medician_man

Busy, Busy

2005-12-16T18:31:10Z

“Why aren’t you all doing this?”
This quote from Emily, uttered neck deep in our swimming hole a couple of weeks ago, aimed at everyone we know in the states, has made it into our daily repertoire of catch phrases. Nothing spectacular has happened in the past two weeks but every day there is at least one moment where we marvel at this brilliant decision we made. Here are some of the moments that stand out:

We’ve finally broken ground on the property! It took us almost 6 weeks (I had predicted a month) but once it happened it moved fast. I am amazed at what one man and a tank (see photo) can do; especially when the only regulations to follow are the laws of physics. The first home site took only four hours to carve out (see before and after photos). We are planning on putting a 72 sq. m casita (little house) on the spot overlooking the property and the river. The guys wanted to know what we were naming this house (I guess they do that here) and suggested ‘Casa Piedras’ because of the boulders we found there. The scraping here disturbed a meter long coral snake (see photo) called Oxythropus Petolarius. According to our snake encyclopedia it ‘is a venomous form that may also constrict its prey.’ It appears to be dangerous only to lizards, frogs, and small mammals. One of the possible spots for our permanent home is down below Casa Piedras. Many tons of hillside had to be moved to carve out this site and it is still not done yet. Fortunately the tank killed one of our nastiest tenants; a juvenile Terciopelo (see photos). This little guy was only a half meter long but the fangs are still nightmare generators. I think that this snake is the deadliest in the world. The big ones have a head the size of my FIST. This one’s was barely as big as my fingertip but its bite would still send an adult to the hospital. I tossed the dead body into the back of the truck so that I could show Em and the kids and 30 minutes later the ‘corpse’ had moved at least a meter on its own. I don’t think I will be turning my back on it anymore. We also used the tank to smooth out our road and a creek crossing, as well as plowing out a road to our swimming hole. This week the guys are bringing in a backhoe to put in 25 m of drainage pipes. The whole thing will cost us less than $1500.

This past week also found me sweating in my boots on the property. Not only did I get lots of machete practice but I put in the electrical service as well. ICE (pronounced ‘eesay’), the local version of PG&E, has only a few rules to follow and beyond that it is anything goes. One of those rules is a 6 m pole buried 1 m deep with concrete. I got to use my growing Spanish skills for these critical hardware purchases and so far it seems to be working out. I am used to just adding water to the bags of concrete that you buy in the states. When I started mixing the ‘cemento’ I realized that it was just powder and would need sand and gravel to become ‘concreto’. This being the land of plenty I scooted down to the river and shoveled what I needed into the back of the truck. I mixed it in until it looked right and slopped it into the hole. The next morning it was hard so I’m sure ICE will be satisfied. All the parts for this operation (pole, 200 amp meter box, mast and weather-head, wires, cement and two grounding rods) only set us back $300.

Kaemon started his summer vacation from school at the end of this week. Last week his teacher told me that he could come to school for the last week but that their might only be a few students attending. On Monday only three showed up (see photos) so she told them all to take off the rest of the week until the end-of-the-year party on Friday. Details of some of K’s school experiences can be found in Em’s journal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/sage_tanstaafl/) but I have included some photos here of the little room where the Kinder class meets. We put this extra free time to use this week at the river. Every time we ask him where he want to go he says “fishing at the river!” He has all the casting and reeling skills dialed but still needs help getting a worm on the hook. His practice paid off when he caught the first (and only) eatable-sized fish (see photo). That night I in-expertly filleted the little guy and we all had a few bites. The taste of fresh-caught fish inspired Em to get out there; with not quite so similar results (see photo). While K loves the fishing he usually puts the pole down after 20 minutes to search for additions to his formidable ‘river crayon’ collection. River crayons are rocks made of compressed mud from somewhere upstream. They come in a wide variety of sizes and earth toned colors. When scraped on rocks, cement, paper, or even skin they lay down smooth pigment like a conti-crayon. K can collect these treasures for hours, testing each one to distinguish it from ordinary rocks.

Daily trips to the property result in daily driving adventures on ‘our road’. We give the kids great freedom on the kilometer dirt road and they take advantage of it. Kaemon can steer almost the entire stretch, across two creeks, while sitting on my lap. Erowyn usually tries to sit or stand on every available surface during the 5 minute trip. Of course she demand equal driving time as K but she just jerks the steering-wheel from one ditch to the other while screaming “don’t touch it!” every time I try to save our lives.

This has also been a great week for afternoons at the beach. Emily is really working hard to learn how to surf. Meter by meter she overcomes her fear of the waves and ventures farther out. The deeper she gets the better her duck-diving improves and the longer she stands up on the board. When she gets tired, and the tide gets high enough, I paddle out for a session of my own while she watches the kids. The waves the past few days have been juicy and I haven’t missed a drop all week. Late yesterday the waves were so big that as I pushed off my board to drop-in the peak of the wave would rise up behind me to blot out the sun; very distracting at a crucial moment.

Un-schooling seems to be just as effective here as in the states, but the same old concerns still creep up on us. We brought our PlayStation and all our movies and games with us as insurance against culture shock. The idea was that if it gets to be too much for the kids (and maybe us too) we can retreat into the familiar warmth of the TV set. We have seen very little obvious outward signs that K is having a tough time adjusting but since the first week he has been playing his PS2 games almost every waking moment we are at the house. He even repeats the same game over, from start to finish, even if he won the game the day before. Our un-schooling instincts tell us to let him be and he will find his own equilibrium, but it is still hard. Finally this past week he put the controller down and asked for some paper and scissors to make snowflakes. When he tired of this he asked for some game software for the computer and has been doing Reader Rabbit in between drawing pictures and writing words in Spanish and English. Even when visiting grandkids from next door come over to immerse themselves in the PlayStation he only watches for a while and then comes in the kitchen to help us make ice cream. Always trust un-schooling; your kids know what is best.

