This adorable curved beak hummingbird thumped against the door of our house yesterday and it took him a few minutes to recoup and regain his composure.

I was preparing to wash a load of laundry this weekend and as I was adding the soap, this hairy fellow came walking up to the top of the dry but dirty laundry. Ethan came and picked him out of danger.

It has been an eventful wildlife week. I walked into the laundry room and found the most beautiful snake. It was either a Coral or King snake. I think it is a Coral snake. I have seen it 4 times now and it was last seen retreating under the washing machine. I came into the kitchen at 1 AM that same night and caught a glimps of movement past the kitchen island and was releaved to see only a giant toad sitting on the floor. Living in the Rainforest is always an adventure.

My friends Julie, Ethan and I went on a quad expedition through previously unexplored territory above and beyond my home. We saw amazing reptiles that were druckening in the jungle. Ethan has a quick eye for spotting wildlife. I was too busy keeping us from plunging down ravines or launching us off a cliff while navigating narrow passages on steep slopes to spot much else. At one point, I actually ran into a tree branch due to the fact that I was so busy trying to inch across a precarious piece of dirt that was a bit narrower than the rhino. I was looking down and a branch above hit my roll bar bringing the Rhino to an abrupt halt. It was good that my speed was sloth-like at that moment or we could have fell several hundred feet down or more than likely have been impaled upon giant primary forest trees.

This attempt reminded me of an enduro race I did on a moto-cross bike whose handlebars were wider than the distance between the trees. You just can’t go there painlessly.

The Yamaha Rhino 450 has performed well above my expectations. It is fast, agile, surefooted, has great clearance, and it take me places I could not walk to at this point in my life. It is a little workhorse as well as a pleasurable smooth ride.

This is a hawk that likes our front lawn. He is often seen on the ground in the grass. Notice his feather covered legs. He is so beautiful. We can spot him from the living room and Regan took this photo from inside of our home.

Regan is gifting the school bag filled with school supplies and homemade bread to Airminnnia our Indigenous neighbor on our side of the footbridge. The school supplies were generous donations from the Primrose School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. More school supplies will be hiked up to the reservation by Hector and Daniel, who operate the Mission in Tuis (Voz Que Clama Mission), this week.

The river looks really tame at the moment, but you can see how high it will come to when the rainy season starts. We have been in a drought for some time now. This is the dry season, but we should still have rain. Our rainforest receives between 200 and 300 inches per year.

Last week Bernie and Nhi , who own the Pura Vida Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, were kind enough to deliver donations of school and art supplies to our home. These gifts were left at the hotel by visitors who have read my blog. You can learn more about their hotel on their web site http://www.puravidahotel.com/ . Guests rave about the accommodations, the gardens and Nhi's cooking. They are also just 15 minutes from the airport and they will arrange to pick you up or drop you off as you leave our beautiful country. I can not think of a better way to end your vacation, than with Berni and Nhi. They are lovely people with beautiful facilities.

We are very grateful to them for accepting donations at their convenient location. No, you do not have to stay there, but it is the best hotel around with the finest food, great innkeepers and they get rave reviews. Friends helping Friends to help the poor rural children and Indigenous. Your help makes it possible for us to help children stay in school. Many of the Indigenous never actually go to a school, their contact with education is from a teacher or from folks like Daniel and Hector at the Mission who hike for 5 or more hours up the mountain to the villages. We supply them with paper, pencils, crayons, art supplies, sweat shirts and practical clothing for the children. It is your generosity and caring that allows all of us together to help make a difference in the lives of others. We each have a role in bringing education to the children. Thank you very much.

Here is a map of where our farm and rainforest is located in Costa Rica. We are at the point of the arrow. The Indigenous Reservation is an 8 hour walk to the South of our land. There is nothing between them and us except rugged terrain and rivers to cross.

If you would like to donate good practical clothing, school and art supplies and will be coming to Costa Rica you can drop off your donations near the airport. Please contact me at ginnee@gmail.com for more info and directions. We have kind people located near the airport who will except donations and we will arrange for me to pick them up or if someone is coming my way they will deliver the donations to me. Friends helping friends to help others.

