Winter in the Tropics - Really?

Different faces . . .

 . . . for different places

Winter's almost over in Costa Rica!!  The rain's still pounding down nearly every day but they say it will begin letting up soon.  Then sometime around mid December summer starts - giving us days on end with no rain.

So when they talk about winter and summer here, that's what they mean: In "winter" it rains; in summer, not so much.  Since we're at 4000 feet elevation, winter temperatures are "fresca", usually dropping into the low 60's at night. (Yep, in tropical terms, we're freezing!) Thank goodness the sunny mornings quickly edge into the 80's before the rain begins in the early afternoon, dropping the temperature again.  Sorta like a roller coaster.

Summer will last from mid December through April, beginning to rain weekly in May, daily in June, and by the time September hits we are getting drenched for hours on end almost every day.

Then comes October.  We haven't seen rain like this before. The locals refer to it as: "rompe el cielo" or "the sky breaks".


Casey across the valley says that we had over 32 inches of rain in September and that in October it rained way more.
Oy! Stop already!

Let's get straight to the photos, there's a lot to share with you because once again it's been a long time between posts ...

Meet Baru! This is the day he came to live with us: 11 weeks old.  
He started out shy and spooky.  That's changed.  Now he's nearly 5 months old and spunky, smart, and personable.
We weren't sure if his right ear was ever going to stay up.
A little undersized for a German Shepherd, we used to call him a German Beagle.
The Veterinarian simply wrote "Lobo" (wolf) on his medical chart. Hmmm.

Jeff during nap practice.  Resting from commanding his empire.

With his pretty eyes and blond eyelashes, Baru turns heads.

Now he loves to be touched but when he first came to live with us, he didn't know how to relate to people.  He was a bit on the wild side.

Papa Bruno lives next door.  He likes to come down the hill to visit his son.

Proof that mornings can dawn clear, even during the rainy season.

Shepherds also like to work. Anything you are doing he is driven to "help".

Next news:  We bought the neighboring 4 acres.  Now we don't worry about potential neighbors.  Plus it has an incredible view.

The lower green area is what we affectionately call the Fruit Bowl, where we have nearly 50 different types of tropical fruits planted.  After the dry summer season, we'll plant more. 

Two old cypress trees in front of the house - from which so many things hang.

Ready for bed early because it's dark by 6pm. To bed by 8pm and up at 4:30am every day.
Sunrise and sunset vary less than an hour during the year.

Fernando's fence must be down again.

Our place even has some snakes that aren't poisonous.
These are baby Wood snakes that live below wood piles.

We spread out the bean harvest to dry in the greenhouse.
Baru helped us shuck the beans out.  Now they're sprouting everywhere . . .

We borrowed Jerico's "desbajeredora" to trim off the dead leaves on our banana and plantain trees.  One sharp side cuts up and the other sharp side cuts down.  It's mounted onto a 5 meter bamboo pole to reach the top of the "trees".  (Consider your neck and arms after a few minutes of doing this.)  The whole process results in healthier banana trees and better production.

Go Jeffie: ONE banana group (sepa) done, 53 more banana sepas and hundreds of plantain sepas to go.  Volunteers?

Good friends, Trevor & Michael, dropped by on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
The prior week Fred and his wife Claudia became
our first US friends to visit. I regret not getting a commemorative photo.

I did not think I would be wearing my jacket part of every day.

Crocosmia adds color. Starr's very green thumb is getting a workout.

Giant Granadilla planted at the base of the old cypress.
Then we found out the vine can produce 100 fruits that weigh 2 pounds each.

We looked up in the cypress one day and starting counting all the
different kinds of orchids living in the branches.

Sad Internet connection. Sad Jeff and Starr.

Hens & Chicks seed capsule is produced by a vine. When it dries out it opens up and
releases thousands of seeds that float on white parachutes, spreading viney goodness everywhere.

