Our time in Costa Rica has come to an end and I'm not sure what to think. We had scheduled an extended stay in this relatively safe, beautiful, and hospitable Central American country in order to work our way through a list of five things: 1- First and foremost we wanted to get a bit of a start on conversational Spanish (DH because she heard that learning a new language wards off altzheimers, and me because of the number of Spanish speaking countries we'...

Manuel Antonio is said to be the most visited site in Costa Rica and, despite it's diminutive size, is supposed to be the best place in the country for wildlife viewing. We had been putting off a visit however, because it is also so crowded that they often need to close the gates after reaching a predetermined capacity. That said, Deb P was fully recovered from her allergic reaction to having a cold (and was once again happily gorging herself on family platte...

Getting to Monteverde is at least half of the adventure of Monteverde. A quirky legend has it that a number of Quaker families from Pennsylvania moved to the area (largely to avoid the Korean war draft since it violated religious principles) and worked with locals to ensure that this pristine environment wasn't overrun by tourists- done by preventing any improvements to any of the roads leading to Monteverde. Good story (and one to be somewhat respected even ...

In the many, many, many years that we have been together, I can't recall hearing DH scream or giggle- presumably these aren't two characteristics you would expect from a former police officer? She does have a series of gasps that I have learned to interpret as a summons for a needed bug squishing (the size of the gasp was usually a good indicator as to diameter of the spider to be dispatched), and she does get pretty close to wet-your-pants-stifled-giggli...

So how many times do you have to hop on a tractor in order to catch a raft in order to whitewater rapid your way to your hotel? After yet another GPS misadventure we found ourselves beside the Pacure River strapping on those o-so-flattering yellow helmets (not sure they would absorb any punishment but would probably make it easier to find the body), and life jackets that seemed a touch beyond their best-buy date. The Rio Pacure has been ranked by National Geograp...