Many Rivers to Cross

We have had two fun adventures in the past two days in our brand new used Mitsubishi Montero, whose new name is Tica the Tortuga, or something to that effect. We are not entirely settled on the name except for general agreement that the car is to be thought of as a white turtle, amphibious in her nature.

And why amphibious, you may be asking. Check out this attached video for true back-country excitement!! (OK forget it...it took 30 minutes plus to uploaded the video and it was still not uploaded...trust me, it was cool!)

Seriously, it was quite fun crossing this river yesterday. The kids got a real thrill out of it. All roads within 20+km of Nosara are dirt roads and very prone to flooding. And, in some spots, it is not so much that they are prone to flooding but rather that the roads cross rivers and yet are bridgeless. When a bridgeless road crosses a river it necessarily goes through the river.

I'll tell you about our destinations but the trips were really the most fun. Today's journey made yesterday's videotaped river crossing look like absolutely nothing. The river we crossed today was wider and deeper and when we plunged into it, a wave of water shot up over the hood of the car and covered the windshield, temporarily giving us a view similar to what those on the Titanic must have seen near their bitter end. Fortunately, we pulled through. The kids (and Mom and Dad) loved it!

Our destinations: yesterday we were headed to Ostional, a playa just 10 km north of us that is home to massive turtle nestings. 1000s of turtles come to Ostional and lay their eggs. We are hoping to go back tomorrow and will post more on the blog if we see some turtles. As they primarily lay eggs at night, our dusk trip yesterday was a bit early for them.


Today we went south 20 km to Samara, a playa that is a bit more developed than our own beach. Roads in Samara are actually paved and even in this low season (which ends Nov 1) there were a number of tourists in town. Riley and Tara found horses on the beach and went for a nice ride, Tara really getting a good gallop. Baker and Tae and I amused ourselves with a good game of coconut bocce. Not sure if there are many coconuts in Italy--maybe in Sicily?--but this could well be how the game was invented.


In addition to physical rivers to cross, we are finding some symbolic rivers to cross in the past few days. Tara had the poor fortune this morning to attend a community meeting in Nosara where the topic was local crime. As a result, she received a real sense that, unfortunately, crime has become all too common in Nosara, with both foreigners and Ticas falling victim to thefts. Fortunately, there is little (not none, but little) violent crime. That meeting was a bit of a downer on the day and figuring out how to make sure we keep ourselves and our stuff safe while also maintaining an atmosphere of fun and adventure for the kids has been a topic of conversation for Tara and me today.

Oh yeah and...

• the guy who takes care of the yard at our rental house is drinking on the job
• the house we hoped to get after 12/15 now seems to be rented out
• there is too much English spoken here
• and everything seems to be closed because it is rainy season!

Whew! Good to get that out...Not everything is rosy...But the cows...man are they good-looking!

Car Owners Again

It was brief--just 12 days--but for a time Tara and I owned no car. On September 12, we bid farewell to our minivan, about two months after we had sold our VW bug. From that date until two days ago, the 24th, we were carless. Something neither of had been since 1997, when we lived in Mongolia. There is a special kind of freedom one feels not owning a car and it was fun while it lasted.

But, it is also good to have a car again in other ways! We are the proud owners of a 2000 Mitsubishin Montero Endeavor with 92000 miles on it. I am just back yesterday morning from a trip to San Jose and Grecia to retrieve the car and do some other shopping. In addition to being new (used) car owners, we are also now the owners of:

1. a pair of bongos
2. a keyboard
3. a printer
4. two lunchboxes
5. an answering machine

And so we are now able to make music, print things from our laptops, carry lunch to school and hear all your lovely voices should you choose to call our landline and find us out of the house!

Unfortunatly we are not owners of a charged camera. Tara's camera batteries are dead and we cannot find the charger. Hence, no photos of the car (or the bongos, or the keyboard...)

Ciao for now!

Pura Vida!

Adventure on the High Seas

I apologize in advance for typos...the world is still swaying and swash-a-ling around me after mine and Baker's four and a half hour deep see fishing trip.

