 |
| View from Charlie's Terrace in Atenas, Costa Rica |
One Week to Flights to Costa Rica - Just one week from today on February 9 I will depart Nashville International Airport at 7 AM bound for Miami, Florida to connect to my American Airlines flight to San Jose, Costa Rica scheduled to arrive Costa Rica at 2:18 PM. I just checked AA.com and both flights operated on time today. I'm looking forward to visiting with my friend Charlie Doggett who now lives in Atenas, Costa Rica. Charlie chose not to own a car and uses public transportation in addition to walking in his small town. For my visit, he is renting a car and will be at the airport to pick me up and drive to his home in Atenas which I understand to be a 45 minute drive.
Who is Charlie? Charlie and I have been friends since the 1980's since we were both members of First Baptist Church, Nashville and we both worked for the Baptist Sunday School Board(now LifeWay Christian Resources) in Nashville. After Charlie retired from LifeWay he served as a three year missionary to The Gambia,West Africa. While in The Gambia, Charlie invited me to visit him and I spent a little over a week with Charlie. I shared a few photos from that trip in a blog post I did November 24, 2015. Click the date to see that blog post. After serving in The Gambia, Charlie returned to Nashville and lived until he moved to Atenas, Costa Rica, Christmas Eve, December 24, 2014. Charlie is a avid nature photographer and chose Costa Rica for his retirement home after several visits to the country.
I will be staying in Costa Rica with Charlie for two weeks. Here is an "email" he sent me some time ago that will help you as well as me see what Charlie has planned for my visit:
"Reagan,Okay we are confirmed for two nights at Laguna Lodge, Tortuguero with both tours and access to the beach from our cabin. The above link is their website but I suggest you first watch their Laguna Lodge Video for a pretty good representation of what it is like quickly, though they didn't show as many monkeys as you will probably see and they didn't show the little village we will tour. Your cost with transportation to and from there by van, all meals, tours and 2 nights will be $398. We do nothing else that expensive. Their website photo gallery is a pretty accurate presentation.They will pick us up from any major San Jose Hotel at about 5:30 in the morning of the 15th of February and return us there the 17th around mid-day. Because I am nervous about driving to San Jose that early in the morning with rush-hour traffic, construction, and crashes; I used my Hilton Honors Points for a free room at the Hampton Inn Airport for the night of 14 February. So all we have to do is be up and out by 5:30 the next morning for the van pickup. There's a Fiesta Casino across the street we can explore the night before! :-)I won't explain all the problems I had trying to make a reservation at the dumpy little beach-side motel at Manuel Antonio (the only one on the beach) but I have canceled and don't want to spend a night there now or ever again. One of our day trips can be to a nearby Pacific Coast beach if you like, somewhere around Jaco which is close to Tarcoles River I plan to take you to. So Tortuguero is the only overnight trip now. We will do several day trips.I'm not a great cook, so we will probably eat out a lot, especially when on the go. That will be your biggest expense other than Tortuguero and any souvenirs you want to buy. I've found a couple of good shops for souvenirs."
Other than the trip to Laguna Lodge, Tortuguero, our base of operation will be Charlie's home in Atenas. I look forward to spending a good amount of time on Charlie's terrace. Here are a few photos I got from Charlie's blog in and near his home.
 |
| A local restaurant |
 |
| View from Charlies home terrace |
 |
| View from inside Charlies home |
 |
| Another Atenas Vista |
 |
| Another Atenas Vista |
 |
| New Table and Chairs on Charlie's Terracer |
 |
| Another view of Charlie's Terrace - I'm thinking those rocking chairs are calling me |
 |
| One More View from Charlie's terrace |
Since I will be flying out very early, I am planning to stay overnight here in Nashville at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport and just down the street from Flight Park where I leave my car when I fly out of town. Charlie assures me I will be able to use wi-fi at his home and many places while in Costa Rica so I will do most of my blog updates from his home. When we go to Tortuguero we will only take a carry-on bag so I'll be leaving laptop at Charlie's. I'll take my Samsung Nook E-reader tablet and IPhone. Even then I can only do email etc. if wi-fi is available. I will not be using voice(talk) or texting all two weeks I am in Costa Rica. I will do a short update next Monday night, February 8, from Nashville before my flights on Tuesday. Thanks to all of you who follow me by email. I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos and sharing some of the highlights of Charlie and my daily activities with regular if not daily updates.
My Next 2016 TRAVEL PLANS
Spring Amtrak Rail Adventure March 27-April 13 - Flying to New Orleans, LA, to travel via Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Empire Builder to Seattle, WA. After a week in Seattle, I will return to New Orleans via Amtrak's Coast Starlight(Sacramento), California Zephyr(Chicago) and City of New Orleans. Return trip is compliments of Amtrak Guest Rewards points I have been earning from all my Amtrak travels for the last few years.
Via Rail and Amtrak Trip to Canada and Albany, NY, May 28 to June 15 - Traveling by Via Rail in Canada to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Returning to USA via Amtrak for visits to Albany, NY and New Orleans, LA.
You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the top to view this blog on the web.
All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.
************************************
to receive each new blog post to in your email inbox.
