Herewith are some snippets from life in CR:

Life seems to be finding a nice rhythm since the first of the year. Tae had been going to school half day in October-December and, frankly, not loving it. In a sort of backwards logic, we ramped him up to full day in January and...he loves it. This has resulted in Tara and I making good use of our daytime hours. I have found a rhythm of getting something physically active in during the morning (either yoga, tennis or surfing) and then writing for up to four hours after that. The result is that I have finished up a (3rd?) draft of my first screenplay and just today started a second screenplay.

* * *

Tara is finding a rythym this week after having had a wonderful ten days with her good friend Beata and her two daughters Clara and Beata. Together, Tara, Baker and Riley and the three Corcorans traveled from San Jose to Tortuguero to Rio Chirripo to Arenal and back to Nosara and had a ball. Highlights included a chocolate plantation tour and a whitewater rafting trip. But, as Tae and I were holding the fort down here, you will have to wait for Tara's full report.

* * *

Funny thing happened the other day...One thing about living in a tropical beach town is that there are a lot of good looking people here. Basically, there are a lot of very fit twenty somethings walking around with very little clothing. Before anyone becomes upset with me for glaring at younger women in bikinis, please realize this works both ways. (No...not like that: the bikini-clad twenty year olds are NOT staring at me.) The men here are all buff, ripped and wearing almost no clothing. Tara is enjoying it too.

It is also impossibly dusty here. We have had no rain in well over a month and none of the roads are paved. Result: dust everywhere. We own a Quad (an ATV) and when one rides it, one gets incredibly dusty. These days it is almost impossible to go out without some sort of goggles or mask on because of the dust.

So, one day, the kids and I need to go to a friend's house. Tara has the car. So the four of us pile onto the quad. Riley in front, me behind her, Baker in the rear and Tae squeezed securely between me and Baker.(I tell the kids that the sticker on the quad reading "Never carry a passenger on this vehicle," is a misprint.) Because of the dust and, for god knows what other reason, I have decided that we should all wear the new snorkeling masks that my mom recently brought down for us. We have helmets, but it is so hot we don't want to wear them. We have sunglasses, but sometimes they don't do the trick. And so we set off: Dad and his three kids, piled onto the quad wearing our snorkeling gear. (No flippers)

As we reach the end of our long road down the hill, we catch up to the vehicle in front of us. A motor scooter ridden by a long-legged, golden-haired, sun-dress wearing, beautiful woman. We ride on in the dust behind her, rumbling along, Tae squeezed against me making my back sweat, my snorkel goggles periodically bumping into the back of Riley's head as we hit a big bump. And, then we get to the end of the road, which is a T-intersection. The beautiful motor-scooteress pulls to the left to make a turn and I, in my mask, pull up beside her to make a right turn.

I glance at her and she at me, for only the briefest moment. I offer up some sort of weak smile--something that says "a different time, a different place..." And then, she is gone. I turn my head and look at Baker and Tae in their masks behind me, hair blown up tall in the air. And, Riley turns to look at me, wondering why we are still stopped, and her mask sticks out inches from her face. And, I laughed and laughed and laughed. And the kids, bless them, had no idea why.

My three wonderful quad passengers...

...and the one that got away.

Pura Vida!

Jerry & Tara

Top 10 List from December-January

Hello All!

Well it has been a long time since a blog. Our house here in Nosara was broken inton on December 5th and our laptops stolen. We then went tech-free more or less for 25 days, until the arrival of my Mom and a new laptop. In that time, we also moved houses and the new home was internet-free. We recently acquired a 3G connection and we are off and running.

Lots to tell. I will try to do it in a Top 10 list sort of way with photos. Herewith, then, are

The Top Ten Things in the Lives of the Costa Rica Casagrandes

between December 5 and January 8.

#10.  We had a great trip to Nicaragua in which we visited Masaya Volcano, which was spewing a noxious brew of gases that necessitated a "twenty minutes or fewer" visit for health reasons and the potential of an eruption required that we park the car rear-end-in so we could get out quick in case she blew! Here is Riley on the brink of the crater. Don't Jump!

