Lucero goes to the Vet

A face only a mother could love: Lucero El Terrible pastures foreground with Eddie the Beagle and white horse, Solo, behind down in the pastures.



As I’ve mentioned a number of times before, our horse, Lucero El Terrible, does not like farriers or vets. He doesn’t like shots or shoes - doesn’t like people coming at him with syringe in hand; doesn’t like anybody banging on his feet - and he can sense when such people approach. The last time our horse vet, Jorge, came to El Tigre to treat Lucero, he walked away, fear and disgust in his eyes, instructing us that he would not return until we had built a solid structure to secure Lucero El Terrible…

Well, we never built anything, because we decided to retire Lucero to pasture (stabled at night) sans shoes and shots!

So, all goes fine for quite a while - we even started riding Lucero again. And he was just a joy - better than ever - more balanced and settled, more mature. I even felt confident enough to trust him with other riders; even the Finca kids are riding him now! On top of that, Jose and the kids stroke and pet him like a cat! He still gets a bit jumpy, however, when getting treated or groomed but, with Jose, he submits gracefully. And he will only tolerate Jose for something like administering eye drops for a bad case of conjunctivitis.

We hoped for the best, but no dice! After a few weeks of Jose treating Lucero’s eye without improvement, we went calling on our horsey-friends and neighbors in search of a structure solid enough to secure Lucero El Terrible - thank you so much, Jan and Krysia, for your gracious offers of help! Only then did we call Jorge and request that he come out and treat Lucero (Dx.: Conjunctivitis secondary to naso/lagrimal/duct obstruction; Rx: nasal lavage).

Well, cutting a long story short, no structure would be strong enough to tempt Jorge to come out and treat Lucero El Terrible. The only way our vet would treat him would be at his veterinarian facilities in Ciudad Colon, where a team of men could properly secure, anesthetize and, only then, safely treat Lucero.

Done. We trucked Lucero over to the vet’s stable, and Jorge performed the procedure the following morning. However, when it was all over, he had a few things to say to us about his patient, Lucero El Terrible…

“(loosely translated) Lucero is evil (mal intencionado) and wants to do harm! He doesn’t respond to sedatives! We injected enough anesthetic to knock out a horse twice his size, but he just kept bucking and rearing - it took 3 guys to hold him down - he’s a bad horse - a bronco - El Diablo! He will kill somebody someday!”

By the way, I just want to say that we love our vet, Jorge, who has been treating our motley crew of animals for these past 13 years! We also love his wife, Ligia, who has a very fine, Argentine-style grill & restaurant located at their stables, called, you guessed it, ‘El Establo’. Follow the signs for it when you get to Ciudad Colon. They only open Friday evening thru Sunday lunch.

We trucked Lucero back home late afternoon and settled him into his stall with all of his favorite snacks. At sunset, I stood with Jose watching Lucero feast on all his goodies, when he turned to me and said, “I hope I can regain his trust. It was the first time Lucero has ever been trucked anywhere and he gave me that - look…”

Yes, I knew that - look…! A few years back, when the guys were straining to restrain Lucero for an injection, he gave ME that look - like he was communicating, “I blame YOU for this torture!!!”

As Jose and I stood there talking about regaining his trust, Lucero’s ears suddenly bobbed our way and then he arched his neck all the way around from his goodie bin to look at us. His now rapidly healing eye, fully drained from infection, was looking right back at us. But his expression was open, grateful, like saying: “Hi guys! I just woke up from this horrible nightmare with 3 awful men torturing me but now I am awake and back home again…”

Lucero never lost his trust in Jose. With me, he was a bit more circumspect – it took lots of carrots and bananas out in pasture…

In botanical news, Guayaquil (Pseudosamanea guachapele f.Mimosaceae) is now in bloom at El Tigre. Some trees have the typical creamy flowers, but one tree has yellow flowers! We have not yet observed any Cenizaro (Samanea saman F.Mimosaceae; syn. Albizia saman f.Huell) at Reserva El Tigre!

Katie Tanzi helped Armando and me to clarify the difference between Cenizaro and Guayaquil a few years ago back, when all the other visiting tree experts had identified the trees as Cenizaro. She helped me nail those Cenizaro as actually being Guayaquil. We simply looked at the leaves and found glands on the petiole as well as on the raquis! The confusion is easy because they are very similar. Both have bipinnate, alternate leaves with stipules, and both have puffball flowers typical of Mimosaceae. However, Cenizaro has rose-colored flowers and Guayaquil has cream-colored flowers - usually... The bark has differences also, but location alters it too much for ID use. The main difference has to do with the glands on the leaves! Cenizaro has glands only on the raquis, not on the petioles.
Take a look at the typical cream-colored flower of one Guayaquil tree at El Tigre:




Now, take a look at the yellow flowers of another Guayaquil at the same time at El Tigre.



And we’re not talking about yellow flowers changing to creamy later on either! The yellow flowers stayed yellow.

