First photo is find the Kinkajou. Oh he is sooo cute.
Next two are the White faced capuchins
Fourth..don't leave your bag unattended on the beach.
Lastly..Mother and cutest baby sloth in the world.

Goat Lady takes to the Trees

Gosh it's Hot! Abomnibubble snowman is a little uncomfortable today. Must be 90 +. However, the cervezas are still cold coming out of our little mid-size fridge. It is a very tough life we have here. Wake, eat breakfast, two hours of grueling mid-morning to mid-afternoon activity then a siesta, then happy hour, then dinner, then a happier hour, then bed by 9:00 p.m.
Folks are horizontal right now, so is Kim. Mom, Kim and I went on a canopy tour today. This one differed from the first one in that the tour was through the actual trees and not on top of them. We rapelled, swung like Tarzan and did many ziplines. My mother was tough as usual. She did everything like a champ and was twice the median age of the 15 people in our group. You can always tell when my mother is having fun and/or is excited because the oratory gets more dramatic and is usually filled with a cuss word or two. We came home to find Huber holding down the Costa Rican rocker on the veranda of the hotel room. The view is beautiful and the trees full of critters, so why not.
We learned yesterday that Kim's Granny Pauline is very critical after surgery on her stomach. I don't think that Kim can totally enjoy herself with this in mind, so unless there is a marked improvement in Pauline's condtion we may try and get home early to be with the family. Pauline is one of the most amazing people I have had chance to meet. Her spirit so bright in the face of ilness and adversity and her mind so sharp despite her 87 years of age. Maybe monkey pictures will help, that's all I can offer from down here.

Love the ones your with.
See you all soon.

Love James and Kim

Critter Page - Lizard Edition for Tuna

One day of lizard hunting Tom! Soooo... Maleh!

Top one is a yellow headed gecko.

Next one down is a adult Jesus Christ Lizard

Then juvenille Jesus.

Then we have a Black Ctenosaur followed by a big Black Ctenosaur. The big one hangs by the pool and he does NOT take any B.S. ie. tail grabbing. Tail grabbing gets a vigorous tail wiggling followed by whip around and mouth open. Then this guy just stood his ground. I will have to have leather gloves for this critter. Many green geckos and anoles around too, just kind of small and bland.

Jesus Christ is very fast and I had to settle for zoom for now, I hope to improve pics on this amazing lizard, but through the woods and vines will have to do for now.

Well, everyone is at the pool having fun, so I am going to join. Sitting up here on the veranda at Costa Verde has revealed, capuchin monkey, three toed sloth and many birds. Bill is wearing out his binoculars. Last night a black figure flew into a palm frond that brushes up against our vernada on the fourth floor. It shook the palm frond, but I couldn't see what it was, so I grabbed the 3 d-cell Maglite from my duffle bag and walked to the railing in the hopes of illuminating the creature. When I turned the flashlight on I saw two red eyes surrounded by black staring right at me It was almost enough to make me drop the light. It was the undaunted stare of a black and white owl. Very Cool! I have some cool monkey pics and very cool sloth pic that I will download tomorrow.

Talk to you then.

James

Critter Page .... Yeah!

Lovers....Mated pair of Scarlet Macaws

Coatimundi.... Spanish For Trash Can Invaders

Fer De Lance -- Agressive Poisonous Snake.

