Coati Mundi - Another Strange Visitor

Yesterday afternoon, we had another strange visitor come into our yard. It is called a:

 Coati Mundi

(kow'aatee'múndee)

(picture taken from the internet to show example - Courtesy of Black Pine in Indiana)

Now, these guys are a member of the raccoon family. They eat both meat and vegetation. In spite of being part of the raccoon family, Coatis look very different - They sport a much longer snout, smaller stature, smaller eyes, shorter ears and longer hair. However, as a raccoon, the Coati Mundi shares a long tail marked with dark bands - One important thing to note is that they have very long and effective claws that can do a lot of damage to anything coming after them. You will soon see why this is one of my main concerns.

These critters like to climb high into trees and for some strange reason they can rotate their hind feet to make coming down from a tree head first much easier. They are also very fast and can run at speeds up to 15 miles per hour.

I have never seen an animal like this before, but they live in the US, Mexico, Central and South America. The females live in groups of up to 20, but the males are much more reclusive and stay to themselves.

If you are thinking of having one of these for a pet, forget it. They are not domesticated, and have no desire to be trained making them not an ideal candidate for your best friend.

Now - what happened yesterday:

• This creature was strolling across our lawn by the pool - I yelled to Stef to let her know what was going on - Abby also saw and began chasing it - up into a tree by the guest house.
• It climbed down and jumped to the ground and hauled butt with Abby chasing it -  and, almost caught it, which could have been very bad for Abby - THANK GOD!! Because that thing could have killed our precious dog with it's claws.

Anyway - it is gone now - and, I do not think it will want to come back with Abby guarding the house. - We found out that our friend Betty knows that these critters are hanging around close to her place that is only a couple of hundred meters from our house. - She has taken some pictures of which, I think you will enjoy - Take a look

This was really another great experience in learning about the wonders of Costa Rica - we do not mind these animals being here because it is their place to live as much as it is ours.

Here is a website that provides mucho information about Coati Mundi's. It also has some videos of how the animal interacts with humans. We think you will enjoy it.

http://www.squidoo.com/coatimunde

WWII Vet Receives Long Overdue Medals

When we built our first home in Brentwood, TN, This retired couple moved in next door to us. They were Dick and Judy Zartman who became close friends of ours. Even though at the time I was many years away from retirement, the guys in the neighborhood along with myself pictured Dick as the perfect example of what a retired man's life should be like and we all looked at him with envy.

Recently, Judy notified us of this event honoring Dick. You may want to check it out because is is something to be proud of.

WWII vet receives long overdue medals on Brentwood Home Page

Costa Rica Scores High in Happiness

This is an article taken out of the We Love Costa Rica website that shows once again that Costa Rica is a great place to live: Their website can be found by clicking the link below, you might also consider becoming a member because it is always up to date and has very informative information.

http://www.welovecostarica.com/Index.cfm

Jeffrey David Sachs is one of the youngest economics professors in the history of
Harvard University.

Sachs has written several books, he has been named one of Time Magazine's "100
Most Influential People in the World" twice and is one of the Editors of the March
2012 World Happiness Report in which Costa Rica ranks #1 for 'Average Life Satisfaction."

In an interview while meeting with Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla (1), in
New York City Jeffrey Sachs said:

"For those of us who know Costa Rica, we are not surprised that Costa Rican appears
so high on the (World Happiness Report) lists. Costa Rica is a beautiful and unusual
country after choosing over 60 years ago not to have an army, choosing a peaceful
direction and environmental sustainability. Costa Rica, definitely qualifies as one of
the iconic countries for showing the rest of the world how to do things right."

Why not come visit and enjoy a little Costa Rica happiness for yourself?

The 158 page World Happiness Report in .pdf format edited by John Helliwell, Richard
Layard and Jeffrey Sachs can be found in our Download Library at:

[ http://www.welovecostarica.com/members/programs/opendownloads.cfm ]

If you enjoy WeLoveCostaRica.com and our newsletter please forward it on to
someone you love ...

