This month has been very exciting. Between Jerod's visit, a trip up to Nicaragua, Thanksgiving, and now my move coming up in two days, I have had little time to post on this blog. I have some great stories from the last 30 days, and am looking forward to writing about them here....

So, my friends Jerod & Becky came to visit for a week full of relaxation and good times, two things easily accomplished in Playas del Coco.

I asked my buddies Kenny (left) & Anthony (right) to join me at the airport for Jerod's arrival. We made a big sign with their names on it, as you can see. I hid in the crowd, and they tried their best to convince Jerod & Becky that they were here to pick them up while I was waiting for them back in Coco.

Needless to say, that didn't last long, and Jerod immediately started looking around for me. After 30 years of hanging out together, I'd say he knows me pretty well. I was made, and walked over with an ear-to-ear smile on my face. I had been looking forward to their visit for so long now, and it was wonderful to have them finally arrive.

Our friend Joseph had given us a ride to the airport. He works as an independent taxi driver, rather than working for the local cab company. The benefit of this is, first and foremost, price. Additionally, he allowed us to pack all six people into his car and troop on back to Coco, saving us another cab ride. It was a tight fit, but we made it work.

One of Jerod & Becky's first reactions to pulling into Coco was how big this town is. From my earlier descriptions they were expecting a much smaller beach community. This seems to be a recurring theme with my visitors so far, since I have yet to post any pictures of the downtown area. Now that all my visitors have come & gone, I think it is time to post those pictures. Just didn't want to spoil the surprise...

Back at the house, we made some chips & salsa and I gave them the nickle tour. The rooftop patio was a special treat, and we immediately made plans to pick-up some cigars sometime in the next few days. It really is the perfect spot up there, if only it had furniture.

The gang was hungry and a little antsy from the flight, so we ventured into town to check out the action. The Lizard Lounge is extremely hard to miss since it is the first, and loudest, place you come to. However, the later it gets, the crazier it gets, so we returned home for some R&R.

My obvious first choice for breakfast was Cafe de Playa, a staple of any Coco tour. My friend Dennis joined us, and we made a morning out of it. So far this restaurant has failed to disappoint. What's not to like, good food in an open air setting on the beach...

Jerod & Becky happened to arrive during the tail end of Hurricane Tomas which began on October 29th. For the first few days of their visit we received some decent rain, which only slightly limited our activities. We still got in plenty of pool time, beach time, and roof time.

I was glad they experienced both sides of the weather, the rain & the sun. After the rain stopped the sun didn't let up for the rest of their trip, which we were all thankful for. By the time they left a week later, we all had a decent tan going, especially Becky.

We took a hike up the hill, which always proves to be a great workout. The humidity had returned, so I carried up a backpack full of water, which was completely empty upon our return. Without a cloud in the sky, we had an unbeatable view of Coco Bay. I was so happy they got a chance to see my little town from that perspective, and not just from a picture.

At the top of the hill, we started to take a lap around the community to ogle the beautiful homes & views. Fifty feet in we were promptly stopped by a roaming dog. Jerod, as it turns out, is deathly afraid of wild dogs due to an unfriendly encounter during his youth. Coco is not a good place for a person with this particular phobia.

Wild dogs are everywhere here, and at first this was a slight problem for Jerod. Each time a dog would approach, Jerod would pull the closest person he could find in front of him, and close his eyes. I'm happy to report that by the end of the trip, Jerod had made great progress, and I even saw him pet one.

On the walk back down the hill, Jerod & Becky spotted this little lizard basking in the sun, soaking up its long awaited rays. These are fairly common around town, but this guy seemed to be extraordinarily vibrant. He was also brave, and let me get closer with my camera than usual. Eventually he scurried off, and we did the same.

My buddy Dennis had left town to renew his passport, so I asked if we could borrow his scooter for the weekend. This allowed us to get over to Ocotal & Hermosa, but we passed on Playa Panama since it was a bit too far on a scooter. The scooter barely made it over the hill to Playa Hermosa, so passing on Panama was probably a smart choice.

