Critters

March 7, 2009

Well it has been a busy, critter filled couple of weeks here in sunny Costa Rica. The other evening Andy and I were sitting on the veranda by the pool talking when Bella came out of the house behind us and casually remarked, "Mom and Dad, there is a big spider next to you." She went on about her way and we really were only half listening but Andy turned and there was this huge tarantula on the ground next to us! Yikes! Some days you kind of forget you are in the tropics until something like this pops out to remind you!

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Last week I gathered the dirty clothes from the casita in my arms and carried them back to the house and when I had put them all in the machine, there sat a scorpion right on top of Christiana's sports bra, arrgh! I know they are my zodiac sign but they are the creepiest looking things and thank goodness it did not sting me while I was unknowingly relocating it! The winds are still blowing and the water has suddenly turned very cold with the upwelling. It is so dry that brush fires have been burning on all the hills around here, driving all these critters out. Monday night Andy battled the fire that burned behind our house for most of the night. It is amazing to see how fast the new growth begins but I don't think anything will grow in earnest until the rains begin again. In the meantime the orange lines of fire provide our nighttime entertainment and I keep singing to myself, "How can we dance when our earth is turning; How do we sleep while our beds are burning?"

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Well, one of the 99 reasons we jokingly gave last year when the 99th person asked us why we were moving to Costa Rica has come to pass. "Cheap plastic surgery," was my answer and last weekend I got my first implant! Yes, it's true. But not very centerfold-ish. Even though breast implants draw your gaze everywhere you go here, forcing me to bite my tongue before it says, "Nice boobs, did you get those here?" Mine, alas, is not so eye-catching, located a little higher up and of a singular variety in my mouth. Boring and necessary, I won't regale you with my tales of pain and misery from the past week. My smile is a bit compromised for the next 2 months with a new temporary tooth that is shorter than my old one so I don't bite on it and cause it to fall out as it is only glued in while my implant heals and I am having to relearn the "f" word, I mean sound, with this new little space in my mouth but at least I am not all stitched up like the bride of Frankenstein following a facelift. I won't attach a photo! And it does cost a fraction of what it would set us back in the States.

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I have been substitute teaching all week in second grade and it has been fun to be back in the classroom after many years. My class are mostly native Spanish speakers, one is French, the rest are Americans and the cultural diversity makes for an interesting day. Bella started taking hip hop lessons in addition to ballet. Isaiah is learning to alternate breathe while swimming which I love to see! Perhaps another Save the Bay swimmer is emerging! Micah, nicknamed the baconater, has not been frying meat shirtless this week and I keep thinking of writing about the perils of cooking in a bikini as we all wear as few clothes as possible around here. Christiana, Andy and I started scuba lessons and they both had their first thrilling experience of breathing underwater last Sunday! I am renewing my training as I lost my scuba card years ago and hope the ocean will warm up by the time we are ready to venture forth in our flippers from the confines of the pool!

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I hate to jinx him, but Andy actually had news that our truck may be released this week! For those of you not following the continued saga of the "black panther," our truck has been impounded since November in a secured lot at the Nicaraguan border, Penas Blanca, yes, that's correct, we call in Penis Blanca, the white penis also, while the Costa Rican aduana has tried to extort as much money from us as they can. Who can blame them really? So we have rented a series of BeGo's, zipping our family around in a tiny 5 passenger economy car while they have probably been slowly stripping our truck of all its parts! Stay tuned for the next thrilling edition of the Black Panther does Penas Blanca. And say a prayer for us!

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Ciao for now!