When it rains it...

Floods! The PortoViejo River is too full, and not flowing properly due to all the debris. These pictures are all over Facebook, these pictures are all east of us, hopefully nothing like this will happen too close to us, but I'm afraid it's inevitable. (On our last bus ride, we saw debris like this near Rocafuerte)

Towns are being flooded, I can't imagine the feeling you'd have being in your house, and watching the water rise, rise, rise...

Thankfully the Police are around to help, and these people really help each other out. 

Above, Doing house searches, making sure everyone is out and safe. Below, people using the tables at the market place to store their important items, hope the water doesn't rise anymore!

One expat who was here in 1997 El Niño, said they had suggested then that the municipalities build rain water reservoirs and channels to avert flooding, but nothing was done. Now all they can do is help clean up the blockages, and pray it stops raining.

Found out the guy here in the blue and black check shirt is the mayor of PortoViejo.

And an aerial photo, check out the road...or rather bridge, all that is above water.

Obviously we are hoping it stops raining, it has been gray here the past couple days, was hoping for blue skies today, but so far no. Today is the first annual Chili Cook off, and pool party at The Cottages by the Sea. (and even tho it may be gray, remember it's still paradise, and 80 degrees) I've got the camera, so...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Mangrove Tower Dedication

Now I know why they were doing such a thorough clean up job down at the Boca the other day. The next day tents and chairs went up, and the most important people came out for a dedication ceremony.

The Mayor came out (in blue) and all the people who worked on the project. The local people, Ali and Captain Pasqual, the architect and job foreman, and many of the workers.

Announcements, and such, then on to the ribbon cutting and tour...

The architect cutting the ribbon, and now the tour...all the woodwork has a fresh coat of varnish, looked great.

Captain Pasqual took people out on the boat, since that is one of the things he started after this tower got started. He is big on promoting tourism.

And finally the day ended with lunch down the Boca road at the nearby Editha's restaurant.

Editha and her husband posing with the Mayor.

And the whole San Jacinto/Boca tourism group with the Mayor.

I can't even remember when this project started, I'd have to look back thru the blog to see, but it must be a year ago! A LOT of work, blood sweat and tears has gone into it, looks great and I hope it brings lots of tourism to our little town. Now just waiting to see if they really put in the zip line they were talking about! The monument in town is progressing slowly, more on it soon. So...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Walk to the Boca

Low tide is in the morning this week, and we've been taking our coffee on the "road." This is the time of year that the debris travels down the PortoViejo River, and gets clogged up around the point. We take bags and rope with us when we walk, because we know we are going to find treasure. 

The other day when we were down there, we came across this make shift pier, I loved looking at it up close to see just what was used. Wow, what an assortment, can you see why we love this?

Of course the next day it was gone...and then

Every couple weeks the municipality will send crews down to clean up, they do a great job, and it's clean until high tide brings more down the river.

The stretch of beach is a mile between our house and the Boca (mouth of the river) and so even tho they spent many hours cleaning, there is always something for us to find and carry home.

Yesterday's treasures, a wonderful small chunk of boat roller, perfect for a plant stand! And this bit of lovely-ness...such colors, different than other piece I have. I did use the boat roller for a plant stand, as I puttered around the patio yesterday after our walk.

And the other new plant, hibiscus with wonderful yellow flowers, prettied up the plastic nursery bag with beach finds.

Other treasures we found, waiting for cleaning and storing...

Here's a shot of what was happening on the other side of the fence, as I puttered in the "yard", I only knew they were there because of the friendly banter, not a single fish smell!

Walks to the Boca bring so many things, things to treasure for years to come. Getting quite the collection of "found objects". Probably considered a hoarder here, jajaja (that's hahaha in Spanish)

Well, laundry and smoothies are calling, better get on with it. The monument is coming along, and I've been invited to a Baby shower!! So, stay tuned...the adventure continues!

Finished projects

I have had several projects in the works, either started, or just formulated in my mind, and it was high time to get back at it. The rainy season is coming to an end, (you wouldn't know from the downpour last night, but...) and that means I've been outside on the patio. As I look around, I come up with things I'd like to do, I'd made this coconut hanging planter some time ago, but only recently brought it outside and planted in it. The plants were looking good, I just felt it needed a little something, so I painted it.

So when I moved this one, it left an empty spot, so I had to come up with something new...

The yellow pot is an old bleach bottle, and they are planted with discarded pineapple tops, talk about recycling!

We went to town the other morning and found a plant truck, SCORE! We bought several things for inside the house, and some for out. The beautiful bougainvillea was the star of this area, but the black plastic bag it was planted in was not cutting it, what to do until I can repot it? How about cover it up?

I had recently painted these sticks to make a hanging light, but my plan didn't go , well as planned...so I strung them together, and tied them around the black plastic bag, voila!

The last of the ugly faded old plastic pots have their new life.

And a trip by bus to Charapoto and the fabric store Wednesday got me inspired to get the sewing machine out yesterday morning and get new pillowcases made for the outdoor area. I picked up the patterned remnants for $1 and got two from each one. I decided to make the pillows reversible, so I would get more bang for my buck. 

The stars must have been aligned because I got all five large pillowcases plus the two small ones done without much frustration! Woot woot! That makes me happy, because now next time I think about bringing out the sewing machine, it'll be no big deal, I've been successful, not ended in a huff.

I have also been doing some sewing by hand, I remade a tshirt that was too tight into a tank top, and remade a skirt into a sundress. (And now that the sewing machine and I are friends, watch out!)

I also had been wanting to get the bottle koozies we've been using covered. I'd like to make new ones, just have to remember to look up wetsuit material in the translator...these koozies were given to us, and had advertisement on them, this is much better. (Esta mucho mejor!)

Whew! I've been busy! So glad I don't have one of those pesky jobs to take up my time! Today is waiting for the fruit truck, then lunch with friends, ordering beer and water for delivery and walking on the beach, what a perfect life. There's much more to come, so... Stay tuned, the adventure continues!