Don't tell mi esposa, but he's getting a machete for Christmas. Really. You see, he loves to work in the yard and plans on planting a garden when we find a house to rent here. And from what we've seen, it may be the only tool he needs to do the job.
For sure, a Tico would laugh at the glutton of lawn and garden tools that fill our small tool shed at home. There are at least five different shovels, three rakes, a hoe, lopers, pruning sheers, hedge sheers, a tree trimmer and an assortment of hand shovels, hoes, etc. Phooey on that!
Day after day, we watch groundskeepers, homeowners, and even farmers tend to their properties with little more than the handy dandy, all-purpose machete. Apparently it is good for boring a hole in the soil to plan seeds, for tilling the soil between rows of plantings and for trimming bushes, hedgerows, and even trees. We've even seen it used to scalp the scrub grass from the dirt road below our balcony.
The other day our landlord hired a worker to trim a 100-foot row of border hedges that was easily five feet tall. The worker arrived with nothing but his machete and four hours later, the hedge was reduced to a cleanly-cut height of a little more than three feet. No gas. No battery. No power cord. Just a sharp knife and strong arm. Impressive!
In the same vein, we were talking the other day about needing to buy a lawnmower to bring along with us when we return in December. But I've been watching how they do things here and I'm thinking we might be able to forget that idea too. Things are more simple here and folks seem to have figured out that the trusty weed whacker mows down a yard full of grass just as easily as a bulky, maintenance happy power mower.
It does make one ponder how we let something as simple as lawn maintenance get so complicated. So Christmas just might have a few surprises for the man in my life. But I'm not expecting any surprises in return - like seeing him toss the shovels, rakes, and hoes into the garage sale pile. No more than me doing the same with my kitchen gadgets. Some changes will be much slower coming than learning to take the bus and shop at the feria.
Pura Vida
