Another Year Another Ant Bite

We're back in Costa Rica and I've been pretty quiet. No blog posts. Not much Facebook. Until yesterday. You could have heard me in Nunavut when I got stung by a Bullet Ant. HOLEEE DUCK!!! 

We were bringing some wood indoors because it had started to rain. I picked up a board and immediately flinched because I thought I had gotten a bad splinter in my finger. Then I saw the large ant fall onto the floor from my hand. I have no idea what it feels like to be shot by a bullet, but this pain was excruciating. I ran for the ice and had to sit holding onto an ice bag for the rest of the day. If I let go of the ice, the agony would return in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, it only lasts for 12-24 hours, and, in my case, it was closer to 12.

To be fair, Sue has been stung twice by Bullet Ants, once on her foot. The first time she spent the day sitting with her foot in a bucket of ice water. I now readily admit that I wasn't as sympathetic as I should have been!

Missy and Mary came down on May 1st for vacation. Mary asked me what was the scariest animal that I had encountered in Costa Rica. I didn't even have to think about it. "Ants," I replied. They both thought I was loco until the day Missy accidently stepped on an ant nest. Her foot was immediately on fire from the tiny ant bites that happen before you even realize what you did. I think the small ones that attack our feet are fire ants, but I'm not really sure. I just call all of them fucking hormigas (hormiga is the Spanish word for ant). 

Those small ant bites are very painful at first, and then they get annoyingly itchy for days, even weeks. I currently have a large scab on my ankle from scratching and scratching and scratching. 

Before we leave the world of ants, I have to mention the leaf-cutters. These are fascinating ants that can carry pieces of leaves larger than their bodies straight up a vertical wall. Seeing leaf-cutter ants was at the top of Mary's CR wish list. We were able to deliver immediatly - they're all over the place. There's currently an army of them who seem to be moving a tree from the property on the right of us to the property on the left of us, cutting through our yard. They actually make a path where they walk, there are so many of them going back and forth!

I admit to being fascinated by leaf cutters, but other than that I have grown to hate ants, so let's move on. 

Missy and Mary (M&M) were supposed to visit us here in March of 2020. Remember when COVID hit? March of 2020. None of us knew very much about it, and they were trying to decide whether to travel or not, and then the decision was made for them - Costa Rica closed its borders. They didn't get here and we ended up staying for 7 months, until mid-September when the border re-opened. 

Fast forward 2+ years. M&M were able to re-book their cancelled flights for this May, which is when we finally returned (we skipped coming in 2021 because we were so confused about whether to travel when Omicron hit). We arrived on April 27th. The next day Heather drove me to Nuevo Arenal to meet a guy who had agreed to rent me a car for the days M&M were here. We share a car with Heather, but I knew we would be taking M&M on day trips and didn't want to leave Heather without a car all day. 

Nuevo Arenal is across the lake. About 3.5 miles as the crane flies. It takes at least 45 minutes to get there though, around the lake on very curvy roads. Nuevo means 'new' in Spanish - this town is the new Arenal because the old Arenal is under the lake since they built the hydroelectric dam in 1979. Old Tronadora is under the lake too. 

Anyway, we met the guy at the center of town gas station. He had written up a simple contract and was charging me $400 for 10 days. WAY cheaper than a real car rental agency! I paid him and he proceeded to explain to me everything one could ever possible need to know about driving a car. I mean everything! I drove him home with Heather following and then he told me a whole lot more. The car was basically a piece of shit, but it ran well. He said that it had an electrical issue so sometimes the power windows would go up and down on their own. We actually experienced the issue with the power locks. Lock unlock lock unlock over and over.  Good thing it was a short trip into town! 

So, we had the car and would be using it to pick up M&M the next day in Liberia. They were departing PVD at 6:30am, connecting somewhere I can't remember, and then they were due to arrive at LIR about 1:30pm. The fun started when they got notified at 9:30pm the night before that their flight was changed to 6am (from 6:30). What if they had already been sleeping??? It also had 2 stops instead of 1 (yuck!) and was now slated to arrive in LIR at 7:30pm. 

M&M were none too happy about the change, but they were dealing with it. They landed in Houston, their 2nd connection, and were just about to take off when thunderstorms hit and takeoffs were halted. First it was for 15 minutes. Then another 10. Then 15 more. Then the pilot let people get off the plane to stretch their legs. And on and on... Meanwhile Sue and I were making the hour and a half drive to the airport. We didn't take the rental because the guy had told me the headlights weren't too good. I had said no problem - I won't be driving at night anyway. Ha! 

We got to the airport about 7:30 and kept watching FlightAware and reading Missy's increasingly angry texts with their next, next, next, next, and next estimated takeoff times. They finally took off and then landed about 8:55pm. They got through passport control and customs quickly because they were the only flight coming in so late. Missy said she had been ready to get off the plane in Houston and fly back to RI, if that had been possible! I'm glad it wasn't!!! 

So back to the rental car. It was manual transmission, which I like, although on these curvy, hilly roads you have to do a LOT of down-shifting and up-shifting. The first (and only) trip we took with the rental car was to the Baldi Hot Springs near La Fortuna. About a 2 hour curvy, hilly ride around the lake, through Nuevo Arenal, past the dam, and right next to the Arenal volcano. All these local roads have 1-way bridges when they need to cross a rio (river) or quebrada (creek). One direction has a sign that reads 'CEDA', meaning yield. That's the side that has to stop if a vehicle is coming from the other direction. There are several of these bridges on the road around the lake. 

