Here is something kind of cool that doesn't happen too often back home. For the past few days, on my walk to and from the beach to surf or just walking Thor, our neighbor's gardener, Rudolpho, has scared me by saying hi, while hiding in the woods. I wasn't sure if he was stalking me or what... but today, he said "Hola Erik, Ven aqui" so I walked over to him and he hands me this plant... what??? Turns out, it is Ginger, and what he is doing in the woods is finding herbs to make an herb garden. About everything grows naturally here, and Rudolpho is just searching the woods for the plants, and then transports them across the road to his new garden. Thanks to him, we now have Ginger. Pretty cool.

So, Amy emailed me about the "violent" activities that we are getting involved in and here was my reponse. Nosara probably has the same percent crime rate as back home, in Charleston or South Florida (not St. Aug as there is no crime), but the difference is that in the states you come home and someone is in your house, and you call the cops from your cell phone and let them handle it. Here you don't have that luxury, so what you do is play the "you don't want to even think about robbing me because..." game. So the smart gringos have big dogs, alarms, bars on their windows, and they're ones that do this never get robbed. The dumb ones, that think that they is no chance of them getting robbed and leave their house unlocked and windows open are easy targets have a way better chance of it. If you were looking to rob, who would you target? The idea is that you protect yourself so that you never need the protection. The whole nuclear weapon defense. Plus, dog work is about the most fun that I have had outside of surfing ever. Amy, your perception will change when you meet Thor... he is the biggest cuddler you'll ever meet.