Some pictures at last

It has taken a while to figure out how to get pictures onto the blog site with really slow internet connections and large photo files. It's a start...more to come!


Lucas and his friends at SeaTac airport getting ready to for our adventure

1st stop: Playa Carillo on the Nicoya Peninsula (Pacific Ocean)

Check out the naked tree sloth we saw

Lago Arenal, delicious smoothies, cabina at Villa Decary

An artist at work

Critters

#1 Coati

                                                                        #2 Crocodile

#3 flying lobster - locust

Big trees

The hilarious Swiss train - Lucas was in heaven...the last thing we thought we would find in CR

The rainbows of Monteverde

Things that go bump in the night

Oh the tricks the mind can play in the middle of the night...last night was super hard for me. Lucas passed out early after a full day of visiting a live bat exhibit (I have always loved bats and now am even more in awe) and a 2 mile hike around the Children's Eternal Rainforest (a preserve outside of Monte Verde that kids from 44 countries raised money to preserve). Matt and crawled into bed around 9:30pm. The wind was still howling - there has been no break from it. It has been blowing hard for 3 straight days and nights. I put ear plugs in (as usual) because of the noise from the wind and also snores from my fellow sleep mates :) Around midnight, Stella, the farm German Shepherd, started barking and barking. Here we are - in an old, drafty house, on a small dirt road, no one in the main house, wind howling so we can't hear anything, no one knows where we are, and I started freaking out. I got out of bed to try to see down the hill to the car in the driveway only to find that the door in the bedroom that leads to the balcony had blown open while we were sleeping. Out on the balcony I got pummeled with sideways rain and couldn't see anything through the swaying trees.

I got back in  bed and my mind started spinning. The mama bear in my was in full swing - how am I going to protect Lucas if something were to happen? I felt so completely vulnerable and powerless. Every knock of a branch blowing against the house tightened the muscles in my back even more. I could not stop imagining the worst. I don't have any clothes up here for Lucas; our shoes are downstairs with the cell phone; I don't know how we will get out of the house from up here; will we know which way to go through the woods to get to a neighbors house? It was awful.

I haven't been this freaked out at night since one night about 10 years ago...Matt was out of town. So, it was just Che and me. I woke up in the middle of the night to the very distinct sound of footsteps in the basement. I crept to the kitchen, got a knife, and opened the basement door. Che stood at the top of the stairs growling (this did not help my fear!). I finally switched on the basement light and heard very fast footsteps. As Che and I stood there, adrenaline pumping through every inch of my body, Xena, our very small cat, finally came into view. She was the culprit, walking around on the thick, brown paper the contractors had laid to cover and protect the carpet during some construction down there. It took me over an hour to calm down and go back to sleep.

The same with last night. I finally woke Matt up. I cried while he rubbed my back. The more time passed between Stella's barking and nothing bad happening, the more at ease I felt. Little Lucas slept soundly and safely through it all. I finally went back to sleep. I was happy to see Lucas's sweet face looking at me this morning, even though it was at 6:00am! I am sleepy and glad to welcome the morning. We are leaving this old house today, a couple of nights early. The isolation, darkness and wind are driving us to a little cabin at an inn closer to Monteverde. Matt really wants to go where there is more connection to people. I didn't care so much yesterday, but after last night, I can't leave soon enough! Lucas is the only bummed one. He loves exploring all that this old house has hidden for him to find.

Everyone here is shocked by the wind. I don't think wind itself is uncommon in this region, but what is happening now is anything but normal. I can only imagine the havoc the wind and rain are causing the coffee farmers as the harvest is over and they are in the process of drying the coffee. It must be very difficult. No doubt they wish they could flee, too.

New Friends

So much to share about our last few days. The greatest part has been the friendship we've forged with Kenneth and Melissa and their two children Nallely (11) (pronounced Najelly) and Jeremy (5). Kenneth and Melissa work at the Villa Decary Inn where we stayed at Lake Arenal. We had an immediate connection with them despite our labored Spanish and their lack of English. After work one afternoon, we met them at some hot springs to enjoy the warm water and play. We were the only gringos there! Lots of different pools, different temperatures, slides, waterfalls, etc. We had a potluck picnic after swimming and stayed until Lucas splayed out on the bench so tired. He was asleep within two minutes once back in the car.

