Chad and Erin - again. I love this couple. I have been horseback riding with them twice on a tour I love, plus one other time with Erin's sister and her boyfriend. Tortuga island, local surfing trips, surfing in Quepos, dinner parties. I see them almost every day!
DVD's made for my new short time friends: James from Lake Tahoe, Nevada; Bob from West Virginia; Noah from Florida. All these required hours upon hours spent on the beach, etc.
Dave's 50th birthday party: Dave and his wife Kate are two of my closest friends here. They are from San Jose CA and have lived here for 3 years now. June 26th was the big day. He wanted a live band. I had seen a great band in Jaco a few months ago. They play classic rock and so I recommended them to Dave. Without hearing them, he booked them. This was the social event of the year in Esterillos. It was held at the local Tico bar on the beach. Everyone plus a lot of their family was here from the states. Afterwards about 10 of us ended up skinny dipping in another friends pool till early in the morning. It was a great party.
Bocas Del Toro. In May, Kate and Dave needed to do the 90 day thing. I really didn't have to go but wanted to. So it was me, them, another couple Gary, Meg and their 11 year old son Brett plus Richard who's wife is currently in the states - 7 of us total. I was in Bocas a year ago last March. This is a group of islands on the Caribbean side and belongs to Panama. We did the island hopping thing, one was actually set up with a trampoline, swings, etc to play in the water, plus snorkeling - always fun. Dave, Richard and I road bicycles for several hours one afternoon while Kate shopped and the others went diving, Kate had her birthday there and by the end of that day, she, Meg and I were dancing on a bar which of course I had instigated. We all took a bus there and back so that was an adventure in itself as usual. When we got back home we learned that while we had been gone, most of the Pacific side of Costa Rica had been hit hard by a tropical storm that was the biggest in the last 50 years. There was major flooding in Parrita about 20 miles to the south. We had no idea as it was beautiful where we had been.
3 weeks ago the woman who lived above me - Colleen, moved back to San Francisco. She had a job offer that could not be refused. So.....I moved upstairs. I now have an even more beautiful view of the ocean, even more of a sea breeze, and more security. The ceiling is twice as high as downstairs so I feel like I have more room even tho the floor plan is the same. Two things that make me very happy - no more toad pee outside my door in the mornings and less chance of a snake upstairs altho that is not a for sure thing since the jungle is in the back yard and in the last month I have now seen 3 live snakes on the road I was walking. All after dark between 6pm and 7. It is very beautiful and every day I am very aware of just how lucky I am to be here.
Turrialba - This is a beautiful Tico city south, east of San Jose. It takes about 5 hours to get there from here by bus. A month ago Chad, Erin and I left Esterillos to meet Erin's sister and boyfriend at the airport. From there we took a 2 hour ride by taxi to my friend Marty's house in Turriabla. Marty moved there in January with his two young sons and his housekeeper Hazel. They are the ones I did the wild "Road to Granada" trip with last November. Marty is passionate about white water rafting and now owns half of a rafting company in Turrialba. This is the reason he moved there.
I have been on a number of rafting trips in my life - California, Montana and Colorado but never a one as beautiful and fun as this trip. In my boat there was the 5 of us, Marty and the guide. There was also another boat with our group. Before we started out that morning, all us passengers and the crew were in a bus that Marty recently purchased. It took about 45 minutes to get to the farm we had to pass thur to get down to the river. When we hit the dirt road, we stopped and 3 of the crew members got out of the bus and climbed up to the top to sit in the raft that was on top of the bus. The idea of riding in the raft on top of the bus was very exciting to me and so I asked Marty if I could go up top. Of course he said yes. I realize this sounds like a very simple non eventful thing to do but the beauty of the mountain we descended, the sounds of the jungle, the cute Ticos I was sharing this space with, was breathtaking. It took at least half an hour to reach the river. When I got down I told Marty that if the river was half as much fun as the ride down, it would be spectacular. Well...........it was.
When I returned home after this trip my upstairs friend, Colleen who was still here at the time, told me this trip has been rated by National Geographic as one of the top 10 most beautiful rafting trips in the world. I understand why. Waterfalls everywhere, rapids that take your breath away but not terrifying but that depends on who you ask - I loved it. Because we had a rather wild group, all of us were out of the boat at least once. At one point we stopped to hike a water fall not seen from the river, lunch was prepared and served by the guides at a half way point on land inhabited by local indians. 2 small pigs provided the entertainment. In the afternoon, we reached a place in the river where the water was deep and flowing slow thru a very deep gorge. We all got out of the boat and floated down the river. At the end was a bar with showers and cold beer for all who wanted one.