Harriet follows us around. When we chop weeds or dig a hole
she's right there to scratch for grubs and such.  Actually we don't have chickens - they belong to our neighbor - though I don't think he'd miss her.

"Bananas hanging in the cypress tree".
An unlikely lyric if ever I heard one.  When they're ripe, we eat 4-6+ bananas 
a day and the dog eats his fair share too.

Bamboo from a neighbor. SO handy for projects!

Drying some of the bean harvest in the sun.
Let's see: beans, bananas, platanos, camote yams, tomatoes, squash, sweet lemons, sour tangerines, ginger, garlic, turmeric, lemon grass ...  We are becoming self-sufficient in a continually growing list of food items that we like in our diet.
Next up? Sacha Inchi, or Inca peanut. Protein and oil!

Sacha Inchi produces peanut-like seeds for up to 10 years.  This little plant will grow on a trellis to 6+ feet tall and 8+ feet wide.  VERY high in omega 3 oil.  
It has 26% protein and when roasted tastes like a nut.  
We planted 60 of them - some seeds, some plants. Could be a good thing.

This is the beginning of a Katuk tree.  You can eat the leaves, in fact, you
can survive on the leaves because they contain 6-10% protein.

Cranberry Hibiscus leaves taste great in a salad.

Cecropia or "Guarumo" does a good job of improving the soil 
and preventing erosion - plus sloths love to eat the new shoots.

I can't tell you how many stacks of pruned coffee wood we have.
Great for the fireplace, and making everything from
Bio-Char to Chicharrones and smoked meat.

3000 of the 27,000 coffee plants have been coppiced/pruned and are in their regrowth period.  Unfortunately many of them are damaged from disease and we are now marking the diseased ones for removal.  Dang , after all that work trying to keep them alive.  Not sure if we'll replace them with disease free varieties of coffee or just plant more fruit and timber trees amidst the healthy coffee.

Deer tail grass.  Nice profile.

One orange tree.

Jeff made a little greenhouse area extended out from the back of the old cabin.  
Bamboo, plastic and gravel. The back support is a chopped off papaya tree.

It WAS a "fagon", an outdoor cooking thing that had been used for many years.

Now: converted into a planting box that's home to tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and tree starts.

  

Starr loves it: the plant birthing center of our little universe.

Looking from the greenhouse toward Shack #2, otherwise known as 
our kitchen and tool shed.  Notice the new roof over the back area.  Loving it!

Mandarina acida: Costa Rica's answer to the sour lemon. 
Oddly the only lemons here are SWEET lemons.

Easily over 2 inches long, on the bedroom wall.

Jeff designed Baru's house for heat and rain.

Heading to feria (farmer's market) to trade.  
I'll give you some of mine if you'll give me some of yours . . .

He's practicing looking innocent.

When we chopped down some of the overgrowth on our 4 acre addition, 
these castor bean plants popped out of the ground.  Huge sprouts!

9 am the fog rolled in.  We watch it slide up the river valley and engulf our day.  
Although it usually waits until much later in the day to arrive.

 Fog adds an eerie-ness to the day. The locals say that 
when it is foggy it won't rain.  I wish that were true.

Though it's a strange way to live, we're getting used to it - and like it.

Jeff: Just chilling in the shade with a fresh cup of coffee, commanding his empire.

Our two little shacks are only a few feet apart.  Both roofs drain between the buildings.  During the heavy rains, umbrellas are necessary in order to go from one house to the other.

It's the tropics.  It rains.  October is the rainiest month.  Aargh!

And AARGH I say again!

Emanuel got caught in a downpour while working up at the water spring.  
Soaked to the bone and enjoying every minute. 

The long and winding road through the woods,
 past the spring and the creek toward the cabins.

Pine cone ginger growing by one of the springs.  
Notice the flowing water just to the left of the ginger - that's the spring water.

Sweetness in the woods.

This weed called "mata miona" is said to release kidney stones.  
One friend suffered with stones for years until running into this cure. 

So stop on by sometime.  All we need is another bed.  
All you need is courage.

