Shelby has had quite the week!!!



The gash after Casey and I "stitched" her up



Our poor little girl has had quite the week this past week.  Where to start?!?!?  Well earlier last week I took the dogs on a long walk down the beach while Casey was surfing.  What a GREAT day until... out of no where this dog came over to Shelby and they started fighting!  YIKES!  The fight stopped after the owner of the other dog threw a LOG at them.  Shelby walked away like no big deal so we continued our walk for another 30 minutes or so.  We got back to the house and I was rinsing them off of all the salt water and I saw blood on my leg... "Is that from me?!?"  Nope of course not it is from the HUGE gash in Shelby's face.  It would be silly for this to have happened in the day time where we could have found help to help us but nope it was at night, where the only thing open was the grocery store down the street.  Oh Yeti (the lady at the grocery store)!!! Don't we love that lady at the grocery store.  We fumbled our way through a Spanish speaking conversation about Shelby and if they had any medicine to help us.  So what does she give us???  Some crazy antibacterial ointment (yes I said ointment) and... wait for it... SUPER GLUE!  "Esta bien, esta bien por perro" Thanks Yeti!  So we buy the ointment and glue for $4 and headed back to the house.  We fixed her up like she was a million bucks. 

 





So everything was great with her, we kept her away from the ocean for a few days so she could heal and boy was she looking good.  This past Monday, Casey and I wanted to go for a hike on this trail to the top of these overlook cliffs.  We took the dogs, of course, because who are we without the dogs...right?  So we started on our trail.  What a sight, beautiful greenery, wild horses, and a terrific view of the ocean and reefs.  Casey then said to me..."don't let the dogs get to close to the cliffs"  so I called Anakin since I had his leash and Casey called Shelby... "Shelby, Shelby, Shhhheeeeeellllbbbbbyyyyy" . and Shelby was not where to be found. Casey and I looked everywhere for her since she is the one who ALWAYS comes back first.  Then Casey did the dreaded look over the cliff... "OH SHIT" there she was half way down the cliff just staring up at him. We started forming a plan of how we were going to get to her since she was on the SIDE OF THE CLIFF!  So Casey and I remembered that it was low tide for the next two hours so we would have time to run the other two beaches on each side of where she was to see if we could get to her from the bottom... Thank God it was low tide.  So Casey and I split up and ran in opposite directions to get to our little lady.  Casey got to her before Anakin and I did and there they were walking on the beach.  Thank God!  She looked slow and startled but nothing horrible.  We all walked home and when we got there Shelby just collapsed on the patio and wouldn't move...We then noticed that her stomach started getting bigger/harder.  Since we don't have a car and since the only vet is AN HOUR AWAY I ran inside to grab our passports so we could rent a car.  That alone takes 30 minutes in paper work.  And not to mention we have no idea where the vet is.  Out of no where our friend, Shannon, came by to say HI in his car which he typically doesn't do.  The crazy thing is, is that his car was in the shop and wasn't suppose to be ready until the next day so he got it early.  If God wasn't on our side I don't know what to say.  Shannon is such a blessing, what a great friend, he dropped everything and helped load Shelby in his car and off we went.  We got to the vet and he said it would take an hour to check her out.  After the hour he told us that her stomach had twisted in the fall and that she has 2 fractured disks in her spine.  But will be fine!!!  WHAT A RELIEF!  So she is doing great!  Tired and sore but great! She will be taking pain killers for the next few days and will not be able to run for a while but we are just so happy she is with us.  What a strong lady!!!  Well just thought you all would want an update on our adventures with the dogs and what a crazy one it has been... Not many people can say their dog fell off a cliff and is here to tell the story (in dog language of course)



The start of our beautiful hike



Here is a picture for the top of the cliff looking at the reef

This was taken after Shelby's fall... That was the cliff she just fell off of, what do you think 60 ft?



This is the Xray of her 2 fractured disks




Our beautiful girl is resting comfortably

  



 


 



Turtle Adventure

How about some snake for lunch? Just off the main road, on our way to Ostional to see some turtles we see this on the road. It's not every day you see a massive Boa as road kill.

This lucky fellow saw the potential for a nice Boa sandwich and with a quick snatch he was riding down the road one handed on his Kawisaki, snake in hand.

Because of all the rain the road was washed out so the only option we had was to park the car on the side of the "river" (which was once a road) and walk the last 3 miles to the town.  I waited for the two guys to cross the bridge knowing that once I stepped on it they would make that very sturdy bridge sway... and they did!  I felt like I was in an earthquake.

