May 20, 2006 | Amistad Institute, Attractions, Culture Shock, Driving, Travel Tips
On a clear day, you can see Volcán Barva from our back door, off in the distance. See? Right there in the middle of this photo is the tip of the volcano. Our landlord, Roz, and everyone at Amistad Institute where we take Spanish language lessons say it is...
May 19, 2006 | MORGAN, Teenagers
Today, Morgan asked the ‘rents (that would be Hal and me) to buy deoderant for him to take to school for use after soccer. I couldn’t get to the HiperMas* fast enough. If you’ve ever been a parent of a teenager, you know what a happy day this...
May 18, 2006 | Arts, Culture Shock, Movies
Movies R us. Like most Americans, we are BIG on movies. We watched a movie practically every night on pay-per-view. We cried when cancelling our Netflix subscription. The boys have seen Memento, West Side Story, The Magnificent Seven, To Wong Foo (an all-time...
May 16, 2006 | Arts, Culture Shock
We’ve been looking at artwork every chance we get. We attend all the art festivals, visit galleries, shops, the like. Our Jack Baron’s cats, Judi Pingston’s Island Girl, my Elvis, Hal’s Haitian marble players are in storage along with all the...
May 13, 2006 | Real Estate, Recovering REALTOR®
In my other life, my previous life, before blogging and Costa Rica, I was a real estate broker. I guess technically I’m still a real estate broker, but I’m now in recovery. I still work with some of my property management customers in Key West, helping...
May 11, 2006 | Culture Shock, Driving, Travel Tips
If you are driving in Costa Rica, you need to know about the quirky way they handle railroad crossings. See the sign in this photo? These are before and after railroad tracks. Sometimes. Sometimes only on one side. And only some tracks. Not all, not by a long shot....
May 11, 2006 | Cancer, Medical Care, MEGAN
This morning I got the following email from my sister in law, Megan, who has been living with breast cancer for 8 years. She is 40, is married and has 3 children, now 9, 11 and 13. She’s had a mastectomy and every other thing they can do to you in the name of...
May 11, 2006 | Medical Care, RYAN
The quality and cost of medical care here is staggering. The first because it is so professional, thorough and complete. The second because it is so reasonable, bordering on cheap. No, not bordering on. It IS cheap. By any standard. Tuesday morning, I spent in the...
