Finally on Horseback Again

Today we had our first opportunity to go horseback riding again.  It's been two long years and we were really looking forward to it.  The beauty of it here is that they bring the horses right to our house!

Sometimes you hear of and see horses that are poorly fed with their ribs sticking out and it breaks your heart.  Sometimes they're fairly small and Alex is kind of a big guy so that doesn't work so well either.

Oldimar (left) was our guide today and he was excellent.  Very patient and that came in handy since he spoke no english and we spoke no spanish.  Funny how often we get into those predicaments down here huh?

We muddled our way through our communication issues and always seem to end up on track one way or the other.  Sometimes it's a lot of hand gestures (not the ones I use back home on the highway) and lots of repeating, trying different words.  It actually is good for us and is forcing us, one word at a time, to pick up a little better grasp of spanish.  If Oldimar spoke english there's no doubt that's all we'd speak the whole day.

These guys were well fed and clearly well taken care of.  It started out to be a slightly cooler, overcast day but then the clouds cleared and it warmed up to 80 degress pretty quickly.

The cooler weather would have been nice for the horses because the trails are quite steep and these beauties have to work pretty hard to carry us inept gringos up and down the hills.

It takes a while (for us) to get the feel of the horse's temperment and how sensitive they are to the reigns.  They can be a little stubborn at times and I am guessing they know when they've got inexperienced riders aboard.

We mount up and head down our driveway and get a little resistance right from the start.  It took some time (most of the trip) to figure out how to prod them along from a dead stop.

Oldimar used a little leather strap on their back sides when needed but we gringos didn't even realize we had them as well until we got back in our driveway at the end of the trip (duh)!

I so wish I could share pictures that captured the incredible beauty of the landscape here.  It is just amazing when you see the red clay, green fauna, blue skies and wispy white clouds all together.

Combine that with the depth of the valleys and the palms and the ocean breeze and it is almost too much for our sense to consume all at once.

As hard as I try, these pictures don't even come close to the beauty that surrounds us.  Every direction is another masterpiece and the air is fresh and clean.

We keep a fairly steady pace but part of me wants to stop, dismount and "smell the roses".  If only I had a 3D 360 degree Omnimax camera at my disposal.

We sometimes rode literally along a VERY narrow edge of the cliff.  The trail was well defined and it was hard to imagine the horse having the dexerity to maneuver one foot precisely in front of the other.  If that's not enough, to our immediate right was a deep, deep valley and one could only imagine the result of an untimely misstep.  I of course don't want to alarm anyone with mindless fear and an outburst of "watch out!" but I was picturing my wife and son, tumbling down the side of the hill, still hanging on to their horse.

We ended up at a point where we went through a gate and were planning to cross another valley off the beaten path but Oldimar spotted a couple of wild (or at least not fenced in) horses and turned us around in an effort to avoid having these guys get our horses all excited.

Sure enough, as Oldimar opened the gate to head back out, these two came galloping up from behind us and went nose to nose with our horses.  Oldimar quickly chased them away but they were clearly excited and seemingly happy to see the new kids in town (the horses not us).  After chasing them away a couple of times we managed to get through the gate and continue our journey.
One ledge after another we navigate the hillside.  After we got past the woods, Oldimar took us fairly near to the edge again so we could see the valley below.  Mom was quite nervous about this since it was our first ride so if you watch closely, you'll see her tendancy to lean right in an effort to encourage the horse NOT to go any further left.

Almost home, we stopped and set up the mini tripod for a group photo and then on to the last leg toward home.

At least this time I remembered to bring the tripod but we always have "shoe pod" when we need it.  For those that don't remember "shoe pod" from our 1st trip, it is basically my Nike tennis shoe on a stick which I then use to prop my camera on for these group shots.

It was a quick two hours for sure and Alex hung back slightly and just took it all in.  I think I had the old mare of the group because it panted like a dog after a long run.

I tried to let him pause once in a while to catch his breath but he did a good job and was easily managed.

