The Stomach Crud

Yep, I have been down and out with stomach crud. I have not been able to do much except feel cruddy.

MONDAY - For the past few days I have not been up to snuff. I went to the doctor and she has me on meds for stomach flu of sorts.

I am not feeling nauseous or anything, just bad gas / abdominal cramps.  And yes, I have had my appendix out a long time ago.

It does not hurt, but I have some major gurgling going on.

It is hard sitting in my chair and working. I also find it hard to concentrate on what I need to do because it is rumbling so bad.

WEDNESDAY - Sorry there was no communication yesterday, I was down and out for the count in bed. Seems the stomach crud had gotten me big time.

To be honest I have been expecting something like this. New country, new food, new diseases, etc. The body just has to get used to things and build up immunities. From what I understand a lot of the expats who move here experience some sort of stomach crud one time or another within the first year of being in country.

I slept most of the day even though I tried to work from bed, exhaustion won out and I just crashed most of the day.

This morning I am doing better. Made some rice portage and some herbal tea. Although I am not a huge fan of rice portage, I am eating it.

Hmmmmm... I wonder if this would be better if I put it through the blender and made something like a rice milk smoothie. I am not into "eating" right now and this first spoonful just sat in my mouth.

I will keep folks posted on my Facebook...   https://www.facebook.com/RayGano

KEEP ALERT - SUPER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THIS FRIDAY!

This Friday I hope to have a HUGE announcement. That is if this stupid crud has not gotten the best of me and still kicks my rear end.

Yesterday I was trying to work in bed with the laptop, but I was to exhausted to do anything but sleep. I am feeling a little better today and I hope that this feeling better lasts. For the past few days I have felt good in the morning and then around 1:00ish I start winding down really fast.

So I am trying to get this PZ News Watch done here quickly so that I can attend to the other work that is pressing so that I can make a big announcement this Friday.

Please keep me in prayer so that I kick this bug here quickly. I hate being sick, it's a drag.

Thanks for being there for us and thank you for all the prayers and notes of encouragement.

The Atenas Ox Cart Parade

Many years ago the President of Costa Rica ruled that to get with the times and to give Costa Rica a place in the world, Costa Rica needed to have some sort of cash crop. He decided that it was going to be Coffee. But not just any coffee, Arabica coffee was the only thing that Costa Rica could grow.

He gave land grants to people willing to grow coffee, tax breaks, etc. For a dictator, this was a pretty forward thinking thing to do.

If you do not know,Costa Rica is a mountainous country. and I means some pretty big mountains.  The only way for the farmers to get their coffee beans to the local markets was to go over these mountains and then down to the coast.

How did they do this? Yep, you probably guessed by the title of the blog, by oxcart.

The oxcart has a long history here in Costa Rica and has evolved into a  National Labor Symbol. In fact it became official when it was designated the National Labor Symbol on March 22, 1988.

Living in Atenas there are coffee growers all over.

My neighbor across the street last year alone harvested about 2500 lbs of coffee.

My friend Gabriel and his family is blazing the organic trail out at El Toledo Coffee plantation.

And everywhere you go, you see people growing coffee in their own yards. Talk about a prolific plant.

Ever year the people of Atenas holds their Ox Cart Parade. Some of these are sponsored, but a lot are truly working ox carts that still go up and down the mountains here to haul the coffee down the mountains.

So this is a tradition that is embedded in the culture. You see the pride in the ox cart drivers. They work hard at painting their carts, taking care of the oxen and proudly walk in the parade every year.

This is Costa Rica and it was so neat to be part of this event and see it first hand.