Repainting an Old Coffee Farm

Plenty of space.

 5am sunrise from the front porch.

OK, OK, I know an update is long overdue. Blame lack of internet, lack of time, an awesome ride in our new finca, yada yada. In fact the only reason I can write this quick update is that I'm in San Jose at a hotel with wifi waiting for the fine folks at Mahindra to install a new transmission in our new truck, but that's another story.

Since early June we've been living on our finca in the old cabina, and we've repurposed the other "structure" into a kitchen and storage room. Yup, this is primitive living folks, and I was more than a little worried about putting ourselves into this situation. On the other hand commuting from town was a LOT of work and was clearly not sustainable.

I'm glad to report that this new life seems to be working for us, and bit by bit we have been able to make our place more comfortable and functional. No internet though, hence our incommunicado status which you may have noticed.  So basically we're living in two shacks with an outhouse.

The rainy season has arrived again in fresh intensity which will last until December. But almost every morning is clear and crisp, about 17-18 C (63-65 F) with afternoons in the high 70's or low 80's. As evening approaches the misty clouds flow up the valley or descend from the ridge, mesmerizing and engulfing us in pea-soup, only to dissipate as ghostly pink wisps that float on the ridges and mountaintops at sunset.  We're just below the cloud forest elevation, thank God, though frequently we find ourselves within it.

This place serves up huge helpings of beauty and peace every day. It also surprises and challenges us with shocking regularity and gusto. We have been through so much in the last 2 months I know I can't possibly remember all our blessings and thunderbolts, but I will always remember ...

The grace of receiving gifts of plants from our workers, sharing food, and being jolly comrades.

Accidentally backing the truck off our lower road and being towed out by our good neighbor.

Waking at midnite to the sound of an escaped cattle herd (20 of them) that decided to bed down in our front yard.

Looking into their vapid faces and realizing they were having a fun adventure.
Trying to decide what to do.

The cops and robbers cartoon; us chasing that herd off the property so many times that night and the next morning.

Feeling our house-bat's wings brush by while peeing in the bucket at midnite.

Watching the sky light up like a giant welder is just behind the ridge, while peeing in the bucket at midnite.

Having to pee in a bucket at midnite.

Losing water pressure and discovering a dead snake had plugged a valve up at the spring - 
and another one made it into the water tank days before.
No water to drink, no showers this week.
Learning the value of bleach.
Discovering that the earth around our spring is an ecosystem alive with snakes, crabs, insects, and worms.
Trying to decide what to do.

Shoveling tons of wood, soil, and rock away from our spring with the help of our neighbors.

Having a 4 ton rock slide down on top of one of our springs.
Not over-reacting to that.
With our neighbor, designing and building a water system that screens out snakes and settles out sand.
Right after the water was usable again, 
our coffee tree-cutter-downer cut the water line 
from the spring.

Wearing rubber boots to keep our feet from getting muddy & to feel safer from snakes.

Tracking mud into our living quarters.
Trying to decide what to do.

Hauling pea gravel up to lay nice clean sidewalks 
and patio areas.

Tracking pea gravel into our living quarters.
Sweeping.

Wanting to install electrical service after months of candle light dinners and dead phone and computers.

Getting quotes ranging from $600 to $3500.
Trying to decide what to do.

Going with the low bidder 
- the guy that lives down the road.
Replacing some faulty yet new components of above-mentioned electrical service.
Losing all electrical service one evening.
Waking to find a mama sloth electrocuted 
at the base of one of our power line poles.
Trying to decide what to do.
Laying her reverently to rest 
at the base of a large cedro tree.
Naming the road by her Calle Perica (sloth).

Seeing our neighbor's house inundated 
with thousands of sanpopa ants - 
known to Expats as "housecleaning ants".
Seeing literally millions of sanpopas 
move into our compost pile.
Watching them come in thick lines towards our cabina 
day after day to clean our house.
Trying to decide what to do.
Puffing diatomaceous earth powder 
at the advancing columns.
Observing them finding pathways up into our buildings anyway.
Realizing all they do is kidnap or kill all the other bugs 
(and sting like the dickens)
then leave after a couple hours.
Laughing.

