Planes, trains, and automobiles

We made it safely to Bocas del Toro, Panama!  I am writing this on our deck, with the ocean lapping the shores nearby.  We are staying in a cabin on stilts on the ocean.  Caleb and Claire are fishing off the dock, while Vern gets supper ready and I update our blog. 

Getting here was no small feat.  We started out on Thursday, knowing that we would need to get a good start in the morning on Friday to make it across the Panamanian border before it closed at 5pm.  This border crossing is known to be slow and confusing.  During our two days of travel (Thrs and Fri), we took a total of 10 “increments” of transportation to get here:  4x4 vehicle, bus, taxi to hotel, taxi to bus station, bus #1, bus #2 (because bus #1 was carrying burlap sacks of dried “plant material” not allowed across the border...?), a walk across dilapidated bridge at the border, van, boat, taxi! Count ‘em—that’s 10.  (John and Heidi—now you’re thinking that every dollar spent on our turismo van will be well spent, right!?! Yes!)

We were pretty exhausted and very thankful to arrive safely.  Thank-you for your prayers!  Considering everything, the kids were great travelers, and took it all in stride.  I have no doubt they are absorbing a lot as we drive through the cities, towns and countryside.  Nothing is sugar coated, so the message that not everyone lives as well as we do in Canada will never be better demonstrated without words.  In this context, my efforts at homeschooling on trips like this seem rather small.

Our hotel is a cultural experience.  The cabin itself is quaint and comfortable, and is nestled right in with the local fishing families who live on the ocean on houses on stilts.  So we get to see how they live—it’s a very colourful and sensory existence here.  You’ll see from our photos that I’ll add to the blog next week.  It doesn’t appear that the wealth of tourism is spread into the community.  I wonder what they think of living next to a hotel, with foreigners coming and going.  Cab drivers are often interested in talking to us about Canada, and always ask if we are from Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto.   

We are still learning not to take local advice too literally.  A restaurant with “great tacos” was recommended to us yesterday, so we found our way in the dark to the restaurant, only to eat tacos made with just shredded cabbage and cheese.  We also had a beach recommended to us today that we couldn’t really find.  Where we did end up swimming, we were rewarded by seeing several sting rays. 

Hah, a gecko just jumped onto my empty wine glass and is licking the edges.  They like wine too. J

  

Tomorrow we want to hit the produce market to buy some fresh food that we can eat in our kitchenette, and then we’re hoping to go kayaking out to the mangrove areas.  There’s a Smithsonian Institute nearby that we are also hoping to visit and tour this week.

Panama

We are leaving on a trip to Panama on Thursday (Feb. 23^rd) after the kids are done school for the day. We have to leave Costa Rica for a minimum of 3 days, in order to meet tourist Visa restrictions, which only allow us to stay for 90 consecutive days in Costa Rica.  Panama borders Costa Rica to the east.  We are staying on one of several islands on the Caribbean side of Panama called Bocas del Toro, which is known for its beaches, snorkeling, kayaking, maybe turtles, and other fun things to do and see.  If we have to leave the country, we thought we’d make it worth our time!  

Your prayers for safe bus travel and smooth bus connections and border crossing are appreciated!  We are back in San Gerardo de Dota on Friday, March 2^nd. 

Celebrations and Frustrations

As I write this, Claire and Caleb are attending the local Spanish elementary school.  That is a reason to celebrate, as it means they are brave enough to immerse themselves in something completely new.  It also means Vern and I have a few hours of freedom during the weekday mornings.  We put Caleb in the grade 1 class, since he would absolutely tower over the little Kindergartners here, who are just starting their school year and are naturally smaller in stature.  We figured it would be good for Claire and Caleb to be in the same class; it’s a one-room schoolhouse, so Grades 1-6 are in the same classroom!  This has turned out to be a good decision, so the kids are on the same schedule and Claire can help Caleb when he’s struggling.  Grades 1-3 start at 7am, which means we are walking to school by 6:40am!  The older grades start mid-morning.  There’s a Costa Rican Spanish teacher and an English teacher from the U.S. who’s volunteering here for the school year.  The subjects taught at the school are: math, English, Spanish, social studies, agriculture and science.  One day last week I arrived a bit early to pick up the kids so I sat outside the English class, only to hear Caleb squawking out the English alphabet 3x faster and louder than anyone else in the class….I guess it felt pretty good for him to finally know what he was supposed to do!

