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

The Barefoot Jungle Gardener

Ola mi amigos!  My how time does fly by living here on Playa Zancudo and I still as of yet  have not put up the hammock, or purchased the blender for those " frozen concotions that helps me hang on ".  Why you ask ?   Daily life for those of us who live here  still don ' t know where Tuesday went of last week .  Sooooo ,  just like life anywhere you lay your hat or slip out of your flip flops ,  days pass  quickly .  As many of you enjoy the long sunlit evenings of summer in the states our sunlit evenings always fade away around  5 : 45 leaving many things for tomorrow .


Now you have my justification for slacking off on the Blog.........Mas Trabajo Aqui ! (Much Work Here ) and no I am certainly not going to complain as mi esposa continually states year after year for the past 36 years ,  " Cj you do it to your self "  and that now brings me to my title of the blog " The Barefoot Jungle Gardener "  and I do have the scars on my feet to prove it  from all of the fire ants that have savagely attacked me defending their jungle property as I lay claim to my jungle home . 

Certainly there is still much work to be done on our casa but for now my focus is getting a good portion of the landscaping done with the help of the afternoon rains .  It is now the perfect time to put in sticks ( a cutting ) from any plant or shrub such as crotons , hibiscus , or pretty much any plant you want in your garden and just watch them grow .  I have been very busy creating a large garden on the north side of our casa with plants such a Heleconias , Gingers , Birds of Paradise , Crotons and Hibiscus that like filtered sun light ,  all in bare feet.........Loco Gringo !   



Hanging Heleconia



Hanging Fuzzy Heleconia Rojo

Hanging Fuzzy Heleconia Amarillo



Upright Heleconia Amarillo

Rosetta Torch Ginger

Bird of Paradise

and even though there is always mucho trabajo aqui en casa we do get a chance to head out every now and then , so on June 17 th Sherry and I along with our friend Marilyn headed to Boquete Panama for our 3 days out of the country to renew our tourist visa .  Mi esposa got to enjoy the cool mountain temps along with great restaurants and window shopping .  You always have to remember there are very few windows here in Zancudo and none for window shopping .  We enjoyed a ride up the northwest loop towards Volcan Baru and several water falls and  fields and fields of onions , lettuce , tomatoes , and COFFEE .  

Solo Falls

Sream by Casa Dracula ( so says the cabby )

Cj and Sherry Solo Falls Boquete , Panama

Boquete Panama Center Square



Mi Jardin es Su Jardin Boquete Panama

Vaca Pintada  ( Painted Cow )

We have said good-bye to many friends for this season and those  who have left for short vacations in the states visiting their family and friends and we anxiously await their return .  Mi esposa will soon join in with her own trip back to our home in Delaware for the month of August to see our grandson , family and friends .   Me........well I will keep on building our dream on this bumpy dirt road with more drama than Peyton Place at times but I would not want to be in any other place today in my life .   What great friends we have made here and we are especially going to miss our dear friend Mango Mendoza and his esposa Mrs. Mango .  Why you ask ?  No more Mango Juice and Rum ,  Mangos n Rice , Mango Pizza ,  Mango Shrimp ,  Mango on the Barbie , Mango Mustard , Mango Tofu , Mango Mush ,  Mango on a Stick ,  Mango Toothpaste , Mango Soap and finally his specialty..........Sun Dried Mangos .  Have a great vacation in the states Mango and Mrs. Mango ! 

Until the next blog , Salud ( insert clinking of cerveza bottles )

Her with a Pilsen and Me with an Imperial,  Pura Vida

Walking Through Life in Flip-Flops

When they don't wash away

Just 15 minutes of rain

Oh, yes the rain came and away floated our Flip-Flops  .  Hopefully we have solved the problem as our property was taking on extra rain run off from the road..........can you say......TROCHE ( trench ) and indeed Shapiro and I dug a very nice long and deep troche across the front of our property along the road to move the water somewhere else .........Lo Siento ( I am sorry )  don't need anymore water here .   Still , we knew we need terra ( soil ) delivered to add a couple of inches of height in front of our Casa along with the driveway........however , one thing at a time as our budget for our sencillo paraiso ( simple paradise ) evaporated along time ago . 

Yet life is so beautiful here as you can see from the cut flores we get from our garden

Standing Heleconia From Our Jardin

And my fravorite Heleconia in a most appropriate Vase ( empty champagne bottle )

Hanging Heleconia From Our Jardin

Our friend Surfer Mike brought this beautiful 9 foot section of philodendron that we attached to one of our trees on the north side of the casa .  We know have 4 different varities clinging to 4 arbols but I don ' t think well have enough room for the 896 other varities of philodendron .

Regalo from mi amigo Mike

And then there are some most pecular fungus that pop up.............out of the ground here in our jardin

So...........Any Clue

And then there is mi esposa in the Cocina ( Kitchen ) making Pan...........36 years of marriage and I have to bring her to the remote jungle in Southwestern Costa Rica to Bake Bread .  I have got to say it is awesome whole wheat Pan and I do believe there is a possibility of sour dough coming to  a Cocina near me soon .  Come on mi espose.......stop making me wait for the sour dough .

Mi Esposa making Pan

It is not all work here , there are mornings where we take long walks on the beach especially when we have morning low tides .  Last Sunday we walked 6 miles and came across this


Where is the Old Bay

YES......we have blue crabs here in the Rio Coto .  So I am telling mi esposa that we should do chickin - neckin back on the edge of the mangrove and then it occured to me.............Crocodiles like chicken necks  TOOOOOOOOOO .  I do believe I have mentioned in one or two blogs that we do have Crocodiles and we have seen crocodiles...........so our game plan for the large container of Old Bay , used primarily for fresh camarones ( shrimp ) may serve another purpose when I can find an amigo that goes crabbing with the crocodiles .

