While I stayed behind in the States, Eddie returned to Costa Rica as originally planned.  Believe it or not, he managed to have some fun without me!  Not long after the Gran Tope (the horse parade in Uvita), Eddie visited Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge, a well-known eco-tourism destination about a 10 minute drive from our rental house. He and our friend from Canada, who was on her vacation in Dominical, went on the five hour bird watching tour. About half way through the tour, they stopped for a fabulous Tico breakfast at refuge’s little outpost.  Their guide Pedro has worked for Hacienda Barú for over 25 years and he was extremely knowledgeable. Pedro could identify all of the bird calls and imitate them, too!  They saw many different species of birds, four or five sloths and many white-faced monkeys.

In between work, sight-seeing and shopping at the farmer’s market, Eddie has been doing a little bit of gardening.  He brought back a variety of seeds of herbs, vegetables and spices and is in the process of planting them in containers.  He has also taken clippings from trees and plants from the surrounding area that look interesting.  We are hoping that they will take root so that we can plant them on our lot.

I had a fun time visiting with friends and family during my extra two weeks in the U.S.  I spent five days in Grand Ledge, Michigan with my aunt, uncle and Cousin Catherine, which was one of the highlights of my trip.  They live in a Victorian house built in the late 1800’s right in the center of town.  Uncle Kal is Mayor of Grand Ledge and he gave me a fabulous walking tour of the town, the new city Hall and police station.  Aunt Marsha and I enjoyed catching up on things and shopping at several of the stores downtown and one where she volunteers.  We also walked Molly, their dog, in the park along the Grand River.  Catherine and I had fun playing our word games, talking and watching T.V.  She got me all caught up on my favorite shows!  Thank you Catherine 🙂

Now I’m back in Costa Rica, which almost didn’t happen!  It was amazing that I managed to catch my very early flight.  Either I didn’t hear the alarm, didn’t set it properly or the battery died; in any event, I overslept.  Fortunately, Jane gets up early, Erik slept over and all my bags were ready to go.  Erik and I were out of the house in 10 minutes flat and he got me to the airport in record time.  Having TSA Pre-Check helped me out, too!  Even though I wanted to stay in Chapel Hill longer, I didn’t want it to happen by missing my flight.  It would have been a costly mistake and we wouldn’t have been happy about that!