Lost in the Jungle: 2013

Well, I am sitting in the San Jose airport, waiting for my flight...which is in 4 hours. I had to get here around 8 because I am bringing home "Lilly", a dog that was rescued about a year ago. Her flight is at 12. She was found tied up in a trash bag...apparently they just throw away hunting dogs...Anyway, Mary had found her and had given her to a tico in Cabuya....He has recently decided to stop feeding her and just let her go. Mary couldn't keep her because Lilly is very interested in the animals at the sanctuary...so, I am bringing her home. This is one expensive dog....she better appreciate it! She is very sweet and very smart.

Lilly

something smells good

three happy dogs running up to the farm

Lilly and Copito

Happy Lilly

The other dogs at the sanctuary are a little jealous....they wanna come to the U.S. too!

Spirit after she got her groom on....a much happier dog

Copito

Boomer...enjoying the shade in the jungle

Tika....Tika had distemper about 6 months ago...she is still a little
wobbly but is much better..

Spirit thinks she is going somewhere....I hate to break it to her, but
she doesn't fit.

Since Spirit took Lilly's crate, Lilly gets the roomy
apartment. Who is the smarter dog?

Charlie, our howler monkey, decided he didn't want to wait to be sent to Brenda in Nosara, where he would have been integrated into a troop before release...he had a couple of months to go. Instead, when a lone male howler showed up in the yard, Charlie decided to ignore me and stay up in the tree with the new guy. There was no aggression and Charlie didn't seem afraid. As it got dark, Charlie and the other male slept in the trees in the sanctuary. The next morning, Charlie was gone, as was the lone...not anymore...male. Charlie is still a bit young but he is completely weaned and as long as the other guy doesn't hurt him, he will be ok. It made my leaving a little easier...I don't have to have a teary goodbye. I had already been spending a lot of time with him this week, getting my Charlie time...so I did get a chance to say goodbye...sorta.

The first bottle I ever gave Charlie...this was my first
full day here in Costa Rica.

Charlie has the cutest yawns...and if you are special,
you get to see his "seizure" move...he only does that
when he is extremely content and happy.

Charlie has very soft hands and feet...makes you wanna kiss them....
well, at least it made me want to.

Charlie eating a water apple...He was a
glutton when it came to eating fruit...
probably since he wasn't supposed to have
it.....watch your fingers if you give him
any fruit...he might just take them too.

Charlie was always fascinated with his image in the camera

Charlie thought it was great fun to run up in the
rafters of Mary's house....he was pretending to be
a duster...he did a pretty good job....as you can see.
He liked to sit on top of the door or the fridge and play with my hands.

Enjoying some sunshine

He enjoyed the sunshine so much, he fell asleep.

If you are going to take a nap in a tree, you might
as well spread out and do it right!

Hanging out in my house

Who can resist these feet? This is his broken leg...his identifying
feature...so if you are ever around Cabuya and you see this
crooked ankle, let me know!

Charlie's last bedtime bottle...the next day, he was more
interested in his new friend than he was in the bottle.

The lone male. He actually came to visit about a week
before the voluntary "monkeynapping".

He is a younger adult...how handsome!

The little boy four-eyed opossum is doing well. He is still on a bottle three times a day but has started to eat insects. He has also moved into his big boy cage. I won't get to see his release but Mary will keep me posted.

The little girl woolly opossum that I released about a week and a half ago is doing well. I have checked on her several times since her release, including my last day in Cabuya. I hung her nest gourd in the tree I released her in with a roof over it to keep her dry. She is still using it and is very snuggly in there.

Just checking things out

In his big boy cage.

after his bottle

He has gotten bigger!

He was so interested, he would not let go when
I tried to help him hold it better.

finally figured it out

this was taken on day 8 after her release

Mary has been working on re-introducing rabbits to her farm. We bred two of her females before moving them up to large cages on the farm to see if they would have babies...and raise them for release. Luckily, one of them had babies!!!! I only felt 4 for sure but I think there might be 5. She hasn't been a good momma in the past so I didn't want to mess with them too much. She is apparently being a good momma now. We were still waiting to see if the other one will have babies...she got bred a few days later. Again, Mary will let me know.

New born rabbits...they look snuggly.

The proud momma!

Now we are just waiting on this one to have her babies.

And then the day finally came...it was time to leave Rainsong and Cabuya and head to Alajuela, with my new dog. We left Costa Rica the next day....Lilly on her plane, I on mine. We both got home in one piece after a long day and both settled in nicely.

Mary and I

Edwin and I

My empty house

San Jose Airport. Dropped Lilly off for her flight at 11. Just waiting for
mine at 2.

THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL SUMMER!!!!!!!!

I went to Santa Teresa/Mal Pais last Friday to enjoy the beach for a couple of days. Edwin came with me on Friday because we needed to take Spirit, the rescued husky, to get her groom on at the vet clinic...which just happens to be in Santa Teresa. Edwin took Spirit home that afternoon and I stayed until Sunday...practicing just being a beach bum. What a gorgeous beach! If I lived here I would need two houses...one for me and my 1000 rescued animals and one for my shells and rocks that I collect from the beach.

Santa Teresa is on the Pacific side of the Nicoya penninsula (Cabuya is on the penninsula also but on the bay side). Cabuya's beaches are quite rocky....at low tide, it is very rocky...at high tide, instead of sand, it is small rocks...not very comfortable. There are a lot of shells though....I like that. The beaches in Santa Teresa are all sand....with some neat rock formations. There are places where very smooth and colorful rocks and shells accumulate along the beach....there were all different colors of rocks...red, black, green, blue, orange, brown...there were even rocks that looked like blue opals and red opals...beautiful...It is also a surfer's paradise.

When I got there on Friday, I checked into Brunela's, a surfer's hostal. It is the rainy season so I managed to get a dorm room (for 6 people) all to myself.....the rest of the residents were all surfers....and a little ridiculous. I doubt they owned any other clothes, other than there surf shorts and their flip flops. We arrived in the morning, so I managed to go hang out at the beach for the day....I don't think Edwin likes the beach very much...He just sat in the shade, took pics with my camera, and scoped out all of the "chicas". Edwin left around 1, leaving me to play on the beach. I walked back to town with him and grabbed some groceries at the local Super Ronnies #2, ate some lunch, and headed back to the beach. Stayed out till the sunset..got some pics. People were still surfing after sunset....

I spent most of Saturday just hanging out on the beach...catching up with my tan..I am in the tropics after all. My friend, Sophie, owns the French bakery/cafe in Cobano. She opened a second, larger cafe here in Santa Teresa....the main reason I came. She had the grand opening on Saturday...so, I went and gave my support, had a great cup of coffee and a delicious pastry before heading back out to the beach. I felt like I was in little France...everybody there spoke French. I was going to meet up with her, her husband, and some of their friends after they closed and hang out at the beach...but, it rained later that afternoon, so, I hung out at Brunelas and caught up with some TV and reading.

I only had a couple of hours on Sunday at the beach before it was time to leave. Luckily the mountain road was still drivable.....it gets washed out in a lot of places and nobody can drive on it until they fix it at the end of the rainy season. They end up having to take the long route through Cobano. As it was, the taxi had to have 4 wheel drive...and it took about 45 minutes to drive about 9 miles....and we had to literally drive through 3 or 4 creeks.

I was not ready to leave the beach...it was so nice and relaxing....but, I was glad to get "home" to Rainsong and my kids. Charlie was happy to see me..as were the dogs. I only have one more week here so I didn't want to spend it all at the beach....I can go to the Cabuya beach in the afternoons..even though it isn't nearly as pretty.