This is Pretty Cool

I was just informed that we had our first visitor from:

Republic of Macedonia

Would you believe that this is the homeland of all of Pete's relatives? - Pretty neat!

Welcome

A Friend Returns for a Brief Visit

Remember our friends and neighbors Ed and Johanna Lane? 

Within a few months of moving to Costa Rica, we became friends with them and then became their neighbors when we built our home in Hacienda Atenas. Ed and Jo are from Connecticut. Ed is a retired fireman from the New York Fire Department and Jo is a retired attorney. They are great people and we cherish their friendship. Near the end of last year, they sold their home here, but promised to return and visit us often.

Well, recently Jo's mother who is over 95 yrs old is not doing very well, Jo is consistently by her side and doing everything she can to help her. Both of them have been getting extensive dental work done here because of the quality of the work and the price. It may be well to note that dental work is Costa Rica's 2nd largest industry.
Anyway, Ed had to come down for more work - But this time, Jo had to stay back home. We promised her that we would take good care of her sweetie because after all - they recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Pretty cool don't you think?

In spite of his trip being so short, we still made the best of it. I picked him up at the airport Sunday morning, made his dental appointment Monday morning and still had time for him to catch up with some old friends and relax a bit. I got him to the airport early Wednesday afternoon and got him on the way back to his sweetie in the US of A.

Now, the night before Ed left - he took Stef and me out to dinner at one of Atenas' finest restaurants. We had a picture taken to make sure that Jo saw it. So here ya go Jo - This Bud's for you dear!!

Ed's visit was brief, but very fulfilling and we enjoyed every minute of it. Waiting for the next time when both of you will join us.  

2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Party

We had a great time last year and decided to make our St. Pat's Celebration an annual event. The second annual party took place Saturday night and everybody had another great time.

I'm not really sure how many attendees joined us, but it was a lot. We had seating set up for about 90 people and the tables were not far from all being full. I guess when the word spreads about a party, no one is going to want to miss it.

The party started at 5:00 PM, and Stef and I worked all day to get things set up - Then the crew got here around 3:00 PM to finalize the details.

This is Lis and Elieth who made sure our guests had everything they needed. They got here early to make sure everything was ready.

This is Ana Cecilia who was in charge of "Ana Cecilia's Shuttle Service. Notice that she is driving the most dependable vehicle I own, but she is very experienced with it and handles it like a pro.

One thing that worked out great is that my neighbor Henry who owns the lots across the street from me offered to let me use his parking lot for everyone to park their car - this worked out great- people would park their car there, Ana CC would pick them up and bring them to the house. - Aren't good neighbors wonderful!





Anyway, I got Ozzie to do the DJ thing, and he did a great job again this year. By the Way - Ozzie also takes care of our pest control needs and has given us the best results since we moved here. He provided the music and later in the night, some got several brave soles involved in karaoke.(Pictures to come a bit later)  This is Ozzie on the far left with his son and his son's sweet girlfriend.





The guests started arriving just after 5:00 PM and I told Ozzie to get the music going. Within 1/2 hour, this is what it looked like.

People coming in and getting ready to see friends and have a good time. Well, that is exactly what we did. First thing - when our neighbors Don & Elaine got here, they brought some offerings.

This is Don and me getting ready to get started - you will see much more a little later. I look a little ridiculous don't you think?

Things started gearing up and this gives you a little idea of how things were going.

My theory is: As long as everyone is having a good time - I am happy and satisfied. I am happy this night! 

Now, we get to the karaoke and dancing. I started things off with a little bit of Elvis, then the talented people got things rocking. Check this out.  

This is Melani and Mercedes doing a duet

Your's truly trying to do a song, but I forgot the words,and they tried not to make it obvious.

Another famous group doing New York, New York - look at the emotions they are expressing with this song.

One girl who loves to do karaoke got going and did a great job - unfortunately, she had to leave early in order to catch a flight the next morning.







Then there was the dancing - one neighbor who said that they were not really  too sociable got to rock'n out there on the dance floor. Then, there were the others who were already wound up and rock'n.

