Been a long time!! Been a long time!! Been a lonely, lonely, lonely time . . . .

And for a list of good reasons. If you want the quick and dirty story it's that we've been spending Costa Rica's rainiest month of the year in the US.  Now scroll WAY down and check out a few pictures.

Where's my man??

If you're interested in what really happened, here it is:

1. In September Jeff went to the US on a consultant job while I stayed in our lovely remote tree farm rental home.
2. Internet connectivity in our remote home (did I mention it's remote) continued to decline.  From 5am to 8am internet connectivity was bad and the rest of the day it bounced between bad and non-existent, making it almost impossible to make Skype calls, send emails, do research, check bus schedules, or anything else.
3. About once every week or two the water was shut off without notice for unknown reasons - and would stay off for a day or two.  Now that was a trifle inconvenient!!  (Think drinking water and bathroom.)
4. On top of that, the very sparse bus service was causing considerable problems in getting to town - or anyplace else (for example to buy drinking water).
5. In spite of a month-long search, I couldn't find an adequate furnished place to rent in the same area. (A matter of poor timing  . . . or providence pushing us elsewhere.)
6. In the meantime, it was obvious that our home on the border of Costa Rica and Panama suffered from tons more rain and pathetically little sunshine.  We learned the locals call it "cielo roto" or broken sky.  Needless to say, my good moods were getting thinner and thinner - as evidenced by my growing frustrations.
7. The worst of it though was the unsolvable, piss poor internet reception.  It was just impossible.  I need it for research purposes - to learn more about rare tropical fruits and medicinals, and Jeff needs it for his consulting work and we both need it for Skype phone calls.   What to do, what to do . . .

In October I was scheduled to head off to the US for my son's wedding where I would also meet up with Jeff. But I really did NOT want to return to Costa Rica to the same unworkable situation.  Obviously it was time for a change.

So:

I packed up our 4 boxes of accumulated worldly treasures, preparing to leave our idyllic but dysfunctional home.  Then I called a taxi to haul our boxes of stuff to a friend's hotel for storage while we were in the US for my son's wedding.  Next I hopped on a bus headed toward the airport 6 hours away.

Halfway there I got off the bus in Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica's second largest town where we had lived for several months previously on our journey.  Checking out a few places for rent, I found one that would suffice - and secured it for our return to Costa Rica the end of October.

Our future rental has: Bus service every 15 minutes with only a one block walk; a quiet location outside of the central area; and a rental contract contingent on having GOOD internet access. I'm thinking that for a short term gig, it should work out well in spite of the hotplate and tiny fridge.

In the meantime, we can get serious about buying a car and about beginning the legal process of becoming legal residents of Costa Rica.  Not having to make visa border runs every three months would be good.

That's what's going on with us - in a tiny nutshell.  Alive, well and proceeding as "planned."  We've learned our lesson:  remote living may be awesomely beautiful - but there's more to life than scenery.  We need some conveniences and we need people.

Right now we're visiting friends and relatives in So Cal and scheduled to return to Costa Rica in a few days.  Phew!!  Now that's one TIGHT summary.  For the real between-the-lines scoop, we'll have to wait for the book to come out.

Now for some miscellaneous traveler's photographs:

Our friend Wendy spent decades managing reggae music festivals and tours.
It shows.

Wendy hosts "Arte en el Parque", providing stones, paint, and
encouragement to the children of Sabalito and San Vito.

It is considered good luck if "sugar bees" build a hive in your house.
The good news is they don't sting ... still waiting for the luck to materialize.

I want this one.

Why thank you, dear!

What an attitude! Mr. turkey thinks he runs the place.
He even has a special day coming up.

Giant Cane Toad has poison glands on his back.
Lethal to dogs, unless they know to flip him over before eating,
 but how do they learn to do that?

Dangerous looking spider loiters by our front door.

Jesse is developing an exotic fruit tree arboretum and building a solar car.
At the same time.
In his spare time.
Which is the only kind of time there is when you retire to Costa Rica.

Starr enjoying a luscious Tarap from Indonesia.

Eduardo proving that the Tarap fruit is in fact much larger than Peter.  
This fruit's friggin' delicious!!  Starr goes APE over it.

Do you know the way to San Jose? Peter does.

One of the spring-fed ponds at the botanical garden near Canaan.
Stocked with Swordtails.

Just another day in Paradise for Peter, Wynn, & Jeff.

A large thatched dome for the practice of yoga and tai chi. 
In addition to being a roof, it's also a fern nursery.

Inside the unique and inspiring structure.  
I'm thinking our future living room should look like this.

Sloth hanging out in the Guaruma tree, directly over a house for rent.

Trying on my new snake gaitors - essential in Costa Rica,
 useless at Eli's San Francisco wedding.

