It has been nearly a month since I posted something. On January 5th Tom and I headed to San Jose so that I could catch a flight to go help take care of mom after she fell and broke her hip in mid December. We went a day early so that we could spend one day getting our Costa Rican driver’s licenses. After reading what some people had written about the experience, I expected it to take most of the day. However, we were done in about two hours which I thought was great!!! Now we have valid identification and can legally drive our car – what could be better? 
I got to Casper the afternoon of January 7th and was greeted by my son Jordan who had driven up from Gunnison, Colorado to help me get mom situated and to hang out with me for a couple of days. We went immediately to the rehabilitation center where mom was recuperating and found her to be in excellent spirits and very happy to see us. She came home the following Monday, January 10th, and began the long process of recuperating at home. I stayed for a little over two weeks and then was relieved by my sister Jerilyn who came for a week. She was followed by Rachel, a very good friend of mom’s from Denver who will stay this coming week. By the time Rachel leaves we are hoping that she can be on her own and that my brother Tom and his wife Shirley can manage the care until she is back to picture perfect health.
I came back to Puerto Viejo on Tuesday and it is so good to be home!!! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous – mild temperatures, sunny, humidity not too high – really just perfect. After the cold and blizzard conditions that we had off and on in Casper, I have to say that I really do prefer this climate 
Tom came to San Jose to pick me up and I was able to get some photographs of some of the trees blossoming in bright orange flowers along the way. It is summer now in Puerto Viejo (although I have to say that it is hard for me to know the difference between one season and another yet) and there are new sounds all around.
We went out to dinner with friends Sarah and Rene and Rene’s daughter Julia and had a great time. 
We ate at a pizza place in PV that was wonderful. The owner is from Italy and makes delicious thin crusted pizzas. After 
dinner we went to a bar called Mango’s which is evidently one of the major happening places in our little town. We drank some beer and listened to the band before we headed on home. It was a really fun evening.
Yesterday we were surprised by a couple of huge Iguana’s who are living in the trees next to our property. We have been hearing them but this was the first time I got to see them. They actually were mating – quite an interesting sight – so perhaps we will see some little iguana’s in the not too distant future………… 
Costa Rica Dog Lover 