We rented a car and drove to the Arenal Volcano. Mark did the zipline tour while Piper and I did the nature walk. [View Full Entry]

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Atenas is beautiful, but the twisty roads had us dropping like flies. Even Pietro succumbed to a bout of car sickness. Piper and I spent the day vaguely nauseated. We saw some beautiful land and homes, and a very nice internet cafe. We did have a great meal at an Italian Restaurant that was worth the drive to Atenas all by itself. Once out of the van, our appetites returned and we all enjoyed lunch. [View Full Entry]

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Went on a tour of an Organic Coffee Co-Op. Hugo gave us the grand tour. We saw coffee from seedlings to mature plants, had crop rotation and harvesting explained to us, got to sample various coffees and saw the entire process for turning beans into my reason for getting out of bed in the morning. [View Full Entry]

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Preston and Andrew took us to the properties that they have in San Ramon. They are so beautiful they don't look real. One property had a lot with this incredible tree that looked like something out of a movie. Piper wanted that lot... it would make for an amazing back yard... [View Full Entry]

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Andrew took us to an amazing place in Sarchi. Woodworkers handcraft the iconic oxcarts that are seen all over as decoration. They also make gorgeous doors, chests, about anything you can think of. What was really neat was seeing the water wheel that powered the tools in the workshop. [View Full Entry]

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First day of the Boomers! tour. We begin in Grecia and see a few homes that were for sale in the area then we eat a great lunch at one of Andrew's favorite spots. He tells us all to get the lemonade to drink and it was fantastic! It came to the table and it was actually frozen lemonade...it was soooo good. I got one to go as we were leaving. I'm loving the weather. Clear, sunny, no need for a jacket, not sweating either. Just perfect. Andrew lets us stroll around the central square for a bit and we go [View Full Entry]

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Sunday in Costa Rica and that means... football! What? Yep. Mark is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and Preston (our other tour host) is a rabid Buffalo Bills fan. Preston usually comes to the B&B to watch games so he was quite happy to discover that the current guests were all in favor of watching the games. We called Mark's parents after the game (mostly just to tell them we were able to watch it just like we were at home. His mom had been freaking out just a bit that her "kids" were in a "foreign country.") I had purchased [View Full Entry]

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Wake up with the sun...and the chickens. You could hear these big hens in their coop as they rustled around chortling to themselves and then letting loose with a "bock, bock, bock, bock, BGAWK!!!" The shower is huge, cool features include colorful tiles and a slightly sloped floor leading to a drain in the corner of the shower instead of the center... we like this system much better than our American shower with the drain in the middle of the floor and no slope to help move the water out and away. Pietro and Kenneth arrive and we load up Kenneth's [View Full Entry]

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Staying at Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast. We'll be taking the Boomer's Tour, but it doesn't start until Monday. Piper is the first young person they've had on the tour. One other couple is with us - Lou and Lorraine. We all hit it off immediately and as we are going to be in close quarters for a week I am sure we were all secretly thankful. We're met at the B&B by Mae - she's the resident Chef and is, herself, an expat. The owner of the B&B and Tour leader is Andrew Mastrandonas. He comes up from San [View Full Entry]

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Our first trip to Costa Rica. I fell in love as the plane was landing. I've never seen a more beautiful place. We took only carry-on bags so immigration and customs was no big deal. We were met at the airport by our B&B's driver, Kenneth, and Pietro - an indispensable gentleman with a warm smile and engaging manner who served as our translator, initial tour guide, man about town, and general genie-to-get-things-done person. I know enough Spanish to get into a conversation and get myself in trouble at which time I'd usually panic and look around frantically calling, "Pietro!" He [View Full Entry]

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