Still Sick

The last blog update had us meeting our friends on the beach for a cookout.  By the time our friends arrived, the winds had picked up and it started to rain.  So much for the cookout on the beach.

It was pretty funny though at one point.  Now bare in mind, the temps were still 25-27 (80-84) and the wind was actually really refreshing.  One of the young girls with our group, stood up, wrapped her arms around herself, and declared that she was freezing!  I thought, sweetheart, you don’t have a clue what freezing is.

I wasn’t feeling the greatest at this point; so we headed home.  I won’t go into details, but by Sunday I was having dry heaves and pretty much felt like crap. 

Mike wasn’t feeling much better and at first we thought it was something that we ate.  A few days later, we thought maybe we had picked up a virus or something.

We stayed pretty close to the condo for the next few days; but finally on the Saturday of the Easter weekend, we headed downtown. 

There were 1000’s of people walking the streets of downtown.  Thought the week of Christmas was busy, but nothing compared to this weekend.  We stopped and said hello to a few of our friends; had a burger at Papas and then headed to the beach.

A few weeks before, you could have counted the people on the beach; a huge contrast to the amount of people out this day.  The tide was also in, which made the beach even smaller.  It seemed like the majority of the people were teenagers to late 20’s. 

People playing games, having cookouts, surfing, playing in the waves.  Every direction you looked, there were people… and lots of them.  I personally prefer it when the beach is almost empty.

Still feeling crummy, we headed off to the clinic this past Tuesday and by Thursday afternoon, it was confirmed that we both picked up a parasite.  Great!  We started the 10 days of medication last night; and with any luck, we’ll start to feel better sooner than later. 

When we got home on Tuesday from the clinic, we had a tucan land on a branch right off the balcony.  It was pretty cool.  And we even got a picture of it.  

As a result of our being sick, we’re going to stay in the condo for an extra 3 nights.  We’ll hopefully still have a chance to go to Arenal Volcano for the weekend, before heading home on Tuesday.


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The Sights and Sounds of Nature

Mike has been having some issues with his hernia; my foot is still sore; and this past week, we’ve both been battling some kind of “stomach flu”.  If we’re not over it later this week; we’ll head to the clinic and see if we’ve picked up a virus, or worse a parasite.

As a result of so much “down” time; we’ve spent a lot of time on our balcony over these past 6 months.  Talking, discussing our future, and enjoying the sights and sounds of nature.

Too many of us don’t ever stop to “smell the roses” and it’s amazing the show that is being put on around you, if you only stop to notice.

Here’s some of the amazing things that we’ve seen and heard off of our balcony.

Before coming to Costa Rica, I’m not sure if I really knew what a macaw was.  Well, after having them fly over us, almost daily, for the past 5 months… I do now! 

They almost always travel in pairs, squawking the whole way; and they have beautiful brilliant colours on their backs and wings.

Almost every morning, we have a squirrel who makes his way from one almond tree to the other; and it’s quite the process watching it eat.

A few weeks ago; a beetle landed on a leaf right in front of the balcony.  I grabbed the binoculars, and quickly discovered that she was in labour.  Watched her for almost 3 hours; and eventually there was a line of tiny white eggs.  She quickly gathered them up; as a group of ants were quickly moving in on her; and away she flew. 

We also had a few leaf cutter ant colonies; and it was quite amazing to watch them devour a huge leaf within a matter of hours; leaving nothing but the stem.

Most days, we have a hummingbird flying around; we’ve had 2 turtle doves land on our railing; and we seem to have a resident motmot that likes to live in the tree in front.  Yesterday, we had a group of 4 tiny brilliant green birds fly past us; we think they were either budgies or parakeets. 

We have also heard the noisiest sicadas… ever!  We thought the sicadas at home were noisy; but they ain’t got nothing on the sicadas that we’ve had here.  From dusk up to an hour; there were half a dozen of them right near our balcony; and talk about loud… Sounded like chain saws choking and sputtering, and then this high pitched screech that went on for a few seconds; before starting all over again.  Glad that they’ve moved on; now we get to listen to the frogs and crickets instead.

We have also been entertained countless times by mother nature’s fireworks.  The manmade fireworks that we enjoyed between Christmas and New Years, were nice, but nothing compared to the lightning shows that we’ve had right in front of us.

For a couple of people who love to watch a lightning show, it’s been a pretty nice place to do it.  We’ve only been chased off the balcony twice due to heavy rain, but most nights we’re able to sit out there without getting wet.

So, even though we’ve both been sick from time to time over this past winter, we picked a heck of a nice place to do it!  And got to see some things that were new to both of us.

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Playing in the Waves... Again

Bright and early on Wednesday morning, Joey and his friend Kevin picked us up and off to Hermosa beach we went for another morning of surfing and playing in the waves.

Along the way, we stopped and picked up another friend, Augie, and then we continued to the beach.

We parked the SUV at a friends place in a beautiful gated community.  Got a little glimpse again at how the very wealthy live.  The houses in this area are all well over a million.  With the Pacific Ocean, right out their back door… nice.

We found a log to sit on; and within a few minutes the guys were off surfing; and I was starting to take pictures.

There were a group of surfers up from us; so there was plenty to watch.  I walked along the beach for a little bit; taking pictures as I went.

Mike got a really bad burn on his back the last time he played in the ocean; so this time he kept a t-shirt on.  He played in the waves and managed to successfully body surf a few waves, before heading back in.

