Mr. Two Step

This is the body of the most deadly snake in Costa Rica, called by the locals "Two-Step" because once it bites, you have two steps to walk until you die.  YIKES!  One of our guards smashed the head of this one, and the picture below is of its rattle tail.  Apparently when the gardener and guard saw this one, it was coiled and ready to strike.  It is so difficult to believe that such pernicious potential lurks beneath piles of leaves or in the beautiful "Green Zone" which is the beautiful garden at the back of the property.  But there you have it!  Nothing is assured in this life except death and taxes.

My last beach walk in the morning.  I love being warm all the time and prefer sweat to sweaters any day!!

Hasta luego, Bejuco!

Another Leaving

Jack is moving the L.A., and I am clearly mulling this over as I let the paint dictate where this quirky little painting was going.  A car appeared -I cannot draw a car - and I used a canvas on which I had penciled some drawings of sand dollars.  Before I know it, I was making an arch from 103, green roads became purples, and L.A. began to manifest itself in the distance with lights, ramps, buildings and an attempt at a bridge.  Life is tough when the only thing I can hope for is a suggestion or semblance of a landscape....

Oh, it should be noted that a small fluttering fairy is following that car; she is a good fairy, and the sand dollars are really sunshine dollars so that Jack will find everything he is wishing for.  I love that the purple-ish road really leads back to home, and the car is indeterminately moving in either direction - is it a homecoming or a leave taking?  Why are children's partings always so painful?  I wonder if they feel any loss when I traipse around the world.  It's a mulling over morning of laundry, sunshine and anticipation of the homeward journey on Wednesday.

This trip has helped me get more centered and slowed me down to a summer's pace; let's see if I can maintain it when I return to the hustle bustle of Philadelphia.

Bijagual in the mountains

Who knew that WAY up in the mountains inland from Tarcoles, along the Carrera National Park that there was a little pueblo call Bijagual, a town that has the same climate and flora that San Vita and Sabalito have down near the Panama border?  Yesterday I drove up there with my friend, and this is one of the vistas on our drive up, up and up.  This is a high look down at the ocean.  We stopped some young guys who were working on cars and asked about land for sale.  We stumbled upon a man who had bought 20 years ago this enormous property along the park, and he has lots that are spectacularly situated - I should say nestled - among rolling hills where cows are visible in the distance.  It is utterly idyllic but also utterly over priced.  I looked anyway and zipped right to the highest lot that looked down over all the others.  I should have trudged up to the absolute crest of the hill which bordered on some other finca and looked over to see what was below, but I didn't.  I will another time.  Tomorrow I meet Mr. Jose Luis Acuno in Jaco to get the official documents for this property, which he is pushing pretty hard.  He said another american woman (!) had bought one of the others and was going to build.  All I can say is that it is very good to know that there is a place closer to Bejuco where I could grow things throughout the year.  Bejuco and the Pacific coast are too dry during the months when I would be interested in doing my "farming" thing, and this is about an hour away.  Sure beats the four hour drive to Sabalito!

This is a small photo and it is difficult to see the little stream and the horse below, but the compelling part about this little property was its owner.  See below for Raphael...

 And then there was Raphael who had a bunch of land along the road.  He had a little horse stable and seemed to play some role in the waterfall transport for tourists.  I couldn't quite figure it all out, but he kept yammering with good cheer in spanish, telling me I could have this large plot WITH the horse barn and the fresh water stream for $3,000 or $4,000, depending on who heard him; I heard $4 and Carlos heard $3  Then, as if 2-3 acres for such a pittance wasn't enough of a bargain, he said he'd throw in not just a horse, but one of his BEST horses to boot!  He was such a delightful character that it would almost be worth the price to spend more time with him and to hear his whole story and get his whole line.

