This past week we had the opportunity to see some friends from Wisconsin, Maxine and Ethan Welsh. Ethan is a close friend of John’s and requested that his gift for his 10th birthday be a trip to Costa Rica (pretty special! Hmm, I wonder why he picked Costa Rica?). Fortunately our calendar was open and we were able to spend a couple days hosting Maxine and Ethan at our house and then head with them to an all-inclusive condo/hotel about an hour north of where we live. We were BUSY!

John got to leave school early to make the airport run to pick up our guests-it was a happy reunion! (He also missed a couple more days of school as we were not on spring break yet)

The boys enjoyed spending some quality time at our house in our pool.  I think Ethan was in the pool before 7 each morning and then again right before bed!

Beaches, beaches and more beaches:

Since Guanacaste is known for its beautiful beaches we made sure to bring Maxine and Ethan to as many as possible-that would be 8 total beaches in the 7 days that they were here! The boys were able to boogie board, skim board, and run the beaches. I think they enjoyed skim boarding the best and Ethan became quite good at it in the short time he was here!

Catamaran Tour, Hotel and Waterfalls

We also made sure to take Maxine and Ethan on a catamaran tour where we discovered another family there from Elkhorn (note the green Elkhorn Basketball shirt)! Such a small world! The catamaran was a blast and we were able see a beautiful sunset as well.

After 3 days at our house we traveled up to Ethan and Maxine’s condo and toured some more beaches, swam in pools, visited waterfalls, and ate huge amounts of food at the all-inclusive buffet.  We had a wonderful (and exhausting) time and appreciate Maxine and Ethan including us!  The beaches we visited up north here were Playa Hermosa, Playas del Coco, and Playa Panama (but not in Panama!)

We made so many memories this past week.  I hope that John and Ethan both appreciate what an unbelievable experience they had together!

Other interesting notes:

• The banks here in CR are very formal.  There is a guard that opens the door for you to enter the bank, you have to take a number and take a seat, and there are no hats allowed (you can wear one, but backwards on your head so they can see your face).
• Apparently Ticos love Old Milwaukee beer!  Maxine loved seeing this 🙂 Incidentally, this picture was taken at Walmart!
• Ticos believe in buying “refills” of items and many things come in plastic pouches with the refill.  This includes hand soaps, dish soaps, windex and other household cleaners, etc.  Not a bad idea!
• Dogs are everywhere in Costa Rica.  Many are stray and many seem like strays but have collars.  Who knows?  Ethan found it hard to resist them.  Fortunately he could not take one home on the plane. 
  

  

  Until next week, Pura Vida!