he waves and was so cute when she jumped like a dolphin. To the right you can see the stick in the air and Toast going after it. She also served as cultural ambassador once again. There were some nice Tico families at our tiny hotel and the little kids loved Toast. So I taught them how to play with her and they played for hours. Toast was so good and patient and tolerant as long as I was around. Then the family invited us to their campfire on the beach and fed us roasted marshmallows. The next day they gave us their leftover gallo pinto and eggs for breakfast. Mmmm. And we got to eat yummy Mexican food at a restaurant. It was all super relaxing and fun. We traveled with some teachers from the other private school in Monteverde, one of whom went to my high school (weird...there are actually three of us in town currently). And we appreciated that it wasn't sunny because we didn't get sunburned so fast. Annie and I finally got the hang of boogie boarding, which was awesome. The waves were just right. We'd catch a good wave and ride all the way into the shore where Toast would come and meet us. It was nice to get to bring her along, though she may have appreciated staying home.
I wanted to post some photos of the organic farm tour we went on with Rhi while she was here. To the right is the farmer, Hernán Brenes, head of the Brenes clan around here. There are many. He's been here since he was 15 and is now something like 75, still farming. He grows veggies and runs a dairy and has chickens. He's the only organic grower in the area. He showed us how he makes his own pesticide by stewing a combo of 7 local plants. He walked us through his fields, which look pretty similar to a field in western 
MA, minus the amazing trees around the edges and bushes lining the paths. He gave us all a strawberry (wow...yum) and a carrot pulled right from the ground. Super yummy, a little spicy. I can't wait to dig into my garden even though I won't get to grow everything I like. Starting too late. After the fields, Señor Brenes took us through the woods to his Tarzan swing and we all got to jump. Really fun, though not quite as extreme as the Tarzan swing at the Selvatura canopy park...super fun! Yishai, our personal photographer now that our camera finally died, took some awesome photos of us on the swing. Look how he kept Annie in focus while blurring the trees. Photography is not something I wish I did. Not that interesting to me. But I can appreciate a good photo when I see it. Thanks Yishai. Señor Brenes then took us to a lookout where we could see some volcanos and back toward the 
town where we live. The geology here is such that there are all these ridges everywhere and you can't really see what's on or in them. But it sure is beautiful. Annie could describe it better, I'm sure. At the end, he recited a poem about the people of Cañitas, where he lives, and how the men are strong and willing and I don't remember what else. Very noble. Costa Rica is an interesting study in literacy because something like 99% of the population is literate, but they don't read. It's still an oral culture. People prefer to learn from people instead of books. I'm sure this poem was passed down to him from another person and he memorized it.In other news, we found ourselves a new tenant for the rental part of our duplex in Montague. Phew. I anticipated it being very difficult to do from here and perhaps having to pay someone to do it for us. But it worked out beautifully and I think our new neighbors will be a great addition to the neighborhood. Even if one of them is allergic to dogs. Poor Toasty. She will be so confused.
Just so everyone is clear, we fly to Newark, NJ (nonstop flight!) on June 16th and will probably be back in Montague that night. Can't wait to see people!
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