Last Day

I  was up fairly early once again—didn't sleep well most nights since I think our Temperpedic bed has spoiled us. We were both up and dressed by 7, so I suggested we hike on the grounds and Matthew suggested going down to the waterfall. Not being ones to rush into anything, we started with coffee. Connie and Greg were still sleeping, but woke before we left, so Greg came with us.

 

  Bob offered us some walking sticks, which really helped with the mud and steep climb down—and getting back up. I'm definitely not a hiker by nature—my short legs had a hard time, even though they have steps leading down the hill. I had to take it one at a time and go pretty slow. The area is beautiful, and we stopped periodically to look up into the trees hoping to see a sloth. Bob said we might see a wild pig and some monkeys, but maybe we got started a little too late (around 8) because we didn't see any wild life....unless you count centipedes. The waterfall was worth the trip and I felt like I walked off some of the dinner from the night before.

We had to then pack up everything and leave. I am so impressed with what Bob and Bea have done there—building a home not only for visitors to enjoy, but also for orphaned animals. Bea showed us Geronimo, the wooly opossum they've build a home for. She's raised him since he was little and goes in to feed him twice a day.

They have several large shelters for animals to use when they need it, plus the huge bird sanctuary, which only has a few parakeets at the moment. Everyday Bob puts food out for the wild cawatis that live around the property. He says he's not sure they're there, but the food is always gone later. Bea has a huge heart and her life story is very touching, which prompted us to give them a donation towards their critter care.

We expected a house to stay in, but ended up in much more. We've used VRBO before, but the house is left with no supplies, which is normal. Bea brought us tamales, juice, and milk the first night since we hadn't had a chance to shop, but the next morning bacon and eggs arrived on the table by the pool. They're very generous with everyone and everything and are the kind of people that make the world a better place.

 And have I mentioned the sunsets? 

 And my one art photo:

 

They're planning on selling the houses and part of the property, about 2 acres, then building another home down the hill from this one. We saw a realtor when we were there, so it's already on the market.

We had about a 3 hour drive to our motel, again the Adventure Inn, which I've now decided is an adventure in trying to sleep...but our GPS sent us on a wild goose chase and we were nearly 4 hours into it when I suggested putting the airport into the GPS instead of the coordinates we'd been given, then we were able to find the hotel. Costa Rica is known for having no street signs or addresses, so it's a bit difficult to find places. We finally arrived and got into our rooms, went to the bar for drinks, then made a decision about dinner.

We drove over to where there were a few restaurants, since it was Christmas and we weren't sure what would be open.... Sakuro, the Japanese place mentioned in our guide book was open, so we decided sushi sounded pretty good. Everything was pretty pricey there, and our waiter suggested having the chef make a large boat or bowl of sushi for us to share. I asked how much it would cost, and he shrugged and said he didn't know...it was up to the chef and what he prepared. Well, it was very good with a good assortment of sushi and sashimi....and cost about $200! Merry Christmas!

We said our good-byes to Connie and Greg since we had to be up very early and they don't leave till 4 pm for Seattle.

Neither Matthew nor I slept much at all last night—it was extremely windy and loud all night, plus the room wasn't very dark. I was up before the 6 am wake-up call and into the breakfast room by 6:15. I was anxious to check the flights to make sure we were getting out of there today, which looked promising. As I write this, we're on the plane almost into Phoenix, which is good news, but the plane we're catching from here to SFO is coming in from Newark, where they're having a huge storm and flights are being canceled or delayed, last we heard. Let's hope we make it home on the day we planned for a change.

Julian has been good about emailing me about the cats and how things are going. Since it's been raining most of the time we've been gone, I don't think they've been outside all week. Farwell will be so pissed...he loves the rain and refuses to stay in even when it's pouring. Fancy will just be plain pissed that we've been gone.

 Home now...made it through with no problems and even got to the Phoenix immigration first because we were in first class and off the plane first, then to our luggage and through customs among the first again.   The cats are happy to see us andn we're happy to get back into our own bed tonight and sleep!