Hello from CR
 

Just have few minutes and wanted to say we are having a great time in Arenal. We are headed for Poas for a day and then to Savegre and last to BdC.
Funny thing happened when we were at Eco Thermal(sp). We met up with CampJulie and her husband and 2 girls. Long story but will try to elaborate later. Hope to have a more update on our travels when we get back. Bill and Julie

Hi Bill! Hope you're having a great time. Looking forward to hearing more about your time there. :) What a coincidence meeting up with CampJulie! Small world. ;)

So cool! Can't wait to hear more--have a Happy Thanksgiving--pura vida!

crlover, I'm so glad that you guys have gotten to take your trip at long last - enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving to all CR lovers!

Hey - I just got word that Jose's no longer tending bar at BDC. Not clear on why...Big bummer. :(

Wow, really? That surprises me. I just sent a woman from my office off to BdC, and told her to be sure to get a smoothie or margarita from Jose. I wonder what happened? That is a big bummer.

vcg--I guess she hasn't returned yet? Let us know how it went for her there and any news she returns with!

I definitely will, shillmac. I think she will have a blast - she's a single lady who travels with her mom, and her mom is 85! She has such an adventurous spirit, and they both love wildlife. I e-mailed my pictures to my office, and when she saw BdC and Peace Lodge, she had to go.

I think the Aggies are going to help send you guys to the Big 12 Championship. :)

LOL, maybe so, but danged those Red Raiders ruined our chances at a national championship. That game was painful to watch. It's been a crazy year for football.

Posting from SJO...Jose is still at BDC, but Eduardo said that he will work during the high season, not right now when it´s still kind of slow. Gerly is gone, though, which I think people knew already. Also, did I miss the fact that Phil and Kim are expecting?

Trip was good, but slight disaster occured when we missed our flight to PJ and had to spend the night in SJ, losing a night at BDC. I´m still not really over this, to be honest, though it seems we missed a day of rain. Note that it took us almost 1.5hours to get from Orquideas to Pavas (I dind´t realize how much closer Sansa would have been). We were not helped by the shortcut our driver took THROUGH SJ. I wish I had known enough to tell him to stay on the highway even though it was slow. Also wish he had told us to leave 2 hours in advance, given traffic.

Learn from our mistakes!!

Also, for anyone who is curious about Tucan-Toucan. It´s a fabulous cabina...would request it for myself next time.

cbw -- That's a sure bummer about missing your flight. I guess you gotta get up and roll with the punches, so to speak, but I feel your pain on missing out on a day at BDC! Glad you were happy with your cabina...Looking forward to hearing more when you return home rested! :)

P.S. That's great to hear about Jose. You know the person on TA (who I advised about Jose's "specials") e-mailed me and said he was no longer there and when he asked why it seemed all sort of hush-hush...maybe that's just how he intrepeted it. Glad to hear that's not the case, and I do know he's been getting more involved with his real estate, so hopefully that's going well for him.

So sorry you missed your flight, too. I can't imagine getting to pavas through San Jose? What a disappointment! Good to hear you had a great time at BdC, though.

As for Jose, he has a lot of other irons in the fire in the area--real estate among other things. Correspondence with Kim indicates that he may be feeling the need to put more of his time elsewhere. There have been a few other changes lately, such as Gerly leaving. But newly hired people are doing well and all seems to be running smoothly. Gerly's mom is doing some cooking and that is, according to Kim, working out very well.
And everyone is looking forward to the new addition to the family, any time now.

How did you like the new bar area? Did you take photos? That was just started when I was there in July and Tully says it was recently completed. They needed more space there, so that will be nice to have in time for the busy season.

When will you be home, cbw? Assuming you are flying home today? Don't forget to give us all the "full account" upon your return and after resting up a bit! :)

I'm home now...will work on my report! The headliner is a sighting of a silky anteater on the Titi trail! So exciting.

The bar area is fantastic--couches, tables--we played cards there every night. Lots of space to congregate. Two young men are taking over the bar--Daniel (who also cooks breakfast and lunch) and another whose name I didn't get. Still a very generous pour!!

Welcome home, cbw! Did you guys have good weather? We saw an anteater as the car was pulling out of the driveway to take us back to Puerto Jimenez. We were so excited too! Can't wait to read your report and see your pictures. They were working on the bar when we were there - glad to know it's all finished and you made good use of it. :)

cbw -- That's cool about the anteater! We didn't see one our entire trip, but one of our friends did. Glad to hear the bar area is more comfy now too. :)

shillmac -- Now I feel guilty about passing that info along about Jose. It seemed like it was firsthand info at the time! Sad to see Gerly go too, she was a sweetie. I didn't see Phil and Kim's kids around when we were there...do they keep to the house or go to boarding school or something?

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4 day weekend! :)

cbw - can't wait to read your report, and a plus that you stayed in Tucan (where it looks like I will be as my father has finally decided he is coming with me - I've already informed him he will be in the loft, not me!) So cool about the anteater, never have seen one! Sounds like you had a wonderful time, albeit short one night!

Hope everyone had some nice time off and is raring to go back to work ;)

tully, you will really like Tucan - it's the cabin we had - really liked it a lot.

Tully, Tucan is 2 doors down from my favorite standard--Sol. It looked like a great little cabin to me. I went in and visited a couple from North Carolina when I was there in July. It will be perfect for you. Your dad can deal with the bats up above! Just kidding. . .or not! YOU know. . .