I hopped on the back of Kenny's motorcycle, and Jerod took Becky on the back of the scooter. We visited Father Rooster's in Ocotal, got to see where Kenny lives in Little Dreams, and headed to Hermosa for some lunch. By the time we returned, the scooter was nearly out of gas.

Instead of turning right for Coco, we turned left and headed out to the gas station. Once there, we could not figure out how to get the gas tank open. We must have spent a good thirty minutes on this, but even with help from the gas attendants we failed.

Left with little choice other than to forge ahead and try to make it home, we hit the road and crossed our fingers. By this time it was dark, but at least we were successful in getting home, and arrived on fumes. Dennis was not happy when he returned to an empty tank.

One evening we broke out the poker chips and played a round. Earlier in the week Jerod had picked up some cigars, as was our plan from our first night together. So we spent part that evening on the roof, staring at the stars, happily smoking our cigars. Afterwords, we all sat down for a movie, WallStreet, a classic. What a great combination for an evening at home.

Four of us went zip lining together: Jerod, Becky, Kenny & myself. However, I must save that for another post. I simply have too many great pictures from that adventure...

To be continued...

Well Jerod & Becky have come and gone, and we had a fantastic time together... but, those stories are for another post.

This is a short overview of my time between visitors. After Mom & Dad left in mid September, I spent about a week readjusting to the solo lifestyle I live down here. It was difficult at first, mostly because I miss them so much and we had such an amazing time together. Eventually however, I slipped back into the routine of things.

Shortly thereafter I was fortunate enough to meet a new neighbor who moved into the condo next door. Turns out he's a chef, and is in Costa Rica to research restaurant opportunities. He has been very generous with his cooking, and made some mouth-watering dinners for me. Through him I met a whole new group of people, and this was just what I needed to get back into Coco mode.

During October our little gang spent nearly every Saturday & Sunday together watching football & baseball. I have never been much of a sports fan, but do enjoy the big, once a year sporting events like the Super Bowl & World Series. Needless to say that when the World Series was happening, it was all hands on deck for every game.

We have people here from all over the US: California, Texas, Florida & Philadelphia, among others. Texas & San Francisco went toe-to-toe this year, with SF winning the series in game five. For a guy that doesn't watch much sports, it was really a lot of fun, and not just because of the hundreds of chicken wings that my neighbor made.

October was also filled with several poolside BBQs. Like I said, my new neighbor is a chef, and I happened to mention how hard it is to find a decent hamburger in this town. He took care of that with these huge burgers that were over-the-top delicious. On another night he even made some blue cheese burgers, a favorite of mine.

One weekend four of us wanted to do some deep-sea fishing. We hired a local boat captain and set out at 8am for some big game fish. After a couple of hours trolling around the open ocean, we had still not landed any fish. As my buddy Scott would say, its called fishing, not catching. We ended up back on land around midday, empty handed. So, to-date, in Costa Rica, I have only caught a 14 inch skipjack, using a hand line off the shore. At least I've caught something during my time here.

I got to visit a couple different houses over in Ocotal, the next cove over. The first was a beautiful mansion overlooking the canyon & the beach. One side of the house was nearly all glass, a perfect wrap around design. It also had an infinity pool with a beautiful view of the sunset. A few of us threw a house party over there one night, and guess who got stuck with Q-duty, yours truly. I cooked 14 steaks, and BBQ'd over 20 potatoes while the girls put together salad and the cheese breads; everything was gone within 25 minutes.

About a week later I got a chance to visit a second house in Ocotal. This one was higher up on a different hill, but closer to the shoreline. We had a smaller group of people, but had just as much fun. In the evening it started to rain, and my friends & I were ready to head home. The car we borrowed wouldn't start, so we were relegated to the scooters. Driving in the dark, up & down a winding road, in the rain on a borrowed scooter is probably not something I'll do again any time soon.

Although I don't have a lot of specific stories from October, I am left with a feeling of rest & relaxation with good friends, good food, and all sorts of entertainment. Even though October is the first full month that I have not had any visitors from the US, time still seemed to fly by, which is usually a sign of having fun...