Baker and I hoped to set out fishing on Monday but due to poor weather we were unable to get out until today. Our trusty captain, Vibert, was a Barbados native but a Costa Rica resident since the early 70s. Tara, Riley and Tae dropped us off at Playa Garza, one beach south of our home beach Playa Guiones and we set out in Vibert's 18 foot wooden boat, through the breakers to the spot where his 27 foot fishing vessel was moored. Before we left the beach, Tara said to me--her favorite weak-stomached waterman, "good luck." Nuff said.

Vibert and his trusty crew (Vibert junior, 23, and Guillermo, ~20) took us out about 3 miles into the Pacific, still well in view of Playa Garza. Our first bit of excitement was the sight of two sea turtles mating! Very cool. And quite impressive. We saw these two lovers two more times over the next hour and both times they were still locked in an embrace. Gentleman, don't let your lady leave you for a turtle...

We had our first bite about an hour into the trip but lost the fish. Our second bite resulted in a beautiful mahi-mahi (aka dorado in the Spanish speaking world). About 15-17 lbs, these fish are just beautiful. An hour or so later, we hauled in another Dorado, a bit larger and a real fighter. Baker and I took turns bringing him in, our arms tired from the strain of the rod and our hands tired from the reeling. The dorado jumped beautifully a number of times, launching himself several feet into the air and across ten feet of the ocean below him. What beautiful power. I like to think that we caught him with some respect for his beauty.

Two Beautiful Fish (and two handsome fisherman!)

Baker was a trooper for his first trip in rather rough seas. He was inflicted with only two things: a bit of a headache and, thrice, having to endure watching his father vomit over the side of the boat. Vibert and crew and Baker too were all very understanding about it.



Tara has been making an outstanding effort since our arrival to reduce the amount of packaging we consume. Last night's dinner was a manifestation of that. We of course had the mahi-mahi, which she prepared deliciously (while I slept off my marea) with olive oil, garlic, and ginger; the fish came with a home-made chunky tomato and ginger salsa; we had arroz con pollo as a side. (She had purchased a whole chicken at the Super Nosara just in case the men-folk returned empty handed from the hunt.) In addition, Riley made some cookies from scratch, rather than our purchasing packaged cookies. All in all, it was a meal in which we were very close to the primary source of the food. And it was delicious.

Riley enjoying her meal.

Mahi Mahi, prepared a la Tara

3 Firsts Today...Surfing, Playing Doctor & Fueling Up

I think I can honestly say that in the first 40 1/2 years on the planet, I never imagined that I would ever be a surfer. Nor in the past ten years had I imagined it likely that my kids would be surfers. But, here we are in a seriosu surf capital and Baker and Riley have now totally hung ten, dude. They were out there riding some tasty waves this morning in their first surfing lesson. Amazing to watch from the beach as Baker stood on his first attempt and Riley nailed it shortly thereafter. We will get you some photos.

I told Tara later that I am now a surfer also. The fact that I have never actually surfed aside, I feel like a surfer and am now beginning to think about what surfer look I should adopt...suggestions welcomed. Seriously, I think Tara and I will be out there before too long. It can't not happen if one lives a year in Nosara.

Second First: I removed stitches. It has been five days since Tae fell off the bed and today was the day for stitch removal. Tae's stitches were put in by Dr. Diego Quesada in Rosario de Naranjo, four hours or so from here. The night he put the stitches in, Dr. Quesada handed me two small scalpels and a bottle of whisky and said, "You can do it."

And today, once we confirmed that the Nosara doctor, Kattia, was indeed out of town for the day, I picked up the scalpel and delicately removed Tae's stitches. He was in a deep nap in his carseat and the whole procedure went without a hitch. The patient is recovering well and his chin is as cute as ever.

I wish I could say that mine and Tae's was the best medical story in Nosara, but today we met a woman who gave birth six days ago in the back of a pickup on the way to hospital. The roads here are so incredibly bumpy that the baby more or less was jarred out of her uterus during the ride. Her husband said that when she ultimately told him he had to stop the truck because the baby was coming, he jumped into the back only to see the head already emerging. He helped the baby out, laid their newborn son on his mama's chest and continued on the drive to the hospital.

