Tag: Costa Rica

Day of the Iguana

There is an abundance of iguanas in Costa Rica. It takes a while to get use to that fact. Actually, it takes a while to get use to all the wild life in Costa Rica. At one time, I felt as if I was living in the pages of a National Geographic Magazine. However, some of that feeling has dissipated, due to the development in the Guanacaste area where I live. And some of it is due to becoming accustomed to life in Central America.

One day, returning from a trip to Santa Cruz, the municipal seat of our area, a monster, blue iguana fell out of a tree and landed on the hood of our 76 Land Rover. Just a few more seconds and it would have been in my lap. That was terrifying. What are the odds of that happening?

Iguanas are a formidable looking, prehistoric-like, scaly, big lizard.

I have so many of them around my house, because I live on the edge of a farm. To the right of me is old Costa Rica; to the left, the new. For that reason, I have a lot of animals here on my little postage stamp property. Also, they love my garden and home. When I first put my garden in, I had to stack up rocks in preparation of defending my plants. Around three, every afternoon they would wake up and come out of their fallen logs, to eat my flowers. I was not going to let that happen. It actually was kind of fun. I didn’t really having anything better to do. It worked. All of my plants can fend for themselves now.

When I first lived in this house and the beams of the roof were still exposed, I could look up and see the tail of a brown lizard wrapped around the wood. He was up there and I was in my bed, so I just let it be. I ended up naming him Lynard, for Lynard Skynard, as I’m from the westside of Jacksonville. His presence was kind of comforting.

Eventually, Lynard left and was replaced by a bigger lizard. Now, I know it was a bigger lizard, because I saw it rather than just heard it, rustling around in the rafters.

When I pulled up in to the yard today, the dog was barking and the children were squealing, IGUANA, IGUANA!…. Meet my longtime house guest, whom I have no name for. He looks harmless and I’m sure he is, but I had a hard time walking around him to get in my door. They just look so creepy. He looked as if he would spring and attack, but I guess that wasn’t the case.

This freeloader was lassoed and escorted to the street.

This guy, who also posed for the top picture, has been circling my house for the last few days. He appears to be aggressive.

I think I need to put out a no vacancy~then I’ll have just enough time to go see the sunset!

Have a good day and have a GREAT year.

Surfing, Misplaced Christmas and a Weird New Year

First, I want to tell you, that two mornings ago, my friend Jeffro and I did a dawn patrol. We surfed alone, for probably thirty minutes. I have not experienced this in years.  It was awesome; the waves, the water, the sky, the coastline and no people to distract my focus. It was glassy, with an offshore wind.

My husband and I, used to surf, Playa Avellanas, by ourselves, quite a bit. I’ll never forget the day, we paddled out, at the river mouth, and I paddled right in to the first wave, of a clean up set. It had to be ten feet. I don’t expect that to ever happen again. I didn’t have time to think. I just went. And there was not one person out there for me to worry about hitting. In recent years, I’ve paddled and backed out of more than one wave; because there were a line of surfers, at the bottom of the wave, looking up at me. For years, we enjoyed surfing with an average of  twelve people in the water, in front of Lola’s, a local restaurant, which used to be Freddie’s. We had many days with two or three other people at the river mouth.

This is Jeffro.

I am so grateful for all of those days, in the water, with few people. Those were the days. And the older I get, the more I know, these are the “good ole days”. That kind of attitude goes a long way when your session is “invaded” by fifty people. That’s what happened two days ago. But I was happy. I got my waves and I got out. It was a great morning. Continue reading Surfing, Misplaced Christmas and a Weird New Year

With patience………………

With patience you possess your soul. Luke 21:19

I became aware of this scripture, in the Kings James Bible, with the help of a friend. I think of it often, because it rings true for me.  They are important words to me.

I was taught the concepts of “acceptance” and “cease fighting everyone and everything”, and these ideals have helped to re-create my life.

There’s another saying that was a guiding force for years.  “Patience and Perseverance” is the key to all success.

But they all seem to pale in comparison, to the promise, of possession of your soul, through the practice of patience.

Every day is fraught with opportunities to practice patience. Today  was a good one.

On our way to Playa Avellanas the surf sled broke down, on the side of the road. We were there for three hours. Fortunately, one of us is a good mechanic. We all new the swell was here, and we really wanted to get into the waves. But we stuck together and helped in the repair~~~Did your mother ever tell you, that you could really help,  by being quiet~~~~~~~

Our plight was made easier, by breaking down, right in front of a coffee shop.

This picture of my friends, brought to mind, images from my childhood. I would go with my mother to the closest, grocery store. We lived, “out”, and had to drive miles, for any conveniences. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I would guess nine or ten. There would often be kids sitting on the curb. I took these children to be street urchins, and I wanted to be one! In my mind, they portrayed freedom and independence, and that’s what I wanted.

There’s another saying,” be careful of what you wish for”.

After the car was repaired, which seemed sort of miraculous, by Costa Rican standards, my friends and I parted ways; not much worn for the wear. They went on to surf and I decided to start again tomorrow. I can wait.

That’s one of the great things about living in CR. The waves keep rolling in. I’m all about the saying, never leave good surf. However, today I never got there to leave it. So all is well.

The New American Standard Bible translates Luke 21: 19 into, ‘By your endurance, you will gain your life”.

That’s just not the same.

I wish Tom Sawyer were here and I could get his opinion.

What do you think?

Where is Grandma?

 Grandmas Gone Surfing

Grandma’s Gone Surfing. What a great title for a blog!

The GGS Blog, was my initial inspiration. There are five years of posts, written by a woman, who was not a grandma, but a mother, who had started surfing at the age of forty three. She was a good writer, with the heart and soul, of a surfer. Her writing style was intriguing. You always wanted to know what happened next. Continue reading Where is Grandma?

Saddling up surf sleds.

There was the 1976 Land Rover that I just had to have. It stayed broke down. At one point, I became convinced that the devil lived in the dashboard. Then there was the Yamaha dirt bike that had a rack on the side for our boards. That was tricky, because my husband and I both ride longboards. It was confiscated by the transit police, never to be seen by us again. That was followed by our beloved 1989 Toyota that we drove here from Florida. We made it last as long as we could, but it was doomed, by the “aduana”. He’s the immigration man that robbed our tax money. I’m not going to say I paid any bribes to drive that truck, but I drove it around for a few years until the police told us, “one more time, I see you in this truck and we have to take it!”. It went out to a more remote area and was eventually wrecked.

Buying and maintaining a vehicle is one of the most challenging aspects of surviving Costa Rica.

A long time ago, I began to equate vehicle to horses.

This is a mule. This is a darn good horse.

At this here hitching post, we keep em til they’re ready for the glue factory, or the law gets em, or they meet someother unforseen disaster.

We have to save our money for gas to get to the break.

By the way, I did get to surf today with one of my good friends. His car is, for real, called a Galloper.

Friends and cars in Costa Rica, both are worth their weight in gold.

Happy trails and we will trudge the road to our happy destiny, one car and one wave at a time.

Apropos

The suggested thought for the day, is ‘waiting’. That’s rather apropos, as I have been waiting to start this blog for about six months. There’s no time like the present, so here I am, Mama Cheri.

I am sitting in my small house in Costa Rica, waiting on our car to be fixed. The swell is here and there have been waves, all day long. Off shore winds are blowing and I am

 missing it.

Oh well. Continue reading Apropos