Galletas Nevadas in Costa Rica A day or two before we left Costa Rica, Savannah saw these cookies: 'Nevadas'. She thought the name was great; she's excited to visit Nevada.
Costa Rica Retrospective: Food The food in Costa Rica was delicious. Angela quickly learned the seasonings and sauces commonly used here and applied it to her cooking. Costa Ricans don't like a lot of spice in their food, but they have some delicious hot sauces. The grocery stores our of San Jose
Costa Rica Retrospective: Driving I had no intention of driving in Costa Rica prior to arriving. I had seen driving in our parts of Latin America and had been terrified of it. But we quickly realized that the areas in which we had hoped to live could not be navigated without a car. Renting
Costa Rica Retrospective: the People The People of Costa Rica were so welcoming and friendly, especially in San Carlos, where we spent most of our time. Our neighbors were thoughtful and welcoming and took the time to get to know us. People you met in town and at stores were generally polite. Despite us being
Costa Rica Retrospective: No Illnesses During the three months that we were in Costa Rica, we did not have a single cold, fever, flu, food poisoning, or other illness. I don't know if there has ever been another three month period where all of us have been avoided illness. I don't
Back in the US: First Impressions - Water Our first night back in the USA from Costa Rica, we stayed in a hotel in Fairfax, VA. The water in the US has so much chlorine -- it was pretty disgusting compared to the water in Costa Rica.
Birds We've Identified in Costa Rica While in Costa Rica, Carson has been determined to identify each bird that we see. Here is a list of the unique species that we have seen: 1. Muscovy duck 2. Great kiskidee 3. Rufus collared sparrow 4. Cherrie’s tanager (passerine’s tanager) 5. Ruddy ground dove 6. Montezuma
Farewell at Church We have really enjoyed attending church in Costa Rica. In the La Fortuna area, the nearest Church of Jesus Christ is in a town named Quesada, which was about a 45 minute drive. They were so welcoming. More than anyone, Carson connected well with the young men in the congregation
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Night Walk in our Neighborhood with Phil and Savannah Savannah, Phil, and Keith went on a night walk around our neighborhood for about an hour. We saw some pretty neat creatures. A frog hiding in this plant: A great kiskadee asleep on a branch: A spectacled caiman in the water (its eye is glowing since i have the flashlight
Rio Chollin - Natural Hot Spring River We were talking with a neighbor and he asked us if we had gone to the hot springs here. We had looked at several hot spring resorts here, but they were kind of expensive and didn't seem worth it. But he told us about the place that locals
Bogarin Trail, La Fortuna, Costa Rica Our challenge for the last few weeks was to find a Blue Jeans Frog, which is a type of Strawberry Poison Dart Frog. I had read of people seeing them at the Bogarin Trail, so when Phil and Nicole asked for suggestions of places we should go, that was at
Visit from Phil, Nicole, and their Family We have been anxiously awaiting Phil, Nicole, and their family visiting us for weeks. It was so much fun having them here and the kids loved the company. They got along so well! We visited the town square of La Fortuna: Nicole and Angela with the Catholic Church in the
Falling off the Road I was sitting at my desk when I saw a car driving down the road. As it entered a small bridge over our creek, it drove right off the edge, rolled over, and landed upside down in the creek. Fortunately, no one was injured. Within a couple of hours, they
Exploring Tres Esquinas, San Carlos, Costa Rica On Friday, our neighbor stopped by and asked us if we would like ride on boats later that afternoon. He told us there was a place nearby that he would take us to. We excitedly accepted, but weren't sure how boats could go on the river next to
Red Lored Amazon Parrots by our House Since returning to La Fortuna area, we have had parrots squawking and flying around near our house. But they never seemed to land where we could take a picture of them. Finally, they landed by the street, so Carson was able to capture some pictures.
Aunt Beth's Baked Beans Have Gone International It's been a while since we've had Aunt Beth's Famous Baked Beans. With a lot of creativity, Angela was able to turn our available ingredients into Aunt Beth's Baked Beans - Costa Rican Edition. Aunt Beth's Baked Beans have officially gone
Swimming at the River We went swimming and exploring at a nearby river. It wasn't the best swimming area, but we saw neat frogs, spiders, and lizards. A large spider: A neat looking lizard:
Rounding up the Calves Savannah helped some neighborhood children round up the calves that were running around in our yard. Afterwards, they came by with their puppy for us to hold and spent some time with our family.
Local Pineapple The pineapple grown in La Fortuna is sweeter and less acidic that others -- they claim it is a different variety than can be found anywhere else. It is delicious. Occasionally, you see people selling them straight from the farm out of the back of their trucks. These were 5 for
Crocodiles in our Yard We found a good way to get out and get some exercise -- night walks in the yard. We explore, looking for bugs and animals. There is actually a small caiman (similar to a small crocodile, but less aggressive) that lives by our drive-way. We've also seen lots
Heading to the Beach - Esterillos and Puntarenas We planned on spending March by the beach, but that fell through. We had been assured the house had internet capable of streaming video, but the internet wasn't capable of loading basic web pages. We left almost immediately. Without decent internet, schooling isn't feasible. While trying
Farewell San Jose A beautiful sunset over San Jose. This is the view from the window of our house our last night in San Jose. Casa Los Cielos has been an incredible home for the last month.
Fishing at Tortuguero Island We took the opportunity while we were in Tortuguero to hire a boat to take us fishing. Our boat met us at our hotel (which was on the water) at 7:00am. But it was too windy and the waves were too large for us to go into the Caribbean,
Night Hike on Tortuguero Island, Costa Rica When we arrived at Tortuguero Island, we asked the attendant at our hotel about a tour to see the turtles (after all, Tortuguero Island means Turtle Island). He told us that that are no turtles this time of year. He said if we returned a few weeks later and looked
