Breaking Bones in Paradise

Here’s my reflection in a sling, taking a shot of a colorful flying insect.

Gerry asks, “What is it about women breaking collar bones?” Krysia, a horseback rider pal, wrote that she sure knows how it feels to break a clavicle! Karen wrote that she’d broken her clavicle when she was seventeen and still walks around with a metal plate and four screws. My Swiss neighbor, Gabriela, broke her clavicle when somebody hit her with a golf ball (she had her metal removed after a year). She said that you can always kind of feel the metal afterwards in your shoulder and wanted it removed, even though it meant another surgery under general anesthesia. Coincidentally, we had the same surgeon at Cima, Dr. Alfonso Pereira Garcia (who does very nice, neat work, if you ever need the service…). He told me that if I wanted the metal out, then I should call him in about 18 months.

Turns out lots of people I know have broken a clavicle. I guess pretty much all skiers, horseback riders, rugby players and other assorted sportsmen/women have broken something or other over the years. But this was the first broken bone for me after all these years of pushing the high-adventure envelope and, yes, having lots of falls, but no serious injuries, until now.

Breaking News: The President’s husband, Jose Maria Rico, just broke his hip and ended up at – Cima Hospital! This is definitely the season for breaking bones!

I learned how to fall a long time ago, on my 18th birthday. As soon as I reached the age of consent, I signed right up for sky diving, back in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where parachute training was vigorous and military-style (it was the same with scuba diving training there – they wouldn’t even accept you into the course if you couldn’t swim six laps in an Olympic-size pool). They really train you in Michigan - none of those quick, easy, honeymoon courses, like down in Mexico, that get people killed. If you were not pronounced ‘fit’ after all the parachute training, then you were not allowed to jump, not even with the static line. During the training, we novices were taught how to fall, how to use the whole body to absorb the shock, how to roll with it! We had to jump off a high ledge and practice falling, over and over again, until it became second nature. Sky diving is definitely good training for anyone wanting to learn how to fall without injury.

So, over the years, I have called upon that old training to conquer the fear of falling and going with it; rolling right back up and landing on my feet. However, the time when my horse Matchi threw a shoe, we both went flying, and he fell on top of me, it didn’t help at all… I went to X-ray my shoulder at Cima but, luckily, it was just a bruised scapula. Over the years, a number of friends, who have visited me here at El Tigre for hiking, have gone home via Cima Hospital too (bruises, broken bones, heatstroke, etc.) taking memories and hospital bills with them! Unfortunately, accidents happen in the jungle...

But this fall was just plain stupid. I was coming down the stairs, like I’ve done hundreds of times in the past, happy as a lark. Gerry and I were going out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate the fact that it wasn’t Friday (He’d had a rough Friday, shuffling me back and forth from the Pro-Nativa Conference, held all the way across town (the other side of the world, according to GRAK) in the beautiful Hotel Bougainvillea.


Shot of lovely, native Palicouria species.

It was an outstanding first Conference for Pro-Nativa – all serious gardeners and landscapers in Costa Rica should study this important trend in landscaping. Look to your own garden first, and open your eyes to the treasures provided – birds dropping seeds: a beautiful fern, a Gesneriaceae species, a Piper? Some might call these volunteers, ‘monte’ (weeds). But weeds are just plants in the wrong place. Maybe that weed belongs there more than what YOU planted there! And it could be more beautiful and easier to take care of!


Take a look at the forest and woodlands nearby where you live. Can you possibly improve on such beauty as Mother Nature provides? Pro-Nativa says no. Watch the press and literature for conferences coming to your area. You might meet the authors of your favorite botanical reference books: Willow Zuchowski, Barry Hammel, Deedra McClearn and others; passionate promoters of native plants in the garden. Native flora also attracts a breathtaking array of native fauna, creating something approaching perfect serenity, uplifting the spirit.

But I digress. I was planning on going out and having a wonderful Saturday night dinner with my long-suffering husband. It was dark. Walking down the stairs, I thought I’d reached the bottom step. But, no! When I turned right to walk over to Gerry, instead of stepping onto the floor, I walked out onto – air! As my body then began to roll to the left, it slammed into a column, collar bone first... It hurt a lot and Gerry said it didn’t feel right. So, we agreed to stop at Cima on the way to dinner to get it checked out. I figured, if the usual occurred (ER, X-ray, Orthopod prescribing sling/analgesics) then we would be out and on our way to dinner within the hour. Well, it didn’t quite turn out that way…

The X-ray showed a diagonally broken clavicle with a large space between the two pieces of jagged bone. It was a shocking sight to look at but what came next shocked me even more. The orthopedic surgeon could not just maneuver the two pieces back together again. He would have to cut my shoulder open, put a titanium plate on top of the bones, and hold the pieces together with titanium screws! Simple as pie! He could get time in the operating room at 11 p.m. that night. He just needed to phone a few people: another surgeon, an anesthetist, an internist to check me out and see if I was fit for surgery, etc. When had I last eaten something?

I was ready to bolt! No, I didn’t want surgery! I went through open-heart surgery twice as a kid. It saved my life but the experience changed me forever. I don’t like to get cut. I don’t like needles, the smell of alcohol, hospitals…
Gerry showed up at that point and concurred with the surgeon, as it was obvious that the bone would not heal without surgery. So I did end up in surgery, and Gerry had his Saturday night dinner alone, long after midnight, at a local McDonalds. He hasn’t been to a fast food joint in years. I can just imagine him, sitting in a McDonalds crowded with adolescents out on a Saturday night, eating a ‘Quarter Pounder with Cheese’ all by his miserable self, while I got surgery costing us plenty because of a really dumb accident. Yeah, I know, now I really owe him!

After the surgery, I had to spend the night at Cima, so missed the catholic procession in El Rodeo on Sunday, and also missed the Peace Festival taking place in Ciudad Colon. It’s not easy getting discharged from a hospital. I wanted to leave as soon as I woke up in the morning, but had to wait until I got another x-ray and a visit from the surgeon. However, we pushed and pushed and eventually got things moving more quickly. No, I didn’t want to choose from the menu for lunch – I didn’t want any lunch at all! I WANT TO GO HOME NOW.

We finally got out of there, after paying the bill of course: $7,000. And as we were leaving, just for another turn of the knife (or scalpel) as it were, the internist hurried over looking very concerned. Apparently, we were leaving so fast, he’d not had a chance to bill us for his services…

And now Gerald has another project to keep him busy: extracting money from our insurance company…


Here’s a shot of Karla and her 15th birthday cake. We used a cheesecake recipe out of a wonderful Southern Living cookbook that Beth Crane gave me some years back – still my all-time favorite when searching for something extra special. As turning fifteen in this country is a special birthday, Karla is doing exactly what she likes – for a while, at least! Hiking and riding! It’s school summer holiday here, so on Monday, a group of kids set out for a six-hour hike down to Piedras Negras and back. And all the dogs went with them for some long needed exercise.

This morning, the Finca kids went out horseback riding, with Jose guiding them. Of course, I stayed home being miserable with the sling, but was glad to learn that both kids and horses had a wonderful time. The horses appear to enjoy going out as much as the riders!

Later, Gerry grilled hamburgers and we feasted on cheesecake for desert. This was my first appearance in public since getting the sling – albeit just in the kitchen, and only with the El Tigre ‘family’. But it felt just wonderful to laugh and get teased.

Gabrielle, our neighbor, called from Switzerland to wish me well, and told Gerald to treat me kindly. He responded that he was already well-established in his new role of slave – cooking, cleaning, running errands – all for his ill-tempered, complaining, ungrateful wife. Oh how our poor spouses suffer!


But, truly, everyone is treating me very well. Yaneth made me pupusas, fresh bread and yoghurt. Margarita sent over some delicious guayaba preserves. Abby sent me flowers! Jorge brought me over a bag full of the latest delights to feast on from Paoul and Gabrielle at Finca Hamadryas (granadillas, tiny sweet bananas, chayote, and creamy avocados). Armando brought basketfuls of citrus and herbs from the garden, so we made a delicious iced tea with some of the herbs: clove basil, spearmint, chocolate mint, pineapple sage and stevia. And he even planted a new rock garden that I could view just outside the window, using native ferns and plants brought up from Cerro El Tigre!

Ornamental bananas and Zingibers are now producing beautiful fruits and bracts. However, both are considered invasive (a la Pro-Nativa Conference). So what do we do? Well, Armando cut armfuls of them to take to the local procession on Sunday and for display at our charming church in El Rodeo, later to be safely composted.

