Moving Day In Costa Rica

By Frank Scott

Conducting photo tours in Costa Rica can be quite an experience because I never know what my group and I will encounter. Here is an entertaining event that occurred while we were traveling to one of our locations.

One of the pleasures of living in Costa Rica is that I can conduct Costa Rica Photo Tours for folks who want to visit and photograph exotic locations. Indeed, one of the destinations on the tour is the beautiful Osa Peninsula, the "most biologically intense place" on earth according to the National Geographic Society. We drive to this location through the little village of Ojochal, which is very close to my home.

Some Costa Ricans in rural communities have an unusual method of moving. As one of my groups was passing through the village some folks started pointing to something ahead of us. It was a fellow moving. But, before telling you this story, let me give you a little background on this gentleman.

When we first moved to Costa Rica our only neighbours were Ticos (as Costa Ricans call themselves) and Senor Wilson (isn't that Spanish or what?) brought us a house-warming gift of some flowering plants. It was quite humorous to see him standing at the top of our driveway holding some plants because, you see, he was too polite to come to our door without an invitation even though he was bearing a gift to welcome us.

We were not sure what he wanted and after a "conversation" with him speaking Spanish and us speaking mostly English, I realized that he wanted to give us the flowering plants. I guess it was a sort of a house-warming gift from "the neighbours." You need to appreciate that the fellow did not own a car. He lived at least a hour away up the mountain and had carried the plants the whole way.

With the passage of time, Senor Wilson has given me flowering plants many times. Often he stands there waiting to see where I will plant it. I would probably do the same thing if I lugged it down a mountain for an hour. However, there are so many things to do that planting this gift is never one of my priorities. Certainly, I never thought that I would be tested on my ability to choose a location and plant something when I moved to Costa Rica from Canada.

One day Wilson arrived at the house with another plant, accompanied by his two sons who were going swimming in the river beside our house. He gave me the new plant and then asked where I had planted the others that he had brought.

Unfortunately, the flowering plants were still on my terrace in aluminium kettles with drainage holes stabbed in the bottom of the pot with a machete. When good neighbor Wilson saw that his previous gift had not been planted, he politely asked in his quiet way if I would mind if he planted all of them for me. Quite a fellow, my neighbor and friend, Wilson.

Now that you have some idea about the kind of fellow my friend and neighbor Wilson is like, I want to return to my photography tour group driving along the dusty road near my house. Suddenly, we came upon a man walking alongside his horse. The animal was carrying two white bags, two huge white bags, filled with clothes and household items. Between the bags, Wilson or his wife had wedged a blue broom that extended over the animal's head, giving us the impression that the horse was wearing a bristle blue tiara. I wonder if the horse was enjoying his royal status or quietly suffering the indignity of wearing a broom crown.

And there was Wilson standing by the horse with a bridle in one hand and a birdcage in the other. A horse, a crown, a man, and a birdcage. What a sight! Moving day.

Wilson and I start to chat as the group hurriedly grabbed their cameras. I greeted him with "Hola, que tal?" (how are you?) and jokingly asked he was moving. Well, to my surprise, that was exactly correct. The horse was his moving van or, as my group called it, Wilson's 4 X 4.

He explained that he, his wife (a tiny lady who looks 14), and the 3 kids would be taking care of a B&B while the owner returned to Germany during Costa Rica's rainy season. They were very pleased about this arrangement because living in the pueblo brought the kids closer to the school, saving them from walking two miles down and back from their mountain home.

I thought it rather strange that he was carrying the birdcage. One of the children could have carried the cage down on one of their previous journeys.

I guess carrying flowering plants and birdcages come under the same heading. Wilson explained that the bird was young (parrot or parakeet, can't really tell) and that it was very talkative. As if to show off, the feathered pet suddenly started chattering. Unfortunately, I had not yet mastered Spanish well enough to understand bird Spanish so I could not figure out what he was saying. But, it did not matter to the bird.

There was a great deal of excitement and clicking of cameras as the group was taking pictures of the family, the chattering bird, and the embarrassed regal horse since the chance of seeing something like this again, ever, was quite remote. Welcome to moving day in the mountains of southern Costa Rica! Local colour is always the surprise on my photo tours.

About the Author:

Frank Scott lives in sunny Costa Rica where he is a professional Costa Rica Photographer offering unique photography tours. Some of his work can be seen in Costa Rica Vacations, a very popular travel guide to this unique country.