Agua...

Today wasn't my favorite day in Costa Rica.  We had a pipe burst wide open under our sink last night,  causing a flood in our kitchen.  Ironically, in an unrelated water-incident, we had NO water at all today.  Flood to famine in less than 24 hours.  Apparently the main water pump for our town broke, which means that for an undetermined amount of time we will have no water after 6:00pm or before 8:00am.  Every day.  I really can't complain too much though, because I have a friend in Nicaragua (hi Annette!) and she never knows when her water will be on or for how long.  At least we are being warned??

As a nice end to the day I was stung by a scorpion.  Lucky for me, he was little and trying to sting me through my skort so it turned out that it was no worse than a bee sting, but actually SEEING a scorpion trying to sting you is unnerving.  They are creepy and prehistoric.  I must admit that I wasn't exactly practicing the best no-sting protocol at the time.  I was hacking a branch off a palm tree with a machete.  Yes, you read that right.  The palm frond whacks the window in the kids' room every night and wakes them up.  It sounds like someone trying to crawl into their room, so I thought I would try to fix this scary nightmare-inducing little problem...  So, as you may not know, scorpions like to LIVE in palm trees.  I've seen them there before (on more than one occasion) so I really should've known better.  I'm not totally innocent in the scorpion-sting-incident.  On a positive note, I did actually remove the palm frond.

"cute" little guy:

On a more serene and beautiful note, I did have a wonderful weekend full of family, new friends, and new adventures.   I ran on the beach with my new friend - getting up before 5:00am so we didn't turn into puddles of sweat.  I NEVER woke up this early at home, ask any of my friends who begged me to get up at 5:00 and meet them for a run.  Of course, at home it was usually dark and freezing which makes it much less motivating to walk out your door.   We also went on a hike to a "hidden" waterfall nearby (only hidden from you if you aren't from around here).  The water was surprisingly cold and refreshing, as it is apparently coming down from the mountains.  We want to return here and wander up the river and see how far we can go.

 Two of our friendly backyard neighbors

Sunset from our deck on Saturday, one of the best yet!!

Midnight plane to Houston

On our first travel day to Costa Rica, my dad (affectionately known as "Rah Rah") was charged by an alligator.  A REALLY BIG alligator.  Lucky for him it was behind very thick glass.  We  had finally made a visit to The Reptile Zoo to see all the fun deadly creatures that we will be encountering down here in Costa Rica.  The kids had a great time holding snakes, and we all escaped unharmed - except for a possible sore snout suffered by the alligator hitting the glass wall.  It was a great way to spend the last few hours in Washington State,  and I would highly recommend the Reptile Zoo in Monroe, WA.

From the Zoo we headed for Thai food, because I doubt we'll have many opportunities for Thai in the coming months.  Then we all piled into Rah Rah and Nana's hotel room to await our redeye flight to Houston.  Graham fell asleep and had to be awoken at 10:00pm, poor kiddo.   The flight was tiring and uneventful, which is always the best kind of flight to have.

Flying out of Houston we were a little late - but we landed safely in Liberia, Costa Rica where a nice man in Customs saw me standing there flustered and sweaty, traveling alone with two kids and 9 bags and he let us in the "residentes" line where we promptly received our 90 day visa.  After being frightened by many horror stories about customs, I was confused and felt sure that we had somehow missed something.  I kept waiting for security to come nab us!  No one came chasing after us, and the customs agents, at least for today, were nice.

We finally arrived at our hotel for the night, the Lagarta Lodge in Nosara, Costa Rica.  The owners are wonderful and the view is spectacular.  We slept well that night, and awoke in the morning to blue skies and a delicious brunch from a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Things could definitely be worse.

Welcome to Costa Rica!