11 January, 2003

Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!! We celebrated the new year in Costa Rica with Nicolas, Jean-Marc, Claudia, Pierre-Leon and several other friends. Everyone participated in the meal preparation which included fois-gras, avocado-shrimp appetizers, sashimi, turkey, pig, fruits, salads, and chocolate cake, wine and champagne. As the new year rang in, there was lots of partying and dancing (mostly samba and salsa). Christian (Emmanuelle's father) and Pedro (a local Spaniard) spent the next morning over coffee and cigarettes to discuss their new year's resolutions.

Tree Trimming
No, we did not trim the Christmas tree this year...because there are no Christmas trees in Costa Rica (except plastic ones!). However, we did decide to trim a few of the trees in the main yard to protect the new house from unwanted branches / trees falling on top. The pictures on the right show the process of trimming one of the tallest and closest trees to the house. The tree is over 120 feet tall and is dangerously close to the house. So we trimmed a few of the branches closest to the house - thus minimizing the chance that it falls on top of us a future storm.

Armando is a local tree trimming expert. With a combination of ropes, chains, and a chainsaw, he slowly climbed the tree all the way to the top. It took him about 1 hour to climb to the top - at which time it took him no more than 5 minutes to make two major cuts. After the main tree, Armando trimmed a few other smaller trees to 'clear' the view from the house. We now have an almost unobstructed 210 degree view of the ocean!

Waterfall Adventure
Besides the beautiful beaches and jungles that we have in our area, we also have several spectacular waterfalls. Emmanuelle and Manuel decided to take an afternoon together to go explore one of these. It is about a 20 minute drive away to BriBri (an indigenous Indian town next to us) and then about a 30 minute hike up a beautiful river all the way up to the waterfall. We were so excited to finally arrive at the waterfall, which is about 100 ft high. Manuel took the opportunity to bath in it. The pressure of the water falling on your back is amazing! It hurts!!!! Now that we know about this secluded waterfall, we will bring Maya to see it, as it is a great hike that even she can do...with lots of little pools and creeks to play in.

The beginnings of a garden
As most of you that now us well, you know that we love to garden and this was one of the motivations that brought us to Costa Rica. However, until now, we have been overwhelmed by the size of the land that can be landscaped - not knowing where and how to start.

Well, finally, we have begun to collect and plant all sorts of plants for the garden. We've bee planting lots of heliconias (family of the Bird of Paradise), bromeliads, ti plants, crotons, palms, ground covers, etc. It is not as easy as in Miami, in the sense that you can't just plant a few of this a few of that. In order to achieve any significant results, we have to plant hundreds, if not thousands of plants to make it look like much!! So we are starting to learn to propagate plants, either by cuttings, seedlings or air-layering. Acquiring many of these plants requires going into the jungle and finding the desired plants in their natural habitat to bring back, taking cuttings or seedlings from friends' gardens, or going to a few local nurseries. We will be building a garden workshop where we will continue to mass propagate desired plants. The picture on the right is of the main yard (North Garden) in front of the house. As you can see, we've already got a few palms and bromeliads in the ground! We look forward to keeping up to date with our gardening adventures!

The Final OUI OUI update
Unfortunately, the title speaks for itself! OUI OUI has not come back! We aren't quite sure what ever happened to him. He did return once or twice to visit, but then left again after a good meal. Perhaps he found himself a woman...and preferred spending time with her instead of us. Who knows what goes on inside the head of a jungle dog! Anyhow, Maya seems to have taken the whole situation quite well. She is not terribly upset about the situation, but does look forward to her next OUI OUI (or two?), which we have explained to her that we will not get until we LIVE in the new house.

We've moved...again
No, we have NOT left Costa Rica! But, we did change rental homes. Our landlord decided to raise the rent on us, so we found something else, closer to the property and cheaper and bigger. We now live in a huge 2 story home, with 3 bedrooms and 2 apartments. In the neighborhood, there are lots of kids Maya's age, and it is just down the street from Nicolas's house (our architect and GC), so we can bother him more often. Sorry that we don't have any new pics of the house, but we will try to get some very soon to show you. Please refer to the Contact Us page for our new mailing address - but as always - email is a better option!

 

Archived Writings: January 10, 2003 Construction Full Speed Ahead November 28, 2002 Maya's Graduation Day November 22, 2002 Jake visits Maya November 05, 2002 Well Well Well - the well is well We have a road - or does it have us? Home construction begins OUI OUI Update October 30, 2002 Gisele and Marlene's Vacation October 4, 2002 Building plans are in Snake in the yard OUI OUI Update Welcome Christain New Wheels Manuel in Miami September 21, 2002 The trucks are rolling in OUI OUI Update Where's the water? September 14, 2002 Bridge is finished September 7, 2002 Jeep birthday A new Arrival A day on the waters September 4, 2002 The NONI plant September 1, 2002 August in a Flash August 10, 2002 Tornadoes and Earthquakes July 11, 2002 The Road Begins....and ends July 9, 2002 The Container July 1, 2002 We Made It June 1, 2002 We're Moving!

Previous Post
10 January

Next Post
12 February







Schedules

January
Put roof on house and walls on second floor.

Continue garden design and planting.

Pintos in Miami 10th through 24th.

February
Begin cementing steep road sections

Build 'Garden Center' for plant propagation

March
Bring electricity to site

April / May
Complete home construction

Punta Uva Visits:
Laure & JeanNoel
11 Feb to 07 Mar


Farragut Reunoin
Sept 2003