Salamander

Dear Charlie: I dare you to find a salamander song!

Salamander, born in the sun-kissed flame,
Who was it lit your candle, branded you with your name – Jethro Tull
(I love a challenge - Na-na-na-boo-boo.)

One of the little salamanders that lives in our cabina like to spend the day inside and the evening outside. Yesterday I was sitting on our tiny porch reading when Salamander decides it’s time to go inside. I decided that today he would stay outside, so I put my book down on the porch in his path. He quickly scurried off of the porch into the grass and made this annoyed clicking sound. “click click click click click”

A few minutes later he took another run at the door and again I put my book in his path. Again he ran into the grass. “click click click click click” I was determined to win this little battle.

A few minutes later I heard the clicking sound from above. I guess he had gone around the building, up the side, and was going in by way of the ceiling. I hadn’t thought of that.

And to rub salt in the wound the salamander clicked until I looked up and saw him. “click click click click click” Then he went into his cabin. Let’s face it. We all know who the visitor is here.

Dianne gets the computer first

They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! - Jerry Samuels


The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result.

I climb into the shower and turn on the hot water tap hoping that hot water will come out one of these days. Today is not that day.

Then as I walk out the door I get a brilliant idea (the grinch got and wonderful, awful idea) Maybe the hot water isn’t turned on. I can see where the pipes go into the next cabina and they are both turned on, so maybe someone forgot to turn ours on. I wander around to the side of our cabina to where the water pipes come in and tada!!!!! There’s only one pipe and it ain’t hot! Now you have to ask why, people, why would you install a hot water knob if you don’t have hot water? It’s kinda like the little flag in the hole of a golf course a million miles down the fairway. It’s there to give you false hope. Lol

Ok so there I am tracing pipes and wondering these deep thoughts when I look down and what do I see? A chicken egg. Had some poor chicken layed an egg against the pipe hoping the heat from the hot water would hatch her egg? Bad news chicky! Your egg’s in the fridge!

Then I got to wondering about all of the free range chickens and horses and dogs and... well everything. Yesterday a dog was chasing a chicken off of the computer center’s front lawn. The computer center owns neither dog nor chicken so it amused me. A horse was wandering through having a nibble of grass here and a nibble there. How do people know whose critter is whose? Do these eggs that are laid willy nilly all over the place hatch on their own in this heat? Who takes care of the baby chickies if they do hatch?

All of this talk about orphaned chickens is making me hungry. I think I’ll go and get an omelet con quesso.


Charlie Writes:

Cell phones are a poor addition to Central America. Sure, the wired infrastructure is lacking and cell phones can be quickly deployed with a couple towers, which makes wait times to get a phone much shorter, but when everybody is wandering about gesturing and talking to themselves, how do you tell the people chatting to their friends, from those chatting with invisible demons, or just themselves?

Things were disconcerting enough when you could guess who to avoid… Still, every six year old seems to have one, and it’s interesting to see bursts of technology progress in some areas, with no progress at all in other areas. For example, while Dianne is missing her hot water, I am missing P-traps and S-traps that keep evil odors in the sewage system where they belong.

A clothes dryer would be nice too, although I hear there might now be one in town – somewhere. Maybe we’ll find it next trip.

Still, these things are really not that inconvenient, and I am really enjoying the positive occurrences. For example, people remembering me from the last trip when I kept a pretty low profile. And seeing some of the kids - older, but still interested in computers.

For example, if you dig through this blog, you’ll find a 2008 picture of me with a couple small boys looking at an OLPC. (laptop)

You will also find a few entries concerning Ernie (Air-nay!). Well time passes, and here we are today:

He's a little taller.

His mother says he is still in school, and doing well, and he still comes often to the computer center.

Two more pictures for you today…

In Canada there is no overnight parking on streets because of snow removal. Here, it’s because of rapid plant growth.

O.K. I’m kidding. But this vehicle actually arrived here during our last stay, near the beginning of March, 2008. Clearly it never moved again, and is becoming part of the landscape.

It is parked outside the police station.