Just outside the house, Jose cut a nice raceme of still green bananas and left it on the ground to ripen, as usual, along with several ripe, yellow bananas, sitting alongside. I figured he’d left some of the ripe bananas for the monkeys. But, would they show? Sure enough, hours later, a troupe of capuchin monkeys came up from the forest to help themselves to the oranges and bananas in the garden. Now, here’s a piece of (fascinating?) information that you can use at your next cocktail party. Capuchins actually peel bananas before eating them, dropping the peel onto the ground. But they don’t peel oranges; they pound them on a branch to soften them and then just bite into them, sucking out the flesh and juice. I have a great bird’s-eye view of the monkeys feeding from our bathroom window. They don’t like being watched, however. So I have to do it furtively, like I can’t really see them. And then they glance away, like they can’t really see me. Even though we can see each other perfectly well, we just act like we can’t. That’s monkey etiquette...

Birds don’t like you watching them either when they’re feeding their nestlings. Some wrens built a big nest just outside our bedroom balcony, and they’ve provided us with many hours of entertainment. Although, if we go outside on the balcony to watch, they scold us - Hey! Hey! Hey! Get out of here! - until we retreat back inside. Only then do they resume feeding the nestlings. Then one day they were all gone! The fledglings had left the nest (flown the coop?).

Finally, thanks so much to everyone who wrote and called! It really means a lot! I still can’t write much because it’s not easy writing with my right hand – I’m a leftie. Barry says using the other hand builds new neuronal connections, but it just makes me feel stupid and awkward!

Life is a Bowl of Lemons

GRAK requires lemons (not limes, heaven forbid) for his Gin & Tonic – a key ingredient for a drink ever so necessary for tropical forest living (water, quinine, juniper berries, alcohol, citrus) and all so fortifying for the constitution! Thus, we grow three varieties of yellow lemons at El Tigre. Here’s a shot of them – Barry Hammel knows their individual names, but one variety looks very similar to the yellow lemons you can buy in stores up north. Why do we grow them here? Well, you can find green limes and sour oranges at grocery stores everywhere, but the only semi-reliable place for buying yellow lemons, other than very occasionally at local markets, is from a guy in the cellar of the Central Market in downtown San Jose. In our experience, the big ugly variety goes off the fastest – the peel soon gets covered with a kind of greenish-white mold, if not refrigerated quickly. The other two varieties will last just as long as the more common limes and sour oranges - up to several weeks at room temperature here in The Tropics. We grow many of the citrus varieties- green, orange, sweet, sour - but only a slice of yellow lemon will do in Gerry’s Gin & Tonic at the end of a long day…


Marj and Dave playing with Lemons!
Gerry has been grumpy since returning from New Orleans. It has been overcast and rainy just about every day, all day long. Usually, Costa Rica gets a morning sun during the rainy season – ample for charging up the batteries via the solar panels. But weeks on end of cloudy days and rain requires generator backup – for us at least 3 hours every day or two to cover our electricity needs. We started a Captain’s Log – daily tracking of the weather, solar energy system and generator back-up use. It helps us to stay on top of the situation and, at this point, after five years of living ‘off-the-grid’ on solar power, we have all become solar engineers (with the invaluable help of our real solar engineer, Carlos Oreamuno). This is especially true of Armando, who maintains it all with his own log and notes. It’s all part of living life in the jungle...

One reason for Gerry’s grumpiness is that the rain brings more insects! And insects bite; and they seem to have a penchant for his nice, sweet blood; and bites itch; and multiple itchy bites make him irritated and grumpy…
We do keep a sharp eye out for mosquitoes – just occasional pests so far, but if one exists in the house, it will go straight for GRAK. We try to break the breeding cycle to keep the population down, by keeping the drains clean and all water flowing. Dengue is the enemy!

However, many of the insects in this forest are colorful, fascinating creatures - and they attract lots of birds! All birders will tell you that if you want to see birds, go look for insects and fruiting trees. We have seen large flocks of parrots and parakeets recently, some visiting from the Parque Nacional Carara, joining the resident birds to feast on the Aguacatillos – little avocados – now fruiting. The parrots chatter loudly in flight and continue chattering, even after they land and settle down to feed. Then, after feeding quietly for a short time, the chatter begins again: starting with a complaining pair; followed by others who join in to chatter, scold and natter; and then the racket continues increasing to a great, noisy crescendo until, finally, the whole flock flies off in a cacophony to another tree.

Other species call and sing, keeping the music going all day, especially during the rainy season. Birders can identify and locate birds by ear: Toucans, Oropendulas, Trogons, Wrens, Warblers, Fly Catchers; we have them all here, and many more - all with distinctive voices joining in the chorus. The Masked Tityra also returned to El Tigre this year. And there is a lot for them to sing about, with so many trees fruiting right now: Ficus, Ingas, Cupanias, Jacartias, Casearias, many species of Rubiaceae, Solanaceae and Myrtaceae, and that’s just for starters!

And there’s not only fruit and insects to eat. Armando actually saw a Mot Mot snatch a Coral snake out of a stone wall and chomp it down!


Here’s a shot of Armando and me discussing the ripeness – hear them shake? – of the Apeiba tibourbou seeds.



Here’s a shot of a Dalbergia retusa seedling that Armando raised from a seed collected from Cerro El Tigre. Most of the seeds germinated and now we’re planting a bunch of Cocobolo! We also planted/donated arbolitos from Armando’s vivero of Bernoullia flammea, Carapa guianensis, Ceiba pentandra, Citrus species, Diphysa Americana, Garcinia intermedia, Guarea glabra, Hura crepitans, Lafoensia punicifolia, Samanea saman, Swietenia macrophylla, some native fruiting trees and a slew of native plants brought up from the forest for cultivation. We are especially pleased with the lovely Palicouria and its yellow flowers.

Thanks to C.N.F.L. for the seedlings we received, that were donated as part of their Virilla River & Watershed Reforestation Project. We planted Cedro Maria, Guachipelin, Laurel Negro and Caoba.



Here’s a shot of Armando in the vivero. Rainy season is also great for growing lettuces (Asian lettuces – Bok Choy, etc., do great in this climate) and many other edibles of all sorts. We’ve had to move some of the Mediterranean herbs under cover – lavender and rosemary will wilt quickly under direct tropical rains. Armando has gained a lot of experience planting in small clearings above the orchards, as ‘organic’ means rotating crops and spots! In general, we have learned that the best success in the garden comes by planting natives. Armando actually planted a shrubbery of Chicasquil – a nutritious, tasty shrub, with a flavor kind of like spinach! He has also succeeded in propagating many varieties of chili peppers, all thriving even during the rainy season. And, yes, we make lots of salsa!



Here’s a shot of Lola La Vaca with her second calf, ‘Little Gerry’, out in pasture with the horses.
There is no doubt that her milk has improved after giving birth to him. We continue to practice making yoghurt and fresh cheese, but would like some more training on the art of cheese-making. Agustin’s wife Satia’s family – originally hailing from Michigan – live on a farm up near the Cerro de Muerte and have decades of experience making cheese and bread.


Here’s a shot of Karla and Geovanna with our littlest dog, Lulu.
Time flies. Karla turns 15 next month – a very big deal in this country (kind of like ‘Sweet 16’ in the north). It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating her 5th birthday! But Karla doesn’t want a party – she wants to ride and hike.
Unfortunately, now turning to a topic of disharmony, we’ve had another incident with thieves in the neighborhood! Here’s how it went down. One of our guys, Jose, spotted two thieves breaking into the Muehller’s house down the lane from us. He immediately called one of the Muehller employees, Alexander, who called the police, and then also alerted the other finca workers along the lane, Jorge and Alirio! The police arrived and nabbed the thieves, handcuffed them and put them in the patrol car. Then they drove up to our place to see if they had struck here too! Armando recognized them as the same guys who had tried to break into the brother’s house of our Swiss neighbor, Paoul, some months ago. At that time, they were given a good talking to and told not to come back! We thought that, after Paoul gave the scruffy thugs a dose of his grumpiness – not to mention dealing with all our guys and the Mora Police – we would never see them again! Well, some youngsters learn their lesson, go find a job and earn an honest living; but others… Apparently, they live near the Quitirrisi mountains and know how to quickly move through the countryside and forest. They target unoccupied houses, grab something quickly, and then they’re gone. That’s why the Ticos call thieves of this sort, ‘guatusos’ – animals that live in the forest, move quickly, and are opportunists, darting here and there, snatching this and that and gone in seconds. Pura Vida!

