The view from my room of Manuel Antonio National Park.

This bird is a Great Kiskadee. I've also seen Scarlet-Rumped Tanagers, Blu Gray Tanagers, and some others but I have no bird book. :(

OK, so I posted the last blog today but I had sent it in an email to a couple special people and they were so excited to read it and wanted more. David suggested I actually blog it so I figured I might as well use this stupid thing since I never do otherwise. Lee calls it my travel blog. HAHA I wouldn't even be using the computer except for the fact that I am entertaining my family and keeping them updated. Otherwise when I get back there will be too many photos to show and by then I will have forgotten half the things that happened. Plus since it gets dark here at 6pm, there isn't much to do after dark if you aren't a drinker. We opt to stay safe and stay in at night (not too safe at night in some areas) so we're pretty bored when it gets dark. We compared it to after a hurricane in Miami with no electricity and nothing to do and you're hot and sticky. Except we have electricity and after last nights mishap with biting insects and my inflated face, we are sleeping with the windows/doors closed and the AC cranking in the bedrooms.

We would eat dinner and then go up to the rooms to lay down or something and we're like "man what time is it" It's 6:30 and we're all ready for bed.

So I revamped the email and made a blog and added more photos. "Balls" is so far my favorite encounter. LOL

Today which I had written a little about in the previous blog but I had written that first thing in the morning. So since I woke up at 5am, my face was still pretty swollen the whole day. I put ice in a baggie and wrapped it in a towel and pretty much went to town with it, literally. We had to go to town and I had it on my face. I really wanted to get a pirate eye patch but unfortunately Quepos, CR doesn't have such luxuries as this.

Around 9am we went into town (Quepos) to the farmers market.
Gringo. lolThese beets were like the size of my head.

This was pretty neat. Lee, all sorts of strange fruits but not too many that I had actually expected. There were the regular things we have at home, and then figs, flor de itabo which is the yucca plant flower I think, chamomile bunches, fresh herbs, guanabana, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember now.Banana Leaves.

David and I just finished fighting this long beetle in the room, I tried to throw it out the window on a tissue and it fell back inside and onto David's head. He is now sitting in the chair very far from the bed. We can't find the bug.

So after the market we came home put the fruit and veggies away, I got a coco frio and when we got home I had David break it open for me on the corner of the steps to the house (I thought of Lee and I trying to break one open at work with a screwdriver and hammer haha) so I scraped the coconut jelly out when I got home, it was so refreshing on a hot day. I didn't take a picture of it.

*We just found the beetle.

We rested at home for a little. Everyone read their books (I didn't bring one) while I bird watched and took more pictures.
Around 1pm me and the David's went to go check out this book store down the road but it was too expensive. So we decided to just explore a little and went driving.These roads weren't paved.

Some lush tropical foliage.
This is prime real estate right here.This was a little air strip about 10 minutes out of town.Cows.

These are African Oil Palm plantations. This land used to be owned by Chiquita and produced bananas but now there are Oil Palms.

Supermarket.

* Another beetle landed on the bed and sent David flying.

It's very time consuming so load these photos.

OK, so enough of this garbage, on to the critters.

Today was three-toed sloth and capuchin day!

David named the sloth "Speedy".

Here are the capuchins getting mangos out of the neighbor's tree. They are master mango peelers btw. This was like a whole family.

Monkeys look really funny when they walk on their hind legs only. They are like little furry humans with tails.

Ok hopefully I will have some more great nature photos tomorrow. We are going in the actual National Park so there should be good sightings in there.

Til next time.

Michelle

1st and 2nd night in Costa Rica

Hello!!

Costa Rica is BEAUTIFUL!

above: This (driving pic) was on the drive from San Jose to Quepos. Sun sets around 6pm.

above: Quepos during the day, Pacific Ocean sea wall to the right.

David brought his laptop and there is wireless connection at the house so here I am. The trip to get from San Jose to Manuel Antonio/Quespos was about 2-3 hours and on a winding, narrow road through the mountains. The roads here are insane, they are really bumpy, sometimes not even paved and very narrow. The money system is confusing because 1,000 colones is like $2.00 USD but when you hear someone say dos mil colones, it sounds like A LOT of money. It's also very poor here, it's weird, I didn't expect it to be like this. There areas that are very dirty and very poor.

Of course I am like the translator and mom would be happy that I am speaking spanish, terribly, but none the less speaking.

The view from the house is insane, we got in on Thurs night and it was raining the whole way, by 6pm its dark and pretty scary out. So when we got to the house, I could hear the ocean but couldn't see itt because of the torrential downpour. It was thundering and lighting so bad the first night. Then I woke up at 5:30 am to this incredible view!!

