The farm report:

aayiiiyiiyii its a miracle! Plants here grow when you simply put sticks in the ground...I am watching this happen with bougainvillea (in six colors!) orchids, Brazilian red colak, saragundi, sugar cane, dracenas and a bunch of other stuff

I have been cleaning, weeding, adding fertilizer (broken down coffee refuse, chicken and cow poo, worm casting soil) and moving dirt to fill holes, create beds, and start new things. Its a lot of work, and I think I may never have truly clean feet again in my life, but the upside is eating lots of fresh veggies and fruit I am growing. There has not been a week without bananas since I moved here, and the racks just keep coming...

Still have to work within reach of the hoses, because even though we are getting some rain, its not happening every day or nearly enough yet, and things that can't get daily water will dry and die.

This week, I put in about 12 baby papaya trees, 8 passion fruit vines, 3 cashew trees and some pitanga (sour Surinam cherry – yummy for pies and juices) and am contentedly watching my first two pineapples and 8 eggplants growing! I am also doing a lot of transplanting, as things get too large for the greenhouse. Blooming right now are some terrestrial orchids, some purple things and gardenias - it's starting to look like a garden around the house. I also had a heavenly treat, with a night blooming cerius that went into bloom last Friday. If you have not seen and smelled this flower in real life, let me tell you, it is something spectacularly amazing even to non plant lovers...When I lived in Philadelphia in a previous life, people would have parties and open champagne when theirs went into bloom.

I have enlarged my “family” - besides the now hundreds of earthworms very happily chewing up my fruit and vegetable refuse and gifting me with primo fertilizer, I now have three hens to feed and care for. They produce eggs and fertilizer. The girls are named Little, Noodle and Funky. Noodle is the tan one, who at present is the only one laying. She is also the Houdini of the bunch, she escaped at dusk the other night, to sleep in a tree. I keep them confined to a hen house, since I don't want them scratching around in my baby plants and pooping in the house. We (friend Veronica and I) worked her back towards the hen house, where we were able to finally catch her by dropping a small blanket over her when she hid in the beans. For a while there, it was a humbling experience, feeling outsmarted by a chicken!

On my right brained side, there are the English classes I am teaching. One group is total beginners, (What is your name? How are you? Do you like apples? Nice to meet you!) and the other is low level intermediates, or advanced beginners. This group had a picnic Saturday, since we had a lesson about picnics and foods. It was fun, and culturally instructive for me...boys wait to be served, and “help yourself” is truly a foreign concept...

When I 'm done for the day after my gardening workout (hey, you try swinging a hoe or moving 20 wheelbarrow loads in 2 hours and tell me how you like it!) I plop into one of the hammocks with a fresh fruit juice and a book, and am quickly toast or in afternoon nap land.

At night, as I write this, all I hear are the night insects and the occasional chattering of the iguana who helps with insect control in the house. Occasionally there is a car or motorcycle, a dog barking or someone's music. A funny thing that happens here is people play their stereos really loud when they are having sex. (So the neighbors don't hear?) So every once in a while, the music will go on loud enough to hear it, but it usually only lasts about five minutes...

   

Life has been pretty amazing lately.
The weather is wonderful, things are growing in the greenhouse, and its been windy or breezy, and the rains are starting to come back...
In the greenhouses, I am eating lettuce, arugula, mint, basil, strawberries, dill and eagerly anticipating eggplant, broccoli, snow peas, beets, squash and other stuff. Am enjoying the orchids as they come in bloom, of which I have seen about 12 now. The plant collection continues to grow as friends, neighbors and others give me interesting and unusual plant materials. I am starting with bromiliads and anthuriums as well as adding to the heliconyas, but for now, its mainly just moving plants around, and watering to keep them alive, putting worm tea on them for fertilizer, and waiting for the rains to really kick in, so I can start putting plants outside (of the greenhouses). I have lots of little fruit and nut trees waiting for permanent homes.



Slowly, I am getting some finishing work done on my house, painting, varnishing, caulking, just getting things to look more “finished” than how my builders left it. One of these days, it should look pretty good.
I am also getting estimates on the furniture – cabinet doors, and two single beds for the guest room.
I will be opening up the place to people I know who want a retreat or a vacation, for “all inclusive packages” (ask me if you are interested.) and trading stays with my friends in Panama...