Well-timed Humbling Experience

Whenever I think I’m getting somewhere with Tai Chi, somebody – usually my teacher Patricia – comes along and gives me a good knocking.

Same thing happened the other day in New Orleans! I was out on the Riverfront Green doing HunYuan Chen Style Taijiquan yesterday, as usual, when I noticed a guy standing nearby watching me. I could tell at a glance that he had mastered the art - they always look with open, friendly expressions.

I should mention that, over the years, lots of people have watched for a few seconds as they go on by, running, biking or whatever. And once, another Taiji practitioner actually joined me on the green for a session. But we ignored each other and just did our own thing, and then went on our separate ways without a backward glance. He was much better than I was and I hoped he would return, but he never did. I read somewhere that if you work out long enough out in the park, other Taiji people will eventually join in and soon you have something going.
Well, this morning it was different. I realized instantly that my observer was a high-level martial artist, and he in turn could see that I was still quite new to the art. As I went through Feng’s Hunyuan 48- form, I tried to settle down, relax, unblock, qi, focus, yi…

But it was no use. I made a mess of the form. I was so embarrassed! But when I finished and turned to leave, he addressed me as a fellow student of Taijiquan.

I told him that I was a beginner. Only 10 years. He responded that we are all beginners at Taijiquan. Would I like to see a few seconds of his form? I sure did! So he began, and I instantly recognized the movements of a great master of the martial art - he made it look easy! I felt humbled, mesmerized and eager to learn from this fellow, although time was short. Gerry would be popping over within minutes to collect me for our morning walk to fetch the newspaper***.

We exchanged introductions and talked. It turns out that Ron Panunto has been studying martial arts for the past 35 years and, for the last 15, he has been teaching Tai Chi, all styles - Chen, Yang, Wu and other martial arts. As we spoke, I realized that he deeply understood Taiji concepts and that he pronounced them with well-practiced Mandarin. I’ve been too lazy to study Mandarin but should have a firm understanding by now of Taiji basics – not just pronounced correctly but actually applied. I needed to meet this guy.

He pointed out several key problems I have and quickly put me on course to improve my structure and form, helping me grasp internals that I’ve been working on for years! I learned more in 5 minutes from this guy than I have working out on my own for the last 3 years. It was a humbling experience – I have a lot of work to do! And there I was fantasizing about going to Beijing and training with Feng!
Thank you Ron! Your 5 minutes gave me lots of work to do!

If you live near the Philadelphia area and want to study Tai Chi with somebody who has not only mastered the art but can convey the teaching, check out Ron Panunto.

***I should mention that hubby Gerry often watches me do the form, wherever we are in the world. He’s my hero! One time, we were just out walking in the square in Managua when two thugs attacked us! One knocked me down and I could hear Gerry just kicking and punching and sending them both flying! When it comes to safety, I look to Gerry more than anything I could do with Tai Chi – even though I practice a martial art. I still can’t fight when attacked. Thank God for Gerry!

Meanwhile, New Orleans is under threat from the oil spill. More areas were closed to shrimping today.

We watch ‘Treme’ on HBO, Sunday nights at 9 p.m. and recognize a lot of people in the show: Derrick Freeman, Kermit Ruffins, Troy Andrews, John Boutte and many others. We also recognize well-known New Orleans characters, played by actors like John Goodman. This is a New Orleans story and we are riveted! Remember the first season of ‘24’? ‘Treme’ is another world, equally as riveting. It is recent history unfolding – and everything just comes back.

The Word is Out

The Word is Out: I am New Orleans’ Biggest Party Pooper

Shot of Margaret, Beth and me in New Orleans.

Margaret and Joe Bellah, Beth and Greg Crane, Jon and Abby all discovered this during the course of their visits to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. The Cranes and the Bellahs joined us for the first Jazz Fest Weekend – Beth celebrating her birthday, Margaret celebrating retirement, all of us enjoying a wonderful reunion not achieved since the old days in Costa Rica. Our old friends planned their trips separately and only later discovered that, by some wonderful coincidence, the visits overlapped. We were all in town together! We tried to coax Nina and Ross to join us but it was all too last minute – this nana of six needs a bit more notice to just go traipsing off to New Orleans with old pals!


Shot of me and Beth on roof.

We had a wonderful time together, and also apart, as our friends explored all over New Orleans.

Another coincidence – everybody scheduled trips during Jazz Fest. We accompanied our visitors most days but had the first rainy day of the Festival to ourselves – where we found ourselves huddling under a rickety Daiquiri tent (daiquiris in hand, of course) for 3 hours, sheltering from the torrential rains threatening to collapse the overhead tarpaulin cover, which was collecting too much water. The guys kept pushing up at it with their umbrellas, hurling great waves of water cascading down the open sides. But we were very well organized – two of the guys held off the waterfalls with open umbrellas to their backs, gallantly keeping the water from reaching the rest of us inside.

Who were we? Why, 30-some people who’d just purchased daiquiris on our way to the Gentilly Stage when the sky opened up. So we parked ourselves temporarily under the tent and listened merrily, if a little damply, to the sounds coming from the stage. Coincidentally, we met a bunch of people from Michigan, and I must say that we had an absolute blast.

When the six of us went to the Festival on Sunday, there was a huge mucky bog in front of the main Acura Stage – as Beth and I found out a little too late! Yuck! But the crowd didn’t care; they were up and dancing in it! We sloshed over to the Blues Tent, the Jazz Tent, Congo Square, the Economy Hall, and so on and on, until we went home mucky and tired but having enjoyed a great day. However, the party was just getting started all over town. Knowing that all the restaurants would be filled to overflowing, we had smartly made reservations a few days earlier at GW Finns, where the six of us feasted on fresh grilled shrimp and the best fish you can find anywhere. That was, of course, before the oil spill happened in the Gulf, making that memory one to cherish even more.

After dinner, the real action starts – you can hear your favorite local artists at small intimate venues (or large trashy ones, if you are so inclined) all over town – extremely important if you missed them at Jazz Fest. And the music goes on all night – the last act at Tipitina’s starts at 2 a.m.

Trouble is, being an early riser and feeling good at breakfast, I am always gung ho when Gerry reads off all the acts playing around town that night: Charmaine Neville at Snug Harbour, Kermit Ruffins at Vaughn’s, The Jazz Vipers at The Spotted Cat, etc. But then the time comes around – normal starting time is 10 p.m. – and, country hick that I am, I just kind of poop out by then and want to go to bed! Everybody stares at me in astonishment whenever I admit just wanting to go to bed, rather than to a club. Yesterday, in fact, several people from Obit just stared at me when I confessed to rising early. What on earth was I thinking? I’m in New Orleans…

Anyway, we still managed to do a lot during the day with our visitors – a street car to the Garden District, then all the way to Audubon Park and Tulane University – much lovely walking there. Yes, I know I had a blister that day and pooped out on that too…

The main message to Jazz Fest goers is, book your restaurants for dinner in advance or you will be disappointed.

When Abby and Jon arrived for the second week-end of Jazz Fest, we got very lucky with a cancellation at Brigstens. More rain arrived also, but we didn’t let that slow us down – at least not during the day. We heard Abby’s brother-in-law, Derrick Freeman, sing and play drums at Jazz Fest with Kermit Ruffins at Congo Square. They must have recorded Derrick’s performance, because we heard him sing it again on the bus ride going home. They then performed again on stage at Rock ‘n Bowl, starting around midnight. We got there around 10 and almost managed to bowl despite the crowds (in fact, we actually started before getting thrown off the lane by the people who had reserved it…). Great music and dancing. Lots of booze. However, I couldn’t make it to midnight to watch Derrick perform with Kermit. So, poor Gerald took me home by taxi. The secret is out: Biggest Party Pooper in New Orleans!

Now for a change of topic and mood. An oil rig exploded out in the Gulf of Mexico and we watched news reports of the search for eleven missing workers (sadly, never found). Then the focus turned to the oil spill – gushing from nearly a mile down below the surface of the sea. It was, and still is, causing high levels of stress as everyone waits, oil pouring inexorably into the Gulf, day by day creeping closer to the shore. Oyster, shrimp, and general fishing are all stopped, and the prohibition area is expanding each day.

Another catastrophe is creeping towards New Orleans. But the best minds are now focused on capping, sealing, relief drilling, burning, etc.
But no, you cannot smell oil in the air in New Orleans, no matter what the news channels say. It’s as if the disaster unfolding close to the south-eastern coast of Louisiana was happening somewhere far off – that shape expanding day by day like an amoeba.

