Bats

Douglas and I finally went to the bat sanctuary. We learned more than we ever thought possible about bats but more importantly we gained a new appreciation for them. A bat is basically a mouse with wings however…

• Without bats we would not have tequila - Tequila is produced from agave plants whose seed production drops to 1/3,000th of normal without bat pollinators.
• Bat’s pollinate more than birds and bee’s and human are causing them to become an endangered species.
• Without bats there would not be sufficient tropical reforestation - Tropical bats are key elements in rain forest ecosystems, which rely on them to pollinate flowers and disperse seeds for countless trees and shrubs.
  
• Bats spend more time grooming themselves than even the most image-obsessed teenager. They clean themselves and each other meticulously by licking and scratching for hours.
• For their size, bats are the slowest reproducing mammals on Earth, they only have one baby at a time. At birth, a pup weighs up to 25 percent of its mother’s body weight, which is like a human mother giving birth to a 31 pound baby! All of the females will help to raise the babies/pup’s.

I am going to get a bat house (similar to a birdhouse) for my backyard when I get home. Am I a tree hugger trying to save the species…yes. However bats eat over 1,000 mosquito’s per hour!!! They are the best mosquito zapper you can have!!

The attack of the Fig Tree!

F**ing seeds are falling on the tin roof of the main building. They are the size of marbles and it sounds like we are under attack when the wind blows! I asked my landlord what these are and I was informed that they are falling from a fig tree - Higueron in Spanish.

I started going to yoga at the Bel Mar Hotel (http://www.hotelbelmar.net). It is a 20 minute walk, located high up on the mountain, overlooking the ocean on a clear day. It is certainly one of the nicer hotels in the area. I often arrive a half hour early and enjoy some time in the studio or on the porch reading or meditating.

I am back at the CPI school for the week. This time I have chosen to have my lessons in the afternoon so that Douglas can meet me at the school when he is finished an can enjoy the use of the facilities. It is a win win for both of us. I know I should be writing this in Spanish but I am having a private class for four hours every afternoon, my brain is about to explode in Spanish!

The CPI offered us one of their apartments. The price is twice as much as we are paying now but the place is a palace in comparison. After much thought, discussion, consultation etc… we have decided to stay where we are. I cannot even begin to explain all of the considerations that were a part of this decision. The most obvious was wanting to get away from the rat problem and into some place clean however we have a sense of belonging where we are and without going into a bunch of detail, a sense of wanting to do the right thing. I clearly make a better tenant than I do a landlord!

Montezuma Oropendola

These are the nests of the Montezuma Oropendola. The story we were told is that the male bird makes the nest and the female bird comes to check it out. If she doesn't like it the male is out of luck and the female goes looking elsewhere. It's a cute story but I have not found anything on-line to verify this.

San Jose

The adaptor for my computer stopped working and I had a huge sense of panic as I attempted to figure out how and where I could fix this problem. San Jose was my best option, unfortunately it is a 4 1/2 hour bus ride away. We decided to make a weekend trip out of it.

The best way to describe our trip to San Jose is to say it was one of extremes. 

We chose to stay at one of the nicer hotels in San Jose on our first night.

You know you are in a fancy hotel when they make animals with your towels.

We walked and shopped in San Jose Central. The Marcado Central was crazy. It was over crowded, loud and had everything under the sun.

The streets are lined with stores filled to the rim with anything and everything.

For our second day we took a bus to Escazu which is an area of San Jose. Like Nepean is to Ottawa. There is a Multi Plaza in Escazu that makes St. Laurent Shopping Center look small! Where did this place come from and how does it fit into this world where a good salary is $5 per hour??

There was a movie theatre in the mall so we went to see The Hangover 3 – too funny! The movie theatre was amazing, you get to choose your seats when you purchase your tickets. They had regular popcorn, caramel popcorn and blue (sugar) popcorn!

Then back to San Jose for a second night. We arrived back in San Jose late and needed to be on a bus at 6:30AM so just needed a bed for the night – and a bed was pretty much all we got.

The Escuela de los Amigos

Doug and I both have parties that we are supposed to go to today. Mine is a brunch so I got up early and made two loaves of banana bread to bring with me (if I can make it). Doug’s is a sleepover. He is still in bed. Not sure how this day will end.

