Everyone Returns to Monte Azul...

Even the animals.

Since we began construction at Monte Azul in June 2006, we have seen a lot of people come and go. The one thing that we always here is "I will definitley be back" We have found this to be true with our friends, family, artists and hotel guests. Now it has happened with animals too.

In July of 2006 we bought our first 2 horses, Taquilla and Grillo. They have been 2 great work horses and trail horses for our guests. At times they seemed to be more like big dogs than horses. The follow you around and beg for food, especially Grillo. In 2007 we added Marcel and earlier this year we added Moon Pie to our family of tour horses.

Unfortunately, Grillo didn't much care for the new family additions and started to misbehave a bit. He is a farm work horse and needed much more individual attention than we could give him. He became a bit "roudy " and needed an experienced horse rider to handle him. So we made a trade with his original owner for an easier going horse much better suited to Monte Azul's needs and those of our guests. The new horse is Rayo.

Grillo is much happier being in a "one horse show". Or so we thought. Two weeks after the horse trade, Carlos and I were walking up to the road and passed the horse pasture. There stood Grillo in the road waiting for us. He had come back to Monte Azul to visit his old friends and perhaps get a snack. The amazing part is that his original home is 5+ kilometers (3.5 miles) up the valley. He traveled through 2 towns ansd made several turns to get to Monte Azul. It appears that horses, or at least Grillo, have a keen sense of direction.

Grillo stayed the afternoon visiting and eating several bananas and guavas before returning to his original owner. It is always nice to see old friends and have people and animals return to Monte Azul. I look forward to all of our new and old frieneds coming back whether they be man or beast.

Here is a picture of Grillo with his riding outfit from 2009 and a picture of him wandering through the studio construction site looking for snacks in 2006.

The Vultures Have Landed

In the last few weeks the vultures have taken up roost in the trees at Casa Palo Alto. A group of these large birds has decided that the trees on the hill just above Casa Palo Alto are a great place to spend the day resting, drying their feathers and taking in the sights and smells of Monte Azul and Chimirol.

Although they look like something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, these birds are quite interesting. In Spanish they are called Zopilotes or Gallinazo, both very exotic sounding names. These birds belong to the Family Catharditae. They are very large, about 25" long and are often mistaken for hawks as they soar in search of carrion. You can only identify them by sight. They do not have any vocalizations.

They have a highly developed sense of smell which they use to locate their food. Other genera of vultures can locate carrion by sight not smell. Casa Palo Alto is a great place to roost if you rely on smells. The breezes come up the mountainside and carry with it the smell of potential meals. Smells that are completely undetectable by humans and can be miles away.

It is relaxing and mesmerizing to just sit on the terrace at Casa Palo Alto watching these grand and beautiful birds come and go, congregate in the trees and jostle for the best branch. The zopliotes are just one of 240 sepcies of birds that have been indentified at Monte Azul.

For more information, check out these links.

http://www.govisitcostarica.co.cr/travelinfo/photoLg.asp?phID=35

http://www.1-costaricalink.com/costa_rica_information/vultures.htm

Desfiles de Faroles – The Parade of Lanterns

September 15, 2009 marks the 188th anniversary of Independence Day in Costa Rica. In 1821, Costa Rica, along with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua (the 5 provinces that formed the Central American Federation) gained independence from Spain. Freedom was declared in Guatemala and began to spread. The news did not arrive in Costa Rica until almost 1 month later – October 13th. Even after the news arrived, Costa Rica did not officially receive its own independence until after a peaceful meeting with the Spanish army on October 29, 1821. However, September 15th is the official Independence Day.

The tradition of the faroles began in Guatemala the evening of September 14th and can be attributed to Dolores Bedoya who ran through the streets of a small town in Guatemala carrying a lantern or farol and shouting “Viva la patria” “Viva la libertad”. She was spreading the news of this independence and calling her fellow townspeople and countrymen to join her in the streets. Lanterns were used because none of these cities or towns had electricity at the time.

This tradition of parading through the streets has been carried out year after year in every small town and city in Costa Rica to reconfirm and declare the continued freedom from foreign rule. However, it was in 1953 that the tradition was officially moved to the local schools and the starting time of 6 PM began.