Shoe Sharing

This is my morning friend with whom I share a shoe.  He gets cozy in the toe of my old running shoes that I leave outside, and I just have to be careful that I gently dump him out when I need to put the shoes on.  The other day, however, I shook the shoes to make sure he wasn't in their, pulled the left shoe on, and felt something against my toe.  Sure enough that little fellow had hung on tight, hoping he didn't have to dismount as it were.  When I left, he tucked himself right up into the corner of the door and waited for me to return.  Okay, so maybe he isn't Shadow, dog friend extraordinaire, but he does seem to be an animal friend, and that counts for something!
I just went outside to see if I could catch a photo of at least his little eyes in the bottom of my shoe, but I didn't want to force him out if he's tucked nicely inside.  My neighbor came by yesterday and said, "Eew, what if he pees in your shoe?"  Quite frankly, that wasn't on my mind!  I'm just happy that I didn't jam my feet into those shoes and return with mashed froggie inside the shoe!!

When I was walking yesterday, I saw this Macaw, who was just sitting up on that branch screeching to its mate across on he other tree; he was there long enough for me to get a photo, but it is unusual to see them this far from their mates with whom they mate for life, probably explaining why she shriek at one another ALL the TIME!!

This fellow was just stopped near a little estuary, and I couldn't figure out what he was doing; the horse wasn't drinking, and the rider seemed just to sit there.  Once I walked ahead of him and looked back, I could see that the man was on his CELL PHONE.  Where are we?

An early morning shot of my "eco-coche" and the edge of a palm - one of the many, many that seem to have some sort of disease or infestation.  A sadness for sure, but now I can think of something else I want to put in the front for cover.  Of course, the wet toilet paper tree is flourishing!

Been a Long Time...

I haven't posted in ages, but I am down here for two weeks, and the rainy season seems to have begun early with power outages, storms and the general excitement of mosquitoes in a frenzy every time I try to go in or out of my front door.  Even screens don't keep them out, and I seem to be overly sensitive to those "no see 'ems."

This morning I walked on the beach, and the spray of the waves against the dark, ominous sky gave me pleasure.  The air felt heavy but fresh.  Only after I'd gone to buy my paper did it start to pour, and I was pelted with the semi-cool rain drops as I scuttled back to my house.

This little estuary beckoned with its stillness and perfect reflection of not much other than a large, quirky piece of driftwood that had settled at its mouth.

At the beach I found two pieces of driftwood that resembled animals with smiling faces, and then discovered a motherlode of mangoes dangling in purple profusion from a tree that belonged to nobody.  As an official member of the nobodies, I decided it was okay to pick those that had fallen on the ground and hadn't split open.  What a haul!  I shall get sandpaper and make these goofy animals (a camel and a horse, I think) even more

Dental Check

Yesterday I went to Punta Leona to a little cove-like beach covered with coral instead of shells.  It was hard on the feet, but beautiful to look at;sadly, it was packed with people, the tide was high, and the rocks were slippery.  We stayed only about an hour, but on the way back took the dirt road along the beach at Hermosa where the turtle refuge was. I was so excited to have this refuge area so close to Bejuco, but it turned out that the long, long road led to nowhere!  The house for the refuge operations had disappeared, washed away in a storm!  The palm trees have some blight and many are standing reminders of our limited time on earth.  Even the beach was peculiar with black sand and waves that were sickly yellow and huge.  On the drive out we did spot this little fellow who looked as though he were smiling for the camera.  He was sleeping until we threw a few stones his way, and he slithered so fast into the water that I was SURE he was going to come up to the road for a revenge kill!  I hopped into the hot, muddy car.

TThis is a Northern Jacana, and when it flies, the underside of his wings are yellow - really lovely.

Finally, my favorite striped Green Heron showed up, but not ONE of these hidden gems would I have seen without my friend Carlos to point them out; he is one of those people who is so tuned into the natural world that he can see things the rest of us miss.  How lucky was that! I am still trying to figure out if this is the heron that barks, but I've written myself a note in my Garrigues and Dean bird book that it is the Bare Throated Tiger Heron that makes the barking noise that really can only be described as a kind of low level bark.  Over and out for yesterday's adventure!