…

Well, I did not make it to my brunch. Partly because I’m not sure I could make it that far without passing out and partly because Douglas had no interest in going.  Normally at this point I would blame him but in reality if I really wanted to I could have left him alone and gone on my own. Oh well, personal progress is slow.

Doug’s sleepover got cancelled. After listening to the kids I’m not sure it was ever really on. They had booked a room at a lodge but not put a deposit on it and from what I can tell none of the parents were supporting the idea. In the end Douglas invited everyone to stay here. The boys said they would stay and the girls were staying until 9 but then heading to one of the other girls houses to sleep.

Miguel showed up part way through the evening after having had a few beers and I’m not sure if it was his trying to socialize with them or the thought of having to sleep in a creepy wood cabin but the boys caught a ride home with the girls. End of sleepover. Oh well, they all had a good time.

Nos fuimos para un medio día a pie y encontramos que juegan al frisbee en la escuela de los amigos cada sábado. También hay una reunión de todos los domingos donde cantan y socializar. Similar a un grupo de la iglesia, pero estos son los Quakers. También hay una barbacoa de hamburguesas todos los viernes a la Carolina Lodge cerca de la escuela de los amigos.

Septic systems in Costa Rica:

After more than 24 hours of illness this seems like a good time to discuss the septic system at our house and likely at many if not most houses in Costa Rica.

I asked my landlady how the septic system worked. She was quite uncertain about my inquiry but I told her I did not want to be doing anything that might upset the system like letting the water run too long or letting things go down the drain that might damage the system etc.. Now she was certainly not very knowledgeable on the subject but she was fairly certain that the only thing that is actually connected to the septic system is the toilet. Everything else (shower and kitchen sink) just flows into the ground. Even the septic system is some form of weeping tiles with an overflow into nature. It never gets emptied. This house has been here for at least 20 years. All I really know about Costa Rica septic systems is that no matter where you are, in a house, in a restaurant, at a hotel or a business etc. you do not flush toilet paper. I was told by the homeowner, by the school, and there are notes in every bathroom. The septic systems in Costa Rica cannot handle toilet paper. This was also the case in Nepal and Thailand. Nobody wants to publicize the bad news only the improvements to the old system so there wasn’t much research t be found. 

“Inadequate residential septic systems continue to contaminate Costa Rica with raw sewage. The Costa Rican government does not have regulations for the design, construction, installation and inspection of residential septic systems”.

This leaves it pretty much up to new home construction and home buyers to make the necessary improvements to the old systems in order to make things better.

More crops?

We are recovering today. I don’t remember the last time I was that sick! It was really hard to watch Doug go through it only a couple of hours after me as I knew exactly how he was feeling. I was grateful he managed to get some sleep as his illness hit him later in the evening than mine.

Today will be a recovery day and a laundry day.

We did manage to catch two rats. While we were away they got caught in the two traps I has set out. They were dead by the time we got home so the smell wasn’t so pleasant. That didn’t help the already unpleasant evening we were dealing with thanks to the food poisoning.

We saw more “plantations” if you call them that on our way to Manuel Antonio & Dominical. I am wondering if they were tree’s planted for wood??

 

OK a little bit of research tells me that they may be used for palm oil??

What little bit of furniture we have is extremely uncomfortable. We are sick and lack energy to get up and move but my body is in pain from this hard furniture. I am grateful we have not had too many couch days I don’t think my body could take it. We have the new couch that was bought for us. It looks like something from Ikea but is as hard as a rock!

Then there are the two chairs that have been here since the stone age. I usually put a blanket on them before I sit down.

My mattress is also brand new but it is nothing more than a piece of cheap foam so I can't spend too much time on it either. My god we are spoiled at home. In this place I would rather be moving than sitting still. Unfortunately my stomach is not up for that.

Getting around in Costa Rica - Updated

Getting around in Costa Rica is very interesting.

Bus stops can be anything from a mini hut at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.... 

to standing at the side of the road and hoping you are in the right spot for the bus that you want. In San Jose this was the case. We had to ask several people and a couple of drivers before we found the right spot and the right bus to take us to Escazu.

