One of my objectives in heading to Ecuador was to find a relatively cheap package to the Galapagos Islands. However, finding a package, within the price range I wanted, and within the time frame I wanted to be there, was next to impossible. You can simply fly to the Galapagos for about $350 roundtrip but you risk either not finding a package within your budget or you end up having to wait several days before being able to explore the islands. It is virtually impossible to tour the Galapagos without being on a guided tour (usually by a small boat with [View Full Entry]

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I am writing from Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, located in the southern part of the country, just north of Peru. I’ll say more on Guayaquil soon. I’ve included a few more photos from Lima, and yes, none of them show much sun. It is just how Lima is this time of year. However, one day last week there actually was a day of partial sun which was terrific. The city just seemed so much more pleasant and the Miraflores section, where I am staying, felt a lot like Miami Beach. My blog entries are usual very upbeat and several people have [View Full Entry]

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Hello from Lima, Peru! I’m traveling in South America for the next two months so this blog will temporarily be a “South America” blog instead of a Costa Rica blog. I’ve never had two months off to travel, so this should be an adventure! I picked Lima as my home base, and from here, I hope to visit more of Peru, then Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia (not necessarily in that order). When? Where exactly? For how long will I travel in each country? These are questions I cannot answer at the moment as I’m making no specific plans. I’ll get up [View Full Entry]

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To be introspective or not…. I could not remember until just yesterday exactly what day last June I moved to Costa Rica. I looked through my handwritten notes, emails, and even airline ticket receipts—essentially anything that would have a date on it. I could not find anything. Then in the middle of the night, it came to me (stupidly!): “Look back at your blog entries Andrew!” So, I went through my blog, now at 120 pages and 60,000+ words, and found an entry from June 4, 2005: “Day 1 (June 4, 2005): Today truly is the first day of the rest [View Full Entry]

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This blog entry has many pictures and little text, particularly to compensate for the lack of pictures in my last blog entry and because I took so many pictures from our recent birthday party (more on this below). We decided to have a big birthday bash for our terrific cleaning lady, Karol, and our great neighbor, Fernando, since their birthdays fall around the same time. It was also a good time to “celebrate” the beginning of the rainy season (called “green season” by the national tourist board). We also decided we would go all out and ordered several trays of vegetable [View Full Entry]

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As I come close to my one-year anniversary living in Costa Rica (June 4, or 5, I forget exactly) I again find myself being introspective. I ask myself a number of questions such as: “How would I characterize my first year here?” “Am I happy living here?” “Did I accomplish the goals I set for myself in the first year?” “What would I have done differently looking back at the last twelve months?” “What will I do during the next year?” I am sure there are many other questions I could ask myself if I thought about it a bit longer. [View Full Entry]

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It’s officially the rainy season in Costa Rica, at least where I live, about one hour north of San Jose. It started in earnest on Tuesday of this week with a fairly soaking rain much of the day. So soaking were the rains that we learned our pipes are clogged somewhere near the house and some unclogging is definitely required. Wednesday was a bit better and what I had hoped for during the rainy season: rains in the early evening and at night. We’ll see what the season brings. Since it has taken me a week to write this entry, I’ll [View Full Entry]

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I had to spend a few days in San Jose this week doing some business but also to have a short getaway. It’s always fun to spend a few days here even in this city; there’s a bit of an adrenalin rush with all the buildings, stores, restaurants and people. By most accounts, San Jose is not much of a city to look at. Except for a handful of buildings such as the National Theatre, there isn’t much architecture to enjoy so one must therefore focus on the people and their culture. One of my favorite places to hang out is [View Full Entry]

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The last two weeks have been very busy with numerous guests and many, many loads of laundry, along with stripping down rooms, making up rooms, moving different beds into different rooms to accommodate various guests and other minute details not worth getting into. April was a very good month for the B&B which is great as it is also the month of the year when the “high season” ends (either around April 15 or April 30—I’m not really sure). We’re definitely a bit tired at this point. April has also been a fun month. We were also able to find some [View Full Entry]

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When we arrived in Costa Rica over 10 months ago it was already the rainy season. In fact, it was raining on the day we arrived. It was a particularly bad season—at least in my view—due to the impact of the many hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico last year. Hopefully, it won’t be as bad this year. The last few months have been glorious here. Almost zero rain, warm temperatures (but not too hot) and light breezes. One certainly cannot beat the dry season weather in the San Ramon area. But all must come to an end as the various [View Full Entry]

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