Another double birthday party held at
our favorite venue, Poco a Poco, a local
hotel with a pool
On a cold Friday after school we gathered
to celebrate the 6th birthday of Zenobia,
above, and her sister Tallulah's 9th birthday,

The water wasn't heated and the weather
was nasty, but the cake was delish!

A bunch of really talented local musicians get
together every once in a while and play.
This was a benefit concert for the boys' school.
It was a Beatles tribute concert and many locals
participated as guest artists, both singing and
playing instruments.
It was a really fun evening!

Oren's teacher is third from the right.

When I'm not hiking, cooking, reading, studying,
traveling, volunteering, yogaing, or blogging I have
been making stuff.
I tried painting as soon as I got here but the climate
is not kind (too moist) and transportation seemed
complicated (getting things home). I already have a
load of pottery from the class I took in the fall.
So, I took a hint from what some of the local women
do and started to embroider. I covered a pair of pants
with embroidery and then bought some felt.
I sold most of these as holiday ornaments.



I was intrigued by some plastic that was crocheted
and went to the internet to investigate. One thing
led to another, I found myself on Youtube and next
thing you know I'm ironing recycled plastic bags
and making them into these ADORABLE little
pouches.



I'm getting lots of ideas for projects....

These are some random photos I thought I'd post.
Above is the view from the cafe terrace where I sit to SKYPE
work on the blog.
I'm sitting there right now, but it's not sunset.



Hummmm, I think this is a photo from the plane as
we came in to San Jose from Panama.



These are some friendly cows being milked,
by hand. I have a good picture of the other
end but I'm not sure where it is.



My favorite bird! The not shy at all
Blue Crowned Motmot.

This is a group of photos from Panama City that
I forgot to upload with the rest of the PC photos.
Above, is a picture of a Diablo Rojo, or a Red
Devil. These are what the public buses in the city
look like. Most are very colorful and personalized
to an extreme. Each bus is individually owned
and operated.



The Moscow Circus was in town when we were
there. It was pretty fun, although the stands
were almost empty.
This is a picture of the finale. Crazy people
driving motorcycles in a large metal cage.



The circus tents in the parking ot at the mall.



Oren and Ethan posing for a photo



After the circus was over the white tiger
and the bear come out so that you could have a photo
taken. The bear was not as popular as the
tiger.

leaving the Bocas

The boys found lots of conch shells on the beach.



Waiting for a taxi to the airport in the BOILING
HOT HEAT!



Getting on our plane back to Costa Rica!



Not the plane we took back to Costa Rica.
This reminded us of the plane in the Madagascar 2
movie.



A view form the plane looking back at the Bocas
del Toro.

Beautiful orchid




Vanilla pod. I didn't know it's in the
orchid family!



Oren getting a fern tatoo.



Ethan's fern tatoo

Green Arces Farm

We took a day trip with Tom and did some fantastic
snorkeling.
In the afternoon we visited Green Acre Farms.
It's owned and run by an American couple. They
grom organic cocoa and make 100% solid cocoa
and chocolate nibs.
We took a lovely walk on their property.
Above, is a photo of an unripe cocoa pod. It's
about 10 inches long. It will turn yellow when it is ripe.



This picture is out of order, but it shows the
area where they let the cocoa beans ferment.



Above, is a tiny little blossom of a cocoa plant.



This is a home made machine to process the
cocoa. Solid chocolate comes out and they pour
it into bars to sell.



In this photo, you can see the cocoa beans on the
left and the nibs on the right, in the plastic container.

In the Bocas

Here's Oren modeling the latest in lizard attire.
Good for catching the mosquitoes before they
get you.



Here are two pictures of tiny little poison dart frogs.
They aren't actually poisonous to pick up. Their
poison is extracted and used in poison dart guns.



The red frogs are about the size of an adult
fingernail.



The green frogs are much bigger. They are about
2" square. The body in more than an inch long
and not quite an inch wide.



This is an iguana. They came is all different
sizes and shapes (male and female are quite
different). This guy is about 2 feet long. He's standing
on a board that is 12 inches wide.

Yikes! I need to catch up...

We flew from Panama City to the Bocas, a group of
islands off the northeastern corner of Panama.





Our host, Tom Cantrell, on the bow of the boat,
met us and we took a 45 minute
ride to get to our destination, Casa Cayuco.



His place is very small and beautiful. It's right on the beach.
We stayed in one of these cabins.



This is the view of the dock as we landed.