Lately, we have been getting little earthquakes, or tremors, as many as 70 counted in one day. Its like the mother is getting upset, and letting us know it...It is really disorienting to feel the earth as being unstable, like you can't trust even the ground you walk on anymore! Things shake, but not so hard to do any damage. Nothing as large as the one we had a few months back. Jessie doesn't know what to make of it, she walks around the perimeter of the flat area surrounding the house when its shaking, like she's looking for a solid place...there were some reports that the epicenter is a few miles offshore and a of Golfito, which is due west of where I live by a good 40 or 50 miles. Maybe Costa Rica will have a new mountain, or at least more land mass soon?

I have started teaching English. I have two classes. One class has teenagers that are high level beginners and intermediates, for a 4 hour class at the high school in town, and one group is rank beginners in my community who are 8 to 11 years old. Highly motivated, these kids cornered me one day and said “when will you start English classes”? Up until then, I wasn't convinced anyone was really interested. It's much more fun than I thought it would be, I make them laugh, and I think they are actually learning. The proof will be next week, when the intermediates get their section exam... The younger ones are learning short sentences, and how to ask for cookies, its kind of like Pavlovian motivation...

And the bananas just keep on coming. At last count, I think there are about 6 racks almost ready to cut down. The toucans are finally coming in closer to the house now, where I have the bananas hanging at the vivero. Other wildlife visitors have included a scorpion (killed it) and two loose cows who found their way UNDER my fence, and were trying to munch on my baby trees and gotu kola. A neighbor, who has cows (and paddocks) came and lassoed the big one, and took them over to his property for safekeeping, until the owner could be found. Seems that at this time of the year, when pasture is really low, people who don't have a lot of land just let their cows go to fend for themselves, not exactly the most responsible thing, but then, most Ticos are clueless with regard to personal responsibility. This is a remnant from the culture of the big fruit companies, who took care of everything...(albeit poorly)...Fortunately, as more people receive higher education here, this is changing....

 

Here are some photos of the house to go with the last blog:
Above is what you see as you come up the driveway.
And from the other side, although now some planting is happening around the house as well.

This is the kitchen at night:
 

and here is the upstairs mirador bedroom (where I sleep, unless I have a guest who wants to stay there)

Here is what the stone and tile bath and the door for the downstairs bathroom looks like:

  

And the vivero (greenhouse) for the mushrooms and orchids (a shade house)

and finally, some food: this is caiba, a volunteer squash family plant that tastes a little like cucumber when raw, and sweet peppers when cooked:

  some photos I tried to load are not showing up, but at least you have the idea now..

So now you have more of an idea whats happening out there...
come visit!

Theres no place like home, theres no place like home, theres no place like home...

those of you who know me, know I have been wandering Central America and mostly Costa Rica for the past three and some years, looking for a new place to set down roots, where I can live more simply, and more in connection with nature.

About 8 months ago, I found a finca (farm) in the south of Costa Rica, near the Panama border. A little over 6 acres, with abandoned coffee and a stream running through it, it had the climate, the fresh air, the views, and the potential I was looking for. 6 months ago, I moved down to start a building project, and to start working the finca. To that end, I have been cutting back (restoring) the coffee, planting over 250 mixed hardwood trees, and a couple of dozen fruit trees, pineapples and more to come.

Last week, after much hair splitting, working with builders who turned out to be ill-equipped for this kind of project, I was far enough along on the house to be able to move in.
The house is mostly a large open porch – with kitchen, dining room, and living areas all outdoors. A small mirador (lookout) upstairs with two open walls and a half bath is my bedroom area. Almost everything is of natural and where possible, locally grown materials, except for the little cement part.

Its comfy and a little cool at night, low 70's, or upper 60's at night, high 70's during the day. Cooler when raining. I pile on the blankets and revel in the fresh air and breezes.

There is one traditional (closed in) bedroom on the first floor, and some security measures, like pull down metal bars that lock and a secure bodega (storage) room. With the rampant theft, it is unfortunately part of the reality of life here in Costa Rica.

I learned something from everywhere I lived in this country, and all the things I really liked have somehow been incorporated, and then some. People who I have visited or lived in their houses will recognize things, and hopefully some will recognize their plant progeny too!