It is very convenient to pack your donations in an old duffel bag or suitcase that you may want to get rid of, or purchase an old bag at the Salvation Army. Many thrift stores will give them to you when you tell them what you are going to do with it. They are not big sellers.

I picked up an indigenous man last week towards dusk. He had walked down from the reservation and I pasted him as I drove 2 of my workers home. On my way back down I stopped and motioned for him to get in. It took me a few minutes to talk him into getting in my Rhino. He may have never been in a vehicle before, and no one here has ever seen a vehicle like mine. He put his hand out to shake hands, they don't know how. I took him down to a road on our farm that leads to a dilapidated footbridge that I would not slither across on my belly. I have a posted a photo below. Indigenous live on the other side of this sad bridge , it is their only way in and out.

My Classmate Jackie from Fort Lauderdale High School, Class of 66 put me in touch with the daughter of a friend of hers. Regan and I emailed this past year and she spoke with her children’s school about helping the poor and indigenous children in our area. The children sold lemonade and the teachers donated and shopped for the children in my area of Costa Rica. Regan and her husband John came for a visit bringing gifts.

This morning we got up, ate breakfast and headed to the farm with our houseguests. I had planned to bring a gift to the indigenous, who live across the river from our farm and today was the day. I put a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread, lollipops, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpener, a pad of ruled paper, and some coloring books into a new bright purple satchel that was donated along with school supplies from Jennifer Hays, Tonya, and Kara at the Primrose School in Lawrenceville, Georgia. My houseguest, Regan and I took the Rhino and went down to the river, near the footbridge, with our gift. This time was different from all of the other times; they did not all hide from me. Airminnia, a lovely young indigenous mother of 4 or 5 little children came forward and walked across the rickety bridge to greet Regan. She spoke Spanish and accepted our gift as I took photos. One little success at a time; today was a really good day. Perhaps the indigenous man that I gave a ride to last week told her about me as Airminnia’s casita was his destination for the day.

If you have not been to a third world or developing world destination point, you can not imagine the impact that small acts of kindness can make. If your vacations are to all inclusive resorts, you are missing the blessings that await us all. Simple pleasures, beautiful smiles, momentary friendships that mean something and the best part is that you are the one who also benefits from that act of kindness as well as the recipient. That little bag of donated goodies was huge for Airminnia and her family, it may have been the biggest gift they have ever received; it may have been the only gift so far.

Last week an indigenous man came down from the mountain, someone was very ill. Because our farm manager now has a cell phone, Marcos was able to make a phone call and a very old Viet Nam vintage helicopter swooped in, landed and picked up a very ill indigenous man. We are the closest communication point and saved him several hours more foot travel to get help. It had already taken him 8 hours to get to us. Small acts of kindness can change and save lives.

This is Mikhol, one of our workers and son of our caretaker. Today while working down by the river Mikhol found this poisonous snake, a Terciopelo or Fer-de-Lance as it is known. He calls Phil on the cell phone and wants to know, do we want him to catch it or kill it?

Here is a great shot of the male Quetzal with his beautiful long tale feathers. They are fruit eaters who love avacados. Quetzal's are often found at higher altitudes and birdwatchers seek to spot them.

This is a female Quetzal, one of the most beautiful birds in the world. This is a rare sighting, the photo was taken by Ethan.

This lovely little tarantula is on the wall of our colorful downstairs bedroom. They are not that poisonous. The kids just relocated him to the outdoors. When you live in a rainforest you must learn to share it with the other animals in the forest. Occasionally a little creature makes a mistake and gets lost in the house, we provide relocaton for them if possible.

This is a poison dart frog. Beautiful, tiny little creature. Ethan photographed him while on the rafting trip.

Phil was at the farm today playing with our dog Chikka and the horses. Here is the filly flying by. She moves so smoothly as if she is simply gliding. It is difficult to film her as she is often just a blur.

Here is a view of the Turrialba Volcano from space thanks to the folks at Wikipedia. http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=10019906&x=-83762598&z=14&l=0&m=a This is very cool. I found this link today while researching the last eruption of Volcan Turrialba.

Love the internet, here I am with really, really slow speed dial up, in a rainforest and I can get this kind of information at the speed of copper wires. Amazing. Even more amazing is that people are finding their way to my blog, allowing me to share my world with their families and friends.

