Greetings from Costa Rica...Timely Detour

As the result of our buddy pass/ "bump" from atlanta to Guatemala...we chose to take a detour route to San Jose, Costa Rica on a 6:48 pm flight arriving in Costa Rica at 8:45 pm last night. Being told that we would probably not get on the next day flight to Guatemala from Atlanta we decided to get a little closer to Guatemala on that buddy pass and then purchase a one way ticket to Guatemala from Costa Rica... alot cheaper from this distance. We called our travel agent that had set up our Hotel reservations in Guatemala and said please get us a flight to Guatemala from Costa Rica tomorrow and a room tonight in Costa Rica. Velocity tours/Trent, (per our Great friend Aileen)... set us up to the tee!!! Chanan had said this is great... another country and an early anniversary (this month) celebration. It worked out great.

We arrived in Costa Rica, got thru immigration and customs and then went outside to look for our driver. There waving a yellow paper was our big name....a very good sight for 2 very tired people going on 2 hours sleep and a very long day!!! He greeted us with a "Happy Anniversay" (that Trent had obviously mentioned when making our Reservations) He handed us a welcome gift (very nice candle) and we left for the Hotel. It was a 20 minute drive. The scenery reminded us so much of Israel. We arrived at the Hotel, checked in and went to our room. It is a very nice room and we slept like 2 rocks!!! We woke up at 6:30am and opened the curtains and the window to suddenly be reminded of the same air, smells and sounds of Israel. We went down to eat breakfast and then took a long walk around town. It is amazing how much it all looks like Israel. From the streets, to the shops, mountainous scenery and vendors all over. Well after the walk... you guested it... I started this post. I am sitting in the front of this Beautiful Hotel, The Presidente, that has open air, no glass/breeze ways...just like most all places in Israel :) ... the only thing that closes these openings, including the entrance to the hotel, is the fancy gate about 30 feet away from the building entrance. It also wraps its way around the whole building to include parking. Very nice! The weather is perfect. Shorts and sandals weather.

The Good news is that we will be leaving Costa Rica via Air Mexicana at 4:05 arriving in Guatemala today at 5:08 pm , but we won't get to see Baby Hope until the next day :( , but they will bring her to us in the hotel lobby Saturday at 8AM :) We can hardly wait of course!!! Well this will give us time to get settled into the room and prepare it for her before she arrives. This works out great. I will have it all organized with her items handy and all ready for our day with her. We will go to Antigua for a tourist day on Monday. Stay tuned for more postings and lots of pictures :)

Mom we miss you so much and can never thank you enough for all you have done. We love you and take care. Don't work too hard in the house.

Aileen thank you for all of your help.. it is because of you that we have known most of the next steps to take all along the way!!!
Love and Thanks to all of you, Chanan and Rachael