I have a stone and tile shower, with a fill-able tub part (tubs are almost non-existent here) which will eventually be a “garden shower with a view”, and am starting the plantings around the house, both for privacy and wind breaks. I am also working on a large project of decorating the kitchen island with broken ceramic tile mosaics.

It feels great to be here. I am starting up the garden, most of which happens in greenhouses under plastic (believe it or not, this is in order to avoid too much water). I have an absolutely lovely sunset view.

Its super quiet, most of the time I hear wildlife, only occasionally the neighbors or their cows. Since I am on the top of the hill, the hawks soar down at eye level. I hear the toucans regularly.

Last night I had my first slithering visitor – a coral snake. Since they are venomous, I killed him. I felt guilty for all of one minute – but if its a choice between me, the dogs or a poisonous snake, the snake goes.

Sometimes I just listen to the crickets and night sounds, sometimes I play guitar and sing with them.
I am not alone, I have Jessie and now a second canine companion critter, a Rottie-Shepard mix named Zoe, who is a real big mush baby, but intimidating enough to be added security.

During the day, I stay busy – there is always clearing brush and weeding, fussing with plants and sembrando – planting things. This is often done by sticking a piece of something in the ground, and if its not raining, watering it. I have done this successfully with haliconias, terrestrial orchids, crotons, dracena family things, coleus, aralias, and assorted other plant material that I don't have English names for. One has to go the more traditional route of planting with actual rooted specimens or seeds on stuff like coconuts, fruit trees, bananas, palms, vegetables.
There is now a small plot of beans going and some corn, and cacao trees starting out. I have also just
started a bunch of mushroom plugs in logs for shitake and pearl oyster.

There is the shade vivero (greenhouse) for the mushrooms and orchids, of which my collection now numbers more than 35 plants. A first for me was having 5 orchid plants in bloom simultaneously. To say I was in ecstacy would be an understatement.

I have begun teaching English in the town and in my local neighborhood. This will help until the finca starts producing things to sell. (like mushrooms) I go to town about twice a week, and try to use the internet, but the internet cafes here are abysmally slow, and it is often impossible to even get into my mail.

This should change soon, when ICE (pronounced “ee-say” - the electricity and telecom monopoly) has some competition due to CAFTA coming in. This will be the ONLY good thing to come to this country with CAFTA, for the most part, it will probably totally destroy the entire economy.

Meanwhile, I am also thinking of offering the guest bedroom for a person or couple who want to do retreats or have a very quiet time away. It would have to be an all inclusive package, as there are no restaurants within 9 miles (or 35 minutes, as these roads go). Since I also cherish this privacy and quiet
time, it will be offered on a very limited basis.

But of course, friends are always welcome, just give me some advance notice to make sure the place is not occupied or I am not otherwise engaged...

This week, a dear friend of mine from Orosi will be coming down with her son for a couple of days. Between people who want to visit, English students, and Marcos, my 4 days per week helper who basically does all the heavy work on the finca that I can't do, I am rarely alone...I am reminded of that movie, “Field of Dreams”, where they said, “if you build it, they will come”...

Its best now to contact me by phone if you are really thinking of visiting, since the internet here is so useless. If you want the phone number, write and I will send it.

Pura vida!

OK,

there are photos that I was trying to link in this, but for some reason, this internet won..t let me get to it today.  please go to check out the new phtoos in my photos that accompany this.

sorry for that...

 

The visit with family was lots of fun – I didn't even have one fight with my sister!  In my past, I would often say "my family puts the funk in dysfunctional" but maybe we are all just getting too old and boring to bother each other anymore...

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Back on the home front.  Feels real good to be back,

And, its been raining.

A lot.

I keep saying that.

Because its true.

Coming from 9 years in the altiplano desert of Colorado, I still marvel at it.

We often get more rain in 30 minutes than Colorado gets all year.

 

My neighbor had some flooding this week.

It missed coming in my house by about ½ inch.

Limon has had the worst of it, from what we get on the news.

Panama has gotten hit hard in places too.

Still with us, Wendy? Beth? Lynda?

 

My house construction continues to progress.

 

This is how it looked last week.  Things change daily.

I might even be in before the new year!