Oldimar told us the names of the horses but they were longer spanish names and I was having enough trouble remembering "Oldimar".

Mom and Oldimar led the way back through our gate and up the driveway to end a beautiful day and a long awaited horse ride.

We love horses so much and it was wonderful to have this opportunity once again.

Many more rides to come and once Oldimar is convinced we know where we're going, we can pick the horses up (a short walk from home) and ride into the wilderness by ourselves.

Finally back home (our house at the top), in one piece and happy as larks.  It was still only early afternoon but a good start to a great day.

I think we all will make a concerted effort to pick up spanish now and will jot down a collection of well planned phrases so we can have more of a conversation with Oldimar, our caretaker Elvis, and the community at large next time we head into town.

Later....

Groceries Are A Man's Worst Friend!

Ok so here we are in the middle of our second week in paradise and we're beginning to learn a few important lessons, mainly regarding our diets.

We actually had the same problem in Panama last year but this year seems to be getting out of hand.



Sorry for the hazy pictures but I think I was somewhat delirious from seeing the nice little spanish gal hitting so many cash register keys so fast.

We had stopped for groceries on our way in from the airport but after just 8 days we had run out of food. We arranged for a driver and he (Randall) arrived promptly at 8 a.m.

He was a nice enough guy but he spoke very little english (that he'd admit to) and we were really hoping to see Tonny again.




Chris (the current owner of this place was gracious enough to come with us.  Chris speaks spanish pretty well and his help proved invaluable.

We took a little tour of the farmer's market then decided to walk over to the store to get our groceries since Alex wasn't with us.  We first stopped at the bank to get some colones (local money) and took out enough cash (we thought) to last a few good weeks.

The store was much smaller than Automercado (nice larger store) and was typical of those we had seen in Potrero on our first visit.  The selection was minimal (only kind of soup was Tomato) but all in all it had a fair amount of what we needed to get through the next week or so.  Prices are a bit higher on things, typical U.S. on others and (what the hell do you mean it's $$$$ on others).

Sandy shopped away, I strolled around pretending I was helping and found a 50 Qt cooler like the one above for the bargain priceof 40,000 colones.  I thought it would be nice to have for the great meat we were about to buy but then it struck me, 500 colones per dollar makes that an $80 cooler!  That was my first clue that it could be a little bit of a spendy shopping trip. (I looked a similar one up at Target and it was $37).

As usual our stomachs got the best of us so the grocery cart was filled to the brim.  Sandy started loading the goodies on to the counter, the nice little spanish gal, start hitting keys and the grocery bagger kept rolling his eyes.

I stood by the door and kept checking my pocket to make sure my half of the cash was still there.  I had a feeling I was going to need it.



Long story short, another $370 and a grand total of groceries for our 8 days ($710) plus the taxi ride, another ($100) which we thought was going to be $50.  Yikes!!!  We are now on the slim pickens diet and Sandy guards the refrigerator.  We've come to realize that we ain't in Kansas anymore and grocery shopping was a killer.  I am starting to like the idea of beans and rice (the meal of choice for most locals).

On the way home we stopped to see what a car rental might be ($85 per day) and think we may go that route for groceries in the future.  A trip to Automercado, a much more modern and well-equipped store is quite a bit farther away than the "bargain"store but would cost us $200 just to get there and back!! You kidding me?  Do we get a foot massage with that?

We also realized that the Budget Rental was next to the same airport we flew back to San Jose from during our first trip (12 years ago).  It was actually nice to see and brought back a flood of nice memories.

We got back home and spent the day reflecting on how crazy and out of hand food had gotten.  Next trip, I plan to stay out of the store and let the boss (Sandy) do the shopping.  After all she's been the master chef of the house for quite a few years and it was clear she didn't need my help.

The next day we took another walk.  I like to try and be creative with some of the pictures so I asked Alex to step into the thick brush next to the pretty bamboo so I could get the "thorns" in the foreground.

Like the trooper he is, Alex stepped into the brush and the brush stepped into Alex.  The end result was a nice little scratch.

"Thanks Dad!"

