Day 21 Riding the Bus

Tom arrived today!
In order to meet him in San Jose, pick up our rental car and drive back to San Miguel together, I took the public bus to San Jose. The crazy thing is, is that I feel like I am living on the edge of nowhere, yet there is a bus that runs past the bottom of the driveway—way out here---that will take me all the way to the capital six hours away. All I have to do is wait by the road (hopefully not in vain like for the produce truck) at 2:00am and flag the bus down with a flashlight.
Waiting for the bus at the side of the road at 2:00am is interesting. I got to watch tiny lighting beetles that crawled around in the roadside ditch, their little behinds glowing and dimming rather than blinking. I had time to enjoy the stars and discover a few new constellations, there being no street lights or any lights at all to block out the starlight. I also got to appreciate the night noises of various types of crickets (all have a different song), cicadas, and even the soft hoot of a nearby owl.
The bus finally chugged up the steep hill at 2:30am and stopped beside my suitcase. When the driver affirmed that this was the bus to San Jose (as if there was another bus at 2:30 out here going somewhere else!), I dragged my suitcase up the steps and plunked down on the front seat of a bus that might have looked modern back in the eighties in some large American city.
This old bus handled the rocks, potholes and hills better than I could have imagined and in two short hours we were in Jicarel after having picked up twenty or so passengers all waiting for this vital rumbling vehicle of transportation to pick them up. We all transferred to another bus in the metal shed that was the bus station, this bus being much newer and plusher with reclining seats.
Sometime on this leg, a woman boarded and rode the bus for a few miles, selling baked goods out of a basket to the passengers. I bought a small plastic bag with six cheese biscuit like crackers each with a bit with sweet filling which are a bit of an acquired taste but they looked familiar from a previous trip here so she had me as soon as she said “queso.”
Later a man boarded selling CD’s which he described in great detail, not that I understood all of what he was saying since I was still trying to sleep. But his voice carried well past the end of the bus, and I learned that his selections were wide ranging and ranged from rap and hip hop to marenge and tropicale, to the music of “Frozen.”
We passed through small towns that got larger as we got closer to San Jose dropping off and picking up passengers at will. After two hours we stopped for a bathroom and breakfast break at a small restaurant alongside the Pan American highway that we were on by now. Everyone got off with most of the women heading to the bathrooms and most of the men ordering a breakfast of eggs rice and beans and coffee which they quickly downed. I didn’t know how long we would stay there so I ordered a sandwich to go and some coffee “para llevar” also. I piled back on the bus with my food and coffee which turned out to be so hot it was halfway to San Jose before I could take even a sip.
At 8:30am, the bus drove up to the airport, dropped me and my suitcase at the curb and an quick shuttle ride took me to the rental car office across the highway where our car was waiting. Easy peasy!

Day 17-21 Things with Wings

Living in an outdoor house in Costa Rica is very exciting and constantly interesting especially if you like insects. This big boy visited the kitchen counter one of my first night’s here:

Rhinocerous Beetle

Katydids, grasshoppers, moths and beetles are constant visitors and can get annoying if they become inadvertent seasonings in the skillet as you are cooking dinner.

Katydid

Praying Mantis

Positively gigantic moth and teapot

This giant grasshopper would have terrified me if I hadn’t seen one in the jungle earlier. It was a full eight inches long and Itsy was pretty interested in it. Just as I was shooing her away from it (since it seemed to be a significant portion of her body weight), Nikita (the other dog) trotted by, snapped it up and swallowed it.

Butterflies stay pretty much in the garden and I would love to get a great picture of a blue morpho the most magical of them all with iridescent turquoise wings that light up the landscape wherever they are.

Not a blue morpho

There are other animals besides insects (and birds) that fly right through the house. I couldn’t figure out what was nibbling on the bananas ripening on the counter until I was up late one night and saw the world’s largest moth flapping through and pausing in the kitchen. The moth turned out to be a fruit eating bat that was doing laps over the bananas taking a bite with every pass.

