As our time in Matapalo draws to a close, I’ve been thinking
about what my last post should be. I’ve
enjoyed sharing some of our experiences and at times it’s been therapeutic for
me. When we initially arrived here, I
remember being somewhat in awe and culturally shocked about daily life
here. I wanted to write about it but
never got the chance, so here is my last glimpse to reflect on living life “off
the grid”.
There are no electricity lines here. That means that the numerous sloths, monkeys,
macaws, squirrels, and ga-zillons of other wildlife species get to keep their
homes, and co-exist with ours. Toads
stroll through the house in the evening. Tink frogs make a sound at night that
makes me think of a flag hitting a flag post in the Kansas wind (it sounds
like, “tink!”) It is peaceful living so
close to nature. Sounds of the ocean a
few hundred yards away rock us to sleep at night. Howler monkeys can be heard early in the
morning~ they sound like some mythological sea creature. Hummingbirds inside the house are a common
sight~ it’s easy for them to make a wrong turn on the way to the hibiscus right
outside. And big old blue morpho
butterflies. They wisp through the air
in the sunshine like fairies. Before
this excursion, I’d spent a number of hours staring at a blue morpho framed in
a box in my room… a birthday present from a friend long ago. The wildlife is certainly abundant and
beautiful.
Our power comes from solar panels and a back-up generator, which runs on gas,
for the rainy season. What comes from
solar power is limited and somewhat minimal considering widespread traditional
standards. I really love the challenge
of seeing how much I can conserve. There
is enough to charge our laptops in the daytime.
Something that always cracks me up is when the fans are on during the
hot afternoon and the sun comes out, the fans start spinning faster. We have a few l.e.d. lights in our house, but
they’re not much for ambiance, so we use a little light and a lot of candles. It gets dark here at 5 pm and is pitch dark
at 6 pm year-round. One of my students
was shocked when I told her that in Kansas it gets dark at 9 in the
summer. The natural rhythm of getting up
with the sun and going to bed fairly shortly after it sets has been something
new to us. It is refreshing and
reconnecting. I would recommend it to
anyone.
Our drinking water is collected through a rustic system from
the rain. We left our precious kangen
ionizer behind due to the above electricity “shortage”. But rainwater has been not bad. The rest of the water is contained in a big
water tower thing behind our house.
Water becomes an issue in the dry season. Different people have different solutions…
some have their water delivered from town (not sure of the logistics of this
whole scenario since we are here during the rainy season).
There are many chickens that live here. They supply fresh eggs daily and eat the fire
ants and other random jungle pests (think scorpions). Hard little workers, they forage for food all
over the property all day. I saw one
chicken lay an egg in the “man shed” (a garage area with tools & stuff) up
on a shelf next to some wires.
Something that I definitely had to get used to was the
outdoor garden shower. It’s enclosed,
but it spoke to a bigger theme in my life. I have a hard time opening up to
people/situations I don’t know very well.
The lifestyle here is open. There
are walls on that shower…its no big deal that it’s outside… don’t need to be
all prude about it. (BTW, I got dumped
in 8th grade for being a “prude”… truth was I just wasn’t that into
the dude and didn’t want to kiss him).
Oh and the laundry.
Truly amazed me when I first got here.
There is a whole laundry room system.
Various friends warned me about the fact that clothes have a tendency
not to dry here in the rainy season. I
immediately took pictures of the laundry situation. First of all, the machine is totally
different (and in Spanish so totally not user-friendly for me). There is basically a wash-basin and then a
separate spin-cycle mechanism. Really
gotta get that extra water out. Then
everything is hung up to dry (due to the low-electricity~ no dryer). Then in a day or two… or three… everything is
dry enough to fold up and put away.
Another thing I just thought of~ everyone drives “quads”
around here. Quads are those little 4x4
motorcycle-with-4-wheels things. They
use less gasoline and can handle the crazy roads. When I say road, envision a mountain hiking
trail you would take on a family vacation while you’re all riding horses. Cars don’t last very long with the road
conditions here. I should probably
mention that there is only one gas station in the entirety of the Osa
Peninsula… the Bomba in Puerto Jimenez.
People store gas in large containers on their property.
And speaking of gas… propane is used for everything. The refrigerator, stove/oven, and hot water
heater all run on propane. That funny
canister that used to sit next to my dad’s grill and in cages at the gas
station has taken on a whole new meaning.
It means civilization in the simple form of hot showers. It is sold in town by a company called
Tropigas. For the most part, it’s
delivered out here. Of course all
deliveries have an extra fee.
Arturo is the man that has picked us up from town 3 times,
now. He met us when we got off the
airplane. He is a true delight. Arturo is always a joy to see and Amara loves
him. He calls her “chiquita”. Patrick gets to put his Spanish to use on the
45-minute, 12-mile ride home. We love
Arturo, but use his services sparingly, as they cost $45 for that one-way
ride. We usually ride the collectivo
into town, get some homemade ice cream, head to the grocery store, and call
Arturo to take us home. We’d take the
collectivo back to Matapalo, but then we’d have to lug our boxes of groceries
for 2 more miles… Most of the time we try to figure out who is coming out here
and ask them either for a ride or to pick up groceries for us.
I think that’s basically all I have to say about day-to-day
life here. I’m really glad to share and
record what it’s like while I’m here.
I’m sure the moment I get on the plane home, small memories will begin
to fade away. I’ll get distracted and
when people ask me “how was Costa Rica?”, I’ll just say “beautiful”, or
“good”. But it has been so much more
than that. It’s been a true
adventure.
I would suppose that there are some parents homeschooling in the Waldorf way that are mystified by the festival life. Along the rhythm of the year celebrations mark the feeling of the season, whether it be slaying your own personal dragons at Michaelmas or the gesture of cutting your cloak in half to share with another at Martinmas (when it starts getting really cold). Festivals are a wonderful way to share and celebrate with your children, even if it is in a very small way...such as our little backyard walk. 
Amara and I had made some simple lanterns during a craft day. We used mod podge to adhere some tissue paper to clean glass jars and voila! Beautiful colors aglow. Since I have a four month old baby, preparation and planning is a slight challenge, but I didn't want Martinmas to fly by without any acknowledgement. We have a tipi in our backyard. So, we simply lit a fire in the tipi, lit some candles in our lanterns, and walked to the tipi while singing a little Martinmas song. We sat down by the fire and read the story of St. Martin in Reg Down's book The Festival of Stones, part of the Tiptoes Lightly series (if you don't know about these books, check them out... they're so great!)
