Christmas

Sometimes I wonder if I should have missed having Christmas at home with loved ones even a little bit more than I did...which was hardly at all...but to be completely honest, this was the best Christmas I've had an a loooooong time. In spite of sounding like a real scrooge, I'll share the reasons why.
1. No pressure to buy, buy, buy! I am pleased as punch to know my scrimpy bank account is still scrimpy, but not any worse off because of the holiday.
2. No snowy, icy crappy roads!
3. No malls, no crowds, no waiting in lines behind moms with screaming children.
4. No trying to resist the endless supply of candy, cookies and caramel popcorn, feeling guilty for eating it anyway and suffering from a gut ache for an entire month.
5. No solicitations to donate money for every good cause in the universe...because it's Christmas.
6. No sub-4-Santa, which was a pain in the butt last year to organize and left me feeling more annoyed than warm and fuzzy because of how demanding and ungrateful some of these children were. Heaven forbid if a child only gets one or two presents for Christmas instead of 30! They may not understand a thing about Christ, but at least they have a new iPod.
7. No walking around temple square AGAIN in the freezing cold pretending like it really is worth freezing my can off to see the same lights year after year.
8. No feeling like a loser because I am once again spending the holidays alone while everyone else in my family is visiting their in-laws and opening presents with their significant others.
9. No ward Christmas caroling activities!
10. No feeling guilty for being the only house on the block without a Christmas tree in the window, or any decorations for that matter.
11. No declining invitations to attend the Christmas tree festival....fun for about 20 minutes and then BORING!

I know, I know...I'm a big fat scrooge, but that's how it is. This year was nice and simple...exactly how I would do it if I could create the whole ridiculous holiday over again.

On Christmas Eve, we decorated a fallen bamboo tree with a few strings of lights; although we would have preferred overpriced ceramic snowballs. Oh well.

We each drew 2 names. For one person we wrote a nice quote or some kind words, wrapped it up and placed it on the tree. For the other, we created a small gift from our surroundings or from what we already had. Now those are some gifts that would not go over so well on a traditional Christmas morning. Imagine some teenage girl receiving a small bag of authentic Indian clay, or a simple bouquet of wildflowers arranged by the hands of her brother. Poor child! Where is Sub 4 Santa when you need it?My gifts: a small bouquet of wildflowers, a silver ring, and some authentic Indian clay to put on my face and make me look beautiful. It was all perfect!


The gift i made was a lei of vines and flowers for Ulrich. He is from Germany and brought over some special German chocolates and Christmas cookies to share with us. Atiba made a delicious Austrian cake, and Shelley and I made some awesome raw nut burgers, and baked fries with raw catsup. Yummm....Of course, I still over ate, but it didn't take as long to get back on track being that most of it was raw and healthy.

Both Christmas Eve and day we spent some time at the beach. Christmas day was especially nice at a beach called Marbella. The guys all went surfing while the rest of us played in the waves and watched the incredibly breathtaking sunset. Afterwards, we built a bonfire on the beach, laid down our blankets and stared up at the stars while listening to the ocean waves and enjoying each other's company. I doubt there could have been a more perfect way to end such a special day.

In all fairness, there were a couple of things I did kinda sorta miss...the family Christmas party mostly with all the noise and chaos and kids running around...Dad pretends to be Rudolph out in the field to get all the little ones excited, and then he pretends to shoot Rudolph and makes all the little ones cry; my loud nephews, brother-in-laws, and siblings sit around for hours after dinner telling stories and almost dirty jokes and playing games, while I observe in silence and laugh to myself. I do enjoy that night with them.
I LOVE you family. I may not miss much else about Christmas, but you are in my thoughts, prayers and especially in my heart. Happy Holidays.

Christmas Eve

I awoke early this morning while the stars were still out, and the first thought that came to me was, today is Christmas Eve and I haven't heard one Christ story or song yet. It's so unusual to be in an environment where Christianity is not the predominant belief system. The lovely people that surround me here are what I would consider deeply spiritual and Christlike, but they don't hold the same regard for Him as the Savior like the people who have always been near me.

Therefore, our holiday together will not include reading the story of Christ's birth from the Bible, singing carols about Him or expressing gratitude towards Him. I realized this morning as I considered this that it will be my responsibility this year to celebrate Him in my heart. There will be no choirs, plays, or programs to make it easy for me to let the season go by without checking in with myself to see what or if it really means anything to me.

