Maybe you saw the earlier post about the Solstice Celebration we were invited to? Never made it. Canceled because of weather. But then rescheduled! Hannah called and said to head on over to Rio Shanti as the rituals were about to begin.
Tosca rings the chimes to announce the start of the rituals.
Natalya does a sage smudging or cleansing of participants before they enter the ritual area.
Getting ready to begin!
Fronds were braided with each twist being a listing of something you were thankful for in the past year.
Then blessings were sent down the River Shanti. See it there in the middle?
Hannah releasing her blessing ring.
Heading back up the river trail to Rio Shanti.
Followed a trail of tiny footprints back into the ritual room.
Prayer flags listing our hopes for the new year were attached to trees in the forest.
And then we all practiced our astral projection. I jokes! Had a little moisture on the camera lens that caused some blurring.
It was a great chance to stop and reflect on the past year and focus on goals for the new year and give thanks for all we receive. Thanks to the Rio Shanti people for putting it all together!
It's just that for weeks, ever since I found the first scorpion in the house, I have been checking everything. Before I dry my hands on a towel, I check both sides to make sure a scorpion isn't hiding on the back side. I check every piece of clothing before I put it on. I always zip my coat and backpack pockets so a scorpion can't crawl inside. I tap my shoes on the floor before putting them on to knock any scorpions out. And then I decided their little legs are probably strong enough to withstand the tapping without being dislodged so now I look inside the shoes too. I check all the bedding before going to sleep at night. (Remember when I found the cockroach under my pillow?) I check the kitchen cupboards before I put my hand in. I check the glasses before taking one out. I check the walls and floors. Not in any compulsive way of course. Just checking.
It never occurred to me that they would also be dropping from the ceiling. So thanks to BigJohn's FB friend Bill Keller for his smart aleck idea to help me out so I don't have to quit washing dishes. Turns out there are lots of them available on amazon.com and I recommend you get one before coming down here.
Bill also suggests playing this song at full volume. Guaranteed to get all insects out of your house pronto.
That's all I could say. "Scorpion in the sink! Scorpion in the sink!" In a loud voice. Which translates into "Hurry BigJohn and get the tongs and come save me!!" And BigJohn is great at translating so he was there in a jiffy.
There I was. Washing the lasagna pan from yesterday's lunch when all of a sudden, there IT was! I think it fell from the ceiling. It could have landed on my head. And it looked kind of like the one we found a couple of days ago and let loose out in the field. Was it him? I don't know.
Let me tell you what I heard about scorpions from people at the New Year's Eve party we went to.
Barb is a physical anthropologist who teaches at a NY university. She was here studying howler monkeys over Christmas break. She has been stung by wasps and bitten by ants so many times on her trips to Central America that for the past two years she has been taking desensitization shots. Didn't help when she got bit by an ant on while on an island in Lake Nicaragua. That's when she started going into anaphylactic shock and found out those shots didn't work that well. What could she do? No epinephrin. She went to bed and was glad to wake up in the morning. Barb has lots of experience with scorpions and other bugs. So now she sleeps in a tent. Even when she's in a hotel. She puts her mattress inside the noseeum netting. And sleeps with no worries. She says scorpions, when you try to smash them, are about the same consistency as stepping on a little mouse. It's just too gross. She can't do it. She sets them free.
Simon was also at the party. He's down from Philadelphia on a gap year helping out at the Friends School. Earlier that day he'd had a scorpion drop onto his shoulder and run down his arm. It happened so quickly he didn't have time to react. Which was good. The scorpion disappeared in between the couch cushions. Simon said they have pointy little feet and you can feel the little prickles when they run across you.
Simon introduced us to another young man whose name I can't remember. But that morning he'd woken up to find a scorpion on his leg. Instant reaction was to brush it off. Bad idea! It stung both his hand and his leg. Which gets us to the interesting part. What did that feel like? Like the tingles when your foot falls asleep. Except all the tingles were concentrated in just one spot. And not fun.
My apologies to all three of these people for what I'm sure are many misquotes.
Okay. I'm over it now. I'll go finish washing the dishes. And my apologies for not getting pictures. Couldn't get that scorpion out of the house fast enough and the camera was the last thing on my mind. But the scorpion was black. And big.
But wait! If you really want to see a scorpion picture, here's the one we caught in the bathroom cabinet. For your viewing pleasure.
It had been rainy and windy for a couple of days so hot soup sounded good and I had a head of cabbage in the crisper. Decided to invite Hannah and Francisco over to share cabbage soup with us and then thought "I should make some dessert!" Now the ingredients I have in the cupboard are quite limited compared to what I am used to so choices of what could be made were few. BigJohn and I came to Costa Rica with only a couple of suitcases. No way were cookbooks going to fit in there! So glad to have the internet! And even happier when it is working!
A quick search turned up this recipe for Easy Chocolate Cake. And I had almost everything listed as ingredients. But no mixer! (And once again, I feel like such a spoiled American when I say that! And when I say "American" I mean people from middle class USA. Because Costa Ricans are also Americans! And everybody else on the continents of North and South America.)
