Surfboard Fishing

The surf was flat for a few days so I paddled out and loved it, while Chad got creative and thought of another way to occupy himself. Him and our buddy Brett took out their longboards and a couple Tico fishing reels and headed on their way to do a little surfboard fishing. They paddled over the reef towards Punta Mala in search of some big fish. Rumor has it that this particular area is extremely SHARK infested, so I was crossing my fingers that they didn't end up with a giant shark on the end of the line (or a crocodile for that matter). They found me on the beach about 3 hours later with a 10 pound Barred Pargo on the end of their line. They were extremely pleased with themselves and were heading to the store to get the necessary ingredients to make ceviche. The town was pretty impressed as well and there is talk of an article in the local newspaper (Jaco Pirate) featuring this lovely surfboard fishing duo!

Video of Bull chasing Chad and JP (in the white shirts)

Chad Rodeo...Horn in Butt Video

Chelsea and Jeeper's (JP) visit!

Immediately following Cindy and Kevin's visit, my sister and her boyfriend arrived. Just imagine that first time you fell for someone and the intense feelings that go along with it, that is Chelsea and Jeepers ALL the time. Honestly, I have never seen two people so in love in my life! These two are constantly touching and staring at each other at all times, it is quite sickening :). OK, maybe I am a bit jealous, but someone needs to tell them that the honeymoon period ends after 3 months, right?? Ha ha! I love you guys and it was honestly so great to be with a couple who are so in love, you reminded Chad and I of how it was 10 years ago :)!!!

Chad, Pat and I met them at the airport and proceeded to make our way to Turrialba for some intense white water rafting. Pat's friend “the infamous Marty” owns a white water rafting company (Rainforest World) and was generous enough to allow us to stay at his home while giving us the Tico (local) rate for the rafting. It was an all day affair and seriously the most intense rafting I have ever done. The river was only a class IV, but the guides made it more intense for us because we were all so athletic (hahaha). Chelsea and JP's staring got in the way of their rafting and they were violently tossed out of the raft and smashed into a big boulder. It was hilarious and scary at the same time. Marty had never seen people get tossed in this part of the river, so we had to let the lovebirds know that they needed to focus on the river instead of each other :). The rafting was a blast and well worth the adventure inland. Thanks for a great adventure Marty!

Chad stayed an extra day in Turrialba to do the class V river with the rafting pros. Chelsea, JP, Pat and I went back to Esterillos deciding that we would rather live than have another adrenaline rush of a day. Thankfully, Chad survived the trip and was able to make it back in time to feed us before we starved to death. The cooking skills between Chel, JP, and I combined was quite pathetic so it was nice to have our personal chef back at the house :).

We had a set of surprise visitors arrive in the middle of Chelsea and JP's visit. My buddy Chris from college and his friend were on a surf trip through Costa Rica and needed a place to stay. They stayed for a couple of nights and then headed down south to Domincal. I hope the surf picked up and you had a good trip. It was great seeing you Chris!

The remainder of Chelsea and JP's trip was spent doing the normal Chad and Erin tourist route...Manual Antonio, Monkey Tour, Horseback Riding, Lovers Rock, ect. However, the highlight of their trip was definitely the local Rodeo. Esterillos Oeste has a rodeo about 3 times a year and Chelsea and JP were lucky to be here during this time. They got a true taste of Costa Rican culture. After a few beers, JP, Chad and our 60 year old buddy Les (a.k.a Toro) got the courage to go out in the ring with all the Gauro drinking Tico guys. It was quite the scene! Basically the bull comes raging out into the ring and charges at all the idiot drunk guys running around the ring. Apparently, the first bull scared the shit out of Chad because he fell on the ground when the bull was not even close to him. The second bull came out and Chad thought it would be a good idea to slap it on the ass. Needless to say the bull charged him and Chad tried to climb up the fence to avoid a good beating. Chad made it half way up the fence and the bull was able to put its horns right in Chad's ass. It was about the most hilarious thing I have ever seen (see the video attached, and listen closely to my commentary, ha ha). JP and Toro were a bit more slick in the ring and were able to avoid any serious injury. I decided after this night that Chad is a water athlete not a land one because he is damn slow on land :).Toro bought the local kids a bottle of guaro and him and JP proceeded to help them drink it. Crazy Gringos!!! What a night!