Day 16 More Turtleness

I really wanted Andrea to be able to see turtles laying or hatching while she was here and following a tip from one of the gals at the ARA Parrot project we decided to stop by Corazalito Beach on the way home. Great decision! We hadn’t even gotten to the beach proper from the truck before we saw in the light of our flashlight, the bulk of a female Olive Ridley turtle lumbering up towards us in search of a spot of beach to lay her eggs. We sat down next to her and watched as she used her hind flippers to excavate a really deep hole in the warm sand. This process takes much longer than you might expect and as we were patiently observing in the dark (so as not to disturb her) I briefly turned on my flashlight to check the process only to see another turtle heading straight for Andrea and only a few inches from her!
She jumped up to get out of the way and with a sweep of the light saw that we were surrounded by turtles: coming up the beach, digging in the sand, laying eggs and heading back. There were turtles everywhere! In fact we discovered that there were so many turtles laying on the same stretch of sand that other turtles had utilized on previous nights that as this night’s turtles dug their nesting holes, they were digging up previous nests of turtle eggs. Ping pong ball-like turtle eggs were flying along with the sand and again I couldn’t help wanting to interfere with nature by returning some of these eggs to a nest where they might survive. We tucked as many eggs into the new nesting holes as we could before deciding that our ideas of what should or shouldn’t happen to those eggs was not our choice to make.
We had the honor of seeing our original mother lay her eggs and then watched in amazement as she filled it in with her flippers and then rocked her shell back and forth, slamming it on to the sand to tamp it down. The hard thumps resonated through the sand and into us and if you listened you could hear the same sounds all the way down the beach.
As she headed back down to the water’s edge, we carefully moved around the beach avoiding dozens of nesting turtles and soon came upon hatchlings too. There were mother turtles coming out of the sea, tiny hatchlings heading for it and spent turtles following in a moving turtle carousel on the night beach.

The only picture I took since we were trying really hard not to disturb the nesting turtles with cameras or lights.

Day 15 Rainbows in the Sky

After the cabalgata, Andrea and I made the trek back over the mountains and after a sidetrip over two rivers and an increasingly tenuous road were turned back by a locked gate at the Monte Alto Reserve which we had hoped to visit. The residents near the entrance to the park cheerfully waved at us for the second time as we went back down the hill again.
Our next destination was the ARA project in Punta Islita, north up the coast from Playa San Miguel. Named after the genus name for macaw parrots, this group is breeding the two macaws endemic to Costa Rica: the Scarlet Macaw and the Great Green Macaw and releasing them on the Caribbean coast (greens) and on the Nicoya Peninsula (scarlets) to bolster the dwindling wild populations.

What a visual treat greeted us as we came through the gates! Seventy five or so wild scarlet macaws, all released from the facility, had reconvened on the grounds for an afternoon snack courtesy of the project. They festooned the trees and were scattered around on the ground creating photo ops everywhere we looked.

Especially magical was seeing them fly, something I realized we don't usually experience when viewing macaws in small cages or confined to perches back home. All of their colors seem to swirl together as they flew past a background of bright green, creating rainbows in the sky wherever they went.

Day 14 Cabalgata!

Andrea and I had the pleasure of attending a cabalgata today. What in the heck is a cabalgata, you ask?  It is basically a party with horses. In this region of Costa Rica, the Guanacaste, cattle ranching is a big part of the landscape and of the culture. Not everyone is involved of course, but the cowboy culture is alive and well and many people ride horses for work and for pleasure. A cabalgata is a chance to get together and socialize---and show off your horses.
Friend Wendy had been invited to attend and was loaned a horse, she in turn suggested we might come to see a slice of local life, Costa Rican style. We made the drive over the mountains and arrived in the village of San Pablo as the first trailers full of horses were unloading. Soon the field was full of horses and the big shed was full of Ticos in boots and hats, many wearing matching western style shirts with embroidered club names on their back.

Wendy and Perlita

Beer flowed freely and we were all served meat soup and rice at big tables. As the only gringos in attendance (in addition to Wendy and another neighbor Mike) at the table of one of the most prominent ranching families, it was suggested we speak only in Spanish out of respect to our hosts. This we did, although for me that means I was pretty much limited to saying that yes, I have horses at my house in the United States and, I like your hat! I really regretted not brushing up on Spanish more before I came down.

