This photo is from Daniel's wedding February of 2022.
The joke's on you Britney! 😜
Wednesday 7/2 - Leaving Fairfield Glade at 4:00, our drive to Nashville went smoothly. We picked up dinner at Zaxby’s that we took to Courtney‘s.
Daniel sent this photo with the comment that Layla was worn out from their company (some of Vale's family was visiting for an extended holiday weekend).
Joe, Patty and I relaxed while Courtney finished her packing and then went to Kent's. Notice Patty's air mattress bed.
Thursday 7/3 - I woke at 1:30 and could not get back to sleep. I finally got up at 3am and prepared for our day of travel. Our Uber driver was 15 minutes early so we felt a tad rushed getting out of Courtney‘s condo. All went well until baggage check. Joe had listed Patty as Patty rather than Patricia so we had to redo her ticket and baggage claim, which took a great deal of time. 
While we were dealing with the name correction, Courtney and Kent arrived and got their baggage checked. We went through security about the same time, again with us getting held up because of Joe's metal hips. 
Courtney took a selfie of the five of us and then we went our separate ways, taking two different American Airline flights. Their connecting flight was in Miami and ours was in Dallas. 
I posted that our flight was very empty, enabling us each to have our own row of seats, so during the flight when I got sleepy while reading, I was able to lay down and snooze for a bit. 
And then Courtney shared that her and Kent's flight was packed. In fact, they had been asked if they wanted to switch flights and go through Dallas.
We had a two hour layover in Dallas/while Courtney and Kent had to sprint to make their connecting flight out of Miami.
Our second (four hour) flight was packed, so napping was not so easy. Joe had to poke fun at me, saying this was a bad burka.
Courtney and Kent had landed in Costa Rica over an hour ahead of us. They reported that immigration was packed, which we then also experienced.
Britney's friend Emily (from Holland Michigan) was going through immigration too, so I sent her a photo of the three of us, so she could find us possibly. But she too, was ahead of us.
Our next stop was baggage claim. Well, it was also our next snafu. Patty's suitcase was nowhere to be found. But she had put my baggage claim tag on her suitcase so that added to the confusion. Once we were looking for my tag (on her suitcase) it was located in Dallas. How did my bag make it and hers get left behind?
Then we had some difficulties finding our ride to the car rental place and once there, big confusion about the charges/insurance coverage. But finally we were on the road to the hotel. We missed our second turn to get on the highway so ended up driving right through downtown in rush hour traffic. It was horrible, and took forever!
Once checked in at the Delta Marriott in downtown San Jose, I got our dress clothes hung up in the closet.
We all ended up at The Spoon, a nice restaurant six blocks from our hotel.
After a tasty, and quite filling meal, we walked around in the blocks going towards our hotel, and stopped for ice cream.
It gets dark about 6:30, near the equator in Costa Rica. Joe, Patty and I shared a room, and went to bed around 9:30.
Friday 7/4 - Happy July 4th! Only an American holiday, there was no mention of it all day, other than some comments about really not missing the fireworks. Juan Carlos took this photo of us at breakfast, which was long and leisurely.
Vale's parents, two sisters and two nieces were visiting Dan's family for the extended holiday weekend.
They always take such great photos, which I was delighted they shared. Vale with her mom, two sisters, two nieces, and two daughters.
Britney's US friend Emily arrived at 9:00 and we six
(Joe, Patty, Juan Carlos, Britney, Emily and I) piled into the Kia SUV and
headed out on a tour.
We went to where Juanca works and met his boss, saw Britney's new office and her work place, met many of the ladies from that ministry, and ended at the fitness building, one of the ministry sites. 
After lunch at a food court, we then drove up the mountain to the apartment where Britney and Juan Carlos live. Their view is magnificent. (Oh, and her tiny house is now for sale.)
Driving back to San Jose, the back tire held up well, but the front right did not stay at 35PSI.
Once back at the hotel, we started congregating at the bar, because the lobby didn't really have a good place. Chris and Travis had arrived in Costa Rica with lodging at a nearby hotel. And the Sidensticks had also checked in to the Marriott.
With the drinks came hunger and people started ordering food. We were so comfortable and settled where we were, we all decided to just eat at the hotel bar rather than go to any restaurant.
It is always a fun time re-connecting with family and celebrating life together.
The great thing about being there at the hotel, was that as people got tired, they could go back to their room. I went with the Sidensticks to the gym to check it out and get some light exercise.
We three Villhauers soon settled in to our room for the night.
Saturday 7/5 - The Big Day. I was up and out walking before 6am. There was a nice park right across the street from the hotel. I went at a brisk pace for twenty minutes and probably went just over a mile. Next I hit the gym for a modified workout. Then I joined Britney, Juan Carlos, and Patty for breakfast.
