OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Well at least she played along

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Glad you had a great time. Welcome home.

s t OlderThanDirt wrote: 
I hope you two had a fantabulous time! 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Actually, I think she would be right here if she was just a little bit less computer-phobic.  But, yeah, she was as thrilled as I was when I suddenly said one day, "We're going to Costa Rica!" I had to say it 3 times before she decided that I hadn't actually lost my mind.  

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
That's very cool. I'm glad you 2 got it! Actually I'm sure L is thinking "okay I guess there's a point to e-hanging out with all those shiftless bums on RP"

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
I'm so glad you had a good time!  

I would love to go there someday.

 jadewahoo wrote: 
It was cool to meet you, too.  The restaurant suggestions you gave us were much appreciated.  The food there was so good!

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Welcome back home G&L. I already miss PV and all the wonderful times there. It was sofa king cool to meet up with you two down there. Thanks for the photo. I'm glad you to had such a wonderful time. It is hard not to, eh? Congrats again on your winning the RP Costa Rica vacation.

We're home! Got here Sunday with a raging case of airliner flu or something, have been sleeping about 14 hours a day since. Feeling better today but still pretty congested.

We had such a great time while we were there. Puerto Viejo is a laid back little town, village actually, with a great mix of Latin American and Caribbean influences. Tourism is their main industry, and they do it up right. There are discos, bars, tours restaurants, places to rent bikes, scooters and ATVs. They offer rooms in hostels or dorms for as little as $10 US per night, small hotels, cottages, all sorts of lodgings. And the food was superb!  We found the best value and home made quality at the little "sodas," and we didn't have a bad meal the whole week.  (L: "Why do they call them sodas?"  Me: "Why do we call them cafes?")

But my favorite is Cashew Hill Lodge. It sits up on the hill overlooking the town in a tropical rain forest. As in much of Costa Rica, the native plants share space with imported species of bananas, coconuts, bamboo and various landscape plants. Cashew Hill catches the breezes from the Caribbean to keep the humidity and heat within comfortable ranges and offers views of the town and the beaches and water beyond. I doubt that the temperature exceeded 85f all the time we were there. As I already mentioned, the people we met, both at Cashew hill and in Puerto Viejo, were as friendly and helpful as you could imagine. We can't wait to go back.

I bought a new camera for the trip, A Sanyo Xacti VPC-GH2, (thank you Woot.com) about the size of a large bar of soap that I could carry in a pants pocket and not have to lug around the Nikon and its bag. The new one takes both HD video and 12mp stills.  It does a better job on the videos than the stills, but I haven't yet figured out how to upload videos, so here are a few of the stills:

jadewahoo and OlderThanDirt at maybe one of RP's most distant meetups (both more than 3000 miles from home)

Our living room, kitchen and dining room


Looking north into town

Thanks again to Bill and Rebecca and to all the Radio Paradise supporters who made this possible.

 BillJ wrote: 
Puerto Viejo... it is the town in Costa Rica where I was staying, and where OTD has been visiting. And the water is fine!

 jadewahoo wrote: 
Ponte Vecchio? I wouldn't dive in  the water if that's what you mean.

 OlderThanDirt wrote:Hola OTD! It was so great to be able to see you and L upon your arrival. I am sure you have found PV nd surrounding area to be inspiring, the people warm and friendly and waters inviting. Post the pic!
Pura Vida~
Jade

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
WOW! Sounds amazing. Thanks for the update and happy anniversary!

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Belated Happy Anniversary to you both.

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Pura Vida! Getting ready to shop for airline tickets in the next couple of weeks for my planned summer (rainy season) trip, got to come up with 4 of em' with the price jack because of Middle East unrest just getting started! 

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Hurray! Sounds perfect!

to you and L. And on your 49th!

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Looking forward to the photos...

Hola!

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica is everything we had hoped it would be, and the Cashew Hill Lodge exceeds our expectations.  Three of the cottages are currently occupied by Radio Paradise fans (who don't participate in the forum). and you couldn't ask for a friendlier group.  The new owners are a family named Denley.  Sue, her son Andrew and his girlfriend Alli run the show while Sue's husband  manages a wholesale seafood business in New England.  They are as nice a bunch of proprietors as we have ever met.

The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is covered in dense rain forest.  We have had rain almost every day, but mostly while we slept. The days have been in the mid 80s and the nights in the mid 70's.  Our cottage is farthest from the wifi equipment, so we have been unable to connect until now.  Email is still not possible, but it seems to be a security problem with the local ISP provider, and we can do without email just fine.  There are so many other things occupying out time that we really haven't had all that much time for the computer anyway.  Lots of tours and sights to see, lots of local color, tons of great food and drink - all in all a great time, and to top it all off, L and I celebrated out 49th wedding anniversary yesterday.

We've had a wonderful time, but we have to start home tomorrow.  Connections aren't the greatest, so we will make it as far as San Jose, Costa Rica tomorrow, Los Angeles the following night and home on Sunday.  It has been a wonderful trip, and it seems like so much more that a week.  Thank you, Bill and Rebecca, and thank all of you great people who support Radio Paradise and make this all possible. 

We had a large breakfast this morning, so we skipped lunch and now L is hungry.  I'll try to come back after dinner if I can.

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 

G and L !!!    I hope you'll have a great time !
                Looking forward to see some pictures !