Finally, this is looking pretty good as a retirement home…

Ocean behind, deck for kicking back... hmmm, wonder if I can cash in my plane ticket? Oh rats - I'm travelling on points!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wake up in the mornin’,
from your 'larm clock's warning,
take the 8:15 into the city - Randy Bachmann


It takes a while to establish a routine in a new setting. Mine is falling into place slowly. I wake up with the sun and the howler monkeys a bit before 5:00. Now that I’ve figured out a method to make coffee, brewing and drinking black gold is step number 2. I eat pineapple, blog a little since I’m often at my most introspective early in the morning, shower (cold water unfortunately), and head off to the computer center.

Here I repair a few machines, check email, publish the blog, and generally try to make myself useful. Dianne comes by and grabs me for lunch at one of the local places, then I either return to the center, or we go play for the afternoon.

Since lunch is a large meal, we have snacks for supper, and spend the evening reading or reviewing our day. We are generally in bed, lights out, by about 8:00 PM. I know it sounds early, but since the sun is up from 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM, we’ve adapted our schedule to fit.

After the last couple days of rain, the sun is shining brightly this morning, baking the smell of damp out of everything. There is a nest with noisy baby birds demanding breakfast outside our front window, and enough brightly colored birds I don’t recognize flying about, that I think we need an air traffic controller.

There’s a tree that releases the most amazing perfume as the sun goes down, and apparently it does so sometimes in the morning too, because I can smell it today. It’s certainly a calming influence – I wonder if I can bottle some to take home.

Well, off to start my day. I’ll leave you today with some thoughts:

Things I learned on this trip:

1. Rainy season is not nearly as much fun as it sounds




2. If you must stay in a “well weathered” hotel AND a Hilton on the same trip, do the “well weathered” one first




3. It actually has to stop raining to make cutting the grass or raking the beach possible. But a couple hours sun, and a couple hours work can have spectacular results.




4. A machete can cut grass, open coconuts, open cans, or open bottles. The swing is a little different for each.




5. Creature comforts like hot water are important if you are here for a week or several months

Things I knew, but was reminded of:

1. Different cultures have different rules. There are few absolute rights or wrongs. There used to be ten, but now I think there are fewer. Maybe only one. (Do unto others…)
2. It is not reasonable to try to impose your values on others, no matter how right you think you are.
3. A gift with strings is not a gift, it’s a business transaction.

Here endeth my lessons.

Oh, almost forgot: Dianne’s salsa, corn chips, and beer is still my favorite supper.

Yesterday's overcast at Playa Negra:


Dianne writes:

Beautiful sounds of the rain and the birds and the ocean bla bla bla! Enough with the rain aready! My feet are going to be permanently red from my wet sandals.

Today I MSN’d with a few people and it was nice to hear voices from home. Kaitlyn and Dan are home safe and sound, but the mean lady at the airport took all of Kaitlyn’s sea shells. Poor Kaitlyn. She was very sad, so I’m gonna try to sneak some home for her. So my darlin’ Kaity if that fails, here are some pictures of the shells that I have collected for you.

Things I’m wrasslin’ with,

The ocean is warmer than our shower.
The shower is less salty than the ocean
If you go in the warm ocean you have to have a cold shower

Saturday Nov 19

Another one bites the dust – Queen

Saturday we met at the computer center with Ernesto and Vince, and started repairing broken computers. The climate here is not kind to the machines. Travel, humidity, heat, dirt, all contribute to a short lifespan, so there’s always repair work to do.

I’ve already mentioned Ernesto as the main man at the computer center, but Vince might need an introduction, if you are not close to the project. Vince lives just outside Kanata, and is visiting Cahuita at about the same time we are. When I returned from here almost 4 years ago, and decided I’d try to get some computers for the group, I was introduced to Vince through the former Telephone Pioneer organization. Vince enjoys helping several groups with computer acquisition and repairs, and he has run all the computers we have sent (and now have ready to send), through the shop in his basement. Since he’s prepared over 700 machines for Cahuita, he though he’d like to see where they are actually going.

We discussed the project, cultural differences and expectations, and of course, technical talk, including repair shortcuts and the best tools for troubleshooting. Dianne and Louise (Vince’s wife) soon got bored with us, and headed off to “the office” to get a little work done. If you’ve forgotten, Dianne’s “office” is a stretch of pristine white sand beach about a kilometer south of town.