On Chelsea and JP's last day in Costa Rica we decided that we would support a local struggling Canadian fisherman (and his Tico captain) and take a boat trip to Isla Tortuga. This was their first time going to the island, so we knew there was a bit of a risk involved, however if we knew how big the risk was we probably would have gone with a reputable company, oops! Here is a condensed version of the crazy trip...

-The seas were REALLY rough and we were in a small ponga, so we struggled to stay in the boat
-The captain took us towards what he thought was Isla Tortuga and thankfully Pat was with us and knew we were way out of the way. We told him he was wrong and he got angry about it so the owner of the boat decided to drive (now that was scary because he does not really know how to drive the boat)
-They didn't have a map so we had a guessing session as to which island of the 10-20 that were in the area was the right one
-After three hours we arrived (it should have taken 1 and a half hours), we gladly got off the boat and Chad was going to stay because they were going to fish a little. Needless to say the boat wouldn't start
-We hung out on the BEAUTIFUL deserted island for 6 hours until a big catamaran could tow us back to the nearest port (this port was 2 hours from our house)
-The owners wife came to pick us up, but on the way to pick us up a tire fell off the trailer. There were 9 of us trying to fit in a 6 seater truck, so we decided to take a cab all the way back home.

...aside from all the mishaps, we made it home safe and had a great day. Isla Tortuga is a white sand beach with crystal clear waters, absolutely stunning! Pat rented a kayak so we went around to the different islands, snorkeled, drank some beers on the beach and had a great day. Chad and I swam across to a remote island and had fun exploring a cave or two :)!! Additionally, everyone on the amazing catamaran got to experience Drunk Chad, which is an obscene story I will save for later! No mas guaro para Chad!!!

Chelsea and JP, we love you both and had such a great 10 days with you! Thanks JP for your fun and easy spirit, you are a top notch guy and I couldn't imagine a better boyfriend for Chelsea. I hope you enjoyed those e-mails when you got home, hahaha! Chelsea, you are the best sister ever, thanks for inspiring me to get my ass in shape (thanks to you I run everyday now). Thanks for the good games of Cadillac, and most of all, for re-introducing Chad and I to an extremely loving relationship! You guys are the best!!!

...more pics from Cindy and Kevin's Visit

Cindy and Kevin's Visit

Chad's parents—Cindy and Kevin—arrived the day after we got engaged. It was so great to have them here for our first week of engaged life. They brought a bottle of champagne and a a few bottles of wine to celebrate and Cindy and I more than celebrated that first night. Thanks to Nicole and Mark, I had a card that played The Crystals song “Going to the Chapel and were gonna get married” which I proceeded to annoyingly play for everyone when I called them to tell them the news. We had a super fun night with a not so super hangover the next day!

The remainder of Cindy and Kevin's visit consisted of Chad and Kevin surfing while Cindy and I talked about the future wedding (that I am not planning until I get home, LOL). It was so great having Cindy here during this time and I honestly can't think of a better future mother-in-law. We were even able to convince her to go horseback riding with us and she did a fabulous job. Chad being the great son that he is, dragged Kevin out in some gnarly surf with “aggressive whitewash”, forcing him to get in paddling shape for his Mag Bay trip. I was impressed by Kevin's balls when he had to swim through this “aggressive whitewash” after his leash broke in overhead waves, not too bad for a 53 year old :). Kevin, you are quite the stud!

Cindy and Kevin, I love you both a lot and cannot wait to FINALLY be a part of your amazing family! You are the best future in-laws I could even ask for! Thanks for all you kindness to me over the years, you are the best! I look forward to seeing you both in a month!

The Engagement!!!

Chad made the best choice of his life on June 6th in Arenal, Costa Rica...he PORPOSED to me, hahaha ha!!! After 11 years of dating bliss—OK maybe not complete bliss, but at least extreme lust and passion—he made the life altering decision to spend the rest of his life with me, and believe it or not I said YES!

He did it at the natural hot springs at Baldi Hot Springs Resort. After spending three hours lounging in these beautiful jungle springs, he got down on one knee and the rest is history (the picture posted above is the exact lounge chair that he proposed to me on)! True to my nature, I screamed and freaked out for a bit and then couldn't keep my hands off of him while continually staring at the beautiful and HUGE ring on my finger :). We went to a fabulous dinner and shared a celebratory bottle of wine. I was unable to tell anyone until the next day because we had no access to a telephone. It was nice being able to enjoy our first night engaged without any distractions :)! The next day Kevin and Cindy (Chad's parents) arrived and I was more than eager to share the big news. I ran up to Cindy, gave her a big hug and said “hello future mother-in-law”. Needless to say, Kevin and Cindy were ecstatic!

