Back on the Shuttle Wailin' The Juan Santamaría Alajuela Airport Blues: Saturday, February 3rd!

It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own suffering. -Robert Lynd, writer (1879-1949)

Howlers were much more active last night, not that I minded, as I've actually come to enjoy their deep, guttural growls/howls. We've noticed, since being here, at least during the day that their outbursts often concur with the passing of large trucks or loud motorcycles. Whether this is true or not, can't really be sure but the passage of these vehicles is often followed by such calls.

At breakfast I took along my lap top and a horde of Titis arrived shortly after I sat down. Believe they were eyeing the banana I had beside my coffee cup and three of them hopped up on chairs nearby, one cheeky thing tipping over my screen in his dash to grab the banana. Stayed on the chair right beside me, not fussed by the staff member trying to shoo it away, his gaze locked on the banana, now in my shirt pocket. I'm quite sure he would have tried to take it if I'd made no move to prevent him. They are so deft and nimble and move like greased lightening. Quite a show! After we've finished bit of last minute packing we'll probably take one last stroll to the beach. Have an hour to wait, once we checkout of our room, at noon, so we'll sit around pool, until shuttle arrives, guarding our sandwiches from the Titi or Capuchin thieves. 

Hi Patrick Sorry that we cannot put you up in Palm Springs but we really do have a house full. The peace and quiet ends today when I pick up Nikki and the three girls at noon and then Rosie and Al arrive from Philadelphia. We had a two day stopover in Lodi to recover from two days of long driving and had an enjoyable bike ride and discovered Jessie’s grove winery. I thought that this was the quintessential Patrick winery. Old established small winery with lovely people and fabulous wines. Oldest vines in Lodi. Cinsault, carrignan, petite Syrah and Chardonnay ( not sure of my spelling) all fabulous, my only problem was that I only had room for three bottles in my pannier!! Hope you can drop in when you are passing Palm Springs, not quite sure where you are heading , LA , penticton, parts unknown. I have included some pics in Patrick tradition, ...... statue of Polly and mick lookalike in Lodi, warning about drinking wine, etc. Cheers mick

Hi Lodi Lookalikes! No need to apologize. We are the ones feeling sorry for you, hostel-keepers! Great that the hordes will de-camp leaving you to do the mountains of laundry! As I mentioned, we'll see what things look like when we leave either Sedona or Carefree and perhaps we'll stop by to do a load of laundry ourselves! 

Thanks for the wonderful snaps of Lodi. One region we've not tasted in, although we've been through it a number of times, en route to Amador, etc. Will have to keep it in mind for future trips, especially given your recommendation. From what little I know, wines from Lodi were considered not to have the tannic structure of those from vineyards further east and west, the vineyards not having the benefits of the cooler mountain nights or ocean mists/fogs to raise the acid levels. At some point, and perhaps still, much of the production from the area went/goes into bulk production. Still, this being said, I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful wines to be found, as you have discovered in Jessie's Grove Winery. Reds you mention, (other than Carignan, your spelling is spot on!), are some of my favourites. Plan to see if the Naramata Bench Winery Association would consider posting sign by Woodbridge Vineyard Association! Gather this was due to Prohibition. 

Have asked Chloë to lock both the wine cellar and malt cabinet when Beckster and Kid Chelene come to stay, for a night on the 10th , looking at houses as they have been transferred to Penticton. Flamin' and Sarge have already put in an "interest-to-buy" on a new condo development in Penticton as their two other children, and families, are in Kamloops. How they thought we were crazy to move to The Okanagan and now look! I reminded Chloë to remind the house-hunters of the nightly rate, $250 USD, payable before check-in! I trust you are recouping the cost of your Palm Springs rental, and more, (More full-blown sarcastic irony, Polly, in case you hadn't noticed!), so that you can pay for all next summer's wines when you visit us! Fondestos from Lady Dar, to one and all. Hope the neighbours don't call the police! Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi O Susannah and Marnie! Trust you are both well. Enjoyed the latest newsletter. Not sure if Kirsty, daughter of close friends, will contact you or not, but I passed along your email address to her. She lives in Adelaide. She and Chris, her partner, will be skiing in Sun Peaks in 2019 and want to fly to Switzerland afterwards. I told them you had always been extremely helpful when we, ourselves, had somewhat complicated flights, between Hong Kong, Australia and Japan, in 2012, for example. Anyway, she asked me what to do and I said I was no expert, hence the referral! Fondestos from Lady Dar, to you and Marnie. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hello Leah and Masen and The Squamish Waldorfians! Trust everyone is well. Cannot believe that I did not reply to your lovely message, of September 10th, Leah! I believe your Mom knew we were off to Costa Rica on January 7th. In fact the Central American leg of our trip is coming to a close.