 

We are doing a lot of ceramic tile stuff right now – the bodega and dispensa (storeroom and pantry) floors are being done with roto, which is broken ceramic in mosaic.  (Pictured is bodega floor) I am working up a mandala design in mosaic for the back of the kitchen counter, which will face out into the living space, and Eduardo is going to help and teach me how to install it.

 

My crew is great, and they don't even bat an eye, when I say

"but I wanted it THIS way" - they just go and fix it!  We have been coming up with workable solutions for my not-completely-thought-through design ideas.  For example, the look out veranda area upstairs gets rain inside when the wind goes in that direction.  Solution for right now?  Clear shower curtains, and if needed, with velcro tabs below.

 

My builders are really great guys, they keep telling me I need "una cobija con orejas", a blanket with ears – to keep me warm at night. Tico culture is so family oriented that they can't understand how anyone might actually WANT to live alone, especially a woman without "protection"...

Protection? From what? These men are generally SO non-threatening, the worst they do is flirt too hard and if you don't want the attention, you just day, "respecto, por favor" or "no sea necio" and they back right off. (translation: Respect please, or Don't be obnoxious)  So when I told them I got a novio (boyfriend) they were all interested and wanted to see a picture:

 

They all laughed with me at this.  This is Cody, the neighbor's cocker spaniel puppy who has been flirting shamelessly with me.

 

Meanwhile, we have been having extra insects with all this rain.  I feel like I am back at the house of moths again.  Here's some spotted recently in my house:

 

I am also seeing a lot of birds, and continue to be pleased with the range of things that grow in this area. I've started harvesting salad greens and cilantro from the greenhouse already, and am now planning where the chicken house will go.  Don't want it too close to the house, but near enough to a water line.  I am thinking of offering a private retreat service, for artists, composers or writers, or just people who need quiet time away, where I will take care of their food and living requirements, freeing them up to do whatever...for no more than one person or possibly a couple.

I definitely need to come up with something for producing income, until the finca is sustainable.

 

Well, thats it for now.  Chao amigos, hasta la proxima vez...

paz, luz y amor.

Since several people have asked if I am OK, and what was it like,
here's the story:

There was a 6.2 earthquake on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning (about 12:04 am local time) centered not too far south of where I live in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is a chain of volcanic mountains, I had experienced or slept through at least 5 minor rumblings in my three years of living here, with total fascination and awe. It was kindof fun, a little reminiscent of a fun house ride, although of much shorter duration.

So, after having trouble getting off to sleep, I was awoken rather rudely a little after midnight by a very loud noise and a very strong shaking. The noise was the really amazing thing - the little rumbles I had been in before were like loud purring or rumbling sounds - this was more like a large animal growling in front of your face. The movement a rough shaking, as though a giant someone had grabbed the house by the shoulders and was rousting for all it was worth.

Things were shifting around in the house, a stack of CDs and countertop fruits went flying, and I cautiously put my feet to the floor, to really feel the vibrations coming up.
I heard water splashing in the bathroom, and wondered if the toilet had been broken.

After a short while (probably not more than a minute in all) the shaking stopped, and I tentatively got up to see if life on planet earth was at least illusionarily stable again.

Nothing was damaged, (and this goes for all reported accounts in Costa Rica as well) and aside from some scattered stuff, wildly crooked pictures and a bathroom floor full of water, which had splashed out of the toilet tank, everything was fine.

The electricity went out, and then came back half a minute later. My neighbors' lights all went on, and people were talking, checking to make sure everyone was OK, and comforting the crying children.

The next day, strangers on the bus were all talking about it, and Costa Rica and Panama were each saying it originated on the other side....

The next day, en route to the US for a quicky family visit (T-day and this weekend's wedding of my cousin PC) stopped by Mike's and had a great time playing guitars and singing Bacharach and John Prine songs with him. (THANKS MIKE, I now have the tape loop of "I'll never fall in love again" going on!)

So I'm back in the US for about a week. If you want to phone, write me for the number here.

 

Yes, I DO realize you haven't heard from me in a while.  Thank you to those of you who were prodding me to get something written, you know who you are!

 

And while there really is NO excuse, my excuse is that I have been so astonishingly busy, I come home exhausted every day, and have no energy to even LOOK at the computer, much less think about doing anything with it other than maybe veg out staring at a movie.