Spirited, Proud Horse

Salmon Bellied Racer .... Non-Poisonous

Update from Costa Rica

Buenas Dias from Costa Rica! We have had another awesome week here and can’t believe that our trip is half way over. I can feel the sympathy from here. We ended our stay at Rancho Leona by going to a discotecque type party with our hosts. The music was good but they had dancers on stage so no one else was really dancing. I didn’t want to be the dumb gringo (since we were the only gringos) out there breaking protocol so I was trying to be content chair dancing. There was a DJ and I almost had to forcefully restrain James from going up and clocking the guy because he kept interjecting a car horn in every song.
We did decide if he whipped out the jake break noise we would leave. About an hour after we got there everyone started yelling and a parade of sorts with 2 drummers, one headressed old guy and 6 scantily clad chicas came dancing in and started leading the crowd in a series of conga lines, limbo and various other dances. I couldn’t figure them all out but I had fun trying!
We left La Virgin and drove over to the Arenal Volcano. It is an active volcano and on clear nights you can see lava tumbling down the side. Alas we were not granted a clear night but we did hear the rumblings and see some of the smoke venting during the day. It was very cool to be so close. We stayed at some neat pequeno cabinas and had nice neighbors who even invited us over or happy hour. James’ highlight of the whole area was coming across a Fer De lance as we were hiking in the national park. Thankfully it was busy chasing down dinner so it just gave me a heart attack and moved on.
My adrenaline was already high because we had just come from the zipline/canopy tour. It was the highlight of my whole trip!. I had to wait 8 yrs to go and it was sooooo worth it!!! I fulfilled my lifelong dream and was able to see what it was like to be a monkey, well actually it was probably closer to a bird. We started off by taking a gondola ride up the side of the mountain, it didn’t really dawn on me until we stepped onto the platform how high up we were. There was another group getting ready to go and seeing them fly off the platform and quickly turn into a tiny dot got my heart racing. We were in a group with 6 other people and our two guides gave us some quick instructions and we did a practice zip line (it was about 10ft. off the ground and 40 ft in length). My panic started to subside a little because it was easier than it looked to hold the position they told us was muy importante. After practice it was onto the real thing and before I could chicken out I was on the cable and flying through the air screaming “Shaka“ at the top of my lungs. The guide asked James to translate. It was the most amazing feeling! We were over 700 ft in the air flying across hundreds of feet of cable. Once I opened my eyes there was an amazing view looking out on the volcano and a huge lake. I safely made it to the other platform and my hands were shaking from the rush. James came next and I got to watch our 150 lb guide trying not to look scared as James’ came hurdling toward him at about 40 mph. One guide hooked you up as you took off and the other one helped you stop on the other side. As James was being hooked up the guide told him “don’t kill my friend”. We went across 8 more cables and it only got better and better. If James would have let me I would have gone again as soon as we got done. We are definitely going to take his mom, Bill hurt his back so flying through the air is probably not a good idea.
After Arenal we took a bone jarring ride up to Monteverde to the world renown cloud rain forest. It was really beautiful and actually chilly. We didn’t see many animals in the rainforest but the foliage was amazing. There is a neat little town up there and we stayed at a nice little inn with an amazing restaurant. We also went to a serpentarium and had our own guide. James was impressing the guy with his snake knowledge and we just happened to be there when they were feeding the boas, yippee!
We picked up Bill & Mary yesterday and are spending the next few nights at this nice place in Jaco beach. We are hoping a few days of rest and rum will help Bill’s back. Who knows the zipline might actually snap it back in place.
I hope those of you in Arkansas are staying warm. Tracy I definitely think you should bring Annabelle here, she has to be 8 to do the zipline, but you don’t have to wait that long. Forrest would also love all the orchid gardens.
Sorry this is so long, the peanut gallery is giving me grief about my novel. The sad thing is I have actually left a lot out, this place is amazing!
Love, Kim

James flounders down the river

Last night was not a good one at the Rancho. There was a cocky amerian punk that got a room down the hall and he was sick with a stomach bug. He stomped around the halls to the bathroom and slammed his door several times in the night. He wasn't thinking of anyone but his self. The local cat mascot Petunia was either having sex under our floorboards or was fending off a potential suitor. The trucks were engine braking down the highway through town all night and to top it all off Kim was snoring. Jesus Christos!!! Despite the lack of sleep I went for a trip down the river.

