Costa Rica is a country of beautiful, lush countrysides, mountains, farms, and dense rainforests. Very scenic.

We saw lots of new animals, including howler monkeys, caimons (related to crocodiles), white face monkeys, and this one guy who came up to our car looking for food. We're not sure what he's called.

We moved from the Arenal Volcano area to the Pacific coast beaches of Guanacasta...known for their great surfing. William had a blast with his boogie board.

Two evenings we took sunset horseback rides on the beach.

Allow me a story...

I was sitting by the pool last Thursday at Tamarindo Beach absorbed in the last few pages of "The Bourne Identity" when I heard a lady say, "Look, the cat's chasing it!" The "it" was one of the many large iguanas that hang out at the hotel and on the beach (along with howler monkeys in the trees). They would eat food thrown to them from the restaurant, but they wouldn't let you actually touch them. Two brothers had been trying to catch one all week, without luck. Now it was a cat trying to catch one. I looked up from my book just in time to see the iguana scurry across the top of a large rock at the side of the pool and then dive into the water. It moved through the water like a torpedo until I could no longer see it from where I was sitting. There was nobody in the large pool at the time, but about 20 sunbathers got up and went to the pool's edge to watch the excitement, including Gay and William. I was too engrossed in the cliff hanger ending of my book to bother getting up to watch the iguana swim to the shallow end of the pool where it could walk out. I just thought to myself that he was pretty smart to know that cats don't swim. A couple minutes passed and more folks gathered around the pool to watch the action, including staff from the pool bar and hotel. I continued reading. Another minute passed and Gay came back to my chair and pathetically asked, "Can you get it out?" Apparently the iguana had torpedoed to the bottom of the pool and then remembered that, like cats, he didn't swim either and everybody had been standing around the pool watching him drown. As I put my book down and headed to the pool I asked Gay why nobody was doing anything...I couldn't understand why they were all just watching. Was I missing something? Sure enough, there he was, motionless at the bottom of the pool. About 3Ð4 minutes had passed since he dove in. I handed my glasses to a lady and dove in to get him. As I swam down I wondered what he was gonna feel like when I touched him. I grabbed him around the rib cage (he was very bumpy) and swam back up to the surface and to the edge of the pool. I put him up on the side and he was completely motionless, his legs crumpled underneath him instead of being out to the sides like normal. I lifted him again and tilted him head-down and pool water rushed from his nostrils and mouth. I heard some lady ask if he was dead. I didn't think so, but he sure wasn't giving any signs of life. Finally he moved one of his legs slightly. I tilted him down again and more water trickled out. I moved him to the sun and he slowly started coming around...moving his head...looking around. William and I stroked him while the bystanders applauded. I felt good and was happy for the iguana but was still in shock that nobody else had gotten him out. He remained in his sodden stupor long enough to pose for a few photos and then slowly made his way into the grass to finish his recuperation, amidst more applause. Was cool to actually save a life, but I still couldn't believe that nobody else did it. One dorky guy passed me later and said, "Hope you don't get warts."

Gay, William, and I were the only passengers on this puddle jumper as we returned from Tamarindo to San Jose on our return home.

Initially, William wasn't too excited about the small plane, but once we were in the air he enjoyed the 50-minute ride.

And this year I didn't jump out of the plane.

Was a great trip!