Managing a construction job is serious work, don't let anyone tell you differently. And just try doing it in a language that is not your native tongue...every day I expand my vocabulary with new tools or materials!

 

A typical day starts out with going to town to purchase building materials, arrange for transport, make some decisions such as what color should the toilets or the tile grout be?, and then get up to the finca mid morning where I meet with the guys, answer any questions they have, make some decisions clearer or ask for something to be done a certain way (Ticos are masters of doing what my dad would call "half-assed shortcuts").  My new crew, Marvin, his dad Eli and his brother Eduardo are just terrific to work with, things are proceeding well, and with a lot of laughter and joking around.  Marvin, the lead builder, thinks I will be cold without walls and windows, and tells me I need (translated from the Spanish here) "a blanket with ears"...hmm, dogs qualify for this too, but if I dare say this to them, I will NEVER live it down!  The house is evolving into an interesting mix of small solid and large open living spaces, featuring beautiful hardwoods, some tile and stone combinations, and a few quirky fun things like broken tile mosaic work.

 

 

 Then I go off into the trees or the vivero (greenhouse) to work on weeding, planting, and  listening to the plants tell me what they want. (I'm becoming a devotee of Findhorn and Perelandra)

So far, there are over 200 baby hardwood trees planted in the coffee fields, 40 pineapples, about 25 baby cacao trees and several guanabana, figs, sapote, cas and other fruit trees.  I'm pretty much done planting anything I can't get a hose to until February or March, when the dry season is over. Since it is a good moneymaker, and because I drink the stuff, I will be trimming down the almost 2 acres of overgrown coffee in February to restore it.  If this works, I should have a decent harvest in two years.  Organic coffee is going for about $6 a cajuela (a specific sized box they use for crop measurement, it holds something a little larger than a cubic foot of raw beans).

 

This (almost) vegetarian has been visiting the slaughterhouses lately to secure cow horns. Once I get a couple of sacks of them, I will start making biodynamic preparations (very specific types of homeopathic organic soil enhancers – for more info search on Rudolf Steiner). I am hoping this will become one of the finca's products.  I am also going to learn how to produce super high quality organic gourmet chocolate – I know some of my friends will visit if I can manage this, maybe even my mother. (Nah, knowing her, she'll insist on mail shipments!)

 

 

And then there is the plan to grow mushrooms, for quick turnaround.  Since they are already growing all over the place, (just not the right types!) I am going to start with some plug spawn on hardwood logs.  Probably shitake and the big oysters.  So much to learn!  I've been visiting the biology station library at Las Cruces (www.ots.ac.cr) and  finding one book after another to dive into.  I think the mushrooms will have a market here, because they are super expensive (IF they do what they should do, I can easily do a lower price) and I think there are enough foreigners and Ticos of Italian descent around here that will want them.

 

Since I covered the organic strawberries in the greenhouse with netting, the armadillos are no longer beating me to them.  There are plenty of other things here they can eat.  The vivero is also now sprouting some lettuces, broccoli, basil, spinach, cilantro, ginko biloba, passionflowers, hot and sweet peppers, white radish and assorted flowering things. I am singing in the greenhouse, and I think the plants are liking it!

 

And I am sporadically picking up the guitar again, having been inspired by reading Eric Clapton's autobiography.  But I am still really just a closet singer lacking a backup band! Move over Janis and Gracie!

 

 

I continue to have fun with my neighbors here in Pintada, and to learn more about this multi-influenced culture.  I have a new woman's conversation group starting up, these are professional working women who want to advance in their careers, and recognize that English fluency is one of the best ways up.

 

This probably sounds really one dimensional, all this my head in the plants stuff, but I don't remember when I have truly loved what I am doing more.

 

And hey, let's all be grateful that the days of evil and insanity in the US government are coming to a close.  I hope and pray this new leadership team can actually put something together that will help people live healthier, happier and saner lives with concerted efforts towards living in harmonious balance with the planet.

I started building a house in Costa Rica.  I ended up with block construction, because that is what my builder wanted to do, and by telling me some lies about time and cost of materials, that is how he convinced me to do it.  I wanted less concrete, more natural materials.  He wanted to extort more money, because he was working by the hour.  And VEEERY SLOWLY...