As we take these health walks I generally lead the way since there are Ferdelance (deadly) snakes here and Bushmasters.  If you get bit by the Ferdelance you have 4 hours to get to the hospital and this is a real risk here.  Not much chance that we will actually make it to the hospital in time from where we're at so....

When we get in the stretch of our walk where the grasses are thick or high enough to hide a coiled up snake, I wave my stick out ahead of us like I am sweeping for land mines.  If a snake actually scampers away I'll probably die from a heart attack anyway so not sure if this extra effort is worth it or not.

I doubt this will help much but it seems like its better than stepping on them.

This pic was just for fun.  Kind of an experiment in perspectives.  I am shooting the picture off the sliding glass doors into the kitchen at sunset and Sandy has the kitchen lights on.

If you look closely you can see a variety of things both inside and out (even a glimpse of the green plant behind me).




Every night, we see beautiful sunsets from our patio.  We can't seem to keep ourselves from staring at it every night so I fully expect we'll have eye damage by the end of the trip.

This little beauty is called a Golden Orb.  It has a huge spider web outside the bedroom window on the second floor.  (That window stays shut ;-) )

I am guessing it's body is about 2 inches long and the span of it's legs is maybe the size of your hand.

We take a 2 mile walk every other day and I can feel the fat burning off (I've convinced myself of that whether it's true or not).

Along the way, we pass a whole herd of cattle grazing on the hill.  As we pass, they look at us like we're idots (Never seen a cow before?)

Although you can't really see it in the picture so well, this hill they are standing on has got to be at a 45 degree angle.  How these guys don't end up rolling down the hill is beyond me!

We are hoping that our friends, Jeff, Wendy, and Brock Blasdell come and spend a weekend with us soon.  We met these great folks during our 2nd trip to Costa Rica up in the northen (Guanacaste region) of Costa Rica.  It's hard to believe it's been 2 years already!

Sorry Brock, you'll probably get the room with the view of the Gloden Orb while Mom and Dad get the ocean view!



We have some interesting dillemmas here.  We have no cell phone, no car, and we're in the middle of nowhere at an elevation of about 1400 feet.  Our neighbor is just a 2 minute walk away but we wonder.....if he was hurt or disappeared for some reason what do we do?   My only solution right now, is to try and reach Jeff and Wendy via Facebook (above) in Portrero and ask them to call someone (or drive 6 hours) to come help us.

It truly is wonderful here but we are well aware of the risk of snakes, spiders, bugs, etc. etc. and your mind can play tricks on you. 

The other day, as I was walking down the half lit staircase at night, I caught, out of the corner of my eye, the palm tree emblem shown to the right.

Instinctively I swatted at it several times in panic with the speed of superman, convinced it was a tarantula!  I just hope that someday, I don't end up with a real one there and ignore it!



So in summary for this post, part of the arrangment we have during our stay here is access to horses.  Today they are actually bringing three of them up to our house (for free) so we can go riding today at noon. 

We are looking so forward to this as the last time we rode was here in Costa Rica two years ago.  Hopefully mine is nicer than the last one who seemed compelled to drag me through the tree branches so the fire ants could bite me! 

More to come........

End of week one

We've just ended our first week here in Portalon, Costa Rica and what a wonderful week it's been.  Our trips generally start out as intentionally uneventful so we can acclimate ourselves to our new surroundings so the blog starts out a bit slow.

We love it here.  The weather has been perfect with warm, sunny days and clear cool evenings.





Waking up each morning and enjoying our first cup of coffee is great.

So many birds and animal noises of one kind or another fill the air, the view is great, and the plants fill the air with a fresh almost peppery kind of scent.  We can hear the faint sound of the waves in the morning and despite the downsides of not having a car, it adds to the relaxation we seek on these trips.

People are constantly asking us why we don't rent a car.

There are lots of reasons and for us it works out great.  Rentals are expensive and to me a waste of money when it would sit in the driveway 5 days a week.  Secondly, if I am infusing money into the local economy I prefer to put it a local cab driver's pocket than some greedy corporation.