Children are the centerpiece of the celebration. Children learn to make the faroles in school and at home using all types of materials. The designs can range from simple boxes with Costa Rican designs to elaborate houses with intricate details. All of them include a candle for illumination. For instructions on how to make a simple farol, visit:

http://www.museocostarica.go.cr/en_en/recreo/farol-de-carreta.html

The festival includes traditional dances, the parade of the lanterns and the singing of the national anthem. Like all Costa Rican festivals, there is music and lots of food that is made and sold by the local women including the traditional tamales. If you are ever in Costa Rica on September 14th, I urge you to attend one of these celebrations. I was lucky enough this year to receive one of the faroles as a gift which wuill become part of Monte Azul's permanent art collection. It is a large farol featuring 2 oxen and an ox cart with cut outs of Costa Rica's national icons: a Guanacaste tree (national tree), a yiguirro (national bird), a Guaria Morada (the national orchid) and the Costa Rican flag.

Like everywhere in this country, all people are welcome. Independence Day here is not just about Costa Rica’s independence from Spain but also about people being free everywhere in the world – Viva la patria! Viva la libertad!

Feet or Meters?

The answer is both - there is third option no one warned me about… I’ll get to that in a moment. It is necessary to learn and become comfortable with both the metric system and the old standard of miles, yards, feet, inches, pounds, ounces, gallons, quarts and pints. For a US citizen, the later is second nature but the metric system unfortunately is not on the same level of familiarity. I can remember when the metric system was first marketed to the American public by the US government. I was in 7th grade and it was introduced to us in school. There was a concerted effort to incorporate it into all our classes and eventually our daily lives. It was the new standard and would have to be learned – there was no choice. The old system was going to be archaic and we couldn’t take the chance of being left behind. My mother and aunt even came to school and took a class to learn this new system. As an aside, this still hasn’t happened.

30+ years later, the US is still in the same place, trying to learn the system. It is true that there are places where the metric system is the standard, such as the sciences and manufacturing. However, in our day to day lives it is our old friend the foot, pound and gallon that prevail. Yes, we pay “lip service” to the metric system. We put the # of liters on a gallon of milk or on a 20 oz. bottle of Diet Coke but no one ever goes to the supermarket and orders ½ kilo of hamburger. The only example of a metric only item that I can think of is the 2 liter bottle of soda. I am not sure how this item slipped into our lives unnoticed.

Having a background in the sciences, I know the metric system. It is easy to learn and understand and a very standardized unit of measurement across all units: weight, volume and length. The problem for me in Costa Rica has been 2 fold: conversion and knowing which system to use.

The conversion issue is simply one of math. No one wants to have to divide by a number with 2 decimal places especially without a calculator. The trick is to carry around a calculator. It is a dead give away that you are a foreigner. But then, so is my overall appearance. There aren’t a lot of natives that are 6’3” (or should I say 1.91 meters) blonde and blue eyed.

Anyway, the need to convert from metric to the US system is really one of value. We are paying 540 colones for a liter of gas. How does this compare to the US and what we are used to paying? Is it expensive or cheap? It turns out to be $3.50/gallon – YIKES! This is worse than California. The day to day conversion is easy. Soon, I hope to just know the relative value and will not have to “do the math”. I must admit that I use online conversion sites when I am at home. This site is good:

http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm

The other issue is know which system to use. This has been a big factor in designing and building a house here. I designed the building the old fashioned way using drafting paper, a ruler and a pencil. It was all done in feet. Then, the plan was turned over to engineers to convert it to a plan that could b e approved by the College of Engineers. This was done in meters. This was easy enough.

The problems started to arise when purchasing materials for the house. The type of material determines the unit of measurement. Electric wire is sold in meters, nails are sold by the kilo but the sizes are in inches, plywood is sold in 4’x8’ sheets, pipe diameters are in inches but the lengths are in meters, metal columns have metric length and width but the thickness is in inches. It is all just a guessing game. You just have to learn what measurement goes with which item. And if some of the metric measurements seem strange, they are most likely simply a conversion from feet. For example, a sheet of drywall is 122 cm x 244 cm. This is simply a 4’x8’ sheet. Kitchen cabinet widths are also conversions from inches. That 92cm cabinet is a 36” cabinet.

