MARTINE...a Costa Rica story

We have a home in Costa Rica that we don't get to go to nearly enough but this one time since it was going to be a long trip we thought this would be the perfect time to take our dog, Martine.  Well, actually we were planning on not coming back and Martine had no choice but to hang with us in a tropical paradise.

Martine has always been a leash dog and the kind of dog that goes crazy when he sees any dog; the bigger the dog the crazier he gets.   I look at those calm dogs with dreamy eyes wishing but knowing with a sigh that Martine is just not one of those dogs. Martine is our dog no matter what and we love him, Nyla calls him her big brother. Still we were a little nervous, well very nervous at what he would do and what kind of predicament he would get into. 

Our biggest concern was that he would get hurt and we just didn't want anything to happen to our Martini-beanie. Costa Rica dogs seem to be big and protective and/or laid back lounging on the dirt road, siesta types.  Nothing like our barking, in your face begging, listen when he wants to Martine, still he does have a lot of loving qualities that you realize when you get to know him. 

So after all the crazy logistics (and expense) to get Martine to Costa Rica as soon as we got to our home, Andy lets Martine out of the car leashless. I did a gasp and my heart started pounding. I was so nervous and thought, really this is how it's gonna be right off the bat no easing into this? Of course, Martine took off, running like the wind! We are so lucky we live in the country and we don't have to worry too much about cars, it's mainly other dogs, cows, iguanas, quads etc.

Martine stayed leashless, lounged on our porch, met lots of friends, was a perfect alarm dog, got into a little trouble here and there and always got very muddy and stinky; to say the least he had the time of his life! 

While we were there my husband, Andy made a homemade smoker and we smoked fish and made beef jerky.  I'm not a beef eater but boy everyone was gobbling it up like crazy and the smoked fish was outstanding! A perfect tropical treat! Andy can really work that smoker! Which wasn't an easy task, as you can tell from the picture the smoker was rigged to say the least but we loved our little r2d2 smoker friend.  So did Martine.

To smoke anything it takes a lot of time and patience, we got the wood from various people, the smoker ran on a hotplate (I told you it was rigged) so when the rains weren't too torrential and the electricity didn't go off for too long and we found the fish truck and made it to the grocery store to get the beef, and drove 1 1/2 hours to get a new hot plate because we burned the other one up and we remembered to brine the meat...

Finally, we would have some mouth watering smoked goods.  One day we couldn't find Martine, after looking and looking we found him here.

This turned out to be a favorite hangout for Martine.  Don't worry; he never burned his little paws or nose. This wasn't Martine's only Costa Rican adventure but I think it was his tastiest!
He's back with us in the states; he's a lot more laid back, speaks a little Spanish and still loves when Andy uses the smoker only Martine can't get into our smoker here in the states.

I love our little tough guy, thanks Martine for bringing fun into our lives! Here's what Martine's been up to lately - Martine living a dog's life on a Sunday morning!

I'm a little more laid back now too and that seems to help us all! We watch the show Cesar,The Dog Whisperer. We're picking up some great tips that we can use from this moment forward, check out his website for more tips

I hope you liked our Martine story and that you have an amazing day filled with silly furry friends! xxxxoooo Michelle