My husband Phil is deep in our rainforest using the walking stick that our friend Gonzalo made for him. Gonzalo builds beautiful bambu furniture and bambu homes in Costa Rica. I have two of his sofa's in my living room and I enjoy them very much.

Our house guests went rafting all day yesterday with Rainforest World rafting http://www.rforestw.com/welcome2.cfm in Turrialba. If you are coming for a vacation and want to book your adventure you can email them at rforestw@racsa.co.cr to make reservations. My adult son went on this same trip down the Pacuare and had a wonderful time. Our area is known for our fast rivers, kayaking and river rafting. If you are coming for a vacation you should book a river trip. They also have a nature canoe trip down much more gentle waters with beautiful birds, animals and scenery.

We saw this beautiful iridescent bird in our front yard. It is a Blue-crowned Motmot. My naturalist friend Henry says they are common in most parts of the country except Guanacaste and the southern lowlands of the Caribbean. They nest in holes that they make horizontally in embankments or steep hillsides. Their nest can be up to 10 ft deep.

We have many birds here at our home and farm. This one was even more beautiful in person.

This view is looking down on Turrialba and the surrounding little towns such as Santa Rosa and Santa Elena. We have a telescope and look up at the volcano, now we know what we have been looking at and hope to be able to pick out landmarks again.

We went on a day trip to Volcan Turrialba this weekend in our new 1989, 200,000+ miles on it Isuzu Rodeo 4 x 4. What a car, we made it up and back down with no problem as we passed cars, trucks and even a brand new Toyota 4 x 4, diesel, crew cab, boiling over. When I say we passed them, it was in 1st gear and they were not moving. This drive is torture on a vehicle and it's driver. We now have a new appreciation for our Rodeo.

The farm land on the sides on the volcano are lovely with rich soil, potatoes, cabbage, cows and lilies. The road is vertical and a switchback style. At times I thought I may have been in the Smoky Mountains or even New Hampshire. It has been usually dry this dry season and the dust was thick as we climbed. You can walk down to the smoldering crevice but I thought it looked uninviting and like the face of the moon. The little clouds you see are smoke/poisonous gas rising up. There is an outhouse at the top, but you will only want to use it if you are desperate. The weekly newspaper is hanging inside to be used as toilet paper, seat liner or both.

Phil met Jeff and Ryan at a Biodynamic Farming Conference last week at Luna Nueva in La Tigre, Costa Rica. Jeff is a well known biodynamic veggie farmer from Tennessee. He is part of Community Supported Agriculture outside of Nashville, has written a newspaper column for about 15 years and as you can see he has a very long beard.

Ethan took this photo from above a fall looking down the very fast, spiraling water. This is our dry season, it will be interesting to see what these look like in the wet season, or if we will be able to get there during the wet season. Phil is preparing for his dive, the dogs are watching.

I drove up on my Rhino locked in 4 x 4, as far as the trail would allow me to go. Mud bogged me down at one point, and when I went back down I was surfing in the mud trying not to launch the vehicle off of the side of the mountain. The Rhino has been everything I had hoped for, surefooted, fast, fun, dependable, high clearance, and can haul a load. It takes the washboard roads and goat trails very comfortably.

It is hard to believe that all of this exists on our property. Breathtakingly beautiful, but not easy to get to. Our caretaker, Phil, Jeff, Ryan, Ethan, our dog Chikka, and caretaker dog Palooza all went on today's hike. Phil went diving in the pools and everyone swam including the dogs. It was a very cold, refreshing swim, perfect for a warm days hike.

Phil and friends hiked up to waterfalls on our land today that we have not yet been to. The pools at the base of each fall is carved out of solid rock, crystal clear and about 8 foot deep. Our new friend Ethan took these photos. This fall has three flows of water entering the pool.

Here is Phil in another good view of our waterfall. Our land continues up beyond this fall. We look forward to continued exploration

You have seen this view before in other pictures that I have posted, but not from this elevation. This is looking down across our land and towards the Turrialba volcano. The clouds are in the way of a clear picture of the volcano. We have set up the telescope in our living room and we are starting to explore the volcano via the telescope

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Just in case you thought I was kidding about how difficult the climb is, here is my dear husband Phil resting on a rock. He looks just a little tired and the going down is even harder than the going up. But he loves every minute, every fall, every delicous drink of spring water blowing up out of the ground.

