More house guests

Here's another fella who really seems to like our house. I put it outside of the fence twice, but it kept making its way back to the patio furniture. So I left it there. I figure it'll leave when it leaves.



I've also seen the dogs chasing a BIG iguana, who runs the length of the back fence and into a drainage hole in the yard. My guess is that he's about 18 inches or so long (tail included, of course). And he's fast. So I haven't been able to get a picture of him. But neither have the dogs been able to catch him. We still can't figure out where he's coming from or why he runs inside the yard, when there is nothing but coffee fields just outside the fence. Maybe he's playing with the dogs.

Speaking of coffee fields, here is the view from our backyard. You can see all the way to the mountains where we used to live on the other side of the valley. Right now, the only things back there are sugar cane and coffee fields, with some banana and other trees scattered around. But it looks like a new development is happening on the right side, about a mile or so from here. I don't know if you can see it in this picture.

Family portraits

In case you've ever wondered what we (esposo, son and I) look like, here are a few family portraits son and I created, thanks to the Wildlife Conservation Society and NY Zoos.

This one is me, the Ibex-ho-octo-flam-tiger.


Here is esposo, who turns out to be an Ibex-ele-fro-at-rattlesnake. (And, dear? Our son gave you those ears, not me!)


And last but certainly not least, here is our son, the Pea-ele-conda-cra-fly-crocodile.

Genetically speaking, if esposo and I both have Ibex horns, son probably should have them also, but those peacock feathers must be a recessive gene. Like his blonde hair, I suppose.

Beware: Gas station scam

Watch out for this one: You pull into a station, tell the guy to put 10,000 (or whatever amount) in the tank, assume he's done what you asked for, give him the 10,000, and take off. Only you later realize he hasn't put barely anything in (because your tank is still just off empty), or you take a quick peek at the pump and it only reads 8,000 (which is what happened to us in Grecia a couple of days ago -- I'll get the name of the station and post it later). Luckily, esposo saw that he'd shorted us a couple of thousand and told him so, so he had to fill it up, being Costa Rican, as he was, making excuses the whole time. "Oh, gee, I didn't notice, sorry about that..." Yeah, right. Sorry you didn't get to pocket the extra $4. So check that the pump is on 0 when you go to get your gas (another scam is that they use a pump that already has a few thousand on it, don't zero it out, and you get shorted that way -- the Shell station in Escazu that got blown up was famous for that), and make sure they put in the amount you asked for. And then get your gas at a station that's reputable, especially near where you live. After all, gas costs the same in this country no matter where you buy it, so make sure you're getting what you pay for.

The new house

We've moved in, mostly. Boxes are yet to be unpacked (but getting there); the piles of clothes that need washing seem endless. But I like this house. I like the quiet (except for that asinine dog o'mine, Cheska, who barks at anything and everything the first week or so in a new house). I like the room. Even the lack of closets doesn't seem as big a deal as I thought it would be.

We actually had someone already living in the house when we moved in. A little bat of a species I haven't been able to identify was flying all over the place. We think it must have gotten in one day when they were airing out the house, and then couldn't find a way out. While esposo and I were trying to figure out a way to humanely catch the bat and release it outside, Kiki caught it and esposo had to get the tiny thing out of her clutches. We put the bat in a cat carrier with a baby blanket last night, and left the door open, and when it had flown out and roosted in a rafter, we thought it was going to be okay. But then this morning I noticed it was barely hanging on to life; its wing was damaged and it could only hold on by one foot. I put it back in the baby blanket and covered it up, and a few hours later it had crossed over the rainbow bridge. Poor baby. It was really a sweet little thing. I feel so sad. I wish we could have done something for it, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Ripe with photo ops

San Jose is just ripe with photo opportunities. The following, for instance, taken yesterday as we drove around doing errands. Ok, yes, some people may think you're crazy for taking pictures of them pushing their broken down mobile, but I say, who cares? Take your camera everywhere, you never know what you might find.

Here's a gigantic hole that covers most of the width of the street just down from Interlink, where we get our U.S. mail. Nice, huh? You could lose a small car in there. Definitely a bicycle or a young child.



Here's a fella in nothing but shorts and sunglasses being taken from the paddy wagon to the police station that's just kitty-corner to the Interlink office. Esposo says the guy was probably drunk.



Heading out of beautiful Cinco Esquinas and into La Uruca to get back on the highway toward Alajuela, we saw these poor guys pushing their brokedown ride during work traffic in the rain. That had to suck. (And do my eyes deceive me, or is that another Haunted Hyundai?!?)



When I worked as a schmuck on the morning news, we always ended the newscast with an upbeat story so that people could try to forget we'd fed them a load of shit for the previous 29 minutes. Here is that upbeat photo, then: my cat Boris, who finally came out of hiding and is now enjoying the new palace.