Gracias Por Todo, Costa Rica…

Well, I’m sitting on the airplane going home. The year long Costa Rican adventure is over. Where on earth did the time go?

With all of the preparations for leaving, and the preparations for life back in Canada lately, I’m afraid we’ve had precious little time to savour our last few weeks, or to reflect much on the past year. That being said, I know there are plenty of things I will miss dearly, and plenty of experiences I will remember forever.

With not working for a year, nor having much stress other than trying to help the kids with their homework which was all in Spanish, I’d like to think that I have gained some valuable insight into what makes me truly happy in life. Being inviting into the home of some Costa Rican’s to help in the making of the traditional Christmas Tamales gave me so much more of a charge than any flat-screen TV or granite counter top could ever hope to do. Why are we all so pre-occupied with that crap? However, lets talk after I’ve been on the old hamster wheel for six months or so. (Full disclosure: the house we are moving into is having the granite counter top installed as we speak… Please forgive me Costa Rica!)

Some other random, personal highlights:

• The bio-diversity - plant, animal and insect was a daily pleasure. Seeing monkeys, Toucans, Scarlet Macaws, hummingbirds, tarantulas, scorpions, snakes and lizards etc. (in the wild, not in a zoo) is something I’ll always remember.
• The private tour of an old fashioned, but still working sugar-cane processing “Trapiche” was awesome.
• Fun Fridays at the Gonzo’s.
• The school field trip with a bus load of grade one kids to the Monteverde cloud forest and having to have a tractor pull the bus up a muddy hill after several attempts to drive it.
• Teaching my kids how to ride a boogie board.
• The view from John and Patsy’s veranda.
• The zip-line canopy tour.
• Chicken on a stick.
• The “Bocas” menu at Guanacastes.
• The local coffee.
• The local beer.
• The price of the local beer.
• My favourite restaurant, “La Casita del Cafe”, and it’s view all the way to the ocean.
• The papusa stand at the Friday morning farmers market.
• Eating stuff like juicy mangos that grew just outside our door.
• Eating stuff that I’ve never heard of before (and don’t have any hope of spelling correctly), like jocotes, pejibayes, mamonchinos, flor de itabo etc.
• Flor de Cana, the Nicaraguan rum.
• And of course the many, many friends we made in Atenas. The Gonzos; the Zack-Asselains; Gary & Josanne and Gretel and Roberto at Poco Cielo; Jay and Melissa; Leticia; our gym buddy, Bruce (good luck with house!); Eduardo & Elena and family (Eduardo, tu estas el mejor guia del mundo!); Our Spanish tutors, miss Daisy and Luzmilda; Penny & Marshal and the kids, (good luck with the new restaurant!); the Maynards; the Hickoxs; Dana & Travis and kids; Tina at Su Espacio (and Sami & Matthew); Rob & Jenn and the kids; Pedro & Maria; etc. etc. etc.

There is oh so much more, but for now I’ll just say adios, Costa Rica, I will definitely miss thee.

Also, as I’m sure no one will be in the least bit interested in blog posts such as “It’s Monday – Remember to take the garbage out” and other such monotony, I guess that spells the end of this blog. To those of you who checked in from time to time, thanks for sharing our experiences. Doing the blog was fun, I hope you enjoyed it.

Adios…