The guys caught and killed another Fer-de-Lance.  Here is Marcos with the kill of the day. So dangerous.

Turrialba Volcano from my dining room this morning.  Beautiful.....

The Cabecar Indigenous will share their culture with us at this event. You are invited to attend.  We are accepting donations so that we can give the Cabecar children the gift of rubber boots.  We are also accepting donations so that we can give machetes and sharpening files to the Cabecar men.  With these tools they can earn a living and put food on the table. 

Your donations are most welcomed.  You can mail checks and we will purchase boots and machetes.  Our local supplier is giving them to us at his cost.  Thank you for helping the poorest of the poor to help themselves.

Finca Quijote de Esperanza

Ginnee and Phil Hancock
Apdo 178-7150
Turrialba, Costa Rica

A short slippery rock climb up and through a cool mountain stream brings you to this amazing waterfall on our farm.

Turrialba's weekend farmer's market.  Everything you can imagine and more.  Fresh produce, chicken, and the very famous Turrialba cheese.

At the base of majestic mountains flows the Rio Atirro. Its fast moving water is cool and refreshing, and the perfect reward after a long days work. Alan's first full day at Finca Quijote was labor intensive, and included hauling buckets of sand from the river, finishing the installation of a kitchen sink, and touring the farm. In the afternoon Matt and Alan took the dogs to the river and spent some peaceful time reflecting on the day.

Matt adventuring into and across the river, exploring the wonders of our rainforest farm and jungle.

How do you finish off a hard day of farming?  By gathering guavas and making guava jam of course.  Farm hand work is never done and Alan has the job of totally making the jam while I cook dinner.

Alan has the lead and Marcos our head man is bringing up the rear of the herd as they head past my house and towards the town.  It is a long and winding road that crosses over many streams before they get to the new pasture.

This week the men opened up a new pasture after fencing it and stringing barbed wire.  Then comes the fun part, driving the cows from a pasture at one end of our farm down the road, through the town of Esperanza and on to the new pasture.  The locals clear their children out of the street and watch the cow parade complete with cowboys.  I find it exciting to watch them coming down the road.  Alan Eaglewolf, a guest worker at our farm is leading the herd.

Carlos is picking his way across the Rio Oro.  The river is very cool and refreshing...

I wake up to this view everyday.  The Turrialba Volcano, blue skys, happy birds, paradise...

A Cabecar mom gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the farm.  We took her down the mountain to meet the ambulance and go to the hospital.

The wildlife in the rainforest is amazing.  Boas like warmth and they are smart snakes.  This is a big boa who likes to lay in the compost pile and wait for mice, rats or other small animals to come visit him or her.

This evening in the dark, an ambulance came to our house. They were here to pick up an indigenous young person who they believe had been snake bit on Friday, today is Tuesday. He is bleeding from his ears and his eyes. The weather has been too bad to send a helicopter to the Cabecar’s Chirripo Reservation to rescue this young man.




It is our rainy season, and this afternoon it rained as hard as the hardest rain I have experienced. We get 300 inches of rain a year. Hard rain, white-out rain and today’s rain blew down the valley, not up which is usually the direction it comes. So it was blowing down from the reservation.



We heard the ambulance squealing it horn, so when we finished dinner we took the quad and went further up mountain to see if the ambulance was in trouble. He was not, but the indigenous had not arrived as expected. Felipe and I went as far as the Rio Oro on my quad and there was no sign of the Indigenous. The ambulance left and we went home after checking gates, and taking a look at Brava and what damage had been done following the big water event.



I expect the ambulance will return, either tonight or in the morning. My best guess is that the storm was so severe that the men carrying the young man down have not been able to ford the rivers. At various places, they must walk through the river waters, on a good day for as long as 2 hours. This trip can take 7-10 hours depending on various conditions. A healthy Indigenous can make the trip down, running all the way under great conditions in 5 hours. Carrying a bleeding man, in landslide and whiteout conditions…. These are amazing people, able to overcome unbelievable odds.



