One Way to Exercise

This morning, Coley and I were picked up by our friend, Lynn, and driven to this beautiful private condo location called Coco Estates. You can imagine how in awe we were as we stepped down into the pool area. WOW!!!! What a gorgeous location to do water aerobics.

The thatched covered area is actually a bar with bar stools right in the water to sit on. One of the women participating in the class said if we ordered our drinks at the beginning of the class, they would be ready by the end of the session. Great idea, but none of us acted upon it. In the picture to the left, the gray looking structure is a water slide with running water. The deep end of the pool is the deepest we've experienced since coming to Costa Rica. It must be that most of the locals aren't very tall, because the deep end of the pools are never deeper than about 5.5 ft. This one was about 7 feet deep.

So, how about a dip in the pool!!!! Come on in, the water's fine!!! We'll be back for more next week and perhaps we'll report on our entry into the pool by way of the water slide. Hope to see you there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHIVER ME TIMBERS!!!!

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum, maties!!! Coley and I decided to check out the pirate ship. As you can see, she's a beauty. Built right here in Costa Rica, solid wood with cannons which sound off when she's getting ready to load and depart.
She was designed as a replica of a 1700 Boston Schooner, or something like that. This particular trip was pretty much her maiden voyage.







And, of course we were flying our colors!










This picture, for those of you who read about our Valentine's evening at Vista Azule will remember I said we had an incredible view of Coco Beach and harbor. Well, the white building you see on the hill is Vista Azule, so you can see why the view was spectacular.









Here I am with our Captain. Richard Hook is his name, and he's also the builder of the ship. He also contracts to bring boats to various harbors. Man, what a life. I asked if he needed anyone to cook or swab decks, and he said he had many people offering to do just that. I thought I might have found a part-time job while I was here. Maybe next year.





After anchoring offshore, Capt. Hook brought out the gang plank and several of the more adventuresome guests took the opportunity to jump into the ocean. Coley and I were not in that group. For one thing, the plank didn't look all that big and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back on board without a big hook to pull me in.















As we got back to Coco Beach, the music began and several people were up and dancing, of course, Coley was right there with them. The guy on her immediate right was one of the most fun and amiable guys we've met. His name is Cerj, and he's from Canada. He had a great sense of humor, loved dancing and Coley and he hit it off really great. He's actually moving to our condo sometime next year, so that might be really fun for us.

There you have it, another fun day in the sun!!! Until we meet again, matey!!!!

OMG!!! I've Finally Made It!!!

I'm a "snow birder"!!!! I've finally made it!!! Last night Coley and I were sharing drinks with friends at Coconutz Bar, and I was talking about coming back to the States in March, traveling around in my RV and then returning to Costa Rica in December to spend the winter. That's when our friend, Mike, said, "you're a snowbirder"!

OMG!!!! It never occurred to me, I don't know why it didn't, but it didn't. OMG!!! I've definitely become my mother. Who would have ever believed that, I'm one of those people who purposefully plan to leave the coldest months to those who actually love snow and ice. That's definitely not me! However, I'm not all that crazy about heat and humidity either, but I can cope. So, this is me in Costa Rica enjoying the fact that it's warm and I can get out and enjoy a wonderful evening with friends, laughing and playing and just BEING!!! Life is good, hell, life is great!!!! You've still got time to come and play with us before I head back. I'll be back in the States March 18th!!!

Pura Vida!!!!!

It's Our Party!!!

It's taken me a couple of days to re-energize myself to sit down to put these pictures up. Jeff, Coley and I celebrated Valentine's Day, Jeff''s leaving, and mine and Coley's 60th birthday at the hotel called Vista Azule. It sits high up on a hill and overlooks Playas del Coco. Look how beautiful the sunset was for us. Not only was the sunset beautiful but I spotted two different rainbows that we oooohed and aaaaahed about. It was a gorgeous night, a wonderful wind blowing to cool everything off, really good company and delicious food.


Here's Jeff sharing a story with Dave and Rosemary. They live just down the street from where we live and Dave is quite the guitar player/songwriter. Love their spirit!!!

Well, who do we have here? Oh, it's our senior twins being held up by Jeff. Bonnie, who owns the hotel, sent up a guy to take pictures for us, and he took this photo. We all liked it and we three had a great time the entire evening.

Here's a picture with Coco in the background. You can see a little of the water over my right shoulder. For food we ate bruschetta with avocado, tomato and mozarella on fresh french bread; hummus, and roasted red pepper hummus, along with fresh vegetables. Then after all that, we had Thai chicken skewers with a spicy peanut sauce. To top it off, Coley and I were surprised by birthday cupcakes, banana bread cupcakes with a wonderful sour cream frosting. Freckles and Mike had arranged to have the cupcakes and candles lit and they all sang happy birthday to us. There were 4 couples there and the three of us. What a great birthday we had and it wasn't even our birthday yet.