Noah - One of the guys I made a DVD for. He is 38 and from Florida. He was in Esterillos for about 3 months. He is about 6'4" and rides a longboard. When he is on a wave..... he walks. He is the most amazing surfer I have ever seen. Besides being very good looking with beautiful blonde hair, he was a joy to get to know and watch on the waves. He returned home the first of the week. I spent a lot of time just watching him in the water. He is the only surfer I have ever seen do the hang ten thing. About 3 weeks ago, 8 of us all went in "The burb" - Chad's suburban that now has zebra stripes, to Hermosa, the beach north of us known for big waves. On that perfect morning, Erin and Adam with there with telephoto lens, me with Noah's video camera, saw the biggest waves I have ever seen and Noah riding them like a pro. It was breathtaking. The week before he left there was a summer solstice surf contest in Hermosa. Noah won the overall for the day. It was the 2nd contest he has ever entered.
Spay/Neuter Day. The McKee foundation - the people who used to own the clinic I volunteered for last year held a spay day here in Esterillos about a month ago - in fact this was just before I went to Turrialba with the kids. There was going to be one vet from San Jose with an assistant. Instead two doctors came. I had volunteered to do whatever was needed. I ended up being the one and only assistant to the younger of the two doctors. We started at 9 am and finished about 4pm. We had about a 30 minute break in between. Between the two doctors, we did 57 dogs and cats for the day. It was amazing, exhausting, and absolutely wonderful. That night my friend Elizabeth, (from Holland, 30 years old) who helped organize the event, she and I along with Kate and Dave who were providing a place for the doctors to stay that night - all had dinner together. Afterwards, Elizabeth and I took the doctors to Jaco and danced till 1am. Such a long, long day but oh so fun.
Bull riding - My place is near the top of the hill and just below me is the stables and arena where bull riding is held occasionally. About 2 weeks ago one of these events was scheduled. This was the same week Erin's sister Chelsey and her boyfriend JP were here. You might be guessing where this is leading but I did NOT ride a bull. Instead I encouraged and cheered on Chad, JP and two other friends to run like crazy across the arena after the rider had fallen off and the bull was also running around the ring. It was a rather wild night as there are very few rules at such events in Costa Rica. Fortunately no one was hurt and we are still taking about the fun had.
Elizabeth - again she is my friend from Holland. She is also the one I cover for last year at the vet clinic while she returned home for 3 weeks and then remained until that clinic was sold. Elizabeth recently started working for a horse tour that I took last year for my birthday. This is a tour that takes you up to a waterfall and there you have a mud bath. Anyway, I have started going out to the stables with her and helping out also. Now Elizabeth has horse fever. She wants her own. So, last week we went to visit a woman we both know who owns a few horses and boards others. Tomorrow after a tour we are going to see another person and on Sunday, more horses. I love horse shopping, just gotta be careful I don't get the same bug.
My birthday - July 2nd. I had so much fun white water rafting last month with Marty that that is what I wanted to do again. So, this last Tuesday, Elizabeth, myself, plus another girlfriend Nedley who recently had a full page article in the gringo Costa Rica newspaper about her being the one and only ship mate at Los Suenos which is the premier marina in Costa Rica all went to Turriable in El's car. Elizabeth had never been rafting before. Nedley grew up in Oregon and was a guide for 8 years. She knows everything about rafting. Wednesday was the big day. Once again, as we entered the farm to go down the mountain I asked Marty if all 3 of us could get on top and of course we did. The day was just as much fun as before. When we reached the place where we could float down the river, it started to pour rain. But, no problem, the rain was warmer than the river. What was a problem was getting back into the boat. As soon as you tried, someone would push you back in. Even the guide was in several time. It was totally out of control but a lot of fun. That evening after dinner, totally exhausted but it was still my birthday - all the girls including Hazel went out dancing on the town. Got home after midnight. Every single moment of my birthday day had been enjoyed. Thank you Marty!!!!!
Usually at the end of an "update" e-mail I often feel a bit guilty about all the fun I write about. I realize most of you are still working, have families at home, have other lives that make it impossible for you to just run away as I did. Many of you do know I still have challenges, all of you know no one, no one goes thru life without painful events. My life before I came to CR was great. I have sons I love very much and I had a career I truly enjoyed. But something happened to me that made me reevaluate where I was and caused me to take a chance at something unknown. I will forever be grateful for that decision as it took me to this place I now love so much.
May each of you find the courage to pursue your dream no matter how crazy it may sound to you and others. Life is short. I truly believe, when we get to the end it will be the dreams you lived that you will be most grateful for. Family and friends are so important, but be true to yourself - that is the person you have to deal with everyday of your life. You can choose to dwell on all the bad things that happen or you can look at each day as a gift to be enjoyed. I have always loved that old cliche' "Today is the first day of the rest of your life".
May TODAY be the first day of the rest of you life.
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