5/2/6

It’s been over a month since I posted anything. I didn’t realize that. I didn’t even resolve the rexa issue, sorry. I drove to San Jose and got my new passport, returned to Puntarenas the next day and got my no limit internet service for $15. per month, without showing my passport at all. Oh well.

I’ve been working away at the house, the yard mostly, pretty steady, trying to get ready for the rainy season. I expected more idle time here, hoping perhaps to experience boredom, but I really haven’t had much of that. On the other hand, nothing exciting has happened either, so I didn’t have too much to talk about. Yesterday, I got excited. I went to the river with Jose, shrimp fishing. I felt like a kid with his father, learning something new. Talk about role reversal, Jose is 36, and I am 57, but it just didn’t feel like that at all. First we searched for a bush with just the right forked branch to take off and use for fishing. Jose’s son, 11, and his cousin, 17, were with us and were obviously old hands at the sport. Then we waded barefoot across the stony bottomed river barefoot, they obviously had tougher feet than me, and started looking for shrimp near the weedy opposite shore. Jose pointed to a couple of shrimp before I actually saw what he was talking about. They are almost transparent, and very fast. Then he showed me how to bring the fork of the stick down slowly as they hovered in the current, and when he got close he quickly trapped the shrimp on the bottom with the fork of the stick After trying a few times without getting close, he gave me a few tips on technique, and before we left I had managed to feel a few on the stick as the avoided it.

The other three guys managed to get about 15 in the hour or so we fished, I was skunked. It was great fun. We didn’t expect to bring home a feast. As far as I can tell, the whole point of the excursion was to have fun, and we did. The dog had fun, too, as there was noone else around and he was able to wander around the river without his leash, or me watching him constantly. What a wonderful afternoon. We will no doubt try that again!