On February 15th, the big day (our birthday) Jeff had to leave. So just as I did when he landed, I took his picture before he left. I believe he had a memorable time and we both loved having someone from our family here to celebrate this milestone of our life. We miss you, Jeff. Come back, Jeff, come back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After leaving Jeff at the airport, Coley and I took ourselves to breakfast and this young man waited on us. What made the meal so different was the coffee maker. He brought over this contraption, which already had the ground coffee in what looks like a dirty sock. He poured hot water into the sock and the coffee dripped down into the pot. It took very little time and the coffee was bold and tasty. Have never seen anything like this anywhere.

We left the retaurant and drove back to Coco and our condo. While we were relaxing, a delivery man knocked on our door and this beautiful flower arrangement was delivered to us. It seems as though brother Jeff got the idea to buy us flowers and checked it with several of our siblings and our Mom. When the guy came in to set them on the table, Coley and I looked at each other with question marks across our faces. What a great surprise!!!!!!!!!! So, in a few words, we are another year older, another year wiser, and another year surrounded by the love of our family and friends, for which we are deeply grateful, and feel completely blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doin' the Tourist Thang!!!

We rented a car on Tuesday and started our trek about 2pm. Our intention was to travel to the
central valley and Arenal Volcano. The lake is Lake Arenal and we had to drive from this side
to the far side which took about two hours. The volcano is located on the opposite side of the lake.



Here's Jeff and I pointing to the volcano. The drive was through a rain forest, absolutely georgeous and really much colder than being in Coco. So glad we brought light jackets.

Here's the volcano. On this side the top of the mountain is devoid of plantlife, the volcano is erupting on this side, but on the other side, LaFortuna side, it's all green and one of the tourist info center guy's said he hasn't seen it on that side for over five months.

We stayed in LaFortuna and the next day went to EcoTarmala, one of many hot springs sites where we could experience the volcanic water. There were five levels, each one getting hotter as you get higher up. We only made it to the first level, but it was perfect temperature for me and my eczema skin. Look how beautiful the pools are.

Found this heart stone at the hot tub area. Coley and I both love heart stones and look for them everywhere.

Went to eat dinner at a really good restaurant in LaFortuna and Jeff ordered a drink which came out looking like a really girly drink. We both laughed thinking about our Dad being there to tease Jeff about his "swishy" drink. You go, Jeff, show them what it means to be a man!!!!

Took this picture for Jim and Elizabeth. We ate at Soda Katy, which is their granddaughter's name. Soda's are the local cafe, usually very small and usually a very small menu, but will all have the local dish of beans and rice. We were really hungry and had a faily decent meal. The young waiter couldn't speak English and we muddled through in our Spanish.

After leaving LaFortuna we decided to head to another place in the central valley, however, in Costa Rica there are very few road signs to help guide you, so we completely missed the signs and ended up almost to SanJose, the capital. So we decided to stay with some friends. Here's a church that was built in Germany and tranported brick by brick to San Jose. Something, huh?!!

This is the couple we stayed with, Brian and Giselle. They have a beautiful home high above the city and welcomed us as we literally dropped in unexpectedly.

Well, you know who all these people are, except that's Brian hamming it up on my left.

Down to Playa Samara, considered to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica. Here'ss brother Jeff, with his sunburned arms, but not much on his chest. We stayed at a really decent hotel, right on the beach and I said to Coley "I feel like I'm on vacation now".

Jeff didn't know this pony was right behind him, but they both look like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Here's the pool area at Las Brasisas. We loved it so much that after we checked out, we sat in the restaurant just beyond the pool and played a couple of games before we left.

Off into the Sunset

Imagine the most beautiful day. The sky is sky blue with a hint of clouds drifting by. There's a nice gentle breeze blowing across the water. Now picture yourself sitting on the bow of a beautiful sailboat skimming across the deep Pacific Ocean. You have nowhere to go, and nothing to do, except take in the sunshine and watch the landscape change from habitation to rocky cliffs to sandy beaches and back habitation.

That was our day yesterday as Jeff, Coley and I boarded the Sea Bird, captained by Sebastian and Heather.




Sebastian has been sailing the waters off the coast of Costa Rica for 20 years. He's from Nicaragua and his girlfriend, Heather, is from San Diego. They have had their own sailboat since 2009 and are number one on the Travelocity web-site for sailing cruises.







