Running Downhill

Life, house sitting in Potrero, Costa Rica, is a rather hilarious experience. We have three quirky cats and a giant dog that we care for and they never stop fooling with us. We have Belinda, who was 9 weeks old when we met her and three or four months old now. She enjoys zigzagging in front of Andy while he goes up the stairs, falling asleep in my hair, and trying to suckle (yes, suckle) my earlobes. The operative word in that last sentence, in case you are concerned, is “trying”.

After that there is Pipa. Pipa is generally a chill cat. She enjoys getting petted, enjoys hunting outside, and is pretty easy BUT she has one strange traits. She loves being around toilets when you flush them. If she gets in before you close the door she will sit and watch you do your business and then, if you don’t hop of the toilet once you flus,h she will gentle bite you out of the way. Once she hears that flushing she needs to watch the water swirl.

Then, there is Sonreisa. Sonreisa was not my friend until I let him sleep in my room with me. Ever since the first time we did that he has become me shadow. When I go to lay down he will sprint past me and jump on the bed to wait for me right where I was about to sit. He still likes to mess with me though and it would be too easy if he was just “my little sucker”. When outside Sonreisa is an entirely different cat. He will not be caught and he will not go inside. Last week this mild botheration became a little more extreme when he raced past Andy when he was entering the property gate to real outdoors. This meant that he had nothing stopping him from becoming feral alligator food. Nelson (the Nicaraguan fellow who works on the property), Andy and I spent the night searching around for him. Well, clearly petrified the cat ended up climbing Nelson’s bike and leaping over the 6ft (?) cement fence! Needless to say he was locked inside for the entirety of the two days following this “adventure”.

also his tail is twice as long as any other tail should be

Lastly, is the dog. This dog is more like a miniature horse and his name is both Kandor and Alejndro Grande. He is an anatolian shephard. Most of the day he spends lounging on the porch barking at the stray cow or dog. Most of the time, minus the occasional whimpering, barking, or EXTREME loving (anything the size of a pony trying to love you can be deemed extreme) he is an easy dog. Unfortunately, he is not a fan of other dogs. This means that when we do our daily walk on the beach with him we must be on high alert for dogs at all times for fear that he will drag us across the sand, like he did with his owner, while he chases the poor creature down. While Kandor does get to eat fresh meat we don’t particularly want him eating the meat that fresh.

also he likes to squeeze under the bed (when he doesn’t sleep on it)

My thoughts go out to my brother Greg and his wife Laura that are coming to visit this Friday!! Also to my fabulous friend Rachel who may be teaching in Wilsonville soon :)

     Yesterday was Thursday. For me that means a fun day for my kids and advanced classes for my adults. For the fun activity we made animal masks. My example mask was a bunny. My aid’s example was a cat. Not surprisingly every single kid made a cat mask. Well, except for the very young Leon that made two masks, one of which was suppose to be a lion (I love the fact Leon’s favorite animal is a lion) and the other was lined paper with squiggles and eyes cut out.

     The adult classes were very exciting. I am starting to really get to know, and like, the people that show up to adult classes. This next week I’m even getting to learn a new way to fish with them. Fishing with a spool of wire and no rod is going to be a hilarious learning experience for me I think!!

    Also for the adult classes, as per my request (begging?), we now have a lead teacher for the adult classes. This means that I can just show up and help without stressing over lesson plans for the adult students. The new teacher has two years of experience teaching adults English through Peace Corps in Pittsburgh, so to say that she is up to the task is an understatement.

    After classes Diana (the new adult teacher) and I got a ride to a nearby beach by some friends and started walking Surfside towards home. As we are walking Diana asks; “Are those baby turtles?” I’ve been told that my beach doesn’t really ever get turtle nests but lo and behold in front of my eyes are tons of BABY TURTLES!!! We must have watched them for an hour as they worked their way out of the brush, where their nest was hidden, and then pushed their way down to the surf.

    At one point a local fellow appeared out of nowhere and started aiding the turtles. Since he seemed pretty certain that it was okay for us to be helping them move in the right direction and get out of the dense brush they were in I started picking them up and moving them. That’s right folks, I got to hold a baby turtle!!! Then the local fellow went to the hole (nest) and dug it out to make sure no last turtles were stuck in there. I got to see the remains of their shells (wow are they soft!) and listen to this guy tell me his knowledge of turtles. He said that out of the hundred baby turtles that hatch only two will probably survive. One bit the dust right in front of me as some dogs came up and took him right in front of my eyes. I”m sure you are not surprised to hear that I spent the rest of my time with a sharp eye on the dogs down the beach to make sure it didn’t happen again.

    Anyways, the moral of the story is, yesterday was awesome! I got to experience, as a part of my walk home from work, baby turtles making their first swim under the sun setting.