#9.  Tara was graduated from the Nosara Yoga Institute's Yoga Instructor Course--she is now a certified yoga instructor! As one of her first students, I must say she provided excellent guidance to me on my Warrior poses and others. She also led this group of youngsters (what an unused word these days) on beautiful Playa Guiones.

#8. We downsized our house and now live in this modest home on the left. Though small, the open floor concept really compensates and gives a real airy feel.   Seriously, we did move into a somewhat smaller house but with the best view in all of Nosara. We can see the full length of Playas Guiones and Pelada. Check this view below to the right, including the faces of some wonderful youngsters (there's that word again...).

#7. Here is one of our new neighbors on the left. This is a Howler Monkey, which is an appropriate name. Other appropriate names would be Rooster Monkey, Alarm Clock Monkey, or the quite specific "Hey Monkey, I'm trying to get some sleep here!" Monkey. We see them almost as frequently as we saw squirrels back in Alexandria. They are in the trees around our house all the time and we are lucky enough to have a mom and baby around often as well!

#6. Tara and I are on the run from Child Protective Services for allowing our three year old to go on a zipline that was 600 feet above the tree tops. This photo was taken near Rincon de la Vieja volcano in Northwest Costa Rica. We have become sort of zipline experts--Riley has ziplined six times in two countries--and this zipline was pretty cool. Really, really high and very windy. Really a questionable choice to do it. But, we lived to tell the tale.

#5. In an unexpected development, Baker is slowly petrifying. Compare him in the photo below to this ancient stone artifact and you'll see what we are talking about. One can already see the places around his eyes and mouth that are permanently cemented. At least, he is smiling.

[Really, taken also at Rincon de la Vieja, where there are Yellowstone-like boiling mudpots. Visitors have the chance to cover themselves in the steamy mud.]

#4. We paid a two night visit to Macho, Lucia and Family in Alajuela. "Our Tica family" was doing well and we enjoyed an early Christmas with them. While there, I (Jerry) had the opportunity to help Macho and his 19 year old son, Victor, hoist a thrashing, squealing 220 lb pig into the back of a truck. Macho had thrown a burlap sack over the pig's head to "dominate" her. While we ultimately got the pig in the back, "domination" (at least human over pig) would not be the word to describe the scene. Anyhow, I am vegetarian again...

#3. Santa visited! He made the trip all the way to this snowless place, carrying a somewhat lighter load than normal. We had a wonderful, if quiet Christmas. A nice development was that the kids seemed to get more into the giving than the receiving this year. During our trip to Macho and Lucia's we each did some gift buying for one another. Very nice. In an revealing conversation prior to Christmas, we asked Baker what he would like for Christmas and he said, "I don't know. There are no catalogs being mailed to the house and we don't watch TV here, so there isn't really anything I want." Does one need better proof of the power of advertising?

#2. Las Tres Senoras visited us. My mom, Tara's mom, and my Aunt Letty just visited us for a week. They particularly enjoyed the dust and bumpiness of Nosara's roads. But, also a nice dinner at Luna Azul restaurant, the Arribata (see #1), a hike in the Nosara preserve, and most of all visiting their grandkids/nephews & niece. And we loved having them here. We rang in the New Year a couple hours early, when I trickily set the clock ahead 2 hours! Riley and Baker protested substantially but we had a fun night, played some killer Yahtzee (which Riley run handily) and were in bed by 10:30

#1. TORTUGAS!!! We went to an awesome Arribata with the Tres Senoras. About 2000 Olive Ridley turtles showed up on Ostional beach last Tuesday evening. We went to check them out and had a fantastic guide in the form of Diana, a young Tica who loves the turtles. Among the more bizarre, but really interesting things we learned: a female Olive Ridley turtle can hold the sperm of male turtles with whom she mates for up to one year. She then chooses the strongest sperm among the many in her body and fertilizes her eggs when she chooses. We are not able to take photos during an Arribata, so this is a stock photo from the web. The sight of so many turtles coming in and out of the water and laying on the beach was really incredible. And the incredible feel of bumping into a turtle who was not there just a minute before was fun!

And, that is the top 10....

Pura vida!!