End of 2020 Communiqué – The Strangest year of my life

It’s over and yes it was a bizarre year . . . some good and of course some not so good . . . mostly, thanks to Covid-19. 

 January started out good.

Rice Pounding Ceremony (JOUSHOUMEI) - annual tradition of mochitsuki the pounding of rice to make mochi

I was invited to a Rice Pounding by a fellow Alberta Health Services volunteer.

Sweet rice soaked and then steamed in a huge double-decker pot and comes out looking like bread dough. The dough is put into a stone mortar and pounded with wooden mallets until it is the "right" consistency.

Then it is thrown onto a floured (rice flour) board where young and old pinch off small pieces of dough, flatten them and place a condiment in the center of the "Mochi" and wrap the dough around . . . like a dumpling. Young and old are talking and laughing as they work around the table.

February trip to Victoria

I realized I needed to start doing things on my own and decided to take a February trip to Victoria (my brother’s lives there) and Vancouver Island to visit friends and familiar places. They (brother Stan and wife Patty) were going to Mexico and I could stay at their place.

The Flood

Their place has 3 separate living spaces - the main floor; a recently renovated upstairs suite and the ground floor suite. Lo and behold, I was greeted by a flooded ground floor and a rather massive clean-up job. Thanks to Todd, the fellow who has taken care of his place for years, the whole process got started and was proceeding well by the time I left.

Old Friends Up-Island

I took off up-island  . . . first stop was Nanaimo to visit a neighbour from Calgary and then up to Courtney to see Sharon, another Calgary friend.

One of the highlights was our visit to the Filberg Heritage Lodge and Gardens in Comox. I loved the waterfront view and the natural landscaping with its collection of sculptures created from fallen trees from right there on the property.

 

I did get over to Sooke to visit a gal who I had worked with in Lethbridge when we were there in the 80’s and who, incidentally, had a unit in the Condo in Lethbridge. Anyway, she now lives in an interesting Cohousing development is Sooke. Co-housing (http://www.harbourside.ca/whatis.html) is a unique concept of a Co-op/Strata (Condo) ownership structure with a great harbour view.  

 Victoria

Somehow, I lucked into a great tour offer and managed to get around Victoria and get to places I would never have visited.

Chinatown

Miniature Museum

This was a special place for me . . . I’ve always been fascinated by miniatures.

And Now for the Rest of the Story

Finally I felt like I was starting to eek out a life for myself . . . I had a plan . . . a couple interesting volunteer projects starting in March . . . oops . . . not to be.

Both projects were “face-to-face”. One, they just gave up on but the other one (CNIB – working with visually impaired people to mentor them on using a iPhone) I am still trying to get trained up enough to know what I’m doing.

There have been a number of Zoom-type workshops and meetings but I can’t say I’m terribly active or occupied . . . what can I say? . . . Generally I’m in the same boat as so many people . . . Wake up . . . Eat . . . Sleep . . . Repeat.

Cooking is in there somewhere too. They keep assuring us that it will end . . . I hope they are right.

Fred left me a challenging legacy . . . there are more electronic devices around here than I ever imagined. The challenge is to learn how they work and what is on them . . . and, of course, everything continues to change so I’m sure this will go on forever but it does exercise my mind. 

And so ‘Life-Goes-On’ . . . one day at a time.

Costa Rica - Rainforest and Jungles

Click on pictures to enlarge

The first thing that came to my mind was:

“What’s the difference between a ‘Rainforest’ and a ‘Jungle’? 

My past experience is a temperate rainforest (on Vancouver Island, BC) and to my knowledge, I had never been in a jungle.

- The first resource told me that the 'Jungle is dense, impassable and usually a tropical forest while a Rainforest is a forest with high rainfall.' The biggest contrast is the amount of sunlight that peeks through the treetops.

- "Rainforest" is a technical term in ecology, referring to a particular kind of biome or climate. "Jungle" is not, and so its definition is determined in part by how people use it. "Jungle" is a word the specifically refers to land overgrown with dense, tangled vegetation.

