Puravida, or Life is Good…  Life was (is) very good in Costa Rica!  With a group of forty-three ULLRS, we filled a motorcoach and toured from the bustling city of San Jose, to a canopy ride in a rainforest, to viewing smoldering volcanoes, to boat rides along canals searching for monkeys, birds, caimans, and J.C. lizards, to relaxing in hot springs, beautiful pools and on black sand beaches, to nature walks, to visiting a coffee plantation and a hand painting ox cart factory, and food, food, food, shopping, shopping, shopping.

              We rose early April first to catch a plane to Dallas, then onto San Jose, Costa Rica.  Luckily American Airlines did manage to get us to and from our vacation with only a small delay on the return flight.  We were joined there by John and Joyce Rooney, and Bob Stiles and Rita Crawford, via Florida, and Cathy Cornell (Sherrie Mitchell’s friend,) via Connecticut.  We were pleased to be greeted by our tour guide, Paul, who was not only intelligent and humorous, but a truly beautiful person.  We were given more information about this wonderful country then we could possibly retain.  San Jose was the beginning and the ending of our ten day trip.  There was a cow parade happening, and the cows (statues) were decorated and spread around the town.  We soon learned that beans and rice were a part of every meal with fresh vegetables and fruit (very healthy).  We also had a lot of chicken at lunch and dinner.  The food was very good!

              We spent two nights at the Pachira Lodge in Tortuguero National Park.  Monkeys were literally hanging from the trees outside our rooms.  They “howled” us awake each morning.  The rooms were “rustic” but in a beautiful jungle setting.  Our guides made sure that we saw the animals they were pointing out on our canal trips.  They had Gloria just about climbing a tree to see a J.C. lizard.  We danced the second night to a three piece band.  We learned the “banana” dance (yes, use your imagination) from the wait staff from the restaurant.  The dance ended in a limbo contest.  Paul, our guide was great!!  Judy Bergan won the contest and downed a shot of tequila. Eight of us (Barb K, Karen H, Jean B, Jan I, Sherrie M, Cathy C, Nadine C, and Joella W) continued as dancing ballerinas in the turtle shaped swimming pool.  Marty Wilkes got chased out of the pool by a crab that eventually crawled up by Sherrie and Cathy.

              We traveled to the town of Fortuna where we stayed two days in a beautiful setting with a breathtaking view of the Arenal Volcano.  We toured a canal up to the Nicaraguan border.  Jerry Schuster stayed behind to try “zip lining” through the canopy from platform to platform.  We moved onto the Pacific coast to the wonderful Doubletree Resort by Hilton at Puntarenas, an all inclusive hotel that had many pools, Spanish and dance lessons, water aerobics and much more.  Only ten of us ventured on the trip to Manuel Antonio Beach and Reserve the next day.  The rest enjoyed a relaxing day at the resort (all this having fun was very tiring!).   Joella, Lee, Jerry, Joyce Butler, Jim T, and David L took a hike through the park to see the white faced monkeys.  Jan I, Sherrie, Barb K and Karen played in the ocean.  Sherrie and Barb lost sunglasses while jumping in the waves.  Everyone got plenty of sun, and red faces were seen at dinner.  As we departed on our way back to San Jose, we stopped in Sarchi to see the handpainted ox carts and colorful handcrafts in this town.  We also stopped in Gracia at a church made of metal and shipped to Costa Rica from Belgium.  The last stop of our vacation was the Brit Coffee Plantation.  We saw a humorous play about the history of coffee, and had the opportunity to have some samples.  Jim T played the best man in a mock wedding as a part of the coffee play.  We ended the trip back in San Jose.  A delicious farewell dinner was bittersweet!  We hated to say goodbye to our new friend, Paul, and the beauty of this country. 

Thanks to all of you who helped to make this a fantastic vacation!  We need to go again!

Karen Holmquist and Barb Kolbe