Bird watching

Here you have the Red-Throated Ant Tanager (top) and the Blue-Gray Tanager (bottom). The ant tanager is a bit larger than the blue-gray, but the smaller bird is more aggressive with the other birds that come down to feed.

Favorite questions. . .

It happens regularly, whether it be by telephone or e-mail.

This was one of the recent ones that had us scratching our heads:

Guest: We are hoping to stay with you for three or four days. Can you let us know what your reservation requirements are and your availability and the prices?

Us: Thank you for your interest. . .etc. etc. Since we are a small hotel we do require full payment before a reservation is confirmed.

Guest: Thank you, but you did not answer my question, which was do we pay now or when we arrive at your resort?

Us: Our apologies, the text must not have come through the great void of cyberspace. Below, the pertinent text has been HIGHLIGHTED AND CAPITALIZED for your benefit.

Guest: Oooops, I guess I read too fast.

Of course, our response wasn't the same as above, but more of what would be really fun to do.

No pic. . .

As even if I had been alert enough to get the camera, I wouldn't have gone down to take a picture.

The other day, a tour van came to pick up some guests at 6:30 a.m. for the Cano Negro, a great day trip to see all kinds of wildlife.

When the van entered our gates, the driver and guide stopped as there was a branch stretched across the driveway. It was too large for them to drive over. They hopped out of the van and were going to move the branch off of the driveway.

That's when they noticed that the branch was moving. It was actually a boa constrictor that had been stretched across the driveway. The critter decided it was time to move on, so it slithered up a rock wall on the driveway and into the jungle. The guide and driver were pretty impressed to see a boa that large around here.

We'll make do with the story.

Accidental cool photo. . .

This is what happens when the editorial department grabs the camera. A good shot of a Great Kiskadee and a bunch of flapping feathers from the robins and a female honey creeper. Our apologies to the loyal readers for the lack of focus.

Swaying away. . .

The newest tree house here, the Yiguirro, now has what we like to call around here, a "Hammock Garden."

Under the tree house, there are now two hammocks where guests can hang out, relax and enjoy the jungle without getting soaked when it's raining.

Despite how easy the Skipper and Gilligan made it seem, hammocks are not for the coordination-challenged, as you can easily flip out of them if you just throw yourself in. Hence, we have the hammocks lower to the ground for the hammock-challenged folks.

More birds (starting to see the theme?)

By now, all three of the loyal readers should be able to identify the three birds bellying up to the feed table at breakfast. Luckily for us, it never gets old watching the critters come around.

Birding

It's not too terribly difficult to become fascinated with the little feathered folks that come down daily. No matter how many times you see the Red-Legged Honey Creeper, it seems to change colors depending on how the sun is hitting it. Very colorful and active birds, they're always fun to watch flitting back and forth between the fruit on the stumps and the water in the hummingbird feeders.

Frog, again. . .

Told you that it warranted more than one picture. Here you can see a bit of the orange and blue on the underside of the frog, which is what makes it a favorite of guests.

If it weren't for the eyes and the underside, most people would walk by it and not even see it.

We're still not sure how Rolando can find them in the dead of night and bring them out for guests.

FYI: These frogs do not secrete any toxins or poisons, so it's OK to pick them up, but for the others, you should always check with a guide before you do so.

Just too cool for one pic. . .

This is a Gaudy Tree Frog. It's a basic green, except for the bright red eyes. On the underside, though, it has some great blue and orange colors. This little bugger is on a lot of travel book covers for Costa Rica and what a lot of folks are hoping to see while they are here. Luckily, Rolando (our night watchman and night-time guide) can find the buggers based on their call at night and he heads into the jungle to bring one out for guests whenever he can.

Skating with the dorks. . .

Then, of course, when the rain stops and the sun comes out, that present an entirely different challenge.

There is ceramic tile in and outside of the house here and once it finally stopped raining and the sun came out, everything was slicker than goose gizzards (to paraphrase Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard).

The walls inside and out were sweating as were the tiles and it made for some treacherous treading at times.

Mini-B went bolting for the front door when some guests rang the doorbell and she couldn't stop, skidding about 6 feet before banging herself into the screen door. No injuries, but very entertaining.

Another time, the phone in the house rang and we were at opposite ends of the house, and we were pretty much slipping and sliding to get inside to answer the call.

We would like to think that Mini-B (and us) learned a lesson, but sadly, that isn't the case.

Maximum saturation. . .

We are coming out of the "Green Season" or what most folks call the rainy season. However, the past four to five days have been much wetter than normal. It rained for nearly four straight days, and everything was reaching maximum saturation levels.

The grounds were soaked through and we were worried about high winds (especially considering the cyclone that came through in September) that would bring down a lot of trees that were weakened at the roots from all of the rain.

This was very abnormal for our area at any time of the year. It was more like the Northwest, where it will drizzle all day, every day, for six months. Typically here, it will cloud up and rain for an hour or two and then clear up. Not this time.

Luckily, we escaped any falling trees, though it made for some slippery footing around the place once the rain finally stopped.

It doesn't get much more jurassic than this. This is an iguana, which we see pretty often down this way, though not so much on the ground. This fellow was getting long in the tooth (it had lost a good portion or its tail which is a primary defensive unit) and was hanging out on the ground.

These critters can move pretty quickly, surprisingly so at times, and their tails can whip around really fast when they want (and have them).

We are guessing that the longer the waddle (or whatever you call the baggy under-the-throat-thing) the older the iguana is.

They really like to get up high in a tree and sun themselves, and just take in the sights.

You said what??

On occasion, there are some head-scratching questions from guests and potential guests.

This was one of the better exchanges of late:

Guest: We would like to stay with you on 23, 24 and 25. Please let us know your availability.

Us: Which month are you coming? Please let us know and we can tell you our availability.

Guest: We are coming on 23, 24 and 25, or we can come on 28, 29 and 30. Please let us know.

Us: It does appear that you're asking for November or December of this year, and we are completely full for those days during in November and December.

Guest: Why didn't you say so?

A mouthful and then some. . .

This is a great bird, from the turkey family. If you look closely enough, you can see perhaps part of a waddle on another bird that finds its way to Thanksgiving tables every year in the U.S.

When you hear it, it does warble like a turkey, though it is just a fraction of the size of the birds that we carve up every year.

This is the Montezume Oropendula, and they're a blast to see flitting from tree to tree and warbling like a turkey. Their tail feathers are a bright yellow and when they're flying away from you (which is most often the case) you can see the great colors.

Ya Yellow-Bellied. . .

This is one of our favorite birds--particularly for its name. It's a very striking bird (all yellow and black) but its name invokes a time gone by, when you called someone out.

This is a Yellow-Bellied Siskin and it is jet black with bright yellow around the wings and on the underside (hence the name).

It's great to spot these birds in the morning flitting around among the more common ones, as we don't get to see them all of the time.

Creepy-time

The Red-Legged Honey Creeper is one of the more colorful birds around. I suppose it gets part of its name from its legs, naturally.

This is a picture of a male creeper, and they are just a striking blue, nearly luminescent. The females are just a regular green, though with the same red legs. When the sun hits the male birds just right, they seem to glow.

The creepers are also the only other bird that we have seen down here that will also eat from the hummingbird feeders that we put out, as well as the fruit.

Tanger time. . .

The Blue-Gray Tanager is a great little bird. It looks like pool chalk, and is smaller than a lot of the birds that come down to feed, but it holds its ground very well. It is somewhat ferocious and will chase off the larger birds (Clay-Colored Robins, Kiskadees, etc.) when it wants to eat.

Bird time. . .

This is the Blue-Crowned Motmot. One of the larger birds that we see regularly down this way. The motmots come down fairly regularly in the morning when the guests are eating breakfast and are always a crowd pleaser, as they are larger than most of the birds and their tails swish back and forth, like a pendulum. They have long tails that split at the end with round feathers that look like miniature tennis racquets.

We're back! At least for now. . . There are plenty of excuses: health, sanding and varnishing the tree houses, general malaise. . . For the three loyal followers, we're back for the time being and will attempt to put up some news you don't need and pictures that you will hopefully find more interesting than the accompanying words.

