BACK IN COSTA RICA

It has now been just over two weeks since we came back to spend the winter in Costa Rica. The first day back was not without it’s trials and tribulations, but once we got back to the house we rent, both of us felt an ease and comfort settle upon us. Our flight was diverted at the last second (LITERALLY!) from landing at the San Jose Airport to the Liberia Airport. This is about 5 hours away by car, and it is around midnight. American Airlines said it would fly us all back to San Jose at 11:30 the next morning. 11:30!!! No motels, no meals, no coach buses. Just excuses. Luckily two women who were also passengers and spoke Spanish arranged for a coach bus that carried 55 of us back here, arriving around 6am or so. American Airlines could have, should have, arranged and paid for that bus. But what we got from the agents were excuses why they couldn’t do that. It cost us $46 to ride that bus. The airline did send us vouchers for $200 to compensate, but it never should have gone as far as it did. All is well that ends well I guess. When Laurel met us at the gate I almost cried. We were home.

So in the first two weeks we have been to the farmer’s market twice, taken in two movies, been walking most days, drove up near the Paos Volcano, have been grocery shopping a coupe of times, had friends over for dinner one night, ate out three times, and got together with my sister-in-law’s cousin Terry again. We have also started watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. Getting into it after a slow, somewhat confusing start (I think anyway). And we also have found time to relax. And drink Costa Rican coffee. Did I mention relaxing? Believe me, feeling relaxed down here is easy. Sort of like breathing, just comes naturally.

Yesterday we went to the Toucan Rescue Ranch for volunteer orientation. We start volunteering on Tuesday of this week. We will be cutting up lots of food, cleaning up some of the dishes and animal pens, and feeding some of the animals with trays of food in their pens. We are definitely looking forward to this and feel this is a way for us to repay this country for the hospitality and friendliness the locals here have shown to us.

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This is what we bought at the farmer’s market on Friday of this week.

Bouquet of fresh flowers. Large Pineapple. Fresh eggs (30). Two types of lettuce. Two heads of broccoli. Three sweet peppers. Red cabbage, Yellow onion. About 15 plums. Two containers of strawberries. Five Plantains. Three mangos. A bag of homemade potato chips. Cost was about $28. We love going there every Friday.

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This gentleman lives directly across the road from Laurel’s property. He was out riding and training one of his horses as we were coming home one day. Notice the high stepping the horse displays. He is trained to prance like that. Just beautiful.

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Deb took this photo on the day we went up near the Paos Volcano. We don’t know what the name of the plant is, but it is not unusual to see this on our travels up into the hills and mountains. Most of the leaves are easily 3 feet long, with some being even bigger than that. The photo unfortunately doesn’t show just how big they really are.

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Finally, we have included a short video. This was taken from the porch of the house we rent. We hope that everyone is healthy and happy. Stay warm.

Pura Vida.

Deb and Tim.