You can follow this link to Guanacaste Weather Stations that are updated in real time.

There are only two so far, but a local professor is trying to get more people involved. We are eager to jump in on this program, and are putting money aside (slowly!) to be able to participate. We've got a spare laptop that we can dedicate, and we've got the other requisites, but the weather station itself is $250 or so and our budget for such frivolous things is tight right now. But stay tuned!

Labels: tamarindo, weather

I love stumbling across "inventions" that make me say "Well... Duh! Of course that is a great idea!"

Here is one of those: some crafty folks have realized that using centuries-old technology can save them a bunch of money. Imagine that. *Sails*. On cargo ships. What will they think of next?

Labels: fuel

I was surprised to wake up to the sound of "That can't be rain, can it?"

It could. It was. 4am on the 26th, it rained.
It didn't just sprinkle a tiny bit, but actually rained hard enough to clean off the leaves, moisten the concrete, and make the world look shiny and fresh outside.

I think that last year we had a little rain in January, but this could well be the last rain we see until next April.

Unfortunately, I had left a bunch of parts in the driveway because I'm a little lazy, in the middle of rebuilding my knuckles on the Cruiser, and didn't imagine it could rain overnight. So I got up out of bed, went out in the light rain, and covered/moved things so that the nice clean bearings wouldn't get soaked and rusty.

I'm awfully glad I did, as shortly after I did that is when the rain changed from very light mist to not-strong, but certainly "rain".

Labels: weather

We woke up lazy on the 25th, made some coffee and loaded up Louie (the blue 60) for what might be his last day trip with us... hopefully. Assuming we sell him this week.

Got the dog and various other things piled into the truck and pointed south on nearly-deserted streets and roadways. It was such a pretty morning that we found ourselves just poking along, enjoying diffuse sunshine and browning green fields with (relatively) fat cattle munching away. Very bucolic.

Along the the drive we saw dozens of families relaxing around their homes. Some with decorated trees, some not. All seemed happy and we got a lot of waves and smiles as we went.

By 10 or so we got to the beach at Marbella. Beautiful cove with pea-sized gravel on the beach. The gravel is what we had come for as we've used some of it in our landscaping and wanted to add a little more. It is a nice bonus that this also happens to be one of the prettiest and least-crowded beaches within an hour of our house. Then again, I would probably say "prettiest" about most of the beaches within an hour of our house! But the least crowded part isn't as easy to find.

We loaded up a few buckets of gravel, played with the dog in the surf, swam some, hunted super-special gravel by hand (super special=odd chunks with interesting inclusions/different colors/cool shapes) and generally had a nice beach morning.

As we were leaving, we helped pull someone else out of the sand as they had gotten stuck. Pulling other people out always makes me feel like I'm a Good Person and I genuinely enjoy it. I suspect that there is an element of feeling superior that is also at play, but I hope that most of my pleasure comes from just helping somebody else out.

We also found a fence-row that someone had planted with Jatropha. By the way that they have pruned it, it seems obvious that they aren't harvesting the seeds, but rather just taking advantage of the fact that it makes a really good fence-row. I pulled a few cuttings off of a few different plants to start them at home.

While I was doing that, Bb was hunting driftwood to decorate the garden. She found some truly wonderful pieces, but since A) we can't lift 1,000lbs and B) we don't own a flatbed truck, we had to leave them at the beach. Maybe someday.

The sun had come out in full force by the time we pointed north for home, so the drive was wonderfully beautiful in a subtly different way than it had been on the way down. We took back roads to enjoy the scenery. Along this particular stretch of road there is a section that is full of huge, old trees. We enjoy it every time we take it.

We also stopped along this road to pull some agave plants that were growing wild on the roadside... they'll go into yet another part of our garden, hopefully before we let them dry out completely.

Finally arrived home around 2pm, and unwrapped a couple of much-appreciated christmas gifts that had been generously left behind by my parents when they visited last month.

We were due at a friend's house for dinner at 3 or 4, but the swimming pool was too compelling, so we lounged here for just a bit, then made some food, cleaned ourselves up and headed over, closer to six than five. It was a lovely gathering of friends with more delicious food than the 20 or 30 people present had any chance of eating. Wow! What a spread!

After more than a few glasses of wine, hours of nice conversation, and a little too much delicious food, we finally mosied home again, enjoying the cool (for here) night air and feeling like it had been a wonderful way to celebrate christmas.

Labels: day trip, food, landcruiser, tamarindo

Check out this cool video of a bunch of different folks all over the world collaborating on a fun version of Ben E King's "Stand by Me". Cool idea.

We woke up to another wonderful sunrise this morning, the clouds were molten metal colors and the sky a cool dark blue. The birds, as if appreciating the show) were going nuts in the trees outside our window and the curtains across that window were catching the light.

Despite the fact that nearly every single time we wake up before dawn we say "Wow, this is the most beautiful time of day here" and despite the fact that it is quiet and almost chilly (if you are accustomed to 85-95 degrees, 72 degrees is almost chilly!) it is still a challenge for us to get used to getting out of our comfortable bed at 5 in the morning. Certainly it is a lot easier if we have an early dinner and aren't out with friends until wee hours.

This weekend we had a little extra treat. Literally little. Our gardener is a great guy who drives four hours every now and then to go visit his mother in Monteverde to help her keep her house in order. He had mentioned to me a while ago that he was helping her repair her quail cage and I mentioned that it would be fun to have quail eggs. Apparently he remembered, and brought us a small bag full of the cutest little eggs. Not only are they cute, but darn tasty too! Though it does take four or five to get much in the way of breakfast.

