Monday, July 28, 2008

Kiera turns 6



Today we went horseback riding at Sabine's stable, down the road, 5 minutes walk.  Her 6 yr old daughter Tara lead the tour, while Miguel patiently took Kiera's horse's lead. Up the mountain, past some coffee fields, across some mud-and-stick bridges.  One hour up and one hour down.  The view at the top was amazing.  The Nicoya peninsula was visible past the rolling hills and pastures.  This has to be the most beautiful country on the planet.  (This is when you get jealous.  I would, too, except I am here.)  

I would like take this opportunity to thank all my devoted fans for your support and encouragement in the writing of this blog.  Both of you.  Your comments are very dear to me.   

By the way, this horseback riding adventure was in honor of Kiera's last day to be 5.  Tomorrow we celebrate with our new neighbors and friends, cake (double chocolate)  and a pinata.  

There is talk of a brief foray into Nicaragua with the other US and UK families, about 6 of whom attend our Creativa school.  If it happens I'll cover it.

For those of you who were less encouraging about our radical sabatical, you will be satisfied to know our refrigerator broke down at the St. Louis house, to the dismay of our tenants.  So something has gone wrong.  It sure hasn't been the weather here, it's in the 70s every day, sunny, with occasional drizzle.  Just enough rain to be refreshing and keep the dust down.  

Last night we went to the Quaker Friend's school to attend a dance.  These are held about twice a month in the prayer space, which is the main room.  They scoot the pews against the walls and the band plays square-dance type folk music.  The band is about six fiddles, a 'cello and a guitar.    There were probably just under 60 people, youngsters to folks who've been around for a while.  Many of the regular attendees know the dances, and they teach the steps to the new-bees.  We were only there for one dance, because Val wasn't feeling well.  But get this, it was the "Pat-a-Cake Polka", the same dance Christina and I learned one night after presenting our seminar at the Rural (National Rural Institute on Alcohol and Drug Addictions) the last three summers.  From Menomonie, a small town in Wisconsin, USA, to the mountain top in Monteverde, Costa Rica. It really is a small world.

We spotted two sloths at two separate times in two different trees taking naps- in the middle of the town.  Locals tend to spot them, stop and point up.  A small crowd soon gathers, made up of ticos and tourists alike.  The sloth finds a spot where branches come together and lays on his back, like one might on a hammock.  He's just a fat ball of fur laying in the tree with his belly exposed, but well camoflaged by the thick foliage.  I guess they sleep in the quieter areas outside of town as well, but they aren't as likely to be spotted because of fewer pedestrians.  

Wow.

1 Comments:

At January 3, 2009 at 11:03 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

thank you for your posting. We are happy to take you riding anytime you want to. We love to have you as our neighbor. Sabine

 

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