Fondestos from Lady Dar, to one and all, and we sincerely hope our paths will cross in the not too, too distant future. Stay well and take care of each other. Cheers, Patrizzio!

 
As much as it all sounds lovely, I’m definitely not much of a sun worshipper. I have to sit in the shade for sure as I burn very easily. And I’m not one for over 80-85 max with maybe an hour or two at most to lie out. I can’t swim at all. Years ago, I nearly got pulled in by the tide at ‘Dreams’ Resort, half way between San Jose Del Cabo & Cabo San Lucas. I was dressed up in a very floaty 2 piece skirt & top for a lovely dinner in one of their fancy dining areas but had taken my sandals off to play at the edge of the water. Most waves would break at my feet & then subside. It was a beautiful evening, the sun just setting. This particular wave quite caught me off guard, swirling around my feet & coming in from behind me. It then pulled me down to where I felt completely helpless.. I had been chatting with a young woman we met on the beach behind our private resort. She was with her boyfriend who was standing a ways back with Frank. They were also engrossed in conversation & not mindful of what the tides were doing. I suppose I too wasn’t paying enough attention to the waves. Frank came running; well, both men did as it seemed I might actually be carried out. It’s a good thing too. That was enough of a frightening experience to make me extra cautious now.
 

As for food, I love shell fish but not all fish, especially not tuna as I don’t care for it rare which is how it should be served. I love salmon but you don’t often find that there. The band looked like fun. I do enjoy music during dinner. It must have been quite warm still since all were in tees, shorts & flip flops. We are definitely missing the warmer temps of Yuma. It’s been perfect there of latest days been told, in the low to mid 80s. It’s a dry heat too. Humid heat seems so much hotter to me, although it does feel lovely on the skin. When we were in Costa Rica, we only had a few days of super hot, humid weather. The walk to the tent village was brutal with the sand burning our bare feet. Hiking boots would have been a far better choice for footwear to sandals.

I assume you will stay with family when in LA. Our good friend there lives in Thousand Oaks. We try to visit him for 2-3 nights every fall en route to Yuma. This past Oct, we did stay with him again, but en route home from emptying out the rental we had thought we’d be staying in again. When I didn’t know my hip op date, we decided to cancel our winter holiday south.

The owners were friends of friends & very kindly gave back our deposit as we did cancel by July 1st in time for them to find other tenants. As it turned out, they moved in themselves & did a lot of renovations. Their lovely home in the foothills was just on the market & their plan was to move to Country Roads full time. When they bought their park model in CR, they weren’t old enough to live there as it’s a 55+ Park.

One of the couple must be 55. At the time, they were about 40 & 50. Kristi is now 53. It’s a second marriage. Kristi’s Dad, Marty, now lives full time in CR, since he recently sold his long time home in Branson, MO. His late wife, Arlene, was a dear friend of ours from the CR Pickleball & Tennis .clubs. It was Arlene who connected us up with Kristi to rent the winter before. Sadly, she got cancer & passed, aged 80, a year ago Jan when we were there.