Well, I am out of practice for sure. I had to gut an old Perception boat so that I could squeeze my fat ass inside it. Yanked out the thigh braces and the padding and the foot pegs, but I fit in it and Miguel, the guide, and I dragged our boats from the back of the lodge to put in on the Sarapiqui. The river is very low, so it was a boulder garden. Miguel weighs 100 lbs soaking wet and I am 280 pounds paddling a river barge. Miguel is a very shy, dark skinned Costa Rican who speaks hardly a lick of English. He does know his way down the river, so I followed close. This section is an easy class three and other than picking paths through many boulders it was easy, but I still managed to swim on the first good rapid. All the water slammed into a rock bank on the right and I geeked out and leaned away from the obstruction and insta flip. I couldn't roll the boat as I lacked practice and the boat lacked thigh braces. I swam my disgraced bulk to the shore while Miguel was just biting his lip trying not to laugh. After a couple more miles, Miguel spoke his first word of English.."Sooperrrmon" and disappeared over the horizon. "Superman, what the?" I could only try and keep up with the blue feather that was Miguel in his Pirhanna kayak heading into the offsetting waves that made up Superman. It was fun and wasn't worthy of such a grandiose name at these water levels, but it was a good adrenaline rush. The rest of the river was more of the same with a few spots where the river pillowed up on a bank and was ready to flip an out of practice gringo, but I prevailed. Miguel managed to speak one whole sentence "you have done class four before?" I think he was so unimpressed with my performance on this class three run that he was trying to discourage me from going up river to the class four. No worries, I was humbled and I am not going to classe quatro tomorrow.

As we headed for the takeout I saw something falling from the sky and SMACK into the river. A large green lizard or what looks like a mini-velociraptor swam-ran through the water to the shore looking startled and indignified. It was a Jesus Christ lizard and he had just fallen from about 80 feet up in a tree. Good thing he was over water, now I see why the locals thought this might have been the fate of our iguana.

Kim has had a good Kim day reading and now she is napping. The inn keepers have kept her company and she has identified the rare critters we saw yesterday. We are going to a local party tonight with the managers. There has been a car going up and down the main drag broadcasting what sounds like loud radio commercials on local hispanic radio. Kenn, the manager, told us they our advertising a town fiesta, so we are going to go.

I have to thank my buddy Mike for telling Kim about bot flies. "Oh yeah, they are everywhere in the rainforest and they burrow into you skin and lay their larvae, and ten days later you have a huge larva growing under your skin." Now kim gets a bite on herself and it is a definite bot fly bite. Last night she pointed out her two day old mosquito bite and said "I think it's coning!" "Coning? What are you talking about?" I said. Kim says "feel, it's three dimensional, I think it's coning?" "It's a bite, they all are three dimensional!" "But this one's getting higher quicker!" Happy to report that the bite is flatter this morning and Kim does not have a botfly larva "cone" growing on her arm. Thanks Mike!

I will let Kim report next time, I have been greedy....I like to b.s.

Love,

James

Dia uno en el rio sarapiqui

Hola,

Oh what I would give to be able to speak Spanish right now. We aren't in a really huge tourist area and most of the local store owners know nada English. I feel like a complete retard. "Ahh, eeeehh, rrrrrr" then I look at Kim for some help and all I see is a cranium full of biology files and a junior high Spanish file drawer that is rusted shut. We make a good ol' ignorant American pair.

After dinner last night we came back to the Rancho to find that our "rescued" iguana had indeed died. Riggo had set in and you could pick him up and hold him horizontally by the tail. Dunno what happened, but it was sad. Seth, the brother of the manager, buried him this morning. Sacrificing proper burial rites to laziness he chopped the iguana's tail off and laid it by his side, so that he wouldn't have to dig the grave as long.

We had a nice breakfast with the other guests at 8:23 sharp Tico time (8:00 sharp in the developed world). Jeff the gay, vegetarian bird watcher kept Kim's attention with his flamboyant, gesticulative banter. Sweet guy, but lord he could talk. If you know someone that is in the closet, send Jeff in there with them and they will come flying out begging for salvation.

The other two guests were from Belgium. Dutch Belgium they said ademantly. They spoke Dutch, French, Spanish and English. I was feeling bad enough that I couldn't order a package of oreo replicas from the local store to stuff my fat face with, then these two freaks of nature came to breakfast. The kid is 15, but a little strange. He asked in a slow, methodical English, which I could tell his multi-lingual tounge was battling with, if I would like him to beat me at a game of chess. Bug-o-the-minute landed on me just now and I did my internal quiver. I wish I could do like horses and such and quiver my skin to shake these insects off me, but instead I just spaz and let out a "what in the god damn....aaaggggeeeeehi-a-hi-a-hi" Geckos, frogs, and bugs abound on the patio at night.

