Feliz Ano a Todos!

Hey Friends,

Costa Rica's famous Red Eye Frog

We don’t seem to be doing our job in keeping you updated, so sorry for that. But we are here to inform you as always. Merry Christmas and a happy 2011 to all! We hope that this new year brings you love, joy, and peace. Thank you for being a part of our lives. 

We had another visitor this holiday season, for the week of New Years. Ty’s Mom came on the 28th of December and left yesterday, the 2nd day of 2011. It was wonderful to have some more company, as both times we have been very active and efficient with time. Despite some spotty weather, we managed to explore new territory in the area, while revisiting some of our favorites.  New experiences for us here in Puerto Viejo included a visit to the Jaguar Rescue Center (which houses, rehabilitates, and releases abandoned and injured wild animals back into their natural habitat), a Canopy zipline tour through the forest just north of town, becoming acquainted with hotel Banana Azul (where mama Long stayed), and attending Sunday church (which we did previously do on the Eve of Christmas). Edna and Spence, our landlords, if you will, run the Baptist church in town and present a delightful and passionate service, despite the small population of the congregation, between 5-10 on a typical Sunday.

Cute three-toed sloth at the Rescue Center

Canopy Tour - great fun

Some things have to be done again and again though, since they are fundamental to understanding our experience here. Going to the beach, for example, and visiting the National Park in Cahuita are basically unavoidable. We’ve also really enjoyed the quality and diversity of the food here in Puerto Viejo, and it’s been great to share those foods and flavors with our Moms. We’ve also been able to try some delicious new restaurants, thanks to our Moms J.

Cahuita National Park

The high season began with a bang this week, transforming sleepy Puerto Viejo into a busy town, complete with traffic. Thankfully, this also means that work is finally picking up. We managed to spend more time than expected with Ty’s Mom, but still had a couple crazy shifts at work this weekend for New Years. In other news, as a Christmas gift from Ty’s parents, he got his very own surfboard this week! This addition should bring new fun and activity to our lives here on the beach and in the water. We’d also like to thank Ty’s Mom for helping restock us with some wines and goodies (both from here and her own kitchen back home – mmm Snickerdoodles and Rice Krispy Treats), after quickly devouring most of what Ju’s Mom brought just 3 weeks earlier.

A mother sloth carries her baby at Ty's place of work.

To close out this post, let’s discuss a couple New Years resolutions: 1) To be more deliberate and disciplined in practicing and utilizing Spanish; 2) To be more patient with others, including each other, and to be more grateful for what we have, most importantly friends and family like you; 3) To live life to the fullest and continue to be open to new experiences.   What are some of your resolutions for 2011?

Thanks a bunch to all of you for reading. Happy New Year, we love and miss you dearly. Hasta la proxima,

Ty and Ju

La Primera Visita

Hello Everybody,

So we've missed you while we've been poor bloggers.... in any case, we have a fair amount to share.

First of all, our house is okay.  We probably should have followed up sooner and let you know that the flooding ending up stopping after about an hour, and so our house only ended up with a couple inches of water everywhere.  We were worried that during the night when the rain was really coming down that there would be more flooding, but the drainage system near our house had been cleared up and so, luckily, there wasn't that big of a clean up to do.  We did use it as an opportunity though to completely clean our house and make it feel fresh and new, which actually was really nice.  Recently, Ju also decided to add some additional creative touches to the house, as well as some holiday decoration :)

 What used to be our front yard

We've had our first official visit as well!  Ju's mom, Cynthia, came last week.  Unfortunately, it rained for most of the visit due to a tropical storm....that missed ya'll in Texas but paid us a visit.  We still were able to do a fair amount and had a wonderful time.  It was a good excuse for us to get out and about.  We took our bikes (yes we bought bikes) out to Punta Uva.  We discovered the lookout point that requires a short hike, that we had previously only heard about.  It was a really beautiful spot, with the waves crashing up against the cliff.

Cynthia got a car that Ty got to drive a fair amount

Dinner at Loco Natural.  Mmmm fish tacos!

We also ventured back to Cahuita to see the national park again.  Although we were surprised not to see monkeys, we did get to see a sloth very close up as well as a number of toucans.  We of course got to take Cynthia around Puerto Viejo, to some of our favorite spots that we haven't had the opportunity to share with anyone else yet, as well as visit some of the most delicious eateries around town.  There is some good food in Puerto Viejo, and it seemed to be one of the main highlights of the week.  Thanks for the wonderful visit mom/Cindy!

Sloth! Actually quite interesting creatures...

