At the end of February Deb’s oldest friend and her husband came for a two week stay. Deb has known Marilyn for over 50 years, and they shared an apartment back in the day in Minneapolis. Many experiences, and many decades later, they still are very good friends. Marilyn and Jerry live in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. They own Wild River Outfitters, a great place to rent a canoe or kayak if you are looking for a relaxing, fun experience on the St. Croix River. Marilyn is also a retired high school teacher, so they seldom had the time to do much traveling as both their summers and winters were busy with family and work.
A number of years ago they went to Spain to visit their son Ben, who was a foreign exchange student there for an entire school year while a senior in high school. Ben has since graduated from UMD, and is getting married later this summer. This, however, was their first venture together outside of the States since then, and their first visit ever to Central America.
We hoped to make their visit a memorable one for them, and from the many times they have thanked us, we seemed to have accomplished just that. Marilyn is an animal lover, and she owns a couple of horses back in Grantsburg. The owner of the small farm across from our rental house, Elwin, also owns a few horses. Presently he has four beautiful gaited horses that are trained for shows and contests. We think Marilyn would have been content to spend time at Elwin’s just about every day! But with an entire country to try and see, and only two weeks to experience it in, we were out and about most days.
We did go to Manuel Antonio once again. Deb and I love going there, so sometimes I think we use our friends who come to Costa Rica as an excuse to return to the Pacific Coast and all it has to offer. We went on a tour through the rainforest there, and were not disappointed with the amount and the variety of animals we saw in the wild. We saw toucans, different species of lizards, hawks, howler and capuchin monkeys, and more sloths than on any other tour we had been on. There were other types of animals and insects we were able to see with the help of our guide Ricardo, who makes walking for a couple of hours through the rainforest an educational experience. But for me the highlight of the day was seeing three Blue Morpho butterflies float past us in the span of about two minutes. If you don’t know what they look like, I suggest looking them up on your computer. The Blue Morpho is the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen, and Deb agrees with me completely.
After our two day trip to Manuel Antonio, we returned to Santa Barbara and went on many of the tours that I have written about before. We never get tired of going to these same places for tours as we always learn something new and enjoy being with friends who are there for the first time. The four of us went to the Ark Herb Farm, Sibu Chocolate, and of course the Toucan Rescue Ranch. There was usually time for a morning cup of coffee (or two, or three!) on the porch, and game time in the evening.
It has been a month since Marilyn and Jerry left to return home, and I apologize to them for not posting this sooner. We have been busier than usual the past few weeks, which is a good thing. We have spent many days and nights with our friends from the Toucan Rescue Ranch, our friend Terry, and our friends Amy, Jose, and their two little boys. I hope that this helps bring back wonderful memories of your visit to our little corner of Paradise.
Our friend Emelie arrives later today for a 10 day stay, and then 5 days later Deb and I are returning to Minnesota. Somehow I will have 2 more postings to share with you before we leave. One will of course be of our time with Emelie, and our first visit to the Caribbean Coast with her. I also plan to write one about our time volunteering at the Toucan Rescue Ranch.
To Marilyn and Jerry, we are glad you enjoyed your time here and we will see you soon in Grantsburg.
Our friends Marilyn and Jerry.
There are hundreds of waterfalls in this country, here is Marilyn in front of one of them.
We drove one day near the Poas Volcano. It has been spewing clouds of ash for a couple of months, and this is actually ash bringing visibility down to about 100 feet on the roads. This picture was taken looking at a deep valley. This is a fairly clear view of it, in a minute or two after I took this photo the trees across the way were impossible to see!
While near the Poas Volcano we went to a souvenir shop we know of. It is like a step back in time to the 60’s and 70’s. Great music playing, coffee fresh brewed by the cup, and memorabilia galore from the days of the hippies. We stayed quite a while! Had coffee, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and tropical fruit drinks called naturales.
Jerry had a smoked trout smoothie! Not really, but the sign was too tempting for him to ignore a chance for a photo op.
For those too young to remember the 60’s and 70’s, this probably looks like junk. To us old hippies, it’s beautiful.
The owner of this fine establishment. Jerry trying to photobomb!
The four of us on a day trip to Sarchi. We also stopped in Atenas and Grecia that day.
Don’t know if these monkeys are related to any of the four of us. If you notice they all have furry faces and beards, and only one of us does. Hmm. Just sayin’! LOL.
And last but not least, beautiful purple flowers blooming outside of our bedroom window.
I added this last picture to help all of our family and friends realize that spring is indeed coming. I know this winter has been exceptionally cold and snowy in Minnesota and Wisconsin. But warmer temps and colorful blossoms are on the way. Just make sure all the snow has melted before May 1st, or we aren’t coming back!!!
Pura Vida.
Deb and Tim.
Deb & Tim's Adventure 