One final note from the living-off-the-land file: This week one of my milk drinking fantasies has come true. A guy on horse-back stopped in front of our house to sell fresh milk from his farm. We bought a 2 liter soda bottle full for 400 colones ($0.80). I like to think it was still warm from the cow, but it was probably from being strapped to the side of the horse. It has a rich, earthy taste with a hint of the grasses the animals have been grazing on. Is there a category above ‘whole milk’? Best of all I can finally get out from under my pile of empty milk bottles. All we have to do now is find out where he lives so that we can take back the Squirt bottle for a refill.

By the time you all get down here we will have a direct line to the source. I promise.

Pura Vida

Car buying teaser

2005-11-05T16:05:20Z

Well, we are on our way out of the Mango and onto our house in San Cristobol. We are loading up our weird truck with our souls (just barely) intact. The highlight of yesterday´s car buying experience was the wicked witch offering Kaemon and Erowyn a bite of the nice juicy apples.

It may be a few days before we can get ourselves on the web again. I should be recovered enough by then to have written the whole story (and others, I´m sure).

Pura Vida!

More trip details

2005-11-04T01:25:54Z

I thought I would include some more details of our un-eventful travel day. I don´t want to get in the habit of only writing about the fabulous and disasterous moments.

We got up at 4:30 at Andy´s house and hustled the sleepy Erowyn and bouncy Kaemon into the overstuffed Explorer. The Skycap (as I mentioned) made the check-in very easy. Security screening was smooth despite seven carry-ons and two laptops. We walked straight to the gate and only a few folks remained to board. As we got settled into our seats the captain started the preboard anouncements and we immediately pushed back from the gate. It seems like we were cutting it close but there wasn´t a moment of stressed rushing so I guess we timed it perfectly. I think the stay at Andy´s house near the airport was the key.

The flight was smooth but busy. We kept the kids entertained constantly and they were happy. Emily´s masterful packing of our carry-ons made it a snap. We arrived in Miami with five hours to get our connection so we were sitting pretty. Once again the airport sherpa came to the rescue and I did not have to lift a finger. Kaemon and I took off after the sherpa leaving Emily to ride herd on Erowyn. They kept up with us for a minute but after the first bend we lost them in the crowd. After waiting at the check-in counter for 15 minutes I was starting to get worried. Soon after I hear this strained ¨Pete!¨ in the distance and see Erowyn in the backpack with a grin and Emily under it with a grimace. That told the whole story of her trip so I spirited E off Em´s back and let her recouperate. After checking in (and 30 minutes of Kaemon´s crazed flirtacious hiding from a little dutch girl (we´re flyng Martinair) we settled in for the 4 hour wait. As usual the kids were pinballs but the gate area was confined. Another smooth filght (Return of the King, Dora, and Zorro as distractions) brought us in to the sparsely-lit night sky of Costa Rica.

It was 11:30 at night, our bags required two trips of the hotel shuttle, as usual the Mango could not find our reservation, and still we were quickly falling asleep in our beds. I set the alarm so as not to miss our 8:30 appointment but after so many time zone changes I did not realize that the clock was set 1 hour ahead. We hustled to eat breakfast and get to the lobby at 7:30 only to find that it was 6:30. Even our mistakes run in our favor today. We went straight back to the room and slept in our clothes until it was time to leave.

The cross town taxi ride with Hugo was filled with tourism tidbits in spanish and a brief pull-over so Kaemon could try to throw up. In typical Costa RIca fashion two lawers and three accountants were not able to seal the deal on getting us a bank account, but I think we are close. We slept the rest of the day.

Tomorrow we venture off with the father of the hotel manager to find a car to buy. I wonder if that will make an interesting story.

Pura Vida!

We made it!!

2005-11-03T05:44:07Z

600 lbs. of stuff (in 12 separate bags including a 10 ft. bag of surfboards), 2 kids, and 2 relieved adults arrived at the Hotel Mango without incident. For the first time in my life I actually greased the palms of the Skycaps and the trip was a BREEZE. We finally had enough luggage to justify using their huge carts.

The kids were pretty easy. We only had to threaten Erowyn about 200 times that we would pick her up if she did not stop running away (she hates to be picked up). Kaemon, as always, was a champ.

Time for my traditional Fresca and some sleep.

Pura Vida!

Three hours to go!!!

2005-11-01T23:38:14Z

Aaaagh! The house is a disaster. If someone wants to come and rob the house while we're gone will you please take the mess with you?

The take-with-us sacrifices have begun. My tools have lost out to our pillows. The french press will not be sacrificed.

It turns ou the inside of the Explorer is not big enough for all our stuff. I hope they won't have to strap our stuff the top of the plane.

Next update from the Hotel Mango!

Pura Vida.

Three days to go!

2005-10-31T05:06:22Z

We are almost ready to go. 8 of 10 bags packed. Crap cleaned out of the yard. House a mess! I will keep you all posted when we get to Costa Rica. This thread will last at least for the six months we staying on this leg of the adventure.