Aunt Kay's Art

Aunt Kay is getting ready for her next art show. She now has a gallery wall in her house. She also has a cozy little studio off the lanai. That’s the lanai which had to be replaced after Hurricane Charley. Recovering from Charley was a long two year process, but the house is now beautiful. Aunt Kay loves her brand new kitchen. The new flooring is nice, too. It’s practically a new house, thanks to Charley. May there never be another hurricane year like 2004. She was teaching art classes but got derailed after Hurricane Charlie and hasn’t found the time and inspiration to start again. Hurricane Charley (and the 3 that followed within a month) changed a lot of people’s lives. But she still takes art classes and displays her art regularly in various venues. Her art is fabulous. Watercolors that are so beautiful. Dewdrops so real you think someone dropped water on it. Roses so soft you want to reach out and touch. After years of incredible still lifes, she is now doing abstracts – fabulous abstracts. What a woman!

I Don't Know What I'm Going to Do When I Get Old

This is one of Uncle Nello’s favorite sayings. At 93, he doesn’t appear to be planning on getting old any time soon. He’s scheduled for spinal surgery tomorrow. Last week he went out and bought a table saw so that he can get to work on some of his projects after the surgery, once he doesn’t have to endure this pain anymore. He’s been feeling a little better the last few days, so we’ve been able to spend some good time visiting and playing “the game,” the card game with no name which he and Aunt Kay taught us years ago and which we have now taught to all our friends.

Lunch with the Grandkids

Megan is 5. Austin is 3. They are absolutely adorable. And they have amazing amounts of energy. We met them for “lunch” at Jaxson’s – Hollywood’s famous ice cream parlor. We let them bring along their Daddy – my elder son Mark. He’s kinda cute, too!

Home Again-But Not for Long

After 3 months in traveling in Guatemala, we’re back in our wonderful home in Costa Rica. What a welcome home. Our friends Emma and Jon and Dale met us at the airport – a real homecoming! Not only that, but they had made sure that our house was stocked with the essentials – coffee and wine! Of course we had assumed we were coming home to 3 months worth of accumulated dust and God only knows what else. Que sorpresa! (What a surprise!) The ever helpful Emma, in her spare time, had brought her maid over and cleaned our entire house! I say in her spare time because she is in the middle of supervising the construction of their new home. We’re here for about a week – long enough to see some of our friends, brag about the trip, do our laundry and repack the backpacks. Then we’re off for Florida! Gene’s wonderful Uncle Nello is having spinal surgery. We doubt that he needs us, but this is all the excuse we need to go up to visit Uncle Nello and Aunt Kay, play some cards, see our great friends Gail and Tony and also, hopefully, see the Florida grandkids!

Guatemala Here We Come!

This is it! Tomorrow's the day. We're off for a 3 month adventure in Guatemala and I think this blog is way too long, so I've started a new one just for the trip. You can find us at Tall n Edgy in Guatemala. We plan to spend the first month or so in the colonial city of Antigua, seeing the sites, enjoying the town, and studying Spanish. After that we'll probably head up to Tikal to see the most awesome Mayan ruins in the world. We're thinking of spending some time in Copan, Honduras, too, because the ruins there are said to be amazing, the town sounds great, and we've heard of a wonderful woman who teaches Spanish on her veranda and lets out rooms to her students. After that we expect we'll head back to the Western Highlands and roam around the Mayan villages and see what we can see. We'll probably continue our Spanish studies there also, unless we get really burned out! Anyhow, look for us over on the new blog. We'll try to update the blog with stories of our travels from time to time. And we'll be hoping to hear from our friends and family when we check into the internet cafes, too. If you don't see anything new posted over there, you'll know we're either traveling in remote locations where internet is not readily available, or we're just having too damn much fun to bother! Hasta Luego!

Afternoon in Grecia

We took a day trip with our friends Emma and Jon today. Grecia's claim to fame seems to be its red metal church, which was shipped from Belgium in pieces in the 1890's. They also claim to be the cleanest town in Central America. We had some good bocas in a plain and comfortable bar/restaurant, enjoyed the attractive parque central, which actually has grass instead of concrete, had ice cream and came home. The museum was closed. Funny thing is that before we moved to Costa Rica, Gene had it in his mind that we would end up in Grecia (this just from reading about it). I always thought of it as a pleasant little town. After spending an afternoon there, I've decided it's too big and too busy. I still like Santo Domingo de Heredia - or perhaps Barva. But it's a pretty place.

