and Bob's house.Click on the above photo for more pics.

We're Home!

What an incredible trip we had this summer! We spent all of July and August in North America. We started with travels throughout Florida, visiting our great family and friends there. Then we flew to Portland, Maine and drove to Union, New Hampshire, where we got to attend the wedding of my sister's son Michael and his beautiful bride Aimee. I had a fabulous time visiting with my sister, and we even got to take a trip up to Sweden, Maine, where we visited our cousin Phyllis, who actually lives in our grandmother's old house up in the wood. It was an incredible experience. What memories! I had thought grandma's old house might not even be there anymore, but it certainly is, and Phyllis has done a beautiful job of remodeling it, without harming the original aura or the place! After a couple of weeks in New Hampshire, visiting and eating and gaining another 10 pounds (!), we flew to Chicago to visit with Ron and Marilyn. Ron is Gene's buddy from all the way back in high school, and we love them both and were so happy to have the opportunity to visit them. From Chicago, we flew on to Seattle, then took a bus over to Spokane, where we visited with my beautiful daughter Angelique and her awesome sons, Jorden and Mark. Mark got to go along with us when we drove over to Missoula, Montana for a few days to see younger son Rob, his incredible wife Polly and their amazing sons Evan and Logan. Wow! What a blast to get to spend time with my grandkids. Made me wish we could be around them all the time. Back to Spokane, then back to the west side of Washington again and a visit with our wonderful friend Madelle, in Olympia. The climax of the trip was getting to spend 10 days boating with our friends Judy and Bob, who live 1/2 the year in Costa Rica (on the Caribbean) and the other half in BC on their boat! Judy instructed me in various boating procedures and promoted me to a new rank each time I successfully accomplished a new goal! At the end, after learning to drop the big balls into the water when we docked, pulling them up when we left the dock, throwing the strings to a waiting person on the dock when we landed, and various other important sea tasks, I believe I was promoted to the rank of Boatswains Mate. Or maybe it was high ballyhoo assistant Boatswains Mate. Something like that anyhow. It was a blast! After a few final days in Seattle, we flew back to San Jose. We had thought that 2 months would seems like a very long trip, but everywhere that we went, I wished that we could spend more time there. To see more about our summer trip, see our summer trip blog.