The Best Climate in the World - Atenas

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Greetings from high in the mountains near a town that boasts The Best Climate in the World. It's a beautiful 80 degrees with a constant breeze off the mountains. The villa we are staying in is straight up the mountain and you would think we were completely isolated from the rest of the world but in reality we are only five minutes from the town square straight down.

Costa Rica prides itself on being one of the most biologically diverse countries on the planet. Although it is barely as big as West Virgina, it has more then one million or more plant and animal species including 10 percent of the butterflies of the world and and an equal percentage of birds. By the late 1960s after decades of severe deforestation and dwindling animal populations, an appreciation that something precious was being lost began to develop. Today, multiple ecosystems and the diversity of living creatures they support are protected within a network of almost 200 national parks and reserves. Costa Rica has become a world leader in the industry of ecotourism. An ever growing number of Costa Ricans are making a living as nature guides and the industry adds more and more workers to its work force each year.

On a more personal note, the first night we stayed here an inquisitive cat like creature visited us. Very friendly and beautiful. We have since confirmed that it is an Ocelot. It roams this mountain area and has decided to adopt us. It sleeps on our couch during the dy and leaves to hunt at night. It is very friendly and inevitably turns up when we are preparing food. It's very distinct markings set it apart from other spotted cats. Brian is going to post a picture of him. We call him Rico.

Time to go to lunch, we call a cab. It's much easier than driving down ourselves and it's very inexpensive. Once the driver picks you up they like to leave their card so you will call again. Chao.

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