Our driver Tonny (right) is as friendly as you get.  As we drove home from the airport, Tonny pulled over to the side of the road and asked if it was OK if he stopped and wished his mother happy birthday.  His mom had ridden her bike out to the street.

Tony gave her a big hug and put his arm around her as they walked and talked for a few minutes and he gave her a gift.  It was a touching moment and had we rented a car, we would have missed that beautiful moment.  Yes it is inconvenient for us and yes we generally have to squeeze everything we can out of our food supply sometimes but we wouldn't have it any other way.

We are more than capable of driving ourselves around to sight see and shop but again, we would rather spend the time with Tonny and enjoy do our best to converse in each other's language.  We will make a concerted effort this trip to try and learn Spanish.  We get a little better every trip but so far it's "Como estas" (How are you) "Buenos Diaz" (Good Morning) "Hola" (Hello) and most importantly "Donde esta el bano" (Where's the toilet)!

We've watched very little TV since we arrived and to be honest I don't care what is going on in the news.  Instead, we read, enjoy the sights and the sounds wildlife (speaking of which I got a tiny but painful bite from a spider this morning as I ran my hand down the stair rail).  We also found a jumbo bug of some kind running around but that one we managed to avoid.

Elvis (our property caretaker) is going to start practicing Spanish with Alex as they've already become friends.

We passed his families house as we headed out for our daily 2 miles walk.  Elvis called out to Alex "Mañana vamos a practicar el español!  (Tomorrow we will practice Spanish!).

We love our walks so much now.  We sweat like pigs, pant like dogs and our hearts pound like never before.

We keep our "walking sticks" with us at all times just in case we come across a snake, wild pig, or just need something to lean to keep from falling over.

I wish we could capture the true beauty of the hills and valleys here but I assure you, it's marvelous.

With our starvation diets and this wonderful exercise program we feel healthier every day.  Of course you wouldn't want to stand down wind of us when we finally get back to the house but ....

It is cleansing for sure and we drink tons of water from the tap to stay hydrated.

One other wondrous thing for us was the first appearance of a Jesus Christ Lizard!  Out of the corner of my eye I saw it running toward us on its hind legs.  Fast as heck and about 2 feet long (or tall?).

He came back later that night as well and sits by the pool.  Pretty brave little guy because he let me get within a couple feet of him before he ran off into the bushes like a frantic, crazy man.

We do have the occasional scary moments on our walks though!  The other day as we were walking up the hill we heard this vicious sounding barking and as we past a wall of hedges, we found ourselves staring directly into the eyes of this attack dog.

Lucky for us, there was a barbed wire fence (OK it was chicken wire) between us and we were able to escape unscathed.

The path leading out of our house (left) is a good example of the scenery overall.  The grade of the road is perfect for getting a good work out while still allowing us a reasonable shot at actually making it back to the house.

Our house from the road we walk on just to prove we actually to cover some distance!

We take our smart phone with GPS along with us to track the distance (and to find our way back if it gets too dark before we get back).  The phone has a handy led light we could use as a flashlight if worse comes to worse.

Since we stretch our groceries out to the last scrap, when we got back from our walk we had nothing to eat but a can of soup, saltines, and (I'm ashamed to admit it) M&Ms.





Every night another beautiful sunset (picture at the top of this post).  I try not to take the same classic pictures of sunsets like ten million others but sometimes you just can't help it.

Of course I still must work each day and I gotta say it could be worse.  My office (right) is on the second floor and faces the ocean and our deck.

Yesterday I spent an hour trying to figure out why I could not hear callers on my headset until finally, I realized I was wearing the headset that was not hooked up to the phone!  (Duh).

So I'm human :-(



Tonny will be here to take us to the bank, shopping, and the the farmer's market tomorrow morning.  Just in the nick of time since Alex and I had to split a hamburger bun between us so we could both have a peanut butter sandwich!  The side benefit of these self-imposed struggles is that food tastes better, we feel much better, and I fully expect to get giddy next time I get a coke!  Later -

Deep thoughts

Everyday has been beautiful,the view from anywhere in the house is amazing (including the garage - see right) and the property in general is phenomenal.