Towards the end of the ride to Baldi, I was going down a hill with a bridge at the bottom. I stepped on the brake and the pedal went right to the floor. My body jerked as I reacted and I hit the brake again. I also down-shifted to use the engine to slow us down. Missy saw it all and asked me what happened. I told them about the brakes while I gradually sped up and tested and retested to make sure the brakes were working again. They were, although they were now squealing pretty loudly when I applied them. We decided we would drive to Baldi, call the guy and tell him to pick up his car, and somehow arrange a ride home. 

So that's what we did, but first we had a wonderful time testing the various hot pools, having drinks at the bar in one of the pools, and totally forgetting about the piece of shit in the parking lot. Afterwards, the guy came and said he would take the car to his mechanic, and then return the car to me the following day. I thanked him profusely, but declined. We wanted no part of the piece of shit rental with bad brakes. A gal at the counter at Baldi knew someone who would drive us back home, and I got on my phone to start the process of finding a real rental car. 

Before I got that done, Heather let me know that a neighbor on our street had an extra vehicle (a pickup truck) that she would let us use while M&M were here. Everything always seems to work out!

PURA VIDA! 

It's About Time!

It certainly is about time! It's about time I wrote a post for this blog. It's about time we returned to the US before our dog forgets who we are. It's also about the extra time we have on our hands due to the pandemic. I'm sorry for letting the blog lapse - the last post was in May which means a month and a half have gone by with no enthusiam for writing. Even now I have little enthusiam, but I've procrastinated writing for so long that I feel guilty. Sheesh we have a lot of catching up to do, but I'll limit this post to June.

In mid-May we focused the hombres on finishing up the back apartment so we could move in on June 1st. We were very excited to actually move from Heather's into our new place so we stuck with our target date even though there were still some 'issues'. One issue was we found out that neither calentador (hot water heater) was working (after we moved in). Kevin referred us to a guy (Pito) who had a brother-in-law (Willman) who is an electrician. Pito and Willman came on a Sunday and checked out both units (they are tankless, on-demand calentadors). Willman discovered that both needed larger circuit breakers and maybe there were other problems, so he took both units with him for testing. A few days later he brought one back and installed it - this gave us agua caliente (hot water) in the outside sink where we wash dishes. Still only agua fria (cold water) at the outside ducha (shower), but it's really not THAT fria - if you wait until the afternoon when it's fairly calor (hot as in air temperature) outside, the ducha con solo agua fria (shower with only cold water) is welcome.

Interesting re-installation of a calentador on the kitchen wall

The other calentador had a different problem - Pito (through his English-speaking esposa Annmarie) informed us that he didn't think the plumbing was right. The unit should have a tubo (pipe) with agua fria going in, and a tubo with agua caliente coming out. Pito said it seemed like both tubos were agua fria input, and he would have to open up walls to search for the problem. One noche, when I couldn't sleep, it suddenly dawned on me where the problem was. I could picturie how the tubos for the outside ducha were installed. The faucet was not a mixer which would have required two inputs - hot and cold. This faucet only had one input, so a hot water tubo and a cold water tubo had been joined to form one input tubo. That meant the cold water was able to run right into the hot water piping system. When Pito and Willman came to work on it, I told them where to open the wall and, sure enough, it was as I had pictured in the noche.

Check out this plumbing! The fatter white tubos are cold water and the thinner
ecru tubos are hot water - they join somewhere out of sight on the left.

Willman re-installed the calentador while Pito and I went to the ferrateria to purchase a mixing faucet. I'd say it was probably the 3rd week of Junio when we had an outside ducha with agua fria AND agua caliente. Pura vida!

By the time we moved in we had a baño (bathroom) with a toilet and lavamano (sink), a refrigerator, stove, and TV. We also had beautiful twin beds made out of cedro by our woodworking friend Kevin. Cedro is cedar, but it's not the same as the cedar in the US. We bought the mattresses at a local place in Tilaran called Curacao and asked Eduardo, the sales guy, for measurements to give to Kevin for the beds. You can't really count on standards here in Costa Rica. Eduardo gave me measurements that we passed on to Kevin, and, voila! the bed frames are too narrow for the mattresses. Pura vida! For now the mattresses are kind of perched on top of the frames instead of nestling down onto the slats. We have come up with a few solutions but we haven't been motivated enough to implement any of them.

We also had two front puertas (doors) made out of cedro by Hernan's brother Ronald. Hernan seems to have countless brothers who do beautiful woodworking, as does Hernan himself, but Hernan is currently muy occupado (very busy) on another construction site so he recommended Ronald. We have two front puertas because the house can be used as two units... eventually. In the photo below you can see the main front puerta as well as a couple of the new ventanas (windows) and one of the sliders. The ventana in the middle is an old one that hadn't been replaced yet. You can also see that the materials on the floor are primarily metal. The only madeira (wood) in the casa (so far) is the door frames and doors. Eventually we'll also have shelves and furniture made out of madeira, but nothing structural. The termites will NOT eat this casa again! The parts of the paredes (walls) that have color are part of the original casa.