Don Antonio flanked by two friends

We were under the impression that the horse riding activities were going to start in the morning but we soon came to understand that the party would continue until it started to cool off in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, since we had planned to visit a nearby nature preserve that day as well and we didn’t want to drive back in the dark, we reluctantly left before the horse activities started. We did get to enjoy looking at them, the different tack they wore, and heard from Wendy later all about what the riders did. What we reluctantly missed were games on horseback, herding water buffalo, and a demonstration of horse dancing in which horses under saddle prance in place on a small wooden platform in order to demonstrate their training and even cadence. The day ended with a trail ride through the lush countryside.

I will certainly look forward to attending another cabalgata perhaps even having a horse to ride there!

Day 13 Kayaking the Estero

Mangrove estuaries are mysterious and fascinating places, home to complex ecosystems of diverse plants and animals. Unfortunately, because they grow in valuable shoreline areas, they are often drained and filled for development. Mangroves are protected in Costa Rica and there are three large esteros in the San Miguel area.
Andrea and I rented kayaks to explore the largest one that drains the Jabillo River near Punta Coyote a few miles south of here. We felt like explorers in the Amazon but with a lot less gear. The main river has many side channels that twist and turn until they get too shallow to follow. Tall trees completely fill the sky but the most arresting feature are the roots of the mangroves which branch and arch above the water so that the trees looks like they have legs.

These roots criss cross and overlap each other into an impenetrable tangle that are highways for several types of crabs, and home to encrusting oysters, barnacles and certainly many other creatures unnoticed by me. They also make excellent perches for the many birds that live here like herons and egrets, wandering tattlers (great name!), and this jaunty green kingfisher among others.

Deep into one channel we smidged over a big fallen tree that was barely submerged and then had to navigate a much larger obstacle on the way back after the tide had receded appreciably.

We ended our explorations by heading out to the mouth of the river, where it met the breakers at the beach. This is a tiny fishing port that we passed:

Just as we pulled the kayaks out of the water and back up into the shed, the darkening skies opened up and chased us back up the hill, out of the mangroves and into the hotel.

Day 12 Community equals sharing

It has been a wonderful to meet the “gringo” residents of this area and begin to understand the community that binds them. I have met neighbors from France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Canada, and all parts of the United States. There are all sorts of people of all ages who are living here for different reasons, but all love their adopted country passionately.
What is especially interesting about this community is the amount of sharing and helping that goes on. Without a store or gas station nearby, anytime anyone goes into “town” (over an hour away) they offer to bring back anything that others might need.
Within two days of my arriving, new friend Patty brought me back diesel for the truck when she went to Carmona. When I went to pick up my friend Andrea at Liberia last week, I brought back lettuce, sweet potatoes, chocolate chips, bleach and four containers of gas or diesel for residents here. Wendy borrowed a cookie sheet, I borrowed a battery charger for the truck from Bill. Patty needed a double boiler. When the truck wouldn’t start, Wendy called the mechanic Calin and arranged for him to come here and fix it (a two hour repair that cost $10.00).  I traded lemon grass for fresh eggs.
All of this sharing and caring, loaning and trading seems very natural and easy and happens nearly every day.
The best part of this kind of generosity is that no one has to own everything.

Generous neighbors Wendy and Patty and her dogs enjoying a tidepool soak at Playa Bejuco

Day 11 How to start a day with birds

This morning I set my alarm for 5:30 to make sure I was out on the street by 6am. The fruit and vegetable truck comes through this area between 6:00 and 7:00 and if you flag Marvin down you can buy from the back of his truck. When I heard that he might have fresh passionfruit and hearts of palm, I wanted to make sure I did not miss him, though the refrigerator here is far from bare.
I went down the driveway with my book and a cup of coffee along with a bird guide and camera just in case, not knowing how long I might wait. Before I even got comfortable in a chair I dragged out from the bodega and positioned next to the road, I saw a pair of one of my favorite birds, the White-throated Magpie Jay, land in a tree nearby. Delighted since I had only seen one so far on this trip, I managed to get a decent picture of one before they continued on their way.