I kind of like that....knowing I have to look inside if I want to acknowledge Christ. It makes me feel like we have a special relationship, like it's just me and Him. The only place I can turn to find him is in my heart, and he's always there. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this day.

Spa Night

You may be wondering what I'm doing in Costa Rica to celebrate the holiday season. Well, don't worry about me. I may not be going to fancy dinners or ugly sweater parties, or spending time with family, but don't feel sorry for me. I am being well taken care of......
My friends and I have created an event that we call "spa night". It was such a success the first time, that we had it again, and brought a few more friends from the resort. Paul is our host, since he's the one with the big, fancy house. We began the evening by playing in his pool that overlooks the jungle....

Uli and Atiba are here from Germany and Austria for the holidays. They are the newest additions to our "family".

After sunset, we made a light dinner together...it almost looks like we are a family, huh?

Everyone had a job.

Yummy raw food!

Later, we began the spa treatments. I brought a small suitcase of scrubs and lotions and masks and all sorts of fun things to offer our clients as a way to earn a little extra cash while I'm here. Spa night was born so that I could test out my services and see what people thought. Based on their feedback, I think I've got something here!

We begin with everyone steaming their faces in hot water.

Next, clay mud masks....and while we're waiting for them to dry...a massage chain!

Paul, aka "Cabana Boy" prepared some refreshing cucumbers for our eye treatment.

Everyone had a turn getting massages and pedicures for about 15 minutes while laying in Paul's living room and listening to meditative music. By the time it was over, we were all in ecstasy. I think spa night should be a tradition.

I'm thinking of charging $80 for the full package, but for you...special deal.....

Rosa

Today my anal cleaning skills came in handy. Menlha let me teach Rosa, the Costa Rican woman who works for her, how to deep clean the kitchen. I have to admit, the kitchen was really grossing me out. Granted, it's hard to keep anything clean here with all the bugs around, and everything is so open to the outdoors that every breeze carries in leaves, dirt, insects, etc. and plants them on countertops, in dishes, and in every crack and crevice. However, I have this belief that kitchens should be sanitary, regardless.

So, Shelley, Rosa and I have been pulling everything off of the shelves and have been scrubbing them clean. Oh, and we have found some scary things in that kitchen! Cucarachas hiding in the bowls and wasps building their nests on glass bottles...not to mention all the bat poop that falls from the ceiling every night. We scrubbed everything and put some pretty purple covers over all of the exposed mugs and dishes. It feels sooo much better in the kitchen. I can eat in peace now!

Now, I'm preparing a cleaning chart for Rosa. She's very proud of the work she's done to help with the kitchen, and Menlha thinks she'll be ecstatic to earn a gold star every day that she keeps up with the cleaning. Sounds a bit elementary to me, but I could see Rosa getting excited and showing off her gold stars. She's kinda cute that way.


The other night, Rosa and her husband Johnny took Shelley and I fishing with them...the Costa Rican way. We didn't start fishing until after dark, so we spent the evening watching the sun go down on a beautiful beach near their house. Mmmm...so nice. I hear it's snowing in Utah. :)

Here is Rosa with Shelley in front of Rosa's house. It's such a modest home...held together by thin boards, a tin roof, and a dirt floor. She's was excited to have us visit her, though, and to make us a delicious meal of rice, fish, and salad. Fresh fish really is the best!


Look Dad, I'm fishing! Check out that fishing pole...it's literally a small piece of wood with fishing line wrapped around it. You just throw the line out with a chunk of meat on it and wind it back up to bring it in. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any fish this night, but Rosa stopped at her mother's house on the walk home and bought some fresh fish from her for dinner.

This is Johnny showing off the frozen fish.
Rosa cooking in her simple, humble kitchen as we sat on her bed and watched. The house is only 2 rooms and a small shower/toilet out back. We had a really fun night with them....danced to American 80's music in the other room while the rice was cooking and laughed at D'Ogee chasing her 4 cats around the house. She's tryin to teach him Spanish. He's a bit of a slow learner, though.

Friends

I wasn't expecting to find too many people my age here in the middle of the jungle, but surprisingly, there are a number of us. I really like them, too...very laid back, easy going, open minded, mature, health conscious, and adventurous. Unfortunately, most of them are leaving the end of the month, but I'm confident there will be more friends to follow.

This is Shelley. She's my friend from Utah who I invited to come work with me. She'll be here for three months as well. She's a free spirit...always traveling, no worries, few commitments. Life has so far been very good to her...no major disappointments or challenges. She's still full of optimism and is eager to experience everything she possibly can. She reminds me of how I would ideally like to view the world....and how far from ideal I really am!

