Cedro's perfect dream

Ced Stand

In order to get a better look at the tress and various fauna that continue to fascinate him, Cedro Greist Salazar has begun to hold himself in a standing position on the wooden frame of our couch.  Looks like we'd better begin the arduous process of hiding everything that sits within a meter of the ground...

 

In other news, I couldn't find my wallet the other day, and got all stressed out, thinking I was going to arrive late for my weekly gig at Moon Shiva.  Not in any dirty pants pocket, not on the night stand, not in my day bag, nor in the guitar case.  Then Sandra called up to me that she'd found it...

   

Looks like I've got to hang the credit cards out of reach as well... (not that any of them are valid anymore...)

Aw, Nuts!

When I lived in North Florida, there was no time more celebrated and anticipated than Pecan season, when shells hit earth like a Baghdad storm, and children dashed out at recess and after school to fill bags, pockets, folded up tee shirts and anything else they could get their hands on with seeds for roasting at home or smashing with a hammer and eating raw in the sandbox. 

            Here in Monteverde, all the fruits of the tree and vine are coming in ripe and delicious, which is the one positive consequence of the extended rainy season we had this year.  However none of the fruits of the season are so coveted as the fragile cashew (marañon), which is literally littering the roads and pastures these days.  The fruit itself is sweet but slightly tart, and the seed sits like a crown jewel at the apex of each, tempting even the most ardent junk food junkie. 

            I didn’t think to photo document this process until the fruits were all devoured this afternoon, so I here offer stock material, but the roasting was too interesting to pass up.  Sandra showed me how to do this.  We took the seeds, which have a fleshy outer layer and roasted them over the gas stove, which was an adventure, since they are filled with thick oil, which ignites and sparks, roasting the seed inside within about a minute and a half.  The seeds came out a cream color and were indeed the best cashews I’ve ever tasted, proving once again that fresh is exponentially better than the alternative.  It is worth the trip to Costa Rica just to try this…

             

 

Student Essay

The following is a persuasive essay written by one of my sixth graders.  We submitted it as an editorial to the New York Times, but it was never published.  I publish it here as a consolation.  Not quite the same readership, I'm afriad, but it's about quality, not quantity, right?

      The Problems As I See them

          written November, 2008

There is no need for The United States and Russia to start the cold war again. Right now the world and even The Unites States need to help schools, people, the Economy and petroleum problems.

  Recently the president of The United States said that the States are in an Economic crisis. Actually the whole world is in one. One of the main reasons too that the States is in this problem is that they spent 100 billion dollars in Iraq and who knows how much more they’re planning on spending. Not even in World War 2 did they spend as much, and that at least was a just war! There is no need to kill people and destroy other countries only because they want to prove who’s stronger, or to prove that’s the only way to stop terrorism.  It’s not.  Instead, they should help the Economy and people.

    The United States doesn’t have to spend another $100 billion on a Cold war, The United States has to be a leader in peace. Spending that much money is certainly unwise. They have to help people and especially the Economy! When I hear the news and about the gas prices I think “why can’t they just start using electric cars or Bio diesel?”  But there’s the famous phrase. No money. What do they mean? Why is there 100 billion dollars being sent to Iraq.

And what about the economy? It’s our fault we have been spending money we don’t have, a whole bunch of people have been doing it, and the Government started giving money to banks and voila, Economic crisis! In other words, don’t start spending what you don’t have because you’ll lose.

  So I hope that the Government and people open their eyes to all the problems that are happening.

by D.A.

vacation!

The CEC may be in session year round, but we do have one week off every six, and this time, the family took a trip.  Angela Gillingham is here and treated us to a couple of days in La Fortuna.  The rain was nearly constant, which kept us away from most of the attractions (ample time in the pool and natural hot mineral baths, and one outing to see the crocodiles - see below and last post), but granted us some much needed chill family time.  There is nothing in the world that can come close to the feeling of hours spent talking, playing, watching movies and singing uninterrupted by cooking, dishes, laundry, and work.  Amazing!

 

   

 

 

 

sometimes the climb is worth it

The planet's first fauna was enormous.  Scorpions the size of microbuses and crocodiles that wouldn't even give a human a second glance, for lack of meat on the bones.  It seems however, that in nature, bigger is not necessarily better.  Having a huge, bulky body may make one an efficient killer and without natural enemies, but it does mea that many more cells that must be constantly fed.  When food is scarce, there is nothing like a tiny body to keep one up in the evolution game. 

Smaller is better!

The crocs nowadays only eat once every two weeks or so, and many live to see 100!  And no one is thriving like the microorganisms.  This frog is one of the tiniest I've seen and there are thousands of them in puddles and underbrush everywhere here.  There are

 

 

Lucha Libre Monteverde

Here at long last are the newest batch of contestents!  We wish them the best of luck!