28 days later.

  The alarm went off around 5:30 this morning, I did not set it.  My beautiful bride was sleeping soundly through the melodic ringing, my dog Mal however stood up and was staring me down with her bright blue eyes.  She wanted to start the day and my sleep was not part of the itinerary.  Sitting up I parted the blinds just a bit to look out into the yard in the predawn light.  In the nearest Palm tree was my alarm clock, a Great-Tailed Grackle doing his very best to let the countryside know the sun was about to crest the ridge line.  He takes his job very seriously....my feet hit the floor.

  Mal is part Red-Heeler so when she feels like I need some direction in my wanderings she takes up position just beside my right achilles tendon.  That way if I stray off her selected course it's easier to nudge me in the right direction....kinda like a cow.  After the front door is unlocked she runs out into the yard, stops and turns to stare at me again.  We have three other dogs in the house (still sleeping) but for some reason, in the mornings Mal is not happy until we walk the perimeter together.  So off we go up to the front gate and unlock it, then down to the Bodega (a small side building that holds my tools and Kenneth's bikes) and open it.  Next up is going back into the house and opening the kitchen door and lastly three huge windows in the living room that slide open.  The daily temps so far range from the low 60's at night to about 80 in the early afternoon, we don't have heat or AC.  This time of year comes with a nice breeze that blows down the mountain in the evening and up from the valley during the day so the Casa is never stuffy.

  Now comes the part of my morning routine that I really look forward too... brewing a cup of coffee!  Back in the states Yerba Mate was my drink of choice for caffeine consumption because it was not acidic like your standard cup of joe.  Even though Mate is huge in South America it really doesn't have much of a following here, so I adapted back.  To my great relief Costa Rican coffee is Da Bomb Diggity!  Don't ask me the reason this black gold is just not nearly as acidic as what I drank back in Missouri, maybe it's the processing?  The beans I am drinking come from the hills that surround our place and are processed and packaged about a 1/4 mile down the street so maybe that's it.  All I do know is that I am addicted to my morning cup of local java.

  Our home is in Rincon-Zaragoza in Palmares, basically this means we live in the "back-end" of the Zaragoza barrio outside the city of Palmares at 3500'.  The locals are mostly farmers and small business owners and there is an elementary school a few houses up the street.  So starting just before sunrise the sidewalk is full of folk walking to work, selling fruit or veggies or parents taking their kids to class.
  Possibly one advantage to understanding so little Spanish is that your mind is free to insert it's own take on the things you see or hear.  I have gone about a month now without hearing or understanding a commercial telling me what to buy, a newscast telling me what to think or a radio personality explaining what I should be angry at.  My resting heart rate has dropped accordingly.
  Instead you have to rely on watching the people around you, really studying there actions to try to get through daily tasks.  Kindness is more abundant than I realized, small things like a neighbor who picks up any trash on our sidewalk, people getting up to stand on the bus when an elderly woman needs a seat, folks stopping by just to welcome the new gringos with a bunch of bananas or limes from their farm.....did I mention a large free bag of local coffee?

This is Lando, he likes to share his garden and play Soccer with my boy.  Lando is in his 80's. I want to be like Lando.

   Well, my cup is now empty so it's time to sign off for a bit.  The sun is over the ridge and I need to wake my kids up for school, I hope to talk to you again soon.