On the local busses where you do not have to purchase a ticket in advance, the drivers have these foam boxes where they collect and sort the money received in fares. This becomes a pass-time for them that is as dangerous as texting while driving!

In Monteverde we have a local bus that travels up to the Monteverde Reserve about 4 times a day. It has a set schedule and anyone can get on or off at any of the stops. It costs 600 Calones (just over a dollar) to go from Santa Elena to the reserve or less if you get on or off anywhere in-between. Other than that the only option is a taxi. Most taxi’s use a meter but not all of them do but the town is small so you become familiar with how much your taxi should cost. If your going from point A to point B and both of these points are outside of town, the taxi driver will likely charge you for his time to get to point A as well.

In Puerto Viejo there was a local bus but we never used it. It had a set schedule running to the farthest beach and back. Taxi’s of course were always an option and you also had the option of renting a bicycle for the day. That was the most fun but not always practical due to the rain. We haven't seen this option anywhere else.

Quepos/Manuel Antonio had a regular bus running between the two every half hour or less which was great because you didn’t have to plan too far ahead. The two towns are only 7Km apart so you might go into town more than once a day. I learned that you also had the option of ‘collectivo’ taxi’s which are basically a shared taxi ride and of course you could hire a private taxi.

Next there is getting around between towns:

The local ‘Tico’ bus’ are like a greyhound bus. Depending on how far apart the towns are these busses run on a regular schedule with a fixed fare and again you can get on or off anywhere in between for a reduced fare. So for shorter distances ie from Quepos to Dominical the distance was 44Km and the bus ran about 3 or 4 times a day. You could not book a ticket, just show up and pay the driver. Standing room only was definitely an option. This 44Km bus ride took an hour and a half due to all of the stops in between. Although the distance between Monteverde and Puntarenas is considerably farther, it operates the same way. You can’t book it and you could end up standing for 4 hours (even though it is only 75Km).

Bus schedules are posted at the bus station and/or at the bus stop but there is no guarantee they are accurate.

When we went to Quepos we were told (and looked up the schedule on line) that the bus runs at 7AM 8AM 11AM … however when we arrived in Puntarenas at 8:50AM we found that there was a bus at 9AM. We were able to continue our journey without a big wait.

On the way home from Dominical I knew there was a bus to Monteverde at 1:30 and 2:15 and this was indicated on the sign so we knew we would have a 4 hour wait. When we started talking to some of the locals we found that there was an 11AM bus. By the time we made it back to the bus stop the bus was just pulling away. VERY Frustrating!

Your second option for managing these distances is a tourist bus/Interbus Company (https://www.interbusonline.com/home/home.asp). So far I have paid anywhere from $3 to $20 for a Tico bus depending on the distance. They are comfortable but not air-conditioned and have many stops. A tourist bus is more expensive but more direct and thus takes less time. They are also air-conditioned.

So it took us two busses and cost about $7 each to get to Manuel Antonio. If we had taken a tourist bus it would have been one bus, a bit faster but $57 each. I don’t think we would have saved much time on the ride there as it was pretty fast but this is worth looking into for the ride home if we do it again.

The third option of course is a private taxi (http://taxialfaro.com) and this is much more expensive but if we had a third or fourth person would be worth considering.

Finally, Douglas noticed on the map that there are local airports (http://www.natureair.com) at some of these locations. I will investigate this further because yesterday was a 12-hour travel day and we both ended up with food poisoning or something so the evening was even worse than the day of travel. This also messes up our plans because we both raced home to attend events that now neither of us has the strength to do.

Dominical

Rather than running around attempting to do the 5 things I had on our agenda, we took advantage of the sunny day and just hung out at the beach. Great day, very relaxing!

Doug made a few friends just hanging at the beach.

Dominical is another very popular surfing town. Many of the hotels offer surfing lessons as part of their accommodation package.

Check out the difference in the tide in a couple of hours. The waves got big and the water came right up.

 Thank god for information boards!

I messed up on our location. I thought I was bringing us an hour closer to home but instead I brought us an hour further away! This means we now have to get on the 5:30AM bus in order to make it home in one day.