With all this, the party kept going on and people were having a great time

And of course, my lovely wife who always enjoys a good party

Quite a few smiling faces don't you think :-)

There were burgers and hot dogs for everyone and people brought a side dish that made the meal complete. And, I want to thank Cameron and Howard for being so kind to grill them for us.

Well, we finally wrapped it up around 11:00 PM and thank God Liz and Elieth got things cleaned up. I think that everyone had a great time, and that made it worthwhile to Stef and me. - We want people to know that this is what Costa Rica is all about.

As we say goodbye to St Pat this year, below, you will see some of our loyal Irish residents, but I am not going to tell you their names...

Please join us next year...

Great Visitors / Great Vacation

February was a great month for us:

• Our friend Charlie Hughes stayed and visited us for the entire month
• Charlie's girlfriend Victoria made her first visit to our wonderful country. We now think that this could be the first of many visits here for Victoria
• Bob and Carol finally made their annual trip to visit us. On this visit, we got to celebrate Bob's birthday with him.
• And, we all took a short vacation to the Pacific Beaches in the Guanacaste Region.

I dedicated several posts to all the events for this period. To make it easier for you to follow - I reversed the order of the posts from the way blogs normally do - Please enjoy the posts below.

Our Friends from Tennessee

Stef and I lived in Nashville for almost 20 years. In 1993, we got really involved in pleasure boating. That April, we purchased a 12x42' Gibson that we named Sea Es Ta and we had a lot of fun on that boat. It was the 1st of 8 Gibson's that we owned over the years. The best thing about boating is the people you meet. On the dock, nobody cares about what you do or how much money you make - we are just one happy family.

A couple of very special friends that we grew to know, now come to visit us in Costa Rica. They are still into boating and tell us some of the wild stories that still go on at the lake. Let me introduce them to you...

This is Charlie Bob Hughes seated to the right. Charlie really gave me a rash of sh** about moving to Costa Rica - My response was "Charlie when I get there, you come on down and visit -then tell me what you think" Well, about 3 months after we moved here - Charlie came down and spent a few weeks with us - After the 3rd day, Charlie bought a lot and formed a corporation and then returned later with some investment monies to buy more properties. He now comes down at least once a year and spends a month with us. - This time, he spent the entire month of February with us.

Charlie is a widower whose wife Ann died of Cancer many years ago - Recently, Charlie met the lady seated next to him and my God - he is really nuts over this girl. Her name is Victoria and she is a CPA from Nashville. This is not a good time for a tax lady to be away, but Charlie used his charm and got her to come down to see what our little country is all about. - I got things set up so she could use the computer and communication to get some work done while she was here. I really kind of think that Victoria really likes Costa Rica and was very happy being here with Charlie.Victoria arrived in Costa Rica on the 13th and headed back home on the 22nd.

Our other friends visiting were Bob McDow and Carol Milam. Bob is a retired Professor of Physics and Carol owns a bookkeeping company - she takes care of our financial affairs in Nashville. Bob is a very dear friend and was with me on my first exploratory journey to Costa Rica so he knows a lot about the country One very important thing to note is that Stef and I were responsible to Bob and Carol getting together. This was at least 10 yrs ago. Another thing is that they come here at least once a year to relax and enjoy what Costa Rica has to offer. They arrived on the 15th and headed back home on the 28th. Carol can explain her new "Milam Medical Heath Care Plan" that she implemented here a couple of years ago. - It is pretty neat.

Now, we have Charlie, Victoria, Bob and Carol here at the same time - some of the next posts will give you an idea of some of the adventures we had - Remember, we are all boaters and boaters really believe in having a good time - Stand by for more.

The Taj Mahal

If you like Indian Food in an authentic atmosphere, you need to check out the Taj Mahal located on the road between Escazu and Santa Ana.