Note the Chacos...we all got a pair for hanukkah :)

The beach at Cahuita

It has been slow over here as tourism slows down between thanksgiving and christmas, and then hopefully picks up again on the 26th of December.  As a result of it being so slow, both Ty and Ju have been working less.  It was nice because it meant that Ju could spend the whole visit with her mom, but we are hoping that work picks up again soon.  We also hope the sun comes out soon.  There has only been one good day of sun in the past week.  We hear that this weather is fairly normal this time of year.

We'd love to hear from you and hope that this holiday season is treating you well.  Love and miss you...

Ty and Ju

Inundacion

Well Good Evening,

So today we sort of decided that we were going to sleep in.  It had been raining all night and it was still raining when we woke up at 8:15, then 9:30, then 10....

So at around 10 Ju decided she was going to go to the bathroom.  Well imagine her surprise when the first step she takes into the kitchen makes a splash!  Yup, that's right, a splash.  That was when we realized that our house had begun to leak.  Soon afterwards, we found a leak in our bedroom as well.  And rather quickly the water rushed in and our entire house was flooded! Our kitchen and bathroom took on the most amount of water.

As a result, this evening, we will be staying at our favorite hostel in town :)  Even though we are sad our home is flooded, it is nice to have to stay somewhere new.  It is fun and feels luxurious.

Ju's restaurant got flooded as well so she got to come home from work early.  It was weird to be working in about 3-4 inches of water, Ju has never had an experience like that.  In any case, we figured we'd enjoy our evening in "luxury" with a nice (cheap) bottle of wine and some desserts.  We'll post pics of our house either tomorrow or the day after.  It is sort of unclear what is going to happen since it is supposed to rain until Friday!  We are hoping for the best.

Love,
Ty and Ju

Giving Thanks

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So this year we will not be doing a traditional thanksgiving here in Puerto Viejo, but we wanted to express some thanks to you all.

We feel incredibly blessed to have friends and family like you.  We wish we could be there share this day of love and thanks, but we are very happy to be on the beach :)

Thank you all for supporting and encouraging us on our decision to come to Costa Rica, even without plans for jobs or a place to live.  It has made it easier knowing we have people rooting for us at home.  We are thankful to have roof over our heads and to have avoided the weather here that has swept so many homes away.  We are also so incredibly thankful, that thus far, we have enjoyed a safe and peaceful adventure.

We hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving wherever you may be this year and that you all have safe travels at the end of the holiday.

We love you and miss you, especially today.  Enjoy some turkey and stuffing for us :)

Ty and Ju

Vacay in Bocas

Hello,

Well we cannot believe we have been here for just about 90 days and that we are already half way through November!  This means that we have had to renew our visa, which is why we were in the beautiful Bocas del Toro in Panama for about three days.  Most people who are doing what we are doing are annoyed every time their visa is up and they have to leave for 72 hours.  We see it, however, as a vacation that we have no choice BUT to take.  I mean, doesn't that sound pretty awesome?

So, to get to Panama from where we live is actually pretty easy.  You take a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to the border, walk across a rickety old bridge (which is actually pretty scary), and then check in at customs in Panama.  From there we took a shuttle to a water taxi (also pretty scary because of the large amount of people on a tiny looking boat) to Bocas del Toro.  Bocas del Toro is an archipelago of a number of islands.  We stayed on the main island, Isla Colon, in the main town, Bocas town.

So as we mentioned earlier, Bocas is beautiful! We thought the water here was clear, but wow, the water is as clear as glass in Bocas.  The town also has a number of old colonial looking houses, and all waterfront houses and businesses sit on stilts over the water.  We decided that, since we will have to make this trip again, that this time we'd have a little bit more of relaxed trip, and not travel to a new island every night.  So we slept in Tuesday morning, slowly got up and had breakfast, and then watched the parade that was taking place for Bocas Founding Day (somehow we happen to be in the right places at the right time to watch parades).  Afterwards we rented bikes, and rode the 8 kilometers to Playa Bluff, a beautiful beach with golden sand and blue-green water.  When we returned, we expected that the parade would have died down, but the parade ended up going on all 24 hours of the day!

Foundation Day Parade in Bocas del Toro

Headed to Playa Bluff

Great swimming and beautiful clear water

The next morning we woke up fairly early to make it to our tour for the day.  Our tour was a great deal, $20 dollars per person to watch dolphins, snorkel (equipment included), go to a beach, and then go snorkeling one more time (if we wanted to).  Unfortunately we only saw one dolphin, but we did get it to play in our boat wake, which was a really fun experience.  After snorkeling and lunch we visited Red Frog Beach which is an absolutely gorgeous beach.  We spent most of the 2 1/2 hours we had there in the water.  We had a relaxing evening and prepared for our return trip to our little home in Puerto Viejo.

