Our beautiful beefy bull

All of our cows and bull are grass fed with various high protein organic grasses raised for them.  These are pampered,  healthy livestock living in paradise.

Casa Quijote, Boutique Hostel, rural lodging. www.casaquijote.com

Finca Quijote has lodging and awesome farm food for your next visit.  www.casaquijote.com  Make your reservations, come and see the real Costa Rica.  Hike to our waterfalls, follow our trails, swim in natural pools at the falls and in our pure river.

Turrialba's weekend farmer's market.  Everything you can imagine and more.  Fresh produce, chicken, and the very famous Turrialba cheese.

I am so thankful that I live high in the mountains, have cool temperatures and pure water, because down below, it is hot, hot, hot!!! I drove to La Suiza to run errands and the heat was stifling, I could not wait to head back up. Even on one of our hot, sunny days, the air is cool, and when you go in the shade the air can be cold. I wear flannel or a sweatshirt everyday for at least part of the day and I sleep in sweats with a quilt. It is in the 60’s at night except for when it is in the upper 50’s. I love these temperatures on the farm.

For non electric entertainment, Phil reads novels or stories to us. This week he is reading a novel by Jane Hamilton the author of The Book of Ruth. The Short History of a Prince, is very funny, Jane Hamilton really has a way with words.

We get comfy in our big bed after dinner is finished and put away, my daughter Erika joins us, all bundled up in sweats with a pillow and blanket, and Phil reads in the dark wearing a headlamp. He is an interesting reader and I look forward to this time of night. Fortunately he came up with our latest read, we are out of books worth reading and always look forward to Vanity Fair magazine articles which we can now by at the Maxi Bodega. When there is no new reading material I suffer through riveting scientific farm articles like the miracle of bokashi compost, or sustainable black water systems. Please bring good books when you visit, old, used and paperback are just fine.

Murder on Indian reserve might not prompt an investigation

By Elise Sonray
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff


A bad man wrapped a rope around the child's neck and strangled him. That's how Blanca Rose described the murder of the 5-year old who couldn't walk, according to a mission director.

Blanca Rose isn't the only mother who sought refuge because of her child's condition. Filemón, who has cerebral palsy, and Victorino, who fell from a tree when he was a young, both live in the Chirripó mission, said a director there. They are there because some people in their Cabécar villages thought they would be better off dead.

The claims of murders and other violence represent a challenge for local police agencies. Although Indians in Costa Rica are presumed to live under the sames laws as the rest of the citizens, distance, tradition and fear of outsiders frequently keeps police from knowing what takes place.

In some of the Cabécar villages there are people who think those who are mentally or physically disabled should be killed, said Daniel Montoya Salas, co-director of Voz Que Calma mission in Chirripó. “Not everyone is the same,” said Montoya. Many Cebécar people come to visit the mission, and they say it brings happiness to their hearts to see Victorino and Filemón doing well, said Montoya.

Some of Victornio's family members tried to beat him to death with sticks after he fell from the tree and was left paraplegic, said Montoya. “The scars on his head are incredible,” said Montoya. And women advised Filemón's mother, Cela, to stop giving him food so he would die faster, added the director.

Blanca Rose, her daughter Priscilla, and her mother Roxana are still awaiting the baby's journey to Hospital Nacional de Niños, said Montoya. At this point the mission and others helping want to make sure Roxana, who has a mental illness, understands that the only family she has will not abandon her and that they will come back after their trip to San José, said Montoya.

Last week the two women and the baby traveled to the mission for a visit and to share lunch, said Montoya. He said this was a sign that the mother and grandmother were gaining their trust. “The grandmother knows my name now,” he said.

The three family members arrived at the mission last month asking for help. They left in fear after the murder of the 5-year-old boy who couldn't walk. 2-year-old Priscilla is weak on the left side and still doesn't walk. Priscilla, her mother and grandmother are not from Sinoli, the community the mission works with, said Montoya. They are from Sitio Hilda, a community which is a four days walk away, said Montoya. The mission director said these kinds of superstitious cases are more common in the farthest away villages, not in places like Sinoli.