Since the last post and our anniversary, we have been to Las Vegas to see some old friends (alas, we did not win enough money to retire and have someone else write the blog); turned three tree houses inside out with sanding and varnishing; planted a machete into a shin; discovered a bot-fly in the skin and have managed to have a good time.

Now, we're on the cusp of the busy season here when we'll be chock-a-bloc with guests and it's also great bird-watching time, so we have some pics of the birds to put up in the next few days (until the art department rebels once again!)

Lucky No. 7. . .

Seven years ago today, in Walnut Creek, Calif., the lovely lass at the right was smooching the goober on the left after we exchanged our vows.

Needless to say, the goober on the left is an extremely lucky man and is very thankful for having Lucy in his life.

We will likely relax and lay a bit low as Lucy is fighting a cold. Luckily there's not a load of people coming in or out today, so that will be nice. If Lucy feels up to it, we are hoping to get away to our favorite steak restaurant up by the volcano for some good food and hopefully a view of Arenal.

Here's to another seven, 14, 21, 28, etc., years.

Feliz cumpleanos por mi padre. . .

A bit late, but never forgotten (since the internet access returned). . .

Today is the 73rd birthday of Herbert Lee Eidson, my dad, and the greatest man I know.

What did my dad do on his birthday? Went to work in a small pharmacy in Wisconsin for a full day and then went to Fish-Fry Friday afterward.

Happy birthday dad!

Storm. . .

As you can see, some of the trees fell out right from the roots (above) and others snapped off a big higher.

Storm. . .

In addition to the trees that came down, branches fell around the grounds as well.

Storm. . .

This is the Hummingbird tree house, which is farther back on the property. A large tree fell out of the ground, roots and all, quite a distance away from the tree house. However, when the big one fell, it took out about 12 to 15 more trees, and two ended up hitting the roof of the overlook on the Hummingbird.

Fortunately, the only real damage was a couple of dents in the roof, which can be easily repaired.

Whereas before, there was a dense forest outside of the Hummingbird, it's now nearly completely clear after we hauled away all of the fallen branches and trees.

Storm. . .

This is the pathway from the rancho to the tree houses. Quite a few of the smaller trees fell or larger branches snapped off up high and came down.

An hour or two after the wind stopped (it was just completely calm afterward, almost eerily so) we could hear branches and trees falling around the area.

There were only two guests here at the time, the others were up in La Fortuna on activities, and the guests here thought it was a grand experience, asking if this was a regular occurrence. We assured them it was not.

Blow me down. . .

 On September 11, it was raining a bit after breakfast, and then it started pouring.

Shortly after that, the wind picked up, and by picked up, I would estimate 40 to 50 mph gusts, at least. This went on for 20 to 30 minutes.

When you're surrounded by as many trees as we are here at the hotel, high winds make us nervous. We had never had winds anywhere close to this level in the nearly four years we've

been here, and the folks that grew up here couldn't recall anything like this, either.

Some folks said they saw a funnel cloud, and power lines, trees (even a couple of roofs) were falling all over the place.

We probably had 30-plus trees fall. No one was hurt here or in the area (though one cow wasn't as lucky as it was taken out by a falling tree). There was damage to the rancho, where we serve breakfast, but it was on the back part, not on the kitchen or the dining area.

In the picture above, is the top of the tree that came down on the rancho. It was probably 100-plus feet tall, and it just fell out of the ground at its roots. You can see the damaged roof at the rear of the rancho on the left.

We'll post some more pictures of the storm damage. It will probably be a couple of weeks before we can get everything cleaned up.

Whole lotta shaking. . .

Yesterday, we were at breakfast in the rancho with guests, when everything started moving, swaying and shaking. It took a few seconds to register that it was an earthquake, and a pretty powerful one.

Lights and fans swayed, a few things fell off the shelves, but no major damage at Tree Houses, thankfully.

I felt a little seasick, as the cement floor we were standing on, felt like a waterbed, rolling up and down.

The quake, a 7.6 magnitude temblor, was centered over on the Pacific Coast in the Nicoya region, which is quite a distance from us.

