Trip to Manzanillo

Well, it has been a while since we posted anything to the web, and a lot has happened since the last time I/we posted…

First, we spent a very relaxing and cool week in Minnesota with the Moe’s at Moenard’s, otherwise known as the Moe compound in Grand Marais. I say cool, well, because Amy and I are officially wimps. Even though it was balmy in the 30’s (around 0 for you Celsius folk), Amy and I were pretty chilly. Thankfully the sauna and the wood stove kept us warm, and there were plenty of cookies to help add that extra layer of warmth around the middle! Lots of euchre was played, with Amy and David reclaiming the championship from Norman and Printha. Most importantly, we were able to see that Solana (the wonderdog) is happy and healthy. It helps having such great “grandparents” to take care of her. She seems to have charmed them pretty well.

Amy and got back to Cost Rica before New Year’s. We had a very uneventful evening for New Year’s because Amy had caught a bug on the way back down from the States, so we stayed in with our friend Oscar Morera who works at UPAZ. Oscar and David spent the night entertaining and educating Amy with old 80’s era music videos on Youtube…We were amazed at the videos she had not seen! I mean, come on, who hasn’t seen Karma Chameleon?!

We also came back to a very different Ciudad Colon…David participated in the orientation of the crop of NRSD students. It was a bit strange to return to town and not have the old group around. We had become quite friendly with them, and it was hard to come back and not have them here. Also, there have been big changes in terms of climate. Dry season has entered with a vengeance, and the best way to explain it is hot, windy, and dusty. Amy and I already want wet season to come back, however we did manage to escape for a reprieve by traveling to the Caribbean, where it rains all year!

After a short week at work, we were off for a new 10-day adventure to house and dog/cat sit for my colleague Simon and his wife Julie. Their house is located in Manzanillo, on the southeast coast of the Caribbean. Basically, it is one of the last towns before you get to the Panamanian border. The community reminded Amy and me a lot of Xcalak, but there was a little more AfroCaribe influence, more English spoken, and the water was not quite the azure Caribbean of Mexico. However, it was equally isolated, tough to get to, laid back, and a BEACH town.

Simon and Julie’s house is absolutely lovely, sitting on top of a hill with 360 degree views of jungle.


As you will see in the pics, there was an incredible amount of wildlife from insects to mammals. Being the geeks and factually correct people we are, we were both constantly burying our noses in the guidebooks to identify them. The gardens they have are beautiful, although our one attempt to look for frogs and other night creatures was cut short by the sighting of a baby Fer d’Lance…a scary and very poisonous snake. Every morning we enjoyed breakfast on their porch, with Howler Monkeys, Toucans, Parrots, and a plethora of other birds.

Even better, the beach was about a 20-minute walk…to the closest one. Thankfully, they also left us their pickup truck, which we used to check out almost all the other beaches that are scattered along the coast on the way up to Puerto Viejo. Again, we loved the beaches on either side of Punta Uva, and we highly recommend them. Not too much wave action, few people, and beautiful scenery.

Both of us managed to be quite productive during the time we weren’t at the beach. The atmosphere of the house was quite conducive to getting work done. David finished a first draft of a manuscript and began planning his next course “Sustainable Tourism.” Not a bad place to think about such things. Amy continued to work on her children’s activity book, and again the environs of the house really helped to inspire her creativity!

In general, the 10 days were a fantastic break, and even though we both did work, it felt like the honeymoon we never didn't have. We would be happy to do the same in the future, and we did everything we could to be re-invited the next time they need a sitter!!!! Only one bad thing happened, and that was that we had a bag stolen from us on the beach. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that the thief stole the bag from behind us while we were distracted. The amazing thing was that the bag was no more than six inches behind us, and we didn’t hear a thing! Crazy. We lost our camera and some cash, but in the long run it was about as soft of a violation of personal security as you could get. No violence, just some stuff lost. Actually, we were just glad to recover the bag in the woods with the help of a couple of local guys…thank God our Spanish is good enough to communicate.

Well, that’s basically it. Things in Costa Rica are Pura Vida.

Saludos, besos y abrazos

David y Amy

.... AND NOW THE PICS....

A view of the "indoors" of Simon and Julie's house...more like half outdoor when all the doors and windows are open!


Getting ready to go to work...


A "Escorpion Tobobo", a big reptile...the tiles are standard sized to give you an idea of big that guy was!


A poison dart frog...sooo pretty!


The turtle that Amy and I made on the beach.


A view of the north side of Punta Uva.


More of Punta Uva.


Footprints


Getting my feet back into the Caribbean...it felt so good to get back to the ocean.


The beach on a Saturday in Manzanillo. A pretty big crowd of locals and foreigners gathered on the beach during the weekends.


This is a point on the way to Punta Mona. Amy and I only made it here because we had to drag our bikes up and down a treacherous, muddy hill side. It was scary, especially with Amy's hurt leg.


Us...enjoying time together :-)


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