Pictures of Jose's Horse Farm

As promised a couple of days ago, here are some photos of Jose's horse and fruit farm.

Partial view of Jose's property - showing the horse barn.

Lance, Diana and Jose's Paso Fino stallion.

Jose

The three amigos.

Foal.

Hen and her chicks.

Lance hauling home a huge stash of mangos, limes, apples, and oranges - thank you, Jose! The apples are not what we are familar with - but Jose called them that in English.

Daily Tropical Downpour

It is two fifty p.m. here in Atenas and we are enjoying the daily downpour. I love the sound of the heavy rain on the tin roofs, the air has cooled and smells wonderful. The usual thunder and lightning.

One thing I have learned, get your laundry done first thing in the morning! Nobody uses dryers here (why would they when they have the sun and fresh air to dry the clothes for free all year) so wet wash has to be hung out early enough to dry before the rains. Sometimes the lights flicker but we haven't lost power yet.

Genny never did like thunder storms and she doesn't like them any better here. We open a cupboard door for her and in she goes to hide away in her little nest until the all clear. Maybe over time she will adapt but she doesn't like loud noises of any kind so I sort of doubt it.

Magda, who owns this resort, sometimes offers dinners to her guests. We've had two so far and they were delicious - she's a great chef. Last week, at one of these dinners, she introduced us to two expat Canadians, Diane and John. They are from the Maritimes and have been living in Atenas for quite some time. They built the most beautiful house up in the hills.

Diane and John very graciously offered to drive us to the city of Alajuela yesterday because we think it is where we want to live. It has more amenities for us than the more rural town of Atenas. We had lunch in a Mexican restaurant - excellent - and went to a number of big grocery stores (love the names: Mega-Superstore, AutoMercado) and Price Smart, which is like WalMart. Also tried to find a new keyboard for my laptop, but no luck so far.

Walked around Alajuela - it's similar in some ways to San Jose, lots of noise and traffic, but also lots of restaurants! Interesting shops. We would like to find a house about a 10 minute taxi ride from the city, in a quiet area, all or partially furnished, and if I could have a pool that would be divine.

Two Ticas have rented the cabina next to us - Magda told them about us - and now they've offered to help find us a place to rent. The people here are amazing. Magda even said she'd drive us there. They know the good and bad areas and we don't. So there you go - word of mouth, it's who you know.

Bought some chicken breasts yesterday so I'm going to marinate them in oil with lime juice from the fresh limes we were given yesterday. No stove in our cabina, but four countertop burners and a microwave so I should be able to do something with them. I can make a salad from the tomatoes and mangos too.

Jose and His Horses

We received a special invitation to visit Jose's finca just down the road from where we are staying. Yesterday, we walked down the road to see his horses and his farm. He has a lovely property - house, horse barn, all kinds of fruit trees, and fields for the horses.

I believe the breed is what is called Paso Fino - I don't know a lot about them except they do have a distinct gait and they are a small breed.

We were privileged to be exposed to Tico hospitality - we were shown each and every horse, some with foals, picked fruit fresh from the trees - you haven't lived until you've peeled and eaten an orange two seconds off a tree branch - and Jose loaded up a big potato sack for us filled with mangoes, limes, oranges, and other fruit that I've never tasted or seen before. I was in heaven petting horses, stepping in horse poop and generally getting smelly and dirty.

We walked down the street to the local pulparia (spelling?) which is like a small mum 'n pop corner store.  Jose insisted on buying us some soft drinks and I also picked up a few items for our kitchen. Now that I know where this little shop is, I can walk down there myself when we need to pick up a few things.

Right now, we are sitting outside on our patio in the dark and the Ticas who have the cabina next to us started laughing so hard they had to run inside. We fear it was because Lance is taking photos of the big toads that come out at night!!

I'm using Lance's computer tonight because of my crappy keyboard which is gradually losing all it's keys, so I can't post any photos of Jose but will do so tomorrow on my own computer. Jose just stopped by and taught us how to say "big toad", "medium toad" and "small toad" in Spanish.

We are trying to find a new keyboard for my old Mac.

Some Photos

For today, I'll just post some photos I've been taking of this and that.

Genny looking out the door of her cabina.

A lot of products come packaged this way. 

Salamander? Newt? They are very cute.

That is a cashew on the right! and I thought they grew in tin cans with salt...

Cactus flower

I cannot get over the banana trees - they are everywhere. OOPS! I just realized this photo is upside down - even tho bananas grow upward like this. Huh, odd.

Learning About Costa Rica

Haven't been able to post for a few days. My computer seems to be gradually packing it in - the "e" and "y" keys are no longer working. I'm using my husband's Mac tonight.