People felt the quake all the way on the Caribbean side and up into Nicaragua, also.

For the folks that work here: Miguel, Keneth, Darling, Patricia and Seidy, they said that was the largest one that they have experienced. No one was hurt, and Miguel and I walked all the tree houses afterward and no damage done to the inside or to the supports on them.

Hopefully that was the last one we'll experience down this way for a long, long time.

Happy 49th Anniversary!

To Ma and Pa Eidson. Of those 49 years, 45 have been, of course, completely blissful.

A tardy post, though we have had spotty Internet access and been just swamped down this way.

The folks celebrated with breakfast and dinner out today, and are planning a return trip here to Costa Rica next year. First off, though, is a train trip from Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., and back in a couple of weeks.

Next year is the big 50th anniversary, and everyone is invited. Just head on over to Madison and we'll find a place for you to crash and enjoy the festivities!

Really, this is how you vacation?

The other night, when Rolando--our trusty night watchman--was off, we had some guests that didn't close the gate when they drove back.

This is not a difficult task; we give the guests with cars a remote (it's a garage-door opener) that opens and closes the gate. You press the button once to open the gate, and then you press it again to close it. It's not rocket science, but it is nonetheless amazing to find out how many people cannot figure it out.

Anyway, some yahoos left the gate open, and around midnight, Lucy got up and decided to check on the gate. Sure enough, the gate was open. She closed it, and heard something on the side of the house.

She walked around and saw a mother and her teen son sitting in a car. They were North American, and had apparently driven in (despite the sign that says "No Vacancy" out front) and parked the car. The disheveled mother asked Lucy if we had any rooms for the night, and we did not. Then the mother asked if she and her son could sleep in the car in our parking lot. Hmmmmmmmmmmm, sorry, but you need to move on. They looked a little shifty and they went on their sleepy and merry way to Fortuna, just up the road about 25 minutes, where there are more than 100 hotels.

Very odd.

Where, oh where. . .

Is Cooter? We could use a good mechanic down this way.

Cars are expensive down here (a $2,000 beater in the States runs around $7,000 or $8,000 down here) and there is always something wrong with the cars, due to the rough terrain, etc.

We've been having issues with a 1998 Pathfinder down this way, and we thought we had a good mechanic, as he speaks English and is a genuinely nice fellow.

That was until he got ahold of the Pathfinder and in addition to fixing what needed to be fixed, he messed up several other things.

It went from being no cost for the fixes to six or seven times the amount quoted for the "quick fix" and now it's just a big mess.

Hence, I did what any red-blooded goober would do: Turned over the phone to my lovely, fluent-in-Spanish wife, who promptly bawled him out for dragging things out and running up the costs. It wasn't too long after that call, that the owner of the shop called and tried to explain things, but he didn't get far as the lovely and talented Lucy told him to shut up with the technical stuff and have the car to us in two days--or else.

We're still figuring out the or else part, but there's a good chance the car will be back with us sooner than later.

There are various theories about mechanics here in Costa Rica, and none of them are good: shiftless, drunken thieves seems to be the kindest terms. All of which means, I need to buy the "Idiot's Guide to All Things Mechanical" on our next trip to the States, in order to hopefully avoid situations like this again.

Tooth tales. . . again. . .

Well, it seemed that the ear infection was the major cause of the tooth pain. However, after all was said and done, and a couple of fillings were put in, about four days later: more pain in the same back molar. Only with the cold stuff. Very strange.

Back to the dentist, who sent me to another dentist with a full X-ray machine for the mouth ($25.00 cost). Back to the dentist with the film, and then some filing down of said fillings--as well as using some type of aerosol cold spray that she shot onto my teeth to try and find the problem--and probably some enamel as well (no charge).

Finally, the dentist said she could not find anything wrong. I told her it was probably all in my head, and she assured me it likely wasn't (very nice lady). She copied the X-rays and e-mailed them up to the lone dentist in this prefecture (kind of like a state) that does root canals and specializes in the big-boy jobs.

One thing about down here: When they treat you for something (medically, be it an ear infection or tooth issue) once they charge you, that's it. If the problem persists, they take care of it afterward for no extra charge.

