Day trips, Palmares, Atenas and Escazu

The wicked winds have arrived in our part of the country! We've heard these winds referred to as the Christmas winds, they're early this year. Perhaps we summoned the winds by decorating the giant cypress tree in our front yard Sunday and Monday. The howling winds began here on Monday night. Bill insists the gusts are no less than 40 mph. The Christmas tree is shaking but so far all the balls have stayed on.

We had business to attend to in Palmares sometime in the week so we decided to get out of the wind and take care of business this morning. Palmares is in somewhat of a valley protected by the surrounding mountains. It was a warm, lightly breezy day in Palmares. We finished our business quickly, ate lunch and decided to hang out in one of our favorite parks for awhile. Bear loves all the squirrels and giant iguanas in their central park, we all do. Of all the parks we’ve been to in Costa Rica, Palmares is number one in our book, even more so now. There were rumors of perez oso’s or sloths in the park at one time. We gave up searching when on several occasions we asked police patrolling the area and were consistently told they had been gone for a number of years. WRONG! Bill spotted one today. We always look up in the trees for the giant iguanas sunning themselves. Today we noticed a giant bee hive; Bill assumed he was looking at another until it moved. We were all stunned and excited. Ok, me more than anyone else. The perez oso is my personal animal “to see” in Costa Rica. Bill is still waiting to see his Quetzal, Callista snakes in the wild. Animals in zoos and refuges don’t count. In addition to the sloth we got close up and personal with one of the giant iguanas who was not so thrilled to see Bear.

The beautiful reddish orange, 4 foot long iguana was eating a papaya in an area the park people put food for the critters. The iguana and Bear noticed each other at the same time. As Bear barked he took off like a bat out of hell, faster than I could snap a picture. Bear is always leashed in the park so don’t worry, he wasn’t going to harm the iguana. The iguana ran up a tree so I stood below to get a picture. He expressed his outrage at Bear disturbing his meal by spitting the papaya all over me. I’d never been spit on by an iguana; thank goodness it didn’t come out the other end!

It was such a beautiful clear day, thanks to the winds that we decided to drive into Atenas instead of heading home. Friends we made here last year have returned for two months and are staying there. We took a chance and went in search of them without calling first. The funny thing is they decided to come to San Ramon for the day. Oh well, we’ll connect another time. The trip was not a loss as we had an ulterior motive. Our friends had told us about Kay’s Gringo Pastries. Kay was making all the pumpkin pies for the American Legion Thanksgiving Day Dinner. It was worth the drive to find Kay’s and the pumpkin pies.

We aren’t celebrating Thanksgiving anymore as it isn’t a holiday in Costa Rica. For us it’s easier to let go of some American holidays than others. We’re thankful everyday for our lives and the people in it. Those we care about know they are special to us. We can live without the annual turkey but pumpkin pie is an indulgence Bill and Callista just can’t pass up. What a treat it was for us to meet Kay, her assistant Mercedes, husband Tom and a few of their friends. I’ll do a whole blog on Kay in the near future, after we get our pie and eat it too!

Last weekend we did another day trip to Escazu to visit friends in their new house above the city. The view from their new house of windows was incredible both in the light of day and at night. While none of us wants to live in Escazu we’re thrilled our friends have found the place that makes their hearts sing.

As our friends invited us into the house we got an unexpected surprise. We experienced not one but TWO earthquakes, one right after the other. We’ve only once before felt the effects of earthquakes while in Costa Rica. The other was in the middle of the night and we were awakened by barking dogs and objects falling off shelves.

While in Escazu, we attended the Country Day School annual bazaar. Our friends live up the hill from the school. We bought fifteen new to us, used books for $5.00, what a bargain! Our friends also treated us to the best meal we’ve had yet in Costa Rica. We’ve had delicious food while here but nothing, NOTHING compares to a good steak in Bill’s eyes. Along with many holidays we’d just about given up on a good steak. As if seeing our friends, getting a deal on used books, and having a great meal weren’t enough Bill also got to play ping-pong, a forgotten passion. It seems our friends and their kids were worthy opponents. Bill had a blast, we all did.

In honor of Thanksgiving we’d like to say thanks to our friends and family both in Costa Rica and in the States for being a source of love and support for us in our new lives. We hope you all feel as blessed in your lives as we do in ours.

To our son Craig, HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU.

Pura Vida!
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear

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