Back in the USofA

April 13, 2015

Atlanta Skyline

Doug

We arrived in VA today around noon. I will try to backtrack, to fill in our gap of time. We left Costa Rica on Tuesday a week ago and flew to Atlanta to visit our friends James and Doug. 

 

We managed to fill our two days with them by going to their studio to see the pillows Doug has been making, visiting the botanical gardens, seeing James art show, and celebrating James’ birthday at Babette’s French restaurant. It was a wonderful whirlwind of activities and way too short of a visit. It was great to see JJ and Doug settled into their routine in Atlanta.

Onward to South Carolina - Back in the land of Behold the Lamb and Fried Oreos

Toni

Charlie

On Thursday we took a Mexican bus from Atlanta to Travelers Rest SC where my sister Toni and her husband Charlie picked us up. The bus was 40 minutes late arriving in Atlanta then spent about 45-60 minutes waiting for a passenger. Finally we took off for our three hour ride. There were few passengers on board.

We arrived late afternoon, around 5:30 and took off for T & C’s mountain cabin at Sweetwater. This place is a piece of paradise. They bought the property 51 years ago with two other couples. Each couple has built a home near the seven acre lake they built on the 200 acres of property. Toni and Charlie love to feed birds so we watched a hummingbird and numerous other birds from our dining table throughout the day as the birds fed from the two bird feeders just outside the window.

 

On Friday I drove to Greer about 50 minutes away to see my cousin Frontis. In a 16 minute drive on Hwy 290, I passed 13 churches, mostly Baptist or evangelical. My favorite was Behold the Lamb, a huge church on the hill with a huge sign near the road. Just a few yards down the road was a sign that read “Fried Oreos”.  Lordy, what planet is this? Frontis and I spent several hours together then I headed back to the mountains arriving around 3:30. Toni, Ron and I took a walk around the property. 

Over the years T & C have built numerous trails on the property. There are several creeks and as I mentioned a good sized lake that now is home to a pair of Canadian geese. Toni calls them the other retirees.

On Saturday my nephew Brent joined us for about four hours. He looked terrific but is having some physical problems with his knee and wrist. He just was qualified for the Affordable Care Act and hopes to resolve these problems soon. We had a good visit. My sister Lowe died when Brent was three and his father died when Brent was about 20. Toni has been his mom in many ways for many years. She is the greatest!

After Brent left we drove up to Hendersonville, NC about 15 miles up the road and walked through downtown. It is a charming old town with lots of cute shops and eateries. We went out to eat dinner before heading back to Sweetwater.

Martha

William and MIssy

Sunday Missy, Toni’s oldest daughter Missy and her son William and Martha, Toni’s second daughter joined us for lunch at Sweetwater. Martha is a natural story teller and had all of us in stitches with family stories. It was great to see them.

After they headed home Toni, Ron and I took another walk. There are so many wildflowers in bloom. Toni is quite knowledgeable about flowers so it was a real treat to hear about various plants. Some of the wildflowers she had transplanted many years ago from other locations to their property. It was a wonderful way to end our stay in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Audios Costa Rica, but the Odyssey continues

April 6, 2015

Yesterday we relaxed and today we wrapped things up in Costa Rica: we packed, weighed one suitcase and discovered we were 10 pounds over so had to repack a bit, printed boarding passes, walked to the Avenida Escazu where I could buy a blouse for the Bar Mitzvah (Jacob's big BM) in MA, then walked further to Multi Plaza with its 450 stores where we could get some brie and fancy crackers as a gift for Victoria, our host. She had told us once that she never bought cheese because it was so expensive. We stopped at Bulali for a lovely lunch sitting outside. Ron had as veggie sandwich and I have another fabulous quinoa salad with green greens and avocado. We sauntered over to Starbucks and had our last cup and said goodbye to the baristas who know our order so well that they present it to us as we are paying!

When we got back home Victoria had left us a gift of three of Jay’s photos: a Costa Rica farm, a gorgeous hummingbird and a Tico painted ox cart. We were thrilled and surprised. She is the most unusual host ever and quite generous. Tonight she is joining us at Joanna’s for dinner.

Tomorrow we will get up at 4:00 and leave at 4:30 for a 7:30 flight. We fly to Atlanta to spend two nights with Doug and JJ who were married on our front porch a year ago. JJ said the honeymoon continues. We are eager to spend time with them. From there we head to SC to see my sister, nieces, nephews and cousins. Then we head to VA to see Mark and his family, MA to see Laurie and Jock whom we met in the Rep of GA and to attend our grandson’s Bar Mitzvah. Finally we go on to RI to see Sandi and Bill, Ron’s sister and her husband. Life is good!

