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As we drove into our hotel in the quiet of the early hours of Thursday morning, we stopped at a red light and waited for it to go green even though there were no other cars in sight. "No more running red lights," I thought. Unlike Costa Rica, where you can legally run the red lights after 10pm and...
It turns out that it's good to fly five days after a hurricane that was serious enough to close the airport for a couple of days and scare off other travellers, but not so serious that the infrastructure of the airport was badly damaged. All our flights were on time and Houston airport was...
We've driven down Avenida 10 to the hospital and back home along Avenida 8 so many times that we've worn a groove. I took a couple of pictures of the buildings, people, and streets on our way home yesterday. Travis's suggested caption for this one - "Want a screw?" You can get any kind of screw you...
Costa Rica gained independence from Spain in 15 September 1821. The holiday's on Monday. Petra will be ten months old on the same day. Independence Day is a big deal here. Shops and buildings have been decorated for weeks with flags and red, white, and blue streamers and decorations. Vendors are...
The movers came in today to pack our stuff and put it in a container for shipping to New Zealand. We began at the crack of dawn, or 7:30ish anyway, and were done by late morning. Costa Ricans are systematically, chronically late for everything, all of them, it's a national characteristic. Except...
And I'm hiding in the office, away from the huge old roach that crawled off into a corner of the lounge. Travis tried to catch it, but it's fast as well as huge. It shot off under the tv stand before he even got close. Now it's who knows where out there. Ah, the joys of the tropics. It's raining...
My soulmate who fortunately also happens to be my girlfriend by the way is off exploring the furthest reaches of the world. She will be away mainly in Costa Rica for 6 months.
Avocados - they're huge, ripe, and flavourful. Yum Mangoes Pineapples Limes Gallito Milan Menta chocolates - otherwise known as "crack chocolate" for their addictive properties Britt chocolate-covered fruit and Britt coffee Local cheeses fresh off the farm Frescas - freshly-squeezed fruit juices...
Some small inconveniences and one large frustration about living in Costa Rica.... Inconveniences first: 1) A dearth of English-language books. There's one good bookshop which I'm rapidly using up because it's quite small. The other stores run to Penguin Classics and bestsellers. I've read Charles...
It's the most enthusiastically baby-friendly place I've ever been. Babies are welcome everywhere. Our local mall is all geared up for children, with a small train whirring around the ground floor, a playground, and a bouncy castle. They run special events as well - face painting and story times....
I can't believe its already been one whole year for the hubs and I. Weird, I tell ya. But we are off to Costa Rica to celebrate. Marriage IS hard, even if you love the person with your entire heart, but is also is worth it. I get to climb in bed with my best friend every night. Who knows what the...
Life has been a tad harried at my place this week. Travis is in South Africa (his company has taken an unaccountable dislike to our wedding anniversary - Travis has travelled for work twice since we got married, both times he's been away for our anniversary. We haven't spent one together yet). I'm...
This is a very old topic, but an American woman in Naples posted a new video on this subject in CNN's iReport section. She shows how she lives in a nice house and neighborhood, but she has to drive a very short distance to dump her trash. The trash just piles up. No truck ever comes to get it. The...
Day 8: Today I had to wake up at 6. We went on a hike through the cloud forest. On the hike we saw a huge orange and black tarantula, a wild pig, and a cool millipede. We also got to climb this old somewhat rundown observation tower. It was a little scary climbing up seeing as some steps were broken...