I then noticed movement behind me and discovered a squirrel cuckoo in the hibiscus, These long tailed birds hop along branches much like a squirrel, hence their name.

Next a pair of noisy orange-chinned parakeets started feeding on blossoms on a tree across the road. They stayed there long enough for me to get a few good photos and positively id them in Marie’s comprehensive bird guide.

The parakeets were replaced by a large parrot I had not seen before which turned out to be a white-fronted parrot. I watched it tear the flowers apart as it ate them with apparent relish.

This went on and on, I photographed a Hoffmann’s woodpecker, some sort of orange and yellow oriole, and any number of hummingbirds. I finished my coffee, waved at the neighbors as they drove past and id’d more birds. I looked at my watch: 7:30, hmmmm.
Then I looked up higher in the sky to see a wood stork soar past and at a lower level a single black hawk circled. A mourning dove cooed over and over again from the telephone line stretched along the road. Another hummingbird, a new type to me and impossible to identify, buzzed past.
It was now 7:55. I decided to give Marvin five more minutes. At 8:00, I headed up the driveway, coffee cup empty, unopened book under my arm. I had no vegetables but I did have a camera full of great photos and the memory of an exquisite day that unfolded in front of me in the form of the lives
of the birds that live here.
I’ll wait for that vegetable truck anyday!

Day 10: Cow Day

Today seemed like the day of cattle.                                                                                                       They were wandering loose along the road on the way to the beach:

Then they were peeking out of bushes:

and then in a surprising sight, a this herd was wandering around the beach in the middle of the day. Then they were running along the shore—I don’t know why.

I take a lot of pictures of the cattle that live here because I think they are so interesting to look at. These cattle are brahmas or brahma crosses which are a breed originally from India bred to do well in high temperatures and humidity. Their long ears and thin skin help dissipate heat. All colors occur but white is most common which is a good strategy in a hot, sunny climate. They are all pretty cute,
but the little ones with huge bat-wing ears are my favorite.

Day 9 This is the real deal

I am staying in a very rural part of Guanacaste on the Nicoya Peninsula, two thirds of the way down towards the tip of this huge land mass hanging off of the west coast. Although the scenery is stunning and the beaches spectacularly beautiful, modern development has not reached this area partly due to the remoteness from any major towns and because of the primitive state of the mostly single lane roads. Also, while the surf is good here, it is not compared to some famous spots north and south of us, which draws huge numbers of surfers and has driven development there.
As a result the Ticos (Costa Ricans) live a very traditional lifestyle, little influenced by outside forces. pretty much as they have for generations. Life is centered around family and home in small villages that often occur at crossroads. Those who work usually do so locally and commute by walking, by motorcycle or car or even horseback! Gas is expensive and carefully consumed. Each village has a small grocery store or two and a “soda” which is a simple restaurant and bar and there is often a small mechanic shop as well. If you are low on gas out here (a bad idea) you ask around and get directed to someone’s house. You will pay a premium and say a prayer as whoever is home fills up your tank from recycled gallon jugs filled with gas and stored in a shed nearby. A funnel helps smooth the operation.
Here is a woman who was moving cattle through Pueblo Nuevo (the nearest town) last week, along with another herder on a motorcycle:

Sunday is specifically devoted to rest and many people take in a local futbol game or perhaps pay respects to ancestors at the local cemetery. My friend Wendy likes to place flowers on the graves in the tiny cemetery at Playa Bejuco and so she took me there last Sunday and we did just that, adding beach peas to the lonely graves without arrangements.

Tico homes in the area are pretty simple and always seem to have the front doors open. There are almost always flowers in the yard, a dog or two for protection and a flock of free range chickens. You cannot drive through a village of more than a few homes without seeing people gathered outside on the porch just visiting at at least one of them. Ticos seem to take time (or make it) for each other.

Of course, life is not perfect even though my outside superficial view sees these peaceful scenes. The middle class is shrinking, divorce is not uncommon, and corruption is dismayingly prevalent in government here. The price of food is high and many people subsist on rice and beans much of the time, not by choice. There are not enough jobs in the rural areas, which has only gotten worse here with the closing of several small restaurants and hotels along Playa San Miguel in the last few years.

