Who let the dogs out

Four of the six dogs at the Mango Tree. The two larger dogs spend a lot of time in our Villa, and the four small dogs are all related. They belong to Rosemary or rather she belongs to them.

New species discovered in Costa Rica

A new fish, the Viagra, was recently discovered in Costa Rican waters. It is fairly expensive, but lasts a long time and seems to be the fish of choice of older male tourists. It is now on the menu at better restaurants and senior centers through out the country. Rumor has it, it will soon be exported to the US.

Fourteen and counting

We celebrated our 14th anniversary at the Mango Tree Spa, the owner Rosemary, made us dinner and it was wonderful, we have become good friends. It has been so restful that Simon is thinking of staying here and sending me home to do the packing and moving and finding a house. As soon as we return home we are moving to North Carolina, in fact we don't really have a home to return to as we are renters for the next month. This has been a wonderful respite from life, or rather the stressors of life. Simon and I are hoping we have many more years as good as the last 14 have been.

Strange creatures and beautiful sunsets of Costa Rica

The sunset tonight was amazing, and so was the cricket or locust or whatever that was on our balcony. It was bright green in color with a 2-3" body and 4-5" with legs.
The sunset was particulary beautiful because there were fires in the valley, the farmers were burning their fields. We spent the day reading, at the pool, eating and drinking wine, pretty much a perfect day.

Strange creatures of

A walk on the wild side

Accompanied by guides with machettes, we made our way up the treacherous river after first descending from a perilous peak. We had to navigate around giant bolders and forde deep pools and transverse mighty falls, but we made it we survived, and a good time was had by all.

A change in Motif

Rosemary, owner of Mango Tree Spa, decided the pool area needed a change in Motif, from a Baccus/Inca influenced to a Chinese, complete with dragon and pheonix. She designed and painted the area in 5 days.

A man's work is never done

Simon spent the afternoon in the kitchen making a curry. I on the other hand or should I say foot, had my nails done. Tomorrow we are trying out the local bus and going up the coast. It continues to be quite warm here in the high 80's, humid but no rain.

What is good for the goose is good for the gander

We went to a restaurant, that specialized in farm grown tilapia, it contained numerous pools off of a river that held tilipaia. You could either catch your own or have one provided by the restaurant, since I had forgotten all of my fishing gear, we ate one of theirs. As we approached the restuarant we were attacked by the guard geese, that is the Mango Spa owner, Rosemary warding them off with her purse. It was a lovely area, with river, falls and small pools. Getting there was hellish, Costa Rica seems to delight in building roads impossible to travel on. They have never met a rock they do not like, especially if they can put them in the middle of the road, I will never complain about roads in California again.

I'M AN OLD COWHAND ON THE RIO GRANDGE

Simon and I went went horse back riding, what in that statement sounds wrong? I have riden a horse twice before and both times they ran away with me. Simon was once kicked when he passed too close to the back of a horse. Enough said, our guide Macho, yes he is the one under the waterfall, assured us our horses killer and death would be gentile, actually they were called tranquilo and retinto. However during our perilous journey up a mountain and through a river, we were accosted by 2 wild horses and our gentile ponies decided to fight. We had to get off our horses and Macho led them by the reins as he tried to stave off the intruders. During this ordeal I fell in the river. All is well that ends well however and when we reached the waterfall, Macho performed acrobatic tricks under the falls and sang to us. A good time was had by all. But I have made a solemn vow NO MORE HORSES.

Playa Ventana

We ate lunch at a restaurant heere, the view was amazing, the food was not However the cold dark Costa Rican beer tasted good. We spent the morning at the outdoor market, which was actually indoors, but it was wonderful like most Central and South American markets, with stalls of fresh fruits and vegtables, spices and food. Two of the things we miss most are good cheese and bread. Costa Rican cheese is very bland, it actually has no taste at all and the consistancy of soy. Their bread is white and the most popular brand is called Bimbo, that says it all

Mango Tree Spa

It is really lovely here, about 1 1/2 miles from the coast, in tthe jungle. The pool looks out over the jungle as does our balcony, that is our view at sunset. Sunrise is at 5:30 and there are the songs and screechs of birds filling the air. Sunset is early too 5:30 but then we hear the chirping sound of Cicadas. The jungle is not quiet.

Never Smile at a Crocodile

The rivers on the Pacific side have crocodiles 15 feet long, needless to say we are swiming only in the pool.