Nathan is from England...comes with one of those cool British accents. He's been here on and off for the last year. I think his official title is Client Butt Kisser...he's really good at accommodating our guests, but he's also remodeling the laundry room right now and handling lots of odd jobs. He lives with me and Shelley in the tree house. He adores D'Ogee, too, and even smiles with the same little under bite.


Menlha is the woman who makes this all happen. She has done some crazy, hard core things in her life. Once she spent 40 days meditating in a cave with only water to survive! She's lived in some pretty exotic places, too, including India and Bali. Now, she resides in Costa Rica and owns the retreat center. She's seriously one of the most down to earth, honest people I've ever met. It's a joy to be in her presence every day.

Godi is from France, but lives now in Montreal...another fun accent to have around. He's also a talented wood-worker, and is here for a month to carve a new entrance for the dining area. I'm looking forward to seeing his creation. He has a deep, booming voice and a permanent smile on his face, and he has some kind of fascination with cinnamon oil, I've been told.

Crystal is Menlha's daughter. She's so beautiful and peaceful. I love her energy. She's also an amazing raw chef. She's taught me much about creating wonderful, healthy foods, and taking time to go to the beach...every day. She's going back to Canada the end of the month to start school again, but came here to get away for while and rejuvinate. How would it be to have a home in Costa Rica to retreat to whenever necessary? Lucky girl.

Paul is our neighbor. He lives here part time in a gorgeous home that he helped design himself. He's usually at our place every day to use the internet...and to visit his favorite peeps. He's super chivalrous...always helping everyone out...speaks perfect spanish having grown up in South America...and he makes some killer rice and beans!

Stacie is a friend of Crystal's visiting from Colorado for ten days. She's running on vacation mode so she hasn't been around much, but she's fun when she is around. She studies some kind of intuitive psychology in school and has done some pretty interesting retreats down in Guatemala as well. She leaves on Saturday...back to the cold.

I'm grateful to have friends here. Any other friends want to come over? I'll let you stay in my tree house! :)

Roughing It

My friends, be proud of me. Our water was out for 3 days, and I survived without complaint. Most of you know, I'm not the best camper in the world....2 or 3 nights max and I'm ready for a shower. Somehow, I managed, though, with only drinking water.

Normally, I'm at least washing my armpits a couple of times a day here. It's almost impossible not to reek after a few hours in this humidity. At least I had some baby wipes tucked away, which became very useful when the stench was unbearable. Oh, and there's still no electricity in my room, so every night I'm getting ready for bed with the help of the flashlight. It feels like an extended camping trip. I don't consider myself an especially high maintenance person...I don't wear makeup here and I left my blowdryer at home...that's gotta say something, huh? However, I'm also not a no maintenance girl. Bugs, dirt, cold showers are a bit of a challenge for me. I'm learning, though.

Perhaps I'll be a better camper after all of this...or maybe I'll get my fill and never want to camp again!

I Have Cankles

They're so disgusting, my feet. Having been bitten by a dozen little ants the other day, I now have red welts all over my toes that itch like crazy and get all oozey whenever I indulge in scratching them. The heat and humidity always make me swell up like a blowfish making it very uncomfortable to wear shoes anyway, but after shopping with Menlha all day on Tuesday, my feet rubbing against my sandals, I could barely walk by the end of the night. The ant bites had turned into red chappy open wounds, adding to the puffiness caused by the weather. Needless to say, my ankles are hidden somewhere under all of this expanded flesh, and I look like an elephant. At least I'm not prego....it could be worse. :)

I know you're curious about the war I have going on with the ants...I did put down poison the other day...LOTS of it. Perhaps too much, because the smell of poison infested my room and by the next morning, I felt like my lungs were intoxicated. So, I swept out as much of the excess poison as I could. Then I remembered I had some cinnamon spray in my luggage, so I sprayed a bit of that in the bathroom. Thirty minutes later I came back, and more ants...twice the size as the ones before...were crawling over the walls and dropping into the bathroom! What the *&!???*$%? I was so frustrated, I just left for the day and came back to dead ants all over the bathroom floor...again! Mental note...ants are attracted to sweet smells...like cinnamon. IDIOT!

