Spring Communiqué

My Whirlwind of activity lasted right up to the time I left for Costa Rica in mid February. Not that my energy was well directed as I bounced from one thing to another but I managed to feel relatively satisfied when I left.

Actually the worst part of the whole trip was getting through the Airports and finding the right gates. Incidentally, I hadn’t been on a plane since the turn of the century.

In the airport, it seemed that you queued up to queue up. Even in the little Lethbridge airport first you queued up for your boarding pass, and then you queue up to go through security to wait until you could line up to get onto the plane.

The process is duplicated each time you change locations. The only difference seemed to be the length of the lines. The bigger the airport: the longer the lines – like a big snake slithering through a huge auditorium – following single file along the roped-off spaces until you reach the front of the line and they direct you to another line where you proceed to do the same thing along a shorter line.

When you finally reach the end of that line, you run the gamut of retail venders to find your gate so you can line up again to get onto the plane.

And the plane!! I did develop sincere empathy for sardines in the can, feeling extremely scrunched into seats that fit but leave no room for expansion – rather claustrophobic - I did manage to see a couple of movies though.

Even though San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, is a city (about a million people) it felt like I was finally able to breathe my own air.

We went from the city (San Jose) with the sculptures, museum and theater to more traditional-styled accommodations that replicated indigenous buildings and sites. We spent three days experiencing walks through the rain-forests; road trips to a pineapple plantation; a heart of palm plantation; a Nature Pavilion that borders the rain-forest and attracts hummingbird; and another project that is breeds Macaws; as well as taking a boat tour on the Sarapiqui River.

After that jam-packed foray, there was a long day of travel as we moved off to accommodations close to the Arenal Volcano National Park. An excellent presentation about the volcanic formation of Costa Rica and a visit to an interesting multi-crop farming operation - coffee, pineapple, sugar cane -  and a demonstration of how they milled the sugar cane. An excursion on another river-boat took us on a bird, wildlife and crocodile hunt and a tour of a local school.

The Costa Ricans are so proud of their Eco-supporting environment, as well as government sponsored education and health care. It is a very comfortable country.

The final accommodations were certainly a multi-starred community with close-by ocean out-rigging opportunities; a butterfly gallery; a orchard garden; surfing; beautiful sunsets; and again wonderful food.

The trip back to Vancouver was even worse than getting to Costa Rica: more line-ups; more waiting time; just as squished; on top of which, I was totally exhausted.

Back in Vancouver, I managed to pick up a bit of a breathing bug (probably from the plane), but I toughed it out so I could get a chance to see my brother (and his wife, Patty) who were coming in from Mexico. It was good to have all the siblings together even if it only for a couple of days.

Would I do that kind of trip again? The jury is still out!

So now back to the challenges of day-to-day life.

Having said that, one of the gals from the trip suggested that we take a road trip to Montana. Why not?

We are hot on the trail of finding out where we want go and places to stay – such fun!!!

The only thing as much fun as going to new and interesting places is showing off places you love to someone who is interested in seeing them.