Well, do enjoy your continued vacation. You will no doubt miss the tropical Costa Rica though!��😎☀️. Maggie😀 Hi again, Maggster! Trust everyone is well. What an experience in Cabo! Lucky you weren't devoured by sharks after being washed away! Fondestos from Lady Dar, to you and Francesco. Cheers, Patrizzio!Ha! Ha!! Love the monkeys!! Carefree?? Where? Arizona, not all that far from Phoenix, about an hour north. Think our Park, Country Roads, were at an invitational Pickleball event very recently.👍��👏��

It all sounds so amazing and I love the colour of the water and hearing about the playfulness of the monkeys. You've chosen a great time to be away as we've almost broken records for the amount of rain we've endured this past month. If it's not too much to ask, could you please send some sunshine our way! We'll be requesting your advice about where and what to do when travelling in Costa Rica as it is on our Bucket List, too. Enjoy your next jaunt! Ruth P.S. We are off to see the Dunkley's this evening for a nice meal, wine, a game of scrabble, as well as a hockey game or two.

Hello Squamish! Trust everyone is well. Fondestos from Lady Dar, to one and all. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pic: Israeli couple practising their bidding in the pool at Otro Lado Lodge, our hotel in Santa Teresa!

[Robbie Romu: BMW Q3 door:1 Robbie’s eye: 0
 

Patrick James Dunn Balderdash! Probably a cheap plastic cork from a magnum of Baby Duck that had been over agitated before you opened it! Drink cheap wine and suffer the consequences, Robertito! You obviously need to a change of venue, Costa Rica or Penticton, take your choice!]

  Hi Theodorakis and Elaine, et al! Wonderful news to hear about Laura delivering a girl, Sloane, I gather. Please pass along our congratulations to Laura and James and Riley! Congratulations, of course, to you two as well as the proud Aunts! As you know from the phone call, we will be leaving for LA tomorrow morning. Monday we drive to Palm Desert for two nights, then to Sun City for three, followed by same in Sedona, with friends, from Penticton, who own a house there. We might stay with Corinne's second cousin, in Carefree, but that arrangement has yet to be finalized. If not, we'll spend more time in LA with Ayn. 

Had a pleasant enough, but uneventful drive back to San Jose. By now we are fairly familiar with the countryside so nothing really new on that front. Still lovely terrain. Were dropped off at the Adventure Inn, about 5:00 pm. It is only ten minutes from the airport, in Alajuela, 20 km west of San José. Our shuttle leaves at 6:30 am for the flight to LA at 9:00 am tomorrow. Take off next morning, Monday, to spend a couple of weeks visiting friends in Palm Desert, Sun City, Sedona, and perhaps in Carefree, staying with Lady Dar's second cousin, but those details have not yet been finalized, and then a week, or so, back in LA before heading north towards the end of February.

Will have dinner downstairs in a bit but of as now are busy drinking up all the booze we have left. I've just polished of two Bavaria, local beer I like the best. Then I'll start on what is left of my bottle of Cacique, local white rum, rather anaemic, unfortunately, at only 30%! Still,, mixed with fruit juice it is a most refreshing drink. Fondestos from Lady Dar, to one and all, to Sloane, in particular. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Pics: Howler Monkeys sleeping in trees above pool; Titis coming for a drink of water; Same ones unhappy that there is no food to steal! Lady Dar waiting for shuttle this afternoon.

Hello Cabdoro Bay People! Lovely to hear your voices and know you are both well. Just back from having a tasty dinner and free cocktail, Cost Rica's version of a Bloody Mary. Very tasty indeed. I'm still working away on the rum and Lady Dar is polishing goff the last of the red, Fondestos from her. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Hi ho, Old Farts, Yes, a Thursday outing, and even a bit of warning. Rick will lead a snowshoeing expedition to Okanagan Mountain. -meet at 0900 at Home Hardware parking lot in Penticton (0840 at IGA in Summerland -carpool and drive to the Okanagan Mountain parking lot (or as close as you can get) -snowshoe -return to Penticton for debriefing and coffee.Are you interested? If so, pleas let Rick know at rmckel@shaw.ca. Cheers, Jim