On the other hand, universal health care is available and functions well, the democratic government and currency are stable and education is well funded.  Several polls have rated Costa Ricans as the happiest people on earth (you can read about it online including an interesting NY Times article from 2010) and I am a daily witnes as to why.

Day 8 Excitement in the Bedroom

Day 8  Excitement in the Bedroom

Remember, I am staying here alone...but that doesn't mean that I am the only body in my bedroom-the one with the view of the ocean blue and the sounds of the surf all night long... I went to brush my teeth last night and their was a crab in my sink! It was a baby Halloween crab, named for its colors.

Once I am ready for bed, I am joined by the three pets who live here, previously mentioned. Here is little Itsy, already under the covers. She is hoping I won't kick her out.

And in case you think I am living in some rustic lean-to or something, here are two views of the beautiful home that I am so priveleged to be enjoying.

patio outside the bedroom

Dining area with pool behind left, kitchen behind right

and finally, here is the view that I wake up to outside my window--with all three furry companions, of course:

Day 7 Saturated with Life

Day 7 Saturated with Life

Just like scuba diving when there are fish above, below and beside you, here at Hank and Marie’s I am also surrounded by living organisms. Of course there are plants of every size and description everywhere, and I have mentioned the birds which literally can (and do) fly through the house (and now hummingbirds too, since I filled up the feeders), but this morning there was more. The howler monkeys which have been sounding from the hills every day, passed right over the house this morning on what I understand is their regular route through the trees over to the peninsula. Mom, Dad and two youngsters grazed on flowers in the tree above my bedroom for half an hour and then left via the power lines over the road.

 

Baby howler monkey

Butterflies float around every part of the gardens, beetles and other bugs are thick especially at night and seem especially attracted to my laptop screen where they crawl in great enough numbers that I sometimes have to brush them off so I can continue writing. I am getting used to them colliding with my head during their nighttime zoomings. I pulled my plate out of the microwave this morning along with a surprising condiment: a good sized beetle that somehow survived an early morning nuking and walked away across the counter.

The other night I heard a large plop in the pool and discovered a huge cane toad, probably the one Marie warned me visited the dog’s water bowl for a dip each night had decided to enjoy a larger pool. She leisurely swam over to the steps and hopped out, then made a slow loop around the kitchen. Tonight I heard another plop behind me and assumed she was back but this time it was a giant tree frog taking a lap.

Tree frog after its swim

Amphibians aren't the only things that enjoy the pool: a pair of Great Kiskadees come by every other day or so for a swim. They each dip in four or five times then go to the starfruit tree to preen and dry off.

Kiskadees

And then I go to bed each night with those rubbery geckos skittering on my walls busily stalking and pouncing on their insect dinners. Nikita, dog #1, is under the bed, Itsy (#2) is next to me under the covers and the tabby cat is at my feet. Life surrounds, breathing, eating, calling, now sleeping.

Days 5 and 6, catching up!

                                       Day Five:  Small delights, unexpected

It’s delightful to have time to cut and arrange brilliant tropical flowers and foliage in arrangements for every table.
It is a delight to have a pool next to the kitchen in a warm climate. If you get hot while you’re cooking, you jump in and then continue with your preparations, refreshed and feeling very exotic!
Another delight is all of the background noises of nature here. There are layers of sounds here: the waves are most distant but are a constant and in the day, bird songs are ever present. At night they are replaced by crickets and the occasional soft hoot of some sort of owl calling from a tall tree just off the kitchen. Occasionally but regularly, from early morning ‘til dusk are the penetrating hoots of howler monkeys which sound like a combination of a lion’s roar and what I would think gorillas would sound like if they were up in trees. These guttural calls come from all points of the compass around the house, making you feel as if you are surrounded by them.
Delightful is the scent of the Ylang Ylang flowers in the rain.
Fresh picked papaya, sliced starfruit, and sweet guavas are all a delight to enjoy for breakfast. I am going to ask Mai to help me open a coconut that I brought back from the beach for another local addition to my plate.