A lot of Cahuita is overgrown after the rainy season, and people are starting to clean things up in anticipation of the tourist season about to start. The computer center is certainly no exception, and I was about to ask how we could get the grass cut, when a young gentleman arrived and asked if there was some work to be done in trade for some internet time. After some discussion, Ernesto gave him a machete, and the grass was falling before wicked swipes. About an hour later, he was happily surfing the web for the rest of the afternoon.

The barter system is alive and well, and living in Costa Rica.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin'
Full time to floatin'
Under the sea - Howard Ashman Alan Menken

Saturday night we did not sleep well as we are still acclimatizing, and we woke to overcast skies with continuous rain. Dianne decided to forgo the office – after all it was Sunday – and I headed off to find Ernesto. While I did eventually find him, I also found the market. Apparently, in the rainy season, Cahuita gets its fruit and vegetables in the market on Sunday, rather than every day at the store or from vendors in trucks. It certainly was nicer to shop without trying to hold the umbrella.

I bought the ingredients for salsa (planning to put Dianne to work chopping) and some strange “fruit of the day”. I scurried home with my treasures, but on inspection, Dianne discovered I had forgotten cilantro. So we went back, and she supplemented my purchases with a few others. Her cooking is magic, so I’m happy to tote the bags and reap the benefits.

We went to the black beach in the afternoon, but an onshore breeze was driving many jellyfish into the shallow water, so we cut our play short. Instead we spent the evening quietly reading, and snacking chips and homemade salsa, which is my personal favorite dinner. Life is good.

By the way, here’s Dianne’s fruit. It’s possibly called a passion fruit. The outside is hard like a gourd, but the inside is a white jelly full of seeds, which you also chew and eat. Strange, but sweet and tasty.


Dianne writes…

It is a rainy morning. I’m sitting on our tiny, tiny porch watching the rain fall just past my toes. I hear its steady rhythm while off in the distance the howler monkeys complain. There are many little birds flitting around, chipping and peeping, looking for bugs. Behind it all I can hear the crash of the ocean. I have never heard a more beautiful song.

This afternoon we went to the beach. There were many jelly fish in the water. Some had washed on shore and that made me a bit sad. I know it’s the natural way of things, but is there anything sadder than a sea creature who has lost its way? I gathered up the sand around it and carefully placed it back in the waves. Charles was not too impressed as he worries about me. He said something like…. Those things sting you know…Put it down….oh geeez.

We played in the waves for a while. There really were a lot of jelly fish in the water. After Charles got out I just stood there and watched them. They were bumping into me and mostly ignoring me. They were very slippery and they swam with their curved side out, not leading with the part that stings.

Something to think about.

Friday Nov 18

Come on come on won’t you get me to my room – John Fogerty

The wedding was excellent – vows on the beach, family and friends, wonderful food, drinking and dancing… Pamela knows how to throw a party. I’ll drop a link to the blog I’m sure she’s creating as soon as I know where it is.

Here are a couple highlight pictures to wet your whistle:

The bride with her dad

The groom with his mother and sisters

Traditional Korean wedding garb:

Thursday was a long travel day to La Fortuna, where we said good bye to Dan & Kaitlyn. They went to San Jose on Friday, and we went to Cahuita. Since we left at 6:00 AM, they did not see us off, but Facebook says they arrived O.K.

The trip was uneventful, although we saw some beautiful country. Here’s a shot taken beside the spot where we did a transfer:

And here’s a roadside sloth taking a break:

Anxious to see our friends from the last trip, we arrived about 2 hours late in Cahuita. This was a first for Interbus, and we were surprised, but happy to finally be here. The trip was tiring, with over 12 hours of the previous 24 on a bus.

Cahuita has not fared well in the recession. Many stores are closed, most things are in need of repair. Selection at the stores – particularly the grocery store - is very poor. Tired and a bit frustrated, we went to bed early. Hopefully the howler monkeys will cheer us up in the morning.

Dianne writes:

I’m a bit behind in my blogging. I want to tell you about something that happened to Dan and Kaityn, the woman he loves dearly. (See Kaitlyn we are proud to say that you’re his girlfriend.) Dan and Kaitlyn decided to go on a night tram ride in the mountains. There were 2 trams to choose from. One was $50 and it went up for 15 minutes and then down again for 15 minutes. They weren’t impressed with that one so they found another one that was $25, and went for 2 hours. Well that sounded good so off they went.

