I’m always going on and on about my amazing perfect little mountain town in the rainforest, but it’s not all daily rainbows and tropical bliss. Real talk – there are some disadvantages to living in a tree house in the jungle.
This. Bird… Look how it has the window body slam down to an art – it pulls its wings up so as not to damage them and WHAMS his body into the glass. X(
1. Birds.
The *#)@(*% birds wake up before the sun at 4am. If the chirping doesn’t wake you up, the repetitive full-speed body slams into the windows will. If you somehow manage to sleep through that (alcohol), then the incessant pecking at the glass will most definitely arouse you from your slumber and rocket you in to a hate-filled rage that results in the purchase of a pellet gun on Earth Day.
2. Water from above.
Jungle tree houses spring leaks. It happens. Murphy’s Jungle Tree House Law: Water will only leak over your bed or electronics, and only when you are not at home to stop it.
If there is no rain, and no water to leak in to your house, then you are having a drought, which means you have another problem on your hands – a water shortage, aka water from below.
3. Water from below.
The municipality might decide to shut the water off at any time without warning for an unspecified length of time. Awesooooome. Filling a bucket of water becomes as much of a habit as brushing your teeth. Furthermore, when the water is on, it may or may not make its way up the pipe to the faucet, depending on how many people downstairs are using it. Imagine the water is off all day, then it is on again in the evening and everyone below you is doing dishes, taking showers, washing children, frolicking in geyser-like water spouts – you aren’t getting any water in your tree house. (Experienced jungle plumbers needed, apply using the contact form!)
This dragonfly is beautiful and harmless, and if he can figure out how to fly off of my back porch, he won’t become spider food.
4. Spiders or Bugs.
You have to choose one. I highly recommend spiders because they eat almost all the bugs. My housekeeper cleaned all the spider webs in my house one time and the following two weeks were Bugdemic: Shock and Terror. It was a bug invasion of massive proportions. I felt like I was camping in the Florida Everglades without a tent. Ugh. The only negative to chilling with spiders is that they leave dead bug carcasses all over the place. Not ideal, but soooooo much better than bug invasion.
Stick bugs are cool, but they will destroy a spider web, so he can’t come inside.
So who wants to visit me and the spiders? No one, which brings me to the final disadvantage of living in a tree house in the jungle:
5. Isolation.
How many people want to go on vacation to a beautiful jungle mountain paradise? 3,256,977.
How many people want to live in a beautiful jungle mountain paradise? 3.
Unless I include people under 18 or over 65, there are only 3 of us. You need to own your own business and/or work wirelessly if you want to live in a jungle paradise. You also need a car so you can come down from the mountain and mingle with city folk… unless you are cool with the bus, which you can’t be because you won’t have time for your business if you are waiting on the bus all day.
This works in reverse, too. You have to have a car or a lot of time to come visit me in my perfect little mountain town.
I spend a lot of time in our yard and hiking around the mountain with Mocha. Even with the drought, this is the greenest area of Costa Rica I have ever seen.
Despite those five disadvantages, living in a tree house in the jungle is still pretty freaking awesome. I want to hear from you guys – what kinds of issues have you dealt with in order to live in a gorgeous place? Would you live with spiders and without water?
This is soooo very excellent. I was laughing from the start with the pellet gun comment. Awesome, awesome photos.
🙂 Thanks Scott!
Made my day, thanks! I could handle the spiders fine, but the water situation might be rough. What are those birds after anyway?! I just spent two weeks in a farming community in Nicaragua and was graced with the call of the roosters at the @$$ crack of dawn. Hundreds of them awake from their slumber several times a morning to join the fowl flash-mob. At least with them, it only lasts a few minutes a time.
fowl flash mob lol. We have roosters, too. And cows, and goats, and monkeys, and all types of chirping birds. They are louder than city noises, aren’t they?
I swear by now that the birds are after my sanity, hence the pellet gun.
The issue we deal with most to maintain our tropical lifestyle: Maintenance. Everything in Costa Rica either rusts, rots, or ruptures. Spontaneously and for no apparent reason. And replacement parts are either cheap Chinese facsimiles or non-existent.
ohhh yesss so true. People think everything is dirty here, but that’s not true. The earth just consumes things at an alarming rate!
Love the images you share and the bird, I would be yelling at it to stop! LOL.. The dragonfly image is my favorite!
I do yell at it. I also throw things at it. And I’m about to shoot at it as soon as my gun permit is approved. Gosh I hope it stops by then!!
I’m a Spider fan. They do good work.
And hey, looks like I am one of the 3 people! I love working in the jungle. But I have a solid roof. My Macbook is my livelihood.
You’re #4!!! There are four of us woohoo!!
I have a good spot for my macbook – but the spot it should go in on the built-in desk is definitely the spot with the most leaks.