Our sail included all our drinks, and we were served a huge tray of fresh watermelon and pineapple, and later with a large bown of chips and salsa. Boy, does food ever taste good when you're out on the water. Kinda like camping, where bacon and eggs never smell better or taste better.















The icing on the cake is being out far enough to see the entire sun go down, which we can't see from Coco. We all took alot of pictures of the event from beginning to end, but this is the one I selected to show. It goes without saying, a picture really doesn't do it justice. The rock formation to the left of the sun is what's called Catalina Island.

The day could not have been any better. We were picked up almost in front of our condos and sailed to Ocatel to pick up 6 more people. Then we were the last to be dropped off also. Life is Pura Vida!!! Wish all of you were here sharing in this with us!!!

A Day of Finding the Sacred

Today, Saturday morning. I had a truly restfull nights' sleep starting about 7:30 pm yesterday evening. So at 6:15 am my eyes began to open and I decided to get up and start the coffee. My favorite part of the day is in the early morning, before everyone gets out of bed.

I had nearly an hour to myself and I opened my Kindle and started to read another portion of a letter written by Rainer Maria Rilke, a well-known poet from the early 1900's. Here's the portion that stuck with me: "It is, after all, one strength within the human with which we achieve everything, a single steadfastness and pure direction of the heart. Whoever possesses that strength ought not to lose himself to fear."

My day of sacredness started from that point as my brother joined me on the porch and we shared coffee and conversation and the ease of just being together, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Eventually Coley joined us and she and I shared our daily devotional together. (Each moment of this day has unfolded with the greatest of ease.)

Here's another ritual everyone gets to partake of, the slathering on of the sunscreen. Here Jeff is getting ready for his first excursion to the beach. Don't want to get too red too fast.

Before they left for the beach, I told them I would be creating a ceremony to honor my ex-husband who departed on Friday, the 28th of January and my dear friend, Donna Hess, who also transitioned on Monday, January 31st. So I got out my new candle, my sister Jenny sent for my birthday. This was the first time I've lit it. The candle jar has a beautiful heart on the front and I brought in a heart rock Coley found and added the tealight candle burner, my sister Sandy gave me for my birthday. I started the ceremony at 1:45 pm. with a beautiful piece of music called, Faery Ring by Mike Rowland. At 2pm I began chanting the Gayatri Mantra. For the entire hour, I lost myself in the chant, the memories, the emotions of loss and love and the imagery of concentric circles created by the connections we have to so many people and whose love surrounds me, but also surrounds all those I love. Coley and Jeff returned just as I put on the last song, "You are Not Alone". It was so perfect being here by myself to honor and to remember these two people who each hold a place in my heart.

Finally, I had put a pot of spaghetti sauce on to cook about 1pm. While it was still simmering, we all put on our bathing suits and went to play frisbee in the pool. While we were playing, our little buddies, Joshua, about 10 and Dylan, about 6, came over and joined us. We were laughing and playing and having such a great time. Played for about 2 hours. By 5pm, our "gravy" was ready to eat. When you cook the sauce all day, it becomes thick and tasty and that's just what we had, along with some pesto butter grilled toast. Molto bene!!!!

So, give yourself some time to bring in the sacred. Take the time to light a candle, to sing a song, to chant a chant, to offer up a prayer, to do something to bring the majic into the moment. And it's also a time for being in your heart. I hope you each felt my hug today!!!!

Cataratas (waterfall) de Cortes

Look very closely on the left and in the center of the waterfall you might be able to see someone with their arms outspread and that would be Coley and next to her is Jeff. The walked behind the falls and then entered the water to swim in front of the falls.





I, on the other hand, preferred to enter the water from in front of the falls and to walk/swim backwards in order to immerse myself under the water.


Here I am doing a back pedal with Jeff behind me. The water was very cool when we got in but after just a few moments felt so refreshing and rejuvenating.


When we were through playing in the water, we gathered to the left of the fall on the opposite bank from where we walked in. Here we are sitting on the rocks getting ready to have our first Ponderosa. I believe I talked about this drink concoction we made up for New Year's, champagne and pineapple juice. Try it! I don't think I will ever go back to Mimosas again.



After our drinks, we brought out our picnic lunch of real fried chicken wings and drummies, which I, myself, cooked yesterday. Along with potato dill salad, cold cuts, cheese, chips and cookies, we went to town. Munching down!!!! MMMMMMMM, good!!!!! All that exercise really makes everything taste so scrumpscious.






The final shot of all three of us, me, Jeff and Coley in front of the falls. Little did I know at this moment I would be hiking out over the steepest return trail. About the last 30 feet, Mike got in front of me and I held onto his belt loop and his pocket so he could pack mule me out of their. I told him I was sorry if I happened to pull his pants down, but I sure appreciated his help. When I finally made it to the tope, I let out a really big scream, THANK YOU, GOD, I MADE IT!!!!

