Nature’s Witness

May 25 – Happy birthday, Shannon!
May 26 – Happy birthday, Roman!
June 12 – Happy birthday, Barb and Barry!

I know the time in between entries is starting to grow – is the honeymoon over? No way! I am simply swamped (that being a relative term) -- playing with Wilder, hanging with Chris, reading, writing, teaching, strolling, cooking, doing dishes, and fulfilling the other duties of a not-so-domestic goddess... My individual communications have been worse – phone messages and emails keep piling up like the stacks of good books I promise myself I’ll read someday but never get around to. I’m simply enjoying not being a slave to my inbox or voicemail and (though you may not require the reassurance, I’m co-dependently compelled to give it) know that I actually do read and listen to all of your missives and messages, and while I may not consistently return them in kind, I still love you and think of you all the time. ;)

So, to chronicle our most recent adventures . . .

Just when we thought our experience here couldn’t get any more authentic, a couple of weeks ago, we got to go kayaking out to a small island in Lake Arenal and dig for shards of indigenous pottery! It was Chris’ birthday wish to get out on the lake, but the ceramics hunt was a surprise bonus. Our friends Jeff and Beth took us out on their kayaks for a 2-hour paddling tour of the lake’s coves, swells, and wildlife, and ultimately led us to an isle littered with these old treasures. [It added an extra hour of paddling, much of it against the wind {I can’t get that damn song out of my head), but was worth it.] I left with my pockets weighted like anchors they were so full of terracotta artifacts from the Maleku Indians, whose relics have washed up and exposed themselves, broken and scattered, along the black and orange clay shores of this little land mass off the coast of Nuevo Arenal. We didn’t find any whole figurines as Beth has previously collected, but I picked up an array of small, smooth and carved pieces including the lips of bowls, handles of vases, and volcano- or nipple-shaped shards (depending on how you look at them) which once served as small, balancing legs for deep plates and shallow bowls.

That same week, one of the guys working on our rancho outside on our property also unearthed a Maleku artifact in its entirety and gave it to us – it’s a carved stone that looks like the rounded head of an ax, possibly once used for skinning hides. Our shelves are slowly filling up with pieces of nature and history from the place we currently call home -- shells, stones, pottery, wood, all helping to connect us to this land, this earth…

This crazy earth that keeps birthing itself in bright, loud bursts of lava! My goddess, the volcano has simply been spectacular lately! Last night’s experience was by far the coolest. My parents are visiting this week and yesterday, after a jungle hike to La Fortuna Waterfall and a swim in the cascade’s deep, clear, crisp waters with hundreds of fish, we went to Tabacón Hot Springs where we soaked ourselves in the thermal waters of Volcan Arenal. While immersed in the springs at the base of the volcano, we watched a brilliant light show of lava flowing down the side of the mountain -- fiery orange falls rolled and exploded in vivid and alarming torrents as we clapped and screamed and hooted in delight along with the other guests. Everyone faced the volcano, which was lit up by an almost full moon, as if facing an altar, still and stunned, intent on watching the earth “dar la luz” (to give light, which is how they say “to give birth” in Spanish – isn’t that awesome?). The pyrotechnics continued at dinner – our outdoor seats at the restaurant we chose gave us a straight-on view of the volcano’s eruptions, whose scalding orange rivers and Volkswagen-sized boulders continued to flow, crash, fracture, and fan out down the east side of the mountain like resplendent fireworks. Though she erupts all the time, what made this so special is that the volcano is quite often shrouded in thick mist and not always visible. People can visit the area for weeks and never see what we got to share with my folks. It was a great start to their visit! Gracias, Pele.

It was also an experience that helped to temper a few household difficulties. When we returned last night, we found that in an obvious act of love, Calvin had peed on my parents bed, which already boasted less than perfect comfort. Then, after replacing the mattress (with an even more inferior one) and sheets, he peed on it again this morning! (He reeeaaaaallly loves them.) Shortly thereafter, a water pipe burst and we had to shut off the water main, which of course left us all without water. It’s already hard enough to tell guests they can’t put toilet paper in the toilet, but to tell them they can’t use the toilet at all – well, that’s just cause for vacating the premises. But my parents are great sports. We briefly we made do (and the pipe was later fixed), and it wasn’t long anyway before we were on our way to a bar in town to watch Costa Rica play against Germany in the first game of the World Cup. Though they lost 4-2, it was a great feat for the team and the country – today was even declared a national holiday and everything was closed down during the game. The only thing I’m left wondering is how the guy who drove around town after the game honking his horn with a German flag flying from his car window is still alive!

Tomorrow, we're taking my parents on the same kayaking trip we enjoyed a few weeks ago. We'll see if my mom has as easy of a time getting shards of indigenous pottery back into the States as she did getting a whole suitcase full of school supplies, foodstuffs, and vodka into Costa Rica!