Friends on the Caribbean

We're just back from a fun few days over on the Caribbean - the area we first fell in love with in Costa Rica. Pretty nice these days - we have friends who actually live over there to visit. Judy and Bob are in the process of adding on a huge patio to their adorable little house. But don't take my word for it. Check out Judy's blog.
We also discovered a really fun new restaurant where they have an outdoor kitchen just like what I want but I'm not going to bother to tell you about it because as soon as we discovered it, we learned that the place has been sold. So next month the fabulous Swiss trained chef from Cameroon, along with her husband and three children, will be in Switzerland - and the fabulous meal that she served us will be but a memory!

Tortuguero

Tortuguero is one of the places we'd been talking about visiting ever since we made our first trip to Costa Rica some 8 years ago. After a trip to Playa Grande on the Pacific coast a couple of years ago to see the Leatherback turtles nesting, we knew that we had to go to the Caribbean to see the Greens. But getting there seemed difficult - and expensive. It seemed you had to fly there from San Jose, or take an expensive tour. Not our usual traveling style. When we got serious about it last month, we realized how easy it can be. And inexpensive. So we took our favorite bus trip from San Jose over to Cahuita, spent the night with our friends Judy and Bob, who live there, then took the bus up to Limon in the morning. From Limon we took a taxi to the port of Moin, from where we caught a 4 hour boat trip up to Tortuguero! Simple! OK. So maybe not all that simple, but relatively inexpensive. And definitely one of the most beautiful trips to take in this country. For more on Tortuguero, click here. Best place to sleep and eat in Tortuguero? Miss Junie's - we loved it. The people were great, Miss Junie is wonderful, and her food is awesome!

Tortuguero

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Quick Trip to El Caribe

Cahuita & Puerto Viejo

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Not much happening this month. After traveling in North America for 2 months, it's very quiet here. Our friends Judy and Bob are still on their boat in British Columbia. And Emma and Jon have taken off for Malta and Sicily. Our only travel was a quick trip to Hone Creek on the Caribbean to check on Judy and Bob's house.Click on the above photo for more pics.

Aunt Kay & Uncle Nello Visit Costa Rica!

We've had the grand honor of a two-week visit from Gene's Aunt Kay & Uncle Nello in celebration of their 55th wedding anniversary! It was soooo much fun having them here, and now that they've left, we feel lost. There are some people that we wish so much that we could get interested in moving down here so that we could see them all the time. Aunt Kay & Uncle Nello are at the top of that list. Unfortunately the are quite happy where they live now and have no thoughts of moving (even if they do like our company, too!) They said they had a wonderful time and really liked Costa Rica a lot. But alas! It's not where they want to live. Que lastima!
We of course tried to show them as much of our new country as possible, and introduced them to many of our good friends. Seems like we just scratched the surface though, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that they enjoyed their trip enough so that they will return - maybe next year.
The highlight of their visit was our trip to the Caribbean...

We had planned a 2 day trip over because we wanted to share our favorite beach places with them. We went over by public bus (as we always do), giving them a great opportunity to ooh and ahh over the enormous number of waterfalls and the unbelievable array of trees and jungle and plants and things that look like way-overgrown versions of things we used to have in miniature versions in pots.
We had made reservations at our favorite place to stay in Cahuita, Kelly Creek Inn. Kelly Creek has just 4 rooms.
The rooms are spacious, beautiful and comfortable, but the really great thing about Kelly Creek is the food, including real paella! Actually the other great thing about Kelly Creek is that it sits right on the edge of Cahuita National Park - and is just a couple blocks from everyplace you might want to visit in the town. Our hosts Marie Cloud and Andre are originally from France and Spain, and they know how to serve up authentic paella
, as well as a lot of other fabulous dishes. After the 1st night in Cahuita, and a taste of the charm of the village as well as the food at Kelly Creek, Aunt Kay & Uncle Nello asked if we could please stay for 4 nites instead of 2, and that they would like to treat for the extra nites! How could we say no to such an offer!
We've always loved the long walk through the jungle path in the national park. Kay & Nello enjoyed it as much as we do, and we walked part of the way back on the beach, rather than the easy path through the forest. Watching our favorite uncle trekking along ahead of us, we hoped that we will be that limber and active when we are his age. Of course he's only 90.

