Haikus

Costa Rica I - Grace
We work hard in school
We have fun after our jobs
Costa Rica is cool

Costa Rica II - Grace
I like to explore
I like the food; it is good
Costa Rica rocks

Costa Rica III-Grace
It is sunny here
We go on explorer walks
It is hot and fun

Gallo Pinto-James
Gallo Pinto yum!
I have a pinto belly
Made with beans and rice

Salsa Lizano-James
Salsa Lizano
It's used in Tico cooking
A flavorful sauce

Turrialba Life I - Mom
Walking into town
A daily volcano check
Snack from bakery

Turrialba Life II- Mom
Noisy barking dogs
Cats fighting up on the roof
This is a loud street

Turrialba Life III- Mom
Pineapples, mangoes
Bananas, melons, guava
The fruit here is great!

Martes - Dad
Segundo dia
Martes es en espanol
Verbos horribles!

Spanglish - Dad
Tuesday or martes
Nuestro dia de hablar
Solo espanol

Festival Nacional de las Artes

This week, there was the Festival Nacional de las Artes in Turrialba and Siquirres.  It transformed the whole city and there was too much to see it all.  Here's a list of things we did and saw.

There were projects, like making masks and making rain sticks.  James, Maggie and I all made masks, but they are a little too big to wear.  Maggie's friend Hector made a rain stick, but we didn't get to.  Some locals had crafts for sale, such as green glass earrings that Mom got.

There were also exhibits all over town from professional Costa Rican artists.  One person took pictures of reflections and turned them upside down. The show was called 180 degrees. I thought it was cool because it looked like the reflections were real people. Another exhibit was in the Courthouse. It was of sculptures and paintings and photos.  And there was this really cool, high-tech "road from Turrialba to Siquirres". There were toy cars that you could move on a special board that had a map of the road.  When you did, it was like colors burst all over the place.  Then, at CATIE, there were junk sculptures made of old pieces such as drill bits, bicycle chains, gears, poles, and an old fashioned bicycle.  I really liked the exhibit in the Courthouse.

Another major part of the Festival was the shows.  In a school field trip we went to see a puppet show production of Jack and the Beanstalk.  It was cool because it took place in Costa Rica.  There were concerts every night, but we didn't go out to many of them - we could hear the music from our house. One that we did go to had (in the first half) pre-Columbian music from Chile, Mexico, and other Central American countries.  It sounded like jungle animals with drums and maracas.  The second half was a Guatemalan theater/musical/dance performance telling the story of the fight between humans and spirits.  Their costumes reminded me of Native American ceremonies.  The whole family liked it, but we were really tired and hungry at the end.

Overall the Festival was very interesting and... FESTIVE!

Respectfully submitted,
Grace

Cahuita National Park

Traveling south, along Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, you begin to encounter vast stretches of undeveloped beach and jungle. This is dramatically different from most oceanside property in the world, where development has trumped preservation of the natural environment. One jewel along this stretch is Cahuita National Park.

Last Sunday morning we were fortunate enough to spend several hours exploring the natural wonders hidden in this fabulous park. We arrived in the town of Cahuita and quickly found the group of guys hanging out by the entrance to the park. They started offering guided tours immediately. Normally this kind of thing gets my hackles up - I am not interested in being targeted as a tourist and then being taken advantage of. But in Cahuita, this is the best way to get an awesome tour. The guides are mellow, really knowledgeable, and as honest as they come (though a little bit expensive). We hired Alonso, who immediately showed us the fabulous basilisk featured above (it was hiding in a bush at the river's edge). We then proceeded to walk the 3.5 kilometers out to Punta Cahuita - past gorgeous beaches and through amazing jungle. We saw eyelash pit vipers, baby hummingbirds, yellow-crowned night herons, sloths, white-faced monkeys, huge millipedes, iguanas, Jesus Christ lizards, and more. We even ate termites!