We were back to the condo late morning and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

On Thursday, Mike headed to the grocery store to get a few supplies.  Joey and Eida joined us for dinner.   I made shepherds pie and Eida brought a delicious avacado/pineapple salad. 

After dinner, we got out the cards and played some “high stakes” poker.  Since were weren’t playing for money, we “valued” the chips starting at a $1,000.  Eida had never played poker before… so of course she was the big winner. 

Joey and Eida also brought us a dream catcher wind chime from their store.  He had seen me looking at wind chimes earlier; and brought us one as a gift.  Very nice of them; and it’ll look great hanging from our rig’s awning this summer.  Thanks guys, it was very thoughtful of you.

And tonight, we’re meeting Joey, Eida and their friends for a cook out on the beach.  We’ll head down for the sunset; and then meet up with them.

We are really glad to have met such a nice couple; and look forward to spending some more time with them before we leave.  Which is quickly approaching.  We leave Jaco on May 4th and fly home on May 10th.

On a good note, Mike’s Aunt Marie is now out of the hospital and back at her own home.  Thanks for all the prayers that were being sent her way… it seems to have helped.

Rob is still deep in a coma, and could still use some extra prayers.

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Playing in the Waves

The mornings seem to be the nicest and sunniest part of the day.  The humidity hasn’t had a chance to build yet, and the skies are usually clear and sunny. 

When we got up yesterday, the sky was sunny and blue; and it seemed like a perfect day to spend some time at the beach.

We had a bag packed and were out the door shortly after 10.  Because of my foot, we’re now taking a cab both ways. 

The beach is very quiet these days; and there were only a handful of people down near the area where we chose to swim.

Mike headed out first; and within a few minutes lost one of his aqua shoes; found it; and lost it again.  After looking around for sometime, he gave up, body surfed a few waves, and then headed back to shore.

A few minutes later, it was my turn to play in the waves, and that’s when Mike’s shoe showed up!  How lucky to have found it twice.

While Mike watched our stuff, I played in the waves.  The water still felt like bath water; and it was a lot of fun.

A while later, we strolled along the beach; and then back out to the main road.  Stopped in to say hi to Joey and Eida; and after a bit, we headed to the Café Del Mar and all got a cool drink.

By this time, the humidity had really built up; and the skies were once again threatening.  Stopped and picked up a few supplies; and got back to the condo; to be entertained for hours by mother nature. 

We had an amazing lightning show right off our balcony.  No rain, very little wind, just a few rumblings of thunder. 

This morning, Joey picked us up shortly after 9 am to take us to some of his favourite surfing spots.  We went to Herradura first, but the waves weren’t very good, so up the road to the South end of Jaco we went. 

While Joey made his way down the cliff to the surf; I watched a couple of macaws having one heck of a squabble!  They were fighting over one branch; and both successfully pushed each other off.  A few more loud squabbles, and off they flew.

We watched Joey surf for about a half hour or so; before he dropped us at the condo.  The next few days are supposed to produce big waves, and he will give us a call the next time he’s going.

It’s a great way for us to see some new places around here; and get some local stories; plus watch Joey surf.  It’s a win win situation for us.

The thunder and rain that never materialized last night; showed up this afternoon.  And although the rain has stopped for now; the sky is still pretty threatening.

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The rest of Jenn's visit

The rest of Jenn’s visit just flew by.  We spent part of Tuesday in the pool, until the thunder and lightning started.  We made it back to the condo just as the skies opened up; and Jenn got her first tropical storm.  When the rain stopped, we headed up to the road, and continued to watch the lightning for quite some time.

Wednesday, we took a cab downtown; and stopped in to say hi to Joey and Eida and let them know how much we enjoyed the tranopy tour.

We stopped and said hello to our friend German, and he took us to see some iguana's.  Never saw that many iguana's together before.  They were all gathering at the back of the restaurant, getting leftover bits of vegetables etc.  We then continued along, stopping in a variety of stores along the way.  We then headed to Rustico’s for an early dinner; and then off to the beach we went.

Jenn isn’t much of an ocean swimmer; so while we played in the waves, she kept an eye on our stuff.  The water was a lot warmer than either of us thought it would be.  Almost felt like bath water. 

We played in the waves for about a half hour; and after being thrown around, slammed a few times; and tossed into the “washer machine”, a half hour was plenty, and I was happy to be heading back to shore.  I took one pretty hard wave to the side of my face.  I was just getting on my feet from the previous wave, when - bam!  Ouch!!  I had time to plug my nose, and for a minute there, I thought that maybe I had broken it from the force of the water; but thankfully I didn’t.

Thursday was spent hanging at the pool; and early this morning, Joey picked up Jenn and took her back to the airport.  All in all it was a nice visit.

Today marks a special anniversary for Mike.  He retired 5 years ago from Ford!  He doesn’t miss it one iota and hopes he gets as many years of pension as he did work.  Only 26 and a half more years to go.  And also related to this topic, Mike received his first Canada Pension Plan cheque!  Whoo hoo!!  After all those years of contributing to it; the government will now be putting money into his bank account every month. 

A medical update about Mike’s Aunt Marie, she is no longer in critical care; but she is still in the hospital; and could still use some prayers.

And 3 weeks ago tonight; Mike’s younger brother Rob, fell into a diabetic coma.  It’s been a rough time for all of his family; and our hearts go out to his daughter Emalynn and his wife Karen.  Any extra prayers and good energy that can be spared sure would be appreciated.

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