Don Alejo, the Orchid Yoda

A couple of weeks ago we discovered a great nursery right here in Los Altos de San Isidro of Atenas.  Our handyman, Julio, had recommended us to visit the nursery.  The owner, Alejo Campos is one of the most passionate people about orchids I have ever met.  He, his wife and daughter run the family nursery and he tends to his hundreds of orchids.  Each orchid is like a child of his and his passion shines through his eyes and stories when he tells you about each variety.  He said he never had the opportunity to study in school, but his wealth of knowledge is certainly worthy of a master's degree in cultivating orchids and many other plants.  We love visiting the nursery not only because of the wonderful variety of plants, but also because of the warmth of the family.

It was also such a funny coincidence that our friends who accompanied us to the nursery were in search of the exact same plant we were looking for as well.  The plant is known as a Jabuticaba.  We both arrived at the nursery unaware of the plant's name we had both written on a small piece of paper.  When we both pulled out our papers to ask about the availability, we discovered we had the same name written.  Fortunately for us both, we were able to purchase the plant and are now anxiously awaiting the fruit the small tree produces, something akin to a grape.

Brahamas, Iguanas, Strange Amphibians

Burping brahamas, petunia eating iguanas, and Texas size earthworms that are really amphibians...that pretty much sums up the last two weeks.

The other day while on our morning walk, we heard the strangest bellering from some cows or four legged type cow critters.  Anyway, I remarked to our neighbor that I had never heard such strange noises from a cow.  He responded that those noises were nothing compared to the noises he heard one night.  He said when he had first moved to the neighborhood here he heard some very odd sounds one very early morning.  He got up in his scivvies to explore the origin only to discover burping brahamas over his fence near his bedroom window!  Seriously?  I have yet to verify this phenomenon, but it does sound intriguing.

Now, about those petunia eating iguanas.  I purchased some beautiful petunias to put in three large planters next to our pool.  One of the planters is shaped like a big frog.  The plants were doing great and providing lots of color.  One day last week my dad, the Costa Rican sloth, was laying in his hammock and shouted that I should come see my petunias as they were quickly disappearing.  As I approached the planters I understood what my dad meant.  Right in front of him in the hammock was a big stinkin iguana making a lunch buffet out of all of the flowers off the petunia plants.   Plants actually bloom more profusely if you snip the dead flowers regularly.  So, in interest of living communal peace and harmony, I must find a way to communicate to Mr Iguana that he is welcome to come for buffet, but only after 5:00 pm.  This way, we can enjoy the flowers for the day and he can eat and prune at the same time.  

With all of the welcome heavy regular rain downpours we have had there have been apparent sightings of one of the most oddball critters we have encountered.  Unfortunately, our encounter was with the critter's remains rather than alive.  Apparently, there is an amphibian that looks more like a snake or Jurassic park size earthworm that periodically comes out during the heavy rains.  Our neighbor, John, informed me that the name of the amphibian is a purple caecilian.

We also had the opportunity to visit the farmer's market in Alajuela yesterday with our neighbors from Texas who just returned to Atenas last week.  The market is the largest of it's kind in Costa Rica.  We had a great time exploring all the stands and even tried out some new exotic fruits.  We purchased a big slice of soursop (Guanabana) since my hubby has been wanting to try this super fruit.  I made some sherbert out of the piece which was enjoyed by all of us this afternoon.  The sherbert tasted sweet and sour and had very aromatic smell.  I felt it was a great palate cleanser.

Obama visits on my birthday...sort of.

Today was the first of what I hope to be many more memorable birthdays in Costa Rica.  I received the best birthday present a week early this year when my dad came through his pacemaker installation with flying colors.

He was supposed to have his followup appointment today with the cardiologist, but due to the arrival of President Obama in Costa Rica, the appointment was rescheduled for Tuesday.

It was ironic that we got to be closer to the U.S. president today than we ever did when we lived in Texas!  Air Force One flew by at almost eye level from our front yard which allowed us all to see the unique plane in it's majestic glory.  The flight path for commercial flights landing at the Juan Santamaria airport is right in front of our house so we get to see the flights daily as they arrive.  Today was definitely different since we did not see any flights this morning arriving, except for Air Force One.

Costa Rica is such a small country that every security resource has been allocated for the security of Mr Obama as well as the other Central American leaders that have gathered in San Jose.

From what I have read, the last U.S. president to visit Costa Rica was Bill Clinton in 1997, so it has been a long time and now it happens on my birthday!

The military planes had been flying in for at least for a couple of weeks so now that the big day is here, the city of San Jose is pretty chaotic and locked down in all areas where President Obama is scheduled to appear.  It is good to live where we are about 30 miles from the mayhem.

For us, it was a nice relaxing day to spend having a nice lunch with two of our new great friends enjoying baked chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and pinto beans.  Okay, so the meal was not traditional Tico cuisine, but we figured it would be nice to have a taste of our old homeland for a change.