Crab rescue – crabs are extraordinary beings. Without looking at a weather forecast they know when the rainy season is about to start here in Costa Rica. Just before the rains come, land crabs make their annual migration from their inland burrows to the beaches to lay their eggs. Once upon a time that was fine. There were no roads. Now many get killed by passing vehicles, never making it to the beach. I’ve spent a couple of evenings here in Montezuma giving as many as I can a helping hand across the road – ensuring that at least some make it to start the next generation.
Bathroom visitors – as someone who can’t deal with a British house spider, it’s impressive that when a scorpion was found in the bathroom of the hostel I’m staying in – I was the first to spring into action to rescue it and rehome it (outside and far enough away from here). Finally my exotics handling training I did when I worked for the RSPCA has come in handy!
Flying fish (the grandest gesture) – sometimes someone walks into your life who is genuinely a good guy. They honour their word and you know that they have your back. One such guy for me was one of my neighbours down in Uvita. We struck up a good friendship. He told me he liked to fish and I said that was great as I loved eating fish. Each week he’d go fishing and each week come back empty handed. It became a running joke that I kept going hungry. Determined to honour his word to get me fish – he went back to Alaska for a couple of weeks over Easter and came back with some smoked salmon for me (my favourite thing ever!). By the time he returned to Costa Rica – I’d moved up the coast (which he knew about before) – so he had the fish flown (yes – flown!!) to me. I have to say – it was absolutely delicious!!
Tree Hugger – Just along from where I’m staying, on the road between Montezuma and Cabuya, is a tree. There are quite a few to be fair – but there’s one special one. It’s a huge Bayan tree or strangler fig and is thought to be the biggest tree in Costa Rica. Couldn’t help but hug it as we went past.
A cemetery with a difference – the nearby village of Cabuya has a very special cemetery. One that is only accessible at certain times of the day. It sits on a small island that is only accessible by a causeway at low tide. From the hostel where I’m staying I can see the island and last week we decided to pay it a visit. It’s a beautiful spot to be laid to rest.
The Eco Monkey 