For the two back puertas (one out of each bathroom to get to the outside shower) we cheated to save money and bought unfinished pino (pine) puertas at the ferreteria. Sue did the sanding, staining, and varnishing so that they are the same color as the puertas de cedro, although not the same quality. Termites don't eat cedro - it's too hard - we'll have to see how long the puertas de pino last. Sorry for the messy room in the photo below, but you can see the cedro beds and one of the puertas de pino. This room is the main room of the back (studio) apartment. The small cocina (kitchen) is the room to the left, and the baño is straight ahead on the right. There was no door on the baño yet - that took us about 3 weeks to get - another puerta de pino LOL.

Another issue when we moved in was that we had no screens in the seven 'clerestory windows' high up in the ceilo raso (ceiling). Michael-the-window-guy was apparently muy occupado with other orders and hadn't delivered them yet. This was no biggie during the day, but those nighttime insectos were a bother. We would sleep with our sheets pulled up over our heads. Some nights there were pretty large beetles, some nights there were mosquitos, and some nights flying ants. I really can't remember how many days (nights) this lasted before Michael came and installed the screens, but I do remember I was just about to buy real mosquito netting when he showed up and we no longer had to hide from los insectos de noches.

For the whole month of Junio, we had the hombres work on the front half of the house while we lived in the back apartment. They had to finish the paredes (walls), the cielo raso, and also seal up openings in the techo (roof) under the eaves. Finishing one wall had to wait for a momma clay-colored robin to finally decide her eggs were never going to hatch. They got all that done, and they installed canoas (gutters) on two sides of our techo, and then we called it quit. We are continuing to do small, targeted projects, but anything big will have to wait until proximo añ
o (next year).

On the wildlife front, we are very excited to have perezosos (sloths) and monos (monkeys) make appearances in the trees behind our casa. There's a momma perezoso carrying a baby that we've seen 2 or 3 times, plus a solo perezoso.

A lone two-toed perozoso (sloth) behind the casa

The monos (actually, mono congos - howler monkeys) move around based on the food supply, so they show up for a few days, and then show up again.

Howler monkey hanging around behind the casa

Three howler monkeys taking an afternoon siesta

The big male of the troop howling (no audio - use your imagination)

This huge iguana was totally camoflaged way up in the trees in back until he started wagging his wattle. Check him out!

And that's pretty much what fills our time. We are in a very safe area here in CR - out in the campo (countryside) where there are more vacas (cows) than personas. Our canton of Tilaran (like a county) has only 2 active cases of the virus right now, and the whole country has had just over 11,000 cases with about 60 deaths. Masks are mandatory and the border is closed to all but CR citizens returning home.

Oh! A couple more things! Here's Sue having her first EVAH meet-and-greet with a vaca (pronounced baca)! Our neighbor Jorge is holding her (the vaca, not Sue).

Here's the carro (gotta really roll those double r's!) that 5 of us chipped in on - a 1998 (or 97?) Honda CRV. You would be shocked at how expensive very-used cars are here!

And lastly, here's me picking aguacates (avacados) at Heather's casa.

PURA VIDA!

Strangers in a Strange Land

(Guest post by Heather Ray)

Nine years ago, at the invitation of a good friend, I made my first trip to this magical place called Costa Rica. Since then, I have returned annually... Sometimes with family but mostly with friends.

I now have a small home here; perched on the Eastern slope of the continental divide at 2100 feet elevation.

Lovely view of the eastern slope of the continental divide! 

The birds are varied and plentiful. Toucans are as common here as Robin's are in Ontario. The howler monkeys signal the start of each day at 5am with their resonant baritone calls. 

Two years ago my friends Jo-Anne and Sue came to visit me here. They now own the home 100 meters away. We share a picturesque view of a lush hillside and quebrada and we recently discovered we also share a mama sloth and her one offspring. 

Jo and Sue's casa required some remodeling work and over the past two years we have gotten to know some of the local builders... Specifically, Henry and Sergio, whom we have come to include in our circle of friends.

Friends taking a selfie before coronavirus struck

Now keep in mind they don't speak English and the three of us know just enough Español to embarrass ourselves on a regular basis, yet somehow, we are able to communicate quite effectively through pantomime, horrible pronunciations and Google translate (go home Google translate. You're drunk).

Henry and Sergio on coffee break

The "Ticos" are incredibly kind and muy generous people. They are ingenious, and can overcome any obstacle they encounter. If they don't have a tool for a specific task, they simply create a tool using what they do have. It's really an amazing experience to observe them.

We arrived in mid-February, and were soon invited to share a fun evening of karaoke with our lawyer and her family and colleagues. The food was delicious and the laughter plentiful. Music melted any language barriers. It really was a special evening and we feel honored to have been invited. 

Dinner before karaoke

Shortly after we arrived in this magical land, COVID-19 turned the entire world upside down. I'm incredibly proud to see how this country handled the arrival of the pandemic. On March 16th the border was closed, preventing any new arrivals. 

Well before distancing orders were implemented in North America, Costa Rica had already put a halt to group gatherings and ordered all retailers to erect hand washing stations outside their doors. Plexiglass partitions were put up at checkout counters and alcohol gel was readily available, as was (is) toilet paper. Seniors were permitted entry to the bank/grocery store for the first hour of each business day, and only 5 persons at a time were allowed inside. 