 

Some good Tico friends saw the work site, and quickly determined I was paying way too much for way too little.  I had a long talk with my contractor, and gave him a chance to correct the situation, like, don't bill me for time you are not working, please!, and hey, follow the plan – thats what its there for!  (He built a wall where a door should be, and there are some other errors that need remediation.)  After a while, it began to look like the keystone cops of construction.  If it weren't such a waste of my money, I would be laughing. At the end of that week, when nothing had changed, and after doing the math, realizing I would not get a building within my time or budget, I fired them.  These guys actually asked me if I would pay severance!  I had to bite my tongue HARD to keep from laughing out loud, I was so incredulous, and said, "no tienes verguenza?" (have you no shame?)

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I have now spoken to six other contractors, and am receiving bids for contract (not hourly) that vary wildly in price, and in the process have gotten lots of good ideas for using more natural materials and cutting material costs.  This week, I went around looking at some of the houses these contractors have built, as quality of workmanship varies wildly as well.

 

We should be resuming the construction in another week, around the full moon, and the new estimates are coming in at about 4 to 6 weeks to completion. These guys know how much I have left to spend, and are saying they can do it for that. That's a lot better than the three more months that the previous unscrupulous bozos were estimating.  One of Mike's brothers-in-law is one of my top contenders at the moment. (THANKS Mike for suggesting I call him!)

 

Meanwhile, other work continues on the farm – we are building a vivero (greenhouse) for baby plants, greens, peppers and tree starts.  I seem to have a tradition of garden space coming first, and exceeding house square footage, this would be 3 for 3... I have put in another 35 hardwoods in the cleared coffee rows, and we are preparing an area on the sunny slope for some fruit trees.  Oranges and bananas are falling off the trees right now – I am giving away bananas to all my neighbors, and making boatloads of banana bread – when bananas come in, they do it in a major way – a large racimo (rack) can have 50 to a hundred bananas on it, and they usually all ripen within days.

 

Have also now determined where the fire pit will go, my workers will dig the hole and make the rain roof for it once the vivero is finished.  I am figuring out how many bricks I will need, and getting prices...so grateful about finally being able to do ceremony again!

 

I have just ordered some books about how to grow mushrooms, as they are really expensive here, and would be an excellent crop for the finca (don't take a lot of space, high return on investment, etc...) There are already all kinds of fungus and mushrooms growing, only nothing edible.  Not even any hallucinogens, (darn!) but if I were really industrious, I probably could find some next door on the cow pies. With many Italians and gringos living in the area who have mushrooms as part of their culinary culture, there is an untapped market for locally grown mushrooms here.

 

Soon, I will be going back up to Perez to buy floor tiles, fruit trees and visit with Suzanna and Miguel.  Suzanna is the one I play guitar and sing with, and we are looking forward to doing that again.  Her female dog just had puppies, and she really wants me to adopt one.  I know her dogs, and they are all really great.  Jessie and I are having the conversation about "a little sister" - Jessie is 10 or 11, and while I know she is in great health, she is starting to slow down a little.  Its always a big decision about taking on a new family member.  A dear friend from Manitou, Shannon, the vet who helped saved Jessie's life when I first adopted her, once told me she wants to come back as one of my dogs.  That might well be one of the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

 

So, I am having a contest – a "name the finca" contest.  Winning entry will be published in the blog, and the winner gets to visit!

 

I been a bizzy girl, which is why you haven..t seen me online much these days...

Funny how life can be so relaxed one minute, and so hectic the next.  About 3 months ago, I bought a little abandoned coffee finca, (Around 6 acres, with a stream, a mini waterfall, and about a third under secondary forest) after dinking around and not making a decision for three years, and finally recognizing that prices here are rapidly escalating beyond my reach, and if I didn't do something, I wasn't going to be able to.

I started a drawing for a house which is basically an open porch with a couple of rooms and a bathroom.  I turned it over to an engineer, who is working it up into something the municipality can approve.  Since it is a completely new construction (I am not building on the same site as the old house, which is near the road) I have to go through a complicated bunch of bureaucratic hoop jumping and pay for approvals in every office I go into.  It is frustrating when you are used to the relative efficiency of this process in the US, but then, on the other hand, Costa Rica has a government with such a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy precisely BECAUSE it is not a war based economy.  I am choosing my poison, and trying to maintain good humor and patience about the whole thing...

