Solo In The Jungle

Oh , the simple life , where are you.......?  Yes , this is me trying to justify not sitting down and writing my blog which I truely enjoy doing , sharing the good and the not so good adventures here in the jungle .  There certainly has been alot happening here so a quick synopsis may do to bring us up to date .

July 8th  I posted " The Barefoot Gardener ,"  smiling and enjoying our garden having returned from our trip to Boquette Panama , not knowing we were only a day away from Fire , Rain and Destruction .  Monday , July 9 at 7 : 30 pm..........wind whipping our shutters open and closed , pounding monsoon rain RAIN but where the Hell is the FIRE coming from that is lighting up our front yard..............OMG.  One of our trees in the front yard fell onto the power lines and as it hung there the current was firing up all the branches in one BLAZE Of GLORY and still the RAIN kept coming down.  SNAP...........NO POWER and for us 18 hours of no power .   I might add that thanks to our tree Zancudo had no power for 8 hours , we got the extra 10 hours due to our line was disconnected from our meter which was almost snapped off .  Oh it gets better along with taking out the power line our tree managed to take out the phone and internet service to Zancudo for an additional day .  I can handle no electricity and no phone service for a couple of days , but having my bananas crushed and cut up by the utility guys who showed up at midnight with only ladders , chainsaws and machetes to get the power back on..........Well , Thank You Costa Rican Powerline workers for only crushing and cutting up the bananas because that is all we lost and today new stalks have emerged and soon will fill the void , we survived with the only real damage to the VODKA bottle .   Something had to make us SMILE!

Debris cleaned up and we are back to living our dream and company is coming from the states on July 12 th.........our friends Paul and Carol are in for 2 weeks and we get to hang out and take a trip up to San Vito , Costa Rica , 3000 feet up with awesome views of Volcan Baru and the valley below .  Botanical gardens to tour , town center , panderia ( you know that is my favorite place , aka bakery ) , resturants and some time off the beach . 

Sunset looking East Not West and Still a Colorful Sky

The garden tour we took was next to the Wilson Gardens and I might say just as impressive

For Real  AMAZING

Shampoo Ginger Blossoms

The really cool thing about Shampoo Ginger is you just lean the blossoms over an a fragant liquid pours out , you can use to wash you hands, face or hair.  San Vito is an awesome mountain village settled by Italians in 1954 and it is always so enjoyable to visit........you never know it may be home some day.

Now back to Zancudo Road

South end of Zancudo Road Heading Out

First of 4 large puddles , this was the smallest one and only a week prior the rest of the road was completely under water with several Crocks doing the backstroke down through the middle.......NO KIDDING!  So , when the water is running high we are diverted to the high road , up onto the cow pasture.........priceless .

Friends are truely Friends here on Playa Zancudo and it has come time for us to help out a friend pack up for her move back to the states .  As I have said before........life here is difficult and when we moved here we had a home so to speak even though it was kind of unhabitable .  Our friend was trying to build a new home on her property that is near impossible at this present time in Zancudo as we all still wait for concessions for use of the meritime property .  So, for now her adventure was coming to an end and Sherry and I tried to help as much as possible including a trip hauling some of her personal items up to San Jose for shipment back to the states in a vehicle ( 94 Trooper ) that was questionable at best on odds of making it up there and back.........alternator went up around Uvita , good thing it is a diesel so as long as it running we keep on driving and pray for sunlight and NO Rain for the next 4 hours to San Jose .  Has an overnighter in San Jose , alternator repaired heading back to Zancudo .  No Vodka needed for this incident just a Pilsen or 3 . 

Rambling on and as of yet not any clue as to why this blogs title is " Solo In The Jungle " ,  well since August 7 , Tarzan has been hanging here in the jungle without Jane .  WHY, it was time for mi esposa to head home to the farm in Delaware to see our Grandson , along with family and friends

So , that 94 Trooper I mentioned above............well it ended up being the transportation for our friend , her dog and cat along with Sherry to the airport in San Jose .  Funny thing the alternator went up 2 days prior to our departure from Zancudo.......no problems as long as we don't need the headlights or windshield wipers...........that diesel engine will keep on keeping on and it did...........Women and animals checked into the hotel for their morning flight out to the US and me..........heading into downtown San Jose back to the mechanic for alternator repair and 1 more night in San Jose . 

Yes, I made it back to Zancudo the next night doing the one thing I swore I would never do and that is driving in Costa Rica at NIGHT.........Oh , I forgot it was RAINING but the alternator was working and I had headlights and windshield wipers..........just needed a better road .  NEVER DRIVE IN COSTA RICA AT NIGHT .  And the answer is..........YES .  Damn right I had several Vodkas along with a shot or 3 of Tequila .  For those who have traveled these roads , you know I deserved those drinks .

Here at the house it has been work as usual , I dug up the pavers in front of the house hauled in  about 4 inches of sand and soil , planting a ground cover and reset the pavers so they are not under water when it rains .  Put up a bamboo greenhouse in the back yard in anticipation of the really heavy rains..........oh what fun........it will be more alcohol or a straight jacket by the middle of October .  If Hollywood is looking for a remake of the " SHINING " I will be forwarding my contact information .  Life is life and as my favorite quote goes , " Life Begins Once You Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone " .  All is good , just waiting for mi esposas return one week from today , I have missed her , the adventure here is just not as fun with out her here to share it with . 

Closing the Blog today with this picture

Mi Esposa with a sweater on , San Vito , July 2012 IMPOSSIBLE

Life is always changing and over the coming months Sherry and I are making plans to relocate to the San Vito area in the coming year .  I will always try to keep up with the blog as our journey may climb to higher elevations in the future , so for now we continue to work on our home here in Zancudo , looking forward to the dry season and visits from friends in 2013.   Pura Vida

NOTE:  Proofer on vacation in the US must accept all misspells and punctuation mistakes on this Blog