In addition to these measures, strict driving bans were put in place. Initially, during Semana Santa (holy) week, vehicles were restricted to only two days of driving and had to observe an odd/even schedule based on the last digit of your license plate. Now, 5 weeks later, we aren't allowed to drive on Tuesdays or Sundays and can only drive to either the supermarket or pharmacy on Saturdays.

Also during Semana Santa, all beaches were closed. Keep in mind this is a time when all Ticos head to the beach for the entire week! Not this year...

While some countries are reporting deaths in the thousands, this tiny Central American country has had 7 losses to date. Currently the number of recovered cases numbers more than the number of active cases. 

It's for these reasons we decided to cancel our return flights at the end of March and stay here. It just seemed like the smarter and safer option. I'm glad we did.

Yalta, we have a problem!

Last week was very interesting, if you like police dramas. There were actually two episodes, and we're very hopeful that was the end of the series. Interactions with the Policia of another country, none of whom speak English, is not something we want any more experience with.

Las Dramas de Policia - Episodio Uno 

There are punks in every country, even out here in the campo (countryside) of Costa Rica. Every so often a small white Honda races up and down our dirt road. It's an old carro (car), but he has it 'souped up' to a degree and loves to rev the engine and skid on the gravel. From what we understand from locals, he doesn't live here in Tronadora or San Luis - sounds like he lives in Tilaran, the slightly larger city about 5 miles from here. We think the thing that draws him over here is a mechanic shop up the road.

About a month ago Sue and I were on the road talking to a neighbor (socially distanced, of course). The punk came racing down the slight hill and I expected him to slow down as he approached us. He did not and I was afraid if he skidded around the curve, he might slide right into us so I grabbed Sue's arm and we jumped off the road onto the grassy shoulder. I yelled 'slow down!', but he was already gone, plus I couldn't think fast enough to say it in español ('despacio!').

So, every few days we'd see the punk race up Chimurria Rd and then race back down, sometimes skidding on the gravel. My favorite day was when I happened to see a tow truck coming down the road, towing a white souped up carro. In the driver's seat sat the punk. JAJAJAJA  That's español for HAHAHAHA because a 'J' is pronounced as we would pronounce an 'H'. So my name, Jo, is, well never mind...

There are other different pronounciations that we are trying to master as we work at improving our espanol. For example, a 'V' is usually pronounced as a 'B' and vice versa (so that would be pronounced bice bersa). We learned the word for cow by ear, well before we ever learned how it was spelled - it is spelled 'vaca' but pronounced 'baca'. And when you want someone to 'come on' (such as when we're in the casa and we want to show Henry or Sergio something), you say 'benga' (spelled 'venga'). And twenty thousand colones is pronounced 'BEN-tay meel', spelled 'veinte mil'.

Before I leave the 'B' and 'V' confusion, there's a new word we learned recently - quebrada, pronounced 'kay-VRA-da'. Our casa overlooks a quebrada. As best as I can figure it, it's a creek running through a valley.

Pronouncing a 'Y' can be even more confusing. Sometimes it's pronounced like a 'Y' and sometimes it sounds like a 'J'. Our lawyer's name is Yalta, pronounced 'Jalta'. Our notary is Yorleni, pronounced 'Yorleni'. We asked Yalta why Yorleni isn't 'Jorleni' and she shrugged.

Back to La Drama Policia, Episodio Uno...

Two Sabados (Saturdays) ago, we were outside (as we almost always are) when the punk came racing up Chimurria Rd and spun out into a full 360 just past Heather's casa. He is lucky that where he went off the road wasn't a deep ditch, as most of the time that's what lines the roads for draining the rains.

He pulled back onto the road and turned into Heather's driveway to turn around. Heather walked towards the carro and yelled for him to slow down and take it easy. The punk and his cronies yelled back at her - we only understood one of the words and we've been told it's a bad one. He made some more trips up and down the road during the day - enough so we got photos of him, his carro, and his license plate. Little did we know we'd need them! Heather sent the license plate number to Yalta who was able to look it up in the registro (pronounced 'rehistro') and provide Heather with the punk's name and cedula (id number).

El Hombre Malo

That night, about 7, we heard cars revving and punks yelling as two carros went by. Heather heard a thunk that turned out to be a rock hitting the security panel over one of the front windows. It actually chipped the window but did not break it. Heather checked the footage on her security camera. Yep, she has a security camera aimed outside her door and at the road. Got 'em! A carro blanco (white car) and a carro negro (black car)! And you can hear the punks AND the thunk! She downloaded the video so she wouldn't lose it, and called 911. 911 in San Jose, once they found someone who habla'd Ingles, said they would forward the information to the Policia in Tilaran.

Look closely - there's a guy sitting outside the window who must have thrown the rock

Same night, about 9:30, after we had all turned in (and I was asleep), there was a huge bang! I mean HUGE! It woke me up thinking a bomb had gone off in front of the house. Then we heard punks yelling and gravel flying. Yep, it was the 2 carros again. This time the rock they threw went through one of the front windows. There was glass all over the ground and inside the house (behind the couch, under the window).

