Feb 24, 2008

Dear Dad,

It has been a few weeks since my last letter. We have been very busy, more than usual it seems. I am going to go back to the 9th of February and

David and I left for Punta Coral on Saturday, to spend the night. We invited Tim and Sherry to go with us.

The ride to Puntarenas was beautiful. The hills were covered with tall Poro Trees that have black trunks and branches and are tipped with bright orange flowers. These trees are the sign that we are in our summer season.

The weather was perfect not too hot, but warm enough to remind us that we live in the tropics.

On our way to the Calypso dock where we knew Mario would be waiting for us in the Captain’s launch, I asked David to stop in front of what was once Casa Calypso so that I could take a look inside.

I wanted to see for myself what was happening to our old home and property.

There was nothing left that I could recognize. Only standing were tall columns of cement support posts but these were constructed by the man who we had sold the house to in 1996. He was going to build an extension of a bar in San Jose – sounds like a whore house to me – and rent cabins, but disappeared before it was completed. We think he may be in jail someplace.

The flag stone patio and red brick flower beds are gone. The gravel driveway and lawn and stone path that once gave home to a hatchling of turtles, are gone too. Everything was now just sand except for the 12 coconut palm trees, a night blooming tree that grew in the center of a giant fish pond and shade for the parrot cage – all just a memory. Still growing is a special palm tree that I remember years ago I had Misael move so that when grown it would not disturb the palm thatched rancho that also is gone. Also still there are the red flowered Flamboyant Trees that gave such beautiful flowers on its umbrella canopy every summer, the Garden Club in Puntarenas (really a social gossip club) would come out to see them in bloom.

In one corner of the yard a cement table and benches is still there. Will it too fall under the giant jaws of the tractor soon to be another ghost?

The dock is still there with the huge cement columns still in place. I remember when it was built and we had to borrow the employees from the Tuna Plant to come and carry them, five men to a side, from the front of the house to the back. It took two days to move them and then another week to mount all 12 of them into the estero muck. (big holes were dug into the much at low tide and then a pulley system was used to raise and lower the heavy posts into the holes. With 12 foot rising and falling tides to work with there was always a tide low enough to install one post a day.

The floating dock; that was home to Yacht Calypso for so many years is now just a rusted bent skeleton, the wooden planks long ago rotted away. There is no sign of the public bathrooms we built or the small wooden building that I used to sell t-shirts out of. .

The sea wall, 13 feel tall when David built it was now only less than a foot tall, the other 12 feet buried in the estero muck, because when the hotel next door was built their sea wall extended into the estero or river and changed the current. Now, instead of keeping deep water by washing out the muck, it was filling in making it impossible to dock anything bigger than a small dingy on the estero side. This is the result of non existing zoning laws.

I had a flash of Leroy the cat sitting on the edge sunning himself when Captain Hook , a crocodile that lived behind our house, crept up the muck at low tide and swung his tail trying to flip the big ‘ol fat yellow cat off the ledge and have him for dinner. Leroy jumped straight up, orange hair exploding off his body and ran into the house where he stayed for days.

Memories came flooding back. Lots of memories. Maybe it is not unlike to flashes of memories that one sees right before death. A whole lifetime of them came flooding back and I stood, in the shade of course, and let them flow though me.

I shook myself back to present knowing that David and our friends were waiting for me in the car. I vowed to put my collection photos in order and keep the memories alive.

It was nice to get to Punta Coral and away from the crowds and into the lap of nature. Crystal clear blue water, bright green lawn and our private white sand beach welcomed us and I let Casa Calypso go.

February 11th was a big day for us. We had both a Punta coral tour and a Tortuga Island Tour plus we did a small wedding on board Manta Raya during the lunch hour for a small group of 10.

It took some coordinating to not break up the routine too badly and throw off the rhythum of the crew, but we did it.

Manta Raya pulled up to the dock and let of her group for Punta Coral, a group of about 20 and David and I boarded the giant cat. Marcelo and José Marie, the French guide and translator were on onboard waiting for us.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a tattooed man. It was the first time I have ever seen a man with tattoos that not only covered his body, but on his face as well. He had bamboo spikes sticking out of his head and neck and looked like some character from the movie X-men, or maybe a witch doctor or even worse the member of a gang. It was amazing.

Waiting for us at Tortuga Island was a small yacht with the wedding party.

After Manta Raya dropped of the group and all the ice chests, umbrellas and baskets of all that is necessary to serve lunch for the group of 65; the wedding party boarded and off we went.

David had our Captain take us behind the island of Tortuga, where he knows there is a rock formation with a hole in the center, like a giant arch way, the perfect back drop for a wedding.

We served the group cold water and I gave them all a shell lei while we waited for the bride to put on her dress. She carried it in a plastic bag and I was surprised to see how beautiful it was when she came out onto the deck now dressed in her wedding gown.

The groom was aglow as he looked at his bride. I gave her the beautiful orchid bouquet and placed an orchid lei around the groom’s neck. Neither had wanted flowers but I brought them anyway. How can you have a wedding, the most important day of the beginning of a life together without flowers? The orchids, a rare green and soft mustard color were the perfect choice in the bright sun. The small party headed

for the bow of Manta Raya and the ceremony began. Our Captain gently glided Manta Raya until she was in front of the rock formation. I stayed on the bridge under the shade and watched, pleased that all was well. David busied himself taking photos. After the marriage was sealed with a kiss, the bartender began to open the champagne and the small group toasted the newly married couple.

We still had almost 2 hours to kill, and to our delight our Captain spotted the spray of whales ¨sounding¨ about a mile in front of us. The small group, drinking champagne on the bridge while watching the newly married couple stand on the bow hugging and kissing had eyes focused ahead at the wonderful show Mother Nature was giving all us. Closer and closer we got to the whales and we could see they were young adult Humpbacks and it looked like they were in a mating dance.

To our amazement, as soon as we were about 20 to 50 feet away, the whales began to jump out of the deep blue water. They both jumped in unison over and over and we stood motionless while watching the magnificent sight. The show was for us, a small wedding party away from shore having just witnessed a wedding now entertained with an incredible gift from nature. It was something none of us will ever forget.

So memorized we were, that no-one was taking any photos.. The whales

dove deep into the water but not before we got a flash of their tails as they came up out of the ocean with a small wave and then disappeared. Even at the distance away from us, it was possible to measure the length of the tails because it was about as long as 1/3 of the Manta Raya’s 35 foot width.

After the initial shock of something no one on board had ever seen before that had kept us all motionless with open mouths gaping, David did finally manage to take a few photos.

We waited for a few minutes for the whales to return; but they were gone and our Captain headed back to Tortuga Island.

I was disappointed I had forgotten to bring any rice to throw and even forgot the just married sign to put on the stern of Manta Raya; but no-one noticed especially since we had all not only just witnesses a beautiful wedding ceremony; but a whale show that not even National Geographic

or Discovery Channel could have shown on TV.

I will write about our trip to Miami and send it in the next letter. I hope all is well with you. I love and miss you.

Besitos, Cecs