Here is another bridge we had to cross because another road was washed out.  This one was made out of shipping crates...yikes!  Oh Shannon what a brave soul testing out the bridges before the Byrds cross.

Or first turtle encounter! Welcome to the beach, 

 feel free to lay some eggs any where you'd like I bet you are quite tired after such a long swim!

Even the journey to the right place on shore is a trek!  Man these turtles must be exhausted!  It was great to see the turtles after such a long journey, and to know that they are only here for one reason... EGGS

Oh our good friend Shannon is really excited that this turtle made it.  Man this was a funny picture to take.  Shannon is definitely one of the best people we have met since we have been here!  Any thing we do with him is an adventure.

Oh guess what it's raining... there's a big surprise.  And the only wise one of the group brought an umbrella.   So we had to take a break during our turtle extravaganza and go find a dry place to stay... I think it is time for a beer. 

Here are some eggs that were buried in the sand and the side of it has been washed out by the tide.  I don't know if these little ones will make it.  It's crazy to see how far down the turtles dig before they lay their eggs.  Our guide told us that turtles lay up to 100 to 150 eggs at a time and they are lucky if 40 make it through the whole development stage.  There were so many vultures, hawks and street dogs roaming the beach digging up the eggs.  It was sad to see but I know it's the process of Mother Nature.  After the eggs hatch, which takes about 40-50 days, the little turtles try to make it to the ocean and about 2 out of those 40 will actually make it and survive long enough to come back and lay eggs of their own.  Pretty shocking uhh? 

This little lady just find her spot and started digging.  It was pretty cool to see them up close. 

                           Bloop... Bloop!  There they are and 2 of those will be the lucky ones.

                 This was the sad view of opened eggshells littering the beach... there were so many!!!

Well our trip was coming to an end and then we had the realization that we had to walk the 3 miles back to the car in the dark.  Oh man we were not excited for this part because none of us brought a flashlight or wanted to walk back.  Thank goodness Jose was there to save the day!!!  This man took us in his work truck through the two rivers and to the first river where our car was parked.  What a saint!  He really did save our day.

                                                                                                                                                                                So as we were on our way home we spotted some vines.  It has been on my top things to do here... SWING FROM VINES!!! So we got out of the car and gave it a shot.  It was great!  Now I can check that off my list of things to do before I die.

 It was everything I had dreamed of and more once I saw Shannon try it.  What a sight!  This was the perfect ending to an adventure that turned into one of the best adventures we have had since we have been here.  I can't wait to see what will come next!

Much Love!!!

Spelunking Time!!!

Two weekends ago Casey, 2 friends of ours and I went on a day trip to some caves.  It was AMAZING!  I have been in caves before but never in any like these.  The formations were incredible and the safety features are nothing like the ones in the States. 

      We had a guide, Jose, who took us on a beautiful hike through the forest and told us all about the different plants and their uses.  The hike was so peaceful and the air was so fresh.  It was great to get out among the trees and see another side of Costa Rica.

 Jose told us about this tree, yes it has thorns on it and it is HOLLOW on the inside.  I don't remember the name but it is the tree that people made canoes out of.  We knocked on the tree and it was quite strange to hear a hollow inside.

And here we are, at the opening  of our cave.  Time to get strapped in and climb down.  Thank goodness we had Norman, the 90 lbs rope man who would catch our rope if we fell down the 60 feet drop.  Thanks Norman!!!

                                                                                             Here I go... Down the hole.  As I take my first step I wonder to myself... When was the last time they replaced this ladder.  Is this knot tied tight. And if I fall will Norman really catch me?

This is the angle of the opening from the inside of the cave.  If you are looking at this picture and wondering if the ladder was as scary as it looks... It was!  There was one part of the ladder where the rocks from the wall took over the step and you had to put your feet on the outside of the ladder.  Oh and did I mention that it rained the day before so it mad everything nice and slippery.   

Here was the first stalagmite and stalactite formation we saw.  It was incredible!  They called it the family, so if you look close you really can see people there holding babies and standing next to each other.  Pretty crazy to see.

Here I am with Jose, our guide.  What a great guy!  When it came to the really scary climbs and crazy tight spots he would always say... Ladies First!  I would think to myself there are three able men behind me who I am sure would love to show me how to do this with ease but no.  It actually wasn't too bad and it was pretty cool to be done and watch the guys struggle, hee hee. 

