The Casagrandes Abroad: April's Top Ten (and a bit of March and May!)

Whoa! It has been a long time since blogging, with no particularly good reason, except for the fact that we have been busy having some nice adventures. Let’s do a top 10 list of the past month (or a bit more).

10. Surfing with the Murrays

Aunt Julie, Uncle Paul, Cassie, Hope and Jen (aka AJUPCHaJ) were in town at the end of March and start of April. Once here, they quickly put on their rashguards, pulled out their surfwax, and caught waves, dude. They were sweet wave riders as this video attests. And, better yet, Julie had a long lost college friend in town the same week so they all surfed together. (Hence the title Murray-Curry Surf.)

9. Del Mar Talent Show
Our kids are incredibly talented. At the First Annual [or first and last, I am not sure!] Del Mar Academy Talent show, Baker and two friends reprised the classic Abbot & Costello Who’s on First skit, to great laughter, while Riley, Baker and friends put together a 7 cast-member skit involving a Firing Squad, hairbrushes, and a boy’s underwear. The judges commented “These guys are the next Saturday Night Live cast!” Along with several other students, Riley also performed an outstanding skiprope routine and hula hoop routine and Baker lip-synced a Black Eyed Peas tune. Tae planned to dance to Beat It, but in the end decided that the Nosara Stage lights were not for him. You can check them all out on YouTube at this link (minute 3:35) and this link (minute 2:22). And here's part of the opening act, where Baker and his boys get down:

8. Happy Birthday Granddad!

April saw our first time in the states since September. (Well, for Baker, Tae and I—Ri and Tara made a short trip to FLA in March). And the occasion was a great one. My Dad turned 75! We threw him a wonderful surprise party, planned to perfection by my brother Greg and attended by all the family luminaries from my Zizi Elaine, Uncle Bob, Uncle Dante, and Aunt Shirley down to every cousin from Duane to Mandy [who I learned is a devoted and overly-complimentary reader of this blog. It was great to see you again, Mandy!]; and every second cousin from all around. Granddad was indeed surprised.

We lured him to NW Jersey for a round of golf with Greg, Joe and me. The first six holes of that round on a blisteringly chilly day (particularly for a guy who prefers the knock-you-down heat of Nosara) were my best six holes of golf ever, including two pars. From there, well, that’s another story.

The night before our trip to the states, Riley could be found playing at Xandari hotel, near the San Jose airport!

7. Happy Birthday Baker!

It wasn’t just Granddad’s birthday that we celebrated in the past month. Baker turned eleven on April 9. First, in an incredible rally, Baker’s friends from Virginia Noah and Jacob (and their Dad and Mom) drove the two boys all the way up to Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure so the three boys could test their mettle on some bigtime rollercoasters and just enjoy one another for the first time since September. Baker had a ball!

Jacob, Noah, Baker and Riley at Great Adventure for Baker's 11th.

And, then upon our return to CR, Baker’s friends Tom, Dakota, and Omid had a full weekend of birthday partying, from Friday night Wii tournaments, to a Saturday morning fishing trip to, Saturday sleepovers and a full Sunday brunch (including Tuna Sashimi from what the boys caught on their fishing trip---mmmmm, delicious!) Tom summed it up as “the best weekend in his life.” Not bad.

Baker reels in a white tuna that was later turned into the freshest sashimi we have ever had.

6. Manhattan, Just Like We Pictured It

Our trip to the States also included a two night stint in New York. Everyone adjusted quickly to the sharp—understatement!—change in location from Nosara, Guanacaste, CR, where we travel by quad on unpaved roads, surrounded by forest and beach without a single lighted sign in sight, to Times Square, New York, NY, where day is turned to night with neon and the Statue of Liberty, built entirely of legos, stands tall in a three-story Toys R Us. Everyone, that is, but me. I was a bit overwhelmed and took a full 24 hours to get used to it all. We had a fantastic second day in New York, during which we rode bikes through battery park all the way up to Lulu and Mookie’s Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Shop, a great spot in china town that is owned by friends of ours here in Nosara; and then took in the Lion King, on Broadway, and with a post-show donation to support cervical cancer research, took a backstage tour of the production. Awesome!

Ice cream straight out of Snape's Potions Class...

5. Ziplining with the Murrays

Back to the Murrays…They had not been off a plane for 24 hours before they were flying again. This time on Miss Sky…our local zipline here in Nosara which turns out to be, in fact, the Guiness-Book Certified World’s Longest Zipline! They had a ball (I hope to get a vid up on YouTube of the zipline day, but have been having uploading problems...will let you know when it is there). It was particularly fun to watch different combinations of the kids riding together. We happened to be flying on a day when also flying was a newsteam from Informe 11, a local news service that was reporting on the World Record Story. Though they said the video would be posted online, we have not yet seen it. However a Tica friend said that she saw Tae and Tara on the news the night after we ziplined!