After breakfast we went on a walk up one of the dirt lanes and found it to be much like some of the abodes in Arkansas. I thought it a waste of mb to take digital pics of such similarity to the rural area that my own family lives in, but I did for comparison sake. We found a cute little snack store about a 1/4 of a mile up the road. Life is very simple here. Very little glass or even screens in the building. The manager of our hotel let me use his Mac to print off an e-mail and it was right next to a huge lofted opening. Wait a minute .... FROG! Be right back.... he's mine!

Frog pic included, they have a lot of cool ones down here.

Went for a leisure float with Miguel the non-English speaking guide. Kim was better at finding the wildlife then Miguel. She spotted howler monkeys and little wild pigs. We saw a bunch of water-dwelling birds. Tomorrow I am going down some white water.

Supper next door tonight, last night we ate at this very cool, tree house like place next to the river. It had big slabs of burlwood for tables and we were pretty much by ourselves. It was very dark, everything is dark here, electricity is too expensive to waste on mood lighting or signage, kind of cool.

Talk to you tomorrow, I will try to get some good river pics, but I don't have a dry bag, so two trash bags and caution it is.

Pura Vida from Costa Rica.

Loud chirping.....another frog maybe?

Rio Sarapiqui in Costa Rica

Finally we are in Costa Rica. Kim can tell you it has been a painful 4 weeks of stagnation in Arkansas. It really sucks to sit around and do nothing you know. Poor baby!

I am sitting on a very quaint patio of the Rancho Leona on the Rio Sarapiqui. We are spending a whopping $24 a night, so we don't have the amenities of a four star resort, but the managers are great and we are chatting with the one other guest right now, he is a retired math teacher from Massachussets and he has Kim engaged in convo whilst I type on the laptop.

We spent two nights at the Selva Verde Lodge 'cause we couldn't find the management at the Rancho Leona on the way through the first time. It was very nice, but it flattened my wallet significantly, so we came here today. We met a very nice couple from New Hampshire and had a fun night of rum and cokes and Imperial beer last night. We were sitting at the bar getting a Spanish lesson from Jose' and up comes one of the employees. "You guys want to see a big snake?" "Oh hell yeah!" is my half drunken response. We all took off at a run walk down the long covered pathways to the bungalows where one of the security guards was pointing a flashlight and saying "Fer de Lance". Can we get a double "hell yeah!" I was almost drunk enough to grab it's tail and yank it out of the brush, but Kim was already on me like a pit bull owner telling her dog not to bite. "James, back off. James. James! Don't get so close." "Well hell, can't I have a close look at least?" After a while it came out of the brush and we got a look at it's head. Muy Peligroso! Back to the bar with the snake lovers adrenaline pumping. We had dinner and went up to our bungalow. Fate would have it that our new friends had moved to the room next to us. Their previous room had a parade of termites through it and they asked to be moved. We sat on the back side of the building, knowing how the sound traveled in the complex. We had a couple more drinks and chatted for half an hour when one of the other residents appeared from around the corner with a very agitated look. "Could you hold it down, me an my 81 year old mother can't sleep and we have to go bird watching at 6:00 a.m. I am getting very, very upset!" First instinct is I am paying $140 a night for this place and it is only 10:30 , so whatever!, but we just said "sorry, we will hold it down" and we chatted for a few more moments at a whisper and went to bed.

We moved to the Rancho Leona today. It is on a swift part of the river and it is very quaint. We found an ailing four foot long iguana and brought it back to convalesce on the patio. We are about to go to dinner at the Rio Bar for $4 a plate and $1.25 a beer. Tomorrow we go on a rubber ducky tour of the river, so I will send you pics.

Yesterday we hiked the trails and grounds at the La Paz Waterfalls. It was a tropical river paradise for sure. Pics included.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Damn, I picked the same picture twice, but it took 45 minutes to upload, so I am not going to change it.

