Friends... they come and go.....

A few weeks ago we met Dave and Leiann.  They were checking out the condos just above us as we were walking home from one of our adventures.  As happens so often....  we invited them in for a beer...  they accepted....  and we talked about our various travels for the next couple of hours.

Dave and Leiann live on their sailboat...  most of the time.  They departed the state of Washington several months ago and headed south.  You may have seen or read about them on the international news...  seems when they got to Nicaragua, they had some minor problems, which blew up into an international crisis.  

You have to register your sailing vehicle in whatever country's waters you are traveling...  and they did...  but it cost more than they'd figured on...  so they wired their daughter back in Washington to transfer some funds.  She misunderstood and thought they were being held hostage...  and, of course, it went downhill from there.  If any of you live or have knowledge of the USA/Mexican border, you know exactly what can happen.

Anyway, they have moored their boat out in the Coco beach harbor and arranged to have some repairs done ....  they rented a condo down the hill from us for their stay here.

But as happens..  it's time for them to move on.  However, Dave wanted to get his boat painted before leaving here....  so.... these past few days have been busy for them...

Of course they are totally dependent upon the tides...  they brought their boat into the bay...  waited until low tide and knowing that the window of time is so short, immediately began stripping off the crud and old paint that's on the bottom.

That's Dave on the left, Bill on the right.  Dave's explaining to Bill what his plans are and how it's all going to work.  He's hired a local to help him strip the "hitchhikers" and other crud off.....  and has the gallons of paint all ready to put on once this is done.  This is paint that dries in 1 hour.....  time is the important thing as when the tide comes back in, that boat will be surrounded by water and must be navigable again.

It's interesting to us, because their sailboat is just under 30' in length...  our motorhome is 27' in length.  We all live in these crafts full-time...  unless, like both of us renting a condo someplace for a short-term time.  We four all know first hand what it's like to live with only the "necessities".

As it happened, the paint wouldn't mix and they'll have to wait for another opportunity to paint their boat.  

They'll be sailing soon...  they moved back onto their boat today...  so we stopped by today to say goodbye.

They do write a blog...  http://sailblogs.com/member/chrysalis     if you're interested in their travels.

We were delighted to meet them and wish them safe travels....

It's such fun meeting other folks who are also on their great adventure!

That's All For Today!

Funny You Should Ask....

Way back in November, I posted a blog about my plans to make socks...

I mentioned back then that we would be in Costa Rica for 3 months and I wanted to take a project with me to keep me busy...  I even posted this photo of the yarns I would be working with...  and was bold enough to state that even though I hadn't knitted socks in .... hmmm...  45 years...  maybe more, I wanted to learn how to make both socks at the same time.

Just yesterday, one of my faithful blog readers, Joanne, asked me how I was coming along...  Soooo...

This is sorta "The Saga Of The Socks"

I got off to a good start.  

I'm still relying on the instructions for my first pair...  

I decided to just knit one sock at a time as it had been so many years and I was a little antsy about gussets, turning the heel etc.

Moved right along...  

Hey.... did you know you can actually try the darned (hah!) thing on while still in progress?

I think I'm doing okay...  have another inch or so before shaping the toe.

WhoooHoooo!  Got the first one done... started on its mate...

Lookin' Good!

Oops!  What the heck happened?

These are knit from the same skein of yarn...  but obviously the dye changed somewhere along the way.  I e-mailed the company I bought the yarn from and was told that hand-dyed yarns aren't always consistent (no kidding!).  What to do?  Well, I'm a purist about a lot of things, but think I'll just wear high top boots with these ;-)

Okay....  learned a lesson...

On to the second pair....  I had only 1 skein of the variegated blue yarn... I like my socks to be a little higher than average.... I wear boots a lot...  the foot part doesn't show anyway.  So, since I'd bought only 1 skein and the company didn't have any more, I used a navy blue to work the foot part.  This doesn't show it, but the pattern is a spiral...  and... back to the purist part of me, one sock spirals to the left, the other to the right.  Now.. seriously...  who would care, except the knitter?

Well...  I've made 2 pairs so far.  It's time to get serious about learning how to knit both socks at the same time.  Doing this will ensure that both socks are exactly the same size (hey, I counted rows and everything, but still that blue pair aren't exactly the same)....

So...  out comes my third skein of yarn...  actually, I bought 2 because, like I said, I like a higher sock, and also, I always have this fear of running out of yarn before I get done.