In the case of the boy who was murdered in Sitio Hilda, the perpetrator is unidentified and no one has pressed charges to his knowledge, said Montoya. No charges were pressed in the cases of Filemón and Victorino either, said Montoya. In fact Victorino forgave the parents who had beaten him, and now they have a good relationship, said Montoya.

Many times members of the community don't want to talk to officials about crimes, said Montoya. Investigators from the regional Judicial Investigation Organization offices in Turrialba, Limón, and Bribri said they'd never encountered any case in which an Indian was murdered due to a physical or mental disability.

Although Limón and Bribri offices work mainly with the Bribri people, they have encountered similar problems as agents in the Turrialba region who work with the Cabécar people, said investigators.

Guillermo Bermúdez, judicial director in Limón, said many of the Bribri people do not feel that they can trust outsiders and don't file complaints. In cases of homicides, it is hard to conduct forensic exams because the victim usually is buried immediately, and the communities are located far away, said Bermúdez.

Bermúdez, who worked as the judicial chief in Talamanca

Two men who escaped death: Victorino with ball and Filemón.

for 17 years, said he received reports of malnutrition and medical emergencies from the Bribri communities. He also worked on many domestic violence cases and some cases of violent fights breaking out due to affects of chicha de maiz, a fermented corn alcohol. Bermúdez said the same laws applied to Indian reserves as in the rest of the country.

Hugo Lascarez Montero, an investigator in Turrialba said he had worked on numerous sexual abuse cases and domestic violence cases with the Cabécar people. “Women don't have much voice,” he said. He added that cultural differences made investigations more complicated, but that the law always applies.

Abel Mora an investigator in Bribri agreed that cultural differences played a role in Bribri investigations. He said he was mainly familiar with medical problems being reported.

All of the investigators agreed that cases were difficult to investigate due to the distant locations of the communities, the lack of trust between outsiders and the indigenous people, and the fact that most people in the communities don't file complaints to judicial officials.

The Cabécar live in the mountains along the Caribbean coast south of Limón. Elsewhere in other reserves on the Pacific there have been crimes linked to supposed witchcraft.

As for baby Priscilla and her family, things are going well, said Montoya. Priscilla and Montoya played a game passing a flower back and forth, he said. “It was a little sad because she only used her right hand,” said Montoya.

Right now the mission directors and other volunteers are using donations, many of which are from readers of A.M. Costa Rica, to buy milk for Priscilla and food for the family, said Montoya. A doctor in Turrialba saw Priscilla and told Montoya the visit would be free. “You help these people. I want to help you,” said the doctor, Roy Arias Leiua, Montoya said.

No one can be sure how long Priscilla will stay in the hospital but she will need to see specialist, said Montoya. If she needs physical therapy she may have to stay for months, said Montoya, it all depends on the diagnosis.

Last month two visitors traveled to the mission to get an idea of how things were run. Although neither were doctors, visitor Ray Reynolds is a nurse and said Priscilla has an obvious weakness on the left side. “She follows movement with her eyes and seemed fascinated by my friend´s watch,” said Reynolds, who is interested in starting a foundation to assist people here who have special needs.

Representatives at Hospital Nacional de Niños have said that Blanca Rose would have permission to stay at the hospital, said Montoya. If the mother decided to stay somewhere else or receive outside help that would be her decision, he added.

Worldwide there are still people in certain cultures who believe it is best for those who are disabled to be killed. The Telegraph in Britain reported last year about Amazon tribes in Brazil that buried babies alive if they were born with any sort of deformity. An anthropology professor supported the practice as a cultural value, according to the Telegraph.