The shattered window and the rock

Heather took photos and then checked the footage on her security camera. In the morning, (Domingo - Sunday) Heather contacted Yalta and Yalta called the Tilaran Policia. Heather is very good with Google Translate and had prepared her 'talking points' in español, plus she had all her photos and video ready to show them. Two young officers came over and took all the information to record it in the system. They advised her to go to the OIJ ('oh-ee-hota') in Cañas (CAN-yass) on Lunes (Monday) to file a report.

Yalta went with Heather to the OIJ on Monday to do the talking, since it was doubtful there would be anyone there speaking English. They made the report with all the evidence Heather had collected, and we know they are investigating because, during the week, they were around asking other people questions. We haven't seen the punk or his carro since, and I doubt we will.

Oh! The ventanas (windows)! Yes, pronounced 'bentanas'. On Sunday Heather called the local guy, Michael, who is making our windows at Twicasa. He came over with his tio (uncle). Sue and I chatted with Michael's tio on the patio while Heather and Michael cleaned up the glass. Michael took out the window frames and took them to his workshop. That evening he came back and installed 2 new ventanas. Que servicio!!!

73 mil colones for 2 windows (about $130)

BREAKING NEWS!  TWO-TOED SLOTH PASSES BY ON CHIMURRIA ROAD! 
We were eating dinner last night and Heather got up to get more vinegar. She just happened to look out the window at the right moment to see a sloth zipping by on the telephone cable! Here's a video to show you how fast a sloth zips.

La Drama de Policia - Episodio Dos

At least a couple of times a week, maybe more, a car will drive by with giant speakers making an announcement in español. Sometimes it's a fruit vendor announcing his wares. Other times it's an announcement about COVID-19, telling everyone to continue staying at home. I have to listen very carefully to determine whether it's about fruit or COVID as it approaches up Chimurria Rd.

The Tilaran Municipalidad making an announcement about the COVID-19 emergency

We can actually hear them coming all the way from San Luis and so do the dogs across the street. For some reason, they howl (not bark) as they hear them approaching, and continue howling as they turn onto our road, come up the street, and go past.

Lunes pasada (last Monday), we saw (and heard) a carro policio go by making the COVID-19 announcement. I didn't think any more about it until later in the day when I saw a carro policio stop in front of Twicasa. Instead of walking over to find out what was going on, I decided it would be better to let Henry and Sergio handle the situation in español, knowing they would come and report to us. 

After the policia left, Henry indeed came over to Heather's casa to fill us in. Apparently someone had reported that there was a house being constructed on Chimurria Rd without a permit. The 'someone' had filed a denuncia with the policia. Henry had a pink sheet of papel (paper) with all the information and told us we needed to go to the Tilaran Municipalidad office and speak with Rosemary, and probably pay a fine. Henry also assured us that he showed the policia evidence of the old structure and that this was a remodel, not new construction. 

This is when I texted 'Yalta, we have a problem!'. Yalta's response was 'who is this?' LOL. She usually messages Heather and evidently didn't have my number in her phone. Anyway, Yalta said we need to be sure to stress that we are repairing the house (we are!) and draw up a plan, putting a cost on each repair. She made plans for us to pick her up in the morning at 9am to go with us to see Rosemary. 

I worked on the plan and emailed it to her in the morning just before we left to head to her office. When we got to her office, she said that I had been too thorough - I had included more details (and therefore more costs) than was necessary. She strongly advised that we go back home and re-do the list, and emphasize 'repair'. We did so and went back to Tilaran to pick her up. 

At the Municipalidad, Yalta and I went in and found Rosemary behind glass. A mucho rapido conversation in español took place, and then we left. Rosemary said to take the plan to a different office to have the work entered into the system. More mucho rapido conversation in español, a small fee (about 5 mil or $8), and the work was in the system. Next step is that Rosemary will assess it and call Yalta with the amount we must pay for the permit. 

We have a theory that the denuncia was actually filed against the new house being built down in the valley between Heather's casa and ours. That house is down so low that the top of the roof is about road level. It's possible that the policia drove by, missing that, and focused in on Twicasa because it is glowing white with it's brand new red roof. Yalta agrees, but says we are still 'busted' and must address it. We agree tambien (also). 

I guess this episodio will have to be continued, because Yalta hasn't heard from Rosemary yet, but in the meantime, we are allowed to continue with the repairs! 

Pura vida! 

Sounds of Progress

Hello darkness my old friend

I've come to talk with you again

But the peacocks screaming down the street

And the nightjars calling constantly

Break the silence with their freaking cacophony

I need sleep

I'm begging for the sounds of silence…

Just kidding. Well, not kidding about the peacocks and the nightjars, but they make beautiful sounds. The barking dogs across the street are not as soothing, but they don't bark every night. Sound is what I've been thinking about - can you tell?