So meanwhile, semi-legally, we have begun the construction process. My contractor lead, Bienbenido, is really knowledgeable, although sometimes a little flaky on the details. With my reminding him of things, I think we will be OK.  He found a good deal on a backhoe guy, who managed to do all of the work needed in one day!

This included flattening out the building site, (destroying a lot of aged and beyond hope coffee trees in the process) and making the 500 foot long driveway up to the house site.  (This spoiled gringa wanted to have the awesome view!) It also including digging the canal for the cantarillas (drainage pipe) at the end of the driveway.  Everything was processing beautifully until he punctured the water main in the street.  3 times!  Fortunately, the aqueductos guys are quite prepared for this (between earthquakes and other construction activities, the 3 inch plastic pipes break frequently) and they had my neighbor's water back online within two hours.

There is water up to the building site, and the electric lines and meter box went in the second week.  (The electric service request happened the previous week, they are pretty quick to start billing.)  The guys have built a little bodega re-using the roofing and wood from the cabin, up near the building site, where the crew will stay during the week and the equipment and materials can be safely housed.  Later, I can re-use this structure for viveros (nurseries).

Meanwhile, before we started construction full on, when I need to be there almost every day, I took a few days to go to Orosi and met up with friend Lynn from Philadelphia, visited some folks there, and went to the Basilica for the biggest party in the country, the festival of La Negrita, the Black Virgin, the national religious pilgrimage holiday that happens every August 2^nd in Cartago.  One of my neighbors in La Pintada, Hormidas, started the walk to Cartago last week, where he joined up with thousands of others along the way making the pilgrimage on foot.  Fortunately, the Cerro de la Muerte was open, allowing the thousands of pilgrims to access Cartago from the south by bus or by foot.

My family in Orosi is always wonderful – my dear friend Trina is due with a baby boy any day now, and the gang was in full flair partying – the parrot still wouldn't let me film him singing Ave Maria, but we had fun nevertheless!

Cerro (the highway connecting San Jose with San Isidro) closed once again, a week later, after some heavy rains washed out a few sections of the road.  Whast this means for bus travellers is an extra two hours of bus ride, as the route goes down to Quepos and Dominical and up through Platanillo.

Lynn stayed for two weeks, while we had lots of visitors (John, Jeffrey and Desiree) did some side trips to the Wilson Botanic Garden, and she had lots of fun hanging out with my neighbors Mari, Rolando and their kids (Valentina pictured).  Her last night was lots of fun, the community had a party, in the salon, with a DJ, and we were both out there dancing!  I promised her I wouldn't u-tube her.

Because of the road closing, she decided to go back by plane, leaving from the mini airport in Palmar Sur. (Single engine, seats 12.) 

Its really pretty amazing how much work it is to build a house from the ground up completely in Spanish!  I am exhausted all the time now! I am in charge of buying stuff, making sure it gets delivered, paying people, and making sure my workers are doing what I want them to be doing...This week my lead, Bienbenido, went to San Isidro to the Bamboo factory, to learn about construction techniques of bamboo and earth based plaster.  The house is going to be a hybrid of sorts – partially green, or as green as I can make it and still be safe from weather, earthquakes and theft...

We are also planting a lot of trees on the property.  Jeffrey, one of my neighbors, is helping me clear and prepare areas for gardens, and for hardwood trees.  I just bought my first hundred of the slow growers, the ones I won't live long enough to see in their full glory – caoba, cocobola, cenicero, ron-ron, laurel, and amarillon.  (My plan is to eventually have the finca become protected private reserve.) I am also putting in some faster growers, such as cedro amargo (bitter cedar, used here as a soft lumber)as a neighbor just gifted me with a lot of young ones from his coffee finca. I will also be putting in fruit trees as I can locate them.  So far, we have some pineapples and strawberries ready to go in.  There are already mature mangos, limes, bananas, oranges, avocado, mamon chines, and pejibaye on the property, but not producing for lack of care.  I am researching how this climate will be to grow vanilla orchids and mushrooms as crops for income.  As long as my seemingly placid neighbors (the Brahma cattle) don't get in and eat my plants, all will be well.

 

I am having trouble getting the fotos up online, the internet connection down here is abysmally slow.  I have already made the file size pretty small, but will try to find some other way of doing this