Pura Vida...

Hi everyone. We’ve been incommunicado for two days. We’re presently en route from Puerto Viejo de Limon to San Jose. Prior to that we stayed in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui at the Hotel El Bambu. That was the site of our last dispatch, dashed off at breakfast.

This one’s being written on a bouoi, Bonc, bOuc, BOUNCY bus. For the last two days, we’ve been at Hotel Punta de Cocles where we found NO telephones, NO televisions and NO internet. We had a fabulous time, though, because we DID have:

• Lots of (howler) monkeys in the jungle surrounding the hotel (which reminds one – Juan Carlos, our guide, is a lovely singer). We also saw spider monkeys & some saw a white-faced monkey up CLOSE on the beach; we’re unsure which primate species was the more startled. Finally, we slothful primates (us), spied an ACTUAL sloth swinging joyfully from hotel tree (no worries, Harrison did not try to imitate).

• Biking into town (stopped at local watering hole where we were served watermelon & milk smoothies by a French Canadien, eh; and “lime smoothies” for the chaperones).

• Lovely Chauita National Forest surrounding us, with several trips to local beaches (for safe swimming – see “unauthorized outings”). Beautiful Caribbean waters & coral lining the beaches.

• Free time at the hotel pool accompanied by reggae music in the evenings.

• This has been the most relaxing part of trip; it actually felt like vacation! All the kids spent quality time resting, bonding, being kids. It is amazing how well these five diverse groups of kids have bonded. They really look out for one another; it has been such a refreshing experience!





• One evening, a local dropped in to braid hair (arranged by the hotel staff). It was, ahhh, interesting. We plan on buying some conditioner & having a comb-out party in San Jose…





• Conspicuous absence of arroz con frijoles, probably attributable to certain members of our band’s love of papas fritas (and their complaints about local food – NOT OUR KIDS; they like the food here, plus Mrs. Hartle is quite proficient at hooking us up with the locals for, ahhh, additional ingredients).

“Unauthorized Outing” Great beach near the hotel. Deserted! Lots o’ monkeys. Beautiful to the point of surrealism. Guide mentioned that it was too turbulent to swim (for most of us – that’s all we’re saying; curiously, there are NO pictures so you'll have to GUESS who the scofflaws are. What happens in Puerto Viejo de Limon stays in Limon, but if you’re ever here, it’s a MUST see!!!)