The school has a small courtyard in the middle for soccer and basketball, and there’s a very small play structure.  The kids get two recesses during the morning.  They are also served a hot lunch every school day at 10:45am; that’s a culinary adventure for Claire and Caleb!  Fridays are early dismissal….at 9:10am, after two hours of classes.  That’s truly an early dismissal time, considering some schools in Canada only start at 9am!  Caleb has been saying school is too long, so he liked early dismissal on Friday last week. 

Escuela la Lidia (apple/peach orchards in the background)

Claire and Caleb ready for their first day of spanish school.  Everyone wears navy and white uniforms.

We also celebrated Caleb’s 6^th birthday last week!  The first words out of his mouth were “I’m six!”.  He had a great day, complete with a water balloon fight, gifts from us and our neighbours, pizza and brownies.  To top it off, Mario and Laura invited Claire and Caleb over to watch a movie at their cabin in the evening.    

Caleb got water balloons for his birthday and enjoyed a water balloon fight with Claire and Julio.

We gave Caleb a boat craft for his birthday, which he enjoyed making and sailing on the small trout ponds around here.

Another reason we are celebrating is that we now have some Costa Rican wheels!  Our neighbours down the road had a friends’ car parked at their place for a few months and offered it to us.  We paid them to pick up a new battery for it, and we now have transportation around San Gerardo de Dota.  We can only use it in police-free San Gerardo, since it’s not registered or insured, and without any gas station in town we have the logistical issue of getting gas, so we won’t use the vehicle that much.  But it frees us up to go farther and to go out in the evening after dark.  The concept of walking everywhere you need to go in town sounds easy, but it’s been exhausting at times….there’s no such thing as a “quick errand”. We are happy to have a bit more freedom.  

I’ve mentioned we have very friendly, generous neighbours.  They invited us over for dinner the other night (one of our first evening excursions when we didn’t have to walk home in the dark b/c we had our own vehicle!) and we enjoyed a turkey dinner, complete with stuffing, wine, and tarts for dessert.  That felt like a celebration!   

One more celebration that I'll share—our family spent the weekend by ourselves at the field station as a change of pace.  The university students are on a trip to Nicaragua, so we moved in for a few days, with permission from the station manager and enjoyed extra space, nice kitchen with microwave! and the TV.  It was very enjoyable! (Interesting side note: we were woken up this morning at 5am to the sensation of our bed moving and the veranda doors clinking together!  We figure it was a small earth tremor!) 

Now for a frustration or two.  We’ve had water leaking from the one tap we have in our cabin, causing frequent flooding on the floor.  For many fix-it jobs, we are told “manana” (which is supposed to mean in the morning or tomorrow, but often doesn’t mean either!).  So Vern took matters into his own hands, and gave Mario the specifics of what type of tap we needed and offered to install it himself.  That didn’t go well (not Vern’s fault, but I won’t take the time to discuss plumbing details!).  After many hours in the cramped space under our sink, some advice from a neighbor, more plumbing parts from other neighbours, and being covered with goopy caulking and spider webs, we had a new faucet that doesn’t leak (nearly as much, anyways….).  Where’s Home Depot when you need it??!!  

A Big Grin

The other day Claire and Caleb were determined to walk by themselves down the road to the pulperia (tiny corner store) to buy a few eggs.  I gave Claire the appropriate Spanish phrase to use (“necesito ocho huevos, por favor”) and some money, and off they went.  Fifteen minutes later, I stepped out the door wondering if I could see them coming, and Claire proudly held up a plastic bag filled with 8 eggs—complete with a big grin!  The kind that says I Did It!