The taxi took them there and the people who owned it seemed genuinely shocked that someone had shown up. They sent their son out first to try it to see if it worked and that there was nothing poisonous up ahead. Then they put Dan and Kaitlyn onto it, next to a spider the size of a golf ball, and off they went. The thing had been built 20 or 30 years ago and what must have been a lovely view was now a scary tunnel through the jungle. The top of the tram was arching and sparking and they were a little worried that they might set the jungle on fire. Since they weren’t handed any flashlights they assumed that there would be lights on the way. Nope! Soon Dan and Kaitlyn realized that they were heading through a hole in the dark jungle. After about 15 minutes a young boy ran up to them and gave them a flashlight. They also gave Kaitlyn a blanket because they thought she looked cold. All in all the people turned out to be very nice they had a coffee and a nice visit with D & K. They actually tell the story better, so if you run into them, have Kaitlyn tell you.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Goin’ on a holiday / twistin' by the pool - Mark Knopfler

Charlie writes: Today is another travel day, down 1300 meters elevation through mountain passes, to the Pacific coast, and the resort where Pam and Ray are having their wedding. If you are not familiar with our strange extended family, Pam is our Goddaughter, who is as close to us as a daughter of our own. The resort where she and Ray are getting married is at the complete opposite end of Costa Rica from Cahuita, and in more ways than geography. The resort has hundreds of employees, bringing an income to nearly as many families, and the standard of living in the area seems quite a bit higher than other places we’ve been.

The resort is absolutely beautiful with what appears to be hundreds of small cabins scattered around the slope of a little valley leading down to the ocean. In the center is a complex of restaurants, pools, and activities where pretty much anything you wish to have is included in the price of your room.

We are certainly being spoiled, with several restaurants, pools, the ocean, water toys, music, and many organized activities.

Dianne says: The place is beautiful, with free food, free alcohol, beaches, pools. Did I mention free food? I’m never leaving this place!!!!!

The view from Today’s deck – our cabin at the Hilton.


Charlie writes: (an update Tuesday morning) ... We’ll be here until Thursday. Unfortunately, one of the things that is not free is internet access, so we won’t be blogging every single day. To put it in perspective, a day of internet access here is the same cost as a night’s stay at many hotels in Cahuita. (Dianne has nick-named me "Angus").

But, I woke up to howler monkeys this morning and some birds I didn’t recognize on the deck so I guess we’re not in Kansas, I mean Ontario, anymore.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

I love coffee, I love tea / I love the java jive and it loves me! –The Ink Spots

Charlie writes: Saturday I got Dianne a job picking coffee to help pay for the trip. If she works really hard, she might make $5 a day! At that rate, we can get a plane ticket home… well… never, I guess. But that is the going rate of pay around here. So I guess she might as well quit the job and continue her life of leisure. :)

We actually visited a small family run coffee plantation. Most of the process is mechanized, but the picking needs to be done by hand, because each coffee fruit ripens at a different time, so a plant will have green ones, red ones, and a variety of colours in between. Picking requires distinguishing the subtleties, and no machine can do that yet.

They also grow sugar cane, so we learned that process too. It’s a lot like making maple syrup, except the cane is pressed to squeeze out the sap, which is then boiled. We made a little candy to take home. We also had an excellent snack made completely from things grown on their farm, washed down with really fresh coffee, sweetened with their sugar.

Life is good, especially since we did not have to pick the coffee. It’s perhaps a little less good for those who have to pick coffee to earn a living, although any job is better than none.

We had a ride back in a traditional ox cart – possibly a bigger load than the oxen were used to.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Another one rides the bus – Weird Al


Charlie writes: First, an apology about load times for this page. I had a computer crash two days before leaving, and in my scramble to assemble one to carry, I forgot to load my picture compression software. The result is big files for photographs; however the blog is pretty boring without pics. I’ll work on the problem when we get to Cahuita.

After breakfast of fresh fruit and the worlds best French toast, we boarded the enduro-bus to Monteverde. O.K., that’s not its real name, but after 4 hours bouncing on really bad gravel roads, through twisting mountain passes with sheer drops at the side, we were at the end of our endurance. Views were spectacular, and we had perfect weather for it.

This is coffee country, and the mountain hills are covered with the plants. Monteverde is a forest reserve; where a bit of tropical jungle survives on a mountain top, complete with sloths, monkeys, and coati. And we are staying right in the middle of it, outside Helena. We can see the Pacific Ocean from our front porch, and the night hikes to see wildlife leaves from our back yard.
Here’s the pacific from our front porch.

