More friends along the way...

Our rental vehicle, a Hyundai SUV had BeGo on the back door. Kenz referred to our vehicle as BeGo. BeGo had a special lock which we were to use inside. IF someone broke into the vehicle, we had a lock that went around the gear shift so they couldn't move BeGo. BeGo was a good buddy, getting us down lava bumpy roads, up mountain paths, down muddy inclines and across sandy lanes. BeGo gulped gas but served us well. BeGo and I almost had a nervous breakdown together on our last day in San Jose. We were on the highway, clipping along at 90kph when a man in another lane had a tire blow out on his motorcycle and slid in front of us. We stopped about three feet from running over this guy and his bike, while I watched in the rear view mirror as a truck came barrelling right behind me. I knew we would be pushed on top of this man, killing him IF he weren't already dead. We weren't hit and I tried to get out of my vehicle to help the man who wasn't moving. Several men waved at me to stay put, picked up the injured, dead? man and his bike and waved the traffic on. BeGo saved us. I hyperventilated and cried on and off for a couple of hours. Always wondered what happened when a motorcyle had a blow out...no helmet, no long sleeves. Hope he is OK.

We got serioulsy lost in Cartago, a town where Kristin was an exchange student when she was 16. There was a ton of construction/road work going on in the country and roads were diverted, shut down and without signage. So, we were trying to go south to San Isidro and we must have asked at least 20 people how to get to the autopista. Everyone gave us the same directions, regardless of where we were: "turn left, go several blocks and turn right and go straight. You will reach it." I stopped one elderly couple to ask and the old man gave me the same directions but then asked, "are you travelling alone?" I said, "no, I am with my grandaughter." He immediately went over to BeGo's open door and leaned in right up to Kenz who was feeling pretty nervous. A dirty old man??? His wife screamed at him and off we went, talking about what one could do in this situation in the future.

 Whil trying to find out way out of Cartago, we took a picture of a cemetary. In Guatemala, each of these would have been brightly painted in an array of colors. We only saw graves in white in Costa Rica.

In the central park area is Las Ruinas, old ruins of the church with many people feeding pigeons. The young girl in front had just exited the church nearby and note the dog lying in the midst of all of this chaos. Vendors were selling seeds, grains and crackers to feed the birds. Our goal: get outta there without getting pooped on!

I stopped and asked a Taxi driver and we were in front of the old secondary school which is still being used. The taxi guy proudly stated that there is a new school down the road for the high schoolers but there are still too many kids.

Finally, I asked at a gas station and the attendant (yup, they still have attendants who fill up your tank, check your tires and wash your windows) had no clue but a man getting a fillup with a full car of women and kids said to follow him. We did. And even though he said it was no problem and NOT out of his way, when we got on the right road, he veered off and went in the opposite direction. He made us smile with his generosity.

Friends along the way

Part of the grandma trips has been the requirement that the kids and I journal...every day, to document our trip. Usually, along with the Christmas gift of the trip, comes a journal and this year...Kenz' journal was organized with sections which were: friends along the way; foods; experiences and then, just empty journal pages for daily documentation. We enjoyed the "friends along the way" section because it required us to think about the specific people we met each day and how they affected our trip and experiences. So, meet some of the people we met and enjoyed:

Our plane seats were aisle and window on each segment and I wondered why I would have booked something so odd...took me a bit to remember that that middle seat should have been Heidi's, my daughter and Kenz' mom, who could not go because of an accident. But on our first flight from Detroit to Dallas, we met Teri, a woman with a home in LaFortuna, Costa Rica and who referred us to her friend's restaurant. Her friend, Garrapata (which means tick in Spanish) would end up being a great resource. His nickname, tick, came about because of his birthmark on his face. And he used that name as the name of his restaurant where we ate twice.

 Our view from Arenal Palace Hotel and the papaya tree outside of our room.