For those that are curious, the two small fillings that were done cost a total of $60.00 ($30.00 each). That is out-of-pocket, no co-pay, nada, just the straight price. Considering that gringos/haoles/gaijin pay a bit more for stuff down here, that is still a very good deal. The all-around X-ray of the teeth was $25.00.

Tales from the Odd Side III

The other day, we had a guest come through our gate, and two cars tailgate through the gate. The guests staying here, drove up to their tree house, the other two cars pulled in. At the time, I was setting up a zipline outing for some other guests at our house here.

The folks that pulled up in their cars hopped out and the one lady said, "Hi, I'm Kathy, and we have a reservation."

No worries, this happens occasionally when folks roll through the gates before hitting the intercom. We were waiting for one other tree house to check in, and the name on the reservation was for a Kathleen.

I grabbed the reservation form and started talking to the guests, who were starting to amass around the cars they came out of. Kathy said that their numbers had diminished and they only had seven people, not the original nine that they had reserved for. I looked at the reservation sheet and and it was for four people. Something was amiss.

Turns out, the two carloads of people were booked for the next three nights, not the day they showed up. They had the same first names, which didn't clear matters up any too quickly.

The folks were initially upset "We booked these three nights!"

However, when we went to the e-mail string, the confirmation and reminder said three other nights, starting on the next day.

We found the folks two rooms at the university's hotel about 5 minutes away, and they returned the next day to check in, and everything was fine.

I did toy with telling the folks that we had been expecting them yesterday when they did show up for real to check in, but figured that would be too mean-spirited.

So much for that diagnosis. . .

There's a reason I never went to medical school. Turns out blisters and rash on my arm weren't caused by poison ivy.

I was talking with Rolando and he took a look at it and knew what it was immediately. It took a few minutes for me to figure out what he was trying to tell me, but it's from a spider. It's not a bite, it's spidey-wiz, pee, urine.

I sure didn't see a spider, and don't remember getting wet, but Patricia confirmed Rolando's diagnosis the following day.

The best thing for it is achiote, which is a fruit that has red seeds and grows in the jungle. However, it is also ground into a paste and people use it for cooking. It's bright red/orange and really stands out when you put it on a pasty fellow's arm. It seems to have done the trick, as the rash is subsiding (though it's hard to see through the red paste).

Rain? What rain?

The other day we got some e-mails and phone calls from concerned guests. They had seen the news (mostly on CNN.com) about the flooding in Costa Rica.

They were worried that they would be unable to get to us. The rains have been lighter than normal this year (we're not approaching drought stage, but it is very dry) so we were a bit baffled, until we looked around on the Web.

The Caribbean Coast, usually very dry at this time of the year, had been hammered by rain and the rivers were overflowing and a lot of roads were closed. That is quite a ways from us, so we didn't know much about it. We had some guests that made it from the Caribbean side to us a couple of days ago, and they said it took a while, but they were able to make it over just fine.

Pilgrimage. . .

This is the scene from the main church in Cartago, Costa Rica.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people make the pilgrimage to the church for blessings by the Virgin of the Angels.

This main church is in Los Angeles, Cartago. There are a lot of towns called Los Angeles in Costa Rica, including one about 8 miles from Tree Houses.

Folks will flock to the churches in Los Angeles, and they mostly do it on foot. Some do it on their knees, traveling a long distance, while other go in cars, bikes or by horse.

It makes for some very congested roads around anyplace dubbed Los Angeles, though it is a really cool sight to see, all of the people walking, talking and celebrating.

This is what happens. . .

When you wander into the jungle to cut back some brush and don't pay attention. Yep, poison ivy, or something akin to that from down here.

A nice swath of irritated, blistered skin up and down my arm that burns and itches at the same time.

I've picked this up several times, and still cannot figure out what plant is exactly the cause of the irritation. I'm sure this won't be the last outbreak, unfortunately, as it takes about 30 to 45 minutes after contact before the irritation starts.

Cue music, cue lights. . .

Now, if they would have just cued the pictures. Unfortunately, we are missing the hoopla of the Summer Olympics down here, as SkyTV, which is the broadcast partner of the Olympics, has decided not to show it down here in Costa Rica.