We love this town with a passion and are bracing for the worst, while hoping for the best – first floods and now oil (in Costa Rica it was landslides and fires!). If this contraption they now have to contain the oil works, the whole team will be hailed as heroes. And we need heroes in this world right now.

Springtime in the Big Easy

We went to the Easter Day Parades – just for the fun of it!

The bright and sunny Sunday morning saw streets full of people decked out in their Sunday best: ladies dressed in lacy layers of chiffon, pastel dresses, with huge, flower-festooned floppy hats, riding to the Cathedral by carriage or convertible; waving to the street crowds; shading themselves with colorful parasols. They even stopped for Mass – and then got back in their carriages for more meandering through the Vieux Carre.



And then came Chris Owens and her entourage, rolling down Royal Street. Dressed to the nines, her traditional Easter Parade didn’t disappoint. Oh, how the crowd appreciated it all – floats, brass bands and marching ponies!



But for the best costumes of all - apart from Chris Owens herself, of course, who always reigns supreme – you must be at the Easter Sunday Gay Parade. We were late for it but, luckily, caught up to them on Burgundy Street. All was merry and joy (and gay)! What costumes! What sauciness!

French Quarter Festival - once an event purely for locals - has been discovered, and it really maxed out this year! Everyone - young, old, kids, dogs - all came together for a three-day joy ride. The first day, we ate, drank, and danced all day to the music. The second day, we ate and danced, but drank just water until 6 p.m., when the hangover started to ease. The third day, I had bailed out by 6 p.m., utterly exhausted, desperately needing to go home. Gerald laughed at me – what a weakling, no stamina – and out he went for dancing and jazz at the Royal Sonesta.
And now, Jazz Fest is coming right up. You must be prepared for the crowds. Relax. Don’t hurry anywhere.

So, what happened to my stamina? Well, I try to keep up with my walking and Tai Chi training, in order to stay conditioned, but…
The first morning after arriving in ‘The Big Easy’, I rise early as usual, 6 a.m., and head out to the waterfront, walking and executing ‘The Form’ - XinYi Hunyuan Taijiquan - on the grassy levee.
Next day, I rise at 7-ish; the following day, 8:30. And then, before you know it, I’m sleeping in until 9:30, coasting to a final wake-up time of 10-ish!
Welcome to New Orleans: a place to sleep late; get up and lounge; take your time; enjoy your coffee, lingering over the experience. Things just get started slooowly; no problem with late arrival. The Jazz Fest crowds stream in all day.

Lately, we have begun to exercise in the early evening - walking the riverfront, prowling The Bywater, cruising Bourbon St…
Wait a minute! Don’t just tourists cruise Bourbon St? Oh, yes, and then some! For the real local music scene, head over to Frenchman Street, or a plethora of other spots all over town. They all get going properly around 10 p.m., but some places also have early shows.

Still, once in a while, after dinner, we go for a wander down Bourbon Street… It’s kind of like going for a drink at the Del Rey in Costa Rica – but, oh, much more so!
Bourbon Street is best experienced between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m. Earlier is okay if you’re with kids, to just get a look at it on the quieter side, although music pours out onto the street all day. But, for that matter, you can listen to musicians all day long on just about every street corner in the Quarter.
However, after 11, you’d better watch out! Everybody is drunk; some slobbering, staggering, groping, mauling; a few punching, getting punched, getting arrested and waking up in jail, or worse. You must stay alert (and sober) on Bourbon Street if you’re visiting. Then you can observe the wacky scene, outrageous costumes, and howling masses safely (relatively). It’s enough to make even grandpa blush…

And the wailers wail, “But what about all the crime?”

Well, the truth is that the biggest danger in New Orleans is YOU. How much are you drinking? Where are you going to score something, or someone…
If you behave yourself, and display just a little caution, you will have the time of your life in The Big Easy.

Meanwhile, back on the Farm:
Zincy, our big, black, gentle, zaguate dog, was lost to the forest a few weeks ago. Zinc followed his identical sibling, Maggie, lost to the forest some years ago. Why? Both were Incurable vagabonds. Neither could tolerate confinement – chewed their way out of just about every conceivable restraint. And after managing to escape, they would disappear for several days to make up for lost vagabonding time. But, usually, they eventually returned - until they didn’t. Rest in Peace, sweet, gentle Zincy!

Second-Line Costa Rican Style

A few weeks ago, a bunch of neighbors opposed to a proposed garbage dump held a march in defense of the forest. It was a kind of New Orleans Second-Line Parade, but Costa Rican style... Instead of celebrating a wedding, a funeral, or just alcohol-enriched life in general, we were trying to draw attention to this vital forest, which provides life-giving oxygen and water to a huge population in the Central Valley: a population pushing inexorably westward - cutting, burning, trashing.


We were a Second-Line, but without the typical brass brand. However, we made enough music just by ourselves! And what a racket we made, as we marched along the country road from Ciudad Colon to El Rodeo through the forest. At one point, Teniente Azucar, who was leading the parade on his police motorcycle, rode back to us and shushed us.

“Quiet! Quiet! There’s a beehive up ahead!”

Want to quiet down a noisy demonstration? Point out beehives along the road! So, did we quiet down? Well, only slightly. We went from howling and shrieking to conversing loudly…

I was sharing a banner with Luisa at the time, so I asked her, “Did your parents arrive okay?” to which she replied, “Yes, they’re helping out with the candles.”

And sure enough, we were handed out candles and made our way to the Lake for a candlelight vigil. The evening became utterly magical, as more people from the village joined our group – kids, dogs, seniors – all joining in at the end of the march.

Lots of young people marched with us, many of whom had also helped out that same morning on the Virilla River Clean-Up Project. One young lady, who had spent the entire day volunteering down at the Virilla River, jumped out of her car on her way home and joined us for the march. She was very welcome! The candles stretched all along the road and up to the Peace Monument at the lake where everybody gathered. Margarita Ramirez was there, looking absolutely radiant, celebrating her 80th birthday, joining us in defense of the forest. Bob Hughes escorted Margarita to the candlelit monument on his 4-wheeler and many friends and relatives were gathered all around. It was a magical, beautiful evening. I profoundly felt part of the village.



Costa Ricans have now woken up to the challenge of trash – to the importance of changing behavior and cleaning up all the trash piled everywhere. On Saturday, March 13 - the same day as our march - a large group of volunteers gathered in El Rodeo to clean up a portion of the river Virilla. What a joy it was to see dozens of young people, making a human chain from the road all the way down to the river, hauling big sacks filled with plastic debris collected by other volunteers down along the river banks. Everyone knows that trash tossed down the mountainsides will end up in the rivers and, eventually, out to the Pacific Ocean.


This clean-up day was organized by Mario Barquero Brenes, of Servicios Ecologicos, a recycling company – www.reciclajecr.com – and volunteers hauled out many tons of debris from the river. The following Saturday, a group from Atenas, Terra Nostrum, organized another clean-up at another location along the river. And more groups will work over the next several Saturdays to finish the clean-up! This is, ‘Walking the Walk’. If you would like to help out, contact: www.MontanadeEsperanza.com



Putting Out Fires
I first observed the fire March 15th, at around 4 p.m., burning down the mountain on the Mueller property next door. At first it looked like a controlled pasture burn but it just seemed too close to the forest, so I called Yaneth, who called Jose, who called the Mueller caretaker, who said that he had not started the fire and that he wasn’t even on the property. Somebody else had started the fire. So Jose and Jorge went down to reconnoiter the situation and, as it was getting late, they carried flashlights and knives. Well, when they got down there, they found that the blaze was still controllable, not yet a major conflagration burning out of control. So, they decided to deal with the situation then and there. Still, facing any forest fire is hard, exhausting work – and extremely dangerous. They cut fire breaks around the blaze and cut down a burning tree to keep the flames from spreading into the forest. It took a couple of hours of hard work to corral the fire to pasture, controlling it until it died out. By the time the Mueller caretaker arrived, Jorge and Jose had put out the fire. They came out of the forest around 8 p.m., exhausted. Once again, our guys had put out a potentially devastating fire without any help from anybody.


So who do you call if you see a forest fire? Barrantes, a spokesman from Minaet replied, “Call Everybody”! But we already know that if it’s after 5 p.m., or on a Sunday, nobody is going to show. Just ask 911! We had a forest fire last year on a Sunday and, after calling 911 for the third time, the operator told us nobody was coming. We were on our own.