It's easy to get caught up in the wonder of it all, the tranquility, the sounds of nature (and the ants dragging away anything that met its demise).






Ants amaze me!  Yesterday I squashed what may have been a tiny scorpion with the leg of a patio chair.  The remains laid smashed on the tile floor.  Within 10 minutes, the bugs remains were surrounded by 30 or so ants and within 30 minutes, any evidence of the smashed bug was completely gone!

The picture to the left is a centipede that I probably stepped on by accident and it is being dismantled by the same efficient crew of ants.

I have little doubt that in an hour or so there will not be a spec of centipede left and the ants will be having a feast back home (a flower pot at the far edge of the patio).





The ants are polite little buggers though  because they seldom if ever seem to come into our house!

One needs to keep things in perspective though, understand the differences in culture, and take the pros with the cons.  If you research the web you can certainly find stories of crime here.  It does exist here and is unlikely to be pursued by the police or the courts very aggressively but then I think of back home in Minnesota.  Is it really any better?



As with anywhere, there are sporadic crime waves that occur here and there and a couple years ago, even though she had herself not been a victim, the owner's wife chose to go back to her perceived security of life in the states.  We often think about buying a property like this ourselves (and a partnership for this property is a real possibility) but in all fairness we have to also consider all sides and not let our current state of giddy excitement, blind us from considering all angles.

Yes, crime is one factor here but then I recalled the following facts about back home.  Grandma was robbed in her own driveway in Richfield, Mom's sister's house was robbed during the afternoon, Nathan had been stabbed (literally) in the back, and Rick was shot in the chest at point blank range at his home in the middle of the day.  NONE of the perpetrators were caught or prosecuted in any of those cases!



I have serious doubts that the police are any more motivated in the states than they are in Central America despite the fact that television shows like CSI and 48 hours convince you that a minute fragment of DNA can solve any crime.

So, it IS paradise here and one of the most beautiful countries we've been fortunate to visit.

We feel so fortunate to experience the beauty of the world, the cultures,and the people. I truly hope our friends and family take advantage of every  opportunity that presents itself.

View from our patio (Pacific Ocean at the top of the picture above).

The evenings are spectacular with the sounds of cicadas and frogs in the air, brightly flashing fireflies, and skies filled with stars that I've long since forgotten because of the light pollution in the states that drowns them out.  Anyone recall seeing the Big Dipper lately back in the states?

We can hardly wait to see the monkeys, sloths, wild pigs, Toucans, and (snakes from a distance) that reportedly all live nearby.  The jungle reserve is just up the hill behind the house and there is supposedly another band of monkeys down the road where we take our walks.

So last note on security.  I have, for the last couple trips seem to have gained an affinity for protecting our home with a big stick.

It not only protects us from evil but can be used to ward off the wild pigs and snakes mentioned above.





Thanks to Jackie Chan for all I've learned about stick combat.  We even have one we found made of Bamboo!  We've got two extra bedrooms if anyone is interested :-)

Morning Walk

One of our objectives of coming to Costa Rica was to restore our health.  That may be curious to some wondering how Costa Rica is a "health" trip but for us, it's perfect!  

1) We eat less because food is not right next door.
2) It's beautifully balmy here (75-80 degrees on average), reasonably humid so you sweat a bit more.  3) We drink tons of water (tap water here is great!).
4) We start the day with a 2 mile morning walk.
5) No stress, no rush hour traffic, no need to keep up with the Joneses.


Combine all that with the fact that we eat very little red meat here and a lot more fruit (watermelon, bananas, Mango, Pineapple, Papaya etc).

To us, this is heaven.

The picture is a little hazy but it shows a pig we passed on our walk.  After all the big talk above, I must admit that the whole time I was taking this picture, I was thinking of pork chops and ham sandwiches.

