I have a borrowed laptop from Phi TI7/N5BEK here at Hotel Isolina and using it on their wireless network.  This way I can have access to the internet when ever I want and keep the e-mail up to date and also do some travel planning.

The internet is costing me a $1.50 a day.  It is supposed to cost $3.00 a day.  The tourist business is so depressed here with the world wide economic situation the place is virtually deserted so one can get things much

cheaper than normal.  I found out yesterday we could get a seaside condo with kitchen, etc. for about $1000 a month but we don't plan to stay that long so we are going to stick with the $50 a day as this is a nice place and now

internet; with a strong signal here in the villa for $1.50 a day.

The routine is to get up between 7-8 am and go have our free breakfast.  We shut the A/C off about 10 pm and it stays cool for the night but we do leave the ceiling fan on low.  The breakfast is typically orange juice, toast and lots of

fruit and tea and water.  We drink the tap water as it is not a problem here.  We are two blocks from the beach.  Edith walks part way down the beach with me.  I go to the Playa Flamingo resort about 2.5 miles away.  I have the bus

connections figured out and have contacts for rentals if we ever want to come back.  I think one wants to wait as the price is coming down everyday with the lack of tourists and this is "HIgh" SEASON.  It looks like a block or two

fromt he beach could be $700-$800 a month and a very, very nice place on the beach at around $1200 for a month.  There are two problems here.  One is that the price of groceries is higher than in the USA by about 50% and the

second problem is between 9 am until 4 pm it is hotter than we care for.  Around 95 degrees, windy and the sun has lots of power!!!  From about 10 am to 3 pm it is even hot in the shade.  One needs to drink a lot of water

or you will get dehydrated.  Up until about 2 years ago groceries were reasonable and still are inland but not here.  Playa Flamingo is where the rich come so things are hotel prices in the area for Coca Cola, etc, etc.

The ATM has been working fine so we are set for money for our trip to Panama and back to Costa Rica for touring on our own.  Now that I have Phils computer we will do some checking on some things.  The dentist work for Edith is

done and my work is done other than waiting for the bridge from San Jose which should come in a week and he will take of the temporary and install the permanent one.  He did a nice job and no pain at all.

If the fitting of my temporary is any indication it will be good.  He is really fussy!!!  Phil took us to the dentist on Monday and again on Tuesday so that was great.  It is about 6 miles away at Huacas.

I found a tourist place over at Playa Flamingo that can book our bus tickets to Panama City so that will help as TICA bus fills up so one needs to get them ahead of time a day or two.   Phil has a contact

for us in Panama at Volcan who is a radio operator so that is nice.

There are a lot of smaller birds here and howler monkeys.  We hear them during the night and in the morning.  One time in the afternoon.  We see them in the trees around here on a regular basis.

To eat out is better than buying groceries it seems!!!  Wierd but we found the in NZ as well so Edith is getting a good break, no cooking.  We have a free breakfast and eat a few crackers for noon and go

out for supper.  Shrimp with vegatebles and potatoes is about $10.00 each so we are getting by for less than $75.00 a day.  Fish is cheaper at about $8.00 each.  There is chicken, pork and beef but

we had a lot of that on the tour in Guat so we are only eating fish and shrimp.

The two swimming pools are nice.  One thing we don't have are beach chairs for we get towels for the beach from the hotel for no charge and we have outdoor showers to rinse the salt water off.

There is a gathering place from 5-6 pm where all the people from the USA, Europe, etc. gather that is only about 2 blocks from here.  You can get any drink you want including a big COKE for $1 and people

are friendly and helpful with information.  We are going to check out a local market tomorrow(supposed to be food there) and see if we can get some good stuff for snacks for lunch.

It is very safe here, no problems.  Even here a lot of people don't speak very much English unless they are in the tourist trade.  Cable with internet is available for a reasonable price for the homes.  

Previous to that internet had to be dial up or satellite.  You can use credit cards here and the ATM work fine but we find you can get things about 10-20% cheaper with cash.  It is better to use

Colones rather than dollars but generally you get a good exchange rate.  This is the dry season here and it just does not rain until last March and then it rains everyday, especially in the afternoon.  It

lasts until about November 1st.  Phil says the rain season is not bad as there is a lot of sunshine and parts of the day with no rain.  It does rain over 100 inches a year and everything gets very

green.  They get a lot of wind here,  it seems similar to SD and they get storms of 70-80 MPH sometimes.  60 MPH is pretty common and they get thunder and plenty of lightening during the rainy

season.

If you want a warm place to spend the winter on the ocean you can fly into Liberia which is about 40 miles from here and take a Tourismo van for $40 to here.  A nice seashore house of condo for $1200

a month if you reserve it ahead of time and you can eat for $25.00 a day.   You should be able to get by for $80.00 a day plus your plane ticket.  If you want to make it cheaper you can take the bus from

TX.  You want to make sure to have A/C and fans as it is hot during the day and takes awhile to cool down.  The downside is groceries are expensive so unless we can figure out a way to do it

cheaper with the market you might as well figure on eating out a lot.

Feel free to send us e-mails as we are on line here all the time and have time to reply and it is paid for until we leave Hotel Isolina next week sometime depending on the dentist.

Ed and Edith