As it turns out, quail are a great solution for home farmers as compared to chickens. Not only are they smaller (less space required) but a healthy little quail hen will produce up to 250 eggs per year and quail only need about 2 lbs of feed to make a pound of eggs, vs. chickens who need more like 3 lbs of feed for a pound of eggs. I'm all about efficiency. Best of all- quail don't crow. Nothing ruins a beautiful morning like some neighbor's crowing rooster, as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of birds, on the drive back from Playa Grande today I stopped to watch a flock of cattle egrets soaring over a drying field of grass with verdant hills in the background. It was spectacular. Like with our fabulous sunrise, it is easy to forget about the natural beauty that we enjoy every day here in Tamarindo. With the economic slowdown that seems to be affecting just about everyone and everything in the world these days, I'm trying to remember to slow down a little bit myself and enjoy the sights/smells/sounds that don't cost me anything at all.

Backtracking a little here, I skipped over my trip to Grande for a nice bird segue but now I'm going to Tarantino it just a little and go back.

I drove out to Playa Grande to look at a house for some clients. I don't make it out to Grande much, despite it being a short drive and a beautiful area. The house that I went to see is really lovely; a great combination of old-style Tico building mixed with some modern touches. It used to be a little two bedroom weekend house, but is now a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home with a spacious outdoor living area and nice indoor living room as well. The pool and yard are done very nicely with tropical plants and an inviting deck for lounging around the beautiful pool. It is nice to see a switch from the new construction in Tamarindo. Not that the new stuff isn't beautiful, it is, but often the older homes evoke a more authentic feel (for me) and I enjoy that. Asking price on this place is $595,000. The seller is moving back to his country of origin after enjoying several years here, so I would imagine that he is willing to negotiate. By all means, contact me if you want more information, my email at work is steve (at) bbcostarica com.

My trip to Grande was cut short a little by another client who arrived an hour early at my office. Fortunately my business partner got there quickly to help keep things moving along smoothly. We toured some cute condos with a nice view then called it a day.

I wrapped up enjoying another scenic rest (this property also for sale), chatting about this and that with a good friend, then headed home to enjoy a quiet evening... looking forward to tomorrow's sunrise. All in all, a very pleasant Sunday.

Labels: photo, real estate, sunset, tamarindo

as you probably all know, jocelyn (the other half of sandcruiser, lest you've forgotten me entirely, since i never but never post here anymore) whiles away her days being all arts-and-craftsy, making pretty things. okay, actually she spends her free time on the artsy-crafty and spends her weekdays running the business. but the best of both worlds meets in Atlanta this weekend with a jocelynbroyles trunk show at chelsea parkes boutique in Sandy Springs. my lovely and fabulous atltanta rep, Katie, will be there (i, alas, will not) so if you're in the area and looking for a little early-evening entertainment, head on over to the shop for a little holiday party and some jb jewelry.

December 11, 12 and 13, 6pm to 8pm
chelsea parkes, a shoe and accessories boutique
227 Sandy Springs Place, #378.
Atlanta, GA
404.256.3344

Found the website for the Media Naranja restaurant. Looking forward to going there tonight for an appetizer. Delicious.

Labels: food, tamarindo

We are geeks in the garden. On of the highpoints of last week was building (if you can call such a humble attempt "building") a little planter for our garlic garden. We've got eight little garlic plants started. Seeing as how garlic grows well in Gilroy, California and the stuff we have comes from China, we aren't overly optimistic that planting it in the dry season will yield great garlic. That notwithstanding, we transplanted our little garlic plants into their little planter and look forward to someday digging them out to eat. Geeks, I tell ya.

Another highpoint was a great dinner at Season's restaurant in Tamarindo. The atmosphere is lovely, the food excellent, and the vibe friendly. We didn't realize that they only take cash (important note as it isn't a cheap spot to dine) but the owner very graciously told us to pay him later. Nice to be a local. Of course, it did mean that there was none of that faux fighting Dad for the check.

We had another fantastic meal earlier in the week at our favorite Tamarindo dining establishment: Media Naranja Restaurant. I don't know if Mom grabbed photos or not as I didn't get all of her pictures. Mom- when you read this, please send me a picture from Zach's! The food there is always wonderful, and the owners are super people. I took some clients there this week as well and they were so excited about it that they went back for dinner the next night as well. It really is *that* good. The tucked-away location makes it a little tricky to find, but very quiet and totally devoid of Mariachis and of blenders*, which is wonderful as we consider each of the above to be noise pollution in a fine-dining establishment. If you visit Tamarindo, and appreciate great food, go to Media Naranja. Be warned, however, you may find yet one more reason to move here.
*the lack of blenders is unrelated to the location, actually, but rather to Zach's dislike of blended drinks. The lack of Mariachis, truth be told, is probably also not entirely due to location as those fellas are pretty darn persistent around here and would surely show up sooner or later if the management would let them through the door.

Labels: food, garden, tamarindo

So one of the problems that I discovered during my clutch ordeal was a chunk of lead in the bellhousing. There is nothing good about foreign objects in the bellhousing, and I'm really hoping that this chunklet of lead is the primary culprit on the weird noises I've been hearing, sometimes, in the transmission. Time will tell!

In other news, Jocelyn shamelessly "borrowed" one of my pictures to include in "her" cloud study. Which means I don't have to edit it for us all to enjoy this image of a cargo ship in Puerto Caldera with some awfully pretty clouds in the background. You can see pictures that she actually took on her blog.

Labels: Costa Rica, landcruiser, weather