Early Fishing In Costa Rica

One of my great hopes and longings for retirement is that successful fishing, and catching, will be standard operating experience!  This has been a common thread throughout my life and I am not eager for it to come to a close any time soon!  My earliest memories of fishing are in South Dakota where on unique occasions my father would set the Smith kids up with cane poles, hooks and bobber to catch fish in the “dams” on the ranches that surrounded our little town of White River.

I graduated to making fishing a personal experience when we moved to Moravia, Iowa.  Farm ponds dotted the countryside and you can believe that Terry Prough and I knew where we could catch bass, bluegills, bullheads and crappies on a moment’s notice.  Our best fishing days were any day (except Sunday) through the summer, but at the end and beginning of the school year our day for fishing was…Saturday!  It was nothing to roll out of bed before sunup in order to be on the bank of our targeted pond by daybreak.  It is one of life’s great mysteries, “What makes it easy for a kid to get up early to go fishing when every other day it is nearly impossible to get a kid out of bed for nearly any other reason?”

Some of my best fishing was during our five years in Alaska.  One day I fished in a city park in Soldotna during a pink salmon run.  With the Good Lord as my witness at one point I made 13 casts and 13 catches.  That’s a good day for any fisherman!  One year right after our church’s annual District Assembly, Gene Bryner and Dr. Gordon Whetmore and I fished the Cook Inlet.  We limited out on both King Salmon and Halibut.  My prize of that day was a 43 lb. King!

More recently, three years ago or so, Dean and Colleen Heath and Colleen and I enjoyed a week of luxury in Rick and Roxanne Robinson’s Hawaii home.  Rick arranged for us to have a day fishing for tuna.  We fished from daybreak until mid- afternoon before the action happened, but when it did it was like thunder and lightning combined!  It took about forty five minutes for me to land a one hundred and twenty one (121!) pound Ahi Tuna.

Just saying…I really love to fish, and, have had some success!

You may have read an earlier blog where I told of my  first Costa Rica fishing trip.  What was supposed to be a blissful one-day fishing experience turned into an amazing nightmare!  Our little boat was cast about on the gray Pacific like a cat playing with a helpless mouse.  I did something hard for me to be proud of.  I voted with the majority…to abort the trip and head for land.

My next Costa Rica fishing experience happened just down the road on a river very close to where we currently live.  This needn’t be too lengthy of an account, but in my few minutes of fishing from the bank, I had a classic encounter with…fear!  After a handful of casts, my lure got hooked on the bottom.  Lures are hard to come by down here, so I waded out knee deep and gave deeper thought to going the rest of the way to retrieve it.  Thought better and returned home to find another lure.  Upon returning I made a few more casts and then moved upstream.  The tide was coming in and what appeared to be a driftwood log surfaced maybe 15 feet in front of me.  My next thought was, “That’s not a log.  It has knarly bumps and a long nose and eyes.”  Yep.  That was my first encounter with a Costa Rican crocodile that was at least ten feet long!  The fear hit me pretty hard when my mind skipped back to wading out knee deep earlier in order to retrieve my lure.

This past Tuesday Josh and I spent an entire afternoon fishing from a charter boat.  Nothing dramatic.  I did have two great strikes, but didn’t land either.

Jamie’s parents are visiting with us and Pat really loves to fish, so we’ve been out twice.  I took him over to where the croc made his appearance.  We made several casts from a safe distance and saw two more crocodiles, one big one!

Christmas eve, we went to an area where a river dumps into the ocean.  Pat decided to fish the surf.  I was drawn upstream.  Fishing is pretty serious for me and often draws me beyond the familiar.  After a good hour of casting into the mangroves lining the shores of the river, a native Costa Rican came fishing his way back to where I was.  He could speak pretty good English and gave me some good tips about fishing for Snook.  The better advice was, “You be careful fishing back in here.  There is a very large resident croc!  Pay attention!”

Okay, so I’m alive and in good condition.  Pat and I hope to fish again this afternoon.  No fish yet, but I hope to give you a good report soon.

Ten Significant Differences...

Important Announcement...check out our new web site (after reading this blog, of course) www.nazarenesabroad.com  

Having lived abroad already for two magnificent months has created some profound responses in my psyche (not a common word with me!).  First, both Colleen and I are feeling strongly about and conversing about our commitment to this “expat” life. We love it!  I suppose that it is possible for us to change at some point in the future, but we both feel strongly that this lifestyle is what we want for the rest, the homestretch, of our lives!  That is rather amazing considering the fact that up until two years ago, retirement in our minds was totally assumed to be on our little “farm” located just outside of Castle Rock, WA. 

