Thanksgiving Week

Early in the week, I drove to Orosi to visit with a friend. What a drive it was! I was okay with the directions (3 pages of them) going down, except for one wrong turn, taking me 30 minutes to get back where I needed to be. But coming back home was something else! I spent 1 1/2 hours in San Jose, because I missed my first left turn. I drove quite aways north, then quite aways south again...asking questions several times. As my Spanish is still 'not very good', at best, I saw a lot more of the San Jose area than I had ever seen before! Finally, I asked a traffic policeman, and was able to understand that I needed to go north again. And when I finally saw a sign for the airport, I knew I was going to be okay.

While I was in Orosi, we took a drive to my friends new 'finca', farm for those of you who don't understand Spanish either. They recently bought a finca with about 6 acres. There is a family working the land for them, clearing, planting, and it is looking pretty nice. The valley is somewhat tighter than where I live, but so beautiful too. Sometimes, I have a hard time deciding if I like places better, the more I see. I am very happy where I am, but understand why they felt like they were home when they saw this piece of property. In so many ways, it is different, yet similar in ways too. The 'river runs through it' takes on a vivid meaning there. The rock and slopes are huge, and there are nearly 400 fruit trees as well as the natural growth. I took 20 some pictures and am posting a couple here. To see others, click on my Flickr display on the side display.

If you look, deep in the mountain is a waterfall, 3 when it is raining. Photo to the left.

Charlotte and I stopped to eat at a small, typical 'soda' (restaurant) near the river after hiking all over their property. While we were waiting for our meal to come, a truck started across the bridge just outside the soda, and as happens frequently, stalled out right as it got on it. I had to take pictures of this event also. It provided our 'dining entertainment', and more diesel fumes than I ever wanted to inhale. Over the course of an hour, cars came and some went, as they changed their minds and turned around and chose, perhaps, a different route, or not. The traffic that stayed, some came in the soda for lunch or at least a dish of ice cream. Just as I was taking pictures, the truck became mobile again, and the traffic jam moved on. We saw the truck, again having trouble about 1/2 a mile from the bridge, beside the road. Many of the trucks here are held together with chewing gum, honey, and/or a prayer. Reminds me of a few cars we use to have when I was a kid... Dad could fix anything.

The house my friend is renting during the interim, until they build, is very beautiful, and the yard is a wonderful garden, but the STAIRS...Oh, My Gosh...every room is up or down! They get their exercise daily, without leaving home. No wonder she was always 20 steps ahead of me and waiting...when we were walking her property.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful too. I came home in time to go to a friends' for turkey and all the fixin's. It was a great meal, but turkey is hard to come by here, and to the tune of $75.00 for the bird. I am surprised there are not more 'turkey farms' here, instead of all the 'chicken farms'. I would have to say that my ambrosia salad and chocolate cake were the hit of the party, even surpassing the bird. Turkey is way over rated...don't you think.

The days are beautiful again, and rain is an occasional thing again. I have to show you a sunset, and a rainbow I caught, just a few days ago, well, maybe a week or so ago. And I will only mention the days now, yes, days I have been cleaning mold. You know the saying "less is more", well here, "less is less"...work I mean. I am going to do some 'down-sizing', or I guess they call it 'right-sizing' now. Right-sizing for here is getting rid of anything you don't use on a daily basis. Loose it or clean it, during the rainy season! And lest I incur the wrath of someone yelling "dehumidifier", yes, I know...but short of one in every room and closet, well, you get the picture. Next rainy season, the doors are coming off the closets! And they may not go back up. For now, lamps are burning.