But we need help! We need help with resources and training - and if my fantasy can go free – a manned helicopter! That would really help control a fire! But this country doesn’t have enough resources for firemen on the ground, much less helicopters overhead. So what’s the solution? We prepare fire breaks. And we rejoice when it rains and dampens the ground. It rained last night!


Presenting Little Gerry (or Gerrito)! Lola la Vaca gave birth to a cute baby calf on Gerry’s birthday, March 11, 2010. So we named him Little Gerry. Isn’t he adorable? And what will Big Gerry do with Little Gerry when he grows up? Well, we’re very 4-H here – Little Gerry will likely end up in the freezer…

Having said that, however, we have all grown very fond of Little Gerry’s big brother, Negrito the calf. He is affectionate and frisky, just like a colt. Negrito will stand quietly and allow me to massage and pet him – he just loves the attention. And when I finish and stand back from him, he bucks and dances around playfully!


However, he gave us a huge scare on March 21st, when he wandered off with some cattle that had strayed onto Tigre pastures. He went missing for six days into the forest and had us worried sick! Jose went searching for him several times by foot and on horseback. I joined him on the search one day on horseback, and we searched all through Mueller’s lands and all the way down to the pastures at Bajo de Limon and then Llanos de Mango. We found the other cattle but Negrito and another missing calf were not with them. The pair had remained in the forest, and time was of the essence if they were to survive. Some cynics already assumed that poor Negrito was in somebody’s freezer!

Finally, several days after he went missing, a neighbor spotted Negrito in a pasture near El Rodeo, so Jose rode the 4km on Matchi to bring him home, kicking and bucking the entire time. It was a major battle for Jose, mounted on Matchi, a small horse not much bigger than the calf! Twice Negrito yanked the cord out of Jose’s hand and bolted, and twice Jose went in hot pursuit, jumping off Matchi and bringing back the calf on foot. And both times, Matchi just stood on the side of the road, reins loose, waiting patiently for Jose to return with the bucking calf. Matchi is such a good boy – he really stayed calm and became Jose’s partner.

I was standing at the gate when I saw Jose appear on the road, riding Matchi and holding back a stampeding, frothing, snorting calf. Negrito had spotted ‘home’ and came charging in like a wild bull, pulling on the cord with all his strength. Matchi reared up from the force and Jose jumped off Matchi again to finally corral Negrito to safety. I settled Matchi down while Jose calmed Negrito, both bathed in sweat, exhausted and trembling. But home at last!

I must say, Jose is a cowboy from the old tradition – a natural horseman who can put out forest fires: a calm person of great courage.

Days later, Negrito was back to normal, apart from a few scratches from the larger bulls during his adventure into the wild. And now that he pastures with Lola and his baby brother Gerrito, he will not be so lonely. Now, if we could only get the neighboring cattle to stay home…


He Had it Coming
A neighbor’s dog bit off the tip of Eddie’s tail. He came howling and yelping back home and Yaneth consoled and treated him, while telling him “You had it coming, you damned fool!”

And then he came whimpering to me and I cuddled and comforted him and also told him, “You had it coming! Now maybe you will stop pestering people and their dogs out in the road!”

I think our neighbor uses us as a training exercise for his highly disciplined guard dogs. He trots past the house with a German Shepherd at his side and they trot together in perfect unison - heel, heel, heel - trotting down the country lane, paying no heed to the barking pack of muts and strays at El Tigre. Oh, how they yap and bark at anybody walking past the Finca! They don’t bite, they just yap, yap, yap and bug, bug, bug anybody walking on by. We’ve worked hard to train our dogs not to go out on the road and pester passing hikers. But, if somebody’s passing by with their dogs, then the barking response reaches a cacophony: a whole jarring symphony of barking, yapping, yipping dogs. And who leads the pack? Why Eddie the Beagle, of course! He bays at the top of his lungs like the annoying hound dog that he is, and leads the muts on to pester and bark. How can any passerby maintain control of his dogs in the face of a pack of pestering, yapping muts, led on by a most obnoxious, baying Beagle?

We have tried everything: training, confinement, feedback. Yaneth controls them with a whistle; while Armando brings them running back by simply using a kind of gorilla-sounding, “hurrrumppph”! They respond immediately. But to Jan’s chagrin, I am no ‘dog whisperer’. I yell at them, “COME! COME!” And if they don’t respond, I ignore them – they become invisible to me. The silent treatment works with all the dogs, except Eddie the Beagle. He knows, that I know, that he hasn’t really disappeared after being a bad boy. He is a smart, stubborn dog!

So one day recently, Eddie was out there pestering the highly-disciplined German Shepherd dog and got taught a lesson. Will he learn from it? I sure hope so! Otherwise, that tail of his is going to get shorter. In the meantime, we have stepped up training: all dogs have got collars and get training time with Yaneth. She actually managed to get Eddie to walk with her on a leash! I never could. He would just lie down and let me drag him along, until I would finally relent and let him go.

Forest Report

Cortez amarilla is now in full, yellow flower. Miconia species (Santa Maria) are now fruiting – delicious sweet berries. Eugenias and Cupanias are also fruiting. Petrea vine just finished. Vitex is beginning to fruit. Ceiba pentandra just finished seeding and we collected the cotton with seeds to plant up in the greenhouse.


The ceiba germinates easily with our help but rarely in the wild. We observed numerous small red beetles - approx. 1/3 cm - in the Ceiba cotton that had dropped to the ground, eating the seeds. Is that why so few Ceiba seeds germinate naturally?

Bernoullia flammea finished seeding. No Cedrela bateo fruits this year and very few C. odorata – much better fruiting season for Cedrela last year. Also, very few Volador seeds this year.

Tin brought us some new seedlings of a tree known as a repellent, Neem (Azadirachta indica) a Meliaceae. Yes, we’re still experimenting with repellent concoctions. Thankfully, however, there are few insect problems this far into dry season.

Vagabundos

We were expecting a household full of people last full moon – botanists, kids, dogs, girlfriends - but things happened and, to make a long story short, only two showed up: Luis Poveda and his disciple, Agustin Contreras. They stayed the night, the vagabundos - kindred spirits. So off we go hiking and botanizing. What’s it like to go botanize with Maestro Poveda, renowned medicinal plant expert of Costa Rica?
Well it’s a fascinating experience: science, poetry and prose; Latin (as Tommy says, botanists love to get together and speak Latin – go to end of blog for a glimpse); referencing his notes quoting thoughts, mostly his own, and proverbs; and, if just the right moment strikes, reciting from a dog-eared book he carries in his pocket, Wayne W. Dyer’s, ‘Pensamientos para una Vida Mejor’. Always spot on.
We talked of the natural world, relative plant nutrients, lunar and solar cycles, observation, understanding, a terrible dream, transformation; often cycling back to the forest and how we learn from it everyday. We are all students just scraping the surface of the natural world.

We spoke of our responsibilities: protecting the forest, processing water and waste, not contaminating. When you live off the grid, you manage all this on your own. Since moving from a house in Ciudad Colon to being off the grid at El Tigre, including no garbage pick-up service, we have reduced our garbage production by over 95%. That was necessity for us but anybody can do it!

Maestro Poveda reminded us of the four R’s:

Re-Use

Recycle

Rechazar (Reject) - Don’t buy/accept stuff that will just end up in a landfill.

Reclamar (Complain - Loudly!) - Don’t let people throw their trash everywhere!

Poveda fills me with such awe. Every challenge comes with an opportunity to grow and learn from it - and to move on. And if you’re moving with Poveda, you’d better take notes quickly because he definitely moves on quickly... (See Latin at the end of the blog for a few more glimpses of hiking with Maestro Poveda and fellow student, Tin).

So what’s this about people throwing garbage everywhere?
Well, I think everybody has a story or ten about garbage. Sometimes you have to, as the Ticos say, ‘Reclamar’.
Here’s a story of, ‘One man’s irresponsible greed being a whole community’s (and the country’s) potential environmental suffering’, expressed very well by Manuel Emilio Morales, Periodista:
“Una Vez Mas, SOS por el Rodeo”,
published in La Nacion, Friday, March 5, 2010.

It’s time we stood up to RECLAMAR. We plan to walk for nature – to fight to maintain a pristine forest, in the face of its proposed destruction by an enormous mega garbage landfill - and we shall do it peacefully and with an open heart. We meet in el Viejo Mercado in Ciudad Colon at 4pm on Saturday, March 13th. And we shall walk as a group to the University for Peace in El Rodeo. Join us, please – walk for the love of a vitally important forest. Donations for our B&B fight will also be gratefully accepted (B&B – Bosque y Botadero; or Beauty & the Beast, if you prefer…).