And our third and final first: We filled up our car at a gas station today that was nothing more than three teenagers with several 50 gallon (or so) oil cans filled up with fuel that they dispensed through hoses into cut off plastic coke bottles and the like and then poured into our tank. We bought five gallons of diesel for our car and rode off. A great little gas station. They need to get a mini-mart next to it, so we can buy a hot dog and grab one of those big Arizona Ginseng Honey Teas next time...

Pura Vida!

Feliz Cumpleanos Tara

We are now feeling a bit more settled in Nosara. Though this is only our third day here, we have already hosted guests at our house. Our Tica friends Macho and Lucia and two of their three kids, Victor and Ana-Karin, came to visit on Saturday, driving 7 hours from their home near San Jose. We had a great time with them on the beach both yesterday and today. We can see why Nosara is acclaimed as a great surfing spot. There are huge waves, a perfectly sandy beach, warm water...everything you need. We swam at both high tide and low tide and the kids had a great time riding the waves.

Macho and Tae

Ana-Karin braiding Riley's hair

On Friday, our first full day here, we did a bit of exploring. Baker, Riley, Tae and I grabbed lunch and ice cream at Robin's, a little place owned by a woman originally from Falls Church. Later, all five of us drove to the kids' school, Del Mar Academy, but the rain came pouring down in buckets as we arrived and we satisfied ourselves by looking at it from the parking lot. We will go again tomorrow or Tuesday to see the classrooms and meet some teachers. Instead we made a trip to the Super Nosara--the local supermarket. Costa Ricans (and I think a lot of other latinos) have done great things with the word Super. Not only is the word used for true supermarkets, but it is also used in making 7-11 style places seem really great. Close to our house is the Super-Mini. Same class of word as Jumbo Shrimp, I guess.

Costa Rica is just great for wild animals. Where we are used to seeing squirrels and crows back in Virginia, here we are becoming accustomed to--but certainly not bored with--iguanas, monkeys, and pizotes. The last is an animal that seems a mix of a racoon, an anteater, and a monkey. It has a monkey's long tail, a racoon's body, and an anteater's long nose. Peter Pizote (as we have named him) is in our backyard all the time. An Iguana--still unnamed--lives in the clay tiles on our roof. And, on our short walk to the beach we now always see monkeys--the trees are just full of them. Did I mention the crabs? Tons of those too! And today, some cool birds in our yard. No idea what type they were.

"Peter Pizote" on top and The Iguana on the bottom. (We will take name suggestions for him)


And, of course, today is Tara's birthday!! She is currently celebrating with a nap. Tonight we will go out for dinner. The big kids made her beautiful pieces of artwork and I put together a mix of latin love songs for her, including one called Senora de Cuatro Decadas (Woman of Four Decades), the only song I am aware of that has lyrics including the words "abdominal fat" ("grasa abdominal"). She was more of a fan of Contigo Aprendi. - Me too!

We'd love you to contact us on Skype. Just search in the add contacts tab for my name (first and last) and you'll find us. If you don't already have Skype, you can download it for free at http://www.skype.com/.

Pura Vida!

Tara with her 3 favorite people! (I am a close 4)

Zip Lining into year #9...

We rang Riley's 8th birthday in with the classic Costa Rican adventure--zip-lining. We left our hotel at Vista del Valle in our rental car because--arrgggh!--neither Bank of America, nor American Express nor Visa could get cash to us here in CR quickly enough to purchase our new used car (don't worry--we'll figure it out by Monday), and set off for a canopy tour near San Ramon.

A word on Costa Rican directions. I love the Costa Ricans. Tara loves the Costa Ricans. But, truly they are just utterly confused about directions. Numerous times during our trip here in March and again during our now five day old stay, Ticas giving us directions have said izquierda and pointed with their right hand or derecha and pointed with their left. They have told us something is 90 minutes away for us later to find it was only 25 minutes away. And, unfortunately we have found other places to be much farther than we had been told.

Anyhow, the directions to the canopy tour were rather vague but, actually, worked pretty well. We arrived and to our surprise the age limit for this adventure was a mere THREE years of age. Tae is 3.5 and so, throwing caution and common sense to the wind, we strapped all thirty five pounds of him into a climbing harness with three carabiners attached and entrusted him to Erich, who spoke not a word of English but seemed born to whiz through the air with little kids the size of large bags of flour.

Born to Ride!