What a really fun, exhausting, beautiful day in a really beautiful setting.

Good night, time for this happy hiker to hit the hay!!!

The Youngster Has Arrived

OK, take a good look at brother Jeffrey. See how pale he is, the whiteness of his beard, hair, moustache and skin. This is his first appearance in Costa Rica approximately 9pm.

Now here he is at approximately 10:00 pm and already Coley and I have been a bad influence. . . he's got the first of a couple of beers on our porch. Wish you could see the white, and I do mean white legs with white socks and black sandals. We've already told him to ditch the socks.

Tomorrow we're going to the Waterfall. That's all I know about it's description and location. We are, however, taking a wonderful picnic. . . I cooked fried chicken drummies and made a "skin on new potatoes" salad with a dill, sour cream, mayo and a little Dijon mustard with hard boiled eggs, celery, onion and celery seed. It tastes great. Mike and Freckles are bringing the rest. More tomorrow!! Hugs to all!!!

Oops, hit the wrong button!!!

What I started to say was "Gotta Get Back" Roatan Island, Honduras. It was without a doubt the most beautiful of all the ports we stopped in. As you read this, I'll talk about the pictures from the blog below, but again, the pi ctures don't show the real beauty of this place.

1. Took a picture from the van after we left the dolphin experience. From quite a few spots you could see the most gorgeous overlooks. I know my family would love to just drive around and view the beauty of this island, which by the way is about 32 miles long and about 5 miles wide.

2. The white sand beach area where we had a traditional lunch of rice, beans, bar-b-que chicken, hamburgers, coleslaw, etc. It was a private beach with gated fence and I guess was primarily used for tourists. We enjoyed a romp in the ocean, our own lounge chair and drinks brought to us by waiters. All very relaxing and just what you want on vacation.

3. Here's Coley perusing the menu and we sit down for some refreshments before we go for our dolphin adventure. It turned out that Bev didn't want to do this excursion, which was the only one Coley and I actually signed up for. Bev took the chair lift to another white sand beach just beyond where our boat docked in Roatan.

4. As we walked down the dock to the boardwalk, I took a picture of this sunken ship. Roatan, in the 1700's to 1800's was a home to pirates. By 1860, Britain had given up its claim and it became self-governing. In 1723 a man was shipwrecked and managed to survive for 16 months until he was picked up by a passing ship. Edward Leslie in 1988 wrote a book about it in his book called "Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls". Sounds like a Tom Hanks movie to me.

5. Here's one of the first pictures I took of Coley as we entered the area of the boardwalk where the shops are. As you can see by the sign we landed at Mahogany Bay.

6. This is Ron and Alise, I believe from Texas, on their first cruise ever. Every morning I was the first to rise and I would make my way from the 9th floor down to the 7th floor to have coffee on the aft deck. Ron and Alise would either be there before me or right after me, so each morning we shared coffee together. Notice how new and beautiful the area around the boardwalk is, so unlike every other port we stopped in that looked weather beaten, more rustic, even worn out. This place appeared to be a recent development.

7. We are at the dolphin adventure and our group of about 8 people are standing just back from our dolphin, a 2.5 year old female, named Bailey and her handler (can't remember her name, guess she was not as important as our dolphin). As a note to those of you who saw the incredibly vicious documentary film made by the handler of Flipper about the killing of dolphins in Japan, I was interested in the captivity of these dolphins and whether or not they had access the the ocean. I'm happy to report they have 24 dolphins they work with, half of which were born at the compound. They are all allowed out of the enclosed area and are trained to come back. If you look closely at the picture you can see Coley's fingers just to the right of the picture. We all stood in a straight line and Bailey swam right along in front of us so that we could stroke her. AWESOME!!!!

8. Here's Bailey showing off her teeth. Bailey had the cutest personality. On more than one occasion she swam over to the next group where her bff was to show her the big fish she had just earned. Her trainer told us that 2.5 year olds are the teenagers of the group.

9. Coley and I getting a hug from Bailey. We literally were holding her in our arms to she could raise her head and tail up. Thankfully the salt water made it really easy for us to lift her.

10. The last two pictures are me and Coley getting our kiss from Bailey. Coley and I got to be the first group to have hugs and kisses, so it felt really special.

This is an island we highly recommend. Most of the Americans live in what is called the West End, which we did not really get to see. But the locals were very friendly, always smiling and ready to help. Of course, we were there as tourists, but it was fantastic!!!!!

Our Favorite "Gotta Go Back"