R & R in Herradura

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We arrived home yesterday evening from a very relaxing 3 day, 2 night stay with friends in Herradura. Our friends Terry and Elena are our oldest friends in our new lives, not in age, in the length of time we've known them. Terry was the only other person on our George Lundquist tour last summer. We all met Elena our second night of the tour, it was a love connection for them. The two are now married and living happily ever after at the beach. The seven of us, including dogs all moved back to Costa Rica within days of each other. At one point we thought we’d all be on the same flight out of LAX. We got an unexpected surprise when we went to pick up our cargo ten days later and ran into them.

We've kept in touch thru emails and phone calls but we hadn't gotten together in person since their wedding reception soon after we all arrived in the country. Both couples are getting ready to start construction so we knew if we didn't get together soon it'd be another year. Plans were made in pen; plans made in pen are not cancelable. They are come hell or high water plans. We're all glad we made those plans in pen!

What a fantastic experience. For starters being with people that are easy, we can just "BE" with our friends, no need for keeping guards up. Having the chance to experience living in a different part of the country is great. Hoteling doesn't give you the same experience. They showed us their daily life and gave us a driving tour of the near by Los Suenos Resort. I'd rather stay in my friends three bed, one bath house than the multi-million dollar resort but that's just me. We had great weather during our stay but I can attest to the need for lots of fans in their new house.

We weren't prepared for the awesome flights of the Scarlet Macaws in their neighborhood. We'd been to Jaco before, Esterillos, Quepos and Manuel Antonio but the only Macaws we'd seen have been in zoos or sanctuaries. Seeing them wild, flying, landing and perching in the teak trees across a field near our friend’s house was spectacular. Wednesday morning while the boys were off fishing, Elena, Callista and I got to see seven pairs, 14 of these magnificent birds land in the tree ten feet from their house where they played and hung out for over an hour. Words can not describe the experience, to quote Elena, “And people say there isn’t a God!” Experience this just once and you’ll never doubt again.

On the construction front, we’ve chosen to be hands off builders paying someone else for the hassles, Elena has chosen to take things head on;being a Tica has definite advantages. They were working on final approval of their plans and starting to order supplies before we left. I’m really happy to know someone else going thru the process to bounce ideas off of. Their rental house is within walking distance of their building site. It makes life much easier. When both houses are finished we’ll compare actual costs, $$$ as well as the frustration factor and see if either would do things different. Look for that blog sometime a year from now.

Tuesday morning Bill and Callista went to the beach while I ran errands with Elena. Before we picked them up we stopped at the local AutoMercado. For those who don’t know it’s a store WE have to drive into San Jose for that carries just about anything you crave with an American brand name. I must have really embarrassed Elena. It was little campasina in the city. I’ve said before I’m not a shopper, this is true but get me in a grocery store where I can buy Ruffles, sliced turkey breast, refrigerator cookie dough, Sprite, gourmet root beer, dijon mustard and pretzels, while I have Bills wallet in my purse WITH his permission to use it, look out! Elena had to practically drag me out. I didn’t care that Bill and Cal were at the beach in the rain, I had to find the jars of turkey gravy just in case we find a turkey. I knew they’d understand, boy did they! Callista was so happy with her bag of Chex Mix she hated to share. Bill sat in the dark last night hoarding his precious pretzels. It’s funny what you become protective of in Costa Rica.  The best part of the AutoMercado story is I actually spent LESS than Bill expected I would.

We headed home as soon as Terry and Bill returned from their fishing trip mid-day Wednesday because Callista had woken with a fever that had risen with the days temperature. It’s no fun being sick, worse when you can’t be in your own bed.

Time spent with good friends is invaluable. Thanks Elena and Terry for a wonderful time. I hope your internet stays online long enough to read this all at one sitting.

Pura Vida!
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear (who learned he can live in the same house with a cat!)

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