LKL’s Blog

I became fascinated by Costa Rica many years ago - I don’t know exactly when, but long before my first visit. There were essentially two things that made me want to see it for myself. The first is that Costa Rica has no army, and the second is that it has a lot of rainforests. I don’t know which I learned first, but the two together equalled a strong desire to see it for myself.

Then when I finally did go, for two weeks at the end of December 1998/beginning of January 1999, I fell in love. We visited both coasts, went white water rafting through the rainforest (one of most amazing things I’ve ever done), hiked in the cloud forest, took an aerial tram over the rainforest, and just generally had a blast. The people we met were nice and the beaches are gorgeous.

There were a few hiccups. The Spanish is different than anything I’d ever heard before - a lot of the vowels get swallowed, making it harder to understand (though I’m sure I’ll get used to it before long). The capital, San José, isn’t really anything to write home about. And we learned that the best way to travel in the country is with the domestic airlines, rather than the buses, at least in the western half of the country. We once got on a bus that for some reason we thought would take a couple of hours, but turned out to take nearly 12, due to horribly potholed roads and numerous stops.

When we went again in 2005, we concentrated on what we’d liked the most: rafting and the beach. It was, again, phenomenal.

This is a time waster, but only a little one - see how many people there are in the US with your first name, with your last name, and with your full name: How Many of Me

Note: You have to be at least 13 to use this site. I’m not sure why, but I have seen a couple of PG-13 ads on the page.

This is a real gem of a movie. I’d never heard of it, though it won three prizes at Sundance, but it was in my Netflix recommendations so I thought I’d give it a try. We both loved it - it’s feel-good, it’s funny, it’s clever, it’s sweet. Don’t miss it!

The terms “all together” and “altogether” can be confusing in English. Once you’ve read through this lesson, you’ll have an altogether better understanding of them: All Together vs Altogether

Since the French visa just isn’t happening, we started considering other options, and the one we decided on is Costa Rica. We’ve been there twice, love the country and the people, it’s not super expensive, there are no insanely complicated visa requirements, we can work on our Spanish… it’s win-win-win-win-win! We’re planning on at least a year, maybe two. If the French visa does somehow show up during that time, we’ll discuss it then, but for now we’re tired of waiting around. Costa Rica, here we come (in mid-May)!

“I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”