Hello Erin,
As you know by now you can’t fight city hall, so here is a solution to your water shortage amply applied all over Latin America:
1) You must obtain a plastic water tank, 500 or 1,000 liters.
2) That water tank must have a valve/flotation device- very similiar in design and principal to the water valve, float in a toilet.
3) You must obtain a check valve acording to the size of the pipe; probably 1/2″ NPT.
4) Most important of all: you must obtain a 110 volt, 1/2HP pump with an automatic pressure control. The best place to purchase all of these items is EPA.
Once this system is installed it will work like this: When there is water at non-peak times, the tank will automatically fill itself and will stop filling once the float connected to the valve reaches its limit. When you open the tap or faucet the pump will automatically kick on and supply you with water at a constant pleasure; your nightmare will be over, viola! I have had to apply this same solution in several countries in Latin America. In lieu of this there is no other solution, except to accept what is unaccptable to most americans, i.e. sporadic water.
Cheers and Best Luck
Carl Stoffels
P.S. If thievery is a problem where you live, yes this happens in Costa Rica, and being that the tank would be installed in an adequate site at ground level, it could be interred and being that it will be full of water, stealing it becomes too laborious 🙂 That may be overkill depending on your situation.
You rock! and you probably won’t believe this:
We are on day #3 without a drop of water BUT we actually have two 1000 gallon water tanks full of water on the property with no way to get the water out. The landlord is “working on it.” I am one day away from climbing up and taking the top off to scoop water out. I can use your note to help fix the situation I’m sure, thank you!! 🙂
Bugs and water from above can be a pain in the neck, but I prefer that than living in a big city, dealing with a hell of a traffic jam 🙂
Agreed!
Great post, I know what you mean about the water from above!!!
You know you’re in Costa Rica when you’ve been without water for 3 days but you’re still 1 day away from climbing into the tank.
HA!!! Soooo true. Just wait it out, see if the problem fixes itself lol 🙂
I’m living in Puerto Viejo with the ocean as my front yard and the rainforest as my back yard, so I have two issues at hand!
I just commented on the birds to someone the other day. I felt kind of guilty asking if it was possible to relate bird chirping to water boarding tactics. I feel much better after reading your similar disdain. I miss a CUSHION. ANY cushion…I’m sick of sitting on plastic and wood. I miss a comfortable bed. Thinking I found the solution, I bought a 2 1/4″ thick foam pad to put down. Problem is, that’s too thick and squishy so now my back hurts from THAT! I miss a microwave and real pots and pans (and a real stove top…I use a 2 gas burner topper). I miss soft laundry. I’m really hating the internet speeds here also. And I’m always rocketed out of my chair when the transformer on the electric pole blows up every now and then. The size of the roaches is extremely unsettling as well. Luckily I don’t see them that often.
Those birds. Ugh. THey have left me alone for a couple of weeks now but the mere mention of them still boils up a fiery hate inside of me.
If you add liquid fabric softener like Suavitel to your wash, the clothes come out soft on the clothesline. It’s a chemical, though. :/
“Murphy’s Jungle Tree House Law”- hilarious!
The water issues alone would be challenging for me…and then you got to the bugs! Eek! I am still trying to conquer my irrational fear of tiny creatures that are less than 1% of my size and strength. Haven’t gotten there yet…one day….maybe.
I’m OK with bugs as long as there aren’t too many of one particular type in the same area. Bug diversity = OK. Singular species swarms = not OK.
Too funny I can totally relate! Down here in Puerto Viejo, living in a jungle beach house, I deal with mold, my laundry never drying, ant invasions, termites leaving dust all over everything, gecko poop, cockroaches, fallen power lines, monsoons, and swarms of mosquitos… but somehow it is so worth it!
Oh, and let’s not forget the crowing roosters every morning!
I’ve gotten used to the roosters – they never stop crowing here in the mountains!
I love hanging out in tropical forests but no, wouldn’t want to live with spiders and bugs in the house, nor be without water! Been very pleased that our community in Santa Barbara has its own water source because we have always had running water when the pipes in town went dry.
As far as the bird goes, it was attacking its reflection in the window perhaps more so during breeding season. Find some way to stop the reflection from occurring and it will stop too.
I could have used your input a loooong time ago because you are 100% correct. I solved the problem by hanging fabric over the outside of the back windows and putting my dog on the front porch. Now that the rain has started, the birds are leaving me alone and the windows are uncovered. Peace at last! 🙂
Some of my questions have been answered here. Does anybody have experience with lightning and thunder while up there? What about other tree animals like snakes and the big cats? What about weights. Does anyone have experience with crashes as a result of overweight?
There are lightning, thunder, many snakes… big cats are here but endangered. Not sure how to answer your question about weights or overweight. What are you asking – if falling through the treehouse is a risk for overweight people? If that’s your question then the answer is that it just depends on how it was built.
Do any of you know what type of tree that is with the red flower? Thanks!