At the end of November last year I packed my life into a storage unit and boarded a plane for an adventure. To Costa Rica to fulfil a long held dream of mine. Not just to be a visitor but to live here – albeit for 6 months for now anyway. Then who knows? Through this blog I’ll be sharing some of my tales.
An alarm clock with a difference. I should know by now that there is no need to set an early alarm here in Costa Rica, or expect to sleep in late. The wildlife just won’t let you sleep in even if you wanted to. Each day that I’ve been here in Uvita I’ve been woken by the squawking of scarlet macaw parrots. It’s a sound I doubt I’ll ever tire of. Each time I hear them I rush out to see if I can get a glimpse of them – so beautiful.
Swimming with Iguanas. There’s something about me and iguanas. I think they’re fascinating creatures. I love seeing them. But whenever I’m in Costa Rica something tends to happen to me and them. I see the pattern now. I’ve nearly trodden on ones over a metre long, tripped over others and had one pee on my bed (yes you did read that right). Each morning that I’ve been here, save perhaps one or two, I’ve been for a swim first thing. Knowing I need to regain some fitness after knee surgery last year it’s one of the reasons I opted to stay where I am. Having a pool is amazing. This one morning I was happily doing my lengths (I do around 50-60 each morning) when I heard a crash. An iguana had fallen out of a beautiful mango tree and onto the roof of the kitchen area. They looked a little startled (they shouldn’t – they regularly fall out of trees) – but scuttled off. I went back to my swimming when I heard another crash. This time a second iguana had fallen out of the tree and onto the gravel. After a brief pause it ran across to the pool where I was and jumped in. I thought they moved quickly on land – but my god do they move quickly in water. So do I it seems – I have never moved so fast to get out of the water! It stayed at the bottom of the pool for around 15 minutes before coming back up, getting out and scuttling off. Now before my morning swim I check the pool for anything lurking at the bottom first.
Paddling with snakes. I love the beach here in Uvita. It’s my special place. It has been since I first visited here a little over 5 years ago. It’s a national park so you have to pay to go on – and trying to live on a budget here, I restrict myself as to how many times I go there. When I do I like to walk the length of it in the shallow warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. It’s like stepping in a warm bath. Heaven. Thankfully my mum has always told me to walk with my eyes down. Her thinking is you might find money that way – and in fairness I have. But on this particular day it was something else that I found. A snake. In the shallow waters of the sea. I later discovered it was a banded cat eye snake that usually lives in mangroves. The feeling is that a bird perhaps caught it in the nearby mangroves and then dropped it on the beach. Not knowing at the time whether it was venomous or not I left it where it was (I’m daft but not stupid) – but thankful of my mums advice!
Kindness of strangers. I’m not a fan of Christmas for various reasons. But there is one tradition that I stick to every year. No matter where in the world I may be. My Grandma loved fish and chips from a chip shop. A portion was too much for her so each year on Christmas Eve, when she used to stay with us, she would treat us all to fish and chips so she could have part of a fish and a few chips. Despite falling on soft sand a few days earlier injuring my knee and barely being able to walk – I was determined this year I’d have fish and chips on Christmas Eve. I hobbled down to the restaurants near the entrance to the beach and hoped the first one I came to would have what I wanted. An American couple were sat out front and saw me scanning through the menu on a mission. They asked me what I was looking for and I explained the story. The guy, Reuben, thankfully spoke better Spanish than me and was able to ask the waiter if they could do fish and chips for me – and they could. The couple then asked me to join them. Donya and Reuben had come down from LA and wanted to hear my recommendations, as a seasoned Costa Rica visitor, as to places to go and things to do across the country. We ate, we drank, we chatted – it was a beautiful lunch and then as time came to leave – as I went to pay my bill I discovered that they’d bought my lunch for me. Tears welled in my eyes at their kindness. I’m still so grateful.
Sunset season. It is said that Uvita has two seasons. Wet season and sunset season. We’ve had our fair share of rain since I’ve been here (some of it verging on biblical) but before I end this first collection of tales – I wanted to share this from Christmas Day. I think it’s fair to say we’re in sunset season.
The Eco Monkey 