Machete

We finally went out and bought ourselves a machete complete with leather scabbard.

The scabbard is quite nice, with a tooled oxcart and "Costa Rica" on it. We bought it at Vargas in Atenas, our hardware store.

A neighbor's banana tree fell down into our yard, which prompted us to buy a machete so our gardener could chop it up. In the end, their gardener did the job so our machete still hasn't been used. It needs to be sharpened first anyway. They are sold unsharpened.

Fallen banana tree on the right.

 

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The Plåtano Mystery

First, one banana appeared on the berm wall at the back of our house. We do not have any bananas on our trees at present. Perhaps the neighbors do but how did the banana get there?

Then, another one appeared on the second day - right beside the first one.

How the heck did they get there?

Restaurants and the Dry Season

Last Thursday, we met friends and enjoyed bocas and wine at Grego's, a bar and restaurant on highway 3 not far from Atenas.  Service and food is excellent. We sat outside on the covered patio, enjoyed the company, the weather and chatting with everyone.

It's close enough that we can walk down there, but thank goodness our friends drive us home (or we call a taxi) because it's all uphill going back to our house.

We now know why this is called the dry season - no rain since early November. Today I walked up the hill behind our house where our banana trees are and the ground is cracked and so dry. Everything was rustling in the wind and there is a lot of wind. The mango tree is flowering but also throwing tiny mangoes on the ground so I expect that is some sort of normal culling? The tree is huge and old and has survived for a long time so I guess it knows what it is doing.

After several months of clear blue skies all day long, now we notice that clouds are forming in the early afternoon. They look like they could be rain clouds, but not a drop falls and then they disappear in the late afternoon. I think we are experiencing the gradual transition into the green season.