Dear Tom and Chris,
Just thought I’d write you a note on our last full day here. How can Iput into words the wonderful time we have had? We didn’t know what toexpect when we got here because it was dark. Our oldest son, Brandon, got up early last Sunday and came running back to all the bedroomstelling us we had to get up to see the view. That was just thebeginning. Each day has been a wonder to all of us. The morningsare gorgeous and the sunsets are indescribable. We have taken so manypictures of everything, but we all know a picture doesn’t do it justice.
The first week we pretty much got familiar with the area by checking out thevarious beaches and navigating the bumpy roads, which we enjoyed. Daryl, Jordan, Andy, Brianna, Jordan, Brett and Justin all went out on thesailboat snorkeling a few days after we got here. They enjoyed theexperience and thought the crew on the boat was superb. They devoured thefruit and the guacamole and came back to me bragging about what a good day theyhad. I, along with Anna, stayed with the little ones and played in thepool.
On Monday of this week, Jordan, Brett, Brandon, Andy and Brianna took off forSan Jose and spent the night there. On Tuesday they went to Arenal toexperience a volcano and the zip lines. They took lots of videos andpictures on that trip. They also bought a DVD of the zip line tour.
We have been trying some of the restaurants. Mostly we have been walkingto El Castio for their fruit drinks and chicken nachos in the afternoon. We have been to Las Brisas several times and have enjoyed the sunset from thatbeach. The kids walked up and back to that one, but we drove when we tookthe kids. Tonight we are going to go to Mar y Sol to eat and watch thesunset.
We have gone into Tamarindo several time, the kids to the beach, and also toshop in the little shops. Some of us bought some leather items in thestore that sells the sea snake, sting ray, etc. I bought a watch with thesting ray band. The workmanship is beautiful and what a conversationpiece that will be. We have also bought some of the jewelry made from theshells and a couple of them bought shark tooth necklaces.
We love the remote feeling of the area and that fact that it isn’t socommercialized that you can’t turn around without bumping into people. Some of us have been to Hawaii and found it beautiful, but you can see thatkind of city in a lot of places. This was an experience that none of ushave had before.
Yesterday, Jordan, Brett and myself took the Monkey Trail up to do the CanopyTour. That was awesome. We had a blast. We all hungup-side-down on one of the lines and also did the superman position. Whata rush! After that we went in the monkey cage and had a blast withthe monkeys jumping on our shoulders and nibbling on our ears. Jordan and Brett had monkeys crawling down their backs under theirshirts. We all laughed so hard that we cried. We took lots ofpictures. When I get home I will send a few of our highlights. While on that tour we were with 4 other people and one of the men, if he wasn’tDennis Quaid, he was a dead ringer. His wife was a beautiful blond. I asked her if her husband was him, but all she would say to me was the shethought he looked like him, too. That left us wondering.
Our little grandson, Chase, has had a ball with all his uncles and aunt. We think he has had the best time of all. They have had him laughing sohard and he them. He has seen the little lizards on the balcony, theiguanas in the lots next to us, birds, dogs and Howler monkeys at ElCastio. His excitement at all these new experiences is priceless. The baby, Livea, is only two months old, but she has been the center ofattention, too.
So, as you can see, we have had an experience that we will carry with us forthe rest of our lives. We hope that we can come back some day. Ithink we all hardily agreed that is something we would like to do.
Thanks so much for the use of your beautiful penthouse. Now we getto go back to temperatures of near zero. They have been subzero formost of the week. What a shock that will be to our systems.
Best regards to all,
Carolyn Aspenson