But best of all are the fireflies! Not in large numbers so a delightful discovery when you see their blue-green flash in the dark. I’ve looked for them in the garden each night now and seen them three times. Since I grew up in Southern California, my experience with these tiny miracles consisted of the ones in Pirates of the Caribbean that mesmerized us as kids at Disneyland. They might have been miniature lightbulbs on wires, but we fell in love with them anyway.

                                          Day 6: Tortugos everywhere!

I am not really seaturtle-crazy, but they seem to be all over, doing all sorts of things right now, here on the west coast of Costa Rica and so I am taking advantage of the opportunity to experience the extraordinary and brief time that they are here with us on land.
The moon was so bright last night that I didn’t want to waste it under a roof so I went down the Playa San Miguel to see if there was anything happening turtle-wise, figuring even if I didn’t see anything, I would certainly enjoy a nice walk. I didn’t see any hatching or nesting turtles, but I did come upon two giant sets of tracks heading out of the water, up the beach and then arcing back down again into the waves: two females came up the beach and decided, for whatever reason, not to nest last night.
This evening a new friend and neighbor, Wendy and I ventured back to Corazalito beach: the scene of the hatchling massacre and redemption. Fortunately, no mobs of predators this time, but probably because most of them were full. Apparently this morning’s hatch was so prodigious that you couldn’t walk on the beach for hatchlings—literally! As soon as they sun went down the lifeless sand came to life, erupting squirming flows of charcoal hatchlings seemingly at random up and down the beach. We had the privilege of watching three or four nests hatch with the largest one at 75—give or take a few. Wendy and I enjoyed a beer while we sat in the warm sand and watched them make their unerring way down to the water and swirl away, over and over again.

Olive Ridley hatchlings

This evening we were not alone there being a number of local families bringing their children down to experience the spectacle—and help out when they thought it was warranted. It was hard to witness some interference (like “helping” dig out the nests) but heartening to see parents showing and having their children witness the amazing life cycle that is completed in their own community, hopefully inspiring respect, appreciation and then a desire to protect these ancient creatures.
I am sure I will dream turtles tonight!

Day Four: You just never know what is going to happen when you go for a run in Costa Rica

Day Four: You just never know what is going to happen when you go on a run in Costa Rica

       Corazalito Beach had been recommended to me as a beautiful spot and since I hadn’t been there yet, I thought it might be the perfect place to go for a short run. It was already 3:30 but the beach was only 7km away and so I would have plenty of light if I didn’t dawdle on the way over (I only stopped to take pictures of three birds on the way). I could see from the moment I pulled up that the beach was lovely: wide and flat with dramatic headlands at both ends and I was the only one there. As soon as I got out of the truck however, I noticed some activity. To my left were at least three coatamundies running around and a half dozen black vultures skulking about on the ground and in the trees. Since coatamundies are usually quite skittish, I was surprised that they let me come closer with my camera without running away. They were digging in the sand and climbing in and out of a rather deep hole, and it was only on the viewfinder of my camera, that I understood what they were doing when one emerged with a round white object in its mouth. It was a turtle egg and before I could even react, it was eaten. I waved my arms and rushed them scattering all of the animals and not caring at all that I was interfering with the cycle of life.

