Snowbirding in Belize

Howler Monkey descending

It's about time  to finish the saga I began earlier this year. I started to tell you about it here in May, and I was planning to update it within a week or two with ongoing events, but that was May and this is October.  Oh MY! 

Since it's probably been awhile since you read it.....I'd started to tell you about my decision to Snowbird in Belize, and the incredible chain reaction that set off in my life (okay, NOW go back and read it if you have a minute ;o}

+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+

The road past my door-to-be

Upon returning from my Christmas vacation and my visit to Better In Belize, the intentional community I wanted to build in and move to in Belize, I pondered how on earth I was going to pay for the property.  I didn't have enough savings in the bank to do it; I didn't want to mortgage my house and make payments on that for rest of my life; and I finally concluded that the only way to swing it would be to take the plunge and sell my little house in the big woods.

my little house in the big woods

Now, I love my Oregon woods and its creatures, and my little house suited me well. I mean, just check out this year-long sketch/journal I did there in 2012!

But for some years now I had found myself sinking into a sedentary old age, swaddled in long underwear through the long, cold winters grudgingly warmed by a wood stove. 

fetching firewood—blechh

It gets really tiresome to fetch wood and keep the home fires burning, and only yearly trips to the tropics made it bearable.  Why not make the leap? I'd been considering it strongly for YEARS!

So January found me putting my house on the market and showing it for a whole three days before it was snapped up by a sculptor/videographer couple, just the perfect buyers.  

February was an incredible stew of packing, planning, organizing and executing.  I would live in Belize for the coldest six months of the year, but I plan to live here in Oregon for the other six months, so I needed a residence. 

35 years of "stuff" in storage

My first idea was to buy into a tiny community just up the road from my house, but that fell through due to zoning problems.  Still, the idea of a self-contained movable home was born. 

Plant Oregon, where I weed in summers

 March came, and Daniel, at Plant Oregon, the nursery where I weed most afternoons in the summers, offered me the use of his cabin, which he wasn't using, until I could get things straightened out.  I accepted gratefully, because I had to be out of my house by the middle of March, barely six weeks after making my decision to sell and a month after the sale was finalized! 

Sorting, storing, hauling, selling....

Imagine excavating, sorting, pitching, storing, giving away and/or moving 35 years worth of belongings in six weeks! I vacated into Dan's Cabin at the nursery, settling as comfortably as possible into temporary quarters, and weeding to keep my brain from exploding.

In the meantime, I deposited the payment for my house and land, and I was negotiating buying my lot in Belize, discussing house plans with my Belizean builder, and looking at Tiny Homes  to live in here in Oregon. It finally dawned on me that although Tiny Homes are darling, and speak to my Hobbity soul, they are REALLY SMALL and they are very expensive if you don't build them yourself. Since I'd be building a house in Belize, I didn't want to also be building a house in Oregon—I wanted something quick, simple, less expensive, easy maintenance....ah......a 5th Wheeler. They're quite a bit "glitzier" than really suits me, but they have lots of room, are low maintenance, and I knew the price of a used one would beat that of a Tiny Home by a huge margin—maybe only half as much!

My house plan- 1075 sq/ft

So I started looking for one of those that I liked, and at the same time I began the house plans for my house in Belize.  In 1980 I designed and built my little house in the woods, so I knew how to design a house and draw house plans, and I know what works for me and what doesn't, so this was very doable (and a lot of fun). And my builder was interested in building an earth bag house!  Serendipity!

Delivering my home to its spot

April.  Finally I found a good 5th Wheeler at a price I could afford (less than $20,000) and a friend offered me a place to settle, complete with water, electricity and sewer. 

packing a shipment of books

It was 30 miles from "home" but actually, to tell the truth, I was "homeless" now, so I jumped at the chance.
In the meantime I started thinking about selling the printed part (books) of my business, Nature Works Press, because there would no way for me to fill orders from Belize. Besides, it is time to "retire."

I decided to keep the sketch/journal e-book part of the business, and in fact even grow it.  But I needed to find a home for the book end of it.  So I put out feelers on a self-publishing forum. 

the view from my veranda-to-be

Life was chaotic, with belongings scattered all over the place: in two storage units in a nearby town, a stack of stuff in an empty building at the nursery, and the rest in Dan's Cabin, and I needed to return to Belize to begin the building process with my builder.  

