Silly songs with Larry

Everyone’s got a water buffalo.
Mine be fast but yours be slow.
Where we get them I don’t know,
But everyone’s got a water buffalo.
.
....Larry the Cucumber

OK this guy isn’t a water buffalo, but he is a cross between a cow and a, you guessed it, water buffalo! He’s a water cowfalo! (For those of you that don’t speak Dianne, Charlie is working on a dictionary)

We had a great day today. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning. Charlie put on a pot of coffee and we tried to decide what to do for the day. After breakfast we decided to walk to the butterfly garden just outside of town. The driving here is insane. At one point a guy and his kid, riding double on a bike passed us, who were at the same time being passed by a car, who in turn were being passed by a tourist bus. This is what happens when you pave a road people!!!

The butterfly garden was amazing. Winged creatures of blue and green and orange and gold were everywhere. Beautiful! There were lots of colourful pictures and information in several languages about the butterflies. There was even a humming bird in there and Charles found her nest. Very cool.

The "touch everything finger" in action

Then we headed back to town. By 10:30 we were back trying to decide what to do with our day. I gotta tell you, we Gales get more done by 10:30 than most people do all day. I was trying to talk Charles into getting on a bus and going to Bribri, which is about 20 km down the road, but instead we went to the beach. I’ve been to his office a number of times, so it was only fair that he should see mine.

We went out to my fish restaurant for lunch before we headed to my office. This week I just got a fillet, but usually I get this fried, whole fish with a funky sauce on it. I eat my fish while he stares back at me, but today I didn’t feel like looking my lunch in the eye.

Anyway, off we went to my office. Man I love the white sand beach. This is palm Sunday, and people here take an entire week off for Easter, so the beach was a bit crowded. Still we found our spot in the shade and we played in the water, warm and wonderful! I was sitting in the shallow water and playing in the goopy sand when my hand brought up a sand dollar, a live one. Then I looked around and noticed I was sitting among hundreds of them. Way cool.

On the way back we found the veggie truck and loaded up with fresh stuff, brought it home and chopped it into salsa. Mmmmmm

During our travels around town we’ve spotted several small churches, but the closest we’ve found to a recognizable denomination is a small Catholic church. Today we decided to brave Spanish services and attend. The sign on the door says mass at 4:00 PM, so we went back into town to go to Mass at 4. Yes it was only 4. We had had a very busy day. Sadly there was not going to be a service today, as (we think) it’s a multi point parish and they only have mass every second week. The other weeks are a bible study, which does not work well if you don’t speak the language. I was kinda bummed.

So we went to the Internet café to visit with the kids and any friends who might be online. We also talked with Willy, the café owner / tour guide, and we and may have a chance to go to an indigenous village on Tuesday. A 6 hour walk, following up the river sometimes walking in the water (not more than 3 or so feet deep, he promises) – how hard can it be?


Charlie’s Day –in Jurassic Park

Sometimes I think the age of the dinosaurs never really ended, they just got smaller and smaller and eventually moved to Costa Rica. There are an amazing collection of lizards and associated species here, some just a little scarier than others.

I don’t mind the family of salamander like guys that live in our house – they actually help keep the biting insect population down and anything that reduces the itching and scratching we contend with is appreciated. It’s also fun to watch the babies, only a couple inches long, struggle with trying to eat an ant that is about half an inch long. It’s like putting a gallon of ice cream in front of a three year old – he’s not sure where to start, but it’s a good day!

There is one that makes me a little nervous, however, that I see on my way to work every day. He’s a bit over a foot long with the tail, and looks like a skinny iguana, but he’s got a bit of tyrannosaurus rex in him, and a fair amount of attitude. He runs faster than anything I’ve seen, and he runs upright on his back legs. Every day we try to remember to take his picture, and every day we forget and scare him up before thinking about the camera. Today we remembered on the way home, and I got him on… ummm.. What do you say now that there is no “film” anymore? (Somehow “flash rom based electronic storage media” doesn’t have the same ring to it)

There is another kind of lizard that lives in the computer storage area at work. In size he is between the two mentioned above, but in attitude he’s pretty aggressive. He has learned, however, that humans with brooms will prevail, and now generally gives me a wide berth. We saw several others types on our hikes through the rainforest, but they were too quick for our fumbling with the camera.

And the sand crabs, (sort of related), are a blast – scurrying sideways on the beach and hiding in their holes with just eyestalks sticking out until we go by.

Yesterday an older German couple staying at the same place we are staying, told us they saw a yellow viper in the jungle behind our cabin.
Oh.
Good.
Snakes.
My favorite.
Poisonous ones at that, aggressive, and they like to hang from trees.
And we were just discussing a hike back there.

I bet Dianne would love go to the beach instead, especially if I buy her a fish for lunch!

(Are you kidding? A bright yellow poisonous snake? I gotta get a picture!!)

Tyrannosaurus mini-rex