Cicada deterrent. . .

This is Mini-B, sitting atop the blower that we use to clear the property. It's pretty fun to get the blower up and going and sweep the fallen leaves and jungle detritus back into the forest. Kenneth does the blowing during the weekdays, and we do it during the weekends. Lately, a lot of cicadas have been coming out, and they are attracted by the sound of the blower, and Kenneth is a little squeamish about being bombarded by the critters, that can get up to 2-3 inches long and nearly an inch wide. Enter Mini-B. Your average cicada gestates in the ground for 17 years, so I've been told, and then comes out for 22 days before it dies. Mini-B is fascinated with the buzzing buggers, and she'll run up on one and snap it up in her jaws before it can get away. Then she'll swat it back and forth, drool on it, swat it some more and then give it a good chewing. These poor things waited 17 years for this? We are breaking Mini-B of her chucharra habit, though it's not always easy, when they're just sitting on the ground, vibrating and making a whale of a racket that she finds very hard to ignore.

Alas, Mini-B didn't appreciate the sound of the blower, so Kenneth was on his own to face the cicadas during his stint.

Waiter, there's a . . .

Frog in my bowl? Or maybe it's a toad. Either way, it was a big bugger that took up residence in Mini-B's water dish the other day. It just sat there while the pooch sniffed around. I guess she doesn't go after things that are nearly her size, as compared to the cicadas. I tried to get the frog/toad to move so I could try to take a picture of it jumping away, but it wasn't going anywhere; content to just sit there in the water and take in the night. In the evenings, we get a lot of frogs/toads around the outside of the house, from ones this size, to tiny tree frogs not much bigger than my thumbnail. It can be a challenge walking around in the dark at times to avoid stepping on them. So far, no casualties from wayward clod-hoppers.

Jungle Juice

Lately, we had been seeing fewer and fewer butterflies come by the Tree House...so we decided to try a concoction of sorts to attract the critters...we were told of a blend that would attract more butterflies...i'll have to give all the credit to Mark for mixing up this jungle juice...i can guarantee it's NOT EVER going to make it in the books as something to mix up for your next party...
First you get a banana and peel it, cut it up in a few pieces and place it in a ziploc bag...let it set for about a week to create this wonderful pulp/juice (nasty frothy blend of juice and mushy banana)...come back to it after the week is through...open up the bag (and stand back because it will smell), and then you add in a couple shots of bacardi rum...but wait, it's not quite done yet...to this you also add a shot or two of human urine...Mark was willing to provide his sample and i was totally okay with that...he says it's his contribution to make sure the butterfly population does not become extinct...so, once you have all of the three ingredients in the ziploc bag, you give it a whirl...and voila - you have Jungle Juice...
I do have to say this is all Mark, because I wanted nothing to do with this one...I consider myself a Food Network fanatic and I do like experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes, but this was one recipe I was not interested in trying at all...but, as you can see in the pictures, there were a couple of butterflies who were up bright and early sipping on the Jungle Juice...and they did cozy themselves up to the bar/tree stump and hang out for quite a bit.

The Galloper. . .

This behemoth of Korean technology if what we get around in down here. . . It's like a Bronco or a Blazer on steroids. It has pretty good get up and go, except when it comes to hills, then it's pretty much like pedaling a bike in mud. There are a lot of one-lane bridges here in this part of the country, and there's a yield sign (ceda) on one side of the bridge, meaning that the folks with the yield sign have to give way to traffic coming from the opposite direction. We have noticed that when we drive the Galloper, people tend to yield for us, even when they don't have to. When we earlier drove a little Nissan Sentra around, getting anyone to stop for us was next to impossible.

The Galloper must only be made for export to Costa Rica and other countries as well as domestically in South Korea, as we see a lot of them around here. I've never seen one back in the States. The owner's manual is entirely in Korean, so not much help in that regard.

Canine Yoga - Downward Dog

We don't offer yoga here at the hotel, but anyone is welcome to try it. The other day, the little pooch (which we have christened mini-b after Bejuca, the large dog) was out working on her yoga moves. Lucy says this pose is called "downward dog." I've only done yoga once in my life, and I don't remember doing a downward dog, or a standing dog or any kind of canine cavorting. Mini-b was out in the driveway, just stretching and rolling for more than 10 minutes. We were laughing too hard at first, before we realized that we should grab the camera, so we weren't able to capture all of her poses.

Agua por favor. . .

We were just talking last night about how there always seems to be something different every day here at the hotel. There is always a challenge of some sort that pops up. This morning was a little more challenging than any other day thus far.

Lucy was up bright and early, and I crawled out of bed around 6:30 and prepared to jump in the shower and get ready for breakfast. One little hitch in that giddyup: no water. . . None, zero, zilch, nada, squat, bupkus. . .