So in May I returned to Better in Belize for a week of reconnaissance, conferences with Jorge, and to just sit (and sometimes sketch) on my building site for hours at different times of day to make sure I had planned everything correctly.

Black Orchid and frog in my yard

It was a wonderful interlude, with my dreams taking shape and focus to the accompaniment of crickets, cicadas, frogs (and a visit with a nearby tarantula clasping her egg sac).  

Mama tarantula with 2" egg sac

I had to sit outside the tarantula's entrance for more than an hour before she worked up the courage to come out this far, and the twitch of a finger sent her scrambling back inside.  I don't think I'll be afraid to live with tarantulas in the dooryard. They're real wusses.

Jorge, my Belizean builder

I was pleased to find that I liked Jorge and that we could work together as we prospected around San Ignacio, Belmopan and Spanish Lookout for building supplies and appliances, and outlined my earth bag house with spray paint on the building site.  Jorge is looking pleased in this photo because he had just rescued the orchid (by his left arm) from a fallen tree and replanted it in the hollow stump he's leaning on.

But arriving back home in Oregon,  it was time to reconvene my old life and wait for things to settle down since my house wouldn't be finished in Belize until autumn. Jorge promised to send me pictures taken  with his iPad or cellphone throughout the project. 

Lava Butte illustration

All spring and summer, while this was going on, I was also working on several illustration projects that would appear in nature centers and national forests in Oregon. I did a couple of blog entries about the making of this Lava Butte illustration, then after that I created the Benham Falls and the Benham Bridge illustrations here. 

These were all done at Daniel's Cabin, while the rest of my life swirled about in in total disarray.

Benham Falls illustration

Benham Bridge illustration

  


It's kind of amazing to me that anything at all could have come out of the astonishingly convoluted quagmire of my overloaded brain, but there they are.  And there was also a huge illustration (40" high) of a Ponderosa Pine which nearly ate my laptop awhile ago when I tried to convert it into a JPG so I could post it here, so it's not shown.  

JUNE  To relax my brain a bit, I drove to Idaho to visit my brother David, who helped me sort out details with regard to the change from Microsoft XP to Windows (Why did they change? XP was a GREAT operating system!), showed me how to use Skype (which will be my only telephone in my off-grid community), helped me upgrade some programs, including Quickbooks and Photoshop, with which I run my business, helped me sort out my laptop and tablet, and showed me how to download ebooks to read on a Kindle program, and just generally soothed away a lot of the angst that had been building up.  

Home in its new spot in a madrone forest

Thank goodness for a generous (and patient) brother!

In early June, Jorge informed me that my house plans had been approved. I was also moving into my new 5th Wheeler.  Dan bought and carted away a recliner and the dinette set which had crowded the interior, so I could start converting the dinette area into an office.

Next, I needed to start planning which of my belongings I wanted to take to my new home in Belize. And I needed a truck. Too much happening! My head was spinning.   

Now, this isn't the end of the story, as I've only gotten us midway through June, and here it is October, so I'll start work on the remaining bit of summer in the next blog entry.  I'm sorry I kept y'all in the dark for so long.  I just didn't have the time or energy to spend on it with all the other stuff going on.  Right now, I'm tapping my fingers while .....but more about that in the next blog entry.  

In the meantime, to assuage your disappointment about the truncated story, I offer you  this delightful little being I discovered while weeding a couple of weeks ago. The tiny jackrabbit toddler (it would fit in your cupped hands) never blinked an eye as I snapped its portrait.  I left it in peace (after about thirty seconds) to make its way in the world after The Giant left.  —Leap through life with happiness, Little Guy!

Costa Rica Sketch Journal ~ July 14, 2008 (still)

Sketch/journaling is half the fun of traveling or taking a vacation. It gives your trip a continuing life ~ that vacation is never really "over" if you can go back and relive it in full color (and with memory joggers for scents, sounds, ambiences, and other happenings). Making a sketch and/or writing about your day's adventures will greatly enhance your memories later. Hey, sketch/journaling your DAILY LIFE is a trip of its own!

That's why I journal my travels and also why I love teaching travel journaling to others. What a wonderful gift to be able to give other people ~ the ability to "retake" a vacation!