The proposal was the best moment of my life! Imagine Chad on one knee professing his dying love for me, it was surreal. I keep trying to get him to re-enact it but he refuses, so sad! Chad, I love you and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you! I promise no wedding planning until I get home...just wedding researching :)! Soooooooo happy!!!

Alex and AJ's Visit

After a beautiful yet emotional weekend in San Diego I flew back to Costa Rica with two new visitors, Alex and AJ. Alex is one of my best friends for over 15 years, going back to those dreaded softball days where I was intimidated by her outgoing personality :). Although their visit was rather short they were able to experience Chino's famous monkey boat tour as well as Chiclets Zipline tour. Once AJ got over his fear of the monkey pooping on designer clothing, he was able to relax a little and enjoy the tour. Additionally, AJ's short short's were quite the hit among the local ladies who couldn't keep their eyes off his culo :). Alex was forced to keep him on a tight leash for fear of some hot Tica chick stealing away her Italian stallion :).

Without a doubt the highlight of Alex and AJ's visit was the fact that we all three hung the washer on the screw!!! At Lowtide Lounge—the local bar—there is a game where a washer hangs from a string and you have to swing it to try to get it to hang on a screw that is embedded into a broken surfboard on the wall. Chad got the washer on the screw the second day we were in Esterillos after about two hours, and I had been casually attempting it for weeks with no success. Alex competitively played for about 20 minutes and succeeded and then AJ after attempting for about 10 minutes before Alex got it on his fourth try right after Alex. The competitive side of me raged and I decided that I was not going to leave that bar until I hung that damn washer on the screw. After about 35 minutes of intense screw tossing, I finally succeeded. We all three got our free beers and our names written on the board! It was my happiest day in Costa Rica to date :) (sorry Nicole, maybe next time). The next time I went to Lowtide I thought I would give it another try, on my third toss I hung the washer, go figure!!! Cheers Alex and AJ for forcing me to hang that damn washer!

On Alex and AJ's last night, AJ thought it would be a good idea to pick up a large cane toad to scare Alex. Just to mess with him, I told him the toad was poisonous (I think they are if you eat them, but not if you just touch them). He threw the toad all the way down our hill and proceeded to examine his hand and arm for rashes. He came rushing into our room later that night convinced that his veins were swollen and inflamed from the toad. I just about rolled off the bed laughing at his drunk ass! It was pure comedy!!! Thanks for the entertainment AJ :)!!

We love you both and had a great time with you. Thanks for coming to visit and I will see you in one month :)!!!

Kate and Jason's Wedding

Immediately following Meg and Lex's visit (in mid May) I hopped on a plane back to San Diego for wedding number two. Unfortunately due to money issues and the fact that Zburb had to leave the country during this time (the 3 month temporary vehicle importation permit had expired) Chad was unable to attend Kate and Jason's wedding with me :(. Kate has been my best friend for over 14 years, which made this day incredibly special for me. I was ecstatic to be standing by her side as her maid of honor. The whole weekend was surreal, especially considering the fact that Kate and I have been talking about our weddings for years. I can't believe the day had finally come! The ceremony and the reception were held at the elegant Westgate Hotel in downtown San Diego. Everything turned out perfect, even the dreaded speech I had to make. After a few glasses of champagne I was able to loosen up and speak from the heart. Thank God I won't have to do that again until my sister gets married :) ha ha!

Kate and Jason, I love you guys and was so honored to be a part of your special day! Chad and I are so excited to share our Costa Rica life with you (27 days and counting). Jason, you finally get to experience this “travel buds for life” crap I keep claiming, so you better prepare yourself because Kate and I are really intense when it comes to traveling :). Kate good luck studying for the Bar and congrats on graduating from Law school! I look forward to seeing Mr and Mrs. Feuerberg in Costa Rica!!! We love you!!!

