Advertisement
Published: March 29th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Please note: The B&B has a new phone number: (506) 456-4084! And, the pictures in this blog entry are from Beth’s recent trip to Sarapiqui. I promised I’d put them up.
There’s been quite a wind blowing through here the past few days. I am not sure if it is just part of a low pressure system that will clear out soon and bring back the happily sunny days of the dry season, or if it will linger and in fact signal the transition to the “green” (rainy) season. Since this is my first transition from the dry season to rainy season, I am just not sure when it will occur or whether it will happen gradually or not.
It has been a few days weather-wise! It hasn’t rained much, but we have been in the middle of the clouds shrouding our home. It really isn’t all that bad actually. While it is a bit less warm, it is still very mild compared to parts of the U.S. And, the clouds going in and out give the place a quiet but not really spooky feel. The wind does, however, make the electricity a little less stable. It doesn’t go
Beth's car
Filled with all manner of plants and flowers! out for long but living in the developing world, one has to be careful of sudden spikes to electrical equipment. One night a few days ago, the power went out at about 2am (not sure why I was still up!) and stayed out for about 20 minutes. What was weird about this, though not unexpected, was how damn dark it got! Not only did our immediate neighborhood lose power, but I heard much of the Alajuela province did as well. I looked out our front door (after slinking along in the dark trying to find a flashlight), and noticed there were no lights anywhere. It appeared the power outage went for many miles away as I could see no lights in any direction from the house. I’m glad it only last a short time but it was interesting to be outside with no lights—only the stars gently illuminating the sky.
Besides tending to our guests, this has been a relatively quiet week. I was able to go horseback riding both on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I went up the Los Angeles Cloud Forest, http://moon.com/planner/costa_rica/mustsee/los_angeles.html, where I have gotten to know some the tour guides and spent two hours
roaming horseback through this protected wildlife preserve. While it was fairly cloudy that day, it was an interesting ride. During part of the ride we went through grassy lowlands, complete with an assort of interesting trees and two different kinds of edible wild berries—I had my guide try them first before I did! Then, in another part of the trail we went down to a river, crossed it, and came upon a thick rainforest, dark due to the canopy above, but wonderfully noisy with a whole host of animals. We couldn’t see them, but we heard several toucans making their mating calls.
On Sunday, I went to my friend Jim’s house for a few hours. He owns several horses and lives outside of San Ramon, at about 5,000 feet, with incredible views of the Pacific Ocean, San Ramon, San Jose (in the distance), and at least four volcanoes! Of course, that is assuming it is a bright and cloudless day. While I enjoyed riding in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest, I liked the vistas much better in Jim’s area. In addition to the ocean, there are many interesting things to see including coffee farms on deeply sloping hills, cute
Tico houses hidden in the mountains, and numerous valleys with a host of interesting plants and wildlife. Riding the horses through this area makes it somewhat difficult for the horses and I’m still a bit of novice at riding. The horse Jim always lets me use is terrific, but a few times on this day, he wanted to speed up, trying to keep up with the lead horse. I must admit that the horse’s gallop did scare the heck out of me a bit! I’m sure my niece Elizabeth would have handled it just fine!
Not much else to tell this week. The horses are staying in the pen, thanks to one of our neighbors/handy man, Chico, and the dogs are wild as ever—but at least they are not barking at all hours the night!
I should have some interesting adventures to report on over the three weeks so stay tuned, and as always, thanks for reading this, and of course, providing your comments!
More soon!
Pura Vida!
Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
New B&B phone number: (506) 456-4084
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0735s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
dylan
non-member comment
Jim's Place
Hi Andrew, Looks like you are having some fun. Is Jim's place located on Jose's new development? I have seen pictures of it (Jose's new land) on the net, but not in person. I know it has some big ocean views. It is also warmer there. I have been to Angel Valley Farm and I think it is beautiful. Though I found it to be suitable before, it appears that you have made some nice improvements. Since you mentioned your friend Jim's place has those views, I was just curious. Thanks, I am enjoying your site. Dylan