The guy who bought Bek's property in Atenas happens to own the place. He invited Bek for dinner one night and Bek told us how good it was, so we decided to check it out. Because boaters have a tendency to drink one or two extra drinks and party a lot, we felt that it would be best if we had Walter drive us there in his van.
The attendees were:

Bob & Carol

Charlie & Victoria

Stef & Me

Bek

Walter

This was only the second time I had ever eaten Indian food, and it was really good. The first time was when I was working at Bridgestone - A couple of my friends and co-workers were Indian and they took me to one of their favorite places. Well, as you can see, we were having a good time

Victoria & Charlie - look at the big smile on Charlie's face :-)

Bob & Carol - I just remembered that Bob forgot to take his daily Power-nap this afternoon

Stef & Your's Truly - notice how she glows when I put my arm around her?  Hee Hee










Dinner was great and everybody stayed out of trouble. If you are looking for a nice place that is different, you may want to check out the Taj Mahal - This is the link to their website

http://www.thetajmahalrestaurant.com/

Upon leaving we noticed some really neat decorations - their website has an interesting photo gallery - But a un-named person in our group got a little crazy on the way out - not sure you should see this, but here goes:

 Now, a little more subdued

That is about it for this outing - Next trip is to the Pacific Beaches in Guanacaste - Stay tuned.

Headed to The Beach

As a big plus event for our friends, Stef made arrangements for us to stay at a place near Flamingo Beach overlooking the mighty Pacific Ocean. This is in the Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica where many people come to vacation.

Sunday - February 19, 2012
All 6 of us were packed and ready to head out. We took two vehicles because of the enormous amount of luggage these girls had to pack. We finally headed toward the Ocean around 11:00 AM after breakfast.

It was a nice drive and we took our time. Stopped along the way for the girls to have their normal breaks and for Bob to have a smoke. It was also a good opportunity for a rum & coke and an Imperial beer. We also stopped for lunch and then again to get supplies.

We finally arrived at the place around 4:30 PM, and my God -
 WHAT A PLACE!!!

This is the entrance from the front door. As you can see, you really need to watch your step or risk the chance of an unwanted swim.

This is the outside of the house that is completely open to the ocean

And this is the view of the ocean - Notice the infinity pool?










Just more proof that Life in Costa Rica is good. - Stay tuned for more...

What To Do While on Vacation

February 20-24 at Playa Flamingo

When you think about it, I have been so busy working for Stef in her business that I have not taken a vacation in well over a year. Having the opportunity to take some time off with my very dear friends was very refreshing, and good for my mental health.

Except for the boat trip we really did not do that much site seeing, but really just relaxed around the pool. The management of the place we stayed provided us a housekeeper and cook for us at a nominal additional charge. We asked her to make us breakfast several days and then a couple of dinners.

Here they are at work doing everything possible to make sure we enjoyed our stay.

Our first breakfast on Monday

Now before any pool activity began, our two accounting girls had to work on their clients bookkeeping needs. Here you see Carol who has many clients in Nashville that depend on her to keep the books straight - it's obvious that she is not letting them down. Then, we have Victoria who is a CPA in Nashville who also is taking time off from her vacation to make sure her clients needs are met. These girls were doing this every day while we were there.

And now - Time to Enjoy!!

Relaxing around the pool - It is obvious that the girls are having a good time.

The Love Birds

Charlie and Victoria

It is obvious that Bob and Carol are quite content

Boring Pete who didn't get in the water and my happy girl who enjoys her vacations.

Costa Rica is only 8 degrees away from the Equator and the sun can bear right down on you - so I decided to opt for the shady places during the day.

Now - take a look at an example of the Sunsets we saw every night

You just can't beat a Pacific Sunset in Costa Rica

Pretty disgusting isn't it? :-)

We did a lot of other things that really did not amount to much. Bob, Charlie and I took some trips into town to check things out and maybe have a pizza - We took the girls to do some shopping for gifts to take home and out to dinner a couple of times - However, everyone really just wanted to lay around and relax at the house, and I think we deserved it.

One special thing that we did was take a Sunset Boat Cruise - I will put that adventure in another post. 

Stay tuned..

Oh Yes - we want to take this time to thank our hosts who did an outstanding job of making us feel welcome. Thank you 

We aren't done yet - click the "older posts" tab below for more.