I am a professional photographer in Costa Rica. The experiences on my tours are many since I never know what my group and I will happen upon. Let me tell you about one of these surprising events.
One of the destinations for my group in Costa Rica Photo Tours is the beautiful, pristine Osa Peninsula along the southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, a place that National Geographic says is "the most biologically diverse place" on the planet. In order to reach this location by vehicle we drive through the tiny village of Ojochal, which is very near my home.
Some Costa Ricans in rural communities have an unusual method of moving. As one of my groups was passing through the village some folks started pointing to something ahead of us. It was a fellow moving. But, before telling you this story, let me give you a little background on this gentleman.
Our only neighbours when we moved to Costa Rica were Ticos (that is what the Costa Ricans call themselves) and one of them by the very Spanish name of Wilson came calling with a house warming gift of some flowering plants. It was very comical to see him standing at our driveway waiting to be invited in onto the property so that he could give us this gift. He was too polite to come to our door without an invitation.
After a sort of "conversation", he in Spanish and my wife and I mostly in English, I realized that he wanted to give us the plants. We were new in the community and this was a welcoming from the neighbours who live at least a hour walk up the mountain. Yep, walk. No car. Senor Wilson walked an hour just to deliver a gift. Now, that is neighborly!
Over the years, Senor Wilson has given me flowering plants many times, always expecting me to plant them somewhere. Well, it does not always happen that the planting occurs quickly enough so sometimes the plants may not be in very good shape by the time they are planted. In any event, I certainly never expected to be tested on my planting abilities when I moved to Costa Rica from Canada.
A couple of days after Senor Wilson gave me plants one time, he came to the house with still another plant and visited while his two boys swam in the river by the house. Of course, he asked me where I planted the others that he had brought the last time he came.
Well, they were still in the pots (these pots are not the plastic pots that we are familiar with but old aluminum kettles with drainage holes made by stabbing the bottom with a machete), would you believe it? Wilson saw this and decided that he not only would bring the plants but he would plant them in our little garden. That tells you all you need to know about this good man.
Now that you have some idea about the kind of fellow my friend and neighbor Wilson is like, I want to return to my photography tour group driving along the dusty road near my house. Suddenly, we came upon a man walking alongside his horse. The animal was carrying two white bags, two huge white bags, filled with clothes and household items. Between the bags, Wilson or his wife had wedged a blue broom that extended over the animal's head, giving us the impression that the horse was wearing a bristle blue tiara. I wonder if the horse was enjoying his royal status or quietly suffering the indignity of wearing a broom crown.
And there was Wilson standing by the horse with a bridle in one hand and a birdcage in the other. A horse, a crown, a man, and a birdcage. What a sight! Moving day.
I started the conversation as usual with "Hola, que tal?" "How are you?" And then I asked if he was moving (only kidding). But, sure enough, the horse was neighbor Wilson's version of a moving van. I believe it is called a grass-eating 4 X 4.
He explained that he, his wife (a tiny lady who looks 14), and the 3 kids would be taking care of a B&B while the owner returned to Germany during Costa Rica's rainy season. They were very pleased about this arrangement because living in the pueblo brought the kids closer to the school, saving them from walking two miles down and back from their mountain home.
The birdcage was quite interesting. It seemed to me that on one of the previous trips someone could have brought the cage down to the new digs.
However, seeing that he also carries flowering plants down the mountain, I guess carrying birdcages is not so far off the mark. He told me that the bird was young (parrot or parakeet, I'm not sure) but that it was very talkative and knew many words. To show off, it started to chatter while we were talking about it but as I have not yet mastered Spanish, I certainly did not understand bird Spanish.
You can imagine that my group was very excited about taking pictures of a crowned horse, chattering bird, and Costa Rica family walking down a mountain, worldly possessions carried by their trusty steed. Moving day in Costa Rica. One never knows what one will see or experience on my photo tour of Costa Rica.
About the Author:
Canadian Frank Scott lives in sunny Costa Rica where he is a professional Costa Rica Photographer offering unique photography tours. Some of his work can be seen in Costa Rica Vacations, a very popular travel guide to this unique country.
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