PURA VIDA

June 10, 2016

PURA VIDA

Much like a young William H. Bonney, we slipped out of our shackles......a.k.a. "jobs" and made a break for the border. Tossing only the bare necessities into a bag and burning the rest, we fled for Florida. 1200 miles and 20 straight hours later we rolled into Naples Florida; bleary eyed and delirious, we arrived at Casa de Enloe. While Brandi and I retreated for some much needed rest, our three unstoppable younglings went straight to the pool. In between gathering the last of our necessary provisions and tying up loose ends we managed to fit in plenty of fun: a boat trip to Keewaydin and Marco Islands, a SUP session at Naples beach, and an untold number of cannon balls into the pool. Alas our time had expired. We let out at the crack of dawn, across Alligator Alley and boarded a plane bound for San Jose, Costa Rica.

Finally we were here; really here. After a year of planning, selling off all our worldly possessions, digging out from a mountain of debt, and uprooting our family for an unwelcome move; we arrived.

Now maybe we wanted this so much, dreamed about it for so long, and idealized it into some sort of easy transition, but communicating and navigating a foreign bus system on the ghost of a 7th grade Spanish class is an uphill battle. That being said, every tico/tica (local) we have encountered have been gracious and happy to help; sans our initial cab driver.

We spent our first 3 days in a treehouse on the out skirts of Atenas. Our hosts, Phillip and Mary Bell, were kind enough to give us a ride into town to pick up groceries and check out the local feria (farmers market) as well as giving us some pointers for using the bus system. During our stay we feasted upon fresh mangoes growing on the property, the kids helped milk the resident goats, and Brandi and I laid in hammocks next to the pool and read while our children splashed the day away.