Dianne says: OK, so, we’ve been in the bouncey bus for two and a half hours when I see a sign that says Monteverde 29 km. I was so excited because with only 29 km left I knew we would be there one and a half hours earlier than the bus driver had told us. YAY!

Well…..at this point Mr. Busdriver turns off of the paved road onto gravel. Now the paved roads here are basically gavel roads with pretty large patches of paving. Smoooooooth!!! A gravel road, well….No pavement and not smooth. The road was so bad that it took us an hour and a half to go 29 kms. Man every muscle I own is sore and now we are going on a two hour hike in the dark in the jungle. I live with crazy people!!!!! People say I’m the crazy one in this relationship but no…..I!!!!! Am!!!!!! Not!!!!!!!

Night hike!

Whoa cool or what? We were all handed these dim flashlights so we could see the ground. Our tour guide had a bright one to point things out for us. It was amazing! We saw many different birds sleeping, bugs and giant moths and a heard of animals who’s name I have forgotten (Coati). They are cute little fellas and although they are nocturnal we’ve seen the odd one wander around during the day.

But then I had a cool God thing happen. I know the sound that a thrush makes, but I have never seen one. I look and I look but they are hard to find. So I ask God to show me one and……..nothing. Oh well sometimes God is busy. Well we went on our hike in the dark and one of the guides finds a sleeping thrush in a tree. My ears perk up and I ask are thrushes native to Costa Rica. The guy says that this type of thrush comes here from Canada to escape the cold weather. Hahahahaha Well son-of-a-gun! So do I!

The Coati in a strangler tree.

Thursday Nov 10, 2011

I don't know where I'm a gonna go / When the volcano blow – Jimmy Buffet

Day number 2 saw us, after an excellent breakfast, on the bus to Aranel. We met old friends we didn’t even know we had when we got to the Las Colinas hotel in La Fortuna, as they remembered us from our last visit. I guess the grey beard is a bit distinctive.

Dianne says: The same family runs the hotel and they are very honoured that their hotel is where Santa Claus comes to vacation before the start of his busy season.

The hotel is mostly covered in a canopy of vines with amazing blue flowers everywhere. Of course, it gets trimmed every morning as each day it grows about 18 inches. No kidding. And I’m again reminded how really different and fascinating this place is.



We hiked up the volcano lava fields and found out the actual volcano, which grumbled us to sleep last trip, has been quiet now for a year, after continuously flowing for 50 years or so.

Dianne says: So far this trip they have made me walk a million miles up hill both ways!

This means it might be extinct – or it might be plugged and building up pressure for another eruption. Just a little scary. However, a couple drinks in the hot springs at Baldi, and we were brave enough to spend the night without worry. We even got a picture of the whole volcano, which was something we could not do even with 4 days last time.

Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011

I’m leavin’ on a jet plane; don’t know when I’ll be home again… John Denver

Well, here we are, almost 4 years later, and we are finally back in Costa Rica. I had not even realized that I missed it, but it feels like coming home. Well almost – the San Jose airport has been completely redone, and now looks like most modern airports. No coming down stairs and walking across the tarmac. The guys outside are the same, however, hoping to earn a commission by getting you to the hotel that pays them the most. We were offered “help” many, many times until our ride finally arrived.
For those of you that don’t know, my son Daniel is traveling with us for the first part of our trip. He’s doing the music for Pam’s wedding that we are attending in a few days, and he’s having an adventure on the way. His friend Kaitlyn is also with us, and it’s her first major trip, which actually allows us to see many things through new eyes. For instance, her first flight – I had about a dozen pictures to choose from for this post.

She said she was only a little afraid on the first take-off…

You can clearly see excitement!

The Rio Segundo area near the airport is still pretty unpleasant and not well suited for an evening stroll, but we ignored the steel fences and razor wire, and wandered in the afternoon, bought some fruit, and then finished our first day with a gourmet meal in our small hotel. There was a bug in Kaitlyn & Dan’s room, but it was easily conquered with a shoe.

Daniel gets 1 gold star.

Dianne says: Kaitlyn gets a gold star for not going straight back to the air port and home to Ottawa