We decided to spend an extra night at the inn so we could have more time with our friends. We grocery shopped together and then went to their house for play and dinner. They have a cow who gave birth 5 days ago to the sweetest calf, 3 goats, a pig fat pig, chickens, and parakeets. They live right next door to Kenneth's parents and 2 houses from his sister. It was so fun to see how Ticos live and share their family life. Lucas and Nallely built a fantastic farm with blocks and toy animals while Jeremy was busy with some Legos that Lucas shared with him from his stash. Nallely taught me a dance called the Bachata, and we all boogied in the living room. Nallely also painted our toe and fingernails in pink and green with sparkles (Lucas and me). You should have seen Nallely's face when Lucas said he wanted his nails painted, too. She got so serious and told me, "No, Maria Elena. Es solo para las chicas." (It's only for girls.) After their initial shock they thought it was hilarious.

We were so sad to leave them. It has certainly got us already thinking about coming back to Costa Rica soon! Especially with an invitation from Melissa and Kenneth to stay with them. They touched our hearts.

Let's see..what else...we went on a raft trip on the Tenorio River. It was really hot, the river dirty and not all that picturesque. Not many animals though Lucas finally got to see the long-awaited crocodile he has been wanting to see. It was a big one sunning itself on the bank of the river.

Another day we drove to a lovely small town called El Castillo on the south side of the lake to a butterfly sanctuary and rainforest restoration project. The area around El Castillo was like Shangra-la. I would go back there in a heart beat. We had an up close encounter with a family of howler monkeys and many, many leaf cutter ants...they are like a green parade through the forest. Truly amazing. Our favorite wildlife encounters have been with the coatis - they are related to raccoons. They have the sweetest faces. They are quite tame so as you stop the car to look at them they come right over hoping to be fed. They are really appealing.

It has been incredibly windy and rainy the past few days. The noise from the rain and wind in the early morning is intense. Everything is quite damp and refuses to dry! The wind did not let up today as we left Nuevo Arenal for Monteverde. I think it's even stronger today - gusting around 60 mph! We had a hard time opening the car door when we stopped for a roadside pee! We have no found ourselves in the middle of nowhere! We have rented a house on a coffee farm about 20 minutes from Monteverde. It's a large drafty wood and stone house. Lucas is thrilled to explore all the nooks and crannies while Matt and I are feeling quite lonely and isolated...especially after all the connected time with our friends. The wind exacerbates our feeling of isolation - it's so loud and makes it hard to be outside to get a sense of where we are. We will head into the town of Santa Elena tomorrow (the town that's the jumping off spot for all activities Monteverde) and see what we can see. For now, Lucas is watching a Pippi Longstocking video we found here at the house, Matt is napping and I am catching up on blogging.

Libby arrives on Sunday for a week. We will pick her up in the beach town of Jaco on our way south to the central pacific town of Uvita. We can't wait for her to come! Lucas is already sad that she isn't staying for TWO weeks!

Wait! How could I forget the most bizarre activity we've done yet! About 13 km from our inn at Lago Arenal is a hotel called Los Heroes (look it up). It looks like a swiss village. There is a main chalet, dairy farm, a chapel on the hill side and at the top of the hill is a restaurant called the Rondorama because it revolves (like the top of the Space Needle). The most bizarre part is that you take a small TRAIN from the "station" at the chalet 2 miles up the hill to the Rondorama. There are bridges and tunnels along the way leading to an under ground station at the restaurant. It was fun and hilarious and very strange! The last thing I expected to find in the middle of Costa Rica! It was especially funny because it was the 3 of us and a family of 10 Mexican tourists on vacation. It was all quite hilarious.

OK, off to face the wind and explore a bit outside. We'll see how long we can last...