The national channels do show some of the events--when there is a Costa Rican athlete involved. Considering that the entire Costa Rican team consists of 12 folks, the options are somewhat limited.

With an extremely slow Internet connection, we are reduced to reading about things after the fact (which kind of sounds like a lot of folks back in the States with NBC delaying a lot of the coverage). Unfortunately, we can't watch the streaming online events, as it is too choppy and cut up. Maybe in 2016, as we can't foresee any larger team from down here for the Winter Games.

Tales from the odd side II

Also once in a while, we will get folks that e-mail us with their business Web site or other things as their signature at the end of their e-mail. Always kind of fun to see who is coming here, as we have seen actor's bios, TV executives, etc., down here.

This happened recently with a couple from the States, and the Web site tag read "relaxation and therapy masseuse". . . That sounded intriguing, and so I clicked on the Web site to find that the woman was a relaxation therapist that specializes in all kinds of wellness therapy "for the body and spirit."

Interesting, but nothing earth-shattering. I figured it would be a nice conversation piece for breakfast one morning.

The couple never made it to breakfast. On two of the three nights they were here, we called them a taxi where they went to the local grocery store and brought back six to eight bottles per night (and it wasn't soft drinks). They never made it to breakfast, and on the last night they were here, they decided to have a screaming match from inside their tree house. Unfortunately, we didn't hear it here at our house, though the guests in the next tree house (about 75 yards away) heard it loud and clear at 4 a.m. and asked if everything was OK. They did make it up for their ride to the airport and no one was injured.

The driver that took them back to the airport had some interesting observations of the two, but since this is a family blog, we won't pass those along.

Tales from the odd side. . .

Occasionally, we get folks down here that aren't going to be happy, no matter what. That was the case about a week ago when a mother and her teen son came here for a couple of nights.

They were in the rana house, as per the request of her travel agent. They were from France and perhaps didn't feel comfortable making the reservation on their own, though the mother did speak good English.

After about 5 minutes in their tree house, the mother came storming up and demanded to be moved. Unfortunately, the other tree houses were booked and that was the one her travel agent asked for. We explained to her that we had no other houses available, and she huffed and puffed and stomped around and called her travel agent on her cell. The travel agent promptly called us, and while Lucy was talking with the agent, I was talking with the lady.

She demanded to be moved. We told her there was nothing that we could do. She demanded again, we politely told her that the other tree houses were booked for the next three days and this was what her travel agent requested.

She demanded more and looked to be on the verge of a breakdown with spittle flying and veins bulging. We felt badly for her, but when she started saying that the road noise was worse than Paris: "Worse than Paris! Do you understand??!! It's more noise than Paris!!" I had to duck inside, as I lost it and couldn't keep from laughing. Never a good thing with an upset guest.

She and her son ended up staying at a cookie-cutter resort in Fortuna, closer to the main road than we are. We did give her a refund as we ended up renting out the tree house to a nice family that came by shortly afterward, and they had a great time.

It was an ear infection. . .

Who would have thought? After a couple of trips to the dentist, she finally suggested that I had an ear infection and that was the cause of the tooth pain.

I relented and went to the doctor, and sure enough, it was an infection. The ear didn't hurt at all (until I was told I had an infection, of course) and then some antibiotics, drops and a shot in the tuckus cleared it right up.

The tooth is still a little tender, though I'm heading back to the dentist later this week to get the temporary filling replaced with a permanent one.

Adios, JP

Saw this sad news on the Web last night while surfing for local news from back home in Washington state. JP Patches, a local clown that had a long-running TV show that my brother and I grew up on, passed away.

I remember watching JP daily and seeing him at a parade or two.

This is what the Seattle P-I had to say (picture also courtesy of the P-I):

Chris Wedes, who as Julius Pierpont Patches became one of Seattle's most recognizable figures and a beloved icon to generations, died Sunday morning. He was 84 and had battled blood cancer since 2007.
At its peak, "The J.P. Patches Show" on KIRO/7 had more than 100,000 daily viewers daily and was broadcast in the morning and afternoon. It debuted Feb. 10, 1958, and when it went off the air in 1981 it was the longest running locally-produced kids show in the United States.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Beloved-clown-J-P-Patches-dies-at-84-3726596.php#ixzz21PlXsdFY

Drill, baby, drill. . .