Daytime and nighttime sounds are very different. Daytime starts about 5am with the howler monkeys in the trees below and the rooster down the street. At that point you can either give in to their insistent calls and get up, or you can roll over for more sleep (like I usually do).  howlers

The birds start singing then too. Clay-colored robins sing all day - their song is similar to the American robin but a bit more varied and definitely more melodic. They might be thirsty - they keep singing about iced tea because I keep hearing te frio (tay FREE-oh) in their songs. clay-colored robin

About 7am either Lenny or Sergio stops by for the key to Twicasa (the name of our house) so they can open it up and start the day's work. Lenny comes by bicycle, so we don't hear him coming. Sergio comes by car so we know when he's stopping here. Henry shows up a little bit later and he's very recognizable skidding along the gravel road in his small pick-up truck. Henry is loco and drives mucho rapido! LOL

We hear construction sounds from our casa occasionally, but it's 100 meters up the road so we only hear if they use the metal grinder. On our twice or thrice daily visits to view the work, if we hear the sparky sounds of the welder, we stay outside until it stops. A constant sound (except during coffee breaks) is the circular ssshhh ssshhhh sssshhh of Lenny applying the plaster skim coat (repello) to the walls (paredes) - he's going to have a right bicep the size of Arenal volcano!

Arenal volcano at the southeastern end of Lake Arenal

Back on Heather's patio, we often hear toucans calling in the distance - their sound is just like running your thumb down a comb, over and over and over and over. The gray hawk in the valley must need a mate - his simple 'here here here' happens many times each day. In March the orapendulas burble a lot but right now we are hearing their bubbly song only occasionally - the flowering tree they were eating nearby has no more flowers so I guess they've moved on.  oropendola

Flycatchers, vireos, doves, more robins, anis (AH-nees not AY-nis!), wrens, chacalacas, grackles, euphonias, seedeaters, grassquits, etc. provide more grist for our ear-mills all day.  chacalaca

So do the various trucks lumbering up and down Chimurria Road making deliveries to the different construction sites. Between Heather's casa and our casa, down in the valley, Andres and Paula are having a casa built mostly out of stone. Every few days a giant dump truck has to make the precarious trip down their curved dirt driveway to dump a load of rocks. Going down is pretty easy, but we've observed some difficult situations when they try to drive back up. The good thing is that the stone house will not obstruct our view of Heather's casa and the 3 volcanoes across the lake - its roof is below the level of our floor.

Andres and Paula's rock house under construction next door

 Andres and Paula are from Chile, but they have been living over at the beach (Playa Coco) for about 15 years. They are moving here to escape the heat of the beach. We are in the highlands at about 2000 feet altitude. If it's 85 degrees here, it's 100 at the beach. Plus our area stays green as it squeezes the last bit of rain out of the clouds moving from the Caribbean (east) to the Pacific (west) coast. Once you drive about 5 miles west of here, past Tilaran, you are down in a hot, dry valley all the way to the Pacific beaches. And if you go about 5 miles east of here (which is across the lake), you get (on average) 85 more days of rain each year than we get. We believe we are in the optimal area for temperature and rainfall!  

Rainbow over the hot dry plain west of Tilaran

Just like at home, the daytime sounds wind down at dusk with the robins still singing. But then, unlike at home, the cicadas pick up where the robins leave off. You are hard-pressed to sit outside and have a conversation when the cicadas crank up their buzzing!  cicadas

Oops I'm supposed to bring you up to date on our progress on the casa, not babbling on about sounds. It's going very well. It's 'muy dificil' to understand Estaban (the electrician) but we think he's going to finish on Friday. Most of the outlets and switches are installed, as are very simple $2 lightbulb sockets where each light fixture will go (after we find and purchase them). Also we have motion sensor security lights installed all around the outside of the house. Here's a photo of Estaban (on the left) buying materials at Rafa Ferreteria. Elberth, on the right, is the only person at Rafa that speaks any English, so he ususally waits on us.

Two of the placeholders for overhead lights in the main living area

There is a fair amount of poverty here, or maybe it is better to call it 'surviving one day at a time', so crimes of opportunity something to guard against. That means don't leave anything outside if you're not home, and, if we are not going to be here in CR full time (which we're not), we need security bars on the doors and windows.  I sometimes think that as each Costa Rican boy comes of age, he is given a weed whacker and a machete and sent on his way. For some, that becomes their way of life - become a 'Jose of all trades' and hustle every day to find the next day's work. Henry, Sergio, and Lenny have been working steadily for us for over 2 months now and will continue to do so for at least 1 more month. Henry also manages to fit in odd jobs like weed whacking people's lawns, collecting scrap metal to sell, and building doors like this one he is building for Heather. 

Henry has trouble fitting everything in. You ask him when he will do something and he replies 'mañana' (tomorrow) - our joke with him is it's 'mañana, mañana, siempre mañana!' (always mañana!). Heather's door isn't done yet, but Henry assured her he will finish it mañana. 

Back to the casa… so ya, the electrical is almost done and the windows have started (yay!). We got 2 quotes for windows and Michael, the local-right-in-Tronadora guy, came in significantly less. We are happy to give someone local the business but it was a little awkward that we didn't choose Sergio's son Anthony. Anthony's business is about 2 hours away and it was difficult (3 weeks or so) to get him here for a quote. Not sure if Sergio felt bad - not sure he would have let us know if he did. Anyway, we paid Anthony for his time and fuel to eliminate hard feelings.

We have 20 windows (!) and 3 sliding glass doors. We ordered 5 windows and 1 slider to start, so we could be sure we liked Michael's product. Two weeks ago I went with Heather for a ride to Danny's house on peninsula 2 to pick up some plants he was giving her. He had a cool house with large, beautiful windows. I asked him about them and he said his neighbor did them. Turns out his neighbor is Michael. Small world, Tronadora!

