Costa Rica day 18 Jan. 26

This was taken at 5:42 a.m. as the sun came up.
Today was another great day. We watched the sun come up from the open doors of our bedroom along with the sounds of the birds stirring getting ready for another day. We also heard some unidentified sounds (not birdlike) coming from the nearby jungle. I videod it just to get the sounds. After breakfast our taxi showed up at 9:30 to take us to Punta Islita. (there are no busses in this neck of the woods or in a lot of the other places off the beaten path) Taxis are very inexpensive and this one was a beaut. Diesel with a snorkel for crossing the rivers. We only had to cross one. Twenty minutes later we arrived in the heart of town. Jim says the population is about 200 if that. There's one resort with a golf course and the rest is museum, general store, and a church,school, and souvenir/craft shop.
This small village is very pretty as it's like an art colony. Marta the lady running the museum showed us all around. It was more of an art and craft show than a museum. When we were ready to leave a walk about she came with us and left one of the artist working there to mind the store! She showed us the beautiful church that had sat semi completed for a very long time because the town didn't have the money for materials to finish it. The money was donated anonymously and the villagers finished the job. She told us the original plan was for one steeple but that was changed to two because all small churches have two. Across from there was a clinic but the doctor left because he said it wasn't handicapped accessible. Now the villagers have to take a taxi (which they can't afford) to a nearby village. The school next door has 22 students ranging in age from 7 to 12. There is a morning class and an afternoon class. They get their meals in a separate lunchroom which without govt. support would only be rice and black beans every day. They now get something else thrown in to round it out. The first round of classes eat when they're finished for the day and then the afternoon class eats right after them prior to classes.
The village is amazingly clean and very picturesque. The houses are painted bright colors with pieces of tile and mirrors decorating them. Next to the church is the sacred forest. The trees were planted years ago by the existing indians and they're now decorated to commemorate them. A tree in the soccer field is painted white and adorned with many symbols. A star denotes good health (salute), the moon is love, and the spiral is you will return. I hope it's true. Really I can't express how friendly these people are and how they are content with what little they have. Most everything in this village is courtesy of a donation from somewhere and they have made the most of it. The govt. gave the museum some computers for the villagers but they're not operable as they can't hook up to the internet. The streets in the center of town are covered with paving stones (like interlocking bricks) which were also donated. This keeps the dust down the everything clean. the general store even has 4 recycling bins for various things.
It makes you wish you could give these beautiful people something to better their lives although they're very content and grateful for what they have.
Arriving back here at noon we jumped into the pool and cooled off. I was leaning on the infinity edge for quite a while just enjoying watching the surf off in the distance when I saw a black object running across a field towards the jungle near the water. It was closely followed by another one. They were a pair of jaguars! Jim had seen a mother a 2 cubs a year ago in the same spot. What an incredible piece of luck. You could tell by the way they ran and their coal black color that they were cats. He said they live down in the direction they were running which is in the nature reserve. The reserve is between Jim's house and on the right hand side of his property so no one will ever build there.
Jim spent the afternoon planting a lot of papaya trees with is Cat digger. He had some business friends over this afternoon and has gone out for supper so Jo and I had leftover yellowfin tuna for supper. Better than steak! Jim had made a dip out of guacamole, tomatoes, garlic, and some tobasco. I've got to get that recipe.
The sun went down exactly 12 hours after we saw it come up. Right away an owl came down and skimmed the pool. It's been here every night and landed for a time the other night on the deck.
It's now 8:20 p.m. and we're going in the pool to see the Southern Cross and the inverted Big Dipper up above us. The stars are amazing as there are no lights here.
Truly an amazing place that is leaving us in awe.
We'll be leaving here early Monday morning and heading further south to a remote nature reserve where it's highly likely I can get some pictures of sloths. What next I wonder?
Hasta Luego and thanks for all of you who are following us.
LINK OF THE DAY
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26605&l=6efce&id=680056043