These are all done on Number 1 needles.  Now, for those of you who don't knit, Number One Needles are skinny little devils!  It takes on the average 8 stitches to the inch.  That's a heck of a lot of knitting if you're in a hurry.  Well, I'm not...  and, truth is, I love those close-knit garments that are knit with love.

My third pair of socks...

Knitted at the same time on circular needles...  but a simple rib stitch pattern for the tops.

Got those finished today...  

Here's my work to date....  On the left are the 2nd pair..  a little heavier than I like, but perfect for my hiking boots.....  The middle are those poor mis-matched 1st pair....  I love the pattern and will use it again....  and on the right are the 3rd pair...  just finished today....  

So...  I've learned a lot - for one thing I'll probably stick with doing both at the same time.  It sure feels nice that when you come to the toe, you are DONE!  You don't have another one out there waiting for you to do.  And, more important, both socks are exactly the same.  Even though I use a row counter and all, for some reason it's still easy to get side-tracked and screw up.  Heck, maybe it's age... I don't know.

At any rate, the sock saga will probably continue on....  I can already tell you the difference between Clover and Susan Bates knitting needles....  And I'm ready to order some more yarn....  I may even order some cashmere and bathe my feet in pure luxury.  Okay...  that's going a bit far....  but the colors, the textures of yarn and all those patterns out there just beckon me.....

And, thank you Joanne, for asking.....

That's All For Today! 

Valentine Day - Just Lovely!

What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day .....

We met our friends Steve and Ann....  checked out the various restaurants in town...  decided to go to The Fawn...

They had a special...  $25 per person for a Valentine Day Special... Hey...  that sounds good... let's try it!

Oh, was it ever the best!

The salad, on the left, was mostly fruit...  ripe fruit...  tasty fruit....  delicious!

At the upper right was the entre....  maui-maui, some wonderfully prepared veggies, a bit of avocado puree....   And... lower right the desert...  a fruit filled crepe.  All beautifully presented...  all simply delicious!   Look at that chocolate heart scribed about that that lovely desert!

 We four had such a great time...  talking about our plans for our time left here, and possible plans for the future.

What more could a person ask for?  Good food, good times, and most of all....  good friends to share it with.

That's All For Today!

Just a Daily Walk With Me....

We started on our walk to Coco this morning, but had barely got out the door when Rudolfo, our "sometime" neighbor stopped us.  He was leaving and asked if we could use some eggs and meat he wouldn't need as he was going to San Carlos.  There's something different about the eggs, but we just couldn't figure out what he was saying.  As nearly as we can tell, we think the eggs are fertilized...   probably free-range chickens.  Doesn't make any difference, we took his offerings.  He then asked us if we'd like a ride into town.  We sometimes get an offer, but always turn the person down as we enjoy our walk.  Recently, after giving it some thought, we decided to accept offers as folks here are very friendly and it's a good way to meet people.

So...  we hopped into Rudolfos Hyundai truck...  kind of looks like a VW truck with a square-like bed.  We asked him to drop us off at the intersection where we could continue down to the beach.

As usual, there is plenty of activity there...

Shipwreck?

No... just pulled onto the beach and tipped so that the barnacles could be scraped off.

I always think "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" when I see this job being done....  but Honest!  I think of Popeye, not the dirty lyrics ;-)

When the tide goes out, sometimes we see this....

We had visions of worms crawling all over the muddy sand, leaving their trail.  Finally we saw the culprit...  small beetle-like bugs come out of the earth and scoot frantically all over the surface.  It takes quite a few of these insects to make these patterns...  but there'll be places about 15' long and maybe 6' wide, just riddled with these "footprints".

The park alongside the beach is nicely landscaped...  lots of paved walks, grassy lawns and many different species of trees.

We've noticed that many of the trees have a plaque on them telling you what they are.  Here you can see one of those plaques...  and also see folks enjoying the beach (and the shade of the tree) as well as some of the boats in the harbor.

Here's a view of one of the trees in bloom.  Quite beautiful, isn't it?

As we headed up the street towards the grocery, we saw this Turquoise-browed Motmot taking a drink from a fountain.

I couldn't get quite all of him in the picture...  but aren't his colors beautiful?

We had done our big grocery shopping yesterday, so intended to walk home today.  There are 3 different grocery stores - all fairly close together - and since we hadn't been in all of them lately, we wandered through...