Also, we had to move out of the house we were renting for a month because the internet service just would not work up there on the hill. We have taken a cabina down the hill at the same resort, Finca Huetares, where we have no internet problems. Although the cabina is smaller than the house, it is also much closer to the pools! So we are here for another 3 weeks while we look for a home for a longer period of time. We are also trying to decide if we want to stay in the Atenas area.

Finca Huetares is a lovely resort - we highly recommend it. We have the place almost to ourselves because it is the off season here. Magda Corrales Murphy owns it (I think) and she is amazing - non-stop from 4:00 am to 9:00 at night. This is also a fruit farm (mangoes, limes, pineapples, probably others) and there are also beautiful chickens who lay organic eggs. They have a large area to run around in and they cluck away happily, roll in the dust, live a good chicken life as chickens should. Don't buy battery eggs, please!

It is so absolutely gorgeous here, the town itself has good amenities. But it is a rural area and one really needs a car which is not on our list at the moment. We want to check out the Alajuela area soon.

This morning, we heard a tremendous crash on our roof. Ran out, and saw the biggest iguana we've ever seen (not that we've seen many) leaping off our roof and running for the pool deck. He must have leapt from the second story roof. All three of us nearly had heart stoppage from the noise because of the tin roof.

Yesterday was tiny lizards in the kitchen day, or maybe they are salamanders? We had two around the kitchen sink. Harmless but gave me a start when I picked up the pot scrubber.

The last several days in Atenas have been very hot and humid. Apparently, this is not the normal state of affairs. It cools down nicely at night and I'm sitting outside on our little patio writing this. The sun went down around 6:15 pm - it does get dark fast. I tried out the pool down the hill for a change - the one I usually use was being cleaned. Because of the temperatures, I'm in the pool about three times a day and it does help. We have a ceiling fan and a fan for the bedroom so we get along and usually need the blanket at night.

Genny is coping well - she is smart enough to just lie around during the day, which is normal for her come to think about it. She has tried venturing out but there is too much activity and noise for her so she just sits in the doorway. I have use of the laundry room but waited too long today to do our wash and had to bring it in early when a storm threatened. It will never dry overnight so will hang it out again tomorrow. You have to do your laundry first thing in the morning here - because at this time of year it can rain every afternoon for a few hours.

We watched a storm sweep across the valley around noon - lots of thunder and lightening, black skies - but we only got a few drops.

We have met a Canadian couple from the Maritimes who now call Atenas home. They are staying at the cottage at the very top of the hill but leave tomorrow. They have been here for quite some time and love it.

I have photos to post but will have to do that from my own computer so will get on with it tomorrow.

So far, there is nothing about Costa Rica that we do not like. Oh, did I mention the enormous toads that hop around at night?

I Stepped on a Lizard in My Bare Feet!

It wasn't my fault. It was dark out on the patio and I was headed back inside when I stepped on a little lizard. I went running into the shower to wash my feet and Lance went outside to mop up the poor little thing.

My computer isn't working well at all and it may be because of all the little teeny-weeny ants that we discovered crawling all over it. They are so small they could easily be crawling around inside. Ants are all over the place in Costa Rica - big ones, medium ones, small ones, microscopic ones. I've put all our food in the fridge.

We've vacated the house we had because the internet just would not work up there and Lance was walking up and down the really steep hill all the time so he could work down at the main part of the resort where the internet was working.

One of the cabinas was available and we took it. It's a one bedroom, bath, kitchen area where Lance can work. We have a nice patio area with large wicker chairs and that is where I am sitting now. We're listening to the Canucks hockey game while I blog on Lance's computer. It's been hot and humid the last few days but the evenings are cool so good for sleeping. One of the three pools is steps from our door so I've been spending a lot of time neck deep in the water.

There was a small green lizard floating upside down it the pool this afternoon. His little eyes were closed. I lifted him out of the water and turned him over on the deck, his eyes snapped open, he stood up on his hind feet and ran away! What an amazing country.

I've got behind in my blogs because of my computer not working very well but I'm hoping to get caught up in the next few days. Lots of pictures and more stories to tell. Genny has seemed to cope well with yet another move. I think as long as we are with her, she does okay.

G nny Coms Hom

Th  lttr that coms aftr "D" on my computr is not working - I think it must b on its last lgs.

Anyway, w pickd Gnny up on Tusday - and it was grat to c hr again. I think sh was happy to s us too. Stoppd in at a pt shop and bought a littr box, littr, harnss & lash, xtra food.

This is a short ntry, w'r trying to solv th computr problm - will writ mor latr using Lanc's computr.