Day 1 - We Have Landed - Look At All The Food

First of all I have to appologize for not posting. It seems that these past few weeks have been going at warp speed. Packing up what we want to take, packing the shipping container, packing our bags, cleaning the house, just doing everthing needed to move.

It all culminated to yesterday with us getting to the airport at 7:30 AM and arriving in Costa Rica around 8:00 PM Mountain time.

As you may have guessed it was dark when we arrived and really could not see what Costa Rica looked like.

Now of course I knew what it looked like, but right now they are having their season change.

In the United States we have fall, winter, spring and summer. Here in Costa Rica they have wet season and dry season.

April is the tail end of dry season and starts to move into wet season. So as I sit here I am listening to the thunder off in the distance, I also hear music from some of the local festivals that are taking place as well as all the parrots and other birds sounding off.

the one thing that was really neet to see is all the fruit that is coming into season.

Just here in our friends yard where we are staying till our rental is ready, I see sweet lemon, mango, banana, and get this.. cashew nuts.

 Bananas ripening on the tree

 This is a Cashew Apple. The little dark green thing under the apple is the cashew nut. The apple is edible and they make juice from it, but the nut is surounded by a husk that is very poisonous.

Here what Wikipedia has to say about the cashew...

The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing an allergenic phenolic resin, anacardic acid, a potent skin irritant chemically related to the better-known allergenic oil urushiol which is also a toxin found in the related poison ivy. Properly roasting cashews destroys the toxin, but it must be done outdoors as the smoke (not unlike that from burning poison ivy) contains urushiol droplets which can cause severe, sometimes life-threatening, reactions by irritating the lungs. People who are allergic to cashew urushiols may also react to mango or pistachio which are also in the Anacardiaceae family. Some people are allergic to cashew nuts, but cashews are a less frequent allergen than nuts or peanuts.

 Mango Fruit

  Sweet Lemon Tree
The fruit is has a sweet taste, thus the name. Folks do not eat the fruit, but use it more juicing. Add it with pineapple and other fruits and it makes a great refreshing drink. 

It has been a good first day. We have been relaxing and just taking things slow. There is a light rain right now and one hears the thunder in the distance.

Oh, something else, the smells. The smell here has a slight sweet honey like aroma. They are also getting ready to harvest the sugar cane, so you smell the smoke form that as well on the air. It does not smell like burning leaves or anything like that. It has almost a cinnamon and woodsy smell. It is a pleasant smell and adds to the relaxing effect we are feeling today. 

It is good to finally be here. Even the dogs are glad as you can see with our Jack Russell "Mikey" is sitting in the chair and was watching me type this blog and he has fallen asleep. 

 Mikey has fallen asleep at the sound of the rain on the rooftops. 

My view as I write this blog and looking out at the mountains.
It is raining now and the thunder is sounding. It smells good.

So this has been our first day in Costa Rica.

I will be writing more on what happened between now and when we left the US. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I will try to answer them here. You would not believe how many people are looking into the expat life.

Pura Vida!