CR 1: Farm Living

Our first stop was an eco-farm in the middle of the rain forest. Christian and Elke, friends we were traveling with, picked us up from the airport and off we went. Since there were four of us, we made the decision to get a car, which was a good one. I'm thankful Christian did the driving - it's crazy there! 'Highway' is apparently a subjective term. Even the great Pan-American was oftentimes just a two lane road, distinguished from other two-lane roads by painted lane dividers. Most of the roads we traveled were dirt/rocks, which sort of gave you that stage-coach feeling.

Bego, the beloved 5th member of our crew

The first day we eventually arrived at Finca Luna Nueva. These were the directions they gave, which we found typical of directions given for the entire country:

From San Jose head north to San Ramon via the Pan American highway. Exit Pan American highway (right turn) go straight until the last stop sign, and turn left. Immediate right turn at traffic light. Follow road for about 2 km staying to the left. When you go uphill over a speed bump with small school on right then another speed bump make a left at the y intersection. This is the road to Fortuna. Follow this road north for about an hour when you will arrive at a single lane suspension bridge over the Peñas Blancas river.

About two kilometers after the bridge watch for a church and cemetery on left. 150 meters past the cemetery turn left onto a rock road (look for the Texas A&M sign on your right hand side, across the street from the turn). Go 2.3 km west into the jungle. Keep bearing to the right when you come to intersections. When you see a large tin building go 100 m and make the right into the driveway thru our beautiful gates.

You may ask how one knows it's the 'last stop sign,' but trust me, you know. It's that 'bearing right' that gave us problems. After asking directions in broken Spanish from some kind neighbors, as night had already descended by the time we were close, we finally arrived through those 'beautiful gates.'

The farm is amazing, and really uses all of their resources wisely. The food they serve is delicious, all vegetarian, and beautifully presented. They have all sorts of animals, farm much of their food, and make the soaps that are used as well. We went on a farm tour, a rainforest tour, and generally just hung out and enjoyed the place.

a real banana tree, with ripeness monitor

Christian and Elke finding relief from their headaches
or
"Let's see what we can get the tourists to do this time"

Mo resuscitating a coconut

Cheers!

Kyle: Isn't this meal the best ever?
Christian: Where's the beef?

Costa Rica

With many thanks due to our parents, Kyle and I were able to take a vacation to Costa Rica in December. Costa Rica is a surprisingly short plane flight from Texas (3 or 4 hours) and in the same time zone, which makes it a nice get-away-from-it-all destination opportunity. Kyle generously cashed in his airline miles allowing us to fly there for the cost of only the flight taxes, and we were fortunate enough to fly first class no less, as it was right before the start of busy season in Costa Rica. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, but we were of course glad to get home to see Zoe again - ten days is a very long time! She grew both physically and emotionally while we were gone.
And now, on to a few posts summarizing our wonderful adventures!

Old School

We've been listening to a cassette tape in Zoe's room.

Yes, a real live cassette tape.

Sick

Well, on the Sunday after her marathon buffet, Z bird pretty much stopped eating, had a 103 fever, and nearly passed out while I was changing her diaper - definitely not healthy. We went in on a Sunday to the clinic associated with our doctor and were sent home with a nebulizer and instructions to go to the hospital if breathing didn't improve. The next morning we went to our pediatrician, who had some x-rays done and listened a bit more closely in order to actually diagnose. Some antibiotics (it was bacterial pneumonia in her left lung) and more nebulizer treatments later, our bird is back to her regular self. Some would say that on Tuesday she was even almost all the way there, as evidenced by this chatty video.

Though, I'd say she wasn't totally healthy until Thursday - you could tell she was feeling better as her appetite slowly returned. Glad to have her back to normal.

Here are some photos of her on Monday - definitely not her normal self.

Doesn't she just look sad and uncomfortable? Poor thing.

Mom, put down that camera and take care of me!

Hungry Little Bird

And for Friday dinner she ate

• 12 oz milk
• 6 asparagus
• plate of leftover turkey
• 3 strawberries
• two handfuls of blueberries
• bowl full of chickpea stew
• bowl full of rice
• half a banana

and she was still hungry!
(Note: The Bird only ate half a banana for lunch, so that may have something to do with it...)