Chancho the Dog

Chancho the dog entered our life at 6am last Saturday. We were walking along a country road in Los Planes, Costa Rica, and he started following us.

We were trying to have a nice long hike in the jungle, sure to be filled with tapir sightings,  monkey interactions and quiet moments in the rainforest. Much to our displeasure, the dog stuck to our tail all day. More accurately, he ran 50 feet ahead of us, punctuating his pursuit with frenzied forays into the forest. We heard lots of bird squawking, crashing, and shrieking in the forest...but we didn't see much wildlife.

8 hours and 10 miles later, Chancho was still following us. As we were walking home we encountered a boy who claimed to be Chancho's owner (our saviour). Rather than taking Chancho home though, the boy tried to hit him with a big stick. Chancho fled into the forest and we kept walking with pity in our hearts. However, as soon as the boy disappeared from sight Chancho reappeared from the bush and continued to follow us.

After 5 more miles walking (including over a suspension bridge) we arrived back in Drake Bay, our home for the week.  Chancho was still there. That night, he curled up under our chair when we went out the bar, then slept outside our tent. The next day we went kayaking and he waited on the beach for us! By the time we were to leave Drake Bay, Chancho had become our dog.

SO, we brought him back with us to Monteverde. He now hangs out with us during the day and hangs outside our compound at night. We're investigating the options for taking him home to VT...

I now present, Chancho the dog:

Chancho...firmly entrenched in our hears...and our rental car.

Chancho after his first bath...he needed it.

how could we say no to that face?

goofin on the beach. We were worried that our kayak trip would be the end of our relationship with Chancho, but he waited for in the shade on the beach until we came back. .

Chancho in the early stages...Shannon looking not so pleased with his presence on our hike. In an interesting twist, he found us a pack of Capuchin monkeys towards the end of the hike.

yup, alec made that hat out of a palm leaf.

Chancho the ocean explorer

note the dog in mid-leap at alec's heels

Pie Social!

On Saturday we witnessed a 4.5 decade long tradition here in Monteverede...the PIE SOCIAL (capitals are to impart the appropriate effect that this event has on the Monteverde community). This event has been the talk of the town since we arrived in here, and we weren't totally clear on what it was going to be all about (or why there was so much hype). It all became clear in due time. First, though, some history:

The first PIE SOCIAL was held shortly after the original quakers came down from Alabama. The purpose of that first and fateful event was to raise money to build their meeting house here in quakerville, Costa Rica (Monteverde). The event has been happening every year since. Each year, this is a night during which the whole community pours their hearts and souls into 9 inch pie pans and puts them up for auction.

Thus, in 2013, we were sitting in the same meeting house that the first pie social had built, raising money for the new meeting house that we are building. Will the circle be unbroken!

Here are some pictures to help you understand the event:

At 4pm on Saturday afternoon, every house hold in Monteverde was engaged in the same activity. Ours was no exception. I made banana chocolate pie with coconut almond crust. Sarah made pineapple upside down cake (pie), and a vegan, gluten free avocado chocolate mousse pie.

Some local starving musicians provided music for the pre-auction pie-viewing (short haired squares need not apply).

60 pies were entered into the auction! This was the pre-auction pie-submission and viewing period.

Jimmy, the auctioneer (from South Boston) showing off a square pie, while Michelle (the other auctioneer) looks on with skepticism. The boy in front is doubled down in laughter, as we all were for most of the evening.

Post-auction pie viewing and tasting. If you won a pie in the auction, you have to share a piece with the creator. If you unwittingly bought your spouses pie, you have to pay double! There was also a silent art auction happening simultaneously. You can see some fine samples of local artists' work in the back ground.

 

This is Benito, our local dairy farmer and sloth rehabilitator enjoying a post-auction cupcake with his baby sloth. He is one of only a few people in Costa Rica who are allowed to do this (rehab baby sloths that have fallen out of trees...not eat cupcakes). 