The Super Compro had this display as you walked in the door...

A brand new Tunland truck...  even had some bales of hay in the bed to show you how useful it would be.  I'd never heard of this make before...  had to Google it when we got home.  It's made in Beijing....  looks like Australia might be the biggest market for it now...  don't know if it's available in the States or not.  Notice that it has a Cummins engine....   We really don't see many pick up trucks here...  the locals, if they have a car, seem to drive smaller compact cars.  It's usually the tourists who rent the SUVs and larger stuff.  Or so it seems to me.

When we walk along, there is an awful lot of litter.  Having picked up tons of litter in the US, I always look at what's being tossed out.  (no McDonald wrappers or Dunkin Donut bags here)...  and one thing I've seen is a lot of Derby cigarette packs....

Again, I had to Google "Derby" as I'd never heard of it.  Neither Bill nor I smoke, so a lot of brands could get past us...  but I found out that while PhillipMorris is the owner, Derby is made here in Costa Rica.  Yeah...  they have Marlboro, Lucky Strike and some of the other well-known American brands, but I'm betting that Derby is cheaper...  that's mostly what we see along the road.

We've been here 2 months...  walk through town almost everyday.  I'm not much of a shopper and usually walk right past all the souvenir and gift shops.  I realized today I'd never been in about 99% of them, and never wandered all the way through to the back of any...

They are a regular rabbit-warren of aisles...  a huge variety of good for sale.  Artwork, crafts, clothing, ceramics, leather, purses, beachwear, towels and on and on and on.

Well, I don't want to miss out seeing anything, but after about 5 minutes of walking through I'd seen enough to satisfy my curiosity.  Didn't see a thing I couldn't live without.  And so, we walked on home.

That's All For Today!

Breakfast and the Rickety Bridge

We took our usual walk this morning.  While we would have gotten an earlier start, but one of our things to do in Coco today was to book for the Palo Verde National Park Tempisque River boat tour.  We'll do that next Tuesday with our friends Steve and Ann.  Since Elvis isn't working at that agency now we had to catch Luis when he was in as he booked Steve and Ann's tour and we wanted to make sure we were on the same one.

Tico time is a little "iffy'....  and sure enough, when we got there, Luis wasn't at work yet.  However, after a short wait, he drove up and did all the book work.  Of course, they'll be a post about the tour later.

I don't know if it's the heat or what, but by 9:30 I was starving.  We have breakfast around 6:30 am, and usually have lunch around 11:30, so I should have been just fine.  Maybe it's the power of suggestion, as we walk past the Jardin Tropical every morning...  and Nelson, the maitre d...  (don't laugh...  what else would you call the guy who stands out on the street and hustles folks to come into the restaurant every day?  He offers you a menu and everything!)...  anyway, Nelson gave us his usual "Good Morning...  or Bueno dias" as we passed by on our way to the travel agency, and I just couldn't get that food off my mind.  So....

 As soon as we'd booked the tour, we walked right back to the restaurant...  ordered a "typical Costa Rican Breakfast"....  and here we are with our "jugo de naranja"  (orange juice) while waiting for it to appear.  White rice, black beans, scrambled eggs and a tortilla.  I got the vegetarian order which also included a couple slices of tomato, a couple slices of avocado, and a small piece of fresh cheese.  It really makes a very filling meal...  I did share my extra veggies with Bill.....    

I often write about the "Rickety Bridge"....

This collage shows it all.....

About 100' of pure disaster!  If it did collapse with you, you wouldn't fall very far.  About the worst that could happen is that you'd get scraped up...  well, maybe break a leg if you fell just right.  As you can see on the far right, the hand rail, being what it is (or isn't) really isn't much support.  If you really don't want to cross it, you could take off your shoes and wade across the creek that it (sort of) spans.  Each day we walk over it there are more patches...  more broken boards.....  more shaky parts.  One really neat thing is that the creek it spans hosts the best birding area we've seen here......  egrets, herons, sandpipers, kingfishers.... even a Black hawk and black vultures.....  kiskadees and other flycatchers.  

After breakfast we headed on up the street to the AutoMercado.  We planned for this to be our "big" grocery shopping day...  the day to stock up on those 2 litre bottles of ginger ale and green tea...  the day to buy several boxes of box wine (which they didn't have today)...  the day for eggs and veggies that get crushed in a back pack.  The day to take a taxi back to our condo.