More Christmas Pictures

Here are some Christmas pictures from Silver Dollar City. As you can tell it was a little cold but we still had a great time. My parents had season passes and the rest of us were able to get in free because people were handing out free passes like they were candy. My brother in law Chris was amazed that they were being given away and not sold. He's from Pittsburgh and doesn't understand how scalping just wouldn't happen at Silver Dollar City.

We saw a couple of shows and rode lots of rides. My niece Chloe went on her first upside down roller coaster and Sophie and James rode some awful contraption that looked like the tilt-a-whirl and boat put together. Janet rode the frogs with Maya and Zachary and almost went into early labor because they were a little more exciting than she thought they would be. My mom was also a trooper because she had to walk around all day with a plastic balloon taped to her face to help keep her from having the bad nose bleeds she had been having. We all enjoyed the food and the hot chocolate tasted great on such a cold day.

We are leaving Monday for Costa Rica and will try to send an update.

Take care! love, Kim

Home for the Holidays

Well it has been a very long time since our last post and we have no excuse except that we haven't really been doing anything exciting enough to write about. I don't mean that it hasn't been great being home and seeing everyone but parking in my parents driveway is not quite the same as being in Yosemite or on the Oregon coast.

We left the Texas gulf the first week of December to spend a few days in Dallas with our friends Beth & Lee. We were a little delayed because the car had a flat tire. We aren't really sure how long we had a flat tire because we discovered that a car in tow doesn't really feel all that different with or without all wheels inflated. James was awesome and got it fixed in no time, the only lasting damage was the 20 fire ant bites I got from standing on the side of the road admiring his work. We made it to Dallas safely after stopping to get a new tire for the car in San Marcos which also happens to have a giant outlet mall, see every cloud has a silver lining.

We finally got to meet Barrett, Beth & Lee's adorable little boy who was born 7/7/07. What an easy birthday to remember! I also took a quick side trip to Houston to see my Brother and niece. We made it back to Arkansas just in time to attend the Hagers' Christmas party, which was fun and also to start helping out at the Angel tree.

James immediately jumped back into working, mainly helping Tuna out and finishing up some loose ends from this summer. Juli, my sister who lives in Georgia, and her family came into town for the week of Christmas and we were very busy with all the kids and celebrating Christmas eve with the Murie's and Christmas Day with the Joneses. We also had a mini-family reunion with my mom's side of the family at the Jones center (no relation, just a nice free place to have a party and ice skate) and then went to Branson for two days with my parents, and sisters and their families. Silver Dollare City on a 35 degree day with 5 children and 50,000 other people may sound like torture to some of you, but we had a great time. We had a nice New Year's Eve with our friend Mike, my cousins Robin & Chris and Chris's wife Sarah. Big Smith was at George's and we danced our way into the New Year. We went over to our friends Andy & Angela's house to watch the hogs shameful defeat on New Year's Day.

With the constant activity coming to a close on New Year's Day, I began to go into a tailspin of depression desperate to get the RV back on the road. Poor James didn't know what to do with me because I would burst into tears just from seeing the tow bracket on the car or anytime I entered the RV. You would think the fact that we are going to Costa Rica for a month on the 14th would be enough for me to look forward to, but I am ashamed to say it didn't help at all. All I saw in my head was a giant clock with our allotted time off ticking away and us just sitting here in Fayetteville frittering it away. While I was wallowing in despair with free cell and chocolate my sweet, wonderful husband was out being responsible by working, and getting our taxes ready and doing repairs at the rent houses. Instead of slapping me upside the head for being selfish and spoiled he was very patient with me and even tried to understand my blabbering when I couldn't understand it myself. I have never been so depressed and I think James already has a standing order of Prozac for me for when we come back for good.

I think a big part of my problem was I saw us going back so easily to how things were before we left and I don't want that. I don't want James to work 60 hours a week and every saturday to be a workday. I know we can't travel and live in the RV forever (well the grown up part of me knows that) but I hope we make a concerted effort to appreciate our lives more and appreciate each other more. I feel so thankful that I have a spouse I want to spend time with and whom I get along with so well. I hope that we can find a balance when we come back home between our old life and our RV life.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and your new year is off to a wonderful start!

Love, Kim & James

Pictures: James' last fish at the gulf, flat tire, Kim & Shelby, Beth & Barrett