Phil, our caretaker Marcus, and our neighbor and engineer Gonzalo, went up to the falls on our land and I wanted to share them with you. They are breathtaking. Getting to the falls is not so easy. We are working on building trails to them, but the terrain is a challenge.are them with you. We have 20 waterfalls. This particular body of water will produce enough electricity for 5 houses. We are going to look at hydro electric generators from Columbia where they build state of the art power plants.

Phil and I went to service at the Mission de Tuis today (Sunday) at 4pm. As we drove along the winding road, a man with a wheel barrel was push it loaded with jugs of water. Phil said there goes the water supply for the houses in Barrio Rojas. They have no piped in water so they must carry it in with jugs. I want to explore Barrio Rojas and I would like to photograph what I see. It is a very poor neighborhood. What I can easily see of it, is probably the best of it.

The Voz Que Clama Mission’s service in Tuis de Turrialba http://www.vqcmission.com was held in a roofed open air structure they rent at the school across the street from the home of the Mission. Hector and Daniel are very talented musicians, Hector plays keyboard and sings beautifully, Daniel plays drums. They have even built a screen onto which they project the words to the hymns. I did not expect this level of technical sophistication in Tuis de Turrialba.

Many of the patients attended, several in wheelchairs, one with a colostomy bag. Everyone was enjoying the music, singing and camaraderie. We felt lucky to be in this special place with such special people. I thought about my Cuban born American friend Carmen and how this little church was her kind of place. So much need, with whispered prayers and songs of esperanza (hope). I know that if Carman came here, she would never leave because her life would be changed from that moment forward.

Costa Rica is a country of extremes and today was just another example of those extremes. The parishioners were a mix of many people. Americans attending the Christian Immersion Spanish Academy language school http://www.cisacostarica.com , many Indigenous, and assorted Costa Rican neighbors from Tuis. A visiting pastor with a Southern accent was preaching about church and family in English while a Spanish pastor translated. I wandered and left the sermon while my body remained in my chair. Horses and cows were the backdrop for the service and I am sure they enjoyed the music as they continued to come closer. One cow almost fell off of his vertical pasture. A Costa Rican woman with a child in tow and another on the way cried through the evening. Phil and I could feel her pain and her loneliness, her husband was not with her. The indigenous man to my right was joyous to be in attendance but the tearful Senora was clearly on his mind; she made him uncomfortable. A new born was baptized and that brand new Indigenous baby held its arms up to the Lord. We wondered if others were seeing what we saw. The baby’s mother was very beautiful and as the child was being baptized, I said my prayers for the family and the child.

Today was Daniel’s birthday and at the end of the service they projected photos of Daniel at various events and in funny costumes from this past year. Humor is good for the soul.

There was a large crowd celebrating and towards the end of the evening Phil and I thought that we would just drop off our donations of school supplies and quietly slip on out. So we gave our bags of goodies to several of the students studying at CISA, Christian Immersion Spanish Academy, and Phil started to back out the Isuzu Rodeo in the dark. It was difficult because of the narrow opening through the gates, other vehicles to avoid and the very deep ditches that can be more like a ravine that line most of the roads in Costa Rica. He avoided the concrete columns but our angle was off and down the ravine we went, nearly rolling over. The front tires or at lease one of them was still clinging to dirt. I had my seat belt on so when we hit bottom I would be securely stuck in my seat with Phil on top of me. He had not belted up but I was not about to point that out to him as he was exclaiming, Oh shit! Yes the Rodeo is 4 x 4, but you must get out to lock the rims in and we were teetering on the abyss, getting out was not possible for the slightest wobble would be the last. I am not sure if the 4 wheel component works when you are in a ravine lying on the passenger door. I could not picture how we would resolve our predicament when a small number of men, picked up our car with us in it and put us back on the road. How did they do that I asked, they had the Power of God, Phil replied. We did not speak another word of what happened all of the way home. So much for exiting quietly unnoticed.