Friends on the Caribbean

We're just back from a fun few days over on the Caribbean - the area we first fell in love with in Costa Rica. Pretty nice these days - we have friends who actually live over there to visit. Judy and Bob are in the process of adding on a huge patio to their adorable little house. But don't take my word for it. Check out Judy's blog.
We also discovered a really fun new restaurant where they have an outdoor kitchen just like what I want but I'm not going to bother to tell you about it because as soon as we discovered it, we learned that the place has been sold. So next month the fabulous Swiss trained chef from Cameroon, along with her husband and three children, will be in Switzerland - and the fabulous meal that she served us will be but a memory!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing all of my friends and family an especially Romantic Day!

I got a Valentine Card! (Yes, we do have such things in Costa Rica!)

Late Night Breakfast at Denny's!

After spending the afternoon playing cards with Emma & Jon, and talking about some of our old favorite food haunts, Gene suddenly remembered that he hadn't had chicken fried steak in at least five years! And yes, we really do have a Denny's! This was our first time there and it was weird. It looks exactly like the ones in the US, with the prices to match - and maybe more! But Gene got his fix of chicken fried steak. Late night breakfast was fun, with free coffee refills and all! Of course Jon's $3 coca cola made up for the coffee refills!

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday brunch at Maiz Tico. Really good "tipico" food. Really fun band. Really great friends. It doesn't get any better than this.

An Afternoon with Old & New Friends

One of the luxuries included in our retired in Costa Rica lifestyle is having the time to visit with friends. We had been wanting to get back to the Spanish restaurant that we recently "discovered." So we called a few friends who agreed that spending Friday afternoon consuming tapas and paellas and sangria would be a great idea. Then Jim (of Jim & Flora in the mountains) decided we should post a message on Costa Rica Living in case anyone else wanted to join us. What a great idea. Loyd (Zendude) showed up. We hadn't seen him in ages. He says one thing he loves about living in Costa Rica is that he can go dancing almost every night of the week. He's buying a house back in Texas and planning to spend part of his time back there in order to help out his Mom. The trouble with traveling, he says, is that he always needs an extra suitcase for all of his footwear for various types of dancing! What a guy! Jim's post also got noticed by Charlotte and David, which was a real bonus. We had been meaning to call and make arrangements to meet these new imports from Texas ever since David had posted a message on CRL which had got us involved with volunteering at the orphanage. Then we had heard that they had spent last month on the Caribbean, where they had met our friends Judy and Bob (who deserted all of us in the central valley last year and decided to live in a tropical jungle beach area.) So now instead of hearing about this new immigrant couple from the sidelines, we have acquired them as new friends. Our buddies Emma and Jon had given us (Gene and me and our good friend Dale) a ride to the restaurant, so we drove to their house after the lunch, with Charlotte & David following. After some more conversation and another glass of wine at their house (OK, some of us had Emma's delicious fruit drink!), Charlotte & David dropped us off at our house so they'll know how to get here next Friday when we do a follow up afternoon at our house. As usual we got so busy having fun that we forgot to take photos 'til the end. So here you have Gene & me and then Flora and Jim, followed by Loyd and then Dale. Some people claim that we never stop partying around here! I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but we certainly have a good time!

Where Are We From?