Last night, as I drove Mario’s vehicle by myself down the winding gravel road into San Gerado de Dota, I realized that I had a similar big grin on my face.  This was my first time driving a vehicle since December, so it was fun navigating the hair-pin turns in the dark J.     

I spent the day with Mario and his family yesterday, running errands in San Jose.  His wife and daughter are back from a long holiday, and needed to do some back-to-school errands in the city before school starts tomorrow.  I went along for a change of pace and to buy staples at the Costa Rican version of Costco.  We left at 7am for the two hour drive to San Jose; Claire and Caleb woke up just in time to say goodbye to me before I left. 

After a winding trip to San Jose and a stop for a typical breakfast—rice and beans, chicken, and of course great coffee!—Mario dropped me off at the Costa Rican Costco, so I could shop while his family did their errands.  I received a few funny looks at the store when I loaded all of my many groceries into a large suitcase that I could pull behind me while I found a nearby spot to read and wait for them to pick me up.  Never mind the fact that I tried to use Mario’s membership card, and I’m clearly not Mario (which didn’t make the manager happy, so I flashed my VISA, which worked like a charm!).  

Several hours later, they picked me up with my load of groceries.  After an additional hour or more of driving through winding streets, and numerous stops and errands, Mario and I headed back in the direction of San Gerardo.  He’d dropped off his daughter in the city of Cartago where she goes to high school, and his wife Laura stayed in San Jose for an appointment.  On the way, he asked me if I drive a car in Canada.  Sure, I replied, without much thought.  When we reached the turn-off to the gravel road down to San Gerardo, he hopped out and indicated that he needed me to drive his vehicle down to the village so he could drive his quad, which happened to be parked there. I thought it was funny that he didn’t ask if I drive standard.    

So that’s how I ended up driving Mario’s vehicle by myself in the dark down the scariest road I’ve ever driven, with a big grin (never mind that the “Check Engine” light went on, half-way down the mountain!).  Thanks for your prayers, Mom and Dad!

 

Claire and Caleb having lunch with Erica, the daughter of Mario (who we rent our cabin from).  The kids adore Erica, since she gives them so much attention and enjoys feeding them; unfortunately, she lives in another city to go to school. 



Lunch with Mario and his wife Laura (who's from Vancouver, but has lived in Costa Rica most of her life). We are blessed with wonderful people around us here.   

“Casa de Queso” and our Quest for Cheese

I promise not all of our blog entries will be about food….

As I’ve mentioned, San Gerardo de Dota does not have a Superstore; nowhere to one-stop-shop, that’s for sure! The local “pulperia” is maybe the equivalent of a Mac’s, but even that is generous, since there certainly are no 4L jugs of milk or slurpees.     

So to actually have all the food you need for a certain recipe on hand, takes some planning, even for something as simple as grilled cheese for lunch.  Cheese is even more difficult for us to get than milk, since milk comes in room-temperature tetra packs that are easily transported.  And we can't exactly ask our friends who occasionally go to the city and pick up food for us to arrange their travels so as to bring us fresh cheese. 

We’d heard through the grapevine of a guy down the road who makes cheese (and whose house was nicknamed “casa de queso” [house of cheese] by a student at the field station).  That sounded promising to us, so we were willing to give it a try.  We walked there yesterday.  Turns out this guy lives at the very end of the San Gerardo road, making it quite the trek to get cheese!  We’d failed to plan ahead and bring headlamps, so we ended up walking back in the dark.  But we now have cheese—a 1-kg soft, white brick of homemade cheese.  It’s quite different from the hard, orange cheddar we are used to in Canada, but I’m crossing my finger that the kids will eat it. 

On another note:

The anticipation of February 8^th has taken on mythical proportions around here, at least in the mind of a certain boy in our family.  Not only is it his 6^th birthday, it also happens to be his 100^th day of Kindergarten (which they are celebrating in his classroom back home too), and we now know it’s the first day of elementary school here after the Costa Rican summer holidays.  Can we pile anything else into that day?!  That’s not your average birthday.  I’ve promised to bake brownies for his birthday cake, now that I have acquired some very coveted cocoa powder.  

Just a nice photo....