Because that is really what Tae resembled to my eye...some very large bag of flour or sugar, flying through the air on cables. Sometimes more than 100 feet above the tops of trees and for distances of 550 meters--think five and a half football fields, or about 1/3 mile.

All Geared Up and Ready to Go!

We all loved it, particularly the birthday girl. We especially enjoyed the Tarzan Swing, despite the bellies we lost on it.

Riding into Year #9!

Then we set off for Nosara and, darn it if somebody did not move the place since I was here by myself in May! Back then, it was an easy four hour drive for me from the San Jose airport. Yesterday it was a long, rather painful four and a half hour drive from a point even closer than the airport. Tara insists that it simply seemed longer because we had a 3 year old on the trip who screamed from time to time. Once, for example, Tae yelled "Pee pee on the potty! I have to go pee pee on the potty!" Tara swerved the car into a glass and trash filled, unpaved siding on the road. I jumped out and began tearing Tae out of his seat. He protested, screaming "No! No!" I kept pulling him out, saying "You want to go potty, right? You need to go potty. You SAID you had to go potty." Well, I got him unstrapped and out and there we were: him screaming, pants down on the side of the highway with 18-wheelers and trucks full of chickens zooming by; and me, feeling his wet shorts and underwear, saying "You already peed, didn't you? I get it. You were saying that you already peed? Not that you have to go? Ahhh..."

Well, suffice it to say that such an episode did not occur when I was here driving to Nosara by myself in May. It was a breeze of a drive.

We left the paved road around 6:30 p.m. with the signs saying 30+ km to Nosara. Bumps and potholes met us every few feet and we were surrounded by darkness. I think that added to the sense of adventure...

More later...

A Toast to Dr. Diego Quesada!

Here is to Dr. Diego Quesada!

Last night at about 7:50 there was a monkey jumping on our bed. Given that we are in Costa Rica, amidst a bamboo forest, this could have literally been a monkey. In our case, it was Tae. And, as many monkeys do, this monkey fell off the bed but a bit harder than usual, straight onto his face on a hardwood floor. Result--gaping cut in his chin!

The family rallied quickly around him, reducing his cries to mere whimpers with a spirited and relaxing rendition of "Puff the Magic Dragon," currently one of Tae's favorite tunes. Meanwhile the wonderful staff at Vista del Valle (our hotel) recommended that we take him not to the hospital (which would inevitably result in a three hour ER wait) but instead to Dr. Diego Quesada, who ran a clinic in nearby Rosario de Naranjo. Dr. Quesada, they said, was just starting his evening office hours at 8 p.m. I couldn't believe a doctor was just going to work at 8 p.m. I haven't heard of such a thing since my friends finished their residencies.

Rigo, a staff member here, graciously drove us the seven km to Dr. Quesada's office. The road was dark, narrow, curvy and often filled with pedestrians. Rigo nonetheless zipped along at lightning speed and we must thank both God and his catlike reflexes that our roller-coaster journey ended with all of us safe and, as far as we can tell, all the pedestrians safe as well.

Dr. Quesada saw us immediately. No wait at all. His clean office featured his desk, an examination table, a bright examination light, an opthamologist's machine--in addition to general medicine, he is also an opthamologist--and his guitar. Tae had fallen asleep in Tara's arms even before our car-ride and remained asleep even as she lay him on the examination table. Riley and Baker each commented that the wound on Tae's chin looked like a tiny mouth all made up with lipstick. That was an utterly perfect description.

When Dr. Quesada broke out the needle to give Tae's chin a few shots of anesthesia, the rest of the family got a bit queasy and I stepped in to sooth Tae as he received the shots. Turns out he barely needed it. He slept through the first two shots and calmly accepted two more. (Don't worry--they were four very small shots.) Dr. Quesada next expertly sewed up the wound with five stitches. Since we will no longer be in the area five days from now when Tae's stitches are to be removed, he gave me a small scalpel and showed me how to take them out myself. I took biology in ninth grade and was damn good at dissecting a frog, so I am pretty sure I can handle it.

Dr. Quesada also told us he and his wife were expecting their first child next week--by adoption. We could see his excitement about becoming a father and perhaps even his joy at meeting another adoptive family just a week before he and his wife finalized that decision in their life. We wish him the very best.