Lucas and I are back now. We made it all of 20 minutes! I've never been in weather like this. Ever. Blue, blue sky, sideways rain, wind so strong it stops you in your tracks. And, the most beautiful, big, amazing rainbow I've ever seen in my entire life! It starts in the valley below the house, reaches for the sky and arches over again. It is huge! The moon is at the top. I said to Lucas, "Look, la luna and a rainbow!" And he said, "They must be friends." Gotta love that! Stella, the farm German Shepard tagged along on our adventure as we attempted to go down the rutted "road" towards the coffee farms. She seemed happy for the company and bummed that we turned back so soon! We are now back in the house, wet-headed and windblown. What sort of crazy place have we found ourselves in...

Paradise on the Lake

Good morning. Woke up early to our first real rain. The clouds are low and thick on the south side of Lago Arenal, but I can see some blue sky peeking through overhead. Hard to tell what sort of a day it will turn out to be.

We arrived on the north shore of Lago Arenal on the 22nd. It is absolutely lovely  here. It is much cooler and more humid here than at the Nicoya beaches. Admittedly, it is a welcomed change. We have landed in a bird haven. As I type, the Oropedulas are calling to each other with a call that my niece, Eloise, describes as sounding like R2D2. They are fairly large with mostly black feathers, an organ beak and a bright yellow tail. They tip forward while they make their funny sound like a pendulum. They are also the most amazing next builders. They make these large hanging baskets. Matt and I first saw these birds in Tikal in Guatemala in 2007. Nice to encounter them again.

The owner of the inn where we are staying, Suzy, just plopped down doe ripe fruit on a perch in on the deck where I am sitting. 5 of 6 different kinds of birds descended. One was type was a Chocolaca (not sure of spelling). They are referred to as Tree Chickens here - not sure if it's because they look somewhat chicken-like or used to eat them. They are fairly large, tawny birds with a sizable beak.

There is now a black bird here so black and sleek it looks like black velvet with the most vibrant red under wings. It looks like it dipped it's black beak in white paint. 2 woodpeckers now have joined the party.

As I sit here, I can hear the howler monkeys somewhere nearby and the motos of people on their way to work. We are just a kilometer from the small town of Nuevo Arenal. Not much more than one main street and a few surrounding restaurants. However, some say they are the best restaurants in Costa Rica! We went into town last night to hear some live music. It was quite a scene. Mostly an older, gringo, expat scene with 3 gringos playing covers of old rock songs. The music was incredibly load in a small open-air bar. Lucas was a bit over-whelmed and mesmerized. It was fun and interesting to experience...a way of getting a picture of what life is like here - gringo and Tico.

We had such wonderful interactions with Ticos when we were at the beach. This is currently Costa Rica's summer vacation, so there were so many Tico families at the beach. It was great for our Spanish and made for fun interactions. I am sad to leave that behind. Shopping in town is a great way to get more of that. Matt was in Nuevo Arenal yesterday getting groceries and had a great fun as he found his way around the grocery store with a helper entirely in Spanish. Lots more of that to come as we will be cooking for ourselves the rest of the trip until we land in Panama for our last week.

We are staying now at Villa Decary, a beautiful inn. We have our own small cabin. Lucas and I made banana muffins yesterday. Fun to figure out how to do it with the ingredients we have available to us. We are settling in here, finding our groove. I think ultimately I wish we weren't moving around as much as we are. It would be nice to settle in a place longer to meet people and get to know an area better. At the same time, seeing the diversity of landscapes and weather and flora and fauna is wonderful, too. We passed through some gorgeous farm land on our way from the beach to here. As we crested the hills above the lake, we found ourselves at the base of some huge wind turbines that produce 20% of the electricity for San Jose. It was awesome and the wind was blowing! Our friend, Jim, told us that Lago Arenal is a sort of Mecca for windsurfer as the wind on the lake can blow up to 60 MPH.

We got a little taste of the wind on the lake yesterday as we went out for a 2-hour kayak. We paddled into the wind for a bit but most of the trip was with it at our backs...luckily. It was pretty rough going. We were in search of a 6-foot long, orange and brown iguana! We didn't see it sadly. Still fun to know that it exists!

