Social Sunday

Just before 9am we headed into Coco.  I was heading for 10:00 mass at the church I have no idea of its name.  Bill hangs out on the beach, which is just a block away and does whatever he does...  people watch?  boat watch?  I don't know...  there's a lot going on at any hour we've been there...  

The tide has been exceptionally high the last couple of days...  you can tell from the debris...  and the high water line that where we're walking has been under water recently.

On the way home we see a fairly large iguana crossing our path.  I curse my little Canon that has no viewfinder, and think again about my priorities...  weight-convenience-and on and on.  I have several cameras...  brought the "little" Canon and the Leica with me this trip.  Left the "big" Canon with all the lenses at home.  Well...  I made my decision last month... I'll live with it.  But...  next trip I'll probably re-think my decision.... again.

I did not get a photo of the iguana...  at least none that I'd post....

We did see the Orange-fronted parakeets again....

 Looks to me like they're eating the flowers.

These flowers look a lot like wisteria to me...  but they belong to a tree.  No doubt in my mind that the tree is in the "pea" family.  One of these days I'll buy some field guides to the flora and fauna of Costa Rica.

Also, among the trees  blossoms...

A Streak-back Oriole

One of these days I might get a shot at its back...  then you'd know for sure how it got its name.

We continued walking home...  gotta get to the social part of today...

Our landlord, Robert was coming down the road on his motorcycle.  As he stopped, he whipped out his cell phone.  I knew that between his phone calls and his talking to Bill about our water situation would be a lengthy conversation that I didn't need to be a part of...  so I walked on ahead....

And...  WOW!  A new bird!

Black-headed Trogon

I could never get a really good photo of him...  some part was always behind some tree branches.  But, this is the same spot we saw the Motmot a couple of days ago, and since it's less than a half mile from our house, we may be spending more time with our binoculars here.

Bill caught up with me about here, and we headed on home.  At noon we were to meet up with our neighbors, Greg and Francine, and walk together over to The Monkey Place open house.

We had a good time walking over there with them....  but I'm still not quite ready to post about that place yet.  Today was the Open House...  and there were quite a few folks there.  We met lots of people...  all from either the USA or Canada...  and I believe the purpose was to acquaint folks with the fact that there is a sanctuary for orphaned or injured animals (not just monkeys) in the area, and that the place sure could use financial help to stay in business.  

After my walk to town and back...  AND the walk over to The Monkey Place and standing around talking to various folks for over an hour...  I was ready to walk home.  Greg and Francine decided to stay a while, so we headed back.  We decided to take (the only other) a different route home.  This route overlooks Ocotal Beach...

 You might remember that huge outcropping of rock that Bill & I walk around...  Well, that's it... that dark hump right in the middle of this photo.  Those tiny white dots on its right are boats that are moored close to shore.  

The houses along this route have a beautiful view of the ocean...  and I've no doubt that they have a price tag to match!

Again...  fantastic views...  lovely homes....  all in all, a beautiful place to live.

Looking across the other way...  across the valley, we saw...

Doesn't show up well....  but..  those blackish letters at the lower right say "We Live Here".

That condo just above these letters is our home until mid-March.  The condo just to the left (yellow) is another complex (rents for $1,000 a month)...  and that group of condos up above and to the left of us (center in the photo) haven't been finished yet and are still a "works in progress".  That set of condos behind us (upper right) are a whole different builder/rental area and we don't have any info about them.  In fact, from us, you have to walk down the hill, down the road, and about a half mile to even get to the driveway leading up to them.

Anyway, we walked home.  I'm just dragging by now...  about ready to collapse...

And...  what happens but we see a couple heading down our way.  Well, heck, what's a neighbor to do?  We invite them over for a beer and spend the next couple of hours totally enjoying listening to their stories - they left Seattle, WA a couple of years ago on a sailboat and while their boat is currently moored out in the harbor, they're living in the complex below us for a few months while having some repairs etc done.

I absolutely loved their visit.... hey... they were even on the international news a week or so ago as the couple held hostage in Nicaragua....  which, as we all know about the press, was totally wrong.  

Let's see...  as I was saying...  this ended up being a very sociable day for us...  and as you know, it's just part of our great adventure.

A couple of last photos...

Our nightly visitor, the fox, was been coming by.  You can see in the top photo that we are leaving out dog food for them.  As many as 3 come at a time.  We love seeing them....  while the "wildlife" here might vary a bit from human behavior to 4-legged critters....  it's all good to us.

That's All For Today!