Earthlings, Angels & Aliens

A Multiple Choice Love story.  (Choose your favorite word from within the brackets) We meet a new couple, about our age. "Hello." "(Hello, Hola, Howdy)." "Where are you from?" "(The Divided States (55%), Alemania (25%), Canada (20%)), but we are living here now." "Wow! How long have you been here?" "We came down here on our honeymoon (2, 3, 4) years ago. We thought we'd travel around, but when we saw this place we knew this was it and bought here." "Amazing!" "We are on top of a mountain, just turn up the hill past (the blue church, the third bridge from town, the touristy café). The view is spectacular!" But what is not said is that the road has a 800 meter vertical change in elevation and is "pura shit-a." "You should come over." We accept. Later in the week and early in the day we arrive vowing never to travel their road again, because it almost took out the (transmission, clutch...

 We've turned into bird watchers: And a couple of "La Cucarachas" When we rented our car, the rental agency noticed that my driver's license expires at the end of the month. Normally that is not a big deal because everything is online, but it was also time to renew my photo, which must be done in person. Unfortunately the 1-800 number doesn't work here, but fortunately our phone plan here allowed a direct 306 call and I was able to get a 90-day extension.  Whew! Nothing like driving around with an expired license in a foreign country. At one point I thought of using this one from the Alien Restaurant here in town: We've been looking at real estate here - as part of the whole holiday plan.  There are lots of properties for sale.  People from our travels elsewhere keep telling us: It's easy to buy, but difficult to sell. I think it's good we are down here for a while just to see if it's something we can imagine ourselves doing. So far the answer is, ...

What the locals call a Broccoli tree. Myra purchased tix yesterday online for the Mistico Hanging Bridges near La Fortuna. Google maps indicated the distance as a 40-minute drive. We hoped a reasonable contingency would be to leave an hour ahead of time. We ended up with 10 minutes to spare.  Lots and lots of rain. There is an extravagant 10cm shoulder on the highways here. No guardrails. And one-way bridges around blind corners. Just to name the big differences. And an improved driving experience... When Myra and I drive in dense traffic (interpret that as you like) we have some key phrases to get us into traffic flow: "Busy, Window, Clear." Needless to say we trust each other with our lives. Now we've added some new key words: "Gentle turn, Tight turn" (slow down), "Hairpin" (shift-down), and the extreme, "Switchback" (first gear). It's amazing how an extra set of eyes on Waze (or Google Maps) to describe the upcoming turn can help so m...

Between the Merlin bird ID app and Myra's eagle-eyes, we've managed to see a number of exotic birds. Here are screenshots from the Merlin Bird ID of what we've seen so far. Beautiful to see but, a squeaky-wheel call. My Guitar The humidity here (its been raining steady for four days now) is so high that my guitar is a soggy tooth pick. High-E buzzes regardless of where my fingers are. Oh well. Its a lovely rain when you can stay dry. Ok, its starting to grate. This video is loud... Car Rentals Our original appointment with one company was cancelled because they ran out of, what they called "well-loved" cars (a.k.a. very old). A man in the restaurant had over heard us talking and asked if he could provide us a car . As the conversation unfolded: he's from Quebec, nothing wrong with that; has a car coming out of the repair shop soon, all his offerings are very old - vintage  circa 2000; and he had no business license. Thank you, we'll keep you in mind (not t...

By fluke I managed a picture of the sunrise from 37,000 feet, somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico. Our driver Kuki stopped at a road side Soda for a refreshing coconut drink. In spite of technology's ability to throw me into a frothing rant, I am thankful for Google Translate because it was nice to be able to use it to cover the major gaps in my espanol during our conversation from the airport.   Lush, and I don't meaning drunk! Everywhere we look its strong healthy vegetation. The weather here is how I remember Calgary and Newfoundland; If you don't like it, wait a minute. In under an hour you can have sultry warm sunshine, misty rain, a torrential downpour or a gentle nor-wester. Notice I didn't say snow?  We can see the lake from our Lake Gardens Villa.  The town of Nuevo Arenal has a classic Central American feel to it.  The market has great fresh produce and all sorts of staple foods: wine, cheese, rice, beans, taco chips.  The humidity must be close to ...