Turns out, the city water supply had a ruptured line back in town, so the whole area was sans the wet stuff for several hours. The guests took it in stride, and we passed out large bottles of water for the brushing of teeth (rather than gnashing) and sponge baths. We had a couple of jugs of water brought in by Miguel, and Lucy washed the dishes in a couple of tubs after breakfast (coconut french toast -- with lots of maple syrup).

I hauled a 10-gallon jug of water up to tree house 1 (of course, the highest one with the steepest steps) to clean it before the water came back on.

We called over to another small hotel down the way that is on a different water line, to set up showers for folks, but around 11 a.m., the water came back on and I was finally able to shower. The pooches were avoiding me in the morning before the shower. Finicky buggers.

The birds. . .

Yes, it does seem at times that we are under attack . . . There are dozens of hummingbirds that hang out by the main house where we serve breakfast to the guests. . . There are three feeders and we will fill up each feeder three or four times a day. . . A doctor that was visiting here a while ago, said she had read somewhere that if a human consumed as much food as a hummingbird does in an average day, it would come out to something like 2,000, or more, cheeseburgers. . . This time of year, we only have about 15 or so hummingbirds hanging about, as some have taken off on whatever migratory journey they do. . . The birds are very brightly colored and will buzz us from time to time as well. . . You can feel the breeze and hear the noise from their wings as they zoom back and forth. . . There are big picture windows in front of the house, and there are brightly colored feathers and cd-roms hanging outside to serve as a warning for the fast-flying buggers, but there are still accidents from time to time. . . Luckily, thus far, we've only had a few stunned birds, no serious injuries. . . Interesting fact for hummingbird first-aid: if one does smack itself silly, you pick it up gently, cup it in your hands. . . and blow on its bottom. . . Sounds too good to be true, eh? It's the truth, I have seen it done. . . The first time, I thought they were pulling my leg and wanted me to simply blow up a bird's behind, but it does work. . . Kind of a funky kiss/breath of life, though there's no need to pucker and actually make contact.

Also, hummingbirds are dirty little birds as well. . . They can foul up a bird feeder in no time flat. . . We just mix in sugar with hot water (aka simple syrup), let the sugar dissolve and then cool before putting it in the fridge for when we need to fill up the feeders. . . We probably average about 2 gallons per day of bird juice.

Look out below. . .

We've got a couple of little buddies that like to hang out near the tree houses, and with the dominant male, Julio, not around at the moment, these two little fellows have been making the most of their time around the tree houses. . .
Unfortunately, they like to make noise around 4 a.m. or so when they're up and about and we're trying to sleep. . . They drive Bejuca, the tree house pooch, absolutely batty. She tears through the jungle, racing around trying to scare them. . . She doesn't bark at them, she's been trained not to do so, but she still works herself into a frenzy. . . This is not a good thing, as Bejuca either has arthritis or something else bothering her, which weakens her back legs. . . And since she likes to rear up on her legs in a futile attempt to get at the furry critters, this puts a lot of strain, since she weighs over 60 pounds. . . The monkeys seemingly could care less that the dog is running amok below them, as they just keep hanging, swinging and eating away. . . Bejuca did get some comeuppance, or perhaps come-downance, the other day, when one of the monkeys let loose with a stream of wiz that hit her square in the head. . . Remember, and you've read it here before: Don't stand directly under a monkey.

Angels y Demonicos. . .

I think that Angels and Demons opened up here in Costa Rica a day before it did back in the States. We saw it yesterday (May 14), and were the only ones in the theatre for the early show. We figure out of the who-knows-how-many-millions the movie will rake in this first weekend, we accounted for 3600 colones (about $6) to the gross from Ciudad Quesada, Costa Rica. It was a good movie, pretty much sticking to the book. I actually liked Angels and Demons, the book, better than the Da Vinci Code. Seemed like there was more action and more puzzles, etc., to figure out in this one. Definitely worth 3600 colones for the two of us. . . Not sure about $9 or $10 smackers apiece back home, though. . .

Not all things are green and slimy. . .

Down here. . . Take the Tree House pooch, Bejuca, left, and this little waif that wandered onto the grounds a couple of days ago. . . Surprisingly, Bejuca didn't mind that Kusai-yo (I believe that's Japanese for stinky, and the name fits) just came into her territory. . . Maybe it's because Kusai-yo is a female as well, or that she's tiny, or who really knows why? We took the little one off of the property several times, but she kept coming back before we gave in and gave her some food. . . She would wander up to tree house No. 1 and was sleeping on the lower portion of the porch . . . Someone probably dumped her out of their car on the road and she wandered in. . . There are a lot of strays here, and as much as we would like to, we just can't keep them here at the hotel. . . We're searching for a good home for her. . . Think she's somewhat old, though I could be way off on that mark. . . I'm thinking it's a mix between a chihuahua and a mini dachsund, or something like that, but am open to suggestions. . . Seems like a very mellow dog and is pretty well behaved. . . Eats like a horse, though we're restricting her food intake for now, so she doesn't eat herself silly and get sick. . . Anyone want a dog?

