We've had a nice month of visitors and fun social activities down here. Most recently, we visited a small animal refuge in Playa Carillo, Samara (about 45 minutes away) that is a really nice place! They take in injured, orphaned, or abandoned exotic pets who are wild and often endangered Costa Rican animals, rehabilitate them, and release them into the closest natural habitat. They do this all with no assistance (but yet they do have oversight via MINAE) from the government.
We spent a nice couple of hours there and it is definitely a good side day trip from where we live, combined with lunch out and maybe a dip in their beautiful bit of ocean called Playa Carillo.
We saw: an owl, a tucan ( I forget the types), porcupines, a wild pig "Pancho", a margay- small leopar -like cat who can't be released ever, she's too tame- they're going to mate her and release the babies when they're mature though, as she is an endangered species, a jagarandi "jaguar"- set to be released in another year, a crocodile, ready in a month or so to be released with some others, an anteater, armadillos, oppossums, boa constrictors, a kinkajou- super sweet, and some varieties of wild parrots, some box turtles and caimans (relatives to crocodiles but apparently less aggressive), some wild ducks, and a few others I can't remember now!
Whenever it was appropriate, we could touch the animals. I liked the wild pig, the margay and the kinkajou quite a bit. The anteater was adorable but only interested in termites and ants, not us. And the tucan- he was so loud- squawking away at us to get our attention.
Owl
Margay
wild pig: he used to lead the guided tours at the refugio
Kinkajou- related to raccoons and bears
Jaguar: Rick said he looked pissed off, he clearly was not "tamed" at all and hopefully will do well in the wild when released
Coco, the crocodile. Does not come when called. Favorite activity: hiding under lily pads and surprising you. Really.
Squirming anteater. The zookeeper said they have quite small brains. Only wanted to go look for ants and termites. She'd be busy in our garden!
Scott and Stacey, our cousins, and the girls' godparents, enjoyed a long weekend with us and the visit to the refuge, in particular!
Having visitors and a full social calendar can be exhausting. Here, the girls take a nap after playing in our Casita. Frito joins them. After, we cleaned it up for guests.
I took no photos of Thanksgiving except this one. We had a great day with good friends and amazing food! We all stuffed our faces and did not feel deprived to be far away from our home countries that day.
Earlier in the month, Scott visited with his friend, Linda, who is looking at investment opportunities down here in the tropics of Guanacaste, CR.
Linda had come down with Scott back in August. When she returned, she had toy cell phones with lipgloss and barbie dolls for the girls. They loved their gifts and I told Linda she'd nailed it.
Sunset from Lagarta Lodge- Linda generously took us out one night to one of the best restaurants we have here. The ambiance, service and dishes are all 4 stars for Nosara. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are until we have someone visit us and then when showing them around, we remember how fortunate we are to live here and experience all that we do in a very special environment.
Well, some of you already know we've had some drama here the last 2 months or so. We've been invaded. In the beginning, we thought our dog was raiding the kitchen trash. Since we compost everything, all we'd see in the AM was some scattered paper or plastic and the dog kept going back to sniff the area- "returning to the scene of her crime", we thought.
We were oh-so-wrong. A mapache or raccoon had decided to make regular use of the cat door and/or climb up to our balcony. This had happened to us before. All we needed to do was lock up ALL the food. But it didn't work. This little guy, Rocky, for lack of anything better to call him besides "Hey You, you, psst, go!!" was very smart. Perhaps even smarter than the average raccoon, which is apparently, already quite smart.
He can open kitchen cabinets, dump large bins over (triple his body weight) holding dog food, and he can defend himself quite well against our dog., Nugget. But I get ahead of myself.
There he is below, in his favorite initial pose: hanging out in the banana tree near our balcony, upon which the pets are fed. No rush to leave. We would regard each other: Rick and I on the balcony, Rocky in the tree, for minutes on end. Later on, as we all got to know each other so much better, he actually just sat on the balcony waiting for me around dusk.
I grew to become quite fond of him as long as he stayed out of my kitchen and didn't wake our elderly dog with his visits. I could give him by hand, dog and cat food or bananas and he would come back in the middle of the night for more, whereupon I just threw a handful over the balcony as I was not so entranced around 3 AM.
However, as the family's fondness for Rocky grew (even the girls fed him once and even Rick called him a "good guy"- huge praise by Rick)- Nugget grew to hate him. She became a crazed, hyper-vigilant dog.
The climax of the situation, including increasingly losing more and more sleep, was when Rocky got caught by me in the kitchen cabinets again and as he was exiting via the front door, the dog, Nugget, was coming back inside, not having luck finding him outside (she knew he'd returned, but she's getting old and she misses some clues!).
They met in the middle and Nugget went for him. I was worried the racoon would be killed. As she went to bite him he launched himself onto her face, clinging with his arms and little hands around her head in a deathgrip. He immediately bit down hard on her snout and held on for what felt like an eternity. Nugget yelped and yelped and tried to shake him off. He just clung with his hands and clamped with his mouth.
After what was more likely just 15 seconds, he lept off of her and left the house. Nugget dripped blood all night but she was fine. Well, she recovered and became more hypervigilant, but she doesn't have rabies, so we're satisfied.
Meanwhile we decided to relocate Rocky. We trapped him in a cage and Rick drove him a few miles away. Rocky was hesitant to leave the cage (and was utterly calm the entire time inside it), giving Rick a look that Rick told me was: "Are you really sure about this?" before he sauntered off.