Just when you think you have it all figured out, there is another unit of measurement – the vara. This is an old unit of measurement that is still used for wood lengths. A vara is approximately 84 cm or about 2.8 feet. A standard unit of length when ordering wood is 4 varas - or somewhere between 11 and 12 feet. This is a hold over from when theSpaniards ruled Costa Rica. For more infor checkout:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolete_Spanish_and_Portuguese_units_of_measurement#Vara
The other interesting thing regarding wood measurements is the dimensions. Wood is sold in standard US sizes such as a 2x4. In the US this 2x4 is actually 1.5” x 3.5”. In Costa Rica, the actual dimension is 2” x 4”. This makes a big difference when constructing a building. And for a cost per unit comparison, the Costa Rican 2x4 is 52% more wood than the US equivalent. Now I am getting just too complicated. Bring a calculator and good luck.

Paper or Plastic? How About Neither

Living in a country that prides itself on being eco-friendly, it is nice to see that a long standing non-green tradition in Costa Rica has begun to change. Historically, Costa Rica never had the decades of paper bags and then the option of paper or plastic when shopping. Pre mid-1980s, shoppers usually brought their own bags or the items purchased were wrapped in paper at your local pulperia to take home. Then, came the advent of the ubiquitous plastic bag.

Like the rest of the world, Costa Ricans quickly embraced this inexpensive plastic option. Soon everything was put into plastic bags: groceries, a bag of nails at the hardware store, laundry, a gallon of paint (paint cans in Costa Rica do not include handles for some unknown reason) a single can of soda, take-out food, etc. Costa Ricans instantly learned to put things in bags and tie them up. Buy a can of Coke at a pulperia and they put it in a small plastic bag, securely tied, with a straw in it.

Data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 on U.S. plastic bag, sack, and wrap consumption, estimated somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year (an impossible number to visualize).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html

One unique thing about the use of these plastic bags is what I call the Coast Rican Knot. This is one of those knots that I have never seen or experienced anywhere else but here. This “knotting” was one of those things that you didn’t think about until it was done. I kept telling myself that I would remember to ask the clerk not to tie the bags but it was always too late by the time I thought of it. I was usually in the car or at home facing the insidious knots. You are probably thinking “what is the big deal, just untie it”. I cannot tell you how many times that I struggled to get these knots untied. It is not your typical knot but some secret Costa Rican knot passed down through the generations. Is it one of those things learned from childhood? Does being able to untie one of these knots as an adult prove that you are really Costa Rican? Are all extranjeros (foreigners) doomed to rip the bags to shreds or cut the knots out in order to open these bags?

I cursed these knots constantly. It was a real challenge trying to get one of these knots undone when the bag contains very hot roasted chicken or a bag of nuts. You couldn’t simply tear the bag open without the contents spilling out. I would be fighting with a knot when Carlos, my Costa Rican partner, would walk up and undo the knot with ease. He would give me that smirky smile and say that I must have loosened it for him. He knew that I would never be able to master these knots. The secret to these knots is still safely hidden within his brain and fingers and he has yet to reveal this Costa Rican secret.

But I digress. My solution to this dilemma of the Costa Rican Knot and the use of plastic bags has been to take my own cloth bags whenever I shop. Not only does this solve the “unknotting” issue but it is much more eco-friendly. No more plastic bags for me or Monte Azul.

I am happy to see that so many other people here are rejecting these plastic bags as well and embracing a greener option. The last time I took the bus from San Isidro to San Jose I witnessed a dialog between a passenger and store clerk that is becoming more and more common place. At the midway point of the trip the bus makes a pit stop and everyone gets off and buys a snack. The woman in line in front of me bought a soda and 2 bags of chips, The clerk proceeded to put the soda in one plastic bag and the chips in the other. She quickly stopped him, politely admonished him for being wasteful, smiled and carried her purchases away without a bag.

As time goes by, I see this scene being played out more often and see more and more people bringing their own reusable bags with them. Once again, Costa Ricans are embracing the protection of the naturaleza one reusable bag at a time.