Jealousy

This morning I woke up to a million dead ants all over my floor. Some of them weren't completely dead, but were on their last breath while others were scurrying around as if they had someplace important to go. For any of you who say you're jealous because I'm here and you're not, this is something to keep in mind so you don't become green with envy and go to hell for breaking the 10th commandment. The bugs here are horrendous! I spent half an hour yesterday sweeping ants off my luggage because they found D'Ogee's chicken jerky which was tucked away in his kennel, and they had formed a line all the way into the bathroom and through a hole in the ground to hijack the jerky bit by bit.

Hoping to have alleviated the problem by putting the jerky in the fridge, I was surprised to wake up this morning with a thick layer of carcasses all over my floor. I must have gotten about ten bites on my feet as I was sweeping them out the door. This means war...they're getting the bug poison tonight! So, if you're jealous because I'm sitting outside in 80 degree tropical weather while you're bundled up in thick coats trying to stay warm, walk across your floor in bare feet for me, and try to be grateful that you're not being eaten alive by ants.

Random Photos

Went to a raw birthday party the first night I was here....these are some serious raw foodists, as you can tell from this high protein gravel cake.


This is one of D'Ogee's new house mates, Moby. He's on her turf now, and she's not afraid to show him her teeth if he gets too comfortable.

D'Ogee's first day at the beach. He's afraid of the waves, but loves jumping in puddles.

The opossum that crept into the kitchen the other night.

At the Farmer's Market with Shanti.

Crystal and Nathan

Last night's dinner party. Bad picture, I know, but it's the only one I ended up with for some reason.This picture is actually from last year's trip, but I think that baby turtle is so cute. You should have seen it scurrying to get to the ocean. :)

Lazy Days

Everything moves really slow here in Costa Rica (except the oppossum I saw slithering down the wall into the kitchen last night....he was kinda fast). For the most part, it feels like it takes twice as long to get anything done. I'm not sure where the day goes, but the bookwork I came down here to do seems to be going at lethargic speed. It seems like I only get to it for about an hour a day.

Yesterday, for example, I woke up early and went for a killer run through the jungle and down to my favorite white sand beach. When I got back, Crystal (Menlha's daughter) and I did yoga for about an hour, and then she and Menlha and I went back to the beach to go for a walk. These are all very important things to get done in the morning, mind you, but by the time we walked a couple of miles, went for a swim, and dried off, it was about 1:30 pm. When we got back to the resort, I made food for my dog while Menlha and Crystal gave a Rebalancing session.
The problem is, I need Menlha's time right now so she can guide me through the stacks of receipts and paperwork I'm supposed to organize. So, I do what I can without her, and then wait for the right moment when she has the time and energy to go through it with me. I ate papaya and then took a nap on the hammock while she was doing her session. I can't say I minded having the afternoon to myself, but there's this Idaho farm girl part of me that really wants to dive in and get the work done. I can thank my father for that.

Today we went to the organic Farmer's Market. It consisted of one vegetable booth, a couple of jewelry stands, a guy selling goat cheese and another selling organic meats. Wish I would have gotten D'Ogee's food there...but who knew?
I did get a bit of work done after lunch this afternoon, but now Menlha and I are both in need of a rest, so the bookwork will have to wait, again. I always feel kinda tired here. I'm sure it's the heat and humidity. Sleeping sounds sooo good right now....think I'll catch some Zzzzz's.

I Live in a Tree House

Allow me to give you a tour of the house I will be living in over the next three months. It's the most unusual house I have ever stayed in. There are very few walls and it's almost completely made of bamboo. It brings me back to my childhood days when my siblings and I would make clubhouses out of old abandoned shacks around the farm. This would have been our dream home as kids! I feel like there should be a secret password to get in and a hidden treasure buried in the corner.
This is the one and only shower. Who wouldn't want to be brushed by palm trees and fragranced by tropical flowers while showering? Fortunately, it's at the top of a very secluded hill, so peeping toms are highly unlikely.

And then we have the bath, conveniently located in a corner of the living room.

The living room. Check out that view!
The kitchen will mostly be used to cook D'Ogee's dog food, since meat isn't allowed in the kitchen at the resort. I bought him $45 worth of meat the other day including hot dogs, cow's tail and beef steak. I really don't like buying meat. I think it's disgusting, but it's even worse in a third world country. The chances of finding real organic meat here are highly unlikely, and what they do sell just doesn't look quite right to me. I almost feel sorry for my dog for having to eat it.



This toilet is the best....never have to light a match or use air freshener!


And this is my bedroom...my friend Shelley and I will be sharing this space together....slumber party every night in the tree house. :)