Or maybe not.While we were in Argentina, I thought I might have picked up an ear infection to go with the cold that we both got. Then a molar started hurting. It still hurts and is extremely sensitive to cold.Our dentist did some drilling, replaced a filling, and thought I might need a root canal.

We made an appointment for the lone dentist in this area that does root canals and got an appointment on July 24.

However, our dentist says the tooth is just fne. It could be a result of the ear infection. Either way, it's driving me nuts and I'll be headed to a doctor soon to get some antibiotics for the infection, in hopes I can stave off a root canal, as I'm a notorious weenie when it comes to dentists.

Depending on how the outcome goes, we may turn over the blog to the art department.

Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Sunday morning, while we were enjoying breakfast with the guests, there was a huge crack and then a big rumble. There wasn't any rain or wind, just a lot of noise. A balsa tree had fallen over. It was probably about 100 feet high and it just gave up the ghost and came crashing down.

No one was hurt, nothing was damaged (except for some smaller trees nearby) though it was a load to cut up and clean.

The picture is just something pulled from the Web, though it did take a long time to clean up. It was probably about 4 feet in diameter and while it was balsa wood, those chunks were still heavy. Just to make things even more interesting, the tree was wrapped in vines that had big thorns on them, so it made the cleanup even more fun.

Things grow very quickly down here and as a result, the roots don't get too far into the ground. This big bugger just fell out from the roots.

Just as an aside: Those cool, light balsa planes that I put together as a kid are nowhere near as light as the logs we pulled out of the tree after it came down.

Roaring falls. . .

Here you can see the Devil's Throat again. The power is just immense. When the wind shifts, you'll get soaked hanging out by the falls, and you can get pretty close.

To get out to these falls, the folks on the Argentine side have built a footbridge that spans the river and it took us about 20 minutes, each way, to walk it.

There were thousands of butterflies flitting about, and they would land on folks and there were so many at times, it looked like it was raining butterflies.

The land on the other side is Brazil. There were daytrips to Brazil, but a visa for a U.S. citizen is $130 or something like that, so we opted to wait to pony up that until we get to Brazil, hopefully, for a longer period.

You can get up close and personal

To parts of the falls. This is a metal walkway that you can head out to, and you just get soaked by the spray coming down on you.

We didn't have the zoom lens with us, but that's Mark in the picture on the left and Lucy, right, in the other picture.

You could pretty much feel the vibration and power of the falls from there and we both got soaked when we went out there, even though we only stayed out there for a few minutes.

On the boat. . .

 And this was before we actually got really wet. We did have a couple of disposable ponchos that we threw on and we still got soaked, but were probably the least wet of the 15 or so folks in the boat.

After motoring up and down the river for a bit, the driver and guide told us to put the cameras away in the dry bags they gave us and get ready to get wet.

That's when we went right up to, and the front of the boat was under, the roaring falls. It was really wild to get that close, and to feel the wind that was whipped up by the water plummeting from above.

Lucy screamed so loud that she scared some of the other folks on the boat, I think. This was a great time and we would recommend anyone that is fortunate enough to go there to hop on a boat.

You can see the falls. . .

From trails above and below and you can also hop on a boat and get up close and personal with the spray and cascading water.

Iguazu Falls

This was the highlight of our trip to Argentina: Iguazu Falls. It's in the northern part of the country, and the falls and river are part of the border with Argentina and Brazil.

The falls themselves stretch something like 2 kilometers across and they are very impressive.

The picture below is a long walk from the picture at the right. The picture on the right is called the Devil's Throat because of the churning water.
You can see some of the mist that soaks people with the volume of water just pouring down.

Since the falls are farther north, even though it was winter in Argentina (it was a wee bit chilly in Buenos Aires at times) it was nice and warm at the falls and we had a blast hiking around on the trails.

Back in the swing of things. . .