I did comment on how the drive looks totally different in the dark. The depth of darkness was dense and the biggest difference was the swollen number of people on the road all wearing dark colored clothing with no reflectors or lights. Human obstacles on the course without a care in the world; a bit farther down the road a free range cow had found fodder more tasty than his own. The grace of Senior Jesus was with everyone this evening.

I met with two young men yesterday who are doing wonderful work with the indigenous. They are nondenominational Christians who run a mission http://www.vqcmission.com and have taken in the indigenous handicapped from one particular village. They also make regular visits to the children of this village to help educate them and assess their needs. The handicapped indigenous are cast out and left to die because they have an evil spirit. My friend's facility is very clean, the patients happy and well fed. Phil and I could not do what these young men (29 and 30) are doing. One patient is bed ridden with Cerebral Palsy, all have some mental condition or are schizophrenic.

The following are their needs that I know of now and I have asked for an additional list:

Art supplies, crayons, pencils, craft scissors, sweat shirts of any color (it is cold in the mountains). If you can think it they need it. They need craft paper, it weighs a lot and therefore is hard to carry in, but if you can do it, great. They always need clothes and blankets. This tribe is the most forgotten of all of the different tribes in Costa Rica and their language is the hardest to learn. Hector and Daniel have spent two years making friends in the village, it is not easy for outsiders to be accepted. If you could help them it would be very appreciated.

I believe that my indigenous are from the same tribe. From my land it is almost an 8 hour walk up mountain, if your fit enough to make it. I am not. From their starting point it is about a 5 hour walk so we are talking about the same tribe, but not the same village. There are many villages up there.

A number of us are working together and resource sharing. Networking with each other is the best way to share ideas and supplies. I have pencils here that I can give them now and still take care of my two schools and supply our indigenous through the teachers that visit their village.

I had been focusing on navy blue sweatshirts for our local schools, but the rules are different for them, any color will do, because they do not go to the local schools. They are only visited by teachers. At night everyone sleeps together on the floor of a roofed open structure. It has been cold here at night, just a few nights ago I had a sweatshirt on, socks, a heavy blanket, a light polar fleece throw and I was still cold. But I was in a nice soft bed not sleeping on the ground with no sleeping bag.

If you can help, or know others who would, we would gratefully appreciate it.

They started out four almost 5 years ago as a church and no one would come. Why? Because they were a church, the local folks said we already have a church, we don't need a church. So they started calling their place a Mission. Oh!, the people said. A Mission, we don't have a Mission, we need a Mission, a Mission helps people, we will come. And so their Church turned into a Mission and does the same thing. They worship and meet the needs of the people. It is also a small nursing home as they house indigenous handicapped, very very clean, no smell at all, you would be very impressed. These two fellows are doing excellent work. They have about 150 who come to service every Sunday evening. It is always in the evening (4pm) here because the cows must be milked and chores done first.

They are non-denominational because like me they do not believe that you need to be Baptist or Methodist, just love the Lord. This is also a Catholic country and although many do not understand how you could not be Catholic, being something really got in the way. So we are all just Christians and they are a Mission. If you know of anyone who would like to visit the "Mission" please let me know. They also have a Spanish language school http://www.cisacostarica.com teaching Spanish to people like you and me. This helps them to fund their existence and pay for the needs of everyone. Really great fellows. Visitors come and volunteer there time at the Mission, learn Spanish, and learn something even more special about what is in their hearts.

I asked Mauricio if I may take his photo, and he kindly gave permission. He is holding the remains of his right leg while sitting in my garage.

So many people here need just a little help. They are not asking for much. Mauricio just wanted some help to attach his foot to his leg. A little thing, but we were unable to attach it.

Can you help? There are companies that make devices that could help this boy. Who are they? Would contact them and send my blog to them? Perhaps they have a leg this young man could use.

Phil’s surgery today was not a success. Mauricio left with his leg and foot in his hands.

I believe in 6 degrees of separation, that all of us know someone, who knows someone who can help. That is why I write this blog. Without your help, I am just one woman telling a story. Sometimes it is a nice, warm, fuzzy story and sometimes it is not. This is a country of extremes and everyday I am more enlightened than the day before. We do what we can on this end; sometimes we can solve immediate problems with ingenuity and tools. I depend on you for outside resources to help these folks because there are so few resources here nor are they accessible to rural people.

