Road Closed to Tigre, UPAZ

We believe that Finca El Tigre is Carbon Neutral. In fact, we put more oxygen out there than carbon dioxide and this even though we drive two gas guzzling V-8 Grand Cherokee Jeeps. How do we get away with that and still be carbon neutral? Well, as an aside, we would much rather sell the jeeps and drive a brand new Turbo Diesel, 4x4 Toyota Hilux Pick-up truck. At least this we does. The other we would prefer a Land Rover Defender diesel truck. But in any case, we decided that the jeeps were cheaper to run than to sell. Gas guzzlers are getting lousy prices on the secondary market in Costa Rica right now. But even so, we’re still putting out more O2 than CO2 - and you are welcome to come over and quantify the whole thing but you will need plenty of gas to get here – or better yet - a helicopter.

Heavy rains knocked out the road between Ciudad Colon and El Rodeo this morning, which means all of us living on the road from the rickety bridge at Ciudad Colon to El Rodeo… University for Peace… El Tigre… Piedras Negras and beyond, all have to use an alternative route for some time to come. The road subsided this morning, just as Armando was driving back from Ciudad Colon with supplies for the renovations. He said that the road seemed to dip when he drove up to Ciudad Colon at around 6:45AM. Shortly afterwards, on his return trip, the steep dip in the road had already begun to sink... he managed to get over it – with a big tthuuuunk to his axle – but just. An instant later, the road subsided by nearly half a meter and, clearing that precipice, Armando could feel the ground ‘softening’ beneath him and saw the asphalt road crackling up out in front. There was simply no way, he said to me on the phone, that Victor could pop over to Tigre with 3 meters of lava stone. Ni modo! Nobody was driving down that road for some time to come- maybe months. Not by motorcycle or horseback either. The only way through now was by foot – and walking quickly and softly so as not to destabilize the ground further.

This gloomy news is still sinking in today. Worse, the locals tell us that the road remains highly unstable and continues to sink on down towards the river. That section of the road has been showing signs of instability for months but it took over 12 hours of heavy rain – backwash from hurricane Dean crossing over Belize and Mexico - to completely destabilize the hillside leading up to Ciudad Colon.

Oy! What a plaga of hurricanes. First New Orleans – GIRLS GO WILD Katrina & Wilma. Now Mean Hurricane Dean makes mischief with us in Costa Rica.

And yes, we are still renovating the house. At the moment we are crammed into one guestroom in the main house. We open the door and look out onto a construction site, which is how we have been living since returning from New Orleans back in May. Despite this latest set-back with the collapsed road, we still plan to leave for New Orleans mid- September and hope to return back to El Tigre in December to a finished house – after over 18 months of renovations. Still, with the road closed, we might have to be flexible over the next few months in everything…

Guess that means spending even more time mucking about in the forest out at Tigre. Sounds great to me! Living at Tigre has been like a honeymoon. We finally live here – sure, cramped into one little guest room with all our earthly possessions but….

… oh how the gardens come alive with butterflies –Polly, I shall try to upload photos to the blog as soon as I get the camera back out of storage. There are so many colorful species fluttering all over the Lantana borders and all around us - watching this magical scene quite takes your breath away. And then there is the forest… there is so much living to do here. Until today, I haven’t had the time to sit down and write.

Gerry spent the entire day checking out the two alternative dirt, gravel and mud routes we have into Ciudad Colon from El Rodeo (and obviously the reverse). One alternative is via Piedras Negras to La Guacima, Belen, and Santa Ana – about 45km; and the other (more scenic route) is via Piedras Negras to Jaris, La Palma, and the road to Puriscal – about 35km. Both will be used as we rearrange our lives to adapt to these changed circumstances.

Stay tuned for latest situation on the road. In the meantime, we must cancel all hikes and botanical visits from now until the road has been sorted out. You certainly do not wish to drive an additional 30km of rough terrain to visit us. Think of the carbon you would be spewing into the air! Yikes! Guess we’ll be doing the same and that shoots our carbon footprint all to hell!