So we were home around 11:00....  and we didn't have to walk up that gawd-awful hill (although it really is getting somewhat easier...  after 2 months one would think so, but.....)   And the afternoon was spent reading, knitting and computer stuff.  

Not bad for a hot, and now muggy, day.

That's All For Today!

Just Another Walk to Town...

Nearly all of my posts these days are what I see when we walk into town.  We've volunteered at National Wildlife Refuges where we gave tours....  sometimes the same tour 2, maybe 3, times a day.  I've been asked if I get bored with that...  and the answer is "never".  They are just like our walks into Coco...  we may walk the same route but each time we see something new... different people, different birds...  even the sunlight filtering through a tree might make it look different... or expose something we didn't see before.

As I've written, we live at the top of a hill.  We're the only folks living in this condo which has 9 units.  The view from the front is outstanding and the solitude we have is priceless.  This morning I took my hummingbird feeder out to hang up - it was about 6am - and there was a lot of raucous bird calls and frenetic activity going on in the tree just beyond the feeder.  The kind of activity that often indicates there's a predator close by.  I could barely see through the branches, but managed to spot a dark lump that looked out of place.  I hurried back inside to get my binoculars and camera....  walked out of the driveway and down the hill a bit...

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

All of 6", this little guy was the cause of all the panic.  This is the only photo I got...  he decided he'd had enough rude disruptions and he flew off.  (for anyone who might wonder...  ferruginous means iron colored...  and he is kind of rusty looking).

Bill & headed to town fairly early...  it's getting hotter earlier in the day.  As soon as I got the laundry hung out, off we went.

Just down the road there is a fenced in wooded field.  There is a herd of cattle there... mixed breeds...  maybe 25 or 30 in all.  Hey...  looks like something interesting is going on...

These men have herded the cattle into an enclosure...  and then are running them into a chute-like corral, maybe 10 or so at a time.  The man in the top left photo is loading his syringe....  and as the chute narrows and allows only one cow at a time through, he injects the meds into their hip.  I don't know what they're being innoculated for, but between the guys yelling a lot as they're trying to hustle the cattle into the chute and the bawling of the cattle who are confused and quite unhappy, it was an interesting scene on our way to town.

We live in a development of condos.  While the ones closer to Ocotal Beach are much fancier and much more expensive, our area consists of a ...  shall we say "works in progress".  Then, as you leave our area and walk the mile or so into town, you walk through a working-class neighborhood.  It's a mix of locals, some condos, a couple of churches, some small tiendas...  lots of folks walking or bicycling along the road.  Since we walk it nearly everyday we've come to "know" a few folks along the way...  like the gate guard man at one of the condos.  His English is pretty good and he likes to say "Good Morning"...  and we work on our Spanish... "Bueno Dias" or "Hola".

We almost always hang a left at the "big" intersection...  to the right we'd head right to the main street of Coco...  but to the left is Coco Beach.

There is a mix of boats in the harbor...  mostly either commercial fishing boats or privately owned pleasure boats.  Today, there was a huge sailboat moored there.  There aren't any docks or piers...  the boats anchor off shore and either row or use an outboard motor on a smaller craft to come to shore.

Bill and I always marvel at the change of the tide....  and the difference the beach is like...

The last couple of days we've been seeing a lot of these little crabs.  The whole thing is about the size of the bottom of a tea cup.... they are fun to watch as they pop into their holes as we approach.

And of course we have to walk over the Rickety Bridge as we head towards the main street.  There's always something there.  I'm wondering if what I thought was a rookery really was as we haven't seen the night herons for quite a while.  We still see the Great Egret and the Tricolored Heron, but even the Green Heron hasn't been around lately.  Today, though, we saw this big guy...

Actually, She's a female Ringed Kingfisher.

A whopping 16" dive bomber!  There was too much foot traffic on the bridge today so she flew off and we didn't see her in action.  The Green Kingfisher that we've seen here is only about 7".....  quite a difference is size!

When I first met Bill all those years ago, he had a philodendron plant that he'd "trained" to climb all around his kitchen ceiling....  he'd provided it with support and the tendrils grew so long it was a massive plant.  As we're walking home each day, we walk past this...

