Another post from mi hermana...

You will all be glad to hear that I am no longer walking like a cowboy. While I can still feel the effects of our horseback ride, I am back to walking like a normal person. I added insult to injury by taking a difficult yoga class yesterday morning with Sarah. In the middle of class the pavilion where the class is was overtaken by a surge of army ants. They were going from pillar to pillar, covering the pillows and mats. It was insane. It was the most distracting thin until the monkeys started in. ( The same monkeys who have been waking me up EVERY morning at 4 or so hooting and screaming on the hill. It is a terrifying noise that I am sure I will oddly miss.) The adventurous class ended with a scorpion in my shoe. I will post a picture of the yoga studio so you all can see how incredible it is!



Last night we went to La Garta Lodge. It is a hotel/restaurant located up in the hills with an amazing view of the ocean and river. There were lots of inebriated travelers there who wanted to kidnap baby Kemper. But really who could blame them? We had some cocktails and watched the sunset.



Today we started some paintings at the house -- a remedy to Erik and Sarah’s minimalistic décor. Mom packed stretchers and canvas in her suitcase and we got some house paint at the hardware store. (this family can’t vacation without a project) There were some guys there fixing the screens on the house and they stopped working mid day to give us a treat. They brought coconuts from their home and chopped them open and showed us how to eat them and drink the juice. When has your plumber in America has stopped his work to teach you something and give you a treat? It was so kind and delicious.



We then went to the local waterfall. On our hike in Mom would like me to tell you we heard a growl that she swears was a panther. Or wait, was it a puma? I think it was a monkey, but I’ll let her think it was something fierce. The waterfall was gorgeous and jungely and you will be happy to know that I didn’t climb it OR fall from it! J It was my first waterfall since my big fall, and I appreciated its beauty from afar.



Now we go home to eat fish and watch a movie. The days here start early and strong to where I am tried as hell by 8. It is a good way to live. Our time here is running out.

……..More soon because there is another adventure in the morning! -amy

I just woke up from the greatest nap ever. I was so tired after this last adventure I almost collapsed into my plate of delicious food. (Today Miriam made: homemade star fruit juice, amazing herbed bread, potatoes and meat and pan suave (like solid pudding. Mmmm)) Back to the adventure: Erik, Mom and I went on a horseback ride. It was amazing. We went all the way down the beach and through the woods. We stopped at a small beachside café and then headed back to town along the road. On the way back, the horses had much more energy and we galloped most of the way. It was ridiculously fun and I haven’t laughed that much since we’ve been here. Erik had the crazy horse (caballo loco) and his kept taking off and sprinting ahead. It was wonderful to be able to ride through the small towns and really see the houses and people. I will say that our bums were not used to the violence of galloping. I don’t think I will ever walk the same. When mine would gallop, I would fly off the saddle 6 inches or so and come slamming down. I was laughing and gritting my teeth at the same time. If only horses came with seatbelts….













Last night’s sunset was beautiful and we ventured out to the beach for it. Kemper was showing off her walking skills and of course is always smiling. I have never in my life seen a happier baby. We came home and made the BEST fajitas ever. Nothing back home can touch the tortillas or salsa here. Instead of presents, I am bringing my friends back home groceries!







Off to ice my bum. A

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

Como estan? Pura Vida... Sorry for the lack of posts this week, it gets hard when we have folks visiting... but usually it is also when we have the coolest stuff going on... I am going to recap our latest 2 adventures today, but first, all is well with the family. Kemper is sitting up by herself and doing this really cute thing with her lower lip. Sarah is great, and I am pretty pumped that we have waves and good weather again. On Friday, I caught some of the most fun Guiones that I have seen with only 3 other folks in the water for over 2 hours. They were all locals and friends and we just traded overhead glassy hollow lines. I was in the water for almost 4 hours and Sarah thought I had drowned...



Ok, so on to the adventures... We took Jared to the bat caves last week. The bat caves are in Pelada, but super tricky to get to. Your first time there, someone really needs to show you how to do it. You can either go during the day, at low tide and walk into the cave, about a 20x40 ft cave with thousands and thousands of bats (some friends stumbled upon a 12 ft boa in the cave once), or go at sundown, and hike through the woods and sit up on a ledge 35ft above the ocean and watch the bats come out. We took Jared to sunset experience. My favorite part is not watching them come out of the cave, but making it back to the trail in the woods and watching hundreds of bats race past your head, as they also use the trail to disperse through the forest. Jared snapped a few cool shots...








Our other adventure was a hike to waterfall not too far from our house. The waterfall is on private property, but we are friends with the cousin of the owner, and were granted passage. The hike was killer, about 1 km through some of the most beautiful country on a chill little stream. Then you come to this unbelievable waterfall. It is actually 3 falls coming down to one pool. There were some locals hiking the waterfalls (they go up for about 1 km) looking for river shrimps (everyone says shrimps down here... cracks me up), and coming back with bags full of them. We hung out for a bit. This place was sweet!!!!!!!

Sarah's brother is down, and he is a master fire spinner... Sarah got a cool shot of it...



Here is lil' Daniel Joseph...

Felicidades Aaron y Jessica! Sarah's brother became a father a few days ago!!!

We have some friends in town from St. Augustine right now, been a good week hanging out, but I am kind of bummed for them getting this bad surf. Rich runs a mortgage company back in the states, and we have been scheming on how to get good mortgages down here, so I can buy a fat house... but with no income in the states anymore we are SOL for a while...

Kemper is all good, we got a new bouncer the other day, and she has almost worn out the spring on it already...

Oh, and don't come over unannounced... these guys don't like visitors...