Today will be a day of transit and we prepare to vacate the cabin. Tabra will not return until October so there is much to do and to be cleaned and put away. Louis arrives mid morning to disconnect the electricity and store the few valuables until Tabra’s return. We depart at 9:30 A.M., winding our way back towards San Jose. The weather is perfect and the return drive is easy except that our little car has no power and struggles to climb the steep roads. We return the rental car without incident and check back into he Hemmingway Hotel. Once settled, Tabra and I take time to send e-mail and make phone calls. Tabra uses the hotels internet, but I use my new Acer notebook computer that Art has configured for Skype. For the first time, I connect to a wireless and am successful in calling home. I am delighted with the video capabilities and feel a twinge of homesickness at seeing Art and John. I hear that there is a fire in Santa Barbara and I call my father to learn that several of his friends have lost their homes. There are no evacuation plans for the residents of Casa Dorinda, the retirement home where my father resides. I am relieved that he doesn’t sound too anxious and that I am able to stay connected. My father, a renowned geologist, will turn 92 next week.
Art was in Costa Rica last month and during our Sype conversation, informs me of a cafe that he enjoyed on the corner of 7st and 5th Ave. Tabra and I make that our destination for a late lunch. It is stylish and the food is good. We have dinner plans with Marisol and Luli. Tabra lived in Costa Rica 40 years ago and Tabra’s son went to elementry school with Luli. Luli is gregarious and delightful. She is a veternarian and her daughter, Marisol is 22 yrs old, beautiful, fluent in English and with a degree in nutrition. They pick us up and our hotel and drive us to Ti Jo, a first class restaurant serving Pan Asian cuisine. Each dining room is decorated in a different Asian motif and the menu is diverse and the food is excellent.