when the artist is away, other artists will play!

by karen #1965 third grade teacher so we went on a trip to costa rica with the family last summer...after traveling a long way in a van across who knows where...i mean we even crossed a bridge that had at least 40 alligators under it...check out this alligator family...

finally, we arrived at our hotel...here it is..

when we arrived at the hotel, there were folks giving us wet hand towels...they really looked like bath cloths...can't say that i have ever had anyone hand me bath cloths when i arrived at a hotel...so, i kinda bathed off with it...after all, i had been in a van for hours and crossed an alligator pit...

so after a quick bath in the lobby, some art catches my eye...art always catches my eye...

so there was an artist set up outside painting...of course, i thought this was about the coolest thing ever...his name was david artavia...i mean his name even had the word art in in...david ARTavia...

this guy had it made...he just sits right out there in the open air and paints...obviously, he likes to sleep in...cause the next day when he was not in his open air studio, i got into his stuff and took a few photos to share with you...hey, it was all in the name of art...so lookie lookie...

nothing cooler than a real artist's palette...except maybe grabbing the artist's palette and taking a picture when he is drinking some costa rican coffee somewhere...

now his work was pretty cool, too...would be great in a beach home...

and reasonable...it was oil!

here is what the dude looks like...i took a picture of a picture...

now i have a little side story for you...we were staying in this hotel...and it was like 100% american...prolly not the best place to stay to get the real costa rican feel...but...here we were...so, the husband friend and the daughter friend had walked down the beach earlier and spotted a few restaurants...so we really wanted to get out and see some stuff...so we asked the folks at los suenos about walking down the road to these places...they acted like we would get killed walking down the road...and so we asked could we just walk down the beach and go eat at these places...well, they acted kinda funny...so...being adventurous and all we decided to hike down the beach and eat...well, we get to walking and i notice we are approaching a creek...it was all good, i could cross with my chacos on and it was only about ankle deep...check us out...

so here we go crossing the creek with some locals that are returning from a fishing trip in a boat...we spot this cool restaurant called restaurant el pelicano...we sit down...have a nice meal less than 10 yards from the ocean...check out this food...

and then we watch the sun begin to set...and we see this sign in front of our only return route...

and the thought occurs to us that returning to the resort may be an issue...where there is an ocean, there is a tide...and the tide comes in and out...so we pay the pelicano folks and began our journey back...we arrive at the creek that used to be only ankle deep...now it is mid-thigh deep...so everyone starts crossing...i mean boats like the one Gilligan crashed on the island are floating by us...so here i go...i yank my mini skirt up and put the chacos in and firmly place my foot down...cause the current is swift...i hate to show you this picture...but here goes...

after a few minutes, we get across the creek all safe and sound...

and live happily ever after for the rest of our vacation...

The ocean breathes salty, won't you carry it in?
In your head, in your mouth, in your soul.
And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both grow old. (was wondering if i would grow old!) 
Well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I hope so.

Modest Mouse, 2005
YouTube singing "The Ocean Breathes Salty"
Happy January 12, 2011!