The Non-Tsunami: Relief and Disappointment

The anticipation and anxiety today were palpable, televisions blaring, people congregating in the street, and all comparing the latest updates on the time/strength of the tsunami to come. The footage of the earthquake in Japan was so fierce that I was frightened of possibilities I couldn't even fathom. I remembered the first time I felt a 6.5 quake here last summer, and I was SURE the sky was falling, to quote my old friend the hen - wasn't it a hen?

Oonie told me to go to "high ground," and the thing was "scheduled" for 4:00 PM, so I drove to a high cliff about 20 minutes from here to watch and to be safe, leaving all my windows open, computer running, and other such supid things. When I got there, the ocean was calm, the sun moving into that golden time, dripping into the foliage and turning banana leaves and grass a lime green; the sky was a dark blue-gray.

I watched a woman poking around in the rocks below and wanted to shout to her, but already the passengers in oncoming traffic were shouting as they passed, "Tsunami!" or "Here is comes!" I decided to leave her alone, but then the atmosphere became festive with more cars arriving, kids and dogs romping, and one fellow who owned a little hotel said that there were about 100 people down on the beach: surfers, waters, tourists. His son, at this point riding up on his shoulders, said, "No, it was only about 90 people." Suffice it to say, the beach was packed, and I began to feel less concerned.

When it started getting on for 5:00 most of us pulled out of the lot above the cliff and drove our separate ways, but the roads were crowded with people on bikes, clusters of people chatting and cars seeming to be in a hurry, as I was. It was time for my final Costa Rican cerveza until May. I will try to get that car up over the mountains tomorrow morning. I have had every orifice filled with fluids of one sort or another: break, steering, windshield washer, coolant and oil. The REAL thrill was the having the mechanic spray the "belts" so they wouldn't squeak! Who knew?

Another adventure tomorrow.

I've been remiss...

With only one wee week down here, I feel as though I've done nothing but pay bills, shop for groceries, get the car checked, read and run, which really is quite a good amount when I think about it. I've painted only one painting and not a very good one at that, but here is where I sit and eat my yogurt and fruits and coffee in the mornings. The sound of the cicadas is a killer, and they seem to be screaming at me day and night, but then it is that time of year, which is amusing because we are just now coming into spring at home, and down here I am listening to the last of summer before the rains begin.

It is the first day of Lent AND the Day of Woman - Lisa says it's always March 8 - certainly a day I'd never know to celebrate! Imagine all those wasted days of potential fiestas! This little critter hopped into my house while I was painting, and he really seemed to want to stay, so I gave him a magazine to read - so like Mrs. Prothero - and then had to move him gently out the door; one can sleep with a dog on one's bed, but NOT a frog!

Yesterday I saw this ginormous bug with a rhinosceros horn. He was on my neighbor's tree and apparently had been living on their porch for the past two years. Go figure. He or she was most peculiar, and I wondered if we lived elsewhere if this bug would be some exquisite gustatory delicacy. I'm glad I'm here and not there, wherever it may be!

This is the only painting I've done, and I cannot say that it "happifies" me; in fact, I had to do it quickly because the mango on the bottom of the bowl and the bananas were so ripe that I had to gobble them up before they went bad. Ah, life is so rough down here during mango season!

I'm trying to load a photo of a sloth smiling at my friend who rescued it from floundering around on its back; when Greg put it back into the tree, the creature turned around and flashed him the most wonderful smile. The photo is beguiling beyond belief, but I cannot get it loaded up here. More later. Over and out for now if anybody still reads this...