When the rains stopped today, and I could see across the river, the Rio Atirro, I saw waterfalls cascading down the Fila Atirro. There were also several new landslides, one very large slide on a vertical slope. Not part of our farm, but dangerous for the river.



The bridge in front of the mill in Atirro, is in desperate need of repair. The locals are protesting, in the middle of the night they removed the giant steel plates that we drive over and threw them in the river and they cut down trees and placed them in front of the bridges so people would not drive to their deaths. Good thought.



The Rio Atirro Bridge has become so dangerous that we really needed to question driving across loose and missing steel. The buses refused to cross, and the government is dragging its feet, so the people made their point, dismantled the bridge, then marched to the Casa Presidential and voice their complaints. We can ford the river in our 4 wheel drive truck on a good day, if need be. But today a neighbor was kind enough to open his locked gates and to allow us passage through his beautiful farm. Thank You Machina Viejo!

My friends having the rafting adventure of a lifetime.  Team work, wet and wild in Turrialba.

Awsome recreational, once in a life time fun in Turrialba, Costa Rica.   This is the best!

My friend Vickie and her nephews have been visiting with us.  Here is Vickie repelling down waterfalls. 

Babies are so sweet, loving and kissable.  The twins are very entertaining.    We love them.

It's a jungle out there!!!

It is a long vine snake being crushed by a lizard.

Every now and then, there is an opportunity for a great rainforest photo. Felipe was outside and saw this real life drama unfolding in a tree. He ran in grabbed his camera and took these photos of a lizard eating a vine snake. WOW, this is rainforest life, but most of time we miss these dramas. This is a big liz and a really long snake. I think these lizards look like gargoyles.

Girlfriends 9 puppies eating their homemade meal of eggs, rice, oatmeal, and bananas.  They are fed by me, their co-parent, about 4 or 5 times a day.  They are now receiving a little meat with their evening meal.  I put down the cookie sheet and they assume the position.  Sweet.

The volcano this morning at 5:39 AM from my kitchen window.  It is a beautiful sight to see.

The puppies are getting really playful, we just this morning built them a new playground with shade, and a view.

Girlfriend had 9 puppies, and wow, are they a lot of work for both her and me.  When do I get to sleep through the night again?

Our herd is on the move to another pasture.

These twin Brahman are so sweet and gentle.

Phil working on the John Deere 310G

Volcano Turrialba is a beautiful site seen from our farm.  This photo was taken by the volcano cam today.

It is spring in the rainforest and baby birds have hatched.  These two will fly from there nest in another day.

For about 4 years I have been taking photos of Volcan Turrialba from our home.  Now the Volcano Cam is taking photos every 10 seconds and I take screen shots of the cam.  This is this mornings cam shot.  These are exciting times as the volcano is really putting out, and the view is spectacular.

The young cows like their horn buds scratched. We do not de-horn our cows as that is just wrong. Horns are important; they are filled with sensory matter, much like brain matter.

Another cattle drive today. Vampire bats are bothering the cows, so all of the cows received a necklace and they were inspected. This cow really likes Phil.

Cattle Drive

The cows with babies on the move.

Cattle drive to new pastures.

The men are on their way to drive the cows down into another pasture, so we can give our pastures a rest for the next few months.

It's another baby!!!, our 15th baby cow born this month.

This morning we had our 15th baby born this month.  Her Mom gave birth in the corral on the way to breakfast.  We will give her nicer digs in a little while.  Right now Mom is busy loving and licking her baby.

She gave birth to this beautiful baby girl. This first time Mom loves her baby, and urged the baby to nurse while she licked the little one.

Mom is just minutes from a complete delivery, The feet are out, and here comes her precious face.

We have had an exciting month of baby cow births. 

She only gave birth to one, but 3 need fed.

We do have beautiful babies.

This little girl is high spirited and so cute.  Mom is on guard.  We keep the cows horns natural.  Horns are sensory organs, important to the cow and the farm.

The hawk swooped in front of us today on the farm.

She is so beautiful, playful, and there are more babies expected to arrive.  How wonderful!!!

Mom and her new baby

Waynor and Santiago with a baby girl just born today.