OMG It was crazy. On a mountain overlooking the Pacific ocean, it was literally breath taking. I woke up David and was like OMG OMG look outside!!These were 5am photos of the pool and sunrise.
This one was prob closer to about 8am.

We went into town yesterday and got some really strange groceries, they have weird stuff here. These are margarine.
These are squeeze packets of mayo, mustard, tomato paste/ketchup, etc.
These are large containers of Mayo and the Lizano Salsa which is "Tico" (native) to Costa Rica. It's sort of like a kicked up Mojo.

And then we drove down to Manuel Anotonio where the National park is and the beach. All these vendors are set up selling their crafts and trying to sell stuff to you. They say "try it on, try it on" It's like working at Origins, they say "take it now give me 1,000 colon and put it in your bag" HAHAHA.

Woke up yesterday morning to monkeys in the tree right outside and then later in the afternoon there was one male Howler monkey eating in the tree right next to the pool. He was great! He was putting on such a show for us, posing in positions, and hanging his little monkey balls all over the branches.
Meet "Balls" as David named him.

He was awesome. I took a ton of pictures of him.

It started raining yesterday around 3 or so but then stopped by like 6 or 7 and then it was nice the rest of the night. Unfortunately last night we left all the windows open, (the way this house is designed the living room is completely open to the outside, no AC except units in the bedrooms). We left the windows open last night because the weather was nice and that's what you do in Costa Rica (electricity is very expensive) I was being bit by mosquitos so I but some Burts Bee's bug stuff on my ears and around my hairline to keep them out of my face but unfortunately I woke up with huge whelts on my forehead and a swollen left eye. I look like Sloth from The Goonies. And again I woke up at 5:30. The sun comes up really early considering we are 9 degrees away from the equator, so it's pretty bright VERY early. So Laura put cold wet washcloths on my face and hand (also swollen) and I took a Benedryl and laid down. It sucks, my eye is puffed up like a baloon and my forhead looks like I was boxing. None the less the howler monkey's are howling across the jungle and the brids continue to sing.

Laura stepped on a wasp in the kitchen and got stung on the bottom of her foot. So yea we're doing great over here in this tropical wonderland! haha. The swelling on my face has gone down but I still look gnarly.

Ok well I'll try to post regularly or when I see more cool stuff.

trying to stay positive

So my finger healed up fine, i still have this cat. I finally introduced her to the dog, it's been quite a roller coaster to watch them play/fight/chase each other. I'm afraid that the dog plays a little too rough though. We'll see what happens. I hope that I find a home for her even though I do really enjoy her company. Bonnie:


blurry but so cute!

I'm worried that my cichlid is dying. He's already like 2 years old and huge!!

So I guess at this point in my life I had hoped to be in a different situation than I currently am. I've gotten a degree yet I work in retail. I live at home again, good and bad at the same time. I love not having rent and living expenses to pay but I still like my privacy.

I hate to complain but I just always thought by the time i was 26 I would have progressed much further in my career and in my relationships. I'm turning 26 in a month and it's like I'm still 18. This is really rough, no one is hiring and then I don't have enough qualifications for the really good jobs. I don't know, things are sorta gloomy right now. I'm becoming more negative about things which is bad because I worked long and hard to be a more positive person.

I just want to go to some secluded island somewhere and disappear. I'll take my Bonnie with me. I'll be somewhere that jobs and money don't matter, where I can eat coconuts whenever I want and just get the fuck away from all the headaches that are here.

Maybe I need some kind of enlightenment, something to give me hope in things I feel have failed, something that makes me believe that things do actually get better. Guidance on the right path of decision making, figuring out what will work out and saying goodbye to the things that won't.
I have a few obstacles I need to overcome. We shall see how things turn out. Who knows where the paths will lead me.

I'm planning a trip to Costa Rica, it must be done.

It's already April

Well like I said I wouldn't keep up with this.

This is how you waterproof a finger wound.

That's a finger bandage, the pinky of a rubber glove and some packing tape.
It worked pretty well.

This kitty needs a loving home, she's spayed and very cute, playful and loving. Sounds like every pet.


She's spayed and got booster vaccines, she's sooo cute!!! Take her home!

No updates

Well I knew that I wouldn't keep up with this stupid thing. David is on tour, I got a dodo for Christmas, it was really exciting. I was gardening today. Re-potted some Sweat basil, planted Thai Basil, Tiger lillies, and Spinach. We shall see if the seeds grow. I'm still waiting for my Thyme, Cantaloupe, Morning Glory, Chives, Lettuce and Onions to sprout. Anyways, that is what is going on. I got an ice cream maker for Christmas. I want to make lychee ice cream and adzuki bean ice cream but there are recipes that call for egg yolks. I'm still searching for a good vegan recipe. Must get some arrowroot. OK, I'm done with this until next year.