We went up to the 17th floor to check out the ballroom where the wedding would be. It was already set up and looked beautiful. Ahem, the bride and groom smooching before the occasion.
Joe went over to Chris and Travis' hotel to enjoy the hottub. Others just hung out in their rooms or the lobby. Some walked around and did a little shopping. I worked on this blog but barely made a dent in it. 
Britney and Juan Carlos had to meet the musicians a little after noon to get set up.
And then they went to the lobby to greet Tatiana (the minster's wife). Most of us started getting ready at 1:00. 
Emily came and finished getting ready with us girls. She took these shots of Britney and I. Juan Carlos and Joe had already dressed and gone. Patty, Emily, Britney and I headed up to the 17th floor at 1:30. Several people were already gathering for the wedding and celebration which I decided to put in a separate (blog post) because there are too many photos.
After the wedding, we again started congregating in the hotel bar. It was just a good meeting place where people could order food and drink as they wanted. 
Some of us had changed out of our formal clothes and we all kind of 'trickled' in around dinner time. 
Britney's Bribri family seen right, also got a flat tire on their day long travel to San Jose. Wanita (the matriarch) is sitting bottom left in this first photo. 
We ate, drank a little, and were merry. We celebrated the newlyweds, life, and togetherness.
And as usual, we were up in our room by 9:00.
Sunday 7/6 - Britney, Juanca and I were the first down to breakfast as usual, with Patty not far behind and Joe showing up after we were all finished eating.
By 8:40, people from our group started showing up in the lobby (this photo from off the internet).
Courtney and Kent headed out in one direction; the Sidensticks, Bakers, and Villhauers in another direction; and Britney and Juan Carlos headed home.
The Sidestick car load (Dave, Patti, Nicole, Michael, and Joseph) met us (Joe, Patty, Chris, Travis and I) at La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park and Wildlife Refuge. We were soon headed off on a self guided tour.
Can you see the Stick Snake? Its head is near bottom right corner and its body goes up diagonally to almost the left corner of photo. 
This three toed sloth slowly made its way over toward me when I went inside its enclosure. 
Look at that face.
We walked from one enclosure to another, observing the different animals. The snakes, monkeys, cats, and several other critters were in cages; but with some, you entered their habitat to observe them.
We enjoyed hanging out in the butterfly enclosure. There were so many of them, just gliding around doing what butterflies do. This one 'rode along' on David's hat for awhile. 
We especially liked the Blue Morpho butterfly which is blue on top of its wings (seen in my photo of it flying) and brown on the underside (seen on David's hat). 
They had on display, butterflies at all stages of life. 
And I found my own evidence of growth and development. These caterpillars are obviously of two different species. 
The employees had pinned up a bit of the leaf that the caterpillar had used to make its chrysalis (same as a cocoon that become a moth). Both are protective casings formed during the pupa stage of insects undergoing the total process of metamorphosis. 
After the caterpillar has undergone a complete
transformation, reorganizing its body structure and developing into an
adult, it emerges as a beautiful butterfly. This one had recently crawled out of its encasement and was on the wall drying its wings right next to the display of chrysalises. If you look closely at the above photo, you can see they are at different stages of emerging. 
Chris also had a hitchhiker on his hat that may have been carried out of the butterfly building.
The hummingbirds were not contained, but attracted by numerous feeders. This is not a black and white photo, but kind of cool how it appears that way, looking up at two hummingbirds in the branches overhead.
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We saw several of the 52 hummingbird species native to Costa Rica.
I can't remember what this mammal was, but it was interested in David, or his map.
I didn't get any photos of any of the monkeys, but they too were very interested in watching the people.
Somebody spotted this frog along the walking path.
We arrived at the restaurant just before noon, and enjoyed a big buffet for lunch, all part of the tour.
After lunch we hiked to see the main attraction, the five waterfalls.
The weather was great, and we were lucky not to get rained on. We did, however, get wet from the mist of the falls we got close to. 
A selfie on the bridge over the La Paz River. 
In this photo you can see three falls simultaneously.
At the observation area seen behind me, you got quite wet. Dave, Michael and Joseph were the only brave ones to get that close.
Once we had completed the mile long hike, up and down the mountain side, we took a shuttle back to the visitor center where we had parked.
We said our goodbyes to the Sidensticks who were going to walk to Trout Lake.
We saw more 'wildlife' on our way to the car, catching this guy raiding the trash.
During the next two hour leg of the trip, we got up-dates from the girls. Britney and Juan Carlos were resting at their apartment and going through wedding cards and photos. Juanca displayed his new mug from Joe, that he really likes.