I did a double-take as we checked out. The receptionist said that this fast, friendly, high-quality service was going to set us back...12,000 Colones. That's a whopping $20.52. Can you imagine the cost we would have paid in the US? And the wait we would have endured in an ER? I am sure you can. In our case, Tae was snuggled back in bed--not jumping--at 9:15, just an hour and half after the accident first occurred.

We'll post a photo of Tae's barbilla later. Don't have one now.

Right now, it is time to go celebrate Riley's birthday!! She is 8!

Independence Day

We are spending these first few nights in Costa Rica at a hotel that is nestled inside a bamboo forest and beside a coffee plantation in the central highlands. Vista del Valle is a set of casitas spread over several acres with an extraordinary view of the valley of the Rio Colorado. We are enjoying our casita, the great lemonades served up at the restaurant, the swimming pool and the hammock on the porch of our casita.

A cool leaf bug discovered by the kids!

Yesterday, the 14th, I (Jerry) spent the afternoon car shopping with our friend Macho. I had never before shopped for something whose price begins in the millions, but with the Colon at about 590 per US$1, used cars were anywhere from about C3,000,000 to C13,000,000. In three hours, Macho and I honed in on a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero, with 91,000 miles on it. We have not made a final decision but expect to do so tomorrow, the 16th.

A couple interesting things. Though it was impossible for us to rent an automatic transmission car at Hertz—all are manual—the vast majority of used cars for sale are automatic. This is because they all were imported used from the States and we Americans of course have a preference for automatic, originally because it was easier to drink a Big Gulp with an automatic and now of course because it is much harder to text while working a stick shift.

Secondly, Costa Rican used car salesmen are experts about North American climate. Therefore, none would ever sell a car from Minnesota or New Jersey because there is too much snow in these places and the salt on the roads corrodes the engines. Nor would they sell one from Florida because there is salt in the air from the ocean that corrodes the engines. They would however sell one from San Diego (the salt air there must be different) or from North Carolina because, and I quote, “it does not snow more than three times there each year.” Forget weather channel for your next forecast, just call a Tica car salesman.

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Baker and Riley and I today went on a nice horseback ride through the coffee plantations near our hotel. Among other things we saw beautiful “Rainbow” Eucalyptus trees. The bark of these trees is paper thin and multi-colored—pink, orange, green, purple, red, grey. Really quite remarkable and aptly named.

We passed many, many ferocious but tiny dogs along the way. Their owners lived in modest houses along a sometimes paved, sometimes dirt road. Enrique, our guide, explained when I asked that the folks in these houses either worked in San Jose or Alajuela in factories; or worked construction; or perhaps had a small coffee or tomato farm of their own. Enrique pointed out a single-story building fronted with about 10 doors—it looked like a small, run down motel. This, he said, was a home for migrant workers from Nicaragua and Panama. These workers came during the cosecha in November, December, and January to pick the coffee. How remarkable that in this relatively poor country there are even poorer folks who come here to work the fields, just as many Mexicans and Guatemalans come north to work the fields of California’s central valley. While there is such a thing as absolute poverty—which appears in the forms of chronic malnutrition, lack of primary education, lack of basic healthcare, lack of shelter—Costa Rica (at least at my first observation) is not there.

As for the horses they were great. Mine, Mago, was a real plodder but Carmencita, ridden by Riley, and Pinto¸ridden by Baker were raring to go, even if we only were able to run them once or twice during our ride.

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Today (15th) is Costa Rica’s Dia de Independencia. Wish I could tell you a lot about the independence of Costa Rica, but all I know is that it occurred in the mid 1800s. Last night, we ate at a small but popular café in Grecia called Delicias. As we sat there, discussing the menu, our voices were drowned out by the sirens of a police car moving ever so slowly through the crowded street outside the restaurant. Turns out, the police officer was the front edge of an Independence day parade. We watched it go by—the highlight was a host of school children carrying lanterns that they had made—and then walked to the central plaza where we bought churros and watched a carnival-style ferris wheel go round and round. It wasn’t the tame kind, but rather the kind that goes quite fast and in which the carts can tumble backwards and forwards on an axle. It ran on a big diesel engine and, at one point, the operator was unable to unlock some riders from their compartment. That – and my weak stomach—helped us decide to not ride.