It's always interesting to note where everyone is from when a group of our friends get together. At today's lunch, everyone in attendance lives in Costa Rica. There were 4 people from Texas (I tried to add myself but they all said that 10 years residence there did not a Texan make!), 1 originally from Washington state, 1 from Maine, 1 from Michigan, 1 from New Zealand, 1 from Boliva and 1 from Costa Rica. It's interesting that there is always some confusion over the question of "Where are you from?" Although many people answer this by saying where they were born, others refer to where they grew up or where they've spent most of their lives. My friend Emma says she's from Bolivia, although I happen to know that she has spent most of her adult life in Virginia. I think her husband Jon usually says he's from Virginia, where he spent most of his adult years, although he grew up in Washington state. I'm still trying to figure out how to answer this question. It's true I was born in Maine, but since my family moved to New Hampshire before I was a year old, it seems kind of weird to claim it as my "home." New Hampshire makes a little more sense since I grew up there, but I haven't lived there since I was 17 and that doesn't feel like home, either. At times I seem to be a New Englander and at others, not. Some people here seem to think I should say I'm from Florida because that's where we lived immediately before moving to Costa Rica, but I never felt a part of Florida. I'd like to claim Seattle, just because it's one of my 2 favorite cities in the United States, but I didn't really live there long enough to earn it (1 year) or San Juan Island, off the coast of Washington State, where I lived for 4 years. In my adult life, I've also lived in Japan, the Philippines, Mississippi, Texas. "Home is where you hang your hat," they used to say before we all started going bare-headed. I certainly feel like this is my home, but when I try to get away with saying I am "from" Costa Rica, I am always told that I have to be "from" somewhere in the United States. Now if I could just figure out where.

Flowers for my Birthday

Gene & Dale both arrived with an arm load of flowers. The combination made a huge bouquet!

Happy Birthday, Gene!

Gene's "fun" for his birthday? Watering our neighborhood "finca!" When he was a kid in Detroit, he swore that when he grew up, he would live in a place where his birthday wasn't always cold and windy and snowy and miserable! Once again, Gene, We Made It!

San Jose de la Montana - 6000 Feet Up

What a fabulous day! Flora & Jim's house up in San Jose de la Montana - up past Birri - was actually HOT! Hardly a cloud in the sky! This is the reward that we all get, I think, for surviving the horrendous January winds over the past couple of weeks. First thing I did was toss my sweatshirt on the deck. Then I removed my sweater. Next I stripped off my t-shirt, leaving nothing but my long-sleeved undershirt! When visiting Flora's heavenly little cottage another 2000 feet highe higher than our place, I
I usually need all these layers and more! It was another of those wonderful lunches that start around noon and end by 6 pm.
We also enjoyed talking to Jim & Flora's friend Tim, another long-term expat. After a great afternoon of tacos and wine and lots of conversation, Jim drove us down the mountain to the bus stop in Birri, where we caught a bus home to Heredia - and then a taxi to our house. Seems that even when the bus is filled to capacity, there's always room for a few more. After all, it's Sunday. It wouldn't be nice to leave someone standing on the side of the road waiting for the next bus if you can fit them on this one. This evening the temperature is comfortable, there is no wind, we have great friends. The view coming down the mountain was awesome. Life is good. Pura Vida. This must be what we were thinking of when we moved here.

Friends in the Mountains

We're off today to visit our friends Flora & Jim, who live higher up in the mountains - high enough so that usually by the time we get there, the clouds have rolled in and we add a couple of layers of clothing. If we get lucky and the clouds haven't arrived, maybe I'll have some good photos for you tonight!

Happy Birthday to All of Our Children

Saratica over at Abroad in Costa Rica often has thoughts similar to mine on a variety of subjects - living in Costa Rica, adoption... Her post on her son's birthday is great. Someday I'll write a post about the day I got my daughter. 'Course it was really more like she "got" me - and my heart - forever.

El Parque en Santo Domingo

I love the parks in Costa Rica. Santo Domingo is one of my favorite Central Valley towns.

Baile de los Diablitos

Our New Year this year was spent in the wonderful indigenous village of Boruca, where each year the villagers have a 4 day festival that celebrates the fact that the Boruca people were never conquered by the Spanish conquistadores. Many of the men dress up as diablitos (in this case best translated as spirits) and fight against a bull (who represents the Spaniards). At
the beginning it seems like the bull might win, but in the end the diablitos prevail! There are sometimes over a thousand spectators (both extranjeros and locals) to this festival but only local men who have carved their own masks are allowed to participate.

