This is my first actual blog post on this blog. I am doing so after numerous requests. I am not the writer Claire is so I have been
hesitant to write anything. But
understandably I look at our stay here in Costa Rica through different
eyes. As a start I am seen here more as
farm repair man than a gardener, it’s not a title that I dislike but not what I
expected when I first arrived. I
expected to do a lot of digging and planting of trees and taking walks in the forest
clearing trails. In actuality I have
made multiple sets of shelves for workers quarters, framed in new windows, made
bunk-beds, replaced termite infested walls, built a greenhouse, new chicken runs, etc. The nice part is I get to play in a fully
stocked shop with some of the most beautiful wood on the planet which was cut
on the farm and transported to almost our doorstep by the power of nature.
The other day I went on an all day excursion to the edges of
the farm to clear the boundary but to also look for illegal squatters. (Costa
Rica and most of central America have a legal tradition of allowing squatters
to claim land for ownership if it is “not in use” under the current owner. This leaves the necessity to carve out the boundary every 6 months and
check for squatter or pecaristas.)
During the walk, up muddy near vertical slopes next to 30 foot drops on
to jagged stone riverbeds, we found multiple landslides due to the heavy rains
in this part of the world on top of slick clay soil and shallow rooted
trees. The grade of the slops and soil
limits the size the trees can get but also allows for some primeval wood to be
scavenged for. We found downed logs of
trees easily over 100yrs old and to my eye very rare woods such as mahogany. The farm manager here has developed a clever
method of sending these trees downhill a number of kilometres by bucking them
into manageable sizes and winching them into the nearest stream. Though the stream on a normal day will only
flow a few hundred gallons a minute, during a storm event these streams become
rivers and carry 400 lb logs over the cataracts and waterfalls down to the farm
houses. This can sometimes take a year
to achieve but the end result if patient is the ability to make a mahogany bed
for the cost of old pallets at the docks.
Though the rains are consistent and we get rain every
afternoon the trees that are adapted are amazingly resistant. Though covered in lichens, epiphytes and
parasites we recently had a orange harvest from the 3-4 trees growing by the
house. This harvest gave 6, 50 lb sacks
of fruit to be distributed, after they had been harvested multiple times
previously. The result has been a glut
of fresh orange juice every meal. It is
a real struggle to live in poverty!
The downside to all this is we still have yet to find a farm
for our own. Though we have learned from
our experiences that you can't rush these things it is frustrating working for
someone else when you would rather be doing it for yourself. Besides the frustration it is good however
to learn the inner workings of a farm before we are thrown in the deep
end. In any new country there are obviously new cultural
dimensions, and though the difference between Latin America and the US/England
is very minor compared to much of Africa it is good to take it all in while the
failures won’t come back to haunt you.
It is nice to have the growing pains of learning a new language on this
farm rather than on our own and it is nice to allow someone else to be pegged
as the rich foolish gringo and learn from it before we are in the same boat.
Until we get a farm and are allowed to apply for residency
we have to make a quarterly border crossing to restart our visas. A few weeks back we crossed into Nicaragua to
do this but we also had the chance to visit former co-workers of mine in Nicaragua. We had a nice time staying at the lodge which
I lived at for 2 months last year. This
time there were a few new residents to the area that I had never noticed
though.
First there is big talk of the new canal going through
Nicaragua and I assume it will completely change southern Nicaragua and destroy
much of the wildlife, forests and sport fishing of the Rio San Juan unless a
big part of the money goes to policing the area against illegal loggers. One thing that will hopefully change though
is the growing prevalence of drug runner in the area. The local lodge owner pointed out a number of
new houses in the middle of no where with owners that had no jobs. It brings to reality the problems of the
American drug policy and how our war on drugs is doing nothing but wasting tax payers
money and making the minority of drug runners rich while preying on the poor rural
farmers with more land than education.
(make it all legal and put the profits to educate people and we would be
much better off)
The most interested new inhabitant of the lodge however is
there new adult Cayman that has taken up residency next to the dock. Only being about 3.5 feet long I figured I
could get pretty close to get a real action shot. I wasn’t disappointed (except for the fact
that I didn’t have the camera ready) I
had a Cayman leap out of the water when my head was down checking my
footing. I looked up to see the jaws of
a the reptile snap but a foot from my face and fall back into the water,
thankfully without my nose. Trying to
get the shot again I repeated the process the next morning with Claire as the
photographer and witness only to be disappointed in the rapid fire option on
the camera and the rotted riverbank that separated me from a teenage Cayman
full of piss and vinegar. Not quite as
powerful as former encounters with Great Whites or 800lb gorillas but I will
admit having the snapping jaws of a reptile almost my size close enough to my
face to see his cavities did give me the incentive to not be as adventurous the
second time around.
Having left Nicaragua it was official that Claire has now
visited more countries than me. (F****** B****.
I need to leave her behind more often, can you believe it she is at 32 countries!,
its because Europe is full of pseudo countries like Wales, who counts Wales!)
After we left Nicaragua we stayed at a farm/lodge on our
way back home. We were lucky enough to have it paid for by
the farm owners we work for so that we can gather info and techniques to bring
back to the farm. It was a very nice
place and I would recommend it to any one in Visiting Costa Rica that is
interested in sustainable agriculture, its called Luna Nueva. On our way back I also decided to break our
rule and purchase a motorcycle, this hog gets over a hundred miles to the
gallon! I dare anyone to find another
motorcycle that came with a speedy Gonzalas decal on it!
The final things of interest that I have to write about,
(this will hopefully fulfil my quota for this year) are the earthquakes and my
murderous ways. We have had a few
earthquakes the last few months that have been noticeable. The first almost dropped a pile of lumber on
my head but they are nothing like the news makes them out to be. And finally I shot a cow in the head and cut
it up for dinner. (Claire said its
interesting and I should write about it)
I apologize for my ramble but to those like my mother I am
sure you like knowing something about what my life is like these days. I assure everyone that I am fine and healthy
and that there is nothing as dangerous here as the smog and poison food in the
US and England.
Ethan