It's hard to believe we've ended our first week here already. It's going fast...as I knew it would. Oh, a toucan just landed in a tree in front of me. It is feasting on some sort of a big berry. It has to cock it's head to the side to see the fruit around it's big beak. It picks a berry of the stem, holds it at the tip of its beak then opens the beak and throws his head back a bit to "toss" the berry in. It's so playful and casual like we might do with a peanut or popcorn. "Tricks are for kids!"

Lucas seems content. He is eating more these days which is good for all of us. He has gotten a bit boney up top...hard to imagine, I know! Seeing his ribs and spring stick out makes me long for his more juicier days. Not quite ready for that to go away. He jumps right in with Spanish when he can and is totally into exploring each new area. Yesterday we climbed up the hill behind our little cabin to explore the barded-wire fence that he was pretending to be power lines. He wanted to follow it the whole way....totally willing to bushwhack through the lush rain forest. I love it! We are also reading books, doing puzzles, and painting naked on the deck of the cabin!

I promise that pictures are coming soon.

xoxo

Golden arches

Fortunately, the golden arches we awoke to this morning were of a very different kind than what are used to at home. There were 2 complete rainbow arches over the ocean this morning when we stepped outside onto our balcony at 6:30am. There hasn't been any rain here, but I did hear some thunder last night, and it is muggy today.

We were up at 5:40am as Lucas fell asleep at 6:30pm last night completely wiped and maxed out from the day. He swam in the ocean a lot loving his new found confidence and freedom to swim and twirl with his water wings. The water was calm and clear just beyond the spot where the waves break.  At one point, a huge set of waves came in, breaking a little earlier than the others. We all got pummeled (especially me). Lucas took a couple straight in the face like a champ. I lost my sunglasses. Lucas has been having fun thinking about where they might be now. On the way to Hawaii? A new home for some crabs?

I took advantage of the early morning wake up to walk on Playa Samara. The tide was way out. Fishing boats were getting ready to head out for the daily catch. Ticos and a few gringos were out walking and running. The sand was littered with the most beautiful shells - they are clam-like shells, salmon pink, and somewhere between typical white clam and mussel shells at home in size and shape. They are so delicate...like angel wings. I found myself trying to avoid crushing them.

Last night was a wake up call for both Matt and me regarding Lucas. He is so strong and courageous and quite a mighty traveler. And yet, he is still so little and this is so new for him. He is adjusting...mostly to the heat and the food...neither of which is easy for him. He has had very little appetite since the stomach bug he had 2 days before we left. Add in the heat and different food, the little guy has eaten very little since we've been here. It finally caught up with him last night as we tried to go into the town of Samara for dinner. He basically just shut down in the car. We managed to scoop up a few groceries and then turned the car right around, plopped him in bed and we ate some dinner on the balcony while he slept.

This is such a different trip for us...trying to figure out more how to "live" in Costa Rica for six weeks versus a simple vacation. In time we will find our groove. In retrospect, we are probably moving around more than we would ultimately like in terms of getting into a groove. We will see a lot of beautiful parts of the country and at the same time sacrifice deeper connections to the places and people. We are all looking forward to getting to the north side of Lake Arenal where we will have a cabin at Villa Decary and lots of beautiful wild places to explore. I am also ready to get to the cool cloud forest of Monteverde. I know, that may sound crazy to you all at home in cold, cloudy Seattle. Why would I want to go to the mist and rain when I could basque in the sun at the beach!? This girl here has become a true Seattlite! I like it mild and it is HOT here! I think Lucas will be right there with me. Matt, however, is in hog heaven here at the beach.

We move from the Hideaway Hotel to Hotel Leyenda just a few kilometers south today. A new place for Lucas to explore all the room numbers!

We haven't taken many photos yet. We will get on it and get some posted.

Thinking about you and home and hoping all is well.

love,

ME

The flying "lobster"

Ok, it's official. Last night I saw the biggest bug I've EVER seen (and felt as it landed briefly on my head). It was 4-5 inches long and looked exactly like a giant grasshopper (or cricket...whichever is the flying one.)

