Hola! 
We arrived last week in San Jose and have been getting settled in!  We are staying at a friend's cozy townhouse in the San Jose suburb of Escazu.  But the best part is that there are lots of kids in the neighborhood.

At this point, I must interject....as you probably know, our mission here is to live in a different culture, explore the beauty of Costa Rica, but most importantly, to help solidify a Spanish language base for Josh and Ben.

So, with so many nice Costa Rican children, it was quite humorous and ironic (and perhaps slightly disconcerting) that Josh and Ben managed to befriend the only other American in the neighborhood. We're working on making new friends who speak Spanish!






Josh and Ben started camp on Monday.  They are enjoying it -- and I love seeing the pictures taken by the staff.  The pictures show the kids making arts and crafts, playing sports, harvesting fruit and vegetables, enjoying the butterfly garden, taking care of animals, and trying new foods.

At Tiquicia Restaurant - top of the mountain looking down on Escazu

Purchasing fresh fruit and veggies from a local produce vendor

Settling in the house was easy.  Settling in with the language will be ongoing for the three males of our family.  But by far the most difficult aspect of Costa Rica has been transportation.  Yes, this truly is the home of "streets with no name."  And just imagine trying to find the unnamed street when none of the streets have names (except major highways.)  And the maps have no names....  Needless to say, we have been lost numerous times....and we have probably averaged 3x where x=actual time to arrive at destination.  Yes, 30 minute trips are taking 1.5 hours, and so on....

I used to triangulate key data points to develop best estimates for market share data at work.  Now, I'm triangulating data points to find something -- anything!  GPS + map + stop & ask directions = getting somewhat close to destination (although a long detour may be involved.)  Coincidentally, a brilliant article was just published in the Wall Street Journal.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304870304577489094121477570.html

Apart from getting lost, we are having a great time!  We had the opportunity last weekend to visit some old friends of my Mom's family.  We had a nice time getting to know them, playing on their mountainous terrain, picking mangoes, oranges, lemons, and bananas from their trees, playing with their dogs.  What a spectacular view!  Oh, and did I mention we got lost on the way? 

We've also had a chance to go hiking in the mountains at Universidad para la Paz -- very cool!  (and we got lost for 2 hours)

And we went to INBIOparque, a beautiful biological station and nature conservatory!!!   After developing a solid early science foundation in kindergarten, Josh and Ben would not leave the butterfly garden!!!!  They loved learning about the local butterflies (ie: Morpho) and letting them land on their fingers.

Holding bunnies