Life in the Jungle

Been getting great responses to our blog .  But we rarely get any questions about daily life in the jungle , which I can truthfully say is very different from our life at the farm .

So , this weeks blog is all about jungle living , the good , the bad and the uncomfortable .

Starting with the things that create  the uncomfortable such as ANTS and yes I have mentioned them in a couple of blogs...........they truly are EVERYWHERE .  On more than one occasion either mi esposa or yo has made the mad dash for the waterhose after stepping onto a colony of fire ants........these are very little ants that pack one mean ass bite that burns intensely for about 20 minutes followed by itching .  What have we learned..........watch where we are stepping .  Oh.....by the way they climb trees so you have to watch where you grab hold of branches and then there are the.......

WASPS..............of varying sizes .  I personally know how bad the small wasps sting from construction on the house when I was hit 5 times by the attack possee while removing a rotten fascia board and sadly after killing off what we thought was the entire colony 3 escapees hit me from the backside .    So , when we see the really big WASPS.......does a 2 passenger Cessna bring to mind the size...........we get out of  their way .  Got hit last year after purchasing the property by 1 black wasp on the backside of my hand through a LEATHER glove , the result...........one very large cartoon hand with the swelling lasting for several days . 

And then there is................Polvo ( dust ) since we are experiencing a very dry season and remember there are only 2 seasons Wet and Dry........it has been really DRY and we have no glass in our windows to keep out the dust . I believe we have had 3 rain showers within the last 3 weeks and that is all the rain we have seen since Enero (January)   ............but soon the rains will come and it will rain , Rain , RAin RAIn and RAIN .  We will definitely be blogging about the rain .

For me those are the only discomforts of life here in the Jungle..........BUT WAIT......mi esposa has something to say...........HEAT and MOSQUITOS .   Yes it has been HOT , temperatures into the mid 90's during the day cooling off very comfortably at night . With the ceiling fan I am fine but  mi esposa will turn on the wind tunnel fan at the foot of the bed........believe me they could use this fan as an engine on a 747............At least we have electricity... most of the time to power her wind tunnel .   And now  mi esposas # 1 cause of discomfort........MOSQUITOS , funny thing with it being so dry we have had very few mosquitos and I don ' t recall 1 complaint this week from her about the mosquitos............that is because the no sees came to town for a couple of early evening biting sessions on her .  Nothing likes me so I never get bit .  Oh well , life here in the jungle . 

Still nothing seems to be that bad here..........I certainly have had to learn PATIENCE.....well sort of .   It is frustrating to wait.........we instant gratification , give it to me now , service in 30 seconds or less Americans.............we wait for nothing .  You will wait  HERE especially in this very remote wild west forgotten corner of Costa Rica .  But that is what brought us here.........remote quiet jungle life .  Forget it.........quiet certainly is  not the operative word to discribe the jungle.........for at least 3 to 4 times a week the howler monkeys usually start their morning ritual of seeing who can howl the loudest at about 4:30 a.m. followed by every damn bird in the jungle that does not sing in the night time choir ring in for their morning singing session at 5:33 a.m........no not 5:30 or 5:45 it has to be 5:33 but that is okay since the 5:45 bus is heading south out of town sounding as a bus should sound on a bumpy dirt road gearing up and down with windows rattling just lightly enough to hear .  And then just maybe we can doze off for a few more winks when to the palm tree tops land 3 african parrots with more mouth than a bus load of 60 year old women heading to a Billy Ray Cyrus concert . 

Then a long walk on the beach with the sun rising above the jungle and all is just a faded memory as the Osa Penisula sparkles across the aqua waters of the Golfo Dulce and looking north to the mouth of the Rio Coto and the sunlight glimmering on jungle covered mountains above Golfito..........this is home .   Just as the tide so goes the Ebb and Flow of life here in our jungle home .

So......I don't really know what to list as the BAD part of life here........except for not being able to see our children and grandson , our family and friends........that is hard but soon we will all be together again here in our home in the jungle or back in the states .  Our first 3 months here has passed very quickly and we have about 1 year left before we head back to the US for our first visit .  We are here for a year.......working on our casa making it a home and enjoying a different life without an easy button .

Always remember Zancudo is the last frontier in Costa Rica and we are remote.......we have heard this more then one time........... more like a thousand times since we arrived  from people who happen upon this sleepy little beach village .  For us life is simply beautiful with an occasional frustration that soon ebb with the tide  then one more amazing sunset and the sounds of the night jungle.........Oh , did I forget to tell you about the sounds in the jungle at night............That will have to be another blog so on with the pictures because I know you are tired of my ramblings. 

First Banana

Why does the caption say first Banana when in previous blogs we have talked about our 20 plus banana trees.......well technically we have Cuadrados ( a 4 sided starchy member of the banana family ) and yes they are great to eat.....green in stews or just boiled with Salsa Luzano or sliced when ripe and fried in butter with miel ( honey ) and canela ( cinnamon ) for breakfast or dessert .  We do have a recipe for Cuadrados Lasagne using the sliced green boiled cuadrados as the lasagne noodle but we are just waiting to pick up mozzarella at the border on our next trip .

Fresh eggs and Fresh milk

Yes that is mi esposa with her 2 liters of fresh cows milk still warm straight from the teet at 1500 colones and 1 dozen fresh eggs also 1500 colones .  Note:  In order to get the eggs we have to produce the carton.........Egg mans rule .

Just a friend who leaped from a palm tree I was planting

 You know there always has to be something you look forward to anywhere you live........for us it happens every other Sabado noche ( Saturday night ) at Olas Bravas with our friend Ellie and her awesome pizza..............

Ellie , Sherry and our PIZZA

We have eaten many pizzas in our day and I will tell you I would put Ellie ' s pizza up against any and hands down she will take the prize for........Best Damn Pizza .  The cool thing about going to Ellies is we bring our own beer just like the good old days at Nicola's back in the 70's .

Today we end with a quote by Neale Donald Walsch , " Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone " .

Pura Vida