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.

Plants, what wonderful plants!

My history with plants has never been a very good one. Well, most of it anyways. When I was a child, my parents always had a garden each year, and we grew and canned most of the food we would need for the winter. The growing season in Montana is somewhat shorter than here in Costa Rica, but we always had great veggies to can each fall. When I was married, we had several gardens over the years, depending on where we were, and how long we thought we would be there. Most of the gardens were good ones. Even after I was single, I liked growing herbs, flowers, and a few veggies, tomatoes, and I had a good bunch of green peppers one year.

Now that I am here in Costa Rica, veggies are so inexpensive, and readily available, that growing much of a garden would only be for the fun of it. I have collected many plants in the past few months though. I use to call them house plants, but here they grow mostly naturally, and do very well, in the right light. House plants and I never had a lasting relationship. Mostly, I forgot to water them, and then when it was too late, I gave them too much water, trying to save them. Now, I will try my hand at "plants" again, but think I may have a better chance of success here. This week I heard of a local family who will be moving and need to get rid of most of the plants she has collected. I was amazed at the number of plants she has for sale. Big ones, little ones, and everything in between. I don't know the names of most of them, and perhaps never will, but they are so beautiful. Now if I can keep the ones I bought from her alive. My patio looks like a green house and gives me a peaceful feeling, just setting outside. Pictures to follow... Got to get a few baskets, to hang, and a couple larger pots to transfer some of the plants into. One is an orchid, and is blooming now. It is large, and so beautiful.

The rainy season has been so good for the plants I had previously planted. They seem to have taken off the last 2 weeks with the extra sunshine since the heavy rains have slowed some.

I am having the time of my life! What a great life it is!

With My Heart - Costa Rica

I'm posting this video so you all can see why I love Costa Rica so much. I used some stills that were taken near my home. The credits are at the end, and you can stop it on any shot you would like to look at for a longer period of time. Enjoy!! The song is beautiful also. "Con un Mismo Corazon". Translated: "With My Heart".

Click on the arrow above to view.