Garrapata, or Israel, as his parents named him, welcomed us warmly and gave me a complimentary serving of ceviche. We had looked at a couple of hotels earlier before eating lunch at Garrapata's place but I asked him if he had a suggestion of where we might stay. He sent us to his friend, Selim, a Costa Rican named after an Arab friend of his father's. Garrapata called Selim, got us a splendid rate and a wonderful room which we immediately took. Selim treated us like family and introduced us to his family. Our room was splendid...overlooking Arenal Volcano and I would stay again at his place without hesitation.

We went hiking on Arenal and went into town to eat lunch and dinner but, Selim served us our breakfasts, cooking our eggs himself. Fresh fruit...great coffee. One lunch, we ate at Just Good Food, a restaurant owned by an American, Mike Conroy. As it turns out, Mike had recently been bullriding with Garrapata and was surprised to learn that we knew Israel's real name...he did not know it!

Another day, we met Jose, who was trying to drum up business for Punto Fusion, a restaurant owned by a young couple from Medellin, Colombia. We ate there, pictured above, and enjoyed that experience alot. Kenz especially found it distracting that the young owner was breast feeding her child with breast bared.

Bridges...aren't the same everywhere

I am hating how I cannot choose where these photos are placed on the page. Blogspot has changed a bit since I last posted which was three months ago. Much has happened in our lives since moving back to Michigan but I haven't felt like writing for some reason. Ah...this is about Costa Rica. Well, this is a mountainous country which means many winding, curving roads. There are many canyons and wide rivers to be crossed but, for some reason, probably cost, the bridges generally are one lane wide. Now, that wouldn't be all bad except one may round a curve to find the bridge approach is immediate. No problem unless you don't see the car on the other side of the bridge that has also just rounded a curve and mounted the bridge. We had to back up several times to avoid an accident and most folks allowed for a blinking headlight to signal..go ahead. Several shook their arms and hands in anger when they had to back up!

Kenz decided to hop out and give with a pose which the vendors in a wagon nearby enjoyed.

Bill's Place

Our first day at Bill's when we walked the beach, there was this huge piece of driftwood which was a good landmark so we could see where we needed to return to Bill's. The tides are huge here and this piece of wood was covered just a few hours after we took this photo.

 Kenz wanted to make some picture art...so drew this message in the sand. Pura Vida is used constantly by the Ticos and is used as a greeting, a good bye and an answer to whatever malady has occured. Water glass breaks..."pura vida!"  Weather cruddy..."pura vida!"  Bought a t-shirt and leaving the shop, "pura vida."

 A planter at Bill's which I love. He also has a big bush planted in a huge tractor or truck trailer which is a great idea. Rainy season ruins wood and the tire will last forever.

 Hard to see this guy but he is a huge toad. They come out at night and Kattia was totally afraid of them. They aren't poisonous but obnoxiously large. What I never found out is...why do they stay outside and not hop into the house which was always open. They skirted around the doors and kept away which is lovely. Imagine waking up and going to the bathroom and seeing this guy sitting next to the stool at 3 a.m.

 MTC on the piece of huge tree washed up on the beach that Kenz is seen on earlier. Next walk...no sign that we had actually seen or sat on this. Powerfull tide surges and the waves pounded continuously. Very relaxing.

 The last day Bill was with us, I yelled at him that there was a horse in the yard. He asked Kenz to shoo it away and we couldn't. Bill came out and hustled the horse out of the yard, but not before it pooped a bunch. Bill went to get ready to leave and the horse came back. It belongs to a guy nearby who has a horse tour business and this guy got loose somehow. Bill left and when we got back to the house around 2:00 p.m. this guy was back munching on the grass. The owner finally came and got him around 4 ish but the yard had a distinctly horsey smell by that time.

Wandering in Costa Rica

We ended our week long trip with a last day's stay in San Jose. We, however, had the special opportunity to stay with my friend, Bill, who is pictured here on the right. Bill has a place on the coast, in a small community not too far from Jaco, with picture perfect ocean views. Here are Frank and Kattia on the far left, and they take care of Bill's home for him while he is working in Honduras where I met him originally a few years ago. Kenz, sitting next to Bill, met Bill last year in Guatemala where he also has work responsibilities. Bill joined Logan, Addison, Kenz and me on our last year's grandma trip in Chichicastenango. Kenz is wondering which country we will next encounter Bill? Has to be Spanish speaking because his command of the language is native...he sounds like a Tico...what Costa Ricans are called! 

