Ich bin ein Berliner!

  I was at the local soda a couple weeks ago, that is the name for a Tico mom & pop restaurant.  They are all over the country and the food so far has been fantastic!  My son and I were sitting down at a table waiting for an order of Burrito Suprema (me) and Pollo Fritos (KJ).  There was a soccer game on the TV and about six locals either eating or waiting on food while the owners were cooking in the back.
  So this kid, maybe in his early twenties, wearing a hoodie pulled over his black hair walks over to our table.  "Ingles?" he asked in kinda a shy voice.  I am a 6', 190# bald white guy from the Ozarks with a beard...so I was pretty sure he meant me.  "Si Americano, lo siento un poco Espanol"  I have no idea how bad my hillbilly accent sounds in Spanish but I am guessing it's bad.
  His face was an instant smile, "Wonderful!  I am learning Ingles, I try to talk to you?"
 "Absolutely, grab a seat."  I love chatting with new folk because you never can tell what you may find out.  This conversation is a great example, hoodie kid's name was Joel and his lives up on the crest of a ridge.  The little community is called Berlin and from there on a clear day you can see the Pacific ocean about 28 miles away.  "You must come see, it is the most beautiful vista!" he said,  obviously very proud of his home.  I asked for directions and he said to have the taxi follow the road past my house and go to the top of the ridge, when the road stops at the T, hang a left and about a kilometer later is the Berlin store.  "How far is it from here?" I asked  "Not far, 5 kilometers maybe.  The taxi will be cheap."  "Joel, I will just correr (run) up there this week and see it."  At this his eyes widened a bit, "Correr? But it is very...alto (high) much better to taxi!"  Right here is the reason why I think David Murphy should sell IRC business cards, or at least a waterproof membership ID.  Then all you have to do in these awkward social situations is whip out you proof of Idiotness and get on with your day.  "No doubt but I need the exercise, thanks for telling me about it."

Good food!

  Two days later and dressed in my running shorts and IRC grellow shirt I shut the gate to our casa and started heading up the hill.  Ego in full swing, I took off at a run mostly because when your wearing running clothes you want to at least act the part.  Not very long afterward the ego was put into check and I started walking as the road turned and the hill got steeper.

See that little peak just to the left of the roof?  That's the way to Berlin.

I got to the edge of our barrio and could not help but marvel at how Tico's can put a house in places that you would think was impossible.  "Hey, I have a piece of mountain with almost a vertical drop overlooking a cliff with a river below....let's build there and raise our family!"  Somehow they make it work, with no OSHA or ADA regulations in place.  It's a treat for the eyes but you really can't stare too long or you will fall in a hole in the sidewalk big enough to snap your femur, or fall off the edge of the asphalt dropping 20' to your death...literally.  You might be on road or sidewalk but trail running rules apply, even in town.

  Another turn in the road and the pavement stops as a rocky country road started up.  The heart rate monitor on my wrist started to buzz, looking down I read that my HR was too high....what?  I am walking and still in zone 3!?  OK no problem, surely the elevation will calm down soon.  The next corner gave me a view of ascent that reminded me of DogWood Canyon back in the Missouri.  It just kept going up and the fire in my calves increased accordingly, this was gonna hurt a bit.

  To take my mind off of the lactic acid build up in my legs, I focused on what was around me.  No need to fear of holes or standing on the edge of the road because it was dirt and I could walk in the middle.  The few LandRovers that drove by could be heard in plenty of time to move over and now there were no houses, just rows of coffee trees.  At one point, cresting the top of steep rise the road turned quickly to the left and crossed over a small stream.  There at the water's edge I saw a large black/brown coat of fur and long tail dart under the foliage.  It took a second to realize what it was, a Jaguarundi!  If my breath wasn't coming in ragged gasps at the moment I might have set down and really enjoyed the moment of seeing one of God's beautiful creations....but right now I was trying not die.

Look's kinda cranky

  A bit farther along and I could see the valley down below and the cell tower near our home.  I would have taken a picture but as with the pretty kitty, my concentration was just trying to not to break rule #6 or die.  Finally after another steep hill and almost 1200' of elevation gain in a bit over 2 miles, Berlin was in sight!  I stood on the edge of the highway that runs along the ridgetop and looked out from 4600', across 30 miles of jungle to see the Pacific ocean.  It was amazing and humbling at the same time, of course it also had to go on FaceBook live.

                       https://www.facebook.com/jim.lane.58/videos/10213426513688926/

  The last part was taking another left (running this time) at the next intersection and heading back down thru the barrio of Quebradas.  Dirt road on the way up but asphalt on the way home except where the road was too steep for the LandRovers carrying coffee beans back on forth from the hills.  On these sections it was just bare concrete that had been deeply scored for traction.  It was on the way down that I ran across an amigo Mario on his way up to Berlin.  He stopped right in the middle of a blind turn on the edge of a steep ravine just to chat with me in a language that he knows I don't speak well.  That did not seem to matter to him at all, Mario was all smiles...I like Mario.
  The road finally leveled out as I crossed the metal bridge over a stream and this meant I had just one small incline back to the house.  Dragging my butt up to our gate, I turned off the Garmin and reflected on the last hour.  This might be less than a 5 mile loop, the elevation is not like Colorado but I saw a lot of cool stuff and my legs are trashed, mission accomplished.  Next time I am definitely taking a GoPro! 

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.

Here's how it was....

  Tomorrow is going to be weird.  Seriously, after 22 years of collecting a paycheck from the city of Springfield Missouri Fire Department it's all going to stop.  Don't get me wrong, I have been looking forward to this day since rookie school.
  On the second day of classes the mayor and city manager came to check out the 19 new fire cadets in our brand new uniforms, everyone of us nervous and excited to be selected.  We had beat out over 600 applicants to earn a spot in this rookie school, a lot of hopes and dreams were riding on it.  "Tell me cadet, why did you join the Springfield Fire Department?" asked the city manager to a fellow in the front row.  He swallowed and said "Well sir, I have a wife and new baby girl to care for.  I needed a job that would provide and give us a retirement..." "Whoa!" Shouted the mayor, waving his arms and jumping off of the chair he had been setting in.  "You guys don't think that you are going to be retiring from this place do yeah?!" Then he put on his somber, official face and told us that public fire departments were a thing of the past.  We were all going to loose our jobs within 10 years to a privatized fire department because they were cost effective. 
  Two things came out of that statement,
       1: He had just set the tone of the employer/employee work relationship for the next 22 years.      2:  My anti-authoritarian streak became a permanent part of my personality.

  I am so  thankful that God hears and answers prayers and he saw fit to see me through to the end of this career.  Somewhere around 7800 calls of all types, 2600/24hr shifts and 6 different stations that were my home every third day.  A lifetime happened in those years, I saw things and did stuff that I cannot forget.  I met the love of my life and she said YES! 
  We built a house and had two awesome kids and a lot of dogs.  We took every opportunity to see new things and travel but mostly we just LOVED.



You know what the coolest part of this is?

Our adventure is just getting started! 

                    ;)