Costa Rica Adventure, Day Five-Part One

January 26, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

After spending our first leisurely late afternoon and evening at Rio Perdido, we arose early the next morning heading to a farm near the Nicaraguan border. On our way, about 3/4 to one hour from Rio Perdido, we stopped at the studio of the sculptor Tony Jimenez. Apparently, Tony loves–perhaps an understatement-the female form. With few exceptions, he carves women, mostly giant women, in wood.

He sells smaller statues, even as small as eight inches high, but refuses to sign them partly because they are made from less substantial wood. I bought one about a foot high. Later, in another part of Costa Rica I saw some very similar to mine. When I asked if Tony made them, I was told his cousin was the sculptor.

Although Tony sells sculpture, his front door fascinated me even more. It, too, is carved, a frieze. Even the crossbars on his windows are carved.

We drove along the west side of a volcano for hours. Because of clouds, wind, and weather from the Caribbean, even though we were on the Pacific side, we never saw the top of the volcano. It remained misty and rainy most of the morning as we crossed from the Pacific to the Caribbean side.

I do not recall anyone mentioning the name of this volcano. Given where we were headed, it would appear to be Volcano Miravalles.

Tips for a Healthier You

January 19, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Recently, I ran across a variety of tips to lower heart rate and triglycerides, reduce wrinkles, and feel happier and healthier.

Herbs like coriander, cilantro, oregano, garlic, ginger, thyme, basil, and pepper flakes block fat absorption in the digestive track. Just add two teaspoons of any of these daily to reduce triglycerides.
You can also lower triglycerides with black tea–eight ounces with every meal. Research indicates consistency matters. In one study this routine cut triglycerides 35% in three months. White and green tea help too.
Slow your heart rate and calm down by listening to relaxing music. The most effective tempo is 60 beats per minute. Think Baroque.
One half cup of almonds daily can also reduce heart rate by as much as four points because almonds contain magnesium.
Eat ten large green olives daily to reduce wrinkles and inflammation. I will admit my concern with this would be the sodium. Olives generally are quite salty.
Eat sweet potatoes and strawberries to smooth skin. They are filled with betacarotene and vitamin C. You can even make a face mask with mashed sweet potatoes–just add a bit of milk and honey. Leave on face ten minutes and wash off.

Personally, I use essential oils to improve my health and skin. Every morning I put one drop of essential oil of cardamon in my first cup of coffee. It improves digestion and helps fight infections. After tiring of my students complaining about the smell in my high school class room, I tried various essential oils in a diffuser. The one that worked and about which no students complained is rosemary. It helps with allergies, hay fever, and memory. Some students jokingly tell me I need to dump the whole bottle in. It also combats hair loss and dandruff. I put it in my shampoo. My favorites, however, are frankincense and myrrh. If your joints or muscles are aching, rub them down with magnesium oil and add a little of these.

Here’s to a healthier, happier you!!

Costa Rica Adventure, Day Three–Part One

January 8, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / 3 Comments

After lunch at the National Theatre we headed to Monteverde, a small town with only one unpaved road in and out. One big change since I was there three years ago is the road. It has been widened considerably and apparently plans to pave it are in the works. The original reason for not paving was to prevent hoards of tourists from invading. Apparently, that failed; tourists came anyway.

This town’s origination grew out of Costa Rica’s decision to disband its military in 1948, a practice which continues today. Quakers from Canada moved here for that reason and created Monteverde, now famous for its cheese and, of course, the nearby Cloud Forest. The hotel, where I have now stayed twice, El Establo, is owned in part by Quakers and serves a favorite of mine, fried cheese.

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Nine buildings up and down the mountain house rooms. Previously, I stayed in one of the lower buildings; this time we were near the top way above this lake.

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The views from all the rooms provide a vista all the way to Nocoya Bay. After we put luggage in our rooms, we headed out for a night walk in the forest, the reason we had been instructed to bring flashlights on the tour. We saw spiders, birds sleeping, a mouse, all sorts of insects, but nothing too exciting. Probably some of the group members were too scared and too noisy.

The next day breakfast occurred at 7 just before we took off for the Cloud Forest and a hike to the Continental Divide–all six miles or so. I had hiked here before but on a different trail and in a huge downpour. Luckily, it rained only a little. However, if you are in the clouds, you get wet.

Lush does not even begin to describe the Cloud Forest, a huge reserve with numerous indigenous species of everything from hummingbirds to insects to all sort of plants that exist nowhere else on earth.

Every tree, branch, every living things is covered with other living things. This must be botanist heaven.

Looking up into the branches of a tree fern. Yes, that is a fern. So much to see, it is hard to keep up with the guide, a native Quaker whose father was one of the founders of Monteverde.

It is difficult to know what photos to take; everything holds some kind of fascination and lots of beauty.

Another tree fern right by the trail.

In the clouds at the Continental Divide it’s incredibly windy yet the clouds stay and you get wetter and wetter even though it is not raining. Water dripped off my slicker, the trail oozed mud and water, it was hard to keep my footing on slopes.

On the way back we crossed several streams. Everywhere in Costa Rica signs in both Spanish and English instruct people to save water. They made me chuckle. Streams run everywhere in much of the country, especially on the Caribbean side. Here I live in a semi-arid environment where I see wasted water running down streets in town and in Costa Rica they conserve water and recycle things I did not even know were recyclable. Hotels provide recycling bins and some even turn off lights automatically when you are not in the room.

The name for this flower translates from Spanish as hot lips.

This looks like a tree but it is not. A giant, parasitic fig plant surrounded the tree, eventually killed it, and this is the result.

After we finished the hike, we walked over to a shop that feeds hummingbirds, hundreds of species of which live in Costa Rica, many only in the Cloud Forest. Took a video of them, but it refuses to upload here. Some were incredibly iridescent and much larger than any I had ever previously seen.

Costa Rica Adventure, Day Two–Part Two

January 6, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

The problem with tours is that they think you need to get your money’s worth and the best way to do that is to pack as much as possible into the shortest about of time possible. When some of us complained a bit after a couple of days, we were informed that we should not confuse vacations and tours. They are not the same thing. We were on a tour, not a vacation. Nevertheless, the tour did have some advantages like getting us into places we might have missed or never found on our own. However, that was not really the case for Day Two. That whirlwind morning in San Jose not only included the National Theatre and the Gold Museum, but also the Metropolitan Cathedral. It does not have lighting conducive to photography with a “normal” camera, cell phone, etc. Therefore, my attempts to photograph the endless and lovely stained glass windows proved futile. Here is what I was able to photograph.

This is a large church. Yes, we were there as tourists, but many others were there praying, sitting silently, worshipping.

I could not find a place where the chandelier did not interfere with the view where I could take a really good photograph. Nevertheless, hopefully those of you who read this can get the feeling for this really wonderful place.

On a totally separate but perhaps related note, I watched Public Television for a while tonight about finding ones roots. I keep thinking somehow my DNA results must be a bit screwy because the places where I feel most at home, the cultures in which I have an interest, the literature I love to read, and the music to which I usually listen have no relationship whatsoever with the places from which the majority of ancestors came. I have been to Costa Rica twice now and to one particular town (besides San Jose) twice–others were new this trip. What concerns me is that all the tourists and people buying up property there who are from Europe, the US, and Canada will totally ruin its values and beauty.

Evening After the Rain

May 6, 2015May 6, 2015 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

In the last two days it has rained over two inches in a place where the annual rainfall averages approximately 18 inches. Rain is predicted all week. The rain ceased briefly at dusk and the sun radiated across the landscape as more rain clouds gathered providing a quiet, intense beauty here on the rim of wonder.