Faulty fotog. . .

This is why I don't take very many photos. . . They tend to come out blurry. . . Of course, perhaps I do have the chops to be a photographer, as I'm going to lay the blame on shoddy equipment!

This critter was hanging out on one of the kitchen drawers the other night. Not sure what it is, exactly, though it's not nearly as large as some of the green things we've spotted down here. . . Just hung out while I struggled to get the auto focus to zoom in and the flash to go off at the right time (about 2-3 minutes total). . . After reeling off a few shots (yep, that is the best one, sadly) I picked it up and let it fly off into the night. . . Anyone have a clue as to what it is? I'm going with benign (and safe) green grasshopper, and not something dangerous since I picked it up and don't want to think I did something exceedingly stupid. . .

Great idea, but. . .

This is tree house No. 3, which has an actual live tree growing through it. It's a great concept, in theory, but practically it can be a pain in the tuckus. When the wind blows, the tree moves and it shifts the flooring around in the tree house, and the fact that the tree is constantly growing and moving, makes it more susceptible to leaks, when it rains. The water does not pour into the tree house, but runs down the sides. It was time for a repair/patch job the other day, so Miguel and Kenneth hopped up there.
The tree house itself is probably 20 to 25 feet off the ground, and the roof is another 10 feet or so. No ladder here will reach that high. No problems, as Miguel lashed a small, wooden, home-made ladder, between two branches halfway up a tree. From there, he took a metal ladder here at the hotel, and put that up one side of the roof, where he had tied another rope. From there, he lashed the rope tied to the metal ladder to the railings on the tree house and tied it off tight. He hopped into the tree -- still about 20 feet off the ground -- onto the wooden ladder, where he climbed to the very top rung, and then onto the metal ladder where he shinnied on up. He tied himself to the tree coming out of the roof and did the repair and patch work in about an hour. I thought about going up there, for about 1.5 seconds, until reality settled in and I remained grounded on the deck of the tree house.

Trail running. . .

I like to run, that's no secret. However, I'm not the most graceful of lopers, as folks I run with back in Honolulu can attest. Every year it seems, I take a spill while running on the sidewalk or road. Hence, I've never been a big fan of trail running. Way too many obstacles for me to stumble over and go head over heels. However, Kenneth, the young dude who works here and does the painting for our signs, likes to trail run so I figured I would give it a shot. It's just 3 kilometers from the hotel down to the river and the waterfall, and it's a wide enough trail, mostly gravel with some paved parts, so it's not too treacherous. Today, while we were running back, trying to beat an incoming thunderstorm that was rolling in, we came across a family of monkeys hanging out in the trees above and ahead of us. (Remember, don't stand directly under a monkey, as they have a twisted, scatalogical sense of humor.) We both gave our best monkey calls, and the leader of the family responded in kind, and started shaking the tree that he was in. The others just hung about and watched the show. Howler monkeys sound a lot like growling dogs, with some barks tossed in there.

That's a good run, when you can get a chance to take a break and shoot the breeze with the simians along the way.

Stopped to partake in a fruit that looks like a green chili pepper, but is actually very, very sour. Packs more pucker than the best Granny Smith apple. Very good stuff. Can't remember the name now, but will try to get a pic of it up at some point.

Tico time. . .

Tico time is a world unto itself. . . Ask a Costa Rican (Tico) if they can do something today, the response will be, of course! The reality, most of the time, is that they cannot do it at that time or day, but they do not want to disappoint you, so they will tell you they can -- and then they will show up two or three days later. . . It definitely takes some getting used to, that's for sure. Recently, the Galloper (the big jeep-like thing from Hyundai that we drive) went down with a cracked cylinder block. . . We had one mechanic come to the hotel and he took it apart and arranged for a new block to be shipped up from San Jose. We got the part, but then we didn't have a mechanic. . . According to Miguel, our handyman who does do things when he says he will, mechanics in Costa Rica are tyically single men who drink a lot, don't save any money and are shiftless buggers. Nothing like the ever-trustworthy and stalwart Cooter from Dukes of Hazzard (pictured) lore. We got a new mechanic and dropped the old one, so all's well that ends well, except for the fact that we were sans car for three days.

Just Hangin' Out...

The other morning, we spotted a couple of howler monkeys just hanging around near the treehouses...they were just moving from tree to tree and letting us know that they were around by making some really loud howls... there is a big, alpha male, that we call julio, who likes to prowl the area, and he usually keeps the family of monkeys away from the tree houses, and closer down to the waterfall, but julio hasn't been around for a while, so the youngsters are taking advantage of their new-found territory. One hint for when you spot a monkey in Costa Rica: Do not stand directly underneath him or her. Monkeys have an odd, scatalogical sense of humor, and if you are in their line of fire from above, you may find yourself the recipient of their humor.