It was a 7k walk that was pleasant for all, from the 5 year old to the 70 year old (OK, Maggie got a few sloth-like rides from Mommy and Daddy on the way back). Next time we go back, we hope the waves will be calm enough so we can hire Alonso's friend to take us snorkeling.

Beach Warriors

Last Saturday afternoon we decided to take advantage of the undeveloped, pristine beach on the Caribbean Coast. We packed up a box of crackers, cookies, fruit, cheese & summer sausage (imported from Wisconsin by Amma & Poppa Muth!), and headed for the beach. We had been told that the clouds were going to clear, that it certainly wouldn't rain.

The sun never came out, the wind blew, and raindrops fell, but we had an amazing time! First of all, we had the beach almost completely to ourselves. Second, the breeze was cool enough that the kids were happy to stay out of the water (where the waves and undertow were at dangerously strong levels) and play in the sand. And third, we had no other agenda for the day. We were free to just play and play and play. The pictures are all low-resolution (somehow a button got pushed on the camera that made the files small), but they capture the sheer joy of the day.

Monkey Therapy

The Jaguar Rescue Center on Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast offers a rare opportunity for visitors to learn about the fragile relationship between Costa Rica's animals and the people who live and work here. At the Rescue Center they specialize in rescuing animals and educating the Ticos about the benefits of living in harmony with nature. They have an extensive collection of snakes, birds, sloths and monkeys. During the day the animals (monkeys in particular) live at the rescue center, but at night the staff members open the cages and allow the animals to venture out into their natural habitat. Most animals, when they are ready, will return to the jungle permanently to live out their lives. The day we visited we were lucky enough to pet the sloths and play with the monkeys.

El Toucan

There is a wonderful place nestled in the jungle near Playa Cocles called El Toucan Jungle Lodge. It is a very simple hotel run by a German couple who welcome visitors from around the world. Staying there feels much more like sleeping in the monkey house at the zoo. At about 5:00 AM, the local troop of howler monkeys begin their antics of shouting and tree hopping and chasing each other around the canopy. It is certainly a unique way to begin the day. We were lucky enough to stay there for two nights to participate in the fun. In addition to the howler monkeys we saw some toucans at a distance, giant spiders, frogs, humming birds and a blue morpho butterfly in the wild.

slothful lunch

On Thursday of last week, Greg's parents (Don and Marilee) arrived for a week long visit. Greg met them in San Jose and they drove to Turrialba in the rented mini-van. We had a low-key evening in preparation for our big weekend outing.

On Friday morning we sent the kids off to school as usual, then met Don and Marilee at their hotel for breakfast. We then walked all over town to show them the Central Park, the fruit and veggie market, the watch salesman, the fishmonger, etc. etc. After a couple of hours of walking the town, we headed back home and packed up the car for our adventure over to the Caribbean Coast. We stopped at the school to pick up the kids, then drove another 15 kilometers to find a spot to stop for lunch. I don't know about the kids, but the adults were tired and hungry!

Our lunch spot.

We had just settled into our table when James said, "Hey, I think I see something hairy in that tree over there." Sure enough, he had spotted a mama three-toed sloth and her baby munching on some leaves. It's pretty rare to spot these guys at all, let alone awake and with a baby - so we were pretty excited. We did manage to eat our lunch, though, and then got on our way for the real adventure of the weekend. Stay tuned for more stories from the road...

mama sloth and baby

Mama sloth looking for delicious leaves.

Lent

One thing I wanted to observe was the difference in how people here in Costa Rica approached the season of Lent. I would say that relative to the US, the Christians here are much more intentional about their observance of the Lenten season. While Ash Wednesday seemed very equal with ashes smudged on the foreheads of church goers, the presence of Lenten decorations here has been quite different. For instance on the porches of individual homes, on street corners and from the street lights we are seeing simple crosses draped in purple fabric. Some of the crosses even have festive lights! From my perspective, it should not be surprising that people are decorating for a major religious holiday, after all we do deck the halls pretty seriously in the US for our observance of Christmas. I have also noted that on this past Sunday there seemed to be more families gathered for an evening meal, perhaps this too was in observance of the Lenten season.