You can get all the details in the local press, but mark your calendar now!
Dress and prepare for walking 6 km. on the road from Ciudad Colon to El Rodeo. On arrival, there will be a couple of speakers, a show of solidarity, and then buses will be available, at nominal cost, if you want to ride back to Ciudad Colon in comfort, rather than trekking it…

Why should we care about this little forest? The Zona Protectora El Rodeo is vital, pre-montane humid forest, connecting to the Biological Corridor of the Rio Virilla all the way to the Pacific coast. Over recent years, the forest has withstood all that Mother Nature had to throw at it: fires, landslides and earthquakes. After each disaster, the villagers have picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and carried on.

Thus, we shall do so again. See you on March 13th!


My Big Mistake
Over the past few years, botany pals visiting El Tigre all have similar reactions to ‘My Big Mistake’: they recoil from it, look askance at it. Then come the ‘polite’ little remarks, “What lunacy is this! Do you wish to create a Monster Garden? It’s a monstrous palm! It’s not a palm! It’s not a grass! You made a Big Mistake!”
So what did Poveda say? He looked at it and exchanged glances with Tin, who made no comment but just gave the name. However, I wasn’t fast enough to write it down at the time, and was too embarrassed to ask Poveda to repeat it. So I looked it up later in Tropica, 4th Edition, 1992.
This is how Tropica, page 1054 describes ‘My Big Mistake’:
“Pandanus sanderi, F. Pandanaceae: …handsome, very ornamental screw-pine …with age, breaking above the middle and laxly pendant …used as towering clumps of wind-breaks in their native Polynesia.”
I brought one potted plant of Pandanus sanderi from Ciudad Colon when we moved to El Tigre. Now, Armando is a master at reproducing stuff (he took one mangy citronella plant that somebody gave me and reproduced it to hundreds of plants, that we now have planted all over the garden as erosion breaks). So, unfortunately, he took that one potted Pandanus and reproduced that too. Now dozens of them are popping up all over the place and just taking over! They were only planted three years ago but, already, they’ve turned into monsters! I thought it was an ornamental grass and planted it along the drive, amongst other places. However, they just grew and grew – into massive towering clumps of grass atop sprawling, spirally, cavernous root systems that push way up off the ground! And look at what resides in those monstrous mazes: bee hives, Terciopelos, bears! (Well, maybe not bears…).
Luis and Tin told us about the problem, and the very next day, Armando got stung by a bee defending his nest in - you guessed it - a Pandanus…
Luckily, we are in menguante – the waning moon – perfect pruning weather, and Armando has already gone at it. And now, chopped-up Pandanus is making wonderful mulch all around the garden, although Gabi came out to see our pruning and proclaimed that she likes the plant! I think we can spare a plant or two…

And now a few snippets of, ‘Latin with Luis Poveda’ – actually we spoke Latin in Spanish. I have translated a few of the notes I could quickly scrawl as we hiked along. I’ve also ad-libbed a bit here in English. All mistakes are mine: “That Asteraceae with purple flowers is an Onoserys silvatica. I call it the Stimulant Purple Daisy because the roots are reputed to have stimulant properties. Watch the daisy you pick – got to get the right species. Ocotea veraguensis – wonderful fragrance – use the bark for shampoo. Vitex. Apeiba tibourbou – oil extracted from the seeds. Acacia ternifolia (Amor Fino). Ficus costaricensis – sap kills parasites. Justicia macrantha – interesting dyes. Also flowering is, Justicia ovata. Lonchocarpus (probably felipei). Characteristics listed of Celastraceae, Hippocrataceae. Regarding the Malvales Order - Bombacac., Sterculiac., Tiliac. – all now folded into Malvaceae.
Tin and I gasp at this last piece of news! And it just goes on and on. I am lucky if I guess the Family name correctly. Poveda, however, nails not just the Family, but also the Genus and the species! And, if he’s not sure about the species, driven by curiosity, he collects a sample for analysis back at the lab. You have to be quick and take notes before he moves on.

Poveda moves in a higher sphere of mentation – totally open heart, you can feel his joyous spirit. I am still in awe of him, as I was when we first met 12 years ago, then being a complete novice student. Over the years, I have also studied out in the field with Quirico Jimenez, Humberto Jimenez, and other ex-students of Poveda. Even so, after all these year in the tropical world, I am still a novice.

And just as I recover from that fascinating visit, an old friend arrives from the past, from Pennsylvania…
Virginia Derbyshire almost died in a traffic accident three years ago. In fact, they pronounced her dead a number of times just the first night after. But she returned to life - only to die again and then return again. Her doctors called her the Miracle Patient. Broadsided, her body battered and broken, nobody expected her to survive during her months in ICU. But she did survive, underwent numerous surgeries, and then, slowly but surely, made a full recovery. And the next thing you know, Virginia travels from Pennsylvania to Costa Rica, and on her final day of trekking and birding – from Monteverde to Tortuguero – she ends up visiting me, an old friend from years back. And here we are, hiking together all the way down to Tiger Hill and back. Tiger Hill is a strenuous hike even for young, healthy people; not at all appropriate for a 75 year-old woman who’s just come back from the brink… Absolutely no problem! Virginia looks and moves exactly the same as I remember her 15 years ago, when we were naturalist buddies in Pennsylvania. In fact, I was huffing and puffing just to keep up with her! She also still has a keen power of observation - a natural birder. And like Polly, Virginia loves the butterflies. We saw Morphos! Polly was with us in spirit.

And in the middle of this mix of visitors comes walking in Dr. Bob - that's a
story for another time.

Gerald has been in foul temper all this week. His Driving License expires next week. Who cares? Normally, renewal is not a huge deal, but it is this week. Why? Because the Costa Rican government just passed a new traffic law that dramatically increases the penalty for those driving on expired licenses. So now, all those people driving around on expired licenses have suddenly swamped the License Bureau to get renewals – thousands of them! And the system has utterly collapsed from the crowds. If you don’t get in line by 6 am, you won’t get in – the guards closed the gates yesterday at 11am, turning away hundred of people. They all went back today, along with Gerald, who also got turned away yesterday. As he crept along in line, he complained vehemently to the guard about all those people with expired licenses collapsing the system. The guard responded that one guy showed up yesterday with a license expired 23 years ago! That was the record thus far…

Not a Hair out of Place

Take a look at this shot of our Swiss neighbor, Gabriella, showing us girls how to make bread. Now I understand why we used to make such a mess of it! Basically, you have to understand your ingredients! Bread made with yoghurt is not treated the same way as bread made with sodium bicarbonate, or baking powder, or packaged yeast. Gabi helped us understand the feel of when the dough is ready. And then it’s just feeling for it and lots of experience. As with everything else, practice makes perfect.

Why not just get a bread maker? Because we use 100% solar power – anything that warms or cools takes a lot of juice! Yes, I know Gerald loves his toast! But Gabi even helped with that – she gave us a grill-thing that we just put over the gas stove. Our neighbors, Gabi and Paul also live completely off the grid, and we continue to learn from them as we bump our way through the process. We share water and it goes without saying that we use the same Solar Engineer, Carlos Oreamuno.


Here’s a shot of our first attempt at baking bread. The pale loaf is ours– described as heavy as a brick (but edible if toasted). We photographed it alongside the lovely loaf that Barry Hammel brought for us when he came over with his family to hike. As you can see, Barry is a much more accomplished baker, and we devoured his loaf post haste – or post hike as the case was - we didn’t even leave crumbs for the chickens.

It was a great day for hiking. Barry and his family arrived after the other hikers, so I went with the first group, and I asked Armando to guide them when they arrived and rendezvous with us down at the river. However, obviously something got lost in the translation… We went to the river (Jaris) and Armando, Barry et al went to the other river (the waterfalls) - a high adventure hike!

It wasn’t until quite a bit later in the day, that they finally returned up the mountain. I ran into Barry’s daughter, Indira, as she climbed the final ascent up to the house. After dispensing with the usual salutations, Indira asked, “Do you have a glass of water? I am ever so thirsty!”

I couldn’t believe it! I asked her, “Did Armando take you down to the waterfalls?”

“Yes – they’re still down below eating oranges”.

