Blogs from Heredia, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 24

This weblog will provide a bit of background on Rachel and me and the opening of our inn. It will take you from brainstorming to the formation of a more official plan to open our inn, it will continue through its progress as we design it and prepare for our opening, and hopefully through our adventures as innkeepers. Some background on us: Rachel is a registered nurse, specializing in pediatrics. She received her degree from Rutgers University and has worked at Robert Wood Johnson and St. Peters Hospitals in New Brunswick, NJ, Newark Beth Israel Hospital and most recently at J.F.K Medical Center in Edison, NJ. While she is an excellent nurse, often being promoted over more senior staff, she never enjoyed the work and has been counting the days until retirement since she graduated college. ... read more

Let me start off with the big news - as some of you are already aware, it looks like we’re 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, I’m really getting good at it now. Actually, I just bought the book “Getting Things Done” so I could boost my productivity. Well, it was about 3 weeks ago by now and I haven’t cracked the cover, yet. Once I get around to reading it, look out!) Well, when it came down to it, we felt that we were really just getting into the swing of things and that we might ... read more

First, before I get started, let me apologize to friends back in the Yardley area - I’m sorry if we didn’t 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 Dara’s parents. We are glad we got to see who we did - we needed to make the most out of the short time we were there. We would have really liked to see everyone, but time just didn't allow. The big news here in Costa Rica is that with a wave of her wand, Mother Nature has flipped the switch and initiated the “green” season. ... read more

La Paz Waterfalls and Gardens High off the tremendous views of the volcano and the terrific luck we had with the weather (as written in the last blog, “Our Volcano Adventure” - 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, worry about what to make for dinner and so on. Then, of course, rainforests, mountains and beaches are all not far away.), we hopped in the car for the quick trip over to La Paz Waterfalls and Gardens. In hindsight, I think it was actually better that the volcano was all fogged in when we got there - not only was watching the clouds lift neat to ... read more

By all accounts, it seems that Ellie had a successful first week of school. A few of the mornings she was anxious/nervous/reluctant/downright 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, “Come on, Ellie.” Ellie would smile and go right in. At noontime, when we would come to pick her up, she’d still be smiling and tell us about “the new friends” she made that day. Overall, I am not too impressed with the school - I think Dara’s first impression of Yendry, the director, was correct - she is not the greatest. Actually, on the first day of school, as Dara and Ellie walked up to the door the director was just arriving at the school! I couldn’t imagine ... read more