....Back to July 14, Daniel and I were enjoying wandering down the creek, which was about four feet wide and only a few inches deep (navigable in Crocs or other water-type shoes, but you wouldn't want to do it barefoot or in shoes you expect to dry later ~ they'll probably mould before they would dry out at this time of year, the beginning of the rainy season).

A troop of howler monkeys passed by overhead, about five of them, one mother with a baby and ... WHOA! A pinto howler! One of the howlers, a big male, had areas on his body without black pigment and the fur was brilliant golden-orange! Since the troop was about 70' up in the leafy canopy, we didn't get a lot of clear viewing, but it was very obvious that a large part of its tail was pure orange, and part of its lower body. Fascinating! We must have watched for twenty minutes, until our necks complained so loudly they drowned out the fascination and we walked on.

The stream had a cut a ravine down the mountain so that the banks rose at an angle on each side covered with trees, shrubs, and vines. For much of the distance, the creek traveled parallel to the ocean, separated from the beach by a high ridge. We could hear and smell the ocean for much of the walk (see the map journal page above).

We saw cecropia trees in a canopy opening (they grow fast to fill up openings caused by fallen trees) and along the stream we found a palm studded with spines. You definitely wouldn't want to mess with that spiny palm! I collected a spine and a bunch of leaf skeletons, as well, which you can see on this journal page.

We were fascinated by the exotic buttresses on the trees. These are adapted to help hold the trees upright in the shallow, often water-logged soil. On this tree species, whatever it may be, the top of each flange was a gorgeous, unusual coppery orange.

Reaching the lagoon, where the stream pools before wandering out to the ocean, I found a big, boxy crab shell (see the picture at right).

Here you see the (fairly) well-equipped casual hiker, with a walking stick found along the bank, camera, binoculars, water bottle and lunch and a sitting pad in the bag. The camera is usually in the bag, but I'm holding it here. I also should have had a bandana to tie around my forehead (or a soft hat to wear) because later, on the beach, sweat kept running down into my eyes. This is the humid tropics, after all.

The lagoon waxes and wanes with the seasons. On a couple of our visits it has been almost entirely absent, with the stream emptying out right into the ocean. This time, it was lovely and broad, and I saw a jesus-christ lizard race across the lagoon from one side to the other (I didn't make that name up, they really call it that because of how it "walks on water"!). They're really fast and alert, and difficult to photograph.

It was a relief to get out into the beach breeze. As we sat companionably on a log eating energy bars (from my bag), we discovered we were being watched. Be sure to click on the image here to see who was peering out over the top of the log from under the beach almond. (Hint: remember what a pizote is from previous blog entries?)

After the pizote wandered off, we were just sitting watching the waves when Dan noticed a black blob coming toward on the beach us from the north. As we watched in puzzlement turning to astonishment, an Indian water buffalo pulling a wooden cart filled with people hove into view. Talk about incongruous!

We both started snapping photos of it, hoping not to offend, and apparently the people on the cart thought we were pretty funny, because they smiled and waved at us. Later back at the cabina I sketched the preposterous scene from the viewfinder on my camera (this is Dan's photo ~ his were the best, mine were too hasty).

I love my digital camera! That oxcart was in sight for only about five minutes, and only close enough to sketch for maybe one minute ~ I'd never have been able to draw it as it passed.

Speaking of digital cameras, when I travel, I always carry two spare sets of rechargeable batteries for my camera, plus my charger. That means I always have an extra set to carry along with me, even if I have to leave a set charging in my room ~ which has happened. Additionally, I don't have to worry about running the batteries down if I want to draw from the viewfinder or share pictures with others. I never have a problem with my camera running out of juice.

As well, I use a 1 or 2 Gigabyte storage card in the camera and always carry a spare card in case I fill the first one up. Knowing I have the spare card, I can take as many pictures as I want. And I have learned the hard way that before checking my bag for the plane ride home, it's a good idea to either carry the camera or to at least remove the card with my precious photos and tuck it into my wallet. My camera was stolen, along with my entire trip's photos, last February. I minded losing the photos a LOT more than I minded losing the camera ~ it sure was a good lesson!

Tomorrow's entry will the last one for this trip. It includes sketching the jungle from the beach, drawings of some cool things I found along the beach, and the trip home (including a crocodile!). See you then! And after that, I will get back into the process of preparing for my new Oregon Trail historical workshop.