...more pics from Meg and Lex's Visit

Meg and Lex's Visit

Meggan was my college roommate freshman and sophomore year at UCSB and Alexis is her nearly identical looking and acting younger sister :)

These wild sisters came ready to party in true UC Santa Barbara alumni fashion. For days leading up to their visit I drank gallons of water to overly hydrate myself in preparation for the extreme hazing I was about to endure from the Bechtol sisters. I honestly should have started training month's beforehand because both Chad and I could barely keep up. They were our biggest partyers to date and they were damn proud of it. We closed down the local bar one night and proceeded to convince Chad to let all three of us girls ride on the roof of ZBurb. Fully equipped with beers in our hands we made the drive through town yelling at everyone in sight and giving a friendly drunk salute to the local police. On the trek up the hill Chad “accidentally” drove through bushes and trees causing beer spillage and a near laughing attack. While dodging the tree limbs and bushes we decided that it was more important to protect the beer in our hands rather than our own limbs, needless to say we ended up with a few cuts and scraps. What a night, thanks Meg and Lex!!!

In addition to drinking we went on Chino's incredible monkey boat tour. This is Chad and I's favorite tour to date. We cruised around on a boat and saw a crocodile, snake, crabs, tons of birds and most importantly MONKEYS. Meg was in heaven! The best part of this tour was the fact that we all got to have a wild white faced monkey sit on our HEADS. It was crazy!! Some of them were sooooo cute and others were pretty scary looking. The highlight of the tour was when Jeremiah (the pissed off blue eyed American looking monkey) decided to come up behind the monkey that was chilling and eating his banana on my head and take his tail with both his hands and BITE it. Everyone on the boat watched as this happened while I freaked out not knowing what was going on on my head. The monkey tour was awesome and well worth the $25. Look for the tour along with Chiclets Zipline tour on Animal Planet within the next few months (no seriously).

We ended Meg and Alexis's visit with the ever-so-popular zipline tour. Although it makes my crouch hurt I sucked it up and did it again because Meg was so generous to pay my way :). Meg absolutely loved the way she looked in the helmet (see attached photo) and told me she wants me to buy her one and bring it back to the states :). Alexis especially loved the cameraman's famous crouch angle and decided to blow up and frame the crouch shots, sweet :)!!! This is why I love these girls, ha ha!

Thanks Meg and Alexis for bringing out the party girl in me!! We love you girls and had an amazing time with you! Now get your butts to SD soon so we can celebrate my engagement :)!!!

Zburb Update

There have been some recent changes in The Burbs life since we set foot in Costa Rica. First off, we lost almost all the gears forcing us to have the transmission rebuilt. There is only one guy in our area that works on automatic transmissions, so therefore he was the man for the job. In true Costa Rican fashion, the tranny lasted about 1 month before we had to take it back in for a minor tune up. It has since been back for a couple other “tune-ups” in the recent weeks. We had the brakes done and following the brake job The Burb wouldn't stop at all. Gotta love Tico mechanics! After getting them repaired at a DIFFERENT mechanic they appear to be good to go, but lets keep our fingers crossed!

Additionally, The Burb had to spend a week in impound due to the fact that Chad forgot the temporary vehicle importation paperwork on his drive up to Liberia for his flight back for Christy and Tyson's wedding. We were thinking that we would be lucky if the Burb was anywhere to be found when we returned from the States. Thankfully The Burb was in the impound yard when we returned, but none of the “officials” knew their heads from the asses (Chad's exact quote), so after two days of hassling with officials Chad proceeded to steal The Burb out of the impound yard in order to avoid hefty pay-off “fees”. Thankfully the Costa Rican government doesn't have an advanced enough system to keep track of impounded vehicles, so we have been free and clear to date!

The most important change in The Burb's life is its recent transformation from The Burb to Zburb. The Burb was blessed to have the famous graphic designer “Nicole Rowe” work on her exterior paint job. She was transformed into what we now call Zburb due to the incredibly artsy looking zebra stripes that were drawn and painted on her lower half. She is quite the beauty now and receives compliments and stars of admiration on a daily basis. Thanks Nicole!

I am sad to report that at the time of this posting Zburb is back in the shop for one of her routine “tune-ups”. We hope to see her back in Esterillos within the next day or two, but once again we are in Ticoville which means we are on Tico Time.

Chad's Biggest Hermosa Wave



Erin's Biggest Wave of her Life in Dominical

Surf Pics from Nicole and Mark's Visit

Mark's Biggest Hermosa Wave




Nicole's Biggest Wave of her Life at Dominical

Nicole and Mark's Visit

In late April, Chad and I eagerly did the 3 hour drive all the way to Liberia airport to meet Mark and Nicole, hoping to explore the area. Due to Chad's anxiousness to show Mark his secret surf spot and the slight annoyance that the airlines lost Mark's luggage, we drove all the way back to Esterillos Oeste that afternoon. Chad was so excited to finally have a surf buddy, that he nearly killed Mark taking him to shark/crocodile infested double overhead reef breaks. Needless to say, Mark was pumped on the waves and spent the majority of his time here surfing.