All in all, it is wonderful here.  No noise, fresh air, ocean views, horseback riding (yet to come) and a pool.  We have not been this happy for a long, long time and the only thing missing that could make this trip any more perfect is to be able to share it with our kids.  Hopefully we can get a few of them out here.  It changes your perspectives on life in so many ways!

Costa Rica Revisited

During our first trip to southern Costa Rica, we stayed at Hotel Parador near Quepos and Manuel Antonio State Park.  Now, nearly 12 years later, we're back and loving every minute of it.

Our home is in the "Hills of Portalon" southeast of Quepos at an elevation of 1500 feet with a perfect blend of warm days, cool nights and views like the one to the left.




All the essentials are in place, internet service, telephone, transportation and food.

 Planning these jaunts to Central America do take a fair amount of planning and over the past three years we've learned to take nothing for granted.  This year, once our travel day arrived, everything was almost effortless.  We've learned to take things in stride, and scratch the pressure points off one by one as the day progressed.  Unnecessary utilities suspended (check), remembered to pack the most critical items like computers, power supplies, and clothes (check), Taxi arrived to pick us up (check), and so on.

For the first time we used the valet to check our luggage and skipped the long line of people dragging their way through the standard check in line.  Not sure why it took all these years to figure that out but nonetheless, it made the start of the trip painless.  We got through security without a hitch, our flight to Miami got in early so we had extra time to get to our connecting flight and when we arrived in Costa Rica, our driver was there waiting with sign in hand and all of our luggage arrived safe and sound.

Our driver (Antonio) was exceptional.  Very personable, happy, polite, and it was comforting to know that he already knew where our house was located.  Somewhat of a long drive (about 3.5 hours) to our first stop, Automercado to get the first round of groceries, but once we discovered that decent food was abundant  at the store (albeit expensive) we were at ease just a little more.

Our house is in the hills and the first section of road is like driving on a rocky river bed with wooden wagon wheels.  You might be able to make without a 4x4 but when you drive back down a few times you'd be ready for a trip the the garage for new suspension.  The side benefit (always a silver lining you know) is that it is a deterrent to some degree for thieves.  They can get here if they wish but there's easier pickings to be had.

The house is beautiful with amazing views, tropical foliage, diverse wildlife including Toucans, monkeys, snakes, wild pigs, and some little black fly with saddle bags that I've come to despise. You swat the damned thing and they stick to your hand.  They don't seem to bite but rather hover in front of you like a helicopter during a surveillance mission.

Alex practically owns the second floor and seems to have claimed it as his domain, TV and all.

His bedroom is not the master bedroom but the view across the valley toward the ocean is fantastic.  He's got the privacy he needs with sliding doors to his deck.

Sandy loves her kitchen, equipped with modern appliances, cookware etc. etc. so she's happy as a lark.  As the saying goers, if she's happy, I'm happy.

It seems there's always one type or style of cookware or another that's missing but so far so good.  We even have pot holders and a coffee bean grinder.





It doesn't take long once you arrive in Costa Rica to feel the stress start to melt away.  The simple innocence of the people, quaint roadside restaurants, fresh air, ocean breeze, and no rush hour traffic does one a world of good.  I swear I gain back the years of my life that the frantic pace of the U.S. takes away.  The interesting thing, and somewhat unexpected, is the absence of biting bugs.  In Bocas del Toro (Panama) last year the little pepper sized bastards ate you alive, yet here at the edge of a jungle (literally), we've yet to be bitten.

The air, especially at the house, is so fresh and clean with the smell of Ginger (not my sister but the plant) in the air and all the exotic plants around the grounds (absent of any car exhaust) that you enjoy every breath.  The air is slightly moist (humid), in stark contrast to the dry winter air back home.  Dry cracked hands and nasal passages recover, and skin texture changes from brown paper bags back to normal.

The birds chirp, the monkeys occasionally squawk, and the waves crash in the distance.  Other than wildlife, silence is broken only by the rustling of palm leaves.



This, at least to us, is heaven on earth.  And so begins another journey.  More to come....