Somewhat. We've been back for about a week and we had a great time in Argentina. The food is amazing and it's a great place to visit.

We came back to a full house of guests and some really weird things happened, which we won't get into in a family blog, but some guests are just really, really out there.

We'll be putting up some pictures of the trip in the coming days.

Breaking silence for great food. . .

Actually, it was great, great food. . . We headed out last night to see about some food. Here in Buenos Aires, restaurants don't typically open until around 7 p.m. or so, as dinner time is between 9 p.m. and later. . . The place that we did want to go to was closed at the time (this was a bit before 7) so we headed on down to a bunch of restaurants that we had found earlier.

We stumbled upon a placed call Al Carbon.

Man, oh man, what a great place. We stuffed ourselves silly and enjoyed every piece.

Once again, our eyes were larger than our stomachs, but we managed to put nearly everything away.

We started with:

Stuff mushrooms with a white cream sauce;

Breaded camembert cheese with basil and tomato sauce;

A green salad with a honey mustard/vinegar dressing;

A piece of pork sausage (that blended with the cheese very, very well).

For the main course:

Beef medallions with dijon mustard/pepper sauce;

Spinach-stuffed ravioli (this was OK, while the other dishes were outstanding);

For dessert, we managed to get down:

Caramel tiramisu;

and fontane de chocolate (which we thought would be a cake with fudge drizzled over the top. It was actually a hard chocolate shell -- like a peanut butter cup -- filled with caramel dulce and chocolate filling and a strawberry garnished on the side).

One of the better meals we have had in a long, long time.

After some time in the city. . .

We're going to head north to check out a sight that is regarded as one of the top 10 in the Americas, and borders another country. We'll hang out here for two days before beginning the journey home (flying back to the major city, then to the U.S., and finally back here to Costa Rica).

It's a long slog, but well worth the trouble and the time, and we are particularly looking forward to checking out the falls here, especially since we honeymooned at another area famous for its falls: Victoria Falls.

Outta here!

Again! Indeed, it's time for us to take a break from the jungle and head to one of our favorite cities. We've been here a couple of times in the past, and keep going back, as it has a lot to offer, and we have made friends with the owner of the apartment, where we can stay right in the center of the city.

The apartment is about six blocks down and one block on the right from the landmark.

We'll be relaxing for about 10 days, eating at great restaurants, checking out movies and just relaxing.

Just for grins and giggles, here's a pic of the city we'll be at, and the three close followers of the blog will be able to figure it out, most likely.

There is a rumor of Wi-Fi at the apartment now, so we may be able to update from there, if we feel like breaking from our life of leisure.

What are you looking at?

This is, after all, the primates' jungle. They are not afraid to demonstrate that, with bellows at the crack of dawn, or droppings on unsuspecting guests. They know exactly what they are doing, and could probably pitch for the Giants or Mets or Cubs (yeah, there is a bias there) as they have decent aim when they want.

They will eyeball you and just keep vigil while others will circle around behind and do their deed. They do not come down on the tree houses, but will swing from tree to tree, often very close to the tree houses.

Who can complain about monkeys keeping you awake when you're in the middle of the Costa Rica jungle?

Beating a dead horse. . .

With fresh pictures. . . and of one of the baby monkeys, to boot. They hang on their mothers and then branch out when they're feeling up to the task.

For those who are wondering, it is actually quite easy to tell the difference between the mom and dad monkeys. Once they are facing away from you, it is not difficult at all to tell the difference. One time, there was a 6-year-old girl staying here, very inquisitive, that asked us why some monkeys looked different than others when they were swinging away.

"Ask your parents and they will explain everything," was the best response we could come up with.

Can you ever have

Too many monkey shots? We don't think so. The family of howler monkeys that hang out here for a few days every week actually sat still for a bit, in order for the Art Dept. to get some great pictures.

Cute buggers, extremely noisy. The family of seven or eight have a couple of babies with them as well, which are really fun to watch.

Here's the little

bugger making its way from mom for a little bit. It didn't stray too far, before it stopped and waited for mom to come over and then it crawled up mom's back, over her head and back down to the belly and food.