http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AndrewNCostaRica/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from AndrewNCostaRica en-us Fri, 16 May 2008 10:08:02 BST Fri, 16 May 2008 10:08:02 BST Itrsquos hard to live in Costa Rica and not get to the beach frequently. Even if those of us living the Central Valley complain about the heat and humidity too many tourists and higher prices it is still fun to get to the beach. This is definitely a benefit of living heremdashbeing only about one hour from the coast and 1.5 hours from a nice white sand beach. I wish I could go more often http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-252132.html Since I moved to Costa Rica and have been keeping up this blog I have been writing a ldquoyearend reviewrdquo which is essentially my take on the preceding 12 months. With the holidays here and everything going on I thought Irsquod get it done nowmdashwell now meant I started it several weeks ago but I finally finished it today. So here goes and itrsquos bound to be longwindedL http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-230114.html This blog entry includes some recent pictures I took of San Ramonmdashall fairly randommdashbut they give you a flavor for this terrific town.Itrsquos been windy today And chilly Irsquom sure it is still in the 50s but it seems like it is freezing out for someone now used to semitropical and tropical temperatures. The winds are supposedly a signal that the season is changing. I do t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-218250.html It has been quite some time since I went horseback riding perhaps as long as six months. A number of factors have contributed to this fact. First one of my horses died of old age and the remaining one I donated to a friendrsquos collection of other horses and animals since my surviving horse seemed very lonely. Second Irsquove been working much more than I should. This needs to change http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-208922.html This is the longest I think Irsquove gone between blog entries with my last one being on August 29th Irsquom usually a fairly prolific okay longwinded writer but Irsquove just been so busy the past few months that there has been barely enough time to keep in touch with friends and family let alone write my blog.Tours tours and more tourshellip.May through September have been extrem http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/blog-207394.html It has been quite some time since Irsquove updated my blog. Itrsquos been well over a month actually which is unusual for me. Since my last entry travelblog.org crashed and lost a lot of peoplersquos blog entries. Luckily for me I type all of my entries in MS Word and save them in multiple places just in case my blog becomes famous after Irsquom long gone. In fact if you look at m http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-197136.html Hola from Houston Ah the joys of international travel Irsquom currently stuck in Houston for two days after a long trek back from Thailand. The 19 hours of flying from Bangkok to New York wasnrsquot so bad actually but the nine hours on the plane to get from New York to Houston was pure pain Besides the crying kids behind me on the plane we were several hours late leaving New York got http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-183513.html I remember when I first moved to Costa Rica it seemed as though every week brought a different problem washing machine breaking down leaks in the roof telephone line going down and so much more I seemed to have relived my early days in Costa Rica over the past few weeks with violent thunderstorms causing all kinds of problems with electrical equipment. In less than 10 days storms have blo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-174507.html Wow We had quite the thunderstorms here in San Ramon last week. Last Wednesday we had a storm that was the most violent Irsquove seen since living here. I was sitting out on the patio with some ldquoBoomersrdquo tour guests just watching the light show in the valley as the rain poured down. Then and it seemed like it came out of nowhere this massive lightning bolt hits very near to the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-170861.html Itrsquos been a busy June already and doesnrsquot get any slower for the remainder of the month This month Irsquove already had friends Seth Susan and their kids visit. Then therersquos another ldquoBoomersrdquo tour then my cousin and his wife visit then yet another Boomers tour. Phew Luckily July will be more relaxed with a twoweek trip to Thailandmdashmore about that in a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-167773.html Yes Irsquom mad a mud at the moment. It happens every rainy season. I shouldnrsquot be mad however because Irsquom the one who lives off of a dirt road. I miss a paved driveway but my driveway is way too long for paving and I honestly donrsquot think blacktop or even concrete would look so great coming up to my house. Irsquove thought about gravelmdashanother option for suremdash http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-165412.html Itrsquos been a very busy two weeks here at Angel Valley Farm BB up in the mountains above San Ramon Between guests at the BB and just wrapping up our May ldquoBoomers in Costa Ricardquo relocationretirement tour of the Central Valley itrsquos enough to keep anyone out of trouble Working this time of year particularly outdoors can be a challenge though. If you want to view proper http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-164025.html I wasnrsquot sure what to call my latest blog entry largely because I wasnrsquot sure Irsquod have one or two discreet topics to fill this entire blog entry. However I have a few crazy things to report on this week.Losing my brakeshellipgoing downhillI have to admit I do love my 1991 Iszusu Trooper. I donrsquot quite know why though. Itrsquos old itrsquos body is scraped and sc http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-136318.html Okay so February is definitely my busiest time of the year. Back in the states when I was working full time except perhaps for Thanksgiving Easter and Christmas weeks along with the summer holidaysmdashIndependence Day and Labor DaymdashI always seemed to be busy steadily busy. Most months looked fairly similar. Here in Costa Rica however itrsquos crazybusy from November to March http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/blog-134147.html The past few weeks have been good ones in Costa Rica. The year didnrsquot start off all that well as numerous issues came upmdashbut things are looking up as is the weather.Speaking of weather the past few days have been bright and warm which one would expect this time of year and coincidentally as it has gotten warmer here in the wilds of San Ramon it has gotten colder in many parts of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/blog-130925.html Itrsquos been a few weeks since my last blog update. There are a number of reasons for this. First itrsquos just a darn busy time of the year with many guests at the BB. Obviously many people want to escape the weather in much of the U.S. so Costa Rica is a natural target. Second Irsquom still trying to catch up from being away for 3.5 weeks in December. Even though being away actua http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-121942.html Irsquom back in sunny Costa Rica and I am sure glad to be here While I enjoy visiting the United States even if it is primarily for my surgeries one more left and hopefully thatrsquos it I think I enjoy it less and less each time. This time was particularly interesting considering during my time in the states President Ford died Saddam was executed and most sadly my good friendGods http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-116798.html I am visiting New York again and will be in the area for one month. Last time I was in New York for an extended period of timemdashthis past FebruarymdashI got a bit of criticism from anonymous commentors why not post your name asking me how I could be away from the BB for a month particularly during the high season It is a good question though really not anyonersquos business but http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-110935.html Irsquod like to think Irsquom right about a lot of things but the weather isnrsquot one of them. In my last blog entry I confidently stated that I thought the dry season was here because some strong winds had blown away the rain and it was sunny for a few days. Well was I wrong about that. Before my dirt road could even dry the clouds rolled back in along with mist and light rainmdasha http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-107113.html Summer is in the air in Central AmericaSpring is in full swing here meaning its raining less and summer is just around the corner. After a full onslaught of guests in recent weeks things have quieted down a little in the last two weeks and that has enabled us to do some spring cleaning and to spruce up the BB. It didnrsquot need much work but change isnrsquot bad in this case. Terry our http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/San-Ramon/blog-104492.html