Thursday, October 28, 2010

Birthday Girls

This post is a little late in coming, but I wanted to make sure you knew about this event. It's hard to believe that 4 of our friends had a birthday within 2 weeks of each other, but only in Costa Rica - it happened. Stef's good friends Cathy, Karolyn, Tammy and Julie decided they had to have a party to celebrate this event, so we did - Take a look...


 Yep, that's them - from left to right you see Cathy, Tammy, Karolyn and Julie - It's obvious that they are having a very good time and it gets better. - Check it out

There was a pretty big group of us that met at the Guanacaste Restaurant, one of our favorite places. It was apparent that everyone was set to have a good time.
The Guanacaste is a great, well-run place with great food at very reasonable prices - however, it's not that big and when we bring a group of 15-20 people in there - we take up a lot of space, but we always pay the tab.
At this point, things are pretty calm, but watch out.
Yes, that is really Cathy





OMG!
Karolyn, Stef and Kathleen


This is Stef with my good friend Charlie who has a tendency never to get excited

Bob & Harriet who are from Nashville and have become good friends

I think that they are starting to calm down a bit? No chance

Of course, Stef and me who are always the calm ones who makes sure everyone is safe and sound. Look at Stef's stare - Looks like I have a job on my hands.
As you can see, it is obvious that a good time was had by all. Until next year - same time, same channel - You know what? I forgot to find out the ages of the birthday girls - probably never will.

Friday, October 1, 2010

FOR SALE

We are starting to make some changes - First, as you already know - we have put our property up for sale so we can down-size and start traveling more.

You have seen the story on our Hyundai Terracan. It is now completely fixed and ready to go. However, it is also for sale because I really want to buy a new vehicle. Not sure that I am making a mistake, but whatever???

You can see both ads I just made at  http://propertiesotherthingscostarica.blogspot.com/

Let us know if you have anyone interested - especially on the house because I am very anxious to start building a new one with our great builder Luis.

INDEPENDENCE DAY - COSTA RICA

September 15th - This is a very big Holiday in Costa Rica and the rest of Central America where they celebrate their day of Independence. What you really need to do is to stock up on everything because all the stores will be closed. So if you snooze, you lose.

In the morning around 9:00 AM they have a parade in the downtown area. Our friends Mercedes and Luis usually have reserved seats in an open area restaurant right on the parade route. They invite Stef and me and several of our friends to join them this year. Take a look.

As you will see, the entire parade was made up of kids. There were hardly any adults in the parade.

It was a good day for all and one where you learn more and appreciate the people of Costa Rica.



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My God - Have We Had the Rain!!!!

This is normally the rainy season, which I really like the best. But, the last month has been one heck of a wet one. In fact, we have had 4 times the rain that we should normally have. It has really been wet and I have not seen the sun for at least a week! Noel, our gardener has not been able to work most of the week due to the rains, and is now hurting for money to take care of his many girlfriends. All the roads to the Pacific are closed due to landslides and falling debris onto the roads.

How the rainy season normally works is that the mornings are sunny and beautiful. Then around 2:00 PM it starts to cloud up. Around 3:00 PM it starts to rain pretty hard for an hour or two. Then it clears up and is nice for the rest of the night. The next morning is sunny and bright and it looks like it never rained. - That is the normal rainy season and I really like it.

Now, what we have had in the last week due to a tropical depression on the coast has caused landslides, 90 roads to be shut down, a problem with my septic tank and more. They say that all of this has been caused by what they call La Nina - The world weather has changed dramatically in the last decade, and I have some concerns about what the future has in store for us.

Don't know what to say, but now the weather is headed up the east coast of the USA, and I wish them the best of luck.