What The Rain Brings To Our Jungle Home

Sometimes it is best to start with a photo of a sunset without RAIN , which is not that often these days here on Playa Zancudo

The rain has started along with the increased Mosquito population and I just have to say we have resorted to vacuming the Mosquitos off the screens in our kitchen most every morning now .  Life in a tropical jungle what did we expect . 

We survived our first monsoon rainfall just 2 weeks ago on a Saturday night with a good 6 to 8 inches of water covering parts of our yard in a  matter of minutes............and the good thing about rain that falls that hard is...........No Mosquitos .  There is no way any insect could make it through that rainfall .  So , our first taste of the start of the mini rainy season is upon us .  As for all the rain we got on that Saturday night..........soaked up in a couple of hours . 

 Now it usually does not rain all day , so we do get some awesome sunshine normally in the morning hours with the skies clouding up in the late afternoon .  I have been quite impressed by the amount of agua that falls from the sky and now understand why the Costa Rican Rain Gauge looks like a 5 gallon bucket with graduations in gallons not inches . 

The start of the mini rainy season has provided us with good info prior to the real rainy season in October and November........We have NO LEAKS in our roof......Job well done Roy and Victor......mi amigos . 

The amazing part of getting all of this rain is the sheer beauty of a very lush country........It feels like someone turned on the High Definition button on our property and all of the surrounding properties .

Looking out towards the playa and the calle

Pathway to the front puerta

As for our fruit trees , flowers and shrubs

1 of 3 of our Carombola ( Star Fruit ) Trees hanging full of fruit 

Crotons 1 of about 8 different varities here on the property

Pride of Burma ours has grown to about 5 feet tall and normally only grow to 3 feet

Costa Rica is surely a gardeners paradise...........just break off a branch and stick it in the ground and the next thing you know it is growing .  Propagating new plants here is so easy......you just have to remember to have patience and wait for the rain to start . 

I have not yet mentioned the one other insect that all of the rain has brought.........Cockroaches..........apparently they are being flooded out of their natural habitat and have decided to take up residency in our Casa.......mi esposa is not happy .  As for me , I think I have seen my share of cockroaches and I know that we don't stand a chance in Hell of getting rid of all of them so we take out as many as we can .  Anyone out there got a good recipe for deep frying insects......they have to be more tender and juicy than the beef here .

We continue to work towards completing the screening of our front porch and the front A framed rancho.........fingers crossed ,  another week,   and we will have a lot less mosquitos to deal with in the main living area.  Still I am amazed at how many of the local Ticos deal with the sheer  number of Mosquitos with out any screens at all.........not to mention all of the rainfall and living just inches off the ground .  Many of us could not imagine living with those conditions . 

Yesterday we made the trip out of Zancudo on the bus heading to Cuidad Neilly for produce and on to the border for VODKA and a few groceries  from the City Mall before heading to Laurel to complete the process of opening our Costa Rican bank account and yes we can now hide money in Central America.........if we only had money to hide .  Still life is good here and I feel so comfortable living in such an open house with an awesome jungle property just steps to the playa .  I have told mi esposa it is really going to be hard to live behind windows , doors and walls  again..........not anytime soon though . 

I do want to ask if anyone out there happens to be shopping at Petsmart.........could you check and see if they make pampers for gekcos........since the mosquito population has increased so have  the piles of gekco poop........yes I am grateful they are doing there best eating as many mosquitos as they can but I still haven't had any luck potty training them and they are pooping everywhere........Remember , Pura Vida and Sleep With Your Mouth Closed

Where Does The Time Go

So......... you think I have been laying under a palm tree sipping Rum Runners and neglecting the Blog .  Far from it , I have been hanging out with this HOT TICA up in Alejuela as proof by the photo

Okay...........the real story , Sherry and I headed to Alejuela to pick up our son Kyle at the airport for his first visit to Costa Rica on April 18 th .  This also was our first try at using the Costa Rican bus system and I will tell you it was awesome and very easy and it was a chance for us to spend some time off the playa and get another taste of civilization..........and check out some delicious Panderias ( Bakery ).....not that I am complaining but if we only had just ONE really good Panderia here on Zancudo life sure would be SWEETER .   We left Alejuela and San Jose with our son in tow on a Bus heading up through the mountains on the Central American highway to San Isidro General...........and as usual for this time of year we hit the afternoon RAIN which made the ride most interesting.......mi esposa is still having nightmares from the ride .  In San Isidro General we had a nice hotel on the city square and dinner readying for the 7 a.m. bus south 

Waiting for the bus

to Ciudad Neily , Paso Canoas to shop and onto Laurel to catch our 4 p.m. bus to Zancudo.........yes it was a 12 hour day and as our son turned to us on the chicken bus to Zancudo around 5 p.m. that day he said , " Don 't Know What You Two Where Smoking , But A Sane Person Would Have Turned Back A Long Time Ago " . 

However.......once he got here he understood..........the journey is worth it .  So for 10 days he swam and worked with us on our  casa and jardin .

Biking on the Playa

Unfortunately..........we did have several nights of MOSQUITOS.........life in the jungle .  So our son got a chance to see how different our life is here and just how difficult it can be to get the things you need and I am sure he is certainly not going to miss riding the bus to Zancudo which he had to do one other time .  On Saturday before his flight out he got to see our other option for leaving the playa.......by BOAT .  We headed to Golfito and a rental car for a slow ride up the coast for some site seeing and a night in Atenas and another night in Alejuela before his flight back to the  states .

Why is mi esposa bring home another ROCK

The photo was taken at Playa Dominical before we headed up the mountain to a favorite Soda with an awesome view

Imperials and patacones with a side of nachos

A stop along the coast highway to stretch and another awesome view

Just south of Jaco

We gave our son a quick tour of Jaco which I believe he wishes we lived in with the nightlife , bars , restaurants and people...........why did I throw in people......well it is kind of like this , here in Zancudo at this time of the year there are not many of us here .  All of the snow birds have headed back to the US , Canada or Europe leaving just a few to weather the rainy season .  No problem getting a seat at the bar or restaurant here in Zancudo .

We stayed in Atenas up in the mountains just west of San Jose.........what a cool little town . They were celebrating with a festival in reconition as National Geographics Best Climate in the World with festivities on the square.......FUN .  On Sunday we headed just east to Aleujela with a stop at one of the hundreds of viveros ( nurseries ) for just a few impatiens , coleus and geraniums along with a couple cactus.........you do not know how wonderful it was to shop at nursery.......something we have done all our lives in the states spring after spring..........it is the small things that truely mean the most .  So.....now we want a vivero here on Zancudo and a panderia........but do we really need these things?  We chose this place for it 's  traquility , beauty and playa.........I think we will travel away every once in awhile for our vivero and panderia fix .

So.....our son headed home on April 30 th and we headed back to Golfito to catch the 12 p.m. boat back to Zancudo with flowers in hand . 

The rain has come and normally everyday at 3 or 5 it starts and in the morning when we open our eyes it truely does seem like we live in HD ( High Definition ) techno color......the crayon box has exploded here in Zancudo .  As for me I am gardening as hard as I can and happy with my new Lipstick Palm

Hibicus shorts and a lipstick palm

We are coming up on 5 months of life here in Playa Zancudo and if I were to tell you everyday is paradise it would be a lie..............life here is difficult but life here is also very beautiful and the beauty is what keeps us here .  Pura Vida