-   Over a quarter of natural medicines and around 40% to 75% of all biotic species have been found in Tropical Rainforests (often called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "world's largest pharmacy").

Trees that heal:

 tourist tree 

Cacao

Geonoma epetiolata: called “naked Indian” or “tourist tree”. It is used in different ways to lower fevers. To treat kidney diseases it is suggested that you cook the leaves and take them in the morning and at night. 

Vines:

In Costa Rica the rainforests have layers. There’s a high canopy of treetops that shields the sun from peeking through. Vines climb up long tree trunks to reach the sunlight.

Palms

Costa Rica has 109 of the 4000 species.

Palm oil – not to be confused with coconut oil – is the world’s most consumed vegetable oil and accounts for 33% of vegetable oil and 45% of edible oil worldwide, according to the Scientific Journal Nature.

Palm Oil production has been one of the largest agricultural industries in Costa Rica. But has had a considerable impact on biodiversity and sustainability of the tropical growth. It is reported to be responsible for about 8% of the world’s deforestation.

 Dave’s Natural Pavilion (as noted before in the Costa Rica – Pineapples; Heart of Palm; . . . posting) was developed on an abandoned Palm Oil Plantation in the hopes of rescuing the tropical forest.

Growing houseplants for export has become a booming industry in Costa Rica:

Philodendron

Everywhere the tropical plants are awe-inspiring:

Heliconia Wagneriana 

Rainbow Plant 

A Wondrous Experience

Costa Rica - Butterflies and Orchids

Click on pictures to enlarge

We spent the last couple of nights before we went back to San Jose at the Punta Leona Hotel & Club in the Central Pacific Region . . . where the rainforest comes down to the ocean. Well this is far more than a resort – it’s more like a community. In addition to the Hotel (or many hotels) there are apartments, condos, grocery stores, floating bars, lounges, restaurants, bars and many more activities. Actually I think I would have liked to come here at the start of the tour rather than the end.

 On the second day of our stay, the schedule included an outrigger canoe trip along the coast to view more wildlife and geological formations. Most of the folks went on the outriggers but my choice was to spend that time at the butterfly farm. Costa Rica has 90% of all Central American species and 18% of the total earth’s population of butterflies.

Butterfly Farm

The Mariposario butterfly farm is within the Punta Leona property.  It is open air but enclosed with netting. It’s so peaceful with beautiful flora and a marvellous array of butterflies.

It’s not difficult to identify the big, colourful butterflies like the Blue Morpho and the Owl Butterfly but finding the identification of the smaller ones, less common ones has been quite a challenge.

The Blue Morpho is often called Morpho Peleides. They are not actually blue. The sun is reflected off scales on their wings that emit the blue colour – that is the males, the females appear brown.
The Blue Morpho 

The Owl Butterfly

The Owl Butterfly is native to Costa Rica but has spread out over most of Central and northern South America. Some theorists speculate that the dark owl eyes on its wings will ward off predators and allow the butterfly to escape.

 

Owl Caterpillar

The Owl butterfly has been a curse for the banana industry. The caterpillars grow on banana plants causing considerable destruction and then the adults feed on the fermented fruit.

The Tiger Clear Wing

The Monarch Butterfly

Butterfly vs. Moth?

Moths tend to be nocturnal while butterflies generally come out during the day. Butterflies land with their wings closed while moths land with their wings open. A more often than not, butterflies are more colourful with a greater variety of decoration while moths tend to be rather dull and yellow/brown tones.

Orchids

In Costa Rica, the orchid is the ‘Guaria Morada’ and has been the national flower since 1939.

The Botanical Orchid Garden has developed as an ecosystem for the growth and development of the orchids. As you meander along the tropical trails there are varieties of gardens, exhibition spots, nurseries and above all - learning experiences.

Most of the orchids are developed in the laboratories and then integrated into the gardens to propagate amongst the surrounding tropical growth.

  Show Room

  

 Water Gardens

  

 Demo Nursery and Laboratory

Walking Trails