Here are some of the different formations we saw in the caves.  They were breath taking! 

On our way back up the hole to see the blue sky again.

Here are the guys, Huw, Joey and Casey after our adventure inside the world.  Our guide is the one in the red hat and the safety guy, Norman, is the guy in the orange shirt.  What a trip!

After going in the ground we hiked to the top of the world.  We got to the top of the mountain and this was our view.  Talk about breath taking.  It really did feel so peaceful up there and so quiet.  I could have sat up there all day. 

Much Love!

The Weather is a Changin!!!

 So this past week we have really felt what the "Rainy Season" is all about.  Since we have been here it has been hot every day and if we were lucky it would get cloudy in the afternoon which would lower the temperature about a half degree.  All the people here kept saying "Oh it is the rainy season which means you will be putting on your pants and long sleeves soon..."  If it wasn't so rude I would have laughed in their faces after I wiped the sweat off my upper lip. 

Well this week it was almost like Mother Nature turned on the rain switch and hasn't felt the need to turn it off yet.  In the last 3 1/2 days it has rained about 15".  I don't know about you guys but 15" is a shit ton!  You might be saying to your self..."Self where do you think all the rain goes?  The ground must be super soft"  Well you are correct the ground is a sponge.  It is shocking to see all the rain and the ground flooded with water and in an hour the ground "looks" dry.  Yesterday, Casey and I really saw how soft the ground could really be.  Here is the tree outside our house.  The ground is so wet that the tree is uprooting itself.  Thank goodness our power line is there to hold it up.  I mean really, this has got to be safe right???

Ok so I took this picture to caption the biggest shock of my life... since we have been here... I HAVE GOOSE BUMPS!!!  Hello I hope you can see them.  I thought everyone was crazy when they said it would get chilly here.  I was sitting on the beach watching Casey and our New Zealand friend, Huw, surf in the rain and wind.  I saw all the Ticos (natives) shivering and looking at me saying "muy frio" and I was thinking "finally a nice breeze".  I, of course made fun of them the best I could in my limited smartalic Spanish by saying "Oh you are crazy this is not cold"  then the breeze turned into quite the wind storm and I didn't want to admit it but it was chilly.  Then one of our friends nicely pointed out that I had goose bumps and that I was just as big of a baby as them.  So I had to capture the moment.

Oh I'm sorry but I didn't know that there were PIRATES off the coast of Samara!  I walk to the beach to meet Casey and Huw for lunch after they were surfing and look what I see them surfing next to... EXCUSE ME!  I was floored!  I don't know about you guys but I have seen Pirates of the Caribbean and they are not very nice... funny but not nice.  And we are in the Pacific not Caribbean.  This whole day was a dream... goose bumps and now this... how crazy.  If these are the types of dreams I am having now I can't wait for the next ones.





Much Love!

Casey the weed wacker...HOLY MACHETE

Here are a few pictures of our weekend endeavors minus the adventure. Has anyone ever cut grass with a machete? Down here the machete is a universal tool used to open coconuts, cut down palm trees, slice melons and pinas and yes... cut grass. We noticed this technique while down here on our scouting trip and since we've arrive one of us (not naming any names) has been itching to get their very own machete. With fifteen inches of rain from the last rain storm one can only imagine how fast the grass might grow.

We sent a quick email to our landlord and she replied saying she'll have the gardener out within the next couple of days. Apparently down here if someone says that it can either mean truly a couple days but probably will be more like a couple weeks. The reply that we have heard more ofter is, "Manana". With that said we knew we had to do something about the overgrown grass. What we mean by overgrown is that the dogs have started leaving presents for us on the rock driveway.  Here is the answer



BAMM

 Some of our Costa Rican friends told us that to make it easy you must have a stick to push the grass over to cut is at the roots. Done-- stick and machete in hand and ready to slay some grass.

Yeah I got this!!!! If this isn't back breaking I don't know what is!

3 hours later and about half way done. I'm done let's go fishing.

No luck fishing but it was sure nice to take a break from that grass!!! It was tough to find the time to finish cutting however today we managed to dedicate about 3.5 long sweaty hours to getting the grass finished. I took some time and five blisters later we can now say we cut our grass in true Costa Rican fashion.

The dogs are happier than ever to have their yard back.

 Can't you tell!

Cheers!!!