Estamos Aqui!

We found a great deal on a one-way ticket from Washington to San Jose so, lacking a definitive date for our return to the US, we booked it. This was before we realized that in order to enter Costa Rica, one needs to be able to show the Costa Rican immigration officer one’s ticket departing from Costa Rica. That little fact we learned at immigration in the San Jose airport. Ooops!

Suffice it to say that the Costa Ricans were muy amable about the whole thing and now we have plans for an early December excursion to Panama! This meets our tourist visa’s need to stay no more than 90 days and our desire to see the canal.

Once we were through, we met our Tica family—the family with whom Tara stayed in Costa Rica eleven years ago when she was studying here. Macho and Lucia (the husband and wife) met us at the airport and we piled into their truck and a Hertz van to rent a car. From Hertz, Baker, Riley and I jumped in the front of their pickup (I italicize that word because it is Spanish—I tried using camioneta on Macho, thinking that it was the word for small truck and he corrected me with pickup, pronounced “pee-kup”). Baker and Riley looked around for seatbelts, not to be found, and reveled in the opportunity to sit in the front seat. “Safety third,” I said.

Macho and Lucia treated Tara and me to a meal of frito – a sort of stew made from, we think, pig’s head, served over rice with a touch of lime. “Interesting” is the right word to describe it—a word pregnant with meaning for anyone who has found themselves eating new foods in a different culture served by incredibly generous hosts. Riley and Baker thankfully ate chicken from the Pollo Rey across the street.

We had visited Macho and Lucia in March and the kids had the opportunity to ride their calf. This time they rode the now much larger cow, which could support even Baker. How great to go in 24 hours from crossing the treacherous traffic on Wilson Blvd in Arlington to riding a cow in rural Costa Rica!

There was a host of five and six year olds, and one nine year old at the house—neighbors and cousins of neighbors. It was interesting to watch Tae join right in with these kids and Riley and Baker to do so also, but much more slowly. Tae’s play still relies so little on actual verbal communication with his playmates that it made little difference to him that nobody knew what he was saying and visa-versa. For Baker and Riley, I think the lack of a common language was more of a barrier but before long they were swinging the tica kids in the hammock and playing with them.

A great first day!

Update from 35,000 feet

Well, we are on our way! I am writing from 35,000 feet somewhere above the Carolinas. We left our Arlington, VA short-term apartment this morning at seven a.m. Packed lightly we were not. I’m not sure if it was the decision to bring the Wii, or the decision to bring the life-sized stuffed St. Bernard, or the decision to bring forty-seven (or so) books, including a 20-year old, never read history of US policy in Central America that I suddenly feel is indispensable, or some other similar decision…but something along the way disqualified us for membership in the “Light Packers” category.

Our week in Arlington was great, marred only by the fact that we could not possibly see everyone we wanted to see, and not even see those we did see for long enough. Baker and Riley each had some great playdates and sleepovers, Tara had a fun girls’ night out and I enjoyed a few breakfasts and lunches with friends. Tae tagged along to all these events, his trusty workshop toolbox in hand so that if we stumbled upon the need to sand, drill, or plane a plastic toy, we were ready.

Flight one from DC to Charlotte was smooth as silk, thanks in part to Tara’s brilliant seat selection strategy, in which we selected seats D,E, and F in one row and seats D and F in the row behind. She reasoned that no right-minded flyer was going to select the middle seat (E) and, according to plan, Tae and I had an entire row to ourselves.

A brief and easy layover in Charlotte has us on flight two, into San Jose and this time. Tara is alone in a row with a sleeping Tae, Riley deep into an episode of iCarly on her iPod, and Baker racing Hot Wheels on his DS.

I think we are all looking forward in our own ways to this year ahead, each (except perhaps Tae who for his own reasons doesn’t think that far ahead) with our own trepidations. We are excited about fishing, horseback riding, surfing, yoga, learning spanish, making new friends, writing and exploring. And nervous about school, making new friends (funny that), living a really rural life and not knowing what really lies ahead. We have faith that somewhere in the mix of those excitements and concerns will lie a really wonderful experience.