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Published: October 18th 2006
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Our friends Jesslyn, Dustin and Emanuelle from Arizona stopped to visit us for a few days on their two week trip to Costa Rica. Here's how things went.
Sunday mid-day we met them at the mall off the auto pista. Unfortunately, they arrived before we did as Bill's intuition is a little rusty. We brought them to the house to get settled in then went out for a driving tour of San Ramon in the rain and had a late lunch in one of our favorite restaurants, Pilar Hildalgo. We came back to the house and discussed what they wanted to do in the area and made a tenative plan.
Monday, Bill took Jesslyn and Dustin on his morning walk. The girls and I met them half way at Las Musas, a local waterfall and waterpark 4 km from the house. We all got to enjoy the waterfall together and got some great pics. Too cold for swimming this day. After everyone returned from the walk we had a snack of fresh fruits and cheese while prepping to go to the ziplines just outside San Ramon in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest.
Callista went with them on the
zip-lines/canopy tour. Bill and I sat this one out as we'd already done those lines, no need to do them again. It's different for Callista, she'll remember sharing this with her friend forever! Besides, she can never get enough adventure activities.
After the ziplines we stopped at the gift shop in Los Angeles to pick up a few things people in AZ had requested then headed back into San Ramon for a wet look around at the local shops and central mercado. Jesslyn had offered to teach me how to make homemade spaghetti sauce so we bought the fixin's and headed home. I don't remember much except the awesome smell wafting thru the house.
While Jess and I worked on dinner Bill went to pick up our friend Edgar the massage therapist. Dustin had a massage on the back patio while we cooked adn Bill watched Monday night football. We squeezed the massage table into our bedroom for Jesslyns massage after dinner as the night air was chilly and we wanted to give her privacy. We fed Edgar between the two to keep up his strength. It was crazy and hectic in our tiny kitchen for awhile but
it was fun. I'm excited for the day when I have a kitchen two or more people can work comfortably in without getting in eachothers way.
Tuesday, after a lite breakfast and packing we headed up to see our property. The electricty company(ICE) had called and planned to meet us there to take care of some business. We were thrilled to be able to both show our friends the place AND take care of business at the same time. When ICE was finished with us we headed back down the mountain to fuel up. We had to get gas for their car, propane for ours and coffee for Jesslyn who finds it as strange as I do that in 'coffee country' you can't pick up a cup of java as easily as in the states. You actually have to look for coffee places.
Their plan was to head up to Arenal Volcano after leaving us. We drove part way with them planning to spend a few hours at the thermal hot springs together. We drove thru Zarcero stopping to walk thru the topiaries in the rain and continued on to San Carlos driving thru rain, clouds and sun.
The change in weather on the drive along with the scenery was magical. We continue to be enchanted on all our drives in this country.
We made it to the thermal waters around 1:30pm, as we arrived later than planned Bill thought we'd only stay a couple of hours then part ways. We had the place virtually to ourselves. It was so peaceful and relaxing that we lost all track of time and didn't have a care in the world. When darkness fell and the lights came on we were entranced. Sitting in the warm waters in a rainstorm is something I recommend! At 7:30pm Bill announced we'd have to leave as we had at least an hours drive home to Bear who stayed home this trip.
We all are grateful for the time we got to spend together. Sharing our lives adds to this experience for us. It also helps us to realize that, yes, it is real. This IS our life and not a dream.
"We're richer for the friends we keep"
(I don't know if that's a quote or not, too tired to verify now. If it isn't, I'm claiming it.
Pura
Vida!
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear
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Saratica
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Where were you with the hot springs and the volcanic clay mud masks??? I NEED one of those... Looks like fun!