Mauricio does not have electricity, they have a little hydro electric generator that his father built, but it is the dry season and there is no water to run it. When it is the rainy season, they only have power part of the time because there is too much water and the equipment washes down stream. They are always repairing the system.

I remember the first time I met Mauricio he was trying to repair the generator using a candle to heat an electric soldering gun. I said to Phil, this is going to end badly. It simply made a mess and ended up in the repair shop for a week with the shop owner cursing the damage. They try, with little knowledge and even less skills, they try.

The son of our caretaker, Mauricio lost his leg in an accident. This morning he came to the house because his foot fell off the prosthetic device (a wooden leg). Phil is performing surgery on it trying to back out the broken pin and then reattach the foot.

This was an opportunity for me to get a better look at the device which I have wanted to do but did not want to ask for a closer look. Now that I have seen what he has, I am sure that he could do better. I think this is an old, outdated, used leg as Mauricio has had it only a short time and it is falling apart. I am sure he is thankful for a device, but this is just two steps up from a peg leg. It does let him get around, but under mountainous jungle conditions, he is not, in my opinion, fully functional.

If you know of anyone who can help Mauricio with a more efficient leg that would better serve him, please ask them to contact me at ginnee@gmail.com

Chikka wanted her photo taken with me. She is the cute one who prefers a front seat. Chikka was recently rescued from the streets of Turrialba. She is a great little girl who wants to play with your hairbrush or shoes. Tug of war with a towel or shirt is also great fun but say goodbye to your stuff. We love her.

Here I am with the Rhino, an obvious glamour shot. No one cares when you are at the farm. I am wearing my rubber boots, and an old shirt, big hat and dark glasses to keep the sun off of me. It is a beautiful day and this is the perfect vehicle to go where no man has gone before.

Here is a closer photo of Phil and the filly. The air is pleasantly cool and the sun is very intense. The horses have unlimited clean water from a stream that runs through their pasture. You will notice that the fence posts are living. The animals like those leaves also.

Phil and his horses at the farm this morning. The filly loves to kiss him, they are really cute together. She also likes to nibble on his chin whiskers and he is thrilled with the interaction. We rotate them through various pastures every few days. This pasture has lots of guava trees which give shade for the horses and they love eating the guava fruit.

This is the view across the river from our future home site. It is protected primary forest. If we turned 45 degrees to the left we would be looking down and across the valley at the Turrialba volcano.

If you are a cook, or a foodie, bring every kitchen item you ever wanted or dreamed of wanting. Stainless steel pots are hard to come by and expensive. Crock pots, I think I have 5 or 6. I use one all of the time and now I will never need to buy another. I use them at night mostly; I put veggies and a chicken in them and go to bed. The first one up in the morning unplugs the crock and when I get up, I can pick the bones clean. Now I have the makings for soup, chicken and dumplings or chicken salad. The point is it is convenient and we have little or no conveniences in rural Costa Rica. I also use it when I am off at the farm and dinner is now waiting when I return.

KitchenAid Pro mixer, buy one; I use it everyday for cakes and bread (I make 8 - 12 loaves a week). They make great gifts; the bread as well as the KitchenAid mixer but I only give the bread away.

VitaMix, http://www.vitamix.com is one of the most versatile, useful, last for your lifetime, good for you appliances that you can own. Worth every dime if you care about living a good healthy life. You can buy them remanufactured and save some money that way. Just do it. I make oatmeal, flaxseed, and fruit ice cream in them. Yes, it is delicious and there is no milk in the ice cream but I do use yogurt. I suppose that counts as milk actually, but who is counting.

Meat grinder and meat slicer: I have two grinders, my KitchenAid grinder atachment (the original metal one by Hobart) and I have a big grinder for the whole cow size jobs. I bought the slicer for roast beef and bacon slicing. I have seen no cold cuts in Costa Rica that I would buy. Boars Head is not here. So I make my own cold cuts as well as cure and cold smoke my own bacon and make sausage.

Bring a Gas Grill, with a side burner. Very handy for grilling and I use it to cold smoke my bacon. For the smoke, I use coffee wood. Just soak your wood and place it on one burner on low with your cured pork belly offset on the cold side. It works great! It is also a great appliance when the electric is off.