He returned on the 3rd night about 11 PM. We believe he literally arrived back and stopped at our house the first chance he had (he has a neighborhood route, but we are his favorite stop). We fed him and welcomed him back. But we knew it would have to be temporary. Early this week we trapped him again and this time he is 15 minutes away by car and across a large river. We're on day 4 and halfway hoping it works this time (and that he's of course, adjusting to his new digs) and halfway towards listening for him in case he comes back. We know he is trying to come back, as Rick said that upon the second release, he lept out and ran in the direction of "home". We're just hoping the river proves to be a big enough natural barrier.
In the banana tree. No hurry to leave.
In the cage, uninterested in the dog food kibble at this point.
Not so sure, the cage is a known place, a place where he's eaten many a meal...
Post-Script: Rocky, svelte for a young male, has a chubby rival, perhaps a much older raccoon that is easily twice his size. Towards the "end", there were raccoon hissing fests and screeching fests (but no biting or bloody results like cats will do) between them, fighting over our house and I can only assume, its contents. We tried to view their fights but they were usually in the gardenor in the trees even. When Rocky went on his "trip" the second time, "Chubster" attempted to climb up the balcony. But she didn't make it far and is much more timid than Rocky: a bark from Nugget and she was gone in a second. So we seem to be safe from a full-on second invasion. For now. We've been feeling a little like Wild Kingdom over here....
Well: we're getting much closer! Only a year practically, from the date of when we and the girls were matched up last year!
There is a social worker visit/final family functioning evaluation due, assigned by the Nicoya Family Court, but we have NO idea when this will happen. It's been pending for at least 2 months. It takes something to get someone to come from Nicoya to where we live, and that is an item that could hold up the end of the process for many, many more weeks. It's one of maybe three items left for the adoption to be finalized here in Costa Rica.
Here is the Edicto (notice of public intent to adopt, published in the paper here):
Se avisa que en este Despacho bajo el expediente numero 09-000142-0869-FA, los senores Heidi Dawn y Richard Hamilton Chalmers, solicitan se apruebe la adopcion conjunta de las personas menores de edad Maria Celeste y Francini Ambas XXXX. Se concede a los interesados el plazo de cinco dias para formular oposiciones mediante escrito donde expondran los motivos de su disconformidad y se indicaran las pruebas en que fundamenta la misma.
JUZGADO DE FAMILIA DE NICOYA.- 16 Setiembre del ano 2009.- Lic.- Berta Lidieth Araya Porras.- Jueza. FROJASP.
So if anyone objects, they had 5 days to state it and why, in writing to the court, otherwise one of the last steps has been finalized this month! Fingers crossed for a very, very Merry Christmas present to our family of the adoption being finalized by Dec. 1 (my new magic date: my wish list to Santa Claus).
Celeste with friend and scary witch, Ciara and Francini.
Unsure here, never saw a jack o' lantern before.... Note they now have the bronze and silver medals: our girls work fast after a nap.
Posing before Trick or Treating- a first Halloween and a first time doing the best activity on the best holiday ever (my opinion: I love Halloween). Mami is a Nicaraguan Maiden.
Girls are Olympic (winning) gymnasts. Thanks to our friend Sharon for sending them track suits as we had NOTHING for Halloween around the house...
Champions have to have placards for the judges to judge them...
Above: Pizote (white-nosed coatimundi) who frequents our yard a few times a day. The other day, we couldn't resist: we gave him some grapes. Dude had probably NEVER had uvas in his little life. He was hooked. He wouldn't leave. He climbed the banana tree to get closer to us on the balcony, hoping for more uvas. He stayed there about an hour. Uva-addicts are hardcore.
The girls are now enrolled in Del Mar Academy, a local private Montessori school. They are in the same program called Casa: for 3-6 year olds. Next year Celeste will be in first grade and Francini will stay in Casa another year or two. They love school! We love that they love it. We are now free during the days to work on the business etc... and since we reduced our office staff by 2/3rds late summer, this is a very good thing. So I guess we have joined the ranks of the "normal" families again, at least for awhile. JOBs, SCHOOL, and even, SCHEDULES.
It was a great, intense, rich time- having the girls with both of us full time since last November. We basically had almost an entire year to bond together as a family, before sending them off into the world. Celeste was readier than Francini, but overall, they are both adjusting well to school and to the big change.
And since the school is bilingual, they are speaking a ton of more English, a nice plus. We're also meeting the coolest families: both people who live here long term or permanently with children, or, families here for a year to live abroad with their kids in Costa Rica. The girls are mixing with Costa Ricans, Europeans, other Central or South Americans, and North Americans. It's a very diverse population, both the staff and the students/families.
Frito likes to jump in hammocks when no one is there. Then, as you walk by (be you a 2 or 4 legged being), he leaps out at you to get you. Good fun! Rick just replaced our old raggedy hammock with this shocking purple one. I have to say, it color-coordinates well with Frito.
We've had a nice month of visitors and fun social activities down here. Most recently, we visited a small animal refuge in Playa Carillo, Samara (about 45 minutes away) that is a really nice place! They take in injured, orphaned, or abandoned exotic pets who are wild and often endangered Costa Rican animals, rehabilitate them, and release them into the closest natural habitat. They do this all with no assistance (but yet they do have oversight via MINAE) from the government. 
Owl
Coco, the crocodile. Does not come when called. Favorite activity: hiding under lily pads and surprising you. Really.
Squirming anteater. The zookeeper said they have quite small brains.
Scott and Stacey, our cousins, and the girls' godparents, enjoyed a long weekend with us and the visit to the refuge, in particular!
Having visitors and a full social calendar can be exhausting. Here, the girls take a nap after playing in our Casita. Frito joins them. After, we cleaned it up for guests.
Heidi
Ricardo
Allison
