For our last big adventure before heading back to the US, we zipped through the canopy suspended from steel cables strung between 8-foot-square platforms in the rainforest. Sound crazy? We were pleasantly surprised by the well-maintained facility, the professional and thorough staff, and the safety procedures followed. And we had a great time. [View Full Entry]

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As we wind down our Costa Rica adventure, let us take this time to look back and answer the questions “What do Dara and I do all day?” And “Do we feel we have made the most of our time here?” Well, it would be great to be able to tell you we've "found ourselves" and now know exactly what we want to do with the rest of our lives, but the truth is, we don't. I think we do both feel like we've made the most of our time here though, and that it's been time well-spent, and very much [View Full Entry]

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Just when you’d thought we’d given up on the blog… (key suspenseful theme music, crash of thunder… but no ear-piercing shreiks, please.) First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Costa Rica, except by ex-pats and a handful of gringo-ized Ticos (Tico is the affectionate term for Costa Rican). We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner at a Tico friend's house -- the lady that Dara works with at the Inbioparque. She did her graduate school in the US and has kept the Thanksgiving tradition since. Although she was going to serve chicken (stuffed, of course) her daughter [View Full Entry]

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By the way, Shana Tova everyone. Although there are 2 synagogues in San Jose, we did not make it to services. Instead, we rang in the New Year by baking challah, eating apples with honey and having friends over for dinner. It was very nice and casual but we did miss everyone up north with whom we usually celebrate. Back to our lives here in Costa Rica - Way back in 1821, a Central American congress declared their independence from Spain, effective on September 15. Well, as you can imagine, here in Costa Rica - and as it is in the [View Full Entry]

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With a thunder-like rumble, a spurt of bright orange broke the velvet darkness of the cool night. Mesmerized, oblivious to the pesky mosquitoes, we couldn’t take our eyes off the incredible sight of red-hot rocks being hurled out of the top of the nearby mountain and tumbling and breaking up down the steep slopes. This was Volcano Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the world and we were lucky enough to catch it on a clear night. After basking in the luxuriousness of jungle hot-springs during the day, it was the perfect way to spend the evening. Thus we [View Full Entry]

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The kids just started school again last Monday. Thank G-d. Not that we didn’t have a great vacation - we did - it’s just that now I know why camp was invented. We alternated from doing touristy stuff to hanging around the house (heading into cabin-fever land). Ari had a week off while Ellie finished school, then we were all home for a week, then to the beach for a couple days and on to Nicaragua, then back at home for a week, then a visit from Nana and Pop-pop, and, whew, back to school. For the weeks they were at [View Full Entry]

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Now that summer vacation is upon us, we have a chance to look back at the school year that was. (Last Friday, June 30, was Ellie’s last day of school and Ari’s was the week before that.) It is hard to believe that the whole school year has gone. In some ways it flew by so quickly it hardly seems like a blink. In other ways, the beginning of the school year seems like it was a very long time ago. It is quite a paradox and I can’t seem to put it into words - but I’m sure you know [View Full Entry]

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Happy 4th of July everyone! Sorry, it seems that the travelblog web-site has had some bugs over the past few weeks. Hopefully those have been worked out and everyone can get access to the blogs. I think that one guy, Ali, runs the whole site. Considering the size and scope of it, I'd say he does a pretty good job. And, hey, it’s free so who are we to complain. Anyway, we’d like to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July. To answer the question that is on everyone’s mind - yes, they do have the 4th of July here. What, [View Full Entry]

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I had written most of this blog in March, but never got around to finishing it off and posting it. Recently, however, there was a news story that, unfortunately, gave me the impetus to get this out there. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you probably heard about the tragedy a few weeks ago in Costa Rica. I’m not talking about Costa Rica’s embarrassing performance in the World Cup -- I’m talking about the high school kids (and their teacher who tried to rescue them) who got caught in a rip tide on a beach on the Pacific coast, [View Full Entry]

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Let me start off with the big news - as some of you are already aware, it looks like we’re staying. I think I did mention the decision we were contemplating in the last blog (or the one before that) I know, I know, it was posted a long, long time ago -- I have been practicing my procrastinating. (Although I was no slouch before, I’m really getting good at it now. Actually, I just bought the book “Getting Things Done” so I could boost my productivity. Well, it was about 3 weeks ago by now and I haven’t cracked the [View Full Entry]

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