September
7
Jeep birthday
For the many of you who know Manuel well, you may appreciate
the significance of the series of events that have recently taken
place regarding the Jeep!
The Jeep is now 11 years old, and this week celebrated it's first
100,00 mile 'milestone'. As a birthday present, we had the local
body shop specialist, Claudio, 'fix her up'!!!! You may notice
in the pictures to the right that it has a brand new paint and
anticorrosion job. And yes, do not adjust your monitors, it is
indeed YELLOW!!!
To the top
This same week, we drove the Jeep all the way up to the top. The
weather has been dry, the road has 'hardened' and we were ready!!
Since its first ride up, we have been going up and down cargo-ing
garden supplies and furniture. The electric generator is at the
top as well. We are moving on!!! If all goes well, the gravel
(riverbed rock) for the road will be delivered this week (100+
12ton MAC trucks), hence making it permanently driveable.
A day on the waters
We finally found ourselves the time and some
great weather...to take the kayaks out onto the waters around
here. Although we don't have a whole lot of pictures to prove
it...it was spectacular! The ocean was flat as a lake when we
launched off the beach and we went out about 1/2 mile off the
coast. Looking back at the shore, you see endless rolling hills
and mountains of jungle come down to the shoreline. In the ocean,
there are hundreds of coral reefs, some deep and some not at all
(less than 2-3 feet). The waters are crystal clear and you can
see all sorts of things at the bottom. We also kayaked around
Punta Uva (a rocky headpoint), and went up the Punta Uva river
(a peaceful trip beaming with wildlife). On the way back, the
ocean got a little more wrestless the waves at the shore...bigger!
Maya was in the kayak with Manuel and Emmanuelle in hers. We got
our first opportunity to do some fun kayak surfing until a BIG
wave overpowered both kayaks and capsized us. We all three lost
our sunglasses...got a little scared...but can't wait to get back
out there!
A
new arrival
No!!
Maya does not have a new brother or sister on the way (that we
know of), but it is almost the same. Maya has adopted a little
puppy and named him OUI OUI. He is slightly less than 2 months
old...and so far is adorable. He is comes from a mixture of two
other jungle dogs (an undeterminable mixture of breeds)...but
looks like he may be quite a nice dog. His very white fur makes
him a somewhat unique find around here.
Maya
plays and sleeps with him all the time. OUI OUI is guaranteed
to be familiar with kids when he grows up because Maya has been
giving him the world's toughest dog training program. I will not
into descriptions, but one can only imagine the kinds of things
a 3 year old girl might do with a new puppy - who she sometimes
thinks is a doll or a toy. Besides the 'boot camp' training, Maya
is learning to take care of him. She feeds him and provides him
a nice little bed next to her. More news on this situation soon!!