It was right then that I noticed several more vultures just down the beach to my left where two other coatis had been. They were poking there scaly heads in a hole and as I got closer I saw to my horror that one had not an egg in its beak but a small body of turtle that it flew off with as I ran towards them now. The hole held several empty papery eggshells but also a few intact eggs at the bottom which looked to be fine. As I carefully started to cover them up again I realized they were little charcoal colored turtles in the sand that I was trying to replace. They were tiny and still curled up in a ball shape. Worse, was that as I looked sadly at their perfectly formed bodies, one breathed. They were alive. I didn’t know what to do but they still had some yolk attached to their bellies and it seemed like they had a day or so to finish maturing. They weren’t moving, just breathing and it became clear that they would not survive. I gently nestled them together and covered them up with more sand.
It was stupid, but I yelled at the ugly vultures and the formerly cute coatamundis. I know that they needed to eat, but it just seemed such a waste, so cruel—these tiny infants, not even born, were just another meal for the predators.  
I decided at least to get my run in, I needed to get something positive out of this horrible scene that had left me in tears. As I ran down the beautiful beach, backed by tropical flowers and swaying palms, all I saw, up and down the beach, were more black bodies: vultures, caracaras, and black hawks in clusters and gangs at the high tide line. It became clear that they could sense or hear the hatchlings digging out and were just waiting for them to emerge. I had assumed that only the coatis were capable of digging them up but then I saw to my astonishment a caracara using both of his feet to dig in the sand too. As I approached the first group a hawk took off with a wiggling turtle in its beak.
I’m glad the beach was deserted, because I’m sure I looked like a crazy women running around throwing sticks at all of the birds while I headed down the beach. There were bunches now hanging out lower on the beach, waiting to pick off any babies that might make it out on to the smooth tidal sand. Knowing that the birds would return as soon as I passed I looped back, throwing anything I could pick up and heading back to where the hawk took the hatchling. I slowed down and to my surprise and delight saw a single live turtle finning its way across the sand, somehow missed by the dozens of eyes trained on the beach. What a privilege it was to scoop that baby up and walk it down past the scowling birds to the water’s edge. I put it down above the water line so it could make its own way into the sea but there was no chance that a bird was coming close to me—they were convinced by now that I was something to stay away from.

It’s hard to express just how moving it felt to watch that little creature march down to water. The first wavelets barely reached it and gently lifted it, already swimming, and then left it again on the wet sand, still crawling to the water’s edge. The third wave picked it up, and then it was gone.
I called to it, not even feeling foolish, “Good luck, you’ll be okay!”
When I went back to where I found the turtle, some of the birds had retreated to the trees above the beach, but they were still watching.  I found another turtle and then the source! A small depression was spewing tiny turtles; six in various states of emergence. I grabbed them all before the birds could and took them down to the water, delighting in their cuteness. The sea took them too, but slowly, gently and almost like a welcoming gesture the warm waves scooped them up and took them away one by one, into the sunset.
By now the moon, round and full, was rising from behind the mountains and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. It was clear that I needed to protect and save all of the turtles on this beach, but how? It was getting dark fast. I remembered Hank putting a light in the truck saying he always liked to have one along, so I went back and got it hoping he wouldn’t mind me using up all of the batteries for such a good cause. When I got back to the main nesting site, I found another explosion of turtles from the sand, twelve this time, just coming up and out. It seemed as if the birds had gone with the fading light and there were no other predators around so I sat next to the nest and watched. This is what happened: each hatchling had to claw its way up through the sand and then up the out of the depression. Once on the level, each one turned around several times, both directions, slowly spinning as if taking bearings. I am happy to report that in spite of the brightly glowing moon to the east, each one eventually stopped turning and headed directly downslope to the ocean. Once they started, they stopped to rest but did not waver in their straight line to the sea. The distance seemed endless, even in the absence of obvious predators because it was a falling tide and these beaches on the west coast of Costa Rica are incredibly flat. I estimate their progress on the smooth wet sand was about 8 feet a minute. Sometimes as I watched, it seemed that the water was continuing to retreat, and maybe the tide was going lower still, but eventually the two met, a land born turtle and the endless, beckoning sea.
I needed to get back home. As I walked back towards the truck through the shallows, I came across another hatchling. It looked like a little moving rock on the beach. Then I saw another and another. I lost count. Satisfied and exhausted, I headed towards where the truck was nestled in the trees and just before I turned I saw something ahead on the beach, glistening in the moonlight.  As I walked towards this large smooth shape it sighed and I and realized that it was a female turtle, emerged from the sea and heading up to lay her eggs on the beach.

Day Three

Day Three:  Swim and run and…bugs!

