Adventure

It's no joke that living in Costa Rica is quite an adventure. For as subtle as the climate seems to be in the mountains, with year round temperatures right around 79 degrees, the seasons are totally extreme. The rainy season starts in May with quick afternoon showers and, like a snowball rolling down a hill, the months that follow bring an ever increasing amount of water. It all peaks in October when it is not uncommon to have weeks of rain and drizzle without much attention from the sun.

Like snow, the rain keeps people inside, under cover. Instead of shoveling, we clear drainages. In exchange of treating sidewalks with grit for the slippery ice, we sprinkle chalk over the slimy moss. The true adventure comes through the pairing of all of the water with the nature of the land. Things here move, and annually we see roads drop where they cross fault lines. Everything just flows.

By December, it all settles down and dries up. The only way to describe this transition is to imagine a faucet. It is on and then it is off. For as wet as the "winter" is, "summer" is dry. The lush hillsides go from emerald green to desert brown and for five months the skies are clear. The rains seem to be blown away by incredible winds that rip over the hillsides and are capable of taking a roof right off of a house. It's pretty exciting.

These extremes add to the thrill of living here. For all of the modern conveniences we have left behind, there are new elements of living in nature. There is a constant reminder that we are not entirely in control, but rather dwelling on a living organism which is costantly in motion. And so we ride.