Our wonderful friends Betty and Stuart arrive in Costa Rica for 15 days of fun in Paradise
Crocs in a river on the way to Manuel Antonio. Deb counted more than a dozen!
Two baby sloths being fed mango, and an adolescent sloth just hanging around. These were taken at the Toucan Rescue Ranch. Eventually these sloths will be released into the wild. They will be tracked via radio collars to make sure they acclimate properly.
A beautiful Macaw and 2 parrots. The heads of the parrots are 4 different colors. Around the beak it is rust colored, turning to almost white, then blue, and finally green. These birds had broken wings and won’t fly again. Living wonderful lives at Toucan Rescue Ranch.
The next 14 pictures I took this morning on the property where we are living this winter. This is February 1st, and Deb and I don’t miss snow and wind chills at all. 
From in front of the house, hydrangeas grow bigger than soccer balls.
Peppers are nice and spicy, while the hummingbirds love the white flowers.
Lemons as big as oranges, and bananas ripening. All the fruit here is organic.
Limes the size of tennis balls, and delicate flowers, both behind the house.
The purple Wisteria is just outside of our bedroom. Loaded with flowers.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had a song which included a verse about 2 cats in the yard. Meet Mutt and Kitty-Kitty. Laurels cats, sweet and friendly. Two cats in the yard!!
A Blue Mot Mot. This bird sits outside our kitchen many mornings, and some afternoons as well. It is really a larger bird than it appears, about the size of a falcon.
On Saturday, February 13th Betty and Stu arrived here for 15 days of fun and exploring. They actually arrived on their wedding anniversary. Nice way to celebrate for them.
We toured many places, some of which Deb and I had been to, some were new to us as well. It went by very quickly, and we enjoyed every day together.
We toured the Ark Herb Gardens, spent 3 days in Manuel Antonio and toured the rain forest there, went to the Toucan Rescue Ranch, rode the tram over the canopy of the Braulio Carrillo rain forest, went to the Gold Museum in downtown San Jose, and went on a coffee tour. And somehow we still found time to relax, do some shopping, make quite a few meals, and play games many evenings. It was all great. Well, except for playing Rummy. Don’t ask.
Tomorrow Deb’s cousin Sherry comes to stay with us for 2 nights. She has been in country since Sunday on business and goes home on Sunday. Even though her visit is going to be short, we are looking forward to seeing her. On Saturday we are taking her to the Toucan Rescue Ranch (TRR). They have toucans, parrots, macaws, ocelots, sloths, monkeys, owls, and more. Sherry is here for just a short period of time, but going here will allow her to see many animals close up in a very short period of time. The TRR does wonderful work. It is a non profit and tries to rehab as many animals as possible to be returned to their natural environments. Deb and I have talked to them about volunteering there next winter. We hope to be able to talk to them again about volunteering when we are there this Saturday . We would love to do something like this as we both love animals, and we both have missed volunteering at the Minnesota Zoo this winter. Deb and I really have loved our time here and want to give back to this country and it’s people. This, we hope, would be a great way to do just that.
Finally, the title of this blog is “More Visitors & The Search Ends”. The visitors were obviously Betty and Stuart, with Sherry coming to our house tomorrow.
“The Search Ends” portion of the title refers to our looking for a house to rent for next winter in Costa Rica. We made the decision weeks, if not months ago, to return here. We looked in a number of different areas wanting to possibly live in another section of this country. We looked at about 11 or 12 houses. Some were hours northwest of here. One was about an hour and a half southwest of here in the high hills and mountains, with a view of the Pacific Ocean from the back yard. Some were about an hour from here. We finally settled on a house in the hills with a beautiful view, fruit trees, flowers, birds galore, great temperatures daily, and a wonderful owner. We are returning to the house we are renting this year!! We realized that every house we saw we compared to this one and all it has to offer that meets our needs. They all fell short in many ways. This house has it’s “quirks” for sure. But we have learned to live with them and really enjoy living here. The porch is my favorite place to have coffee in the morning. Birds singing, butterflies all around, coffee and a book. Heaven. All of our visitors can attest to the draw of the porch. And Laurel, the owner, lives just steps from the porch. She has been invaluable to us in so many ways. We talked with her yesterday after seeing another house, and quickly agreed to rent this house from November 1, 2018, through April 30, 2019. Deb and I are not only happy that the search is over, we are extremely happy to have this house to return to.
And finally, Betty and Stu’s anniversary wasn’t the only occasion we celebrated while they were here. Deb’s birthday is January 23rd. Take a look at the picture below, and tell me, am I a lucky man or what!!!!!
Pura Vida.
Deb & Tim
Deb & Tim's Adventure 