Why do so many botanical experts have problems differentiating Guayaquil from Cenizaro? Could the trees transform properties according to variables in the environment? I did see a Cenizaro tree right next to a Guayaquil tree at Katie’s farm. So, they are separate species – yet they seem soooooo close and confuse everybody. For more info on Cenizaro vs Guayaquil, check out in Spanish: www.elmundoforestal/arbolesdelparaiso.com
Or google data base at Universidad Nacional or InBio. English: google Univ.Missouri’s data base at : www.mobot.org

Many plants are not what they seem upon taking a closer look. That’s why the more I study, the more I say, “I don’t know”. Armando either knows or does not know. He is wonderful that way, he doesn’t try to guess.

Earthquake in Costa Rica

Yes, we felt it - everybody did in the Central Valley.
From inside the house, I could see Armando cleaning the swimming pool. He yelled up at me to look at the water - it was chopping all over like a very restive Lake Michigan. The ground was moving too, and Armando was crouching low, always in balance with any situation.

Inside the house, we didn’t actually feel the earthquake, so much as HEAR it. Months ago, our architect - Luis Flores, affectionately called, El Profesor (UCR) - told us that, in event of earth tremors, the steel in our house would kind of ‘sing to us’. Well, sing it did! Three of us stood at the bottom of the stairwell together throughout the entire event: me, housekeeper Yaneth, and our head construction guy, Carlos. We stood together, stunned, as the entire steel structure moaned, rang and vibrated from the force coming up through the mountain below. About mid-way through the event, Carlos abruptly turned around and went over to open a door that was banging. Then we went through a few aftershocks, although the house didn’t sing as much with those as during the main event.

For me, the vibrating, singing house reminded me of my spinal column after taking a bad fall a few months back. It was like a second shock wave going through me…

After about 10 minutes of waiting - without saying a lot, I must admit - I heard Jose restart the chopping machine to process sugar cane for the horses. Armando went back to cleaning the swimming pool and, inside the house, we went back to hanging some pictures. Normal life resumed. Then the phone calls started coming in - first from mom, then from others. Thank you all so much for your concern. We’re sorry that the phone service didn’t work all that well though. Phone service is spotty at El Tigre even during the best of times!

So, everything remained in perfect ‘estado’ at the Finca, Thank God. But then, Finca El Tigre is located a fair way south of the earthquake epicenter, which was just east of the Poas Volcano. Those located anywhere near the epicenter, however, suffered horribly!
Remember La Paz Waterfall Gardens? We know it well, and have visited the magical place many times over the years, with mom and friends. Even if clouds obscured a viewing of Poas Volcano, we could always count on a wonderful time over at the waterfalls! One time, while touring in Sarapiqui, a friend started having a major allergic reaction to something. En route, taking her to the hospital, I decided to stop at the actual La Paz Waterfall. As soon as we walked behind the waterfall overlooking the bridge, the cool water spray and ‘positive energy’ of the place completely revived my friend, and we were able to avoid the emergency room for her later - though we did need to buy her an inhaler!
Over the years, I have so many wonderful memories of the waterfalls there, and so enjoyed sharing the magic with visiting friends. A little while ago, the Waterfall Gardens built an amazing steel structure, at huge cost, so that tourists can safely scale the mountain and view all the waterfalls. What a magical place…

The whole terrain up there at Poas is so different from the rest of the country - a fresh, green, pastoral setting, like the Swiss or Austrian countryside. However, there is so much suffering there now, and utter heartbreak. We also live on a mountain, and are very much aware that an earthquake could also overwhelm us, no matter how good the construction engineering is.

Now, on a more positive, lighter note:
Our exceedingly long-awaited kitchen and ‘vestidor’ are scheduled to be installed by January 28, (yes, 2009). What a joyous New Year gift that will be…

Christmas at the Del Rey

Take a look at the lovely violet canopy of the Chaperno tree –

a Lonchocarpus - one of 29 species mas o menos in Costa Rica (f.Papilionaceae). We have 4 or 5 species at the Reserva which we shall ID one of these days. As you can see, Matchi now grazes happily barefoot at El Tigre.


Happy New Year to dear friends and family!

Costa Rica installed an onerous (GRAK calls it ‘barbaric’) new drunk driving law just in time for the holidays, which altered our plans considerably. The new law worked! According to press accounts, DUI associated traffic fatalities dropped by half compared to last holiday season here in Costa Rica. I say BRAVO for saving lives. Other celebrants might refer to the new law as MUY BRAVO!!!

It certainly altered our behavior. We stayed home for practically the entire holiday season - feasting and merry-making in the legal safety of Janet’s kitchen. Yes, we are still taking meals in the housekeeper’s apartment. However, she was more than happy to celebrate elsewhere.



On the 27th, we held our Annual Employee Party and, this year, 40 or so people showed up from the Parra-Campos-Quiros-Argujo clans to join in on the fun. Armando’s mother and father, Rosa and Marcos, pictured here, raised 9 (!) children, and many of those came with their own children - a very nice group of people with beautiful babies. And, as we personally learned on New Year’s Eve, the Parra clan makes the best chicharrones this side of Puriscal - absolutely zero fat and 100% flavor!