“The tradition is based on beliefs that babies with any sort of physical defect have no souls and that others, such as twins or triplets, are also 'cursed'. . .Infanticide has claimed the lives of dozens of babies each year, say campaigners fighting to end the practice,” stated the article.

Erika is having breakfast at the Orchid Cafe in Turrialba.

Poco a Poco the house is coming along. The ceiling is being installed over the insulation, and I hope that sometime next week that phase will be completed. We are down one man, he left abruptly for another shortsighted opportunity. Oh well.

This presented a problem because our primary worker who came with that employee, now had no transportation. Another construction worker has a motorcycle but the shocks were so bad it sat on the tire with two men on it. So we bought him a new set of shock for his motorcycle, the cost of getting a house built, and now they come to work together. Ya do what ya gotta do.

It is a beautiful blue sky morning with a few clouds floating around the volcano. 62 degrees when I woke up and we are off to Turrialba for an adventure.

It is winter, we are about 10 degrees north of the equator, so it should technically be summer, but it is not. The deciduous trees are bare here in the summer and filled with leaves in the winter. It is just the way it is. I love winter here, a bit more rain in the afternoon and evenings but the temperatures are perfect for us.

We took the bus to San Jose yesterday for another visit with Phil’s surgeon. He is slowly mending and it does look better, but it is going to be sometime before we see normal.

The directo bus is the best way to go to and from San Jose and it is less than $2.00 a ticket. With gas prices at $1.00 a liter, this is a bargain. This particular bus (they run every hour on the hour) had pleasant, soothing, easy listening jazz music. Sufficient for keeping the driver awake and yet calm the passengers. I choose not to drive this route as it is a white knuckle trip most of the time and I see nothing except the road because I am trying not fall off of it. Being elevated on the bus gives you a different view over the barriers of obstruction that car passengers see because they are so much lower. If the bus fell off the road there are places where we would fall for what looks like thousands of feet before we became an unidentifiable heap as a result of our abrupt halt. The cows would not even slow us down. How do they adhere to the sides of such verticalness? Sometimes they don’t.

64 degrees at 7:30am is the perfect temperature to wake up to. Beautiful blue sky and crisp sheets to lay on, it does not get any better than this.

Last night it rained hard, extended hours of serious white-out condition downpours with thunder and lightning. The hardest lengthy rain we have had so far this season. I can still at this moment hear the stream raging as the waters from the mountains flow down through the forest.

An early appointment today brought me to the farm for a closer inspection of our rivers. Tiny meandering streams were swollen from the abundant rain. The boxes of rocks we built for one problem stream are holding strong and fully performing to expectations. We could not ask for more. Today they were covered with large rocks that were not there just 3 days ago. Trees have fallen; some have been swept down river. Everyday the view changes, the river giveth and the river taketh away. You never know what awaits you and perhaps that is the excitement of being truly alive in rural Costa Rica.

Our house guests went rafting all day yesterday with Rainforest World rafting http://www.rforestw.com/welcome2.cfm in Turrialba. If you are coming for a vacation and want to book your adventure you can email them at rforestw@racsa.co.cr to make reservations. My adult son went on this same trip down the Pacuare and had a wonderful time. Our area is known for our fast rivers, kayaking and river rafting. If you are coming for a vacation you should book a river trip. They also have a nature canoe trip down much more gentle waters with beautiful birds, animals and scenery.

You have seen this view before in other pictures that I have posted, but not from this elevation. This is looking down across our land and towards the Turrialba volcano. The clouds are in the way of a clear picture of the volcano. We have set up the telescope in our living room and we are starting to explore the volcano via the telescope

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Here is a view of the Turrialba volcano from my living room window. Love it! It is very magical to wake up with this beautiful view in Costa Rica.

Our home in Costa Rica is spacious, comfy, and has beautiful views of the Turrialba Volcano. The living room, pictured on the second story is all glass enclosed. All of the rooms have volcano views. On clear nights I can see fireflys in our yard and twinkle lights on the side of the volcano.