12.10.12

new home number 26"...i wake up in paradise, throw open my door to the bird cries of morning and the purple flowers on my stoop.  a ceiling fan overhead blows the heavy air down on me.  this tropical air always feels to me like a kiss.   i'm in pavones costa rica and it is a spectacular spot.  the house is thick walled, yellow adobe with deep red spanish tiled floors, it's shaded and cool in the day and all the doors and windows are thrown open to let the sultry outside in.  the perfectly manicured yard is dotted with papaya, orange, lime, mango, avocado, coconut, and cashew trees.  chickens lay fresh eggs in their pen and heady smelling flowers bloom on the ylang ylang tree and the white ginger.
during the day the yard is crowded with a multitude of colorful and cheerful birds and at night it sparkles with fireflies.  the back patio offers a perfect views of the curving gulf, gulfo duce, point rincon below and the sunset every night around six. we are so close to the equator here that there are always 12 hours of light and the sun is up promptly a bit before six.  slowly i'm starting to switch my waking schedule and i've begun to rise earlier again, shaking off the dark of fall easily and eagerly.

the house is owned by michael and elizabeth although only michael is here.  he's an older surfer, whose voice has the inflection of a southern california boy who was raised well.  he walked away from the corporate world and has been beating back the jungle for years.  the jungle is a consuming force it's true.  things grow here like crazy.  even the split wood comprising the fence posts eventually starts sprouting, creating living hedges out of the fence lines.  yesterday we had to evacuate momentarily while the house was swarmed with ants.  literally covered in moving streams scouring every surface for food.  we watched incredulously as hundreds and thousands formed writhing tributaries and rivers and lakes and flooded over everything in their path.  we opted to go to the neighborhood cantina and watch the sun set with some beers and some expats...."