The name for it here is "la langosta" which also means "lobster." The more literal English translation is "locust". But, this is a locust on steroids! Our host, Carlos, said that Costa Rica doesn't see much crop damage from the "langostas" but other neighboring countries have had crops decimated by these voracious monsters.

I've just been watching iguanas running around and in the palm trees outside my room like squirrels at home. I love it! Lucas is fascinated and fearful of them. "Mama, they will bite me!" Fun to watch them feast on the colorful, camellia-like flowers around the hotel.

Our drive to the coast yesterday started with a trip to the auto mercado (big grocery store). It was such a strange experience to walk in and feel immediately transported back to the US. There was even a gluten-free section!

Saturday heading west from San Jose towards the coast found us in traffic with loads of locals also heading to the coast. It made for a slow trip and a fun one - cars and tour vans and motorcycles packed with people heading for fun in the sun. Such a different "highway" experience - one lane in each direction with an occasional passing lane. Along the route there are endless "sodas" - small open-air restaurant/cafes - Soda Mango, Soda Teresa, Bomba, etc. We stopped for a bit at one (can't remember the name) for cold juice and snacks. As I sipped on my can of pear nectar made with 25% juice, I looked on longingly at a tica sipping a creamy smoothie-looking drink out of a tall glass. Slowly we will learn our way about and be able to take full advantage of all that Costa Rica has to offer!

We are now at the Hideaway Hotel tucked between Playa Samara and Playa Carillo. It is small, tranquil and lovely. Not fancy and super comfortable. As most of the hotels here, it is owned by an American couple who live in Nevada part-time. The manage is Italian and the other staff Costa Rican. It is an eclectic, international mix. Everyone is so, so nice and very patient, encouraging and complimentary of our Spanish.

Lucas is holding up so well. It has been a lot of travel right at the start. It's hot, he's already got 5 huge bug bites, and his appetite hasn't yet returned from the stomach bug he had 2 days prior to our trip. Plus, the "different" food is an adjustment. He really does melt in the heat...Matt and I looked at each other this morning and said, "How funny we are to bring our Scandenavian son to Costa Rica!" We will spend a lot of time at the beach and in the pool while here on the Nicoya. It's hot for me, too. It will be lovely to alternate the heat of the coast with the coolness of the mountains.

As is typical for me at the start of almost every adventure away from home, I am missing people, dog and place. It is helpful to have finally landed in a spot for several days with no agenda to start settling in and adjusting to our new (temporary) life.  Let the adventure begin...

Morning in Alajuela

We are here! 13 hours of travel, and we arrived at Hotel Buena Vista in the hills north of San Jose. We still don't have any sense of Costa Rica as we made our way up the hill in the total dark. Our little white Daihatsu mini-4x4 was passed by numerous scooters on the way up. No street signs or addresses here, so we are utterly dependent on the GPS unit we got with the rental car!

What do I know about Costa Rica so far...
- So many kind, gentle, easy-going people
- Coffee is everywhere! There is a "coffee trail" here at the hotel. The harvest has already happened but Lucas managed to find a couple of red-ripe coffee fruits to put in his pocket.
- We are foliage heaven! Trees and plants and flowers and fruits abound. Here on the hotel grounds alone - coffee, ficus, bougainvillea, oranges, limes, mangoes, and a whole slough of plants that we think of only as "house plants'. That is just the start of our botanical adventure...

Our Spanish is coming back. Matt has dived into it head first. Good for him. Lucas, too. He is game and seems into it. His curiosity at this point seems endless...we've explored every inch of the hotel this morning (there are 25 rooms in the main building), the trails, balcony, new foods at breakfast (papaya and friend plantains  - neither were a big hit). How fun to get to experience all of this with him.

Ok, the boys are ready for our journey today. No rest for the travel weary...5 hours out to the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific Coast. I think the adventure doesn't lie in the scenery or even the destination today but in the actual DRIVING! Even the ticos talk about the crazy driving in Costa Rica!

More to come once we are settled out at the coast. Thinking about home still and all of you...it will take some time to get into a groove here...time to live "pura vida" as they say here.

lots of love!  ME