The End

We are home.
Sleep is ours again.
The memories are everywhere on the road but not as often back in our routines.
How much of a highlight is shoveling snow?
Big thanks for tuning in to our blog.

Enjoy this song.  It was played at loud volumes over dinner tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7mp9n8o1XM

Homeward bound

Today we caught the ferry back with our friends the Aussie-Spanish couple Cam and Rebecca who we celebrated Christmas with - they are travelling all the way to Argentina. It was a beautiful day, there were no bumps over dusty roads, no hassling over prices, so this fact was capitalized on as we, the passengers made sure to fully enjoy ourselves by ensuring proper hydration levels in the sun.  Now that we are nearing the end of our trip we are appreciating little things.  We look at trees and stuff and say obvious things like, Wow, those trees have leaves on them.  We are looking forward to certain things, like toilets that don´t clog, vegetables, selection, selection, selection, drinkable tap water, clean clothes on a daily basis, and so on, but also really enjoying the lack of snow and decent weather we have here.
Some statistics for your amusement.
Readers:
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The last (Pacific) sunset

It delivered.

 I love this shot - in the wave out back the guy getting snaked has his fist raised cursing the snake, We feel your angst.

The Return

We will be returning home soon.  In the next few days.  When you can get a flight for $217 from San Jose to Toronto you don't ask questions, you just book it.  When we checked again later, after booking, it no longer existed.
We will be enjoying our last sunset over the Pacific tonight and then heading inland towards San Jose.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a potluck on the beach with the crew from El Salvador, plus a few more members of the United Nations contingent.  It involved Secret Santa gift exchange, some interesting gifts, laughs, a tipsy afternoon surf, beautiful sunset and a campfire.  It was a great time.



Our serving, or rather "surfin" tables decked with food. ha!


 



Aussie Matt donned the zinc Santa beard while Logan and Shane assisted as elves.

  


How awesome is this? Santa hat and zinc beard.

 


Intellectual discussions. Drew, Cam and Rebecca.





The 2010 Christmas Crew.





Probably the best gift anyone got in 2010 anywhere in the world was The Sauna Suit.
The box shows a lady getting fit by lifting weights while wearing it,
but it is equally useful for practicing techno dance party moves such as the "air jam".



Merry Christmas from Costa Rica!

Sticks and stones

We have settled into Mal Pais pretty comfortably.  Routines involve a morning at the beach with all 3 boys letting off their steam - the biggest boy goes for a surf while the other two get involved with sticks, sand, rocks and old coconuts washed up on the shore.  The big exception to our comfort is our sleep.  We intended on finding a place to rent here for a few weeks or up to a month.  With the holiday season upon us however, there is nothing available.  This leaves us with the hotel option.  Still pretty good value at $50 a night for four beds, private bathroom, access to outdoor kitchen area, pool, wi-fi, etc. but the big snag is our sleep.  We broke up the trip with rentals along the way which were golden, but the sleeps all in the same room are pretty tough during nighttime wakeups.  Today we also found an extremely cheap flight to Toronto which we are trying to book at the moment - Canadian agents put us on hold for too long so we're waiting for the CRica agents to finish up with their siesta.  Poor sleep, cheap flight?  For this reason, we are likely heading back in the near future.  We'll still be here for Christmas, but I don't think anyone would pass up a two hundred dollar flight from San Jose.

Being at the beach today was like a nature walk pretty - there was a family of howler monkeys right over the trail and also several vultures sitting very close by.  Two spiky large iguanas crawled up a tree covered in thorns.  Ali said it was like being at a zoo or something and people pay big money to see this stuff at zoos, so we kept trying to get the boys interested in watching all the wildlife, but the boys were actualy more interested in their sticks.  Shane holding his, and Logan hitting the barbed wire fence with his.  Sticks are all the rage here in Mal Pais.  Of course, they always want the same one.