Last evening Michael and his partner came and installed the 5 windows, and tonight they will come back to install the 9 foot sliding glass door. Then we will place an order for the next batch of windows, based on which openings Henry and Sergio will have ready next week. Here are photos of windows and doors being installed.

Michael installing one of the sliding glass doors

We discovered one glitch this week. We wanted hanging barn doors that roll to each side for the bedroom doors. I know I've gone through the motions (multiple times) to show Henry and Sergio how we wanted the doors, but somewhere along the line my pantomime got lost in translation. Yesterday we got the barndoor point across and Sergio's face darkeoned a bit. Turns out he didn't install any reinforcement above the door for the metal track that will hold the total weight of the wooden doors. He installed reinforcement all around the opening, figuring that hinges would need to be screwed in there. We all agreed to just think about it for a while - bedroom doors are not a priority.

The priority right now is that I get to bed before the peacocks and nightjars turn up the volume! TWEEEEEET and PURA VIDAAAAA!

(sound clips and some photos courtesy of Heather Ray)

Rapido Progress!

Things are progressing muy rapido at the casa! It's very busy there whenever we walk up to observe and ask (or answer) preguntas.

The main electrical caja (box) at the street (with the meter) is not in front of our property, so they are moving it and making a rectangular posta to mount it on. Lenny dug all the trenches in the front yard for the terrestrial (underground) cable - it looked like a miserable job!

 
















Henry and Sergio are putting up walls, covering one side with cement board, then Estaban and his son Estaban put in the electrical tomas (outlets), cajas (junction boxes), and interruptors (switches). All the cable is run inside plastic conduit so the ceiling looks like a spider web with all the conduit and junction boxes! Here's Estaban and his hijo (EE-ho) (son) installing a toma plus a view of part of the ceiling.

From left to right: Estaban, Estaban 

One of ceiling spider webs

Next, the other side of the wall gets its cement board and Lenny tapes and muds the seams. Lastly, Sergio (or Lenny) puts on a skim coat of repero and it's such a bonito (beautiful), rustic finish that we're not doing anything on top of it for now. Below Henry is raising a heavy piece of durock (cement board) over a door opening - Sergio is helping him while Sue and Joe hold the tall ladder. In the middle Lenny is mudding the seams and on the right is a partially repero'd pared (wall).

 








It is also interesting that we cannot get haircuts (as I'm sure is true everywhere these days). Last week Sue got the name of a woman in Tilaran who cuts hair and made an appointment using Whatsapp (everyone here uses Whatsapp). The day of the appointment, the woman messaged her that she had to cancel because of the stay home order. My hair has also been getting long and that drives me loco. Today Heather said "want me to cut your hair?", I said "yes", and she did!

I look kind of scared, don't I! 

The hardware stores are also open, except at lunchtime which is when we tried to go to Colono the other day. To kill some time, we went to Pollolandia for fried chicken at the walk-up window. The parks and playgrounds are all roped off so we found a shady spot to park on the road and ate the pollo in the carro. The hardware stores have all installed temporary lavamanos (hand washing sinks) in front and ask that you wash your hands before entering. A pex water pipe runs across the ceiling and out the door to the sink, and a plastic drain pipe runs the water into the street gutter.

Heather washing her hands before entering the Rafa ferreterria

We needed to buy door knob / lock sets for the 2 front doors. Hernan's hermano (brother) Roland is going to make them. The wood will be cedro (cedar) and will be varnished but not stained - we like the natural look. He expects to have them done in una semana (1 week)!

Sergio explaining the front door to Roland

Cedro with different finishes

There are 2 front doors because our design allows us to divide the casa into 2 apartments. That way we can rent the 'front' and stay in the 'back' which will have a 'mini-cocina' (mini-kitchen) and its own baño (bathroom).

'Cocina' reminds me of a story from last year that I don't think I mentioned yet. The word for kitchen in Italian is (we think) cuchina, and, right or wrong, we pronounce it koo-CHEE-nah. We mistakenly used that word with Hernan last year and he turned 50 shades of red. Apparen0tly in Espanol, that's not a kitchen - that pronounciation refers to a woman 'down there' LOL! The Spanish word for kitchen is cocina (pronounced co-SEE-nah). We are very careful about that now!

Another thing we're very careful about (now) is remembering to take the house keys when we go to town. Below is Joe using a piece of wire to try to unlock the latch that keeps the upper and lower parts of Heather's dutch door together. By the way, check out that puerta! It's cedro and it is MUY BONITA!

Joe has also been working on several projects at Heather's casa. First he expanded her outside bodega. This entailed laying concrete blocks, enclosing the top with durock, and building a shelf to store her tools and paints.

He also made a really cool mesa de cafe (coffee table) for the patio out of an old door.

The madeira (wood) store is one of our favorite places to go! The lumber is not cut into standard sizes (e.g. 2x4, 2x6) like at home. It's all random widths and thicknesses so you just go in, browse until you find something that'll work. Cristian (the madeira man) will cut any length you need and the prices are very reasonable. We usually buy laurel (prounced lah-oh-REL).

No, the bus does not stop here! 