Our entire trip was arranged and led by a marvelous couple, Sarah Joy and Julio. Anyone who knows us knows that we do not do tours. This trip was definitely the exception to the rule. Thanks to Sarah and Julio, we felt like honored invited guests for the entire 6 day trip. This was not a fancy resort, eat in the hotel kind of "tour." This was a trip with friends, where we were invited into peoples' homes and made to feel like a part of the family.
We met the van at 6 am on Friday for the 6 hour trip to Boruca. After lunch and getting settled into our various accomodations in private homes or the "hotel," we relaxed a while and met up with our group again for dinner at the home of Doña Rosa, who indeed fed our entire group 3 meals a day the entire time we were there. She prepared all our wonderful meals on her wood stove, and she was always smiling! After dinner that first night, the local "story teller" arrived to tell us some Boruca stories and legends. Like most of the villagers, this community elder speaks the Boruca language as well as Spanish. He told his stories in Spanish - and Julio and Sarah translated for those of us who don't understand Spanish well.
On the second day we were taken by truck and car to the top of Mount Cuasrán, from where we could take photos of the incredible views and hike through the wilderness, either the short hike or the long. The mountain is a holy mountain in the Boruca tradition and the home of one of the most important gods of the Brunka, Cuasrán. In the afternoon we were invited to the home of the "mayor," where we were allowed to watch the creation of the "bull." We were then told about the rules for visitors, which involved staying out of the way, understanding that we were guests and not to get in the way of the ceremonies. The main thing was to not use flash cameras and to keep a reasonable distance with cameras. The actual ceremonies were to begin at midnight.
By morning of the third day (Sunday, New Year's Eve), the "game" was in full force. We awoke to the sound of the diablitos shouting, horns blowing and more fireworks, which we had already learned the night before sound more like bombs than any fireworks I had ever heard. There was a "battle" on the corner by the hotel - before breakfast even! The excitement begins! After breakfast, which didn't begin until 10 since some of us had actually attended the opening "ceremonies" the night before, we visited some of the artisan's homes. At our first stop, at the master carver's home, we saw the mask that I should have bought. It was an incredible "traditional" mask, made of natural cedro wood - not painted. Although it was amazing, I made the mistake of wanting to see others before deciding what to buy. So of course it was sold by the time I went back. Nevertheless we had a great time viewing the masks of various carvers as well as the homes of the weavers (the women). These women are amazing. They grow and harvest and process the cotton, dye it, spin it, weave it - everything. Beautiful stuff. And when you look at what they sell their weavings for (based on hours required to create them) compared to what the men sell the masks for, you have to start thinking again about the perceived value of "women's work." Eventually I bought a mask - one of the painted ones - carved from balsa wood. It is truly beautiful. I also bought a woven bag (purse). The diablitos paraded about the village all day, stopping to stage a battle and then continuing to another location in the village for another battle. It was an ongoing process throughout the day.
In the evening our group gathered at the local bar to drink beer until close to midnight, when we had been invited back to Doña Rosa's to see the new year in. There was a large crowd of locals and visitors gathered at her house - and every sort of booze was offered on a big table. Interestingly, there were no "mixers" offered - until Sara went back to the bar and bought some. I guess if you're accustomed to drinking "chi cha," (an evil corn liquor thing) which many of the participants seemed to drink throughout the 4 days, you might not find mixers to be a necessary part of drinking alcoholic beverages! All of us had a blast. I think it was the most fun New Year's Eve I've ever had.
Monday, Day 4 - New Year's Day - We wandered about most of the day - watching the diablitos do battle and looking at weavings and masks. Some of the group had planned to go horseback riding, but the horses never showed up. We think that the horses were ok, but that their owners perhaps had had too much chi cha!
Tuesday, Day 5 - This was really the big day for the "game," with major battles going on throughout the day, and the bull eventually being defeated at day's end. In the evening, the bull was burned (fortunately just the "costume," not the human being inside!
I wish I could do a better job of describing this 4 day event, but it's definitely one of those things where you "had to be there." The next morning, leaving the village, I wished that we could stay longer. We had to leave, but have already decided we want to go to the Baile de los Diablitos again next year - and we definitely want to go with Sarah & Julio. I hope the photos will give you a feeling of this awesome event. For even more photos, go to our group's photo site
.