Delfines

Lunch at the isolated Coral Cay

Coral Cay is located in the middle of the sea , all by itself.

Red Frog Beach was large and spectacular

So here we are, back in Puerto Viejo, a little bit sunburned, and covered in chitra bites (nastly little buggers).  Even though Bocas was beautiful, it feels good to be home :)  And we have good news... Ju got a new job!  It is in town at a nice restaurant and she will actually be waitressing!  No more cleaning poop for Ju!  The job is awesome and Ju's coworkers are a bunch of characters (in a good way) which is always fun.  The pay is about normal but the tips have been really good so far, and we expect them to get better since we are coming up on high season.

In other news, Ju's mom, Ty's mom, and Koji have already booked flights down to visit us, and we are so excited to host them and show them around our little slice of paradise :)  Again, we would love love love to have anybody who can come and visit us.  We know November has totally crept up on us and imagine it probably has on you guys as well, but anyone who wants to come visit should start to think about it.  Not only so we have time to prepare and make sure nobody is overlapping, but also because once high season is here it will be much harder to find a place to stay.  

We hope to hear from you guys soon, we love and miss you!  Happy Thanksgiving everybody, we wish we could be there.  We know that we have so much to be thankful for this year.

Pura Vida,

Ty and Ju

Seafood Fricase and Filet Mignon

Hello Hello!

So here's the latest on the job front: Ty finished training for his job on Wednesday and is now an official employee at his restaurant!  And Ju, has moved to part time until she will be a waitress at the restaurant she was initially hired to work for.  This makes her so much happier since, instead of getting home at 5:30 (after dark here on the equator), she gets home at about 1:15, in perfect time for some beach if it is sunny outside :)

Halloween here was pretty much non-existent.  If anything, it was maybe a bit more crowded at one of the bars on the main street, not that we'd know though since we rarely get to go out.  There was supposed to be some costume contest, but it is very possible we missed it, because we didn't end up heading out until close to 11 since Ty didn't finish work until 10 that evening.  So we really didn't get much of a Halloween.  We'd love to hear about what you all were and see some pictures!

November 2nd was a special day for us as we celebrated 3 years of being together :)  We both had work in the morning, but celebrated by heading to the beach, watching Grey's Anatomy (this season is SO good!) and eating a phenomenal dinner.  Ty surprised Ju with some flowers he picked from the garden at the restaurant he works at in the afternoon, bought her this dress she was eyeing from a local designer, and fed her cravings for milanos, which he picked up for her from the local grocery store.  We don't usually get to treat ourselves with American brand cookies since they are a tad expensive here.  In return, Ju treated Ty to the best meal we have had since arriving in Costa Rica at this place called The Beach Hut.  We intended to take a picture of our meal, but after trying one bite, got so distracted by how good it was, forgot all about taking a photo.  In fact, we forgot about everything else, and literally spent the entire dinner discussing the food.  We wish we were kidding.  The food was amazing and the staff was very accommodating.  Afterwards, we headed back to re-watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy and munch on those delicious milanos.  It was a wonderful day.

Ju's new dress and beautiful handpicked flowers

Ju got crafty and made Ty a pop-up card, which he totally wasn't expecting here in Costa Rica without my supplies

At dinner

Demonstrating how delicious Ju finds Milanos

Oh, by the way, you might note that Ty's beard is a little out of control (at least according to Ju).  Well, and this is for you Kellen, Ty participated in Beardtober this October (an old college tradition).  Thankfully, it is now gone.

The weather here has become a bit overcast, and we've been told that November usually brings a fair amount of rain, although it rains mainly during the night.  The weather all over Costa Rica has been a bit rainy and a state of national emergency was declared in Costa Rica.  There have been a couple of landslides, particularly near San Jose, as a result of the heavy rains.  Some major highways and bridges were also destroyed last week.  We hope the weather clears up soon!

We are starting to get a bit more clever with our meals and are experimenting a bit more.  It is a little bit difficult to be super adventurous since we are limited without an oven and with fewer ingredients that we are accustomed to having in the US...

One of our more recent creations, using left over arroz con pollo to make mini burritos/tacos

  We also try to treat ourselves every once in a while for being so good at not spending tons of money since we've been here.  Last night, for example, we found a wine on sale and rented a movie from a movie rental place we found in town. We tried to find a funny, light-hearted movie, and ended up with a kind of weird and disturbing one.  It was still a nice evening though :)

Ty, beardless, with wine and our movie

We really appreciate the comments we got last week, it was so great to hear a little bit from all of you and to hear that you like our house!  We also want to say welcome to our new followers, P-Nasty and Su! We love and miss you guys...

