The Birth of Butterflies, Bacas and Blades

About two weeks ago we noticed a chrysalis hanging from our kitchen windowsill directly above the sink. Like many creatures that around the house, we let nature take its course and take its course it did. While tackling dishes one day, Sally was delighted to see a butterfly emerge. At the time, I was heading to the cloud forest reserve with the boys, but on our walk we decided to adventure down the ‘trocha’ to San Luis to visit Goudy. The trocha is a steep winding concrete road that connects Monteverde and San Luis. It was the first time we ventured down on foot and the boys, including me, enjoyed the views during a pancake snack and then running when we could. Almost two hours and three miles later, we reached our destination at the farm to an excited family awaiting the birth of a calf. From a distance we could see Goudy’s sister in law, Cindy, assisting the mama cow by pulling the calf. After navigating under barbed wire and through the tall pasture grass, we arrived to see the cow cleaning her calf. (Translation of cow is vaca, pronounced baka.)

The all purpose outdoor tool in Costa Rica is the machete. I finally purchased one to beat back encroaching vegetation around the house and just because I wanted to have one! The boys and I worked one day in the yard hacking away at tree branches. Just like using any tool, they work within perimeters and learn to respect its power. For the boys, it was like swinging a baseball bat – its effectiveness was noticeable, but I knew something was wrong. With a ptoing, ptoing and a clang clang, I swear this thing should slice right through thin branches, not be stinging my hand. Why is just the top ten centimeters sharp? Why is most of the blade like the back of a kitchen knife blade? I explained my problem to Raul, and he laughed, promptly giving me a tutorial. I discovered that in my haste, I bought an unsharpened machete and needed to use a sharpening tool called a lima. I started telling the story to students, and a few chimed together "you need to sharpen it." As in, 'you ignorant foreigner, even we know that!' While the machete sits high and hidden from small hands, the lima sits at the top of my shopping list.