Today was a little bit different. Esteban the eldest son of the owners and the guy who does most of the work around here, along with his mom, took me for a ride down into San Luis to meet some his extended family. We stopped briefly at one finca (farm) to drop off some lumber. I can´t remember the fellow´s exact relation to Esteban, probably an uncle in law, but they had one vicious little jack russell terrier (not one of my favourite breeds, by the way) that nearly took a chunk out of me. Our next stop was at the finca of an aunt and uncle of Estaban´s. The farm is right on the mountainside and everything is so green. He grows prinicipally coffee and sugar cane along with bananas and various other fruits and vegetables. The soil here is so fertile you could drop almost anything in it and it will grow, unless other plants or vines don´t choke it to death. This fellow, Esteban´s uncle in law reminds me so much of my maternal grandfather it´s almost creepy (he was a wheat farmer in Saskatchewan). very much the same kind of energy, both men of the earth, very strong, solid, and so connected to the land and the soil. Alvaro picked a stalk of sugar cane that he deftly trimmed with just a few rapid strokes of a machete and then put it in a juicing machine which Esteban and I operated together. It´s done totally manually. There is a huge crossbeam on top of the machine. I took one end and Esteban took the other and together we rotated it by walking in circles. The fresh sugar cane juice was delicious. They also have a small dog here but this one can not stop being petted so it was a nice change from the jack russell terrier from hell. I really get a sense here of how strongly connected to the land many Costa Ricans are and equally connected together by ties of family and kinship. Everyone seems to know each other and seems strongly mutually connected.
Later I visited yet another well-kept secret here: a network of dirt roads and hiking trails on the mountain above the Monteverde Institute. Bob who worked there, whom I met at the Quaker meeting last Sunday, told me about it. I was the only person present while walking past fields and through cloud forest until I came out into a clearing with beautiful closely cut grass (it´s more like herbiage in Costa Rica than the lawn grass we are accustomed to in North America and Europe.) There was a sign that said ¨Sendero Tranquillo ¨(Peaceful Trail) ¨Reserva privada¨(private reserve) The place was so solitary and so magical. It was like something out of a CS Lewis novel. There are different cultivated trees demarking parts of this area, which is like a huge park. The sense of magic realism was very strong for me here. I intend to return to this place many times while I´m here, as I am able. There are many more trails to explore, but I´m taking it little by little so that I don´t get lost.
Right next to my cabina is a cow pasture that is connected to the cheese factory nearby where I buy my cheese (it is very good, by the way). It´s rather gratifying looking every day at the same cows that produce the milk that is used to make the cheese I eat daily here. Strangely enough, it hasn´t rained today.
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Today I returned to Sendero Tranquilo and explored more extensively the network of trails. The reserve is huge, not quite as impressive and big as the Cloud Forest Reserve but it certainly has its own beauty. After taking the trails down to the river I retraced my steps to that magical clearing I mentioned in a previous e-mail. I was quite sore from walking and climbing so I sat under a tree to rest. I was the only person there, which makes the whole place feel very other worldly. It is nice finding such places without people. I like our species but sometimes we can really piss me off (and vice versa, I´m sure). Somehow, no matter how meticulously I kept retracing my steps, I could not find the trail out this time, and ended up having to crawl under a barb wire fence and walk through a pasture in the direction of the sun, which was in the west, and downhill, which indicated the direction I needed to go in. Fortunately I got out of there before nightfall. I intend to return and again retrace my steps to see where I went wrong. Or maybe this is an enchanted forest and whatever force operates here did not want me to leave? Anyway, I was not in any danger of being eaten by anything, outside of mosquitoes. It is wonderful to have access to such a place that only the local people know. You will never find it on a tour guide.
Yesterday I visited the Cloud Forest Reserve again. Just a few other people there so it wasn´t annoying. Every time I go there the beauty of the place seems to hit me from a different angle. I also hung out with a couple of Americans, older brothers, one of whose wife is the director of the Monteverde Institute. We were joined in the Cafe Colibri by a local tour guide who explained mostly in English (because these guys don´t speak a lot of Spanish) the local water systems here.
Last night the wind blew strong all night and it was difficult to sleep so I had a long nap this morning following breakfast. Hey, I am on vacation, eh?
You know, today I didn´t spend any money at all. Not a cent. First time in years. It feels good. Try it some time.
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 07:36:20 -0700
From time to time I see or hear migratory birds from Canada and I like to think that they made it over the Gulf of Mexico okay, given the environmental hazard that the oil spill courtesy of British Petroleum made of the area. Security in the banks here is still tight, comparable to passing US customs. I was given a 500 colon coin in my change the other day (worth about one dollar Canadian). It was a new issue coin and neither the cafe I stopped in for a coffee nor the supermarket would accept it so I went to the local currency exchange bank. A security guard opened the door slightly to peek out at me as he saw me approach and asked me what I wanted. I told him I was here to get a coin changed. He let me in then ran a mental detector all over me and told me to empty my pockets, so out came all my change and keys, etc. He then wanted me to show him what was in my backpack so I showed him the cans of beans and the jar of Nutella (on whole grain bread makes a lovely dessert after dinner). Finally I was allowed to approach the teller to get my coin exchanged.
Here are some photos of the place where I´m staying, Mariposa:
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 Above is the driveway. The small photo on the left is the cabina I am staying in. I´m the only one here.
    
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This is a view of the grounds here.
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The two above images are of my kitchen.
Neat, eh?
My daily routine is pretty simple. I am usually up at six or six thirty in the morning, just like at home, and I usually climb the steep hill to the reception building, which is also the home of the family who runs the place. It is rather interesting catching glimpses of their family life here. They seem very close and the three sons, two young adults and a young teenager, are really nice and helpful. The lady who owns it, their mother, and her husband are really nice too. Very warm people. We have a choice of items for breakfast but I always end up having fresh fruit (exquisite here), orange juice, two fried eggs and hotcakes. In the mornings I go for a long walk, maybe three times a week into Santa Elena to buy food and hang out in the coffee shop upstairs from the bookstore, a great place to people watch. Then I walk back the five kilometres carrying my purchases in my backpack and wearing myself out on the torturous hills. Sometimes I go on hikes in the area. Maybe once a week I go into the cloud forest reserve. I´m usually back at the bed and breakfast at two or so, where I have lunch and paint, and then go for another shorter walk afterward, and sometimes am treated to a glorious sunset. The evenings I spend checking e-mails, making dinner and eating it, cleaning up, doing my accounts to make sure I´m spending wisely and reading. I´m usually fast asleep by 9:30 or 10. I also take lots of naps.
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