Innocent of all Charges

First things first: Innocent of all Charges... As it should be… Justice was served… Which is not always a sure thing in Central America.

We were both relieved to put this trial behind us and, after some celebration and a long night of restful, desperately needed sleep, Gerry returned once again to our beloved New Orleans. He has taken an active interest in the rebuilding efforts and particularly the preservation of our neighborhood in the Vieux Carre.

But not so fast. Gerry has a job to do! During all the nine years we have been in Costa Rica, a chum of GRAK’s has been taking care of his arsenal, including his cherished antique shotguns and rifles. Mostly he just polishes and admires them but yes, Gerry is a sharp shooter, both at long range and in movement. He’s not much of a hunter though. The only animal I’ve ever seen him kill was a rabid raccoon back at our farm in Pennsylvania. One shot to the head from 30 meters and the raccoon went instantly from this cruel world to hopefully a better one. Gerry hates to see an animal suffer.

In any case, Gerry and Jim (AKA Spock) loaded the guns into Spock’s pickup truck and headed off for a road trip from Jim’s house in Bucks County, PA to our flat in New Orleans. En route, they will stop to visit pals in Baltimore and North Carolina. I just hope they don’t get arrested and thrown in jail for transporting firearms interstate. I can just see GRAK on CNN arrested as a terrorist. So many home-grown British ones these days and my goodness, here’s one of those murderous Brits on Stateside soil! And we have it on good word that the State Troopers in PA will arrest you even if you have an unopened bottle of good malt scotch visible from the back window of your car – especially if you have Canadian license plates. Yes there are many perils ahead for GRAK and Spock. At least they are not driving with Canadian license plates.

Meanwhile, I remain in Costa Rica, managing the construction and other issues out at Tigre. Many friends have asked us why the construction is taking so long. 18 months and counting! My God, one friend exclaimed, you should have fired them a year ago! My only response is – patience, patience. There is a reason for our madness. We have complete confidence in our architect, Luis Flores (AKA The Professor) and his seasoned team. We shall be moving into the Tigre house when we return from New Orleans on May 8th, just after Jazz Fest. The construction still won’t be done, but we will be living out at Tigre at last.

But yes, in the meantime, I am still sleeping at TexMex...

…And spending the days out at Tigre. Yesterday, Armando and I began designing the gardens nearest to the house and pool. We plan to plant several large, flowering trees in the pasture just below, which will provide us with quite a show some day, perhaps in 30 some years.

I asked Armando if he thought we would still be able to hike the way we do when we are 80+ years old. He didn’t have a doubt of it. Of course we would! It’s a matter of habit. If we hike regularly this way now, why should the routine change 30 years from now? Now that’s the sort of thing Polly would say!

As we were talking, suddenly we heard a large swarm of Africanized bees flying overhead. It was an unmistakable buzz that grew louder as it approached, bzzzz’ed overhead just above us and then slowly receded as the swarm continued its way east, searching for a place to build the new hive. As always, we grew silent as the bees passed by overhead. Respectful… Sending silent messages to spirit that they move on, away from the stables. They do…moving on towards the hamlet of Rodeo.

The above situation reminds me of the first time I felt an earthquake in Costa Rica. I was in a local greenhouse to buy some parsley plants when suddenly, the earth moved under my feet. It felt like a sudden jolt...jolt. I stood still, waiting. Then it passed and nothing more happened. I still wanted to buy that parsley. But it was impossible. From the instant of the first jolt, the shopkeeper woman began screaming and running all over the place, opening doors, screaming for her babies. I waited for a few minutes but finally left without buying the parsley. She obviously had experienced worse earthquakes than this one. It goes without saying that the Tigre house foundation extends deep, deep down. I once asked the construction workers: Why are you digging so deep for just a stairway? They looked at me like I was crazy. “For the earthquakes, Señora!”

It’s a humbling feeling, that in any second…but at the same time it reminds us to live each moment! Just in case shit happens – like earthquakes or hurricanes or Africanized bees. Africanized bees generally attack if you disturb them or get too close to their hive. Armando told me what to do it if attacked by Africanized bees:

“If you can, run into the house or jump into the pool. If you are close to a tree, run round and round it fast as you can. The circular motion confuses the bees and they start to fly up and away from you – allowing you to run off in a zig zag. If you don’t have a tree to run around in circles, then run zig-zag protecting just your eyes with your arm and don’t ever give up. Never fall down or roll. That might work if you’re on fire but not for the bees. Too many of them…You have to outrun them.”

We continued our way down the Guayabon trail to find some flowering vines to reproduce for the garden. We figure that if the vines do well in the forest, then they will do brilliantly in our composted soil back in the gardens. Yes, even if I never ride my horses ever again, I shall still keep them for their treasured manure – what we call black gold! We found a lovely variety of the Petrea volubilis – in full glorious bloom and also a yellow variety of Pyrostegia (Bignoniac.). The red P.venusta species is everywhere but not seen a yellow one before. We also found a ton of Lorito seeds (Cojoba arborea) but we were too late for the Ceibo verde (Pseudobombax septenatum). We did note that new Ceibo verde leaves unfold reddish as opposed to Ceiba pentandra leaves, which start fresh-green. It’s so awesome when the deciduous trees leaf out. It reminds me of spring-time in the north, but here in the tropics, the fresh new leaves add tonal texture to the darker, more brilliant evergreens, such as the Ficus, Jorco, Ajoche, Urucas, etc. By the way, the Tabebuias- Cortez Amarillo and Roble de la Sabana are in full mouth-dropping bloom. Also blooming: Jacaranda, Poro (smaller ones), Cassia fistula and a slew of flowering vines.

It started to rain a bit earlier this season than usual so we lost some of the seeds which fell to earth back in February. Interesting… It’s been raining regularly now at Tigre but very little or no rain back in Ciudad Colon or Santa Ana. I believe that when the Clay Colored Robins call for rain, they have a lot more success if they live in the forest. I have seen it with my own eyes and have VERIFIED this now 3 times this past month. Rain falls first in the forest. In our case, the clouds come in from the west and just start getting darker and lower as they roll into Tigre. It takes a few more weeks before the rain finally extends to the dry, dusty city areas. This is well known already but gratifying to confirm. Yes! The forest is contributing a watershed to humanity!