I just couldn’t believe it! This pretty college girl didn’t have a hair out of place– after just getting back from the waterfalls! I would have been soaking wet, filthy and face bright red from exertion!
Barry and Isabel soon arrived with Armando, and we feasted and drank wine. Barry showed me several plants that he had collected and, in order to identify one of them, he pulled out of his backpack this huge taxonomy manual that definitely caught my eye, called, ‘Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica’. I simply had to have a copy of it!
“Who wrote that?” I asked.
“I did, along with a number of co-editors, of course – it’s our work!”
It is a Magnum Opus of plants – a never ending study of discovery here in this wonderland of biodiversity.

I was interested in this work, so Barry later elaborated:

It's the continually changing product of many people, all working on the flora of Costa Rica over the last 20 years. It's a list that can be printed from the specimen database in ATTA at INBio, but we originally produced it by crawling through all the specimens at the Nacional Herbarium. It doesn't have all species known from Costa Rica on it, just those we have collected during the course of the project, Manual de plantas de Costa Rica (coeditors myself, Mike Grayum, Cecilia Herrera and Nelson Zamora). Surely you know about those volumes that the Missouri Botanical Garden is publishing in collaboration with The Museo Nacional and INBio? All of the monocots have been published (two volumes), one of dicots, one is in press and we have two to go. Also, we have published an introductory volume, on history of botany in the country, vegetation, novelties, etcetera. When the series is finished, we will probably have accounted for more than 8500 spp. total, not including the ferns. It's a big project.


If you don't have them and are interested, the published volumes (Manual de plantas de Costa Rica) can purchased at INBio


https://www.securesitecr.com/editorialInbiocarritoLibreria/product_esp.php?pagina=4&cat=38


or directly from the Garden


http://www.mbgpress.info/index.php?task=list_author&

So, did Barry find anything interesting down at the waterfalls? I was very keen to find out!
After reviewing his notes and collected plants from the hike, Barry sent us an e-mail:

Thanks so much for having us over: we had a great time, and we *did* survive! Saturday night I lived up to my nick-name "calambre" as walks like that always give me leg cramps. Isa and I would do it all again in moment, but my daughter, city hick that she is, is still moaning and groaning about the walk!
I wanted to let you know that the big tree that had me perplexed, did turn out to be plain old (but what a beautiful tree) Lafoensia punicifolia. It's quite rare, and I don't believe I had ever seen such a big one, I'd only seen it in flower, never in fruit, blah, blahblah--just making excuses! The Heisteria is H. concinna. That's a really common tree on your property. I'll bet the birds love it.
Some of the other things I collected and have identified are these:
Acanthaceae: Barleria oenotheroides, Blechum costaricensis
Annonaceae: Desmopsis bibracteata
Commelinaceae: Tradescantia poelii
Flacourtiaceae: Casearia commersoniana, C. sylvestris
Malvaceae: Allosidastrum pyrimidatum
Rubiaceae: Arachnothryx (Rondeletia) aspera
Rutaceae: Amyris cf. pinnata
Last, most unprepossessing, and also most exciting was a dumb little Malvaceae that I had at first thought belonged with the Allosidastrum specimens, but then when I looked close, turns out it's something else altogether, and I can't figure out what it is!!!! Well, it's an Abutilon, or Pseudoabutilon, but not one accounted for in our book. That's a family that we just published in the last volume and I spent quite a bit of time on it, so this is really exciting. I do tend to jump to conclusions, so it may yet turn out to be something accounted for that I am just overlooking, so I need to calm down and study it carefully. In any case, I managed to get some seeds from the one rather poor collection, and have planted them, so if it does turn out to be something new, and if I get the seeds to germinate, I should have plenty more specimens. I only saw one small plant in your forest, but there must be more, near where we saw the Lafoensia. I'll keep you posted, as I work to figure out what species it is.

Thank you so much for the feedback, Barry. We live for this! So Rondeletia, one of my favorite flowering trees, has a new genus name – Arachnothryx – that’s quite a mouthful! And you’ve also nailed some that had us stumped. And that mysterious Malvaceae is fascinating–a family that goes far beyond my very limited knowledge of just the Hibiscus genus. Next time, Indira will have more fun horseback riding with Jose!

Restaurant shock! We stopped to eat at our old stomping ground, Tex Mex, in Santa Ana, and found it utterly and completely transformed - like walking into a place straight out of New York City. Tex Mex no more! Not a shred of Tex Mex left of it, and now it’s a steakhouse called – Doris – and no, Doris is not a girl…

Finca & Forest News.

We lost Grisela, my favorite barnyard cat, to a snake bite. She went hunting up in the charral and got a ‘back-off’ jab, probably from a Fer de Lance. Even the dogs know not to go sniffing around down it the charral! Grisela thought herself invincible - had killed several small terciopelos over the years. That's why we keep barnyard cats - they compete with snakes for prey. No rats or snakes in the stable yard. But on this day, a terciopelo decided to take her out. Poor Grisela. Hugo saw Grisela first, convulsing, and Armando rushed her to the vet. But, unfortunately, it was too late. Poor Grisela was dead on arrival. We feed all our animals very well but some simply continue to hunt on instinct. Grisela had a hunting vice, and so followed Samantha the dog and several other incurable hunters to an early grave.

All the other animals are doing fine. Solo got colic but recovered quickly with treatment. It’s great riding weather – sunny days, and no bugs tormenting the horses. The dogs still get a few torselos now and then but the population has dropped significantly since we adopted a zero tolerance for them. Armando is still the master at squeezing out the larvae but Yaneth has also become quite deft at it. Even GRAK has squeezed out a torselo or two! Lola la Vaca is healthy and will soon have a new calf.

The criollo hens are beginning to breed, now that we have brought home the new rooster. He roosts up in the tree with his four favorite hens. The others sleep in the cow byre with Lola or in the hen house. Some of them prefer to sleep inside – so we close the hen house at 6 p.m. Those remaining outside have adapted well and are thriving. More and more of them prefer to sleep outside. So far, they all return inside in the morning to lay eggs, and sometimes one will want to sit on her eggs, so we let her be. When the chicks hatch, she hides them in various places and will attack any animal getting too close. The dogs and cats have now accepted the arrangement and no longer chase after the cute little chicks. How did we do it? It wasn’t easy, especially, with Eddie the Beagle – a very stubborn dog. He just looks back at me when I call him sometimes with a look as if saying: “I just want to, y punto!”

Watch out for ant-divers during this time of year. For some reason, the hot, dry weather riles up the ants living in the trees. What does that mean? Well, it means that you can’t stop in front of an ant-dwelling tree, where ants and trees live together, symbiotically, like, say the Acacia tree and just yack away with somebody because it annoys the ants. If you don’t move on in a timely manner, a few of the ants might start to dive-bomb you to get you moving. The other day, while looking at the Diospyros digyna fruits down in the forest with Armando, I suddenly felt a sting on the back of my neck – like a wasp! It was an ant. Seconds later, Armando pulls off his cap where an ant had dive-bombed him! We glanced up and saw the nearby Cornizuelo tree - and we got moving…

Wasps and bees also get irritable this time of year, especially in windy weather, and particularly if a bird or other prey is assaulting the hive. Armando describes how monkeys shove a stick in the mouth of the bee-hive, blocking it, then grab and eat the wasps as they crawl out one by one. I’ve never seen this but have seen birds attacking a bee-hive up in a tree. If you see a bird making lunch out of a bee-hive – you can tell because the bees are all swarming furiously about it as the bird calmly pecks at it – then stay clear. And stay calm. Don’t start screaming and throwing your arms all around swatting at the buzzing insects. Ignore the bees and they will ignore you – just keep moving away. If bees start to construct a hive with the structure of your house, remove it immediately before it gets too big. Bees attack because they are defending the hive. So, don’t allow bees to make a hive near the house. Once it gets big, then all it takes is a windy day or a perceived threat and the bees will get ornery. Armando clears hives in progress using soapy water. If you don’t know what you are doing, call in a professional to remove a hive.

Now in flower: Pink Tabebuias (called Roble de Sabana) giving an eye-popping show all along the roadways in Ciudad Colon. Gliricidium sepium (Madero Negro) also in full bloom - the bumblebees just love it, and it’s fun to watch them buzzing languidly about from blossom to blossom! Leave them be and watch the amazing relationship between species. Laurels are just finishing.


Also, take a look at this shot of the lovely Poro Poro flower (Cochlospermum vitifolium).

What a Sunday!

Score 31-17. Who Dat! Who DAT!

What a Sunday. Feb 7, 2010 : a day to remember forever.