There's not a lot of other news. The government has issued a 'stay home order' because of the coronavirus. The pickleball court is closed, as are any restaurants that don't have takeout. Fortunately the little shop in Tilaran that we call the 'Everything Shop' is usually open - that's where we buy our yarn and other craft materials. We just bought some canvases, acrylic paints, and paint brushes - this should be interesting!

Oh! Here's what the guys who hauled away all our construction trash found in the pile in the front yard!

PURA VIDA!

Walls, Windows, and Doors, OH MY!

Wow have I been lolly-gagging! Let's see if I can bring this chronicle up to date... We finalized the specs on walls, windows, and doors so the guys are now making great progress (mucho rapido!). They laugh, though, every time we walk in because they know we have another cambio (change). Everything is metal (because of termites), so at times they are cutting posts with an electric grinder and other times they are arc welding. Totally different construction style than at home!

Here's Sergio up on the ladder and Henry holding up the scaffolding.

One morning we walked up to observe the progress and learned that there was a water problem - the guys had turned on the water spigot outside and water started coming up inside the house in places where the concrete floor wasn't finished. The spigot is out near the road, so Henry and Sergio had to reason where they thought the line into the house ran. They were spot on, but it was a lot of work to dig all the way down to the pipes. For a country with no frost, these pipes were buried pretty deep, and the fill was very rocky!

They cut and capped the pipe into the house and will connect the new pipes to the water line later.

We use several different ferraterias (hardware stores) - Colono, Rafa, Quincho, and now mostly the one here in Tronadora, 'Miner' (Miner is the owner's name, but I have no idea how to spell it.) Henry and Sergio know which store has the best price for each item. For example, the cement board they are using for the walls - it's 18000 colones for a 4x8 sheet at Colono and 11000 from Miner (that's about $32 from Colono vs. $19 from Miner). They make it BY HAND over in Alejuela Province (meaning they pour concrete into a shallow form (with a mesh core) on the ground and then drag a board across the top to smooth it - Henry showed me some photos of the process). Anyway, for the most part we are now buying from Miner - when the guys need materials Henry calls Miner, it gets delivered, and Henry tells me that I should go pay mas tardes (later). (He tells me by making a motion like swiping a credit card LOL.) Here's cement board being delivered. It's incredibly heavy!!!

On Monday, the guys brought an electrician to the house (Estaban) - he was recommended by Miner. We walked through our electrical plan (he had already re-drawn it from my rough drawing) and he gave us a quote on the spot. Very reasonable! Estaban speaks no English, but by now we're used to that. We know quite a few construction words in Espanol and Google Translate gets us over the rough spots. 

On Tuesday, Estaban and his son were on the job, and they had another guy outside digging a trench to bury the electric service from the road. Here's Sergio (on the left), Estaban, and his son, Estaban Jr.

On Sunday a window guy named Luis from San Luis (no relation) showed up so we gave him our list of windows and sliding doors to get a quote. We thought Luis worked with Sergio's son Anthony who also sells windows. We were supposed to meet with Anthony on the weekend, so we assumed Luis came in his place. Turns out Luis has nothing to do with Anthony! Sergio was a bit hurt because he though we had called Luis (we didn't!). When we sorted it all out, no one knows why Luis showed up!! Sergio said Anthony didn't come because his kid was sick so he's coming this Friday or Saturday. We certainly prefer to give Anthony the business! 

Here's Henry cutting out one of the ventanas (windows). 

Another water problem happened, but this time it was in front of Heather's house. The trash truck ran over the water main valve (for the whole street) and broke it. Water was coming up and running down into the valley between Heather's and our house.

That would have been fine - it would have just run into the little Rio (River) San Luis that runs through the valley, but there's a house being built down below by Andres and Paula (from Chile). The builders down there dug a trench to direct the water around their worksite. Here's a look at that project from our yard. It's a bit hard to see, but the front (to the left) is beautiful stonework and will have windows looking right into the monkey-and-sloth-laden trees (ok, there aren't that many monkeys and sloths).

Andres' house's roof will be just about at the level of our yard, so it won't spoil our view. You can see Heather's house beyond the worksite, up to the right.

It hasn't been just work (hahaha - like we're actually working!) - up until this week we have also been having fun. Just a couple of miles from here (a lot shorter if you hike over the hills) there's a open air (but covered) tennis court with 2 pickleball courts marked. Walk-in pickleball happens on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday so we started going a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun (until Heather pulled a muscle) and this week we decided that, based on the coronavirus, we should stay away. Damn!

There are about 50 cases of the virus here in CR and the border was closed to non-residents yesterday. They have also closed bars, restaurants, clubs, and casinos. We feel pretty safe because we're way out in a rural area. The only crowds are of the bovine variety. Here's what was just next door the other day. Check out all the cattle egrets!

Occasionally cows get loose and wander around. Horses too, although cows much more often. Here's one that showed up in Heather's yard.

One day we went to the Centro de Rescate Las Pumas (Puma Rescue Center) with our friend Pamela. They have monkeys, birds, and several different types of cats (not just pumas) that have been rescued and can't be released. Here's one of the cats taking a nap in the heat (sorry, I don't know a jaguar from an ocelet from a puma). The habitats were large and very natural!

Every afternoon, just about suppertime, a beautiful beagle-ish dog comes to visit us for a snack (boca). We dubbed him Snoopy!

That's it for now... PURA VIDA!