 This is Bill's home snuggled amongst some gorgeous palm trees. The hut above is where we ate breakfast in the morning and listened to the waves crashing across the path from the house.

 The gate to heaven is just below. Looking out of this gate, one sees crashing blue huge waves that are a surfer's dream and mile after mile of dark sand. Kenz and I walked the beach a bit each day and she found time to drift in the waves, do handstands on the beach and even found a horse to cavort with which found its way into Bill's backyard...much to his dismay! Big horses leave big piles of mierda!

What is extra special about Bill's place is that it is his piece of quiet on earth. And best was that we were able to have him at his home when we were there. We ate wonderful food, slept like the dead and had one outstandingly long power outtage which made for a long humid night's sleep...loved when the air kicked on around 4 a.m. Oh, and broad daylight occured every morning around 4:15 a.m. and nightfall was complete at 6:15 p.m. On the beach, with neighbors a ways away, no commercial business nearby and only the ocean across the street meant that an outtage was complete....black as all get out. We looked for flashlights and candles but...no worry. 8 ish...so we just went to bed and looked forward to an early start to another gorgeous day.

Making Caseville home

When I finally arrived in Caseville, I knew I would be confronted with a difficult time. Richard and I struggled with our packing up 12 years of memories, and pieces of our lives that represented so much special to us individually and together. We pitched, we donated and we packed...and packed and packed. We sold most of our furniture, knowing that the Florida furniture wouldn't fit our lifestyle or our house in Michigan. I knew we would need to buy new furniture and thought Richard understood this also. I was a bit wrong there!

The photo above is the large number of photos and pictures which need to be hung...and then, there are many that I wanted thrown away or donated while in Florida but they were packed. NOW I will have to get them outta here. Finding a wall to house these pictures, many hand painted in Ethiopia or Honduras will take some time. We have managed to get our bedroom organized...that leaves three more bedrooms to go!

Stressful is trying to take 12 years of Florida and incorporate those items into about 25 years of our cottage expansion and our memories here. Each item which was perfect for here or there...is now being questioned as to whether or not we need to keep it or should keep it. IF it was good enough for us in the past...why not now? Trying to explain that a home is where one lives and a cottage is what one visits has not worked too well yet. We have had years of wonderful weekends and visits here at the cottage and now, we have to start calling it home. Transitions are sooo difficult. And add to those the fact that we have not seen the sun in days and it is cold, dreary and rainy. And I miss my friends and have to make more up here.

We had a great surprise the other night when our friends, Dennis and Kat came over with wine in hand. They also brought some pulled pork and cheese and crackers and we sat and laughed and relaxed. A great start weaving new friends into our new home. And they were lovely and didn't laugh too hard and our disasterous decorations found around the house.

Travels to Michigan

Travel went fairly slowly from Ft. Myers up to Michigan but fortunately, I was able to spend a couple of days in Marietta with my younger sister, Sheryl and her family. While there, I was able to see my nephew, pictured here. I haven't seen Kyle in a couple of years and he has grown up and acquired a lovely young lady friend. We had dinner with Kyle and Maya and then, went to see Kyle's new and quite classy apartment.

My second day with Sheryl and her husband, Larry and their daughter, Allie, we went to the Taste of Marietta event down at the square. Food looked yucky so we didn't buy anything other than a coffee but we did enjoy listening to several musical groups. Made it up to Michigan from there in one day and was totally exhausted...stopped at Heidi and Chris' house in Davison, slept over and made the final trek to the cottage. And while there...I had an emotional break down. Richard and his buddy had delivered so much of the Florida house and placed the stuff all around the house. Piles confronted me everywhere.