I am finally understanding..........I just cannot keep up with the Jungle and the Blog.........impossible . During the wet season here in the jungle , me and mi Amigo Chupiro have been very busy transplanting , cutting and sticking crotons , hibiscus , along with a whole variety of gingers and heleconias.............least not forgetting the 14 stumps we dug up with only a shovel and machete . Why so much work now............because when the rains finally come to an end we will see very little rain through Enero , Febrero , Marzo and Abril . As a result of our hard work the rewards have been amazingly beautiful so far
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| Hibiscus at the front of our property |
Thicking up our fence line on the south side of the property with varigated hibiscus , Hawaian Flame plant , and other assorted crotons , a Triangle palm and Bananas .
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| Fence line south side of the Casa |
Still I try to continue adding edible plants and below is a picture of my first go at planting Yucca . Mi Amigo Roy provided me with the stalks from harvested Yucca roots and it was kind of strange planting the 12 inch sections of the stalk that grew above ground into the ground . So I laid two , 12 inch sections of stalk per hole and now we wait for about 8 months to harvest our first Yucca...............Really looking forward to crispy Frito Yucca fries along with Yucca simmered in a spicy tomato salsa . All is just one big learning curve for me . I will say , time certainly passes quickly since everyday the jungle drops more debris than I can rake up and compost .
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| Putting in my first Yucca |
I must confess one of the reasons I have been behind on getting my blog updated was a unexpected trip to the Florida Keys to lend a hand to my parents . Leaving our jungle home was hard..........truely because of the logistics . First I had to catch the 5 : 45 bus out of town for a 2 hour ride to Laurel into an awaiting colectivo Taxi to Paso Canoas and catch the 9 a . m . bus to San Jose then to a Taxi to the San Jose - Alajuela station to catch a 30 minute bus ride to Alajela for a good nights sleep at Las Volcanos Hotel...........love their breakfast which is included in the $30 room rate.........an awesome place to stay . Next day flight to Ft . Lauderdale and a 2 hour shuttle ride to my parents home.........I think we may live somewhat remotely now that I look back on just getting out of Zancudo and to the airport........So all turned out well in the Florida Keys and for the first time I now know how it feels to step up and give back to ones parents who have , for a life time , been the ones who gave so much to me . Love my Mom and Dad .
So for 3 weeks I left mi esposa here in our jungle home to fend off the lions , tigers and bears.............maybe I am exaggerating somewhat but you have yet to encounter the fanged white face chapuchins pissed off cause there ain ' t no more bananas along with the fact a whole tribe of Red - Backed Squirrel Monkey's got here a day earlier and cleaned out the ripened stalk of quadrados ( 4 sided bananas ) .............and let us not forget that mi esposa endured 4 straight days of rain that left fish swimming through the backyard .
However Sherry ( mi esposa ) did make it downtown to the Festival Intercultural and snapped a few pictures to share
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| Festival Intercultural across from the soccer field Zancudo |
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| Traditional Dress |
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| To Cute |
And an awesome display of traditional bowls , hand woven baskets and tools for maiz
The festival had wrapped up and several days later I made the 21 hour direct trip from the Florida Keys back to my Zancudo home...........do not recommend doing the direct trip as the last leg was a taxi ride from Paso Canoas that required several cervezas and 2 canned vodka and cranberry drinks........I am definitely a seasoned Costa Rican traveler as I beleive I did not spill a drop . Remember in an earlier blog I mentioned night travel is insane here and I do believe Freddy the taxi driver was just trying to get me home as quick as possible.............2 days recovery every bone in my body ached from swerving to miss people, motos , holes and finally the last 6 miles from Conte to Zancudo after heavy rain.........some holes where large enough and with enough water in them to swim laps minus the crocodile . Guess you are going to have to make the trip to see for yourself .
We are up to date and projects continue to get done here in the casa . During the past several months we had been having some issues with very large cockroaches taking up residency in the cabinet that housed our sink..........come on we live in a jungle there are BUGS and the one thing that I do know is that dark warm damp places are prime property for ROACHES . We have always wanted the Tico Pilas ( sink ) . The pilas is in . Waiting now on mi amigo Roy to cut the madera ( wood ) for the floating shelf system I designed to go under the pilas . As for the cabinet that housed the sink........it is being refurbished as a very DRY work and storage cabinet for the Cocina ( Kitchen ) . Finally we have put a major dent into the bug population .
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| Tico Pilas (sink) |
Life here can get a little stressful and I think I have said it before , There Is Not Enough Alcohol In Zancudo for those stressful days . Which brings me to the fact that I neglected to mention that since mi esposa endured the 4 days of straight rain , with fish swimming through our backyard being chased by Caiman..........just threw in the Caiman to see if you were still paying attention , that the BUS HAS STOPPED RUNNING from Langostino to Zancudo ........ talk about stress , no service in or out of town , I think we are on our 6 th week without service . Everyone thought I was crazy to pack in extra VODKA........Survival Skills 101 . We just remember the days when life here is so utterly amazing and just simply take a walk and look down to things you have created from walks on the beach
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| Our beach stone collection by our stepping stones into the Casa |
As for the title of this blog .............. it is all in a days worth of gardening here at our Casa in Playa Zandudo
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| Muddy Feet |
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| Dirty Fingernails |
Pura Vida