The scenery is awesome, the ocean like a bath and the birds are still thrilling me but the bugs during the rainy season here are clearly the dominant species. I have only been here two days and my arms and legs look like I have some sort of scary disease, they are so pocked with red bumps of all sizes and complexions. The ants have already trained me to wash my dishes and clean up after myself well in the kitchen just as soon as I finish. The katydid obscuring my laptop screen was cute as was the shovel-nosed leaf hopper on the table but the piece of parsley in my soup that turned out to be a large moth was not. Even though the pitcher of half and half for my coffee is in the fridge, it comes out with tiny floating gnats and there’s a large spider on the wall above my bed that I have to relocate before I go to bed. More pleasantly, dusk seems to be the time of dragonflies when they swoop and swarm in the dying light and the presence of all these bugs means that adorable geckos chirp in the rafters each night. I only wish they and the bats would catch more mosquitos. Since they obviously can’t keep up. I am going to ask the local medicinal plant guru to help me make a topical infusion that might keep them at bay—I can’t go out in public like this!

Day Two

Day Two:  A blue morpho butterfly fluttered Across my path this morning---

what more is there to say?

Well, maybe that I saw a brilliant red summer tanager before breakfast, great flocks of parrolets at noon followed by a pair of roseate spoonbills, and just now a long-legged woodstork went gliding past.

Any day is going to be good when you wake up to tropical bird songs outside an open window and get to put on a bikini when you get dressed and then have all of these exotic birds just appear.

I spent much of this first day in the home that I am caring for settling in and rejoicing in my surroundings: I am on the top of a small hill on a peninsula between two spectacular beaches so I hear the waves crashing from both and can see the full stretch of Bejuco Beach to the northwest. Most of the house is open air with the pool, kitchen and living areas covered by a big roof. There is a wing with two bedrooms each with a bathroom and an outdoor shower—this part of the house has walls, windows and doors that can keep the critters out if I close them. I am surrounded by several acres of gardens which drop away from the house and then climb up the mountains behind to wild jungle.

I brought my painting supplies, my camera, a few field guides and not much else. I am here at the house alone, but there are many friends of Hank and Marie’s in the area who I have met and have offered to help with anything I might need.

I also met Mai, who works here on the property and I think will be a constant in my days here. He speaks no English and I speak about toddler-level Spanish, all in the present-tense so our conversations are pretty hilarious so far.

I ended the day discovering where the pelicans roost. I followed an unexpected trail up over the hill from the beach road and came upon a hidden beach bracketed by towering cliffs. As the sun was setting, pelicans soared up and settled into the trees that hung off the tops and sides facing the sea. Wonderful!

Blog note: I decided to write this blog as an easier way to communicate while I am here in spectacular Costa Rica. The posts and thoughts are in no particular order of importance but I am trying to note something interesting each day (not hard to do here!). Obviously I am a few days late starting, but I do have a bit written for each day that I will post all at once here at the beginning. Make sure you make it to at least day 3--or maybe it's day 4.   --Suzy

Day one--A few things I remembered I love about Costa Rica when I returned here

1. You quickly recall how to chill: missed my flight to the coast because of a delayed flight out of LA; the next flight there is in three days, no refunds but we’ll give you a voucher—for $25, go to bus station in San Jose for four hour bus trip to a town still 2 hours from my destination; I’m in line to board and the idea is hatched to rent a car instead since can be returned by Hank and Marie the next day when they fly out, take taxi to rental office but promised car is not there but it will be here in only one hour. Finally heading NW making good time: I pass all the slow trucks like a local, get no flat tires in spite of hitting some potholes hard once I’m on the side roads, stop only once for birds (whistling ducks) and am only ten miles from the house when I am stopped cold by a landslide that has covered the mountain road just minutes before. But since it’s Costa Rica, someone on the other side has a machete and another a shovel and within thirty minutes I’m bumping and sliding over a path just wide enough for the car—with an eye-popping drop-off outside my window.

2. Animals are everywhere! It’s the only place I get to see cattle being herded down the road, where horses are tethered on the shoulders for grazing and you never know when you’ll spook a giant iguana when you come around a bend.

3. Sundays are extra colorful: laundry is hung out to dry like festive flags in nearly every yard.

4. The center of every village is a bright green, perfectly maintained soccer field.

5. People use the hammocks that are hung up on their front porches.

6. In the country, everyone raises a hand in greeting when you pass in the road.