Never a dull moment it seems in our life in Costa Rica. Yesterday our neighbor dropped by and asked if I wanted to go shrimp hunting that night. Well I am always up for an adventure and when Hubert is involved it is always an adventure. This man is the modern day Jungle Jim. Born and raised in the Guanacaste mountains near our home Hubert knows the wildlife and countryside like no one. If I were to be stranded in the mountains anywhere it would be with this man. Plus you throw in our friend and worker Rafael and you have pair of modern day "real men" as my daughter Jessica said after meeting Hubert:-) So that evening just as darkness was falling we saddled up our two horses and rode off to meet Hubert at his home just a kilometer down the road from us. We rode off in to the failing light on our trusty Costa Rican horses. I will never know how these horses can navigate with zero light - amazes me everytime! A beautfiul Costa Rica evening with a nice warm breeze and incredible stars overhead with little moon. Spooky but beautiful. We rode for about an hour on roads I am familiar with but just before the town cemetary (I told you this was spooky) we turned off onto a side cattle trail. Up and up we rode following this narrow path until finally we turned on our headlamps as the trail was getting very tricky. Then down we went through brush as thick as can be. Our horses never missing a step - thank goodness for headlamps- next time I am at Mountain Co-op I will buy an even more expensive headlamp! Hey do they make headlamps for horses? Finally we are at the creek. Hubert and I dismount and Rafael takes the horses up ahead and we will walk the creek looking for the elusive freshwater shrimp. Off we go slipping an sliding though the warm, clear Costa Rica creek water. The water is about mid way up our rubber boots and the walking is tricky but not too bad. We walk along shinning our headlamps into the water - me with the modern LED headlamp Hubert with the 1950 version battery pack headlamp. Guess whose worked better? Of course the old one! The LED shines nicely but does not penetrate the water. The old light really shows the creek bottom. We walked along for about an hour with no luck. We met up with Rafael and the horses and went back the way we came pushing bush with our trusty mounts. Once back to the main road Hubert decided to try another creek so off we went into the inky black night.
In this next creek we were much more successful as Hubert speared several large and mid size shrimp. Of course in this creek the water was much deeper in places and our rubber boots were soon filled to the top. Squishy but it sure made me glad I did not wear by riding boots. Look for the ojos rojo (red eyes). Below are photos of our evening catch. Hubert speared the shrimp with a small trident affair he made with a broomhandle and some nails. Cheap and effective!
Grandaddy on the left about 17 inches long - what a BBQ!
This guy is a about the size of a small lobster!
Rafael is a big guy and this shrimp is too!
Rafael and Hubert speared this big one just before we finished for the night. I was waiting with the horses and wondering who makes all those sounds in the jungle when it is pitch black - some real some imagined. And yes I did remember the feared Fer de Lance snake loves water:-) Next time we blog about the BBQ!
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