Our odyssey continues as we will head to Portland April 24^th,  hopefully for the summer then our move to San Miguel de Allende. Frankly our plans are uncertain after May 23^rd when a house sitting job for friends ends. So, stay tuned to see where we go next!

Topiaries, Hot Springs, fancy carts and more of San Jose

March 31

Today Victoria, our host, Ray and Ella, a couple our age from Canada and Ron and I headed out with Fernando at 7:30. Fernando is one of Carlos’ employees. We hired him to take us in a van to Zarcero which is known for its topiaries and to a hot springs resort. You can Google both places for more photos.

We stopped for a coffee break along the way then hopped back in the van and we were enthralled with the scenery. 

We went over the top edge of the mountains above the central valley and what wonderful sights we had. One area was completely terraced on some of the steepest hillsides imaginable. They were vegetables and fruits of all descriptions being grown here. We tried to get some shots from the moving van so the photos are not as good as we wanted but when we travel with others we are not comfortable making photo stops while others have to wait.

  

When we arrived at Zarcero we spent 30 minutes walking around the park with a wondeful mosaic wall and the topiaries.  Whimsical animals and designs were everywhere.  There was even a "Thomas" train.

 

Then inside the church that was on the square. It was quite cold with the cloud cover and the wind. None of us had brought a jacket. It was a lovely simple church and a number of parishioners were waiting to give confession. Unlike other churches I had been in, I was surprised to see the priest sitting in full view of the parishioners and the confessor sitting with him. I had been under the impression that the confessors had more privacy and anonymity. Not here at least. Because this is Holy Week church activity is at a high.

We drove for another hour or more and arrived at the resort. We paid our fees then drove to the parking lot where Fernando and Carmen, his friend, left us off. We then walked for about ten minutes through the loveliest walk on a paver walkway. We were in a dense, moist jungle with a running creek along our side. The hot springs were a series of pools marked with the temperatures in Celsius. We choose 43 degrees, about 109. It was wonderful to sit in the pool and look up at the canopy above us. Twice I spied a blue morpho butterfly, always a treat. Although there were others there, almost all Ticos, it never felt crowded. We enjoyed ourselves for about 90 minutes then changed and headed back to the resort where we had a nice buffet lunch.

As we were nearing Escazu Victoria who is very spontaneous, asked if any of us had been to Sarchi. Nope. So we took a quick turn off the freeway and headed for the small fun town of Sarchi. Sarchi is known for its furniture manufacturing and for its fancy ox carts historically used on coffee plantations, These are very special carts that are highly painted in bright colors, often with a red or blue background. The ox cart factory was started in 1923. They still have the original hydro power system to run a series of belts that operate saws and other equipment. It was fascinating. They had an extensive shop with all manner of souvenirs but none that we needed. 

We have bought very few items on this trip as we literally do not have the room for such. I only bought two gifts besides the jewelry I always buy in bulk in Sri Lanka for women friends and family.

We got home at 6:30. Ray and Ella were dropped off at the grocery store to pick up some bread and we dashed home to put together a salad and heat up the soup I had made the day before so we could all enjoy a meal together. It was a full day and loads of fun.

April 2

 Today we caught a bus around 9:30 and went onto San Jose, about 15 or 20 minutes away by bus. We did a walking tour of the older part of downtown. Unfortunately SJ has not preserved many of its historic buildings, making for a very unattractive city. However we did get to see probably ten or so older buildings from the late 1800’s or early 1900’s that had been restored. We were surprised how few of the buildings had any form of signage telling us what they now were or once had been.

 

We walked for over two hours and headed back to catch our bus. Today and tomorrow are national holidays in CR as part of Holy Week. According to Victoria, all of Costa Rica heads to the coast for the holidays. Downtown had few cars and people. The buses were scarce as well. We waited a very long time for our bus. Ninety percent of the businesses were closed today. Oddly enough shoe stores were open and there are quite a few downtown. There also were a few fast food eateries open.

We stopped by the store near our house to get oil and eggs for the brownies we were making for tonight’s house dinner Victoria is making for us: chicken, squash soup, salads and bread. When we arrived we were tired and famished so lunch was the first order of the day then a quick nap for me and Ron made the brownies.