Besides Kelly Creek, we ate at another of our favorite Cahuita restaurants, Cha Cha Cha - incredible dinners - on the expensive side. Robertos's and La Fe are sort of "tipico" places, inexpensive, food that's usually good, but not usually particularly remarkable. In Puerto Viejo we spent most of an afternoon on the water at EZ Times, lunching on a variety of bruschetti and margueritas. Though not cheap, especially if you imbibe in several large margueritas, EZ Times is a really fun place to hang out.

In the Central Valley we did the Cafe Britt tour (where Aunt Kay was selected to enact the part of the "mother of the bride," and on another day visited Zoo Ave, one of my very favorite places here (where birds and other wildlife are rescued and released back into the wild where possible). We also had a leisurely walk one day throught the gorgeous gardens at Hotel Bougainvilla. The Gold Museum was another highlight.
Besides the requisite walk in parque central de Heredia, enjoying ice cream cones from Pop's, we ate at some of our other favorite places near home: Matices in San Rafael, Pan e Vino in Heredia, Don Tito in Heredia.
Of course all of our friends fell in love with Kay & Nello. They are a really cool couple! Our great friends Judy & Bob invited us to their home in Santa Lucia de Barva for dinner, and on another day we were all invited to dinner at the Heredia Centro home of our buddies Emma & Jon. On their final evening here, Aunt Kay & Uncle Nello insisted on hosting a party of their own, entertaining all of us at a dinner at Pan e Vino, to thank all of our friends (and their new friends) for a wonderful time! We're just all hoping that they will return to visit us again soon.

Barb & Chick Visit Costa Rica

When Gene's cousin Barb emailed that their cruise would be making a port call in Limon, we decided, along with our friends Emma & Jon, that it was the perfect excuse (like since when do we need one!) to spend a few days on the Caribbean. So we booked rooms at our favorite Caribbean get-away spot, Kelly Creek Inn, right on the edge of Cahuita National Park. After spending the first night there, falling asleep to the sound of the surf and the howling of the monkeys, Gene and Jon drive to Limon to pick up Barb and Chick at their cruise boat. We spent the day walking through the park and along the beach, watching the animals, lunching at EZ Times in Puerto Viejo. At the end of the day, they all surprised me with a birthday cake back at Kelly Creek! Chocolate cake and wine at a Caribbean Beach - tough to beat that one for a birthday celebration! We were all sad that their stopover was for only one day, but everyone had a great time, and we're hoping that Barb and Chick will get back to see us soon for a much longer stay.









Bye Bye Barb & Chick! Hope to See You Again Soon!

Gail Comes to Costa Rica

My best buddy Gail from Hollywood, Florida (where we lived before Costa Rica) actually came to visit us! She had promised when we moved here that she would be down - and Gail is always good for her promises. What a great time we've had!


Bienvenida! Welcome Party for Gail on the patio

Zarcero-
famous for the topiaries in every size and shape in front of the church
Topiaries shaped like a cat riding a motorcycle, an elephant, a bullring with matador, charging bull, and spectators. That's what I've read. You coulda fooled me. Interesting, but mostly I thought it looked like mis-shapen shrubbery!


















And a morning at Zoo Ave - not only is it beautiful but it's one of the most relaxing and fun places to visit in the area, as well as being filled with educational information about all the birds and animals that are rescued and bred there. A Costa Rica must see!

They say that all good things must come to an end, but I've never understood why. We did a few days on the Caribbean in Puerto Viejo and Cahuita, some more day trips, a lot of sitting around and talking. And suddenly it was time for my good friend Gail to leave. I just hope that she had such a good time that she will want to come visit us again soon. I miss her already!