Songs from the wood

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Costa Rica, August 2011, pt.2 - Mal Pais

A few miles as the crow flies, but on the Northwest side of Park Cabo Blanco and a 40 minute cab ride lies the strip of coast called Mal Pais, "Bad Country". This is the sweep of rock where the fishermen have their boats. We rented a quad (4-wheeler) and drove all the way up and down the stretch of road, from here up through Santa Teresa and past Playa Hermosa to Playa Manzinillo, beyond the reach of the tourists and development.

These are looking north up the coast.

This was at a small resturant that seemed to be closed for the season. Too bad, because you could sit at tables right by the hammocks and get dinner or drinks. I think it was called Playa Azul, and is in the Lonley Planet guide book. I think this picture came out really well. It may be my favorite of all that we took.

This is the beach at Playa Carmen, right at the Mal Pais Surf Camp where we stayed for a couple of nights. I'll be putting all of the hotel reviews into Tripadvisor.com. Check it if you are headed to Central America, everyone we met was all over it on their iPhones, regardless of nationality (lots of Europeans down there in August ,which was cool). Wi-Fi is available everywhere, and there isn't really a reason to pay for international cell service for your smart-gizmo.

With the wild waves and rip current making surfing a little rough for beginners, we improvised.

After the litro of local cerveza, the monkey decided to go find a coconut for a refreshing drink.

Opposable thumb led to the success of this mission.

It craked open pretty easy and the water was sweet and delicious.

Costa Rica, August 2011, pt.1 - Montezuma

We grabbed the midnight special out of Denver direct to San Jose on Frontier. It's a painless flight, with the exception of arriving at 5am and having to wait until 10 for our connection to Tambor, on the penninsula Nicoya. The helpful woman at the Sansa desk suggested that we grab the free shuttle to Denny's. My first couple of hours in Costa Rica were spent at Denny's. The Sansa flights were a great way to go - roughly $40 per person each way, and 20 minutes of flight time. There is anoter service, Inter Bus, that we found out about later. Private shuttles that run door to door from San Jose International to your hotel on the coast for $40 each. This would take a little longer, but would save the cab fees on each end. I think we will try this next time.

The landing strip / aeropuerto at Tambor.

Playa Cedros, a short distance north of Montezuma. The surf was pounding the first few days, and a wave later washed through our position on the beach and up on to the road.

Taking the first days of vacation in stride.

The fabeled waterfall of Montezuma. NOTE: you have to wade the river above the first falls to continue on the trail to the upper falls.

On the third day, we hiked the trail through the Cabo Blanco nature reserve o nthe southernmost tip of the penninsula Nicoya. The heat and humidity in the jungle almost killed me (take lots of water, some food, and a soda or something with sugar with you!!). The arduous journey was totally worth it when we got to spend the day o nthe deserted beach at the end. WOW!!

The Cabo Blanco - In the dry season, the little island gets covered by guano and turns white.

Yayyy!

Nap time! Thanks EMO - the BEST HAMMOCKS EVER!! And a really good thing to throw in your backpack.

At the Cafe Mediteranean in Montezuma. The night, the moon, fie food, chilled white wine... Muy Romantico!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band - Keystone, CO 8/6/2011

We made the run up to Keystone to catch the Bluegrass & Brews festival, and to see two sets by Peter Rowan. The brewfest was choked with people, but Peter delivered on the main stage. A later, second show, commenced in the performing arts center, and blew us away. Awesome!

So GOOD!

Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band

8/6/2011 Keystone Bluegrass & Brews Festival

Keystone Village, Colorado

Peter Rowan - Guitar

Paul Knight - Bass

Keith Little - Banjo

Michael Richard - Dobro

Early Set (Brewfest Stage)

1. Jailer, Jailer

2. Father, Mother

3. The Raven

4. So Good

5. Cold Rain & Snow

6. Dustbowl Children

7. Dobro Instrumental (Michael Richard)

8. Little Maggie (Keith Little vocal)

9. Blue Moon of Kentucky

10. Walls of Time

11. Midnight Moonlight ->

12. Hey, Bo Didley ->

13. Not Fade Away ->

14. Midnight Moonlight

Encore:

1. Panama Red ->

2. Tea Party

3. Live and Let Live ->

4. Mountain Dew ->

5. I Saw the Light

Second Show -

Montezuma Events Center

Keystone, CO

The second setlist is more fuzzy. The first four or five songs were the same, as Peter, IMHO, wanted to more fully flush out those melodies in the silence that the evening audience allowed him. It was *SO GOOD*! He then cut into a number of his other tunes. I've heard Land of the Navajo many times, but he played the shit out of this one. I thought the Vulture Peak was really well done as well, but that's an old favorite of mine.

There was also a workshop and then a third set at the beer tasting on Sunday the 7th that we we're not able to attend.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Star Trek Demotivational Poster

Not sure why, but I find this really funny.

Ska "ModusHead" to be tapped tonight

From Ska's Facebook page:

"International IPA Day is Thursday. Hows about some Modus and Metal? We have a souped up Modus cask (Modushead) dry-hopped to the gills with Simcoe and Amarillo, and two metal bands, Towrdis and Sagerith. Rock on bitches."

I can't wait. More Hops, bitches!

Friday, July 29, 2011

McNabb a Purple Headed Warrior?!?

Aww, man! I can't believe it. I normally have to wait until the season starts to begin talking about the Vikes and their debacles, but goddamn if they havn't given me reason to already with the pending deal to acquire Donnovan McNabb from the 'Skins ... and it's still July! I have been talking steady trash about this guy being a lazy sack of sh*T for years, and now he's going to grace the squad of the purple headed warriors in 2011-12. Check out the blog below from the Washington post. It seems to sum it up well.

Romanowski: ‘McNabb was lazy’
By Dan Steinberg

I’m not sure just how often Bill Romanowski talks to Mike Shanahan nowadays, but he sure seems to think he has a read on his former coach. The ex-NFL linebacker made a bunch of radio appearances this week, and in one of them — with ESPN Boston — he attempted to clear up just what went wrong last year in Washington.

“Mike was not a difficult guy to get along with,” Romanowski said of Shanahan. “You had to be a pro. He wanted you to work hard every day. He wanted you to get there early and leave late and do not be a problem in the locker room. That’s who and what he is....

“If you get under his skin, I’ll tell you what, he will make it miserable for you. That’s the way Mike is....

“You have to be able to make the tough decisions. Look what he did with Donovan McNabb. Do you know why he had issues with Donovan McNabb? He had issues because Donovan McNabb was LAZY. He wasn’t prepared. It is a real bad thing. But guess what, Mike tried to save face, and he got caught in some situations where he should have just come out and said you know what....

“But he thought he would lose the locker room. He didn’t have to worry about losing the locker room with Albert Haynesworth. But with Donovan McNabb, he could have completely lost the locker room, so he got caught up with some issues there, kind of skating around. We all heard it last year when they benched Donovan at the end of a game and they brought Rex Grossman in and said he wasn’t ready to handle [the two-minute offense]....

“I was looking at it and I was like ‘Mike, what are you doing? Why are you doing this?’ And it was pretty clear to me. I know Mike. I’ve played for him. When you kick butt for him, you work your butt off, he will give you ultimate respect. When you don’t, he won’t.”

This does, in fact, track with much of what Jason Reid wrote this week:

People in the organization say McNabb deserves much of the blame for his disastrous partnership with the Shanahans.

They say Mike Shanahan felt betrayed by McNabb. He believed McNabb would embrace new ideas, and work harder, after being dumped by the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s why Shanahan ignored his son’s strong objections and traded second- and fourth-round draft picks for McNabb.

They say once McNabb arrived, Shanahan quickly determined his son was right. McNabb moved too slowly during practice and in games to operate their offense.

Except for the whole “lazy” word.