Wood workers

There is an effort in the remote villages of Central America to provide folks with skills with which they can support themselves. Besides subsistance farming, many Ticos have learned to make items that are sold to the tourists. There are looms and quiltshops, candle shops and cheese factories. We met a fellow, whose nickname is 'Leache', who turns out these beautiful wooden bowls. The artisans use only 'scrap' wood from sustainable tree growth forests. Quinn and I both took a turn at the lathe. Rowan wants Quinn to make him a chess set from rosewood....Dad wants a lathe.

Marimba at the Feria

Hola!
Every Sabado now there is a agriferia...like a farmers market. Its inside the schools 'gym'...this week they had this cool marimba...beautifully made...and sounds great. Dad wants one.
Ciao for now,
Forest
check out the tico dancers....party!!!! at the farmer's market?

Mom Visits the Magic Strangler Fig

One of the first things we wanted to show Mom was this Fig tree. Sunday AM we went early to beat the rain...which now starts everyday at around 1:00 and continues into the night until the next AM.
Here Sage is up in the Crow's Nest...'One hand for you and one hand for the boat'....

she's hanging on but still seems to be in competition for the Darwin Award. Speaking of Darwin, I'll have to post a picture of the 'kissing bug' responsible for Darwin's Disease.

Going Down the Tube (the inside of the Fig Tree)

Shake those shoes out!

So this is why Dad asks us to shake our shoes out....its becoming a habit. Rowan did find a squished scorpion in his sneaker. If you don't shake it out....the put in on quickly?

Ciao for Now....

Forest

The Hammock that ate Quinn

We had to have a hammock now that we have a 'back yard'. This one was big enough to swallow Quinn man.....pronounced 'Keen' here....sometimes he goes by his middle name 'Rio'.

Mago gets a bath

I've had requests for some more photos of Mago the wonder Tico pup. Mom arrives today so we gave the Chico a bath.
Raining ever afternoon....starting earlier and earlier....the rainy season! That's Mago wrapped in the towel.....the other wet dogs son mi hermanos.

ciao for now,

Forest

This is our vet, Eduardo Villalobos, who gave Mago her hots and helped us with the paperwork. He has a neat name doesn't he? Village of Wolves!

Scorpion surprise

My Dad is volunteering at BEN (see their website on the right). One if his jobs was to sort through the older books in the library. There was an crusty Peace Corps book that had some very interesting material inside! He first saw the tail whipping out from between the pages and decided to start filming....look for the tail flash in the beginning. The thing just jumped out....fell to the floor and disappeared. Must have been filed in the wrong section.

Ciao,

Forest

Baby Sloth

This baby sloth had fallen out of a tree onto the rocky dirt road near the Cheese Factory. My Dad picked it up and took it back into the woods. It seemed to be OK....eating and everything. Its not a busy road but we thought it would be safer off the road!
2 toed or 3 toed sloth?

Poets del la Mundo

We went to a poetry reading/jam Saturday night. What was neat was the fact that there were poets from all over the world, not just Costa Rica. Poets from Iraq (they called themselves Babelonians), Ireland, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, even the US. After the readings, floks were invited to read their own poetry or share some music or dance. There were these local fire dancers that I videoed. They have balls of plant material that absorbs a flammable fuel. The balls are tied to string or chains that they whip around themselves baton twirler style. Hey Aunt Shelly you should try this!

I'll get more details about the event.

Machete Ball

It seems that everyone....well almost....carries a machete....like we would carry a pocket knife. Of course they usually carry it in a 'holster'. There is a seed pod (locals call it guaba) from a tree (Inga sp.) that has a delicious white filling surrounding each seed. Its hard to open and there is just a little bit of good stuff around each seed. You can't eat the seed or the fibrous white stuff....so you chew for a while and get the sweet nectar. Alot of work for a little flavor. Reminds me of sucking the nectar out of a honeysuckle flower back home. The seed pods are ripe for only a short time each year. When the seed pods dry out in the shell they are used as a 'shaker' type musical instrument that I've seen back in the states for sale at places like '10,000 Villages'. Anyway, the object is to spit the seed out and whack it with your machete....and not cut anyone's ear off.

Dad's husk landed on the photographer (Rowan). That's probably a game in itself. That's why the camera got off subject there for a bit. Ciao for Now, Forest

Climbing the Strangler Fig

Hola everyone,
We had heard rumors of a secret...magical fig tree (Ficus aurea http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ploct99.htm) that was perfect for climbing. We made our mission to find it. Sage and a friend from school found it after school one day and Sage said she would take us there. Its located near the CEC and the whole family went to see it. Sunday was a misty foggy day (this is the cloud forest after all) but we were able to find it after some bushwhacking. I've put in some video of the climb but its hard to see just how high the tree is. Not only is it several hundred feet tall but it is on a steep mountain side! The tree looks like its just not natural.... something out of Harry Potter. The strangler fig killed the original tree and all that remains are the roots and branches of the fig. The original tree died, rotted away and provides the tunnel through which you climb. There are several spots along the tunnel where you can sit outside the tree. We pounded around with sticks to get the snakes to move out and had to be careful where we found handholds....look before you grab....that might be a snake and not a vine. Sage made it up to a 'lookout' spot....So that red/blue blur popping out of the tree 30 meters up in the mist... is Sage. I didn't go that far....I'm not competing for a Darwin Award. Dad said he'd like grandkids someday. Luckily for us, Dad couldn't fit through the upper tunnel. It was slippery and foggy....maybe some other day.