In our early days of our jungle adventure and life here in our Casa , anything that moved  deserved caution........Hey , I  have watched National Geographics ,  " Most Deadly Snakes of Central America " and the funny thing , it seems Costa Rica has most of them .  And , fact number # 2 , the hospital in Golfito has the largest supply of Anti - Venin Serum in Costa Rica............Sooooo , always look where you are going and what you are picking up .  This brings me to my stump sitting friend in the photo below .   I believe he is in the Baslik Lizard family also know as the " Jesus Christ " Lizard becaus they can walk on water and on my first encounter with this lizard he reminded me of the poison spitting hooded lizard in Jurrasic Park # 1.   But alas we are friends and from the Cocina ventanna ( kitchen window ) we watch him jump up on his backyard stump to chill .



Straight Out of Jurassic Park

And still , I wait and wait and wait for my first " B C " encounter..............that would be Boa Constrictor .   And yes I am very excited for that day to come because on that day I can truthfully say , " We do live in a jungle " .

I really do try to get the blog out every week but time slips by so fast .  We are coming up on 6 months here on Playa Zancudo and in just 6 days we head to Boquete Panama to renew our tourist visa for our next 90 days .  Reflecting back on this journey I have to say it is an " Awakening " .  Understanding a different life and what we need to happily exist in an insane world .  The simplicity of our life here with no car , oh my God all of you cringed at that thought , doing without TELEVISON ,  anyone breathing after that statement and making do with what you have.........that would mean , NO WALMART or Big Box Store to purchase all those things like the 3 Chip - n - Dip sets we sold at one of our yard sales .  " Life begins at the end of your comfort zone " Thank you Neale Donald Walsch and Pura Vida 

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

Melt Down Under The Palms

Yes..........my first melt down in paradise .  Why you ask........PATIENCE.......I have none .  The cause of the melt down was just one door , one door that was hand built , paid for 2 months ago and has been sitting in the shower in the 2nd bedroom waiting to have framework built to hold it in place .
    

The Cause

Having  OCD ( Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ) here in the jungle definitely is not a good thing .  There is always something falling from the canopy above or crawling and trying to make your home their home.........ants........more ants and then there are the gecko's who have not been toilet trained.....well it is not like they leave a very large pile.......but it is there .  Then mi casa has no real storage space.......and again I have to remind myself I am only wearing bathing suits and tee shirts with flip flops all this fits nicely in one section of the wardrobe .   Let us not open up my organizational problems since I have not cut enough bamboo to build the storage facility.........Now back to the ugly part of the melt down , I yelled to mi esposa ,  " THE FOR SALE SIGN IS GOING UP WE ARE HEADING BACK TO DELAWARE " this happened on Lunes  ( Monday ) of this past week . 


Today is Domingo ( Sunday ) , just 6 dias from the MELT DOWN and what a difference when you just have PATIENCE and of course LUMBER .

A Very Beautiful Puerta To Mi Casa

Looking Out

Lumber , oh what a wonderful word .  That really has been one of the biggest issues living here , waiting for your supplies to be delivered or just trying to figure out the most cost effective way to get what you need .  I mean really........the closest ferreteria is about 20 miles away on a road that is rock , gravel and pot holes and  the fact that mi Escalade has only one very small storage basket attached to the handle bars used primarily for carrying cervezas and one would need alot of cervezas to make that trip on a bicycleta  and I really don 't think there would be much madera coming back to Zancudo . 

But on Mericoles ( Wednesday ) I caught a  ride to the frontera ( border ) with our friends who were picking up ceramica for their real estate office and anytime you can catch a ride with the possiblility of having your groceries transported back to Zancudo without having to use the backpack.........you got to go for it .  Home Run........not only did  I get all of the really heavy grocery items along with molita (ground beef )  and pollo ( chicken) ,  I got 7 pieces of beautiful milled and squared 2 X 4's at the new Agrocoopeallanza by the Aciete plant ( date palm oil plant ) just southwest of Laurel .  Now the funny part of my adventure is I caught a return ride to Zancudo with the Amigo who was delivering the ceramica and mi amigo habla no Engles and mi habla poquito Espanol so in my best spanish I yelled ALTO ( stop )  and I got my wood for my screen puerta that had been driving me crazy . 

And the 4 pieces of TEAK that we had purchased to cap the knee wall on the porch had finally dried and could be squared , planed and set in place

Teak sill on knee wall

Now , I wait again first for mas colones por mas madera por maya ( more money for more wood for screen ) .  PATIENCE

We have finally seen the rain we have been waiting so long for especially ME , why........so I can start working and developing the gardens .  It is kind of funny as our friend Surfer Mike had said it will rain at 3 or at 5 and he has been right on the money .  The afternoon showers either at 3 or at 5 have made the greenery of the jungle even more intense and the hibiscus are blooming like crazy.   And that banana that I planted on April 1 well see for yourself .

Me and My Banana

Speaking of bananas , we have put in at least 4 more varieties over these past couple of weeks along with 10 new palms , 8 yellow palms and 2 fish tail palms .  Have outlined our driveway with 76 small rooted Ixora shrubs that bloom an  awesome orange .  In the coming week I need to get the 24 papaya plants I started from seed in the ground and protected from IGUANAS .

24 Papayas

So , I really don't think I will put the For Sale Sign up just yet........there is still alot to for me to learn and as far as working on being tranquillo  (tranquil) ..........it 's going to take several years to get there but the journey will be great .

Pura Vida 

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