Greetings from sunny Nosara. Since Erik is so busy surfing and checking his email, I will take the liberty of blogging while I am here. (I know how it feels to be a loyal blog reader and to not have new posts….) I am Erik’s sister Amy, and Mom and I arrived here two days ago. We flew into Liberia and were met by Erik, Sarah, and Kemper and of course THOR. The 3 hour drive to their house was incredible. The roads are as scary as everyone has warned but Erik is a good driver and got us here alive. The mountains are covered in lush greenness and I was so busy looking around at the cows and people that I forgot about the possibility of death by on coming bus. J We arrived exhausted and were asleep by eight.

Yesterday we mainly looked at Kemper all day long. She is so much bigger now and is full of personality. Erik has trained her to give high fives which is pretty adorable. (Any day now she will be ‘Foosing up’) I ventured out to the beach by myself. I read and swam, trying to get some color even though I was wearing 45. Later in the day I met a gentleman who recognized me from my day of reading tabloids in the sand. Apparently I am astonishingly pale and stick out like a sore thumb. Back in Charleston I at least have pale people to cavort with which makes my paleness seem less shocking.



There was an unbelievable rain storm yesterday. We were watching a movie and couldn’t hear a word of it. But for some reason we just kept watching. Miriam the fantastic caretaker and chef came yesterday and cooked her heart out. She made the following: Homemade wheat bread, pineapple jam, blackberry jam, the most delicious pizza from scratch, and arroz con pollo. Everything was out of this world. She brought her daughter Maria José who is eight. She and Mom swung on the hammock as Maria José tried to teach mom Spanish.

In the middle of the night last night the monkeys came. The must have been 20 of them right outside our window hooting their heads off. At first I forgot where I was and was super scared. It was like there were tribal warlords outside the window. They went on for about a half hour and finally moved on. It was yesterday when I had my first sighting of them. There was a small family in the tree above the house. It was all I could do not to climb up the tree and stuff the BABY MONKEY into my shirt to smuggle it home. It was so small up there hanging upside down eating. Next one I see I am stealing.

Sarah and I woke up this morning and took a yoga class at the Nosara Yoga Institute. The studio made me want to drool all over. You walk through a luscious path in the woods to the studio which is a platform in the treetops. There are vines and birds and monkeys and bugs and it is wonderful. The class was small and completely peaceful. I am going to try and take everyday while I am here. A do-it-yourself-spa-retreat if you will.



Now off to watch a mid day movie and to take a nap. I think I finally figured out how to relax. Until later. A