For Nicole's birthday we headed south towards the Osa Peninsula and stopped in the surf town of Dominical on the way. Nicole scored the best birthdays waves she could ever ask for! We both had the best waves of our life in Dominical and Chad claims he had the most fulfilling longboard wave of his life. We stayed in a little jungle cabin on our first night on the Osa and on the second night we stayed in an open-air cabina listening to the horrendous sounds of howler monkeys all night, ugh! Chad and Mark surfed some awesome breaks in Cabo Matapalo on the tip of the Osa Peninsula. From here we headed back to Esterillos for a slight break before our exciting trip to Panama.

Nicole and I convinced the boys to leave their surfboards behind and spend a few days on the Caribbean side of Panama at the islands of Bocas del Toro. We drove the Burb to San Jose and took a flight on a little 10 seater plane to Panama. It was absolutely beautiful! We spent three night in this little CHILL town right on the water. We took a boat ride around the different islands, snorkeled, played soccer on the beach with a bunch of Panamanian kids, and watched dolphins jumping all around our boat. The following day the boys went diving while Nicole and I went to Star beach with the largest starfish I have ever seen. Following this we got eaten alive by the nasty no-see-um's, we honestly had about 100 bites each on the back of our legs, soooooo annoying! That night, drunk Mark emerged and created a demon out of my boyfriend with those damn $1.50 rum and cokes. Needless to say, the night ended in utter turmoil and Chad is now banned from drinking hard alcohol in my presence :)! All the while, it was still a fun night and an awesome trip!

The last few days of Nicole and Mark's trip the boys fit in as many surf sessions as possible, Nicole worked on her tan and I started to get depressed anticipating their departure. It was so fun having Nicole to hang out and surf with, which made it really sad when they left! I just wanted to say thank you sooooooo much Nicole and Mark, you guys were OVERLY generous while you were here and we had such an incredible time with you! Chad misses messing with you about the croc's in the line-up Mark and can't wait for you to re-join theburbadventure on the journey home. I will gladly give you my spot as the guard of Rhino and Zburb :)! We love you guys so much and I am so excited to be your future sister-in-law!!!!

Kate's Bachelorette Party

The weekend before Tyson and Christy's wedding I was ecstatic to be able to be able to join all my best buddies at Kate's Bachelorette party in Vegas. What a crazy and filthy drunk weekend, but it was WELL worth it. Katie, Jennifer and Kate thanks giving me a taste of what it is like to be a guy in Vegas for the night (you know what I am talking about, LOL). Thanks Alex for taking over my Maid of Honor responsibilities and planning this incredible weekend. It was so great to see all my girls again! Now get prepared for mine in New Orleans!!!

My parents and Chad's family at Tyson and Christy's Wedding! We will all be family soon!

Christy and Tyson's Wedding

In mid-March we made the long trek back to states to be a bridesmaid and groomsman in Christy and Tyson's—our fellow high school sweethearts—wedding. It was a truly unbelievable and tear-jerking ceremony (thanks Tyson for making my make-up run, ha ha) followed by an amazing reception at the Admiral Kidd Club right on the water. It was so great to see two people so in love after dating for over 10 years. What an incredible couple! Chad and I were both honored to be a part of their special day! Congratulations Tyson and Christy, we love you guys!!!

Kyle and Devon's Visit

Kyle and Devon (or Kile and Debon as the cab driver spelled it)- My brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, YEAH!!!