Eli and Jihyun celebrate their wedding in San Francisco.

Gramma Starr and Sierra meeting for the first time, and hitting it off just fine.

Your legendary travelers in Davis, CA enjoying some family time.

Proud Grampa Jeff holds sweet Sierra.

Onward, Two Little Expats, to see what life has in store next.  This search for a new home is taking longer than expected.  But we figure it's better to elongate than to truncate prematurely.

•  Pictures and captions by Jeff
•  Text by Starr

Quick!! Grab That Vine!

The "slip 'n slide" approach to property viewing

When you're viewing a lovely, somewhat remote property and the owner asks, "Would you like to see the 100 foot waterfall?" - before answering "Yes!", I STRONGLY recommend first asking, "Is there a trail?"

Driving to the property in a '75 Land Cruiser.

Because if there is no trail AND you have to walk downhill to the waterfall AND if there have been torrential rains in the past 24 hours - you'll be sliding in the mud straight down nature's original "slip 'n slide", wildly grabbing for any tree-hanging vines (the best when available), ferns, and bushes to break the fall.

Then you ooh and aah at some water careening over a cliff down to the bottom of this cavern, laughing at the muddy water spraying all over your face and clothes - only to pull your muddy ass and water-logged shoes up the same, impossible slope once again.

Dang, my Aching Back!!

Inching SLOWLY past the property guard.

By the way, we really liked this property and I fell in love with the owners (which is not uncommon).  The property consists of 15 acres partly in pasture, partly overgrown/wooded coffee, surrounded on 3 sides with one stream, one river and one creek emerging from a spring on the property, and including two waterfalls: 60 and 100 feet high.  No house, though various nice home sites.  Decent 1 mile long gravel road leading to the property from the main road.  Less than 10 miles to the regional town.  Access to city water and electric.  Appears to have internet and phone signal.   Asking price is $90,000.

We're not making any decisions yet about the property.  But I suspect we'll pass on it for personal reasons.  I DO like it though.

"The pasture is where the cows live."

A nice hilltop to build a house.  Indisputable.

We head into the woods.
Ricardo tells Little Richie ,"Enough with the Land Cruiser driving."

All alone, Little Richie proudly drove the car down onto the property.
Beaming smile!!

Notice: mini skirt, plastic sandals and a huge machete in a designer leather sheath. 
She's ready for some serious action. 

After decades as a coffee finca, 
regenerating a natural forest also takes decades.

Timber bamboo growing down by the spring.
This is a large clump of "bambusa handholdii."

Ricardo asked if we wanted to see the falls.  We answered that maybe just a view of the river would be nice.  He said that he thought that might be possible - and off we tromped.

We lack photos of the actual descent to the waterfalls because on the way down I didn't want to deal with the camera with muddy hands and slippery ground.  Apparently Jeff felt the same way.

Part way down the muddy slope I felt sorry for Maria Eugenia in her little plastic sandals and mini skirt.  I thought maybe she was just doing this to accompany me.  Nope, she said would be perfectly happy to charge down with the men.

Oh really?  Well then honey, let's do it!!  And off we went again, down that God-forsaken mountainside to the bottom.

The first waterfall.

Yep, Little Richie's thinking about taking a dip. 
He ended up soaking wet minutes later.

Costa Rican Gothic.

The "big" river forms the northern property line 
and drains into the mighty Rio Coto Brus.

This gal knows her way around.

Starr in her best Bat Cave crouch.  Yes, bats were flying around wildly 
during this picture taking though none were injured in the process.

The "plano" shows the property boundaries.
I see a water faucet, what do you see?

And on the same day, we went to . . .

Federico's Medicinal Plant Garden:

Federico works in San Vito. His mother was an indigeneous woman and his father "white" (whatever that is). He learned all about indigenous plant medicine from his grand parents. In the last 50 years his people have become itinerant coffee workers, losing most of their knowledge of medicinal plants along with their ancient culture.

Federico is very proud of his indigenous culture.

His entire front and back yards are devoted to his medicinal and food plant garden. Here are some photos of just a few of the plants he grows.

Papaya fruits year-round.

Citronela insect repellent – tall grass plant

Amaranth – edible leaves and seeds

Barabarát – prevents tumors.

Planta de Culebra – make snake bite antidote from the leaves, and has edible roots.

Cranberry hibiscus has tart leaves we eat raw in salads.

Cecropia trees are a useful fast-growing species to help
turn pasture back into woodland, and the fruits attract birds.

Orchids bloom year-round in this moist climate.

Planta insulina treats diabetes

Drying and grinding the roots provides tumeric from the prolific Curcumin plant .  

Mule greets the customers while Pinto hangs back.

Whatcha lookin' for?