The one exception to us staying home was going to celebrate Christmas Day at the Del Mar Restaurant downtown - located in a grand old mansion built many years ago by one of the prominent coffee families, just opposite the (in)famous Del Rey Hotel. Due to the above-mentioned, new D.U.I. law we decided to play it safe and checked into the Del Rey for the night.
We feasted in a splendidly appointed private room connecting directly with the restaurant gardens - here the ladies wandered between dinner courses, whilst the mates held court at their own well-appointed bar.

Who were ‘we’? Why, the Four Horsemen, together with spouses and one delightful child, Natasha. We ate, drank and played on a big pink exercise ball and skipped on a Suiza (as they call jump-ropes in Ticolandia)! And the day whirled by most delightfully.

Here’s Natasha skipping rope:




Marj described the day best in a post-bash e-mail:

Hi guys,

Kudos to Tim for pulling off a spectacular Christmas dinner. Despite the
chef mashing the pud and stuffing the turkey with cheese. Personally, we
wouldn't have known there were any disasters in the kitchen if he didn't
tell us.

Best present award goes to Victoria for the big ball and jump rope. It took
only minutes to put a smile on Natasha's beautiful face.

Thanks for the photo history, Brian & Zayda. Without which we would have no
record of how much we really did drink.

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Sadly Dave's attempted back flip
didn't quite come off. But the injuries he sustained were minor.

Have a great week. See you all in the New Year.

Zaida sent a few well-taken shots- here’s a silly one:


After Christmas dinner, Natasha’s older siblings arrived and whisked her away back home to the countryside, for which I am sure she was grateful. Imagine yourself as a six year-old little girl - and your mother tells you that you have to go spend Christmas with mom and dad far away from home in the middle of the city with a bunch of dad’s goofy friends. What a bummer! Thinking of that gloomy prospect from a child’s point of a view led me to think of a fun Christmas gift for her that, hey, we could also play with! And we did!
It was nearly dusk when we said goodbye to Natasha. Afterwards, the rest of us - the Four Horsemen plus accompanying long-suffering-merry-makers - headed over to the Del Rey Hotel & Casino….

And on Christmas Day! My Taijiquan teacher just had to throw a damper over everything when I was recounting the events to her a few days after, “Well did any of you become conscious, even for a minute, of the meaning of Christmas?”

Well, actually, I did make a conscious connection. I was waiting for the rest of the party out in the restaurant parking lot and saw a lady handing out flyers to people in front of the Del Rey. So I took one and read it a little later. She was a pleasant-looking, plainly dressed, blue-eyed lady spending Christmas in front of the Del Rey, trying to do Good Works. We didn’t speak but made eye-contact for a few seconds. It was enough.

Now, one of you has asked (and, I’m sure, more have thought) “Holy mother of grace, you Goof, have you no other friends to celebrate Christmas with than the Four Horsemen? Yee Gads, isn’t the Annual British Birthday Boy Bash in March quite enough?” But then, you would have to be there to understand…

Now, as long as we are on the topic of the British Birthday Boys - the Four Horsemen all came into this world during the month of March (11, 12, 14 and 15 - 13 is missing, which is probably a good thing!) and have celebrated together since meeting and realizing this somewhat spooky coincidence some 10 years ago. I started the whole thing, when I called Dave the Dude at Radio 107.5 to host Gerry’s 50th Birthday Party. He agreed, charged me an exorbitant amount of money, and showed up with his ‘assistant’, Tim…

Many of you remember, I’m sure, the surprise birthday party I pulled off for Gerry’s 50th with the help of a number of his talented personal assistants from over the years, who showed up at his party sporting buttons saying, ‘Yes, we survived Gerald Kirk’.


Thank you so much Liana, Sue and Francesca - roaster, toaster poets – also fellow sufferers and mischief makers!

Fast forward 10 years and I am now planning Gerry’s 60th Birthday Party. Stay tuned and contact me by email if you would like to provide good roasting material. With such a rich subject matter as GRAK, I expect we will be in for some rousing entertainment here at Reserva El Tigre. Provided the kitchen is done.

The miserable economy has unfortunately caused us to hunker down and cut out a lot of discretionary spending. Sadly, we had to let go our horse-whisperer-trainer, Alan, whom I can strongly recommend! He has a high degree of sensitivity for feeling and ‘reading’ a horse: he quickly settled down Matchi from jumping and charging all-out, to responding smooth as silk - with the slightest of signals - to up/down transitions. Alan also calmed Lucero, El Terrible, turning him into my favorite cross-country horse. Over the time Alan spent with us, he trained all our horses in all the paces: a nice walk, collected/extended trots, cantering, and, if we so desired - because the horses always did - a flying gallop (in a suitably safe place). He also paid close attention to grooming and parasite control, and always left our horses well-pampered and prepared for stall or pasture. Please write me if you would like Alan’s phone number.

Gerald has a big smile on his face today. He found a great fare to New Orleans and heads off in a few weeks to check things out at the flat.