Everyone loves a Mime

During our stay in San Jose, Costa Rica, one Sunday afternoon we walked down Central street which has several plazas.  As in all Central American cities, the plazas are social centers of activity.  This Sunday, many entertainers were out. 
Oddly, a pair of young American musicians singing songs by the Beatles.

 
 A duo of mimes caught our attention along with a sizeable crowd.

 And no street fair is complete without children getting their faces painted...

 

Going for the Gold

Real gold that is!  In this case in the Museo del Central Banco in San Jose.  A fascinating exhibit that includes not only all the the gold artifacts discovered at the various archaeological sites around the country,(except of course those pilfered over the years by grave robbers) but a wonderful re-creation of how the native Costa Ricans might have lived three thousand years ago.

Recreation of how artifacts were found at the excavation site.

 

Spinning and weaving cloth

Chiefs and High Priests

Hunter/Warrior

Shaman/Healer

Goldsmiths using lost wax casting.

Preparing bodies for burial

Brewing an alcoholic beverage

Lola Fernandez, A Living Treasure of Costa Rica

During our time in San Jose, Costa Rica, we were lured by gold fever into the Los Museos Del Banco Central to see the Pre-Columbian Gold Exhibit.  I will post photos of that glittering exhibit another day, because I was diverted by the vibrant paintings of Lola Fernandez.  

Lola Fernandez was born in 1926 so inherited a contemporary love of abstract expressionism of the previous decades.  Not a peer of Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keefe, and Emily Carr, she never the less, inherited their love of color and form and can stand shoulder to shoulder with them as a star in the galaxy of important women artists.

The Museum mounted the show on vibrant colored walls to set off this important body of work by one of Costa Rica's premier artists.

Working in many styles and media over her lifetime, Fernandez continues to grow and improvise and learn her craft well into her eighties.

Red Snapper Supper

Some of the staff at Off the Wall Dive Resort    Left to right...Mario, Eileen, Juan, Beverly

Have you ever met a cooking angel?  Someone who can create wonderful meals from very natural ingredients? One such angel, employed by Kendra and Jim at their dive resort, "Off the Wall", made our week on Long Cay a little sort of heaven.  With the most basic of kitchens...

And an outdoor dish washing station, reminiscent of our four bucket river system, she created breakfast, lunch, and dinner with homemade breads at every meal and wonderful native Belizian recipes.  Many things were made from the coconuts that were planted to supplement the crates of vegetables boated in weekly from the markets in Dangriga and the fish caught locally by professional fishermen.  Things like coconut flan, coconut lemon pie, roasted coconut appetizers, German chocolate cake with fresh coconut.  

Every day, Eileen would cheerfully shout, Juan or Junior, or Mario, bring me a few coconuts!  And they would rush to do her bidding, knowing something incredible was coming soon.

When the fishermen visited the island, they left with their pockets heavier and their boat a little lighter. 

Red Snapper being ready to be cleaned

Junior, dive boat captain and expert with a knife as well.

 You might think that the heads would be offered to the waiting birds, but no...while the fish was grilled, the heads were carefully poached with spices and served intact for the native Belizian staff to enjoy.  Feeling somewhat adventurous, I gave them a try!   No wonder they were not tossed to the birds, they were wonderful.  Especially served with fluffy rice cooked in coconut milk.

To make us feel at home, Eileen could also whip up mean pizzas and chocolate chip cookies.

Even with all the exercise we got diving and snorkeling, we all left several lbs. heavier.

Orchids, the National flower of Costa Rica

In 2012, Norm made a boating trip to Turrialba, Costa Rica and brought home some orchids which are doing very well in their new home in Albuquerque.  No blooms yet, but they are still pretty tiny even after a year. My daughter, Brittany, found this lovely jar which acts like a tiny greenhouse and creates its own rain.  I have only added water once.  

Costa Rica orchids

This year, we stayed at the historic Hotel Don Carlos in down town San Jose.  Along with gorgeous artwork from the colonial period, incredible tiles celebrating the important sites in San Jose, the Don Carlos is home to some wonderful orchids.  I took pictures, hoping when my orchids bloom, I will be able to identify what species they are. 

I am linking to Jane's "Flowers in the House" party with this blog post.  Be sure to hope on over there to see some less exotic, but no less lovely flowers.

 

Scuba or Snorkel?

Dawn from our little house on the beach.

Which would you choose?  For me scuba diving was not an option since I was never able to learn to equalize the pressure in my ears, but I just love to snorkel.  When we were in Belize, we took a boat to Off the Wall Dive Resort to spend a week in paradise...with a little "p" since we all survived encounters with enormous nurse sharks, Moray eels, lobsters as large as a two year old human, barracudas that found us more interesting than we did them, and an eagle ray that lazily circled me three times before heading off to feed (thankfully) somewhere else.  I do not have an underwater camera, but will post photos soon by my friends, Sarah and Betsy.

Dive Master, Matthew

Friend, Joanne and scuba instructor, Bev

Betsy and Joanne gearing up

Most of our group geared up for two dives a day with dive master, Matthew and off they went outside the atoll into the open water, with boat captain, Junior dropping them exactly over the dive site of the day.  While they were gone, the rest of us snorkeled off the shore, took naps, used the kayaks or sailboards, watched the hermit crabs in their borrowed shells, scurry about their busy scavenging, or taught the staff to watercolor (me).   

When the  scuba divers returned, Matthew took us out to the inside reefs to snorkel each day.  

On our return, we washed the salt off in these beautiful outdoor showers...

 And spent a little time lounging before dinner.....

Sarah and Bob ignoring the ospreys raising a ruckus (and two chicks) immediately to their right.