Costa Rica Nature Journal/Sketching Workshop ~ 10

Belen met Joel and me at the airport and we went out to a delicious lunch in a little Italian restaurant. Later, after settling in for a good chat, dinner was goodies from the local mall in Escazu (that mall looked just like any mall you'd see here), and I got to bed by tennish, ready for my upcoming adventure.

Joel had offered to drive me to the bus depot early the next morning for my journey up-country to the Monteverde Cloud Forest, which is near the tiny town of Santa Elena. When he delivered me to the depot and bought me the ticket, I was on my own.

After settling down on the bus (and parking my pack in an overhead bin ~ with the strap hanging down over the edge so I could keep an eye on it) I worked out the currency conversion, which turned out to be pretty easy. For instance, if something cost 2100 colones, you drop the last zero and pretend the 210 is pennies. Then, multiply the 210 pennies x 2, and the conversion is $4.20. And that was the price of my bus ticket from San Jose to Sta. Elena, about four hours away. What a deal!

By the way, I fastened the colones into my journal only along a thin strip of edge (next to the spiral) so that you can flip them up to see the back side. But to keep them from flipping up at other times, I taped a piece of acetate along the outer edge of the page, which flaps back over the ends of the bills to hold them down.

The bus was comfortable, although well-used, but unfortunately the windows were kind of scuzzy (like most airplane windows) so the viewing wasn't what it might be. I did a bit of journaling, then pulled out the evaluations I had asked my students to fill after the workshop. I hadn't had time to look them over yet. The evaluation sheet started out: "Please fill out with positive or negative feedback so that I can improve or change the workshop as needed." I always ask students to fill out evaluations in order to constantly improve my workshops.

Question: Did this workshop fulfill your expectations and was it worth the fee you paid?

• Kathy: "I enjoyed the people, the class, the locale, the food, Irene is a terrific instructor."
• Jocelyn: "Yes. There was actually much more content than I expected. The price for the package was excellent and worth every penny! Thank you, thank you."
• Marilyn: " Yes. I thought the fee was quite reasonable. All my "expectations" were fulfilled."

Question: Why did you enroll in this class?

• Kathy: "For the exotic locale. I wanted to travel and was alone so thought a group workshop was a safe way to do so. Plus I was interested in the information of the workshop."
• Jocelyn: "Loved the blog from last year's class ~ wanted to be in this place with a skilled and knowledgeable teacher."
• Marilyn: "I have a great love of nature so the description of the class appealed to me. Your background was also a deciding factor in choosing this workshop. I also wanted to experiment with colored pencils. I wanted to have an adventure!"

Question: What would you like to say about your experience in the class?

• Kathy: "Irene is very knowledgeable about drawing, composing and setting up a treasure of a journal experience. Irene is patient and kind, but will lead you to your best performance."
• Jocelyn: "I feel that any beginner would be very well equipped to create journal pages. I learned a LOT of things that already help me in my sketchbook/journal work. Some specific tips have helped solve recurring "problems" I've had. In the future, I will also use other creative elements that were introduced to me."
• Marilyn: "Your class was really great ~ fun, informative and well thought out. The time spent outside the class with you was a bonus. You are quite knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the Osa Peninsula. All of the people at El Remanso were so kind and helpful, it really added to the whole experience. You are a really fun person and your upbeat personality is contagious."

By now I was blushing pretty red from all the praise. I had thought they were having a good time and enjoying the workshop, but now I was sure; additionally, there were some comments about how I could improve the class:

• more pleine air (sketching outside) activities
• less class time to allow more exploring
• drop the calligraphy but keep the initial caps session
• introduce the fun script I was using in my own journal

[Since I had asked the students if I could quote them on my blog, it's okay that I am using their names and comments here. In fact, Jocelyn Curry's art may be seen here ~ you'll be properly impressed, I think!] I tucked the evaluation sheets away for later rumination, and got back to my adventures.

The first 2½ hours going west and north on the bus went pretty fast, first on Interstate 3, then on a good paved highway. Soon we were practically to the cloud forest, according to the map I had glued into the back of my journal, and I couldn't figure out why it was scheduled to take so long to finish getting there.

But when the bus turned off onto a dirt road, it all became clear. The last thirty miles were on a steep, winding dirt road, rutted and rocky in places, so narrow in other places there was truly not room for two buses to meet and pass. I was on the side of the bus next to the outer edge of the road much of the time, with some interesting views down. But the driver was obviously a pro, who treated his bus well, and I never felt endangered at any time despite the drop-off. Still, we went very s.l.o.w.l.y.....

