When we first left on our seven month adventure, we had hopes and dreams of what we would do and what we would be experiencing. We never thought that those hopes and dreams would be far surpassed. But that indeed has happened. As I write this I am feeling both joy and also some sadness. We will be leaving Costa Rica on April 30th, just eleven days from now. We are looking forward to seeing our wonderful family. Not seeing our kids and grandkids has been the hardest part of this journey. Kara, Pete, Cassidy, Lucas, Erik, and Alyssa, you are the loves of our lives. Get ready for big hugs and kisses. And maybe a gift or two from us!! We also have missed our many friends that are very close to our hearts. I won’t even begin to name you all for fear that my old brain would forget to include every name I would like to. To all of our dear and close friends, can’t wait to give you all hugs and kisses too.
It is so hard for us to believe that those seven months in Costa Rica are now in the rear view mirror! The time has gone by us in a flash. When we look at this blog and all of the pictures that we have taken, we are truly grateful for every moment that we are lucky enough to have spent here. This country and it’s beautiful people will have a place in our hearts forever. We want to say thank you to all of our friends and family that visited us, you have enriched our time here more than you probably realize. We now have many people with which to relive our experiences here, and that will hopefully be fun for all of us. To those relatives and friends that couldn’t make it here this trip, we are returning for another six months on November 1st!! Hint, hint. We know that our kids and grandkids are planning on visits, as well as our friends Renee and Rob. But that leaves room for more visitors, and we are hoping for a few of our friends that didn’t make it down this time will be able to visit on Phase II of our Costa Rica Adventure!! And for those friends that did come down here on Phase I, we would love to welcome you back too.
Here are the last photos we will be posting. The feedback we have gotten has been so positive, and it’s been really satisfying to know how much you have enjoyed the photos. So, here are a few more. Enjoy.
Coming to Costa Rica had been Deb’s dream for more than 12 years. She had hoped for a week or two. It turns out seven months here is still not enough! This pic was taken a couple of days ago at one of our favorite restaurants. She has been wearing this smile for almost seven full months. That makes me happy. Deb’s dream. Our happiness!
The wonderful woman who owns our rental house, Laurel, had a Costa Rican Luau this past Sunday. Those are some of the banana leaves that that the pig was wrapped in. Each of those stalks are from the banana plants on her property, and are about 8 feet long. The meat was cut into six large pieces, and even though there were over 40 people at the party, there was a lot of meat left over. Oh Yea.
These are some of the wonderful people that have been neighbors of ours in Laurel’s other rental house. On the left is Carol, Ryan, and 3 month old Kai. Carol is from Peru, and Ryan is from Virginia. The pic on the right is of Alba, with her children Caleb and Layla. Alba is originally from Guatemala, and her husband Erik is from Virginia too! Unfortunately Erik couldn’t make it to the luau. Alba and her family are presently living in the other rental house, and will still be here when we return. Getting to know these young people has been so nice for us. Learning the customs and traditions of both Peru and Guatemala has been fun for us. We will continue to stay in touch with both of these families and will most certainly reconnect when we return in November.
This is a picture of Laurel, our friend and hostess. She is an artist and has a wonderful business selling hand painted rugs and place mats. The pictures on her website really do not do her artistry justice. Her website is – laurelsoriginals.com. Take a look. You will be amazed, I promise. I didn’t think our blog could be complete unless a picture of Deb with children in her lap was included somewhere! This is an image most of us know quite well from her time as a daycare provider. Trust me, kids still gravitate to her. That is Layla and Caleb, Alba’s two children.
A local farmer’s market we love going to every Friday. It is located in the city of San Joaquin, about a 15 minute drive from our house. Just a small portion of the pineapples on this table. Probably 6 different vendors here selling pineapples. Cost? About $1.70 each! The middle picture shows one of the two isles, each of them easily 100 yards long. Mangos and cantaloupes piled high from our favorite fruit vendor. Three good sized mangos might cost as much as $4, and the cantaloupes are about $1.50 each. We go about 9 in the morning, and there are literally more than a hundred shoppers there at any one time.
Two vendors we go to every week at the farmer’s market. Eggs here are not refrigerated! They are not washed at all, so the natural protective coating on the eggs remains in place. We have had eggs in our house, non refrigerated, for over 2 weeks and there is no problem with them. Free range chickens, vibrant yellow/golden yolks, great tasting eggs. The man on the right consistently sells the juiciest strawberries I have ever had. Both of these vendors, along with the man selling mangos, have gotten to know us and greet us with big smiles and a warm “Hola”. The produce here is locally grown with no poisons being used. What a novel idea. Healthy, fresh produce. No poisons. Locally grown. Hmm.
I have one last picture to add that I think will be fitting for our last blog posting. (There will be more postings when we return in November!). But now I need to say good bye to some friends who are no longer with us. Since Deb and I arrived last October, six people we knew have passed on, and that is hard for us to imagine. So please bear with me. Two bus drivers that I drove with for over 25 years before they retired, Simmie and Bob Seidel. May you both find the roads in heaven smooth and sunny. Dan Oakes, a friend and one of the best fathers I’ve ever known. He always smiled, always asked about our entire family, always was kind and caring. He was a veterinarian, loved animals, and was in the most perfect line of work he could have ever been involved in. Richard Morgan, a long time volunteer at the Minnesota Zoo. I will miss his humor and smile every Tuesday I am at the Zoo. If there are animals in heaven, Richard is probably quite nearby. Especially if they are near a river or a lake. That’s Richard in a canoe! While I will miss the four I have already named, these last two are incredibly hard for me to write about. I am literally typing through my tears. Andy Suerth, the 38 year old son of one of my best friends, Don, died while on vacation with his mother, wife, and two little girls. This tragically happened on December 4th. I know it was the hardest thing Don ever had to deal with. Christmas was hard for that entire family. And then, unbelievably, on January 26th, Don also passed away. That was the only time in our seven months here that I wished I was in Minnesota. Don, I miss you. In every way close friends can possibly miss each other, I really miss you. Breakfast and lunch get-togethers will never be the same. If there are sporting events in heaven, Don has a seasons ticket.
I hope that all who are reading this blog will understand why I had to write about those friends. I would have felt as though I was ignoring them and how they impacted my life in many different ways. Thanks.
And finally, this is the last blog posting until we approach our return to this paradise known as Costa Rica. We have adopted this as our second country. We both are excited to see our family and all of our friends. The sadness we feel about leaving here is just proof that we have enjoyed our time here so very much, and that a small piece of us remains when we leave. That sadness is tempered because we are already looking ahead to Phase II of our Costa Rica Adventure. We will be exploring the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, which we never got to on this visit. And we are looking at possibly spending a few days in Ecuador and/or the Galapagos Islands. There are plants, insects, and animals in the Galapagos that are present no where else on this planet. Hopefully, we will be able to afford that. If not, a return to Panama is always possible. Either way, Deb and I will still be pinching ourselves daily and never taking a second of this adventure for granted. Love you all. Hope to see you very soon. And one last photo. This says it all.
Pura Vida,
Deb & Tim.
Deb & Tim's Adventure 