Terramoto

Today started last night around 11:30 pm when Zoe ran out of her room onto the upstairs porch. Darcy had been asleep for hours and Danny and I had just drifted off. When he heard her door open, Danny jumped out of bed and met her at our bedroom door. “I think I just felt an earthquake!” Neither Danny or I had felt anything, but Zoe said she felt her bed shaking and she could see the lamp next to it moving as well. While she was telling him this, Danny remembers hearing the water in the pool sloshing around. In the morning, we looked online and learned that there had been an earthquake in Panama, near the Costa Rican border. Thankfully, no one was hurt or killed. The “terra moto” had been felt by people in many areas of this country, including Zoe. Not terramoto..terra-fied!

As we were eating breakfast, our dog friend from down the road, “Brownie” arrived to beg at the table. He was followed by is owner, the neighbor Rafael. He spoke in Spanish to Jennifer and then told us in pretty good English that when he let his dog Dedonde out the morning, he raced down the road to our house. He said that only happened when there were guests staying at the house. We chatted with him a bit, in both English and Spanish. He said he was working on his English on the computer, but it was easier talking with someone in person. We told him about how we each had 2 years of Spanish in high school, but it wasn’t really helping us much on this trip. We’ve realized the importance of an immersion experience when learning a new language, as well as the motivation of necessity. I have to think so much and be so focused anytime I try to use any Spanish words or to try to understand what a native speaker is saying. We’ve managed ok so far, but in the back of my mind I know I’ll be back among English speakers soon. The urgency and motivation of necessity is missing for me. It’s been a good lesson, though, in what it must be like to move to a new country where you don’t speak the language. It feels pretty isolating to not be able to easily communicate. I’m very grateful to all the people we have met who have been able to use English to speak with us. It’s not something I want to take for granted. Today I finished a book about a family that moves to Costa Rica, which provided some great insights about what it means to adapt and to actually live here. Language was a big deal for that family, too and something the adults struggled with, even with necessity. Thanks for the loan, Marcella!

For today’s beach day, Darcy and Danny tried out the boogie boards and we all spent a fair amount of time in the ocean. So warm! It will be hard to go back to the crowds and freezing temps in the Atlantic. Danny tried out the kite he brought from home, but no luck. Not enough wind here!

Shells are everywhere and we seem to be carrying handfuls back to the house every time someone walks down the beach. How will we choose what to take home?

While Danny and I were reading in the shade after lunch, we heard the screeching of the two birds for the second time in two days and were able to finally see the colors of the scarlet macaws that seem to live in the area. I found one of their feathers in the water yesterday.

We wanted to take a walk down the other side of our beach but had to delay due to some rain in the afternoon. We hung out in the pool while we waited.

On our walk, we noticed a type of mollusk riding the waves and then digging in to the sand. We could really see the foot as it was moving through the sand. Turns out it’s a type of marine snail in the Olividae family. It looks like this, but with a grey-ish shell.