has Trish been?
I guess I can answer that one.
We’ve had a great summer, so far. I know it’s almost over, but we have high hopes that we will be back to Costa Rica by sometime after Christmas and will be enjoying the warm sunny weather again.
We’ve been:
- Attending my sister’s wedding
- Still trying to sell this darn house
- Going on a wonderful camping trip to the old campgrounds that I visited annually as a child. Here’s some pictures…
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We’ve got a lot of Costa Rica stuff we haven’t blogged about, and I thought y’all would especially dig the sight of howler monkey poop. All the times we were taking pictures of them in trees I was waiting to see if they would chuck poo-poo at us and show off their famed aim, ready to duck and run.
Thankfully, they didn’t seem to dislike us and were content to be themselves, munch leaves and stare back at us. Except for the one time a female seemed to be primping when she peed and rubbed it on her own face.
Anyway, they spent a LOT of time in the tree right above the Crab House, and the rental cars parked under it were sometimes covered in poo. It smelled kinda like horse poo and walking around it was like an obstacle course.
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We met many interesting people during our trip, and it seems that everyone has different reasons for moving to Costa Rica, with the two most common are cost of living and climate. Here are 5 reasons why moving to Costa Rica works for me.
1. Climate
I prefer hot weather over cold, by far. Costa Rica is in the tropics, where there are two seasons: Dry and Wet. The majority of the population lives in the Central Valley, around the capital of San Jose. San Jose is about 4000ft above sea level and has a mild climate, with temperatures ranging between 59 and 79. What’s really cool is that you can pick the exact climate you want. Go for a higher elevation for cooler temperatures, or go lower for warmer. Our first destination will probably be Atenas - an hour or so from San Jose and warmer. A better climate also has monetary benefits, leading to… Read more »
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The Grapevine Beetle!
I saw this thing clinging to the outside of one of our window screens after a downpour the other day. I had no clue it was so attractive at first since I could only see the underside of it. I sent Arp outside to collect it in a plastic bowl. All of us crowded around it while I snapped a few closeups. It was huge! At least an inch long, maybe even a little bigger. I love those crazy antennas - sort of like the hat of a Vegas dancer. But this bugger only stayed a minute, and then promptly flew off. I let out a startled scream as it took off - it flew fast!
Inside, we all looked it up in our trusty bug manual - National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. We are only sometimes successful in making an exact match with the bugs we find and one of the pictures in the book. We often have to be satisfied knowing the general family. But this time was an exact match - a grapevine beetle.
Here’s another bugger, a ground beetle, that we found the first summer we moved into this house.
It always amazes me how many interesting insects we find in this area and how the diversity of insects exponentially increases the farther you move away from New York City. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can’t help it when I am confronted by some new mini-monster. I grew up in a town located approximately 30 minutes outside NYC. That area had very boring bugs - some spiders, lightening bugs, lady bugs, and not much else. Now that we are an additional 60 minutes outside NYC, it seems like bug heaven. Those city folks don’t know what they’re missing.
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A few crocuses have appeared on my lawn, but the other signs of Spring seem seriously delayed. Maybe I’m just being impatient. Have other Springs come on so slowly? Or maybe it’s just because one of my bedrooms is filled with stinky 3-week-old ducks that poop day and night.
Modified Homesteading Lessons, 101 (I say modified because I don’t really feel I have the right to call myself a homesteader, but the ducks are our first tiny step): Be sure to order your ducklings at the right time. By the time they are 3 weeks old, their poop will be so stinky and voluminous that it will make your house smell like a zoo. You want the weather to be warm enough by that time so that they can at least spend the days outside, thereby limiting the amount of poop deposited in your indoor brooder. Or better yet, keep the brooder in your barn! (I don’t have a barn since I live in the suburbs/exurbs).
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