Coffee grinders, I use them to grind my grains for bread baking although your Vitamix will also do the job. This week’s special bread has been, Coconut Bimini Bread with fresh ground coconut as part of the flour. The neighbors are thrilled.

Do buy the Jaccard tenderizer, you can thank me later for this tip. We like our meat suave (soft), and this gadget will make you look like a genius in the kitchen. Your guests will wonder how you do it. Many of them have given up on beef, or, they are still chewing.

Pressure cooker, buy a canning stainless steel one and bring an extra gasket. I have not used one in the states for years but here we use it. The ribs that were attached to that pork belly (bacon), I put them in the pressure cooker along with a can of tomatoes, garlic, onion and jalapeño peppers and when they are tender they go on the grill while I puree, sweeten and reduce the sauce to baste them. I also put up chicken and meat with veggies as that is as close as we get to fast food. Ball jars and lids are available here. This week I browned pork chops then added carrots, garlic, onion and whole potatoes along with a little chicken stock; locked down the lid and we had fast suave chops for dinner with only one pot to wash.

I always wanted to be a Super Mom when that was in vogue. One morning I woke up exhausted and shifted gears. How can you do everything? Well I still do most everything, but I take a little help from appliances so that I do not have to work so hard.

The appliance repairman came today to fix the new dryer. Apparently, there is only one repairman to do warranty work in the whole country and I had to wait for him to travel the circuit and come south to my neck of the woods. I am so thankful for my dryer. You must have a dryer in the rainforest. I just hate walking around damp with my clothes drying on my body.

If you comment or email me, please include your email address and I will reply. Or email directly ginnee@gmail.com

Everyday here is an adventure of extremes. The good, the bad and sometimes the ugly. Our neighbors are as good as it gets in any country. They are warm and caring, smart, highly educated, good salt of the earth people. My cousin in Massachusetts asked me yesterday if living here was everything I thought it would be? It is, and more. It is more joyful and on occasion more sad. There is more pleasure and sometimes more pain. My friend Joaquin, a Costa Rican, says I see things differently than he. I know this statement to be true as we come from different experiences, different cultures and because of my age I have had far more life experiences in a very different culture and time. All of this colors my view of life. We are not in Kansas anymore, not that I have ever been to Kansas.

Our neighborhood, Hacienda Atirro, is like a country club with pools, tennis court, a few horses, 2 cows and 5 dogs (we own 3 of them) who like each other and visit. This is not a gated community, it is special and unusual however.

I am cold smoking my bacon today with coffee wood. It will be whatever it turns out to be and we will like it. I am sure. I made sausage and eggs for breakfast today. My homemade sausage of course. It is good stuff. I would add fat to it if I could but the meat here has no fat. That may be the biggest problem with the beef, no fat and it is not aged. I am grinding my meat, but the flavor is just not the way I want it for hamburgers. It is too red, too fresh, not fatty enough; who would have thought that I would be saying, not fatty enough?

The family at the carniceria I patronize is always so glad to see me again. I bring my cooler and we fill it up for the ride home. Kristofer says, she loves seeing you come. Gringos eat so much more meat than Costa Ricans, or at least that is my observation. I eat very little meat actually but my family wants to know, "Where's the beef?", or any other kind of meat. Today the butcher gave me a gift of sausages. They are the sweetest people. I don't think anyone has ever given me sausages as a gift before.

We grilled the beef tenderloin (carne suave) this evening on the grill and added coffee wood for smoke flavor. It did add extra flavor and it was the best steak yet. I use a Jaccard tenderizing machine to help the meat out. That little machine is the most valuable tool in my kitchen. It is definitely in the top 10 of important gadgets.

Joaquin, a 5th year student at Earth University is sitting on the Rhino discussing the farm with Kristofer, Sara, her brother Alberto, and our farm manager Marcos who is wearing the white hat.

Here are todays photos of Lluvia and her filly Neblina grazing in the pasture at our farm. Another nice view.

This is our newest horse at the farm. In the background you can see the Turrialba volcano on this beautiful day. You are looking down and across the Turrialba valley. What a beautiful view.