Our new home (under construction) in Osa Mountain Village (www.osamountainvillage.net)

With that in mind, I wanted to invite you to share some of our two-month journey.  Colleen and I have spent time talking about the differences between the expat life and life in the United States.  Here is our current “Top Ten” list:

1.     The travel system.  In the US we never gave a second thought to traveling from point “A” to point “B.”  Signage was an assumption and road conditions were, in retrospect, fabulous.  Here, folks, travel is an, uh, adventure!  There are no, or very few, actual addresses.  My first experience in driving in Costa Rica caused me more stress than I can ever remember experiencing over one challenge.  Just saying that we have taken travel for granted.  No more!

Our Costa Rica car, purchased in the States and shipped here.  2000 Isuzu Rodeo. It stays clean for at least a few hours after I wash it, as long as it is parked in the driveway!

2.     The way people get around here.  We see five distinct modes of travel: car, motorcycle, bicycle, public transportation, and, walking.  This probably deserves an entire blog, but the motorcycle, bicycle and walkers get around with little or no regard to the weather or light conditions.  Just last evening we were coming home from a restaurant in the pitch dark.  I’d say hundreds of people were walking along the highway because of a free outdoor Christmas concert.

 

3.     Animals on the loose.  It’s just the way life is here.  “Survival of the fittest” is a good way to describe the system!  I doubt very many pet animals die of old age around here.

 

4.     Diet.  The diet here is limited for several reasons.  One way to describe it is that when Alex came home (to Longview, WA) from spending three months with Josh here in Costa Rica, I had the privilege of walking into Winco (large grocery store chain) with her.  I intentionally walked a few steps behind her.  She was truly in awe as she wandered around looking at all the varieties of various products.  She turned to me and said, “Papa, this is SO much different than Costa Rica!”  The neat thing is that we have plenty, not just the huge shopping buffet offered in the US!

 

5.     Spending.  Would you believe that I still have some of the money in my wallet that came into the country with me two months ago?!  It is honestly more difficult to spend money down here.  Outside of the few large cities, shopping, as we have known it, simply does not exist.  I consider this a good thing!

 

6.     Leisure.  Now, I’m retired so the routine I have lived by for so long is pretty much a thing of the past, but our leisure is little influenced by the traditional Hollywood entertainment media.  We pick up our news via the internet, making it easier to filter what we see and hear.  That is amazing for this news junkie who pretty much had to have his daily dose!  Much of our family time revolves around swimming, walking, eating and enjoying nature around us…together!

Alex and her friend, Eden.

Mr. & Mrs. Iguana in the palm tree on the other side of our swimming pool.

7.     Language.  It just seems plain rude to me that the folks down here have not taken the time to learn our language.  Oh, wait.  We are the couple who said in the past, “If you are going to live in the US, learn the language!”  Turnabout is fair play I’d say!  Colleen and I “shook on it” last evening, committing ourselves to spending an hour a day learning Spanish.

 

8.      Church.  It’s not different in message or in focus, but much different than what we have grown accustomed.  I have attended two all-Spanish services.  That’s tough for me at this point.  The church we have enjoyed, and become a part of, translates every part of the service.  Though this church has been in existence for about five years, we feel like we have gotten in on the ground floor some something very exciting and dynamic!

 

9.     Heat. Costa Rica is a tropical country so it just makes sense that we would have to deal with heat.  We are currently living at coast elevation and temps in the low to mid-80’s is not unusual.  The pool is ALWAYS the exact right temperature.  Colleen has developed the habit of carrying an umbrella and a fan!

 

10. Bugs. We’ve been told that our bodies will develop a resistance to the histamines of the various biting, stinging bugs within about two years!  Live and learn!  A few days ago, a yard worker was here.  His work stirred up a bumper crop of biting bugs.  I was “rewarded” with between 15 and 20 new bites.  Next time he is here I will keep myself well-sprayed!

 

My intent is to…tell the truth.  The truth is that we love this season in our lives and believe that God has gifted us with this very unique privilege!  To broaden that out a bit…our current piece of heaven is realistically interspersed with bits of hades!  This would be a good time to re-read Genesis 3!

 

Much Love,

 

Wes & Colleen (www.nazarenesabroad.com)