A typical morning

Alarm goes off...must make coffee. Boil water, put grounds in the chorreadero, pour water through...add powdered milk and sugar aaahhh sweet relief. Who ever thought that this natural product would have such potent medicinal value?















Doors open kids up and at 'em!















Someone needs to run to the corner to go get bread.















Mags get out the peanut butter and jelly, yes the guayaba jelly - you love that stuff.






















Does anyone want eggs, I bough a fresh kilo yesterday (yes a kilo not a dozen).


















Are you dressed yet the bus is here? Have a great day!















Now I need to catch my bus.















Better check the volcano on the way.















You work in agroforesteria at CATIE? Which building is that again, the one with the Pre-Columbian sacrificial alter in front of it? Can you really see the carvings depicting all the heads that were lopped off in sacrifice? Yikes!















What is it you're doing anyways? Trying to help this farmer figure out what is in his barrel? Some sort of fermented concoction made from molasses, rice hulls and a secret blend of Mountain Microorganisms? Great for the plants but what is the chemistry here?





















Better have lunch by the lake, it is so peaceful. Maybe I'll see the giant iguana again and this time I'll have my camera.

Going Bananas

On Friday I had the opportunity to travel with a group of students and two other professors to EARTH University to learn about organic farming techniques and the production of bananas. In addition to the banana research we learned about beneficial microorganisms, compost, circular gardens and capturing methane from the ranch (read manure here) to produce electricity!













The clip that follows is my own movie of how bananas are grown, harvested and packaged for shipping to the US. I don't expect it will be nominated for best documentary anytime soon.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ0LMrENpa0

Afterschool Activities

Back in the States, I need a google calendar to keep track of the ridiculous number of activities that our kids are involved in - and who is responsible for getting them to and from each of these activities.  Greg and I are still trying to figure out how we will manage when we get back since he'll actually be working and not on sabbatical!  And, to be honest, our kids are not nearly as programmed as some I know.  We let them have just enough free time to make each other and us nuts on a fairly regular basis.

But here in Costa Rica, the whole "afterschool activities" thing has a new meaning.  There is nothing programmed.  There might be a soccer team we could get hooked up with on the weekends, but our kids would be so far behind it's better not to subject them to the embarrassment.  Instead, we have lots of free time.  And while the kids still manage to make each other - and us - nuts, we have discovered a new level of closeness that we never could have found while racing through our lives back home. 

Most days we wander down to the park at the end of the street and the kids play with other kids from the neighborhood. Other days we sit around the table on the front patio and play card games - to the delight of our neighbors who walk by. Today we went to the farmer's market to give our special banana sales lady a star sticker (and buy bananas and melon, of course).  Two days ago, Maggie and I walked to the main square in town and ate ice cream cones while people watching.  Yesterday we went downtown as a family in search of the fishmonger.  It is a simpler life, and I could get used to it...

Maggie at the park down the road.

Gracie with a new neighborhood friend.

James working on his soccer skills at the park.

The little things

While we are here on such a big adventure, it is easy to get wrapped up in the monumental achievements and lose site of the little things.  But today, I'd like to report on some little achievements that feel big to us.

This past Tuesday we spent the whole day speaking in Spanish to each other as a family.  And while everyone has been speaking and learning a lot of Spanish in parts of the day (school, work, various outings into the community), the honest truth is that we still speak English with each other -so we aren't having a true "immersion experience".  So to stick to our commitment to speak to each other only in Spanish for a whole day, was a big deal.  In other news, Maggie got new shoes this week, and now she knows how to tie her shoes!! Oh, and she also just took me to the park to show me how well she has learned to pump on the swings. Major accomplishments for our five-year-old.

Maggie's new shoes