Kyle and Devon were our first visitors, arriving in early April. I was really excited to be a witness to Devon's first experience in another country. Due to the fact that Kyle was anxious to propose he came before we moved into Casa Amarillo and was eager to help us move :). After visiting the mansion in Esterillos we drove them down to Manual Antonio where they spent the next few days at nice hotel leading up to the engagement. Due to his nerves, Kyle awoke the very next morning and proposed right after breakfast on the beautiful empty beach in Manual Antonio National Park. That creative and romantic brother of mine set up the camera on continuous mode and was able to capture the whole proposal (see picture above)! Following the proposal Chad and I drove down the next day and celebrated the engagement. Devon and I talked weddings all day while the boys enjoyed the hikes and crystal clear water of Manual Antonio. The newly engaged couple joined us in our new home in Esterillos a couple of days later where we proceeded to go horseback riding through the jungles and beaches and ziplining through the canopies. Although Kyle and Devon were not able to attain that golden tan that Chad and I had spent numerous days conquering, they left about as happy as a newly engaged couple could be!!! In true third world fashion they had a few nuisances on their journey home, but luckily it didn't skew their view of Costa Rica and their amazing engagement memories!!!

We love you hermano y hermana!!! I can't wait until you are officially part of the family Devon :). I will proudly give you may last name since I am losing it!!! 441 days and counting!!!

Esterillos Oeste (our home)

For those of you who didn't know, a little thing called procrastination rules my life. Although I have all the time in the world I still find time to procrastinate writing this little blog. I am glad to hear that some of you are still interested in reading about our adventure because some tremendous life altering experiences have taken place in the last five months. Here is a condensed version of our last five months in Costa Rica...

After driving to the southern tip of the Nicoya and taking a ferry across to the central coast of Costa Rica, we headed south to Dominical. Along the way we picked up hitchhiker dude #2. The guy was so drunk and stoned that he fell asleep within 2 minutes of getting in the Burb. He smelled so bad that even Rhino wouldn't sit next to him. After shaking the dude awake he invited us to stay at his house, but we declined due to his extreme odor and slight creepiness. Other than that the drive was phenomenal and our time in Domincal was great aside from the little creature that decided to embed itself into my back. As I got out of the shower Chad noticed what he thought was a new mole on my back. Upon closer inspection he realized it was a freaking TICK, yuck! After a bit of a screaming session, I yelled at Chad to get it off. He pulled the little bugger out and Chad spent the rest of the evening thoroughly examining all of my crevices, LOL!

Following our time in Dominical we headed back north and settled in the cute little fishing/surfing town of Esterillos Oeste. After having a beer at the infamous Lowtide Lounge we were instructed by a local ex-pat to head to Cabinas/Soda Mary to see if they had any rooms available. We were greeted by the friendly ex-Houstonian Brett who gladly welcomed us to what has now become our favorite place in Esterillos. We stayed with Brett for the next week and a half until we were offered a house sitting gig up on Canada hill. We stayed in what is referred to as the penthouse mansion of Esterillos, Fred and Brigette's amazing home for the next month and a half. Within our first ten minutes up at the mansion, Rhino was thrown down three times by Mama Dos the scariest but most loving dog in Esterillos. Within about a day they were boyfriend and girlfriend and Mama Dos would take Rhino out on the town. They would disappear for a few hours at a time and come back with blood on them (and not their own blood). We still to this day have no idea what they do on these little walks they take themselves on. Rhino quickly became the man in town and everyone now knows him and loves him!

During our first month in Esterillos Oeste we quickly learned that it is not popular for people to retire at 25 and move to Costa Rica. Needless to say our best friends are Pat (in her 50s) and Brett (in his 40s). We have come to realize that age really doesn't matter considering Pat is more active and wild than any 25 year olds I know. Thanks to Pat and Brett we have created a life and a ton of incredible memories during our time in Esterillos. Additionally, we have met some truly interesting characters during our stay in Costa Rica, however due to the fact that some are WANTED in the US I will not post any names :)!!!

In early April we moved into what we now call home, Casa Amarillo. For those of you that don't speak Spanish it is a very creative name...Yellow House. As the name implies, the house is yellow! It is up on Canada hill about a block from Fred and Brigette's (or whatever you would call a few houses down a dirt road), with awesome jungle and ocean views. It is equipped with a pool, three bedrooms and awesome outdoor dining :). However, the best part is that it is only a five minute walk down the hill to the beach. Although the occasional flying cockroach or bat will join you in bed, or the water will be shut-off for days at a time forcing you to shower in the pool, or a scorpion will crawl up your leg while you are peeing, it is quite the setup and we wish we never had to leave!

During the last four months we have had the pleasure of hosting 8 different groups of people at Casa Amarillo (a total of 16 people) and returning back to the states (twice for Erin and once for Chad) for two weddings. Our time with each of these groups have been among our most memorable and EXPENSIVE :) times of our trip. In the entries to follow I will briefly describe each visit...