Now....  doesn't this look like a HUGE philodendron?  But, my gosh! Look at the size of those leaves!  Look how thick those vines are!  In the upper right Bill is standing beside a vine that has lost its hold and is laying on the ground.  WhooooHoooo!  I'd have had to had a machete to find the stove if he'd had THAT in his kitchen when I met him!

As you can tell, we love our walks into town.  Bill carries a back pack and we buy what we need at the grocery.  About once a week we buy our "big" stuff ...  several bags full.....  and take a taxi home (costs about $4 American).  But as February quickly moves on, it gets hotter earlier and earlier in the day.  We'll see how it goes for our next month or so here.

Before I close, for those of you on Facebook...  there is a site that features a blog about National Wildlife Refuges...
 http://usfwsnortheast.wordpress.com   
Today they featured Aroostook NWR....  that's where we'll be in 4 months.      

That's All For Today!

To Town on Tuesday

It's getting hot earlier in the day now.  We don't have a thermometer, but when you're outside at 7:30 in the morning and starting to sweat, you know it's going to be another warm day.  When we were on our walk yesterday we talked with Steve and Ann about going on another excursion.  One that we all want to do is the Palo Verde National Park river tour.  So this morning Bill & I headed into Coco to check on availability, cost, etc.

We have a particular tour company and sales person we all like.  His name is Elvis and he lived outside of Dallas, TX for much of his youth, including high school.  We stopped at the office around 9:15 am...  the office person said he wouldn't be in until 10:00.  So we ambled along...  just checking out the scenery.

What are these guys doing?

Of course we had to go right up to the action....

See those pipe-like things beside them?  Well, it looks to us kind of like the clam diggers we used when we lived in Alaska...  You push the pipe into the sand and it fills up with sand, gravel...  and if you're lucky, there'll be a clam down there.  Well, they weren't clamming....  and we didn't see the pipes in action...  so... we're not sure about all this....

These looked like little crayfish or something similar.  They were sorting them out from the sand and putting them in the bucket on the left.  I'd love to know what they do with them, but I just don't have the Spanish to understand what they'd tell me even if I asked.

We headed on to the AutoMercado (grocery store).  When you shop at the same place time and again certain people become familiar.  Carlo is one of these folks.  He's a young man and rides the bus to work from up above Sardinal.  His English is pretty good and we always stop and talk when we see him.  He stopped us and asked me if I knew what Hazelnut Creme was.  My first thought was something in the baking aisle...  like a mascarpone or something along that line.  I couldn't find anything even close...  back to Carlos...  he showed me the paper someone had written on...  "Creme de Amaro"

Hey, I don't care much for those sweet fizzy drinks, but I think we ought to head over to the liquor or "liqueur" aisle.  

Not sure if this is hazelnut flavor or not...  (I googled it... comes up "bitter")...  anyway, Carlo was happy, and I hope whoever's order he was filling was happy as well.

I love going to the grocery...  there are 3 groceries within a couple of blocks of each other and each is unique in its own way.  If there's something I don't know recognize, I often just take a photo, come home and google translate.  Doesn't take much to entertain me ;-)

Bill put our few groceries in his back back and we stopped at one of the sidewalk slushee shops.  We had about a half hour until Elvis was due for work.  I didn't take a picture of our drinks - and I never in a million years thought I'd like a pureed fruit drink (I do not like milk shakes or malteds; never have), but these are remarkably refreshing.  I had one the other day with spinach and mint...  I can see where I'll invest in some slushee equipment when we return to the states.

Back to the tourist office.  No Elvis...  in fact, Luis told us that Elvis no longer works there.  

Hmmmm....  we'll get in touch with Steve and Ann and see what Plan B is.

We headed on home....

Summer vacation ended for the schools this weekend and Monday it was back to school.

It was only 10:30 this morning when we saw all these kids walking home.  I asked if I could take their picture...  they even posed for me.  They kept saying "thank you" in English.  I asked if they spoke English, but they told me they didn't.  I wanted to know what the heck they were doing walking home at such an early hour but didn't know how to ask.

I am having big-time fly problems with my hummingbird feeder.  The water moat at the top keeps the ants away, but I don't have a clue how to prevent swarms of flies from landing on it and crawling up the openings into the sugar water.  Any suggestions?

We did have a "new" bird today...

A male yellow warbler may not seem very exciting, but for us, every bird we see is a real find.

We got home around 11:00...  the sun is really beating down and there's not much breeze today.  Just another day here in Costa Rica.

That's All For Today!