Life on the rural farm land of Costa Rica is a never ending list of duties. My wifely duties include whole grain bread making every other day. I grind my grains (oatmeal and flax seed) and add them to the whole wheat flour for more nutrition. I am thankful for my Kitchenaid pro as it lightens the job immensely. My son made about 6 pizzas last night for our dinner guests. We ground pork and made Italian sausage earlier in the day to top the pizza. The different availability and quality of products made duplicating my recipes a challenge the first few times. Sometimes what you thought was in the package, is different than your use to. For instance the coconut milk I used today for my Thai red curry lentils. It was sweet. I do not see anywhere that it was sweetened, and sweet is not what I traditionally use. So I have a sweet lentil dish instead. Who knew? Well the bread will be good, I have that mastered.

The sky is clear and blue today, no sweatshirt needed. Nice and pleasantly warm.

We hired a housekeeper, Carmen, Oh thank you Lord. I just could not get everything done everyday and we are still unpacking. With no dishwasher and farm style cooking I was not able to get ahead of the work. We have had company for dinner and or breakfast and lunch nearly everyday. My husband and son have been great at pitching in and washing dishes.

Everyone is up the mountain at the farm today. We are moving another horse up to Esperanza I expect they will be home for lunch and starving because other than last nights homemade oatmeal cookies no one has eaten. No fast food out here.

I am preparing to make (cure) bacon today. One batch will be with apple cider and the other with honey. I bought a whole pork belly at the carniceria. I will let you know how it turns out. Everything tastes better with bacon, even too sweet lentils.

We have vampire bats on the mountain at night. They scratch animals and lick the blood. So we are protecting the horses by screening in their stalls with nursery cloth and putting them up at night. We have fruit bats and bug eaters at the house and come dusk they start swooping along with the night hawks and wills. We call it the bat show and watch with our lights off while sitting in the glass enclosed living room.

I think about TV and our lack of it, but when would I have the time to watch? The internet is my source of news and perhaps we are better off not knowing the really horrible stuff. We came here to get away from violence and what we see as the dumbing down of America. Our concerns have been redirected to hungry children who want to go to school but can not afford to do so. A kind and generous neighbor has offered to let us use his house as a library and classroom. I would like a teacher to volunteer to come for a year and live with us while working with the local students. If you know of a candidate please tell them about us and ask them to email me Ginnee@gmail.com

Kristofer and 3 friends hiked up to some of our waterfalls today. Through the river, waist deep in water at times, crisscrossing back and forth in order to climb up the mountain. Their rubber boots filled up with water and the knee high waterproof snake boots were good until you were up to your waist in the river and then they weighed an extra 2 kilos each. Good quality river shoes with great traction ability is the answer. You should bring a waterproof camera, perhaps a disposable water proof camera.

This stream is one of several streams and rivers running through our property. After a big rain the mountain water will make little streams turn into powerful rivers. You can sometimes hear the boulders washing down river.

This tarantula was hiding in a palm frond. We were lucky to spot his 4 plus inch body. They don't really want to eat anything bigger than they are and he is suppose to be here. Cute and fuzzy, but we did not touch him out of a healthy respect for nature.

This view was taken looking down across our farm in Esperanza, Costa Rica. The farm consists of 1,270 acres with about 20 waterfalls. We have primary forest with old growth trees and beautiful fresh water. The buildings are the caretaker's house and out buildings. In the distance is the volcano.

Here is a photo of my husband Phil with a leaf bug he found in the garage. Phil is letting his beard grow, I am not sure how long this phase will last. At least it is not scratchy at this pont. It makes him look older, but he is happy not shaving. I understand.

Here is a view of the Turrialba volcano from my living room window. Love it! It is very magical to wake up with this beautiful view in Costa Rica.

Our home in Costa Rica is spacious, comfy, and has beautiful views of the Turrialba Volcano. The living room, pictured on the second story is all glass enclosed. All of the rooms have volcano views. On clear nights I can see fireflys in our yard and twinkle lights on the side of the volcano.

Lluvia (Rain) and her filly Neblina (Cloud), isn't she sweet. Her little tale is so fluffy. She is discovering her body and her ability to use her legs, kicking and jumping around. Sometimes she appears to just glide.

Here is a photo of my husband Phil and his mare Lluvia. Lluvia means rain in Spanish. She is the proud mother of a filly who is about 34 days old.