Ready for takeoff! Casagrandes and Murrays ready to fly on the world's longest zipline.

4. Rolling down a River

I am just back from a great boys’ week long trip down the Rio San Juan in Nicaragua. My buddy Gerrit, from Boston, MA, made the long trip down to join four Nosara friends and I for fishing and exploring in a pretty remote corner of the world. We reeled in a load of wapote (rainbow bass) from a rushing jungle stream, during a torrential downpour.

Paul's Jack and my Wapote were the biggest catches of the trip. (All right, his was a bit bigger...)

We spent one night on the front end in El Castillo, a remarkable little town, cutoff from the rest of the world if not for its location on the banks of this grand river. There were no cars in the town and only a golf-cart like road (though no golf carts). We saw a few gringo tourists there but not many and enjoyed delicious tilapia and river shrimp pulled from Rio San Juan. We then journeyed a full seven hours down river to the Caribbean to the Rio Indio Lodge, where Rama Indians led us through the rainforest, helping us to catch the wapote and pointing out birds and other wildlife along the way. On the tailend, Gerrit and I took another day near El Castillo, kayaking and exploring in the forest and a final day exploring the artists colonies and bird refuges of the Solentiname islands, in Lake Nicaragua—the 19th largest lake in the world.

David and Gerrit stand guard, U2 like, at El Castillo, Nicaragua.

Barry and Koz in the 51-seater boat that carried the six of us for 14 hours over 400 km of river in style and comfort!

It seems A.A. Milne stole his idea for the little stuffed bear in the Hundred Acre Wood from this small Nicaraguan bookstore in San Carlos, along the Rio San Juan.

Gerrit celebrated our arrival at the Carribbean after a 7 hour boat journey by tossing this spear within inches of my eye!

3. Rio Celeste – Twice

When AJUPCHaJ rolled into town, not only did they surf and zipline, but also joined us (minus Tara who was finishing up a two-week intensive yoga instructor advanced course) on a trip to Rio Tenorio National Park, where we horseback road and hiked through the pouring rain and slip-and-slide mud to the Rio Celeste. Rio Celeste is a cool junction of two mineral-rich rivers. Both rivers look absolutely typical, but when their waters join they turn the brightest blue—a chemical reaction of the minerals in each. Very cool. We also saw an enormous waterfall.

Jen, Julie, and Cassie and Riley cross a river on horseback as we ride to Tenorio National Park to see the Rio Celeste's blue waters.

Hope stands beside the blue lagoon--colored this way because of a chemical reaction among minerals put forth by the volcano.

After a long day's hike through the mud, Baker is wiped out in front of this beautiful waterfall.

After Rio Celeste, the Murrays and Baker and Riley went whitewater rafting while Tae and I went for a flatwater float. Here he is, gearing up for the trip.

And, here is just a better shot of Tae, just hanging out.

Then…a month later, all five of us, plus Gerrit, plus friends Jung Ju and her son Keoni went back to Tenorio National Park. Though we did not hike to the falls, we did walk along a beautiful river, spotted numerous green/black frogs and “blue jeans” frogs—so named for their blue legs, contrasting with their bright red bodies. We also enjoyed jumping between the cool rushing water of a river beside the hotel and the wood-fire heated hot-tub that our hotel (La Carolina Lodge) had built along that river.

Does anyone remember that 1970s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover with Christie Brinkley in the waterfall? Christie's got nothing on Tara.

Baker and Riley in the river beside La Carolina Lodge near Tenorio Volcano.

2. It’s Raining!!

Hallelujah!! After three months devoid of any rain and increasingly full of dust that infests each and every pore, Nosara has rain again! It may not sound like such a big deal, oh, but it is. Everyone here is so happy to feel the wetness again, to clear the dust from the skies and the greenery (which is again green, instead of beige). And, nevermind the increase in cicadas, aunts, snakes, and scorpions that comes with the wetness, we love the rain!! [As I type this, the rain just started in—and, the sky is beautifully sunny too!!]

1. Ant Invasion!

Aunt Julie was not the only ant here during her stay! She was joined by thousands of black ants marching across our driveway and hundreds of winged ants that, driven away by the black ants, hustled their way into Riley’s bedroom and lingered on the walls. We called our property manager and his response was the typical tico response: “Tranquilo. They’ leave in 24 hours. You don’t need to do anything.” Which is what we did. Other than the kids deciding not to sleep in that room that night. Sure enough, they were all gone in the morning and though they did return three more times over the next weeks, it was never for more than a night. We are indeed an Ant Motel.

Some closing photos from the past weeks: