This is our last day at the Villa on the beach until we come back in 6 days. It's been a very relaxing week and we really haven't done anything very exciting. After reading the Internet news in the morning (yes we even read the Kansas City Star), we have breakfast, take a walk on the beach and then decide whether to sit under the trees and watch the ocean (while reading a book) or go to the pool (and read a book). Either way we stay in the shade so although we have gotten a little color, we're being careful and haven't gotten burned. We are only eating two meals--a late breakfast and an early dinner. We're usually the first ones at a restaurant and are back 'home' when all of the younger surfers hit ... read more

Wednesday: We drove along a road from Mal Pais to Cabuya C.R. that is only for those with 4 wheel drive. It skirted the Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve. We had to go across a couple of rivers (don’t do this during the rainy season!), went up and down some very steep inclines and sharp curves, but the dirt road had been recently graded and didn’t have huge pot holes and ruts. Also, we weren’t dodging people walking and biking, or avoiding ATV’s and cars passing at daredevil speeds. We were glad we took that way to get across the peninsula. We went first to another wildlife sanctuary called Rainsong. In this place, animals were rescued when they either were injured or had been people’s pets and couldn’t be released into the wild. We saw some birds, ... read more

Brad and Tara, the owners of these villas, asked if we would like to take a tour on ATVs. He would lead it and rent ATVs for us. Everyone wanted to go so we took off with 8 ATVs and 15 people (a few were children but big enough to ride along). We left about 10 AM and hadn’t gone far when the police stopped us. Apparently, Brad was using a different rental place and found out that they didn’t have all of the ‘papers’ they were supposed to have. They then checked everyone for their driver’s license and passport documentation. Brad had forgotten to tell everyone to have passport information so some people didn’t. We had read at the airport in San Jose that it was fine to lock your passports in a safe and ... read more

We wrote the last blog while we were getting ready to leave the B&B in San Jose early in the AM and noticed I had quite a few typos. I’ll try and proof better but we were in a hurry to leave… I can now report that the roads from there to where we were going on the Pacific have some good news and some bad news… Good news is that there is a NEW toll road that is wonderful and it just opened 2 weeks ago!! I’ll include a pix from that. For Costa Rica roads….this was heaven!! But after we got off of it we found out what the real roads are like…giant pot holes and drivers that will pass on a curvy mountain road while big trucks, etc. are coming down the other ... read more

Last night we had dinner at the Balboa Yacht Club. We decided it is a perfect place to have beer and snacks on a sunny afternoon but no place for dinner although the wine was good. Today we took a tour to the Embera indian village. Interesting trip with a jungle tour and indian dancing. The pictures tell a better story than I can. Glad I wasn't driving because the roads outside the city are not the best. The boat we rode in was also a little unstable as it was hewn from a single log. Seats and back were added (to accomodate their 30hp motor.) The lake/river was stable so the boat ride was not too scarey. We'll be leaving our B&B, La Estancia, tomorrow morning to catch our plane to Costa Rica. It's been ... read more