December 2007 Newsletter

December 18, 2007

Hola from the Land of Sunshine and Smiles – Beautiful Costa Rica !!

We have just completed a very busy three weeks and are trying to get into the Christmas Spirit! Hard to do when it is like summer everyday! We kind of miss the change in seasons and cooler weather – that is until we watch television from Denver, Colorado and see the icy roads, snow and accidents – the missing weather feeling passes quickly! This perpetual summer is not hard to take and now we are moving from the green season to the dry season. The green season was wetter than usual but that is good as the year previous it was a lot dryer. This past wet season has replenished much needed water sources for this dry tropical forest – one of nature’s wonders! Now we have four months without rain to look forward to, a little hot at times, but the humidity is not too bad in Guanacaste.

The last three weeks were very busy as our “kids” visited us and we had a great time showing them this area of Costa Rica. Our daughter Jessica and her husband Ryan (expecting their first baby in March) were here for two weeks. They flew into San Jose, so we picked them up and drove back via the very scenic route from San Ramon which goes by Arenal Volcano. Unfortunately, the volcano was hidden by clouds and they did not get to see it. But to make up for this loss we did stop at Lake Arenal and Ryan got in some wind surfing at this world renowned wind surfing area. We enjoyed watching him wind surf as well watching the other guys kite surfing!

The night before we introduced Ryan to “casados” and now he is hooked on this Costa Rica dish which is a “marriage of food” (that is what casado means – usually served in a small roadside restaurant called a Soda). The dish is made up of rice, beans, salad, plantain, and a meat choice of chicken, fish, beef or pork. An excellent meal for about $5 or less including a fresh fruit drink – even better with an ice cold Imperial! Who says Costa Rica food is bland!

Jessica and Ryan were here for about a week when our daughter-in-law Nicole arrived with our precious little granddaughter, Sadie, who will be 2 on December 30. This really put a little fire in the family as Sadie is quite a character with a remarkable vocabulary for her age. She kept us busy, busy! Trips to the beach immediately increased as did the use of our back yard pool. And her favorite toy – the two step ladder we use for reaching dishes and food in the upper cupboards! Sadie used this to help Grandma as she would push it around, climb up and be at “helping” height. Jessica and Ryan left after 12 days, then our son Craig arrived but unfortunately he was here for only a week. We did manage to cram in a lot during that time. Craig is taking his Masters in Wildlife Biology at Oregon State and he was absolutely blown away by the bird life in Costa Rica and the diversity of the region – dry tropical forest to rain forest in a matter of an hour or two! He was continually spotting different birds on each and every walk, hike, drive, scooter ride – what ever! Costa Rica is heaven for nature lovers! We just hope they can preserve it given the huge pressure for development. Sometimes it is very difficult to be in the Real Estate Business. We are caught between a rock and a hard place as we want to sell to make a living but then again we do not want to sell too much and see this Eden become another overdeveloped Disneyland! Heck - we don’t mind the rough roads and little glitches like power outages. It reminds us of growing up in small town Saskatchewan in the 1950’s except without the blizzards!

We will be in Calgary at the Home Expo January 11 to 13, 2008. We will be in the Investment Properties Section (Booth #19) and hope to see lots of our friends and acquaintances. Please drop by to say hi and talk about Costa Rica!

We were sure sad to see the kids go and the house is sure quiet these days. But we know they will be back and soon! Costa Rica has that affect on people.

Just recently Costa Rica was ranked among the 10 most important environmental destinies in the world due to the work the country does to safeguard the environment. Costa Rica was also in the top 10 in places to live which takes into account – stability of government, climate, peace, tranquility, security. Costa Rica was the only country in Latin America considered within the rankings. Quite an accomplishment! Let’s hope the Government continues and does not cave in to external pressures from larger more belligerent countries and their bullying governments.

Feliz Navidad and Feliz Anos Neuevo from the Land of Sun and Surf! We hope 2008 will bring you health, wealth and happiness and possibly to this great little part of the world.

Until next time - PURA VIDA!

Herb & Donna


PS: Be sure to visit our NEW website www.costaricadiscovered.com (and sign our
Guest Book!)

Email: hgdemars@discovercostarica.com
Visit our blog site: www.costaricasecrets.blogspot.com


For Vacation Rentals visit: www.beachfront-cr.com. Tim Ellis can help you locate the perfect home to rent for a great winter holiday!

If you would like to book a Real Estate Costa Rica Tour please send us an email at herb@discovercostarica.com. We would be pleased to help you out - we can arrange for good discounts on rental car sand accommodations, plus we will show you some of the real Costa Rica during the tour! If you do end up purchasing property using our services, you will receive $1,000 that can be used to offset your travel expenses!

PS: If you do not want to receive our updates please send us a quick email and we will take you off our email list! Conversely, let us know if anyone wants to be added to our list or just forward to friends or relatives. We will try to send these updates once per month.