Well, our week with Shanti and Shaylyn is ending. They will be heading back to San Jose this afternoon on the Interbus to catch their early morning flight to Denver tomorrow. We had such a good time! Lots of beach time so that Shanti could go back with a tan and lots of card games and just chatting.
Last night Shaylyn and I dyed one of my white t-shirts with some seeds from the achiote bush we have growing in our yard. We heated up the seeds in oil and then put in some water and boiled it all up. We then added the shirt to see what would happen. I think it looks great! 
The first day they were here, we went to the beach at Punta Uva and tried to snorkel. 
The sea was too rough so we just hung out and played in the waves but it was great fun. The next day we went shopping so Shanti could pick up some souvenirs to take back and we bought Shay her birthday presents (June 13th was her big day). We stopped at Ammimodo Restaurant 
to have their great pizza and sat outside and watched the ocean. In the afternoon we went to our beach – Playa Negra – and had fun playing with the beach dogs and jumping in the waves. On Wednesday we hiked a LONG trail at Cahuita beach 
and saw an eyelash viper and a Jesus lizard,
and other assorted small animals – no monkeys or sloths though. Later that day we had lunch and then cam
e home and crashed – we were all VERY tired!
Yesterday, we went to Manzanilla for lunch at Maxi’s and it finally rained, which was nice. Shaylyn and I actually got cold which amused Tom and Shanti no end 
We did a bit more shopping in Puerto Viejo so that Shanti could get a hammock for her new house she will moving to in Pine and then we came back and hung out while Shay watched a movie.
Also this week we have been watching the growth of two baby white collared manakins in their nest. 
It has been wonderful to watch how much they grow each day. They should fledge in about two weeks and I can’t wait to get pictures of that!
So – all in all it was a wonderful week and we will miss them when they leave. But what great memories we will have!!
Costa Rica Dog Lover 
Hi, Jana! I finally got caught up on your blog, after quite a while. It is super great—just loved it! It might be a while before I get back to it, too——-someone evidently pirated my password, and I’ve spent several days trying to get to my e mail—-guess we have to take it to the Geek Squad..
Addendum—I just went to send this and my password was printed in the sign on stuff! What’s with that?!!