Long day capped off by a fun dinner with some new friends. We picked up the underwater housing for the camera on the way back to their house so we could catch a photo of Caly doing her newest trick-- she fetches rocks from the shallow end of the pool by pulling the rocks to the shallowest part with her paws, then dunking her entire head under water to grab the rock. She loves it, we get a kick out of it.

Labels: food, photo

Just because we didn't write about it for a week or so, doesn't mean it wasn't fun. Right?
We had a great sunset beer and pizza with our close pal Christi. Then we headed to a great little party with new friends and soon-to-be neighbor Joseph, who is about to open a restaurant down the street from us. It'll be nice to have TWO places within walking distance where we can buy dinner. Even more exciting is that we may even have a place to get morning coffee!! Not that we can't pour boiling water over grounds ourselves, but there is something about buying a coffee drink on a lazy morning that is hard to beat at home.
Speaking of lazy, we stopped on the way back from Avellanas and shoo'ed some piglets out of the road. Not very lazy, piglets. They were pretty darn active- jumping around and making all manner of crazy little sounds. Calypso was entranced but we opted out of letting her chase them- who knows what a mother pig would do to a puppy?

Steve surfed some, but the waves were small, mushy, and inconsistent. Other than that it was a good time. Bb even came one morning to shoot pictures but the sets were so unimpressive that she didn't bother to swim out and thus we had mediocre pics of mediocre surf. We'll share one anyway, just so that we can honestly say we've included at least one picture of surfing.

The highpoint of Steve's rather long professional week was a horseback tour of a spectacular finca north of here. If you've got $6 million and the desire to own nearly 1500 acres of land abutting the beach, with views of Witch's Rock, drop me a line and I'll set you right up.

Labels: beach, food, sunset, surf

Longest Road's author contacted us today to tell us we had inspired him. That's always nice to hear! He's doing the entire Pan-American highway in two different Cruisers. We look forward to meeting him when he gets to Costa Rica in a few months.

Labels: 4wd, landcruiser

This Kantor fellow has some good points: Maybe we don't really need some of the "exciting" new technologies that are cropping up... Of course, being where we are, I didn't even know about half of them. And I think tagless T's are a great (albeit not particularly new) idea. Hate that scratchy feeling.

Fortunately for us, the dog is getting big enough to start actually asking to do fun things- like take a walk to the beach at sunset. Ok, she wasn't quite that articulate, but she did want to get out of the house, and it was near sunset, and we extrapolated from there...
...and headed down to watch what turned out to be a truly beautiful sunset. The rain we've been getting makes mud and some mildew, it's true, but the clouds make for technicolor evening presentations that shame all of the fancy shmancy stuff that the big studios put out.
It is like having our very own ultrabigscreen theater, just 200 yards away. Lovely.

Labels: beach, photo, sunset

Spent some time hanging out at Powell's Books today. All the fun of shopping, but I didn't actually spend anything because living down here... well, sometimes shipping things down is not that easy. The cool thing is that they've got a wishlist, so at least I could keep track of the titles that intrigued me the most. Of course, I'd really just love some time in a library. Living in paradise has its ups, but so far it doesn't have public libraries.
We've made little progress on our continued house-building project. Our friend/architect did a beautiful rendering of the front section of the house- containing the entry, garage, and Bb's studio. We love it. Now all we've got to do is figure out what we are doing with the rest of the house, engineer the whole thing, find a competent builder that we can afford, obtain the necessary permits... and start building. Just as simple as that. Ugh.
Bb is out selling her jewelry at a local fair. Caly is napping. Another exciting Saturday.

Labels: jewelry

After finally getting some things squared away with a grossly overdue debtor, we had the displeasure of spending a couple hours in the bank taking care of various things that we've put off, knowing it would take a few hours at the bank...
As a reward to ourselves, we took a long stroll on the beach this evening and just enjoyed living in paradise. As the sun went down, we zipped home to take poor Caly out to the beach too. She had spent most of a hot afternoon in her crate, presumably awaiting our return. She played fetch long after we couldn't see the stick anymore, then the three of us headed home. Bb whipped up a delicious Southwest style salad with fresh tuna and sweet corn (Yum!) while Steve got all wrapped up in reviewing a new business card design from our friend Dyna (thanks D!!).

Labels: beach, food, sunset

The last week or so has been hectic and fun. Steve's parents came to visit and we had a great time with them. Highlights included laughing our butts off when Caly decided to take on a coconut that was bigger than she is. I guess you had to be there, but it was pretty funny! Steve also got to take a ride in a client's jet, there are some pictures below. And Bb got an ice cream making machine for her birthday. Haven't used it yet, but we are looking forward to giving it a spin (ouch, bad pun).

Flamingo and Potrero Bay	the Four Seasons	Langosta Beach. The estuary there is where Cali does most of her swimming	Cows in the road, just another good reason to be late around here
Cooking up some chicken on the bbq	Rest stop, Steve and Bb style. Just a break to stretch our legs and empty the puppy	We didn't think she would be able to carry this coconut, let alone play fetch with it for 15 minutes. Go Calypso!	A little visitor we had on the steps. About the size of a matchbox.
2004 70 series pickup truck. Diesel, of course. Factory lockers. Five speed. Auto-lock hubs with manual override, coil springs up front. Steve is really looking forward to when we can justify buying one.	Tourists+Beer+Less-than-ideal roads= Rental Car in Ditch. The guys involved were very grateful when Steve pulled them out	Bb and Caly strolling in Playa Hermosa	Playa Hermosa. Pretty views, calm water, very mellow. Good place to go if you want to sit around, doing nothing. Or fish, which is pretty much sitting around doing nothing, with occasional bursts of doing a little bit

Labels: landcruiser

Quick political request to everyone. Follow this link to read a little bit about how you (yes, you!) can help save the world. A little. But every little bit helps.
Thanks for your time.

That's why we haven't updated in over a week. That and busy schedules at work. We'll be right back on it. Soon. Honest.

Labels: dog