Pura Vida
Ty and Ju

p.s- the title of our blog is what we ordered for dinner :)

A Photolicious Update

Hello Everybody,

So we have some very exciting news...TY GOT A JOB!!!! WOOT WOOT! So we guess this means that we are just further settling in to life over here in Puerto Viejo.

Since we last wrote, we had mainly just been following our usual routine, with Ju waking up early to get to work, and Ty running errands and trying to find a job.  Ju found out, unfortunately, that her boss for the restaurant she is supposed to be working at, will not be returning until mid-November or December! So that was disappointing.  There really hasn't been much to do at the hotel, so she's been doing pretty odd and ridiculous jobs, like waxing window panes, and cleaning mold off pool chairs (while being bitten by ants and mosquitos).  At least it's not poop though, right?  The nice thing about her job is that she has met quite a few locals and even attended the birthday party of the daughter of a woman who periodically works at the hotel.  Costa Rican's sure do know how to throw a birthday party.

So anyway, while Ju was cleaning away, Ty decided to write a letter and mini resume to send out to different hotels and restaurants around Puerto Viejo.  He sent it out, and within 6 or so hours, he got not 1, but 2 responses!  So Ty starts training today at a fancy Japanese restaurant here.

Ju, a little sweaty after work, with money from her first payday!  We are looking forward to taking a picture of Ty with his first wad o' cash

We have also begun to make some real improvements to our house! There is still a fair amount that we want to do, but we are very happy with the beginnings.  The Jamaican couple that we live with has been just absolutely wonderful.  In the beginning of the week, Ty decided to ask where he would be able to pick up some wood to make us a table to eat at (we'd been eating on the floor or on an extra twin bed we had in the front of our house) and a bookshelf so we would have more room to put our stuff away and take it out of our suitcases.  However, our wonderful Jamaican landlords turned the twin bed into a dresser, had an extra table that they painted for us, and made us stools so we would have something to sit on at our table!  The best part is that they built the stools so that Ju's stool is a little taller, allowing us to be the same height when we sit at the table.  It is pretty awesome :)  We still want to add some things to our house but things are pretty expensive here in Costa Rica because taxes are so high.  Just to give you an idea of how high taxes are, Ju's boss was explaining that there is a 100% tax on cars!  Also, phones that would cost $20 in the US cost about $50-$100 over here.  Fortunately, Puerto Viejo is only about an hour from the Panamanian border, and right across the border is this giant walmart-type place with super cheap, Panamanian prices.  We are thinking about heading over there next time Ju has a day off.

Here's a tour of our house:

Our porch

This is our house from the front door.  Where Ty's camera bag is hanging is where you find....

The "entrance" room, if you will.  There is the bed that has been converted into an extra dresser, but we still need to buy hangers.  

The second turn off is into the bedroom, where you can see our very necessary mosquito net hanging above our bed.  It is a surprisingly complicated process to make the net work effectively.

A shelf in our bedroom, by the foot of the bed.

Our kitchen at the end of the hallway.  Ju is doing the dishes, and to her left is the little propane stove we cook on.

Our bathroom is connected to the kitchen, separated by a curtain.  Our toilet and sink is behind the shower, but it is a pretty big bathroom.

Each on our respective stools :) 

And we are starting to figure out how to cook some local dishes:

Our take on arroz con pollo... we are actually starting to get the hang of it.  And Ju is obsessed with the glass bottle system here.  If you buy a soda in a glass bottle, and return the glass bottle next time you buy a soda, there is a reduced price.  Much better for the environment, and at least Ju enjoys how it makes the world seem a little smaller.

Pretty legit and delicious patacones.  Patacones are fried, smashed plantains that Ju learned how to make at work.

We are still loving Puerto Viejo and are looking forward to having visitors to show around.  We are also getting to know some of the locals and expats around town, so it has been really nice to be able to say hello to a couple people and have a few spots to hang out in.  Here are a couple more photos of where we live, hopefully encourage some visitors...

Check the clear water and jungle right up to the beach

Ahhhh....

Sorry this blog was full of pictures but we hope you enjoy them!  We miss you guys a lot!  We feel so blessed to be able to be here in such a beautiful place, and to have such wonderful friends and family, both here and in the United States.  We hope you have a fun and safe halloween and are looking forward to seeing the pictures of Facebook!