 

 

 

 The next day at meeting we found out that the pie auction raised almost $3000 dollars for the new meeting house project! Combine that with the silent art auction proceeds and the whole evening netted $4,400. It's not over yet though. If you want to send a pie to a special someone in Monteverde (or anywhere else), you can donate $100 to the project and the pie committee will make sure that person gets the pie of your choice. See the Monteverde Friends School facebook page for more info on that (or just email us).

Out of all 60 pies sold that evening, there we some definite stand-outs. My chocolate banana pie sold for 27,000 colones ($54), Sarah's pies sold for 35,000 ($70) and 28,000 ($56) colones. The top pie, however, went for a hefty price of 55,000 colones ($110!). If you can guess what kind of pie that was we'll send you a special something.

Lots of love to you all up North. I hope you're enjoying a sweet something with a sweet someone in front of a warm fire somewhere.

You say Monteverde...

I say Vermont!

Monteverde is a secret outpost of Vermonters and Canadians. They've even set up the same institutions that you might find in the northern environs:

Local Yoga studio featuring $5 classes and unlimited monthly pass for $40 (take that Vermont)

Monteverde Cheese factory. Milk gets delivered here from 50 local farms, some of whom carry it by ox cart in metal cans. We get our milk from Benito (dairy farmer, nature guide, and surrogate sloth mother), every Sunday at Quaker meeting.

Now this is just weird.

racoons....Actually this is called a kawati, but it looks and acts just like a racoon. It eats the compost that we throw off our back porch.  There is this solo male, and then a pack of 20 females and youngsters that regularly ambles through our yard.

Jam sessions in our living room. Somehow 3 copies of rise up singing managed to make the packing cut (along with a 40 pound mortising machine, 72 pounds of chisels/planes/tools, 2 fiddles, an accordion, a banjo, and a sourdough starter that was lost en route...are we the same couple that biked across the US?).

Freak February Snow Storms. Just kidding, this is the driveway at the Mcintyre estate as of yesterday. Apparently the truck made it out alive.

Such is our life in Costa Rica. Full of the same wonderful things that fulfill and sustain our lives in VT. Much love to the snowy North!

Alec Makes it to Monteverde

Truthfully I made it here on Thursday. My trip was much less eventful than Shannon's except for the very bumpy takeoff from Boston in 50mph winds. People on the plane were screaming aloud in fear. Nonetheless, I made it safely to Monteverde by evening time. The man sitting next to me even let me share his ear phones while we watched a very violent movie on his laptop (Taken 2...not recommended).

On Friday Shannon had arranged a birthday party for me with cake and lots of new friends. We got the rise up singings out and sang songs for a few hours, then I promptly fell sick for the next day and a half (I think something was brewing before I left).

Thus, my experience in Monteverde has so far mostly consisted of the inside of our bedroom. Today I got out, and there is lots to share about our adventures. We went to Quaker meeting (not so adventurous), climbed a giant strangler fig tree, played music with new friends, and went to the Bel Mar hotel juice bar, where we met the manager. Our exchange with him was the following:
Pedro: "Hello I am Pedro."
Alec: "Hi I am Alec."
Shannon: "Hi I am Shannon."
Pedro: "Where are you from?"
A & S: "Vermont."
Pedro: "And you play the fiddle?"
Alec: "um, yes"
Pedro: "Yes, I have heard of you."

...apparently Pedro knows some of our friends from Montreal (he went to the University of Montreal), and was previously alerted to our comings and goings. We were startled, but we got some free juice out of the whole experience so it worked out well (for us).

Here are some pictures, lots more to come from the green mountain!

Shannon pretending to work on the Timberframe

Looking down out of the mountains into the Pacific

Shannon climbing up the inside of a gigundo strangler fig tree

Fig tree in profile...looks remarkably like an ent in full stride

Shannon chillin with the strangler fig tree (don't worry, it moves very slowly).