Clouds, Bananas, Lunch and Another Spider - Costa Rica

This past week, we had lunch in Atenas with our friends Diane and John. We met them at El Fogon Campesino restaurant and, as usual, the food was excellent. The portions are very large. El Fogon has safe Covid-19 practices in place so we feel comfortable there. It’s open air so we are not enclosed inside.

My shrimp salad.

Lance’s chicken dish.

My favourite bananas are the very sweet so called “finger bananas”. They are small and the perfect size for a snack. I read somewhere that if the cut end of a banana is wrapped in plastic wrap or foil paper, they will keep from going too brown too soon. I don’t know if this really works, but I am trying it out with the last bananas we bought.

Lance found a YouTube video of the condominium complex we live in. You can see our house at about the 51 second mark in the lower right hand corner of your screen. It goes by quite fast - it has a large brown shingle roof, which is rare in Costa Rica. The architecture of many of the houses in this complex may be of interest to some viewers. In many cases, the design is somewhat free form. This is because in the area where we live there is no need to worry about artificial cooling or artificial heating.

Living in the tropics as we do, one gets used to the various forms of insect life that we share our house and planet with. This beauty was on one of our commodes - I just went and used another bathroom.

We saw a beautiful cloud formation over our house yesterday (Saturday):

I made some gallo pinto:

And that was how our week went. Other then going to Atenas for lunch and shopping at stores we feel are very safe, we keep to ourselves. Remember - keep your distance and wear your masks!

(Click on any of the photos to enlarge).

Our Bountiful Backyard

We have a lovely, very quiet backyard at our new house. I put my hammock under the orange trees and out of the sun. It’s so peaceful reading a book there.

We also have a lot of fruit trees, as do most properties in Costa Rica or so it seems. At our previous house, we had mangoes, bananas and oranges - although the oranges were tart and didn’t peel easily. They were good for juicing though.

Now we have mangoes, bananas, coconuts and oranges - the kind with loose skins so they peel very easily. I guess they are mandarins.

Immature orange:

Mature orange:

Coconut tree:

Mangoes:

Bananas - not sure how we’ll get this bunch down. It’s up very high.

Growing Your Own Fruit in Costa Rica

This title is somewhat misleading because we are not farmers, but it is still easy to enjoy your own fruit on your property.

Almost every time we eat a pineapple, I stick the cut off tops into the ground. It takes ages for the tops to produce a new pineapple, but it’s fun to do and always a surprise when we see a pineapple developing. Today I found four:

Itty bitty:

                                                                               










Bitty #1:


Bitty #2:

Biggy:

One of the banana trees is fruiting. Not ready to harvest yet but getting there:

Banana Bonanza

Last weekend, two of our banana trees fell over during a rain storm. Unbeknown to us, one of the trees had a large bunch of bananas on it. The bunch had completely detached from the tree so we hauled it down to our house .... they are very heavy.

Here's what we got, still unripened.

With some difficulty because of the weight, we managed to hang it up and the bananas will ripen. Sometimes it seems like it happens all at once and there is no way we can use all of them. Today, two were ripe at the bottom. A fresh picked banana tastes so much better then the ones we used to buy in grocery stores in Canada.

We'll be sharing some of these with our neighbors.

 

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Bananas - Bananas

Here is a video I made of our gardener, José, and his helper harvesting a very large bunch of bananas from one of our trees. We shared them with José and our neighbors.

You can also see some of our mangoes ... they weren't quite ripe when I made the video.

 

 

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The Previous Couple of Weeks

Just thinking back over the last few weeks:

We are now transitioning into the dry season and can expect more winds coming from a different direction - the north or the north northwest - which pushes the humid air coming from the west and southwest offshore. Already, we have experienced far less rain than we did in late October. My tomato plants suffered during those weeks but have bravely ripened a few tomatoes for us. I'll reseed again soon.

Halloween is a non-event in Costa Rica, which suited me fine. I had grown weary of buying overpriced, teeth rotting candy in Cloverdale and watching Genny being scared by the constant ringing of the doorbell. The young tykes are really cute and they finish trick and treating early but when the 16 year olds start showing up, it's time to shut the lights off and lock the door.

Instead, All Souls Day on November 2nd is observed with Catholic masses and Ticos head to cemeteries to pay respects to departed loved ones. Here in Atenas, all the crypts in the graveyard were covered in flowers. One of my taxi drivers drove me by so I could see. By the way, if anyone is interested in what happens to one after death in Costa Rica, go here to The Real Costa Rica and you'll get all the info.

We bought some moisture absorbing bags at WalMart, $22 CAD for a box of three. They are supposed to last 60 days but here is what they look like after two weeks so I guess we had a lot of moisture in our clothes cupboards. The crystals at the top absorb moisture which drips down into the bag at the bottom.

We discovered a new mall in Heredia - Paseo de las Flores - and our friends John and Diane picked me up one day and we went shopping. I bought Lance some badly needed clothes and I found some stuff for me also. The food court was enormous. I have to go back again soon so I can see all of the shops. It really is a big, big mall. Heredia is the capital city of the province of Heredia, and it is home to one of the largest colleges in Costa Rica, the National University of Costa Rica.

I also recently went shopping at one of Atena's Ropa Americana shops and found three cotton shirts for me. I should have listened to the shop keeper who suggested I try them on first. One is way too small (the tag says "petite", didn't notice it), one is too large but I like it because of the color and the larger fit lets the breezes in, and the third one fits more closely. So two out of three ain't bad. Final cost: $20 CAD.

Had another fabulous Beach Day this past Monday at Playa Dona Ana. About 25 like-minded souls showed up. We bobbed in the ocean, yakked, ate our lunches, fed the monkeys. If anyone reading this wants to join us, let me know.

That is Lance on the left.

I cut down a really big bunch of bananas from one of our trees. It must have weighed 50 lbs. at least or so it felt. Dragged it down the hill to our house and we hung it from one of the roof rafters outside. All the bananas are ripening amazingly fast, we can't eat enough of them to keep up. Our gardener Luis took some home with him today and I've set up two bird feeding stations in our lime tree where the over-ripe bananas are going. We are attracting birds we've never seen before.

So, as the sun sets gently tonight in Costa Rica and the air is filled with tropical scents, I wish everyone a peaceful night.

Banana Nana Bo Bana

Well, I did it - I figured out how to cut down that bunch of bananas I found on one of our banana trees.

Step 1: Tie pruning saw to end of extension pole used to clean ceiling fans.

Step 2: Extend pole and cut off banana bunch.

Step 3: Gloat.

Step 4: Hang bunch.....although I'm kind of thinking I cut this bunch too soon. Still, something has been stealing and eating them - I could see where the bananas have been cut off. Possums?

I Can't Wait to See the Birds

I've started following this Costa Rican blog:  http://www.anewlifeincostarica.com/nuevo_vida/. A couple and their teenager moved to Costa Rica a few years ago and this is the story of their life there. They are bird watchers and post videos of the birds at their feeders.....and they ain't sparrows. Toucans! they get toucans! They put out 50 bananas in their feeder and they were gone in an hour. Buying 50 bananas here would cost a fortune.

Other acquaintances of ours who live at one of the Pacific coast beach areas commented on how loud the howler monkeys were this morning.

I ask you - isn't this all so exciting?