http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TheBortmans/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from TheBortmans en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:03:37 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:03:37 +0000 For our last big adventure before heading back to the US we zipped through the canopy suspended from steel cables strung between 8footsquare platforms in the rainforest. Sound crazy We were pleasantly surprised by the wellmaintained facility the professional and thorough staff and the safety procedures followed. And we had a great time. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-110460.html As we wind down our Costa Rica adventure let us take this time to look back and answer the questions ldquoWhat do Dara and I do all dayrdquo And ldquoDo we feel we have made the most of our time hererdquo 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-106244.html Just when yoursquod thought wersquod given up on the bloghellip key suspenseful theme music crash of thunderhellip but no earpiercing shreiks please.First of all Happy Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Costa Rica except by expats and a handful of gringoized Ticos Tico is the affectionate term for Costa Rican. We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner at a Tic http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-98938.html 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 congr http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-92337.html With a thunderlike rumble a spurt of bright orange broke the velvet darkness of the cool night. Mesmerized oblivious to the pesky mosquitoes we couldnrsquot take our eyes off the incredible sight of redhot 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 w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-79531.html The kids just started school again last Monday. Thank Gd. Not that we didnrsquot have a great vacation we did itrsquos just that now I know why camp was invented. We alternated from doing touristy stuff to hanging around the house heading into cabinfever 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 o http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-79528.html 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 Elliersquos last day of school and Arirsquos 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-72086.html Happy 4th of July everyoneSorry it seems that the travelblog website 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 itrsquos free so who are we to complain.Anyway wersquod like to wi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-71633.html 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 yoursquove been paying attention to the news you probably heard about the tragedy a few weeks ago in Costa Rica. Irsquom not talking about Costa Ricarsquos embarrassing performance i http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-51382.html Let me start off with the big news as some of you are already aware it looks like wersquore 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 Irsquom really getting good at it now. Actually I just bo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-69920.html Hard to believe but exactly 6 months ago well when I started writing this it was 2 weeks ago we moved out of our house in Yardley and our adventure started. What were we thinking Irsquod quit my job wersquod pulled the kids out of school and were headed to Costa Rica. Wersquod never been there before we didnrsquot have a place to live. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-63991.html First before I get started let me apologize to friends back in the Yardley area Irsquom sorry if we didnrsquot get to see you. It was a bit of a last minute whirlwind trip to the area we actually made last minute changes to plane tickets that had been bought months before only about a week before coming up and the main purpose of the trip was to see Dararsquos parents. We are glad w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-59374.html As I mentioned in our last blog after we spent a few days visiting family and friends up north we ended our trip to the States with a few days in Orlando. We were there with Dararsquos sister Marcy and her family. In case I havenrsquot mentioned it before or if I mentioned it so long ago that everyone has forgotten they have two little girls Jenna who is about 8 months younger than http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Orlando/blog-57491.html Yes yes I know itrsquos been a looooonnnng time between blogs. My humblest apologies. A combination of writerrsquos block busy schedule and laziness. Mostly laziness Irsquod say. I do have a half written blog from a month ago but with your indulgences I think Irsquoll skip ahead a little and work backward. We have some great adventures.This past Sunday we returned from a fun b http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Jersey/Morris-County/Randolph/blog-57136.html I realize it has been a long time between blogs. Sorry we just get caught up in the daily routine enjoy life in this new culture well new to us and the time flies by. We are having a great time. We really like the ldquocityrdquo living being able to walk to the stores restaurants and park. It is a nice change from driveeverywhere suburbia. Of course I think we would enjoy the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-48169.html La Paz Waterfalls and GardensHigh off the tremendous views of the volcano and the terrific luck we had with the weather as written in the last blog ldquoOur Volcano Adventurerdquo I was thinking we should title this one our waterfall adventure. Although people may believe our lives are one big adventure most days are just the regular routine wake up hustle the kids off to school worr http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-46667.html The central mountain range of Costa Rica is made up of a line of volcanoes. Not far from our house is Volcano Poas a 6500 foot high cone with one of the worldrsquos largest active craters a must see. Since early January we had made plans to make a day trip to the volcano and nearby La Paz Waterfalls. Unlike the tourists here on a quick vacation we had the luxury of selecting the right d http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-45320.html By all accounts it seems that Ellie had a successful first week of school. A few of the mornings she was anxiousnervousreluctantdownright stubborn about not going to school. Once we got to the school however her teacher would come to the door take her hand and say ldquoCome on Ellie.rdquo Ellie would smile and go right in. At noontime when we would come to pick her up shersquo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-41910.html So the next installment of our busy weekhellip As I mentioned in a caption of a picture of the last blog we did have an impromptu Super Bowl Party complete with nachos pizza and beer and we were lucky to have beer. This is something I should have included in our Election Day Episode For 3 days leading up to and including Election Day alcohol sales are not permitted anywhere in the cou http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-41007.html Boy have we had a busy week It is now 845 Friday night and everyone is in bed but me poor old blogger. I know I know when you were young you used to have to stay up to midnight writing your blogs and in the snow and barefoot oy veyhellip kids these days. By the time I am done with this and I upload pictures over our slow connection it probably will be midnight. And Irsquoll http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-40471.html