As an antidote, off to the west we got occasional lingering glimpses of Golfo de Nicoya (the Gulf of Nicoya) and to the north and east the forested mountains, wreathed in clouds, were rising majestically. The bus windows opened, so sometimes I was hanging out to admire the view. I DO wish I could show you my photos of the countryside! (for those of you who have just joined the blog, see the first entry on Feb 20 for what happened to all my gorgeous pictures).

Finally, Santa Elena, where I had (online) rented a cabina for the night, appeared around the bend. It was quite amazing to see this small, bustling town at the end of such a dreadful, dusty road. Every second vehicle (and there were LOTS of vehicles) seemed to be either a taxi or a turismo van. I engaged a taxi (for 900 colones ~ quick now, how much is that?) to my lodging.

But there was no one at the reception office to meet me. Not a soul. I waited around for a few minutes, then went across the way to a service station (La Bomba) and asked around until I found a mechanic who could speak enough English to understand me. He got on his cell phone and called the concierge, who belatedly met me at the reception and took me to my cabina. I really liked that cabina, with comfortable bed, shower, bath, microwave, and even a TV, with a view out the window at Golfo de Nicoya. But after that first time, I never saw anyone from the hotel again ~ and no other guests, either. Weird. I had the whole place to myself.

Stowing some of my gear in my room, I walked down to the road below the cabina and waited, as instructed by the taxi driver, for the "jello bus" (sometimes the Tico "y" is pronounced like a "j") which took me the few miles up to the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nubroso Monteverde. And for $15 I spent the rest of the day wandering the beautiful cloud forest trails, seeing unbelievably beautiful vegetation, an inquisitive slaty-backed nightingale thrush, and listening to the roars of howler monkeys. This wonderful howler monkey picture was offered by Mai-Liis.

I've written about my first day of cloud forest adventures on the journal page here. I was having the time of my life, a real-life adventure, all on my own. This was an important challenge to me, because I tend to be fairly cautious. I had assigned myself this experience (traveling alone in a foreign country with limited expertise in the language ~ I don't think I know more than about fifty words, and almost NO grammar) to get me to spread my wings a bit more. And I was flapping along with reasonable success. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more fun in the cloud forest and some nice journal sketches.

We Arrive in Costa Rica

April 19

7:02pm on the international flight from Atlanta to San José, Costa Rica.

We are on our way to the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica! After months of preparation and anticipation, I am flying with Daniel to the rainforest wildlife lodge, El Remanso, to teach a nature sketching workshop. I’m carrying the most important parts of the workshop – the workbooks, pencils and erasers, watercolor pencils and paintbrushes – in my carry-on bag so that if my luggage gets lost I can still give the workshop.

We’re going a couple of days early, before the class starts, to get settled in – I need to collect some jungle-y things for the students to draw, and check out possibilities for landscape sketching, then sort out location, tables and chairs for the best light and comfort of the students. Daniel is going to just enjoy himself – there’s the beach, a maze of hiking trails, waterfalls to explore (some visitors rappel down them!), plus swimming in the pool and just hanging in the hammock. Sounds good to me!

April 19 ~ 4:50pm

What a change from the chilly spring temperatures of home! After an overnight stay in San José we made a short flight to the Osa Peninsula over pineapple plantations, coffee farms, a huge mangrove delta just north of Corcovado National Park, and miles and miles of rainforest. After about an hour we landed at the little gravel airstrip at Puerto Jimenez

The air was soft and moist, about eighty degrees, and we rode in the “taxi” – a 4-seat pickup truck with an open back sporting seats on each side (the taxi in the photo is prepared for rain). We opted for the open-air seats for the nearly 1-hour trip through lush lowland pastures with humped white cattle, then through wild forest with hanging vines, overarching canopy, and flowering trees. Those are smooth-billed anis in the photo.

After a warm welcome to the lodge, we have settled into our cabina, a lovely open room which overlooks the pool. There are other cabinas secluded in the trees for those who want more privacy, and all of them are perfectly matched to the serenity of this quiet (well, except for the hoarse cries of the brilliant red macaws, bursts of birdsong from all around, and the occasional rolling roar of howler monkeys) paradise.

And now to the beach! I’ll prepare for the workshop later!