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.
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