Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed some peace and happiness during the holidays. This year, our holidays were a little different. We opened our presents on Christmas morning, and two hours later, we were on our way to Costa Rica by way of Toronto.

We met Andy’s family there, and we all shared a house overlooking the beach.

For years, we have met at various locations to celebrate Thanksgiving, special anniversaries, or milestone birthdays. There were times that some of us could not make the trip, and this was by far, the greatest distance we have ever traveled to spend time together. Typically, we have stayed in the United States.

The original reason for this big vacation was to celebrate Andy’s mom’s 80th birthday. (Note to Maureen: Bright pink is your color.) This lady has been sharing stories and spreading generosity since I met her over twenty years ago.

A happy coincidence was that all eight days of Hannukah fell on our break this year. We lit the Menorah and ate plenty of latkes. In the evenings, we enjoyed drinks out on the patio and gorgeous sunsets.
Seriously, Costa Rica knows how to do sunsets.

Organizing twenty people is no easy task, but my brothers-in-law have an exceptional talent for it. Via concierge, they arranged an adventurous day trip on zip-lines, horseback, and rafting down the river.

The following day, we spent the afternoon and dinner on a sailboat. Our guides were from Argentina, and they had lots of patience with our broken Spanish. Now is a good time to mention that Costa Rica is highly accessible to people with limited Spanish. I speak Spanish at around a kindergarten level. Many people there speak a bit of English, but more importantly, they are generous with our mistakes. I felt much more comfortable butchering the Spanish language in Costa Rica than I did in Mexico several years ago. All-in-all, communication happened. Attempts at speaking Spanish were rewarded.

While we loved the scenery, we also enjoyed the wildlife. Our neck of the woods has exactly zero species of lizards because it is too cold. When we lived in California, we had lizards all over the place. The kids and I have missed seeing them on a regular basis. I understand that not everyone is into reptiles, but it is kind of our thing.

We adored noisy house geckos as small as our pinky fingers, and there were plenty of common lizards skittering in the bushes.

By far, our favorites were the Ctenosaurs. Slow and docile, these huge reptiles were very cooperative for photography. I swear this one repositioned himself so I could get a better shot.

In the morning, birds that sounded like they were laughing hysterically, woke us up bright and early. We did not do any birding specifically, but we enjoyed watching these gorgeous spectacled Amazon parrots while we sat on the patio.

Costa Rica is a country of bright colors. Because we arrived at the tail end of the rainy season, everything was vibrant green and blooming.

All too soon, the week was over. During this vacation, we made some wonderful new memories. Now that we are home, we put Costa Rica right back on our list of places we want to visit. We cannot wait to go back.

According to the wind and snow falling outside my window, it is most definitely still winter here. These warm holiday memories will have to tide us over until spring.

Thank you for indulging my travelogue. Next week, I will be back with the Butler’s Pantry project in full swing. I am energized and ready to work.