Concerned about the mosquitoes multiplying in the John.
Trying to figure out what to do.
Trying dirt then sawdust to absorb the moisture
then Starr's foot fell through the floor 
when trying to sweep up the sawdust.
All while I was rescuing our water line from errant snakes.

Neither of us have ever engaged in a life like this. Sometimes it can seem like a battle, but it's never about achieving a final victory. 

It's about participation. Finding where we fit into the balance, what we can take, and what we can give back. We're living inside this amazing creative vision which continues to evolve every day. 

I had this dream that I was shoveling gravel in my underwear ... 

Stand back and watch it grow.
Gold Hill has been cleared and planted with a variety of trees and bamboo.
We're keeping about 1200 coffee trees in this section.

Over several months our wasps - "avispas" made a meter long mask 
on one of the cedros.
The overlapping annual additions to their nest look like an Indonesian mask.
Since this photo the house cleaning ants - "sanpopas" stole all their eggs and the wasps have departed.

Our cut down coffee trees will season in the sun and rain until next March.
Then it will be ready to make biochar to improve soil fertility for our veggies and trees, or maybe some BBQ. We have dozens of these piles of coffee wood.

Below Banana Hill we left 1400 coffee trees - topped for regrowth.
After adding some organic calcium and "abono" they will begin yielding again in December 2015.

Starr works and supervises closely on all tree planting and maintenance activities.
We learn a lot from Jerico, who is a very experienced 
and knowledgeable in these arts.  We've planted at least 550 trees so far.
A little side benefit is that Starr's Spanish is advancing rapidly.

A beautiful non-venemous resident makes an appearance.

Sunrise over San Isidro and the Valle de El General.

Our workers have expertly trimmed up the banana trees, 
removing old leaf sheaths and unproductive trunks.

Meet Gennar; a whiz at rustic carpentry and electrical work.
Gennar works like a hurricane, and leaves a similar trail of debris behind.

Need your coffee trimmed up or removed? Call Rodo.  
But be sure to tell him where the water line is.

Alvaro's local name is Coneja - Rabbit. Among other tasks, he's making a wonderful series of trails through the lower wilderness section.

 

Just another Fer de Lance. 

Our friend Kim rides over from the next ridge to say howdy.  

Kim invites Gennar to work on a little project at her place.  
Her home is on the hillside behind her head in the foto.

Our "back porch".  
You should have seen it before we "fixed it up".

I noticed that the tree was running away after taking this shot.

Scratched into the cabina wall:
Jezuz is asking God to look after us. How great is that! 

Believe it or not, this plastic roof behind the kitchen/tool shed 
has made all the difference.

Now that some of the property is cleared 
the Roadside Hawk (Buteo magnirostris) has become a resident hunter.

Lately the sunrise clouds have been purple origami ships.

Be it ever so humble ...

Jerico is absolutely on fire about plants. Our professor.

Root crops in the garden. This is camote.

Curcumin plants (tumeric) - eat the roots raw for a daily anti-oxidant hit.

Banana trees reproduce by sprouting "hijos" (babies).

Poor sloth:  electrocuted on the electrical pole. Quiet, affectionate, loved by all.

Silver toenails and soft feet that grip around any tree trunk.

Our new water treatment installation, designed by Guillermo & myself.
The 1st tank takes out the leaves, crabs and snakes, 
the next 2 tanks remove all the sand & silt.

"Amazing biological diversity" leads to oddballs like this guy.

        

Every day that passes, we remind ourselves that we CHOSE this life. 

In spite of challenges, every day that passes we experience life as we never knew possible.

Every day that passes, we're mesmerized by the incredible beauty unfolding at our fingertips.

When you come visit, you'll understand how we feel.