After thinking about the time I'd spent hand-whipping that whipped cream for the Banana Cream Pie (torture) I decided the cake batter would mix up fine in the blender. This was a first for me.
As usual, if Mia and Malak are over, they are my special kitchen helpers and watch every move I make. You can guess how much Hector likes this.
Oh time out! Must take a step outside and look at this huge moth that has been attracted to our lights shining through the window! (We do this a lot. Go out to look at the bugs. And sometimes we are really lucky and they are right in the house like on the wall next to the bed and we don't even need to step outside. Did I tell you about the time I found a cockroach under my pillow?)
A search of the cupboards turned up no cake pan. Guess what? Recognize this frying pan below? Yes! It's also my pie plate but works for cakes too! The recipe made enough for one layer. And yes, those are my fingerprints you can see where I was testing to see if the cake was done. Settled for the toothpick test just to make sure. Didn't have what I needed to make frosting although I think I could have made powdered sugar using regular sugar in the blender but will experiment with that another time. So no frosting but then came the bright idea to put a piece of chocolate covered caramel in each piece while the cake was baking. I'm so brilliant!
See that melted caramel! It might not look that great but it really was good!
Look! I'm all hi-tech and sparkly up there! That's Happy New Year en español. It's important to put the little squiggly mark (the real name is tilde - pronounced TILL-duh) over the n in año. Because if you don't, you are saying just ano which translates into anus and you've just told somebody Happy New Ass. I found this out last night. Aren't you glad you are reading this blog? So you don't get into awkward social situations? PS Thanks to Francisco for this information.
That's Monkeys in the Trees!!Talk about excitement! And just the day after seeing the troops go by in Bajo del Tigre. We feel so lucky. These are just the cutest monkeys! Even with their sharp pointy teeth. Francisco has told us not to show them our teeth as it is taken as a sign of aggression. And it could also scare them off and then you won't get a good picture.
Francisco also told us that it is illegal to keep these wild animals as pets. I've read about this on some of the Costa Rican sites I've visited. Sounds like the saddest animal in the world is a little pet monkey tied to a tree while all its relatives scamper through the canopy. Probably even sadder than the caged parrots that we see.
We see parrots flying overhead every day. You can hear their loud squawking as they flap by reminding me of the dog from the Chevy Chase movie Funny Farm.
After this one minute scene you never see the dog again except for those random moments when it runs through the farmyard barking. That's like the parrots going through our yard. They never stop! And they sound so happy. Not like these caged parrots we saw down a back alley in Santa Elena. They might look fine in this picture, but trust me, they are crying on the inside.
So back to the monkeys. How cute is this?
Glad somebody is enjoying the bird feeder because the birds sure aren't showing up like I'd planned!
Okay, I'm tricking you on that last picture. Did you even notice it's a coati? While we are on the side yard looking up into the trees, the coati is in the front yard stealing the bird feeder bananas. Poor Hector is locked in the house through the whole monkey episode wanting out so badly! You can hear him barking throughout the video. No way was he getting out!
BigJohn shot almost all the video. It reminds me of when I would be at the Anchorage Hilton staying on an upper floor during an earthquake. You could feel the whole building sway. I'm thinking that it's BigJohn's height that is making him sway during the filming of the monkeys. Or maybe he is over-caffeinated? Either way, thanks for some great footage BigJohn! Keep in mind folks that we are not professionals here.
My favorite part of the whole monkey episode was the little guy who came up and took a banana and then waited politely for another banana. He seemed to be saying "Come on lady, give it up! I've got two hands here!"
But it was also cute to see the monkey hanging over the edge of the roof checking to see what BigJohn was up to on the patio. Also had one of them at the hummingbird feeder with it tilted sideways sucking up the juice!
I had planned on lots of Banana Cream Pies the next few weeks but plans can change suddenly!
Our first Christmas in Costa Rica! Hannah and Francisco came over for fruit-filled crepes for breakfast. So nice to have family around for the holiday! They had spent Christmas Eve in Puntarenas with Francisco's family. Check out this cool bike they picked up for Francisco's niece Samara. I bet that was one happy 4 year old!
And here's BigJohn getting in the Christmas spirit with some galletas (cookies).
Hannah was feeding the horses their Christmas apples.
Hannah modeling her new outfit that Santa brought. Cute!
And we are off up the trail to the Friend's School for the Quaker Christmas Potluck!
Francisco is wearing his new shirt he got from Santa.
See the cat on the roof? He lives at the library and is always at the school for important events.
The Friends had roasted a pig and cooked up lots of chicken and everybody brought a dish. The food was great.
Pax's dog Yogi shows off his Christmas ribbon.
A view of the crowd.
That's us at the table in the back.
Bennito was there with the baby sloth. Glad to see it is doing well.
After the potluck there was a Christmas gift exchange where all the gifts were handmade. Check out this bench for Benjamin.
BigJohn and I took a sunset walk to the viewing platform.
And the end of the day was spent watching the Black Guans come and go from the trees. We are so lucky to live in such a place!
PS BigJohn hasn't once asked when the Christmas tree is coming down. I don't think he even notices it because it isn't taking up floor space or dropping needles all over. I bet I can leave this hanging on the wall all year!
