Waterfalls & other Wonders

Although life here in Monteverde is at a slower, more manageable pace, I feel like the days get away from me.  “Was it yesterday that we hiked that wonderful little trail to the waterfall or was it last week”?  Activities seem to bleed over the days in the calendar; maybe it is because the activities are so diverse and ‘unscheduled’, much more spontaneous than perhaps what we are all used to.  Sometimes, the planning and scheduling of life gets in the way and contributes to our ‘stagnation’.  Here, my mind is freed-up from the clutter, you would think that would help me keep track of what day it is, but truly I have to look at my calendar setting on my watch each day to do the reality check…ah Yes, it is Sunday! 

Last Sunday we hiked La Catarata (the Waterfall Trail) which is just down the main road.  After calling out a few “holas”, and getting no acknowledgement, we decided to sneak under the chain link gate and see what kind of trouble we could get ourselves into!  The boys did really well – the trail provided many opportunities for them to hone their climbing skills, clutching onto old, wet ropes which were strategically placed along the trail to help navigate those tricky ‘ups and downs’.  We delighted in having the entire trail to ourselves -- all we could hear was the distant waterfall and the occasional bird.  A few water obstacles to navigate and luckily no snakes lurking.  The waterfall was perfect, not too big or overwhelming, but rather peaceful and serene.  We treated ourselves to an ice-cream at the Cheese Factory to cap off a great couple of hours.

A busy school week for Mike as he continues to get his routine and tools in place.  When he mentioned that he needed to plan out his math and science ‘scope and sequence’, I was like a kid begging for candy from their parents, with hands stretched out and fingers wiggling – “Gimmee, gimmee,  please, please, please, let me plot out your timeline on Excel”.  I was thrilled to lend my assistance and help organize and present his thoughts and vision.   I quickly put together a very colorful plan for Mike with bar charts, dates and key milestones.  Ah – was good to know I haven’t forgotten everything from a professional tools perspective.  I feel a little like Mike’s personal assistant – I have been helping him in the evenings with computer ‘stuff’ or just as a sounding board for any new ideas he has floating around his mind. 

Friday, we had Stewart (a first grader) over to play after school.  Fridays are short days – school wraps up at 2:15, so still a good portion of sunlight left for play.  His mom, Veronica was headed to Santa Elena and Stewart wanted nothing but to come over and play with the boys.  We had spent some time with them on Independence Day  and apparently Stewart had talked about (along with our boys) how great a time they had earlier in the week, so there you have it!  I would take the three kids home while Veronica did her errands and Mike stayed at school late to get a head-start on the coming week.  Personally, I considered just getting three kids home by myself a huge ‘win’ !,  It was hours of soccer, swinging, climbing and finally gardening… Earlier in the week, Stewart so proudly showed off his garden at his house, he quickly went to work gathering up bamboo shoots and aloe plants on our walk home from school and gave us all instruction on how to plant them in our backyard.  We shall see the fruits of our labor.

We had another awesome hike on Saturday, this time we ventured up to the Cloud Forest Reserve (where I run each day).  We hiked a trail with the boys that Mike and I had conquered seven years ago during our honeymoon.  I remembered it like it was yesterday, Mike not so much, of course I said that 7 years ago, his mind was all-consumed by his lovely bride so perhaps he was more focused on me than the trail J  We hiked up to the Continental Divide where the rain falls to the Atlantic on one side and the Pacific on the other.  The boys did great and had plenty of energy to make mom nervous as they ran around the look-out deck, pushing their luck leaning over to get a better glimpse of the view.  No rain, but plenty of mist and clouds – the trails were quite dry and one could see the toll the dry weather has taken on some of the foliage along the trail.  Half way into our hike we heard the familiar word “Poop”, so after all the time we have spent trying to get our boys to use the toilet (and not pee in the woods or in the pasture or in the front yard for that matter), we told John, “well, you’ll just have to go in the woods”.  A confused little face looked back at us and after some additional reassurance from his mom and dad, that “yes, this is the only option”, he dropped his drawers and quickly took care of business.   Mike quickly pulled out a poop bag from the back-pack and stowed the little treasure away for the return trip!,   We ended up carrying the boys on our shoulders the last ½ mile where they both proceeded to fall asleep, they snoozed through the cab ride home, the transfer to their beds and proceeded to sleep almost to 4:30 p.m. that evening.  Did I mention we had to be at a dinner by 5 p.m.?  Luckily the boys woke up in good moods, a quick wipe-down and off we went to a dinner at a Parent’s home, put on by the School Board members.  Michael and John had a blast playing with the other kids and were excited to see some familiar toys (scooters, big wheels, dump trucks)…toy heaven, Costa Rican style of course, as the kids played hard, using the tile ramp in the back of the house as their runway…happy to report that no trips to the clinic were needed, although mom was on-edge the entire time watching and waiting to dive to protect a skull – no helmets!

Today, Sunday, another full day – a run for mom, a quick splash of the face and douse of powder and off to my first Quaker Meeting  (more on that later), as I left for the meeting, Mike and the boys were busy making Guava jam from the fruits on our trees.  Looking forward to having some on my toast tomorrow morning.  Very labor intensive, so Mike tells me.

P.S:  Although we love Strider (the dog – see earlier post), we have decided not to adopt him and make him part of our family just yet – our plate runneth over and adding a dog to the family is not in the cards right now

 

Side Note:  For those of you that know me, I don’t cook – I am one of the lucky women who married a man who enjoys to cook and is pretty good at it.  I can now say that I have cooked about 5 times in 7 years of marriage (three of these times being here in our new home).  I’ve even managed to bake banana bread a couple of times and have gotten the “YUM” word in return from the two boys.  Not bad, considering our oven does not have any temperature settings.

 

Finally, more crafts, the boys enjoyed necklace making last week and happy to report both are still ‘intact’.

 

All for now.

Signed:  S