The New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl, and Costa Rica chose Laura Chinchilla as their new President.

Excitement mounted all day, from Bourbon Street in New Orleans to Calle Central in San Jose. Everybody was out on the streets: voters going to the polls in San Jose, Saints fans and other revelers drinking in New Orleans, cars honking, people just milling about. The mood was electric with anticipation.

5pm NOLA time - Streets empty out in The Big Easy. All quiet on Bourbon Street. Everybody was in front of the TV pretty much everywhere in the world.
The First Quarter was sheer torture, as we watched our guys get a bad case of nerves. It was, after all, the first Super Bowl ever for the Saints. But straight into the Second Quarter, they settled down, focused - and triumphed!! Oh, what a joy it was to watch. The New Orleans Saints went to their first Super Bowl and WON! What a team! What a city! Who Dat! Who Dat!

What a Sunday! While all this was going on, the people of Costa Rica were also electing their first Presidenta - Laura Chinchilla. You go girl! Only 50 years young but ready and able to lead Costa Rica into the future! Smart - educated at UCR and Georgetown. Sensible too - focused on Costa Rica but with an eye on the world. Laura Chinchilla seems to understand how everything is connected. The world will soon know her. She will accomplish great things, I predict.

So much to celebrate! What a great day for both Costa Rica and New Orleans! This is a new beginning for both places.

On the down side, that same day, Arsenal lost to Chelsea (GRAK was really grumpy about that until the Saints won) but there has to be balance in the Universe…
And, oh yes, speaking of elections, New Orleans has a new Mayor. Vamos a ver…
It’s a whole new day.

Kids in Trees

Shot of Matchi.
Jose and I took Matchi out for the first time since removing his shoes last December. Just as with Lucero, we gave Matchi a year off from riding, in order to allow his hooves to strengthen and adapt to his new barefoot lifestyle. So we rode out on Matchi and Lucero - both have a similar pace - and it was just wonderful! Matchi has never felt more balanced, relaxed and settled - and this was his first outing in over a year! We rode all the way down to the river and out to Las Palmas, returning home via the road to Piedras Negras. A long ride for Matchi’s first outing but he did just fine - he never once showed any sign of heavy breathing, even when we cantered up the mountain.
It wasn’t only necessary for him to rebalance without shoes, however. I think he also needed a ‘reset’ - a long vacation - to start riding him not as a race horse, as we did back in the days when we raced, sprinted even, and WON… Those days are over. We actually ruined Francis’ mare by racing her. Xicha could no longer stay in the Peruvian trot - she always fell into a gallop in the up-transitions, and the judges obviously noticed it. So Francie retired Xicha to pasture up in Nicaragua - not a bad life though…
Matchi has now matured and settled down - he’s almost ready to entrust to the kids.


Here’s a shot of Negrito the calf.
Lola La Vaca weaned her calf some months ago, so we have no milk right now for making yogurt or cheese. However, she is expected to give birth to her new calf in March and, soon after, will be able to share some of her milk with us. In the meantime, we coddle and pamper both Lola and her calf, Negrito. Not sure what Jose plans to do with Negrito, but I have become very fond of this black, shiny calf. He is growing into a very large bull, although he is very sweet and affectionate for a bovine…


Every year, in January, the kids go down to the charral and we take pictures of them with their adopted trees. Three years ago, the kids planted a bunch of trees and now January has become the tree photo ritual. The idea is to photograph the kids annually with their adopted trees and observe how the kids and the trees grow!


Shot of Geovanna.


We nearly walked past Geovanna’s tree but she remembered it very well and pointed it out to us - a still tiny Peltogyne guainensis (Nazareno). Someday, it will tower over her. Karla posed with Sapindus saponaria, Calliandra bijugo and Terminalia oblonga; Danny posed with Cedrela salvadorensis; and they all posed with numerous others.



Shot of Danny
Danny would just as soon climb a tree as identify it. He is learning all the forest lessons fast from his grandfather, Armando, who has planted too many trees here at El Tigre to mention. On this day, we took shots of Armando with trees that he planted just 3 years ago, some of which now tower over him: Anacardium excelsum, Ceiba pentandra, Pseudobombax septenatum, Hura crepitans, Lafoensia punicifolia, Terminalia amazonia and Zygia longifolium and others I’m not sure about.



Shot of Picramnia with yellow berries.
While out with the kids, we noted Picramnia sp. (common name, Caregre) now fruiting, with their cascade of red, yellow, or orange berries, depending on the tree. The leaves look like the species antidesma , no matter which berry color. The berries do not change from yellow to orange to red. They fruit and remain one color, depending on the tree but, in all cases, the berries turn to black after a few weeks.


Shot of Picramnia with red berries.
Some fruits change color as they ripen on the vine, but not Picramnias. I mention this because it’s a point of confusion - depending on the time of observation. For example, the Pseudosamanea guachapele (I think they’ve now changed the genus name to Albizia) flowers are creamy - now in bloom at El Tigre - but after a few weeks, they turn mustard yellow. That phenomenon had me a bit confused until I understood what was happening.




Also, currently in full flower are Gallinazo (Schizolobium parahyba). We will have a bumper crop of Gallinazo seeds this year, unlike last year. Also, Lysiloma species are seeding abundantly this year, while there were none in 2009. Dalbergia retusa seeded last year and is seeding even more abundantly this year. The seeds germinate easily and we already have a slew of Cocobolo seedlings ready for planting at the start of the rainy season.
Also noted in bloom while out with the kids were: Sapranthus palanga, Bauhinia sps., Casearia sp., Eugenia sps., Cochlospermum vitifolium, Erythrina sp., Luehea speciosa, Plumeria rubra, Thevetia sp., and a slew of vines and herbaceous plants, especially Asteraceae and Acanthaceae.
It’s going to be a long, long, dry season…

The guys have already begun cutting fire breaks at the borders, and will finish the job after all the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves - probably by mid-February. We can’t control man but we can prepare in advance, and try to manage the fire threat to the forest.

The village of El Rodeo almost got a volunteer forest fire-fighting course organized with MINAET to start this week - we had 16 guys signed up, including Jose. I almost signed up too, but this was to be a boot-camp style type training with only young men signing up, so I bowed out, obviously. However, the course was postponed - we need more prep work.

I thought about closing this blog-site after a few ads landed in the Comments section recently. But this little remnant forest needs a voice. Actually, it needs more than one voice calling out to defend it, and this blog is just one. I am very grateful to the other nature lovers, near and far, who also defend this little remnant forest called Zona Protectora El Rodeo.

You would think protecting forestland would be quite in fashion, with all this global warming brouhaha, but economic interests too often are in conflict. MINAET told us that the logging is insidious. First, people just trim a bit, then they cut a few trails, followed by a house, then houses, and the next thing you know the forest is gone, the damage has gone too far.

Part of protecting a forest is showing its value to the world. And here we have a new voice!

Barry Hammel, renowned botanist and author, kindly identified some plants pictured in earlier blogs. When we get to New Orleans, I shall update them, because we still have no internet at the Finca - I’m actually sending this while lunching at Bagelman’s - so I’m reprinting Barry’s notes here:
Barry wrote:
…The unknown ("We’re still not sure what this is. Stay posted!) vine you have in your blog is a sp. of Marsdenia (Asclepiadaceae), probably have to see flowers to know which species.
And oh--just can't help being a botanist--looking on down I notice a few other things that could be tweaked, like that Asteraceae is not a Montanoa, but I'd have to do too much work right now to figure out just what it is! The first red tubular flowered one you seem to have called a Malvaceae is actually Rusellia sarmentosa (Scrophulariaceae), the next one *can* be said to be Malvaceae, sensu lato, but we (and many books) still do it in Sterculiaceae (Helicteres guazumifolia), and then the one Armando has in his mouth, that one *is* Malvaceae, sensu strictu, Malvaviscus arboreus.
After visiting your place I found that same cute little fern (Hemionitis palmata) at our place and now have it growing in the shade next to our house. I also went exploring on neighbors' fincas and have found some very-close-to-real lemons. So we have been sticking to Jerry's rule "gin and tonic with lemon, rum and coke with lime!" I hope we got it right....

Thank you Barry! It was a pleasure to meet you and Isabel and we are so grateful for any help you can give!


For example, this Asteraceae is in bloom again and I still have not found it in the guides. Take a look at the lovely purple flowers. Known as a stimulant, we tried decocting the roots and also infusing the leaves, but got no effect. Coffee works better and tastes better. But I would so like to know the name of this plant! Agustin?