Slithery stuff. . .

There are snakes in Costa Rica, unfortunately, and a fair amount are venomous. Luckily, we don't see too many around the grounds (six or seven snakes in six-plus years and only three have been poisonous).

There is a reason, however, that we warn people to stay on the trails when hiking around.

Miguel, who has worked here for eight years, came up close with a Fer-de-Lance the other day, while working on the trails. He called and asked us to come down to the bodega, where he had the snake laid out.

It was at least 6 feet long, and we actually weighed it with a luggage scale, and it came in at 4 pounds. Its head was as big as an adult's fist; the biggest anyone here has ever seen.

Miguel has worked in the jungles for years and admitted that he has never been afraid of the snakes in the past, though this one was different. The Fer-de-Lance is aggressive and if it feels threatened, it will attack, rather than retreat.

To top it off, Miguel forgot to bring a machete with him (everyone here always has a machete when working in the jungle). He was lucky enough to find a branch that he could break off and dispatch the snake. You could still see the splinters from the branch in the snake's neck and head.

It was off the trail, fortunately, where any guests wouldn't have seen it. However, a reminder that there are bigger and badder things out there in the rain forest.

Clucking chickens or?

Pretty much everyone knows what a chicken sounds like when it is clucking. There aren't as many of the fowls here in the wild as back in Kauai, and when we hear that clucking sound, it usually portends something not so nice.

The tercepello (fer-de-lance) also clucks pretty close to what a chicken sounds like. The fer-de-lance is a pretty deadly snake that is found throughout Costa Rica. They cluck in hopes of luring smaller critters in and then it's feeding time.

So, if you're hiking around in Costa Rica, and you hear that distinctive clucking noise, it probably isn't a bird.

Of course, if some of you have come down to stay with us, you would have known that by now, and while we do hear them, they are farther off of the trails.

How do you say idjit in Spanish?

That was my question the other night after a young jughead went off the road and took out a good portion of our fence and hedge. Fortunately for the dipstick, he was so drunk, he survived the crash intact and no one was hurt.

He hit a tree about 15 feet up (the car settled on the ground down an embankment) around 2 a.m. He refused to be taken away in an ambulance (didn't want to do a breathalyzer) and came back the next day with a tow truck driver.

When he came up, Miguel and I were outside the gate the next morning and he asked Miguel if I spoke Spanish. Miguel rightly informed him that I spoke enough. He then asked if I knew who his dad was. He rattled off a string of five names (typical here in Costa Rica) and I told him I didn't have a clue. Miguel, who was listening in, didn't have a clue, either.

After talking to him, Miguel and I (and the two driver who we both have met around town before) could tell he was coming off a major bender. The kid said that another car swerved into his path (he told the same story to the editorial department three times and Miguel and the driver--probably trying to practice it for his parents).

Afterward, when we were walking back up to the hotel, Miguel said:

"Not sure how to say this in English, but this kid has a rich mommy and daddy that will pay for him and I don't like it."

The editorial department came up with mama's boy and that seemed to stick.

Markita? Markos?

So, we went to look at our property recently, and everything is still there. The ocean view is still outstanding, and the land is still there.

We were walking around with Pedro, the developer, and noticed that there were extra treadmarks around. Pedro giggled a bit and said that youngsters had been coming in looking for a place to watch the sun set over the Pacific. Youngsters being youngsters, they weren't really watching the sun go down, but engaging in the great wrestling match of love.

Pedro and the neighbor put up some boulders to block the drive and the access to paradise by the dashboard lights.

Still, the editorial department is hoping for some Mark-ina or Mark-ita names to pop up in the next several months before we start to build and the dashboard is closed permanently.

This is pretty cool. . .

This is what we put up on our Facebook page a while back:

We received some good news today and wanted to share with everyone and to thank all of you that have helped make this award possible:

"On behalf of all of us at TripAdvisor, I'm very pleased to welcome Tree Houses Hotel Costa Rica to the Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame. This unique accolade is granted only to those businesses that have won the Certificate of Excellence for five years in a row."

It is great that we are recognized, though it has very little to do with us. We love what we do (everyone that works here does) and are just lucky enough that folks appreciate it.

Ouch. . .

Back in the saddle (and pardon the pun, we did get permission to use it).

For the few of the faithful that have been down this way before and been fortunate enough to walk with Rolando, here is some news.

Rolando, our night watchman who has guided countless guests around the grounds at night in search of sloths, frogs, monkeys, kinkajous, insects, sleeping birds and other critters is back with us after nearly two weeks off.

Rolando was thrown from a horse and was out of action for two weeks. He is back and showing people the wonders of the night life in the jungle here at Tree Houses.

We heard that Rolando was going to get rid of the horse, and he did. It has been sold (other scalawags speculated that it was now part of the food chain, but Rolando is far too kind for that).

This is how the showers work. . .

Checked in a couple from Europe recently, and very nice folks. Happy to be here and we were happy to have them here.

The check-in process here is a bit longer than at a normal hotel, as tree houses, well, do have a bit more explaining.

How the showers work is explained in the book in each tree house. The water is heated by electricity as it goes through the shower head (instant hot water on demand). This is how the majority of people in Costa Rica get warm showers. Normally, we don't want to waste more time when checking people in, figuring they can figure out the showers. A small minority cannot figure it out, but they come around.

However, the other day, we felt compelled to tell the folks, step by step, how the showers work. To be blunt: they were in dire need of a shower, as their body odor pretty much curdled the nose hairs of anyone within 50 feet (who knows when we may see a sloth around here again).

Everyone was hoping that they were able to figure out the showers before breakfast in the morning.

Critters. . .

An eventful day for wildlife. We woke up to the howler monkeys early in the morning; found two sloths hanging out up high near the rancho. About five or six toucans swooped in for a visit at the rancho during breakfast, and Efren found a Harlequin Frog on the night hike. The frog is rare and not easy to find (it was tiny) and it was great to see up close, rather than in a photo. It was yellow and black with bright orange feet.