http://www.amcostarica.com/040207.htm (scroll down the page for pictures of Palm Sunday), AND
http://www.amcostarica.com/040307.htm and http://www.amcostarica.com/040907.htm
Easter or Semana Santa is REALLY big here like Christmas in the states without presents!
Dave and I along with the Brinks co-founded a volunteer organization called VTE (Volunteers Teaching English). Initially we started working with UCR (University of Costa Rica in San Ramon) with their program that was teaching English to the Policia de Transito (the equivalent of the State Police). They needed us to work with the classes so the policemen could hear and converse with native English speakers so they will feel comfortable conversing with tourists. UCR will have a graduation ceremony for the first class of policemen just before we leave for Nicaragua which we will all attend. UCR is planning to teach English to other service groups like ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses and firemen which we will also be involved in. Needless to say, we have been really, really busy with the organization of this group. More updates and information to come!
Every morning (at sunrise around 5 AM) we are awakened by the sounds of birds, not just a few – lots of different calls or ‘songs’. Most of them we couldn’t identify so Dave set a slice of a large tree trunk onto 3 metal poles in our front yard so we could attract and feed the birds. They got bananas, watermelon and papaya. The first couple of days we had no interest but after that they started to grace us with their presence daily. Dave even took a picture of a really pretty blue bird! (blue gray tananger)
It will be a glorious day when we are able to take a focused picture of the exotic parrots and toucans as opposed to seeing them far away! We had one of Costa Rica's national birds, the 'turdus grayi', a clay colored robin or gray thrush build her nest over one of our lamp posts on the front terrazzo. Within 3 weeks of when she started sitting on the nest, she had 3 babies born. She certainly liked this ‘B & B’; Dave took pictures of her eating some of the fruit(she favored the papaya). At the same time, we had another nest on the cinder block wall out back. I don’t know what kind of birds nest it was but the gardener cut around it instead of disturbing it! After the mom from the front terrazzo and her hatchlings left, we had another prospective mom take up residence by building and sitting on a nest over one of the downspouts at the rear of the house. I have no idea what materialized from either of the later 2 nests. I’d say that we have provided quite the nesting location, huh?
Behind the cinder block wall that is behind our casa there is quite a large sugar cane field. When we first saw it last year we were wondering what would happen when it was harvested. Well we know now! It took less than a week from start to finish. Even though I couldn’t see it, Dave described the numerous workers as machete wielding (machetes are VERY popular here - I’ve even seen women carry and use them!) dressed in long pants, long sleeve shirts, tall rubber boots (I imagine due to snakes), hats with cloth hanging down around the back of their necks (for sun protection) and face masks. VERY hot, hard work! These men worked from dawn to dusk cutting the cane at ground level, stripping all the leaves off and then piling the stocks onto long ‘u’ shaped wooden trailers. These trailers were hauled to San Ramon by numerous tractors. They only burned (something) once causing us to close up the house as the wind was carrying large hunks of ash in the back and front of the house (much to our housekeepers dismay - she ran around yelling "prohibido, prohibido"). Now that it is harvested all the slash has been left on the ground and the ‘new’ crop is coming up on its own!
We really enjoy watching the men’s soccer games in the field across the street every Sunday. We know the Gringo that bought the brightly colored uniforms for the team here in San Rafael. All of the uniforms proudly sport his name on the front - Jimmy.
In mid April there was an all day tournament across the street that brought out parents with all age groups of boys from near and far. Not only were there a lot of cars parked around the field but buses from other towns that dropped off kids to play. I really wanted to watch the games but it became evident by mid day that asking each and every car that parked in front of our house to move was laborious! It was the one and only time in this country that I got flipped the bird – from a soccer mom of all things and in full view from her kids in the back seat! I imagine she was angry at me for making her family late (as if they weren’t already). It was a full day of competitions complete with tipico food, drink and cerveza (beer) being sold from the community building next door. The young ones (we even saw a girl!) played in the field divided in half (four teams at a time) and the older boys played on the whole field.
Because all non-residents have to leave Costa Rica every 90 days, we went to Nicaragua on April 27th for our requisite 72 hours sabbatical to get the exit/re-entry stamps on our passports. We still have the one way tickets to Boston that would have served the same purpose but we had our car that also needed to have its’ paperwork ‘updated’ because it, too had been here 90 days! When we decided to ship the Subaru, we were under the impression that we would not have to pay the tariff on the car because of a law passed last year that gave handicapped people a waiver. Unfortunate for us, the government is having difficulty defining who is eligible under that law. By taking the car out of the country, it gave us 90 more days before they either give us the waiver or we end up paying the tariff (5K). Needless to say we prefer not to pay - we'll have to wait-and-see.
We took our friends Dave and Arden Brink in the Subaru with us as they also were forced into exodus. Dave and Arden came from Bowdoinham, Maine but they live here now north-west of San Ramon in San Pedro. It took us 8 hours to go 200 miles ONE WAY (the roads here are up and down esses!) We drove to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua on the Pacific coast and we stayed at a B & B called Hotel Villa Isabella. The temperature was very hot there compared to San Rafael. We all spent our days in the air conditioned room together watching movies and reading. I felt like a bat - the only time I went out of the hotel was at night to eat! One night we went to a VERY posh hotel called "Pelican Eyes' built on a hill. The dining room had a very high ceiling made of palm branches/leaves and looked very Polynesian - you would have sworn that you were in Hawaii! We all had the best steak we have had since being in the states!
Of what I saw of Nicaragua, I would say that it is a very poor country. I saw a guy guiding a cart pulled by 2 oxen complete with yolk and another guy riding on a cart being pulled by a horse, not many cars! Compared to Costa Rica, it was a very flat country. It was nice to see the ocean again and like the Caribbean islands, the buildings were painted in bright colors
The border crossing between countries was a dry, dusty mess and a dinero grab (a lot of bribing going on!).There were only 2 lanes of road going between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Those 2 lanes had WAY MORE tractor trailers (semis) than cars. At times those semis would go one way on both sides of the road! Needless to say, when that happened there was a lot of backing up and getting out of the way! We hired ‘facilitators’ to help us get out of Costa Rica and into Nicaragua on the trip up and the reverse on the way back. Their role was to be ‘interpreters’ and help us through the maze. It must be quite the ‘cottage industry’ as we had a lot of men and boys clamoring over our car to get our attention along with seeing numerous very small casas nearby. The whole trip was most interesting!!! One of life’s experiences that you need to be there to understand!
A few weeks before we left, we started feeding and giving water to a very skinny stray dog. He just 'showed up', hanging out mostly with the kids that are out and about daily. We affectionately referred to him as “Flaco”, the Spanish word for skinny.
The Saturday before we left for Nicaragua, the Fuerza Publica (public police) came to get him. They wrapped about 6 feet of yellow “Caution” tape around his neck and opened the trunk to their “cruiser” before Dave furiously consulted the Spanish dictionario and grunted out enough Spanish to have them turn “Flaco” over to us. I guess that equated to a Costa Rican “adoption”!
Dave took him to the vet that morning (vets here are open 7 days a week) and the vet confirmed our suspicion that he was malnourished and dehydrated along with being full of worms and covered in fleas/ticks. The vet thinks that he is about 2 years old because of his teeth, and we all agree that he is most likely a purebred Doberman. Because he had an infection (I think probably heart worms) he was kept long enough to have an IV of antibiotics and the needed agua (water). (Quite interestingly, Dave noted that ALL of the veterinary test kits were manufactured by IDEXX Laboratories in Westbrook, Maine – small world!) Even though he got a Frontline application that day to kill the fleas and ticks, he was too weak and sick according to the vet to have a bath for 2 more days. He was VERY dirty so every time we touched him, we had to wash our hands. Because he had to continue taking the antibiotics twice a day for 10 days and got tired with very little use of energy, he slept a lot for about a week and continued to heal. I know there was a grateful puppy in there as he woke me out of a sound sleep one morning by licking my nose and forehead - it was ICKY but cute at the same time!!! He now protects me by sleeping on the floor next to me.
We ditched the name ‘flaco and started calling him "Rafael" or "Raffy" for short. San Rafael (the town that we live in) is where we found each other, Rafael is the patron Saint of healing (appropriate for both of us!) and I (along with the kids in the neighborhood) like to call him by his shorter nickname!!!
Adres, a young bilingual Tico man that lives in Palmares, came and stayed at our house while we were gone to Nicaragua. He is the nephew of our landlady and very familiar with our house. He enjoys dogs and was great with Raffy, making sure he didn’t feel abandoned and gave him his much needed medicine!
Raffy certainly is not what we envisioned we would get for a dog, but he chose us and needs us!!! We have been truly blessed by having him in our lives.
Hope I didn’t bore you to tears with my long diatribe. If you want to be taken off the distribution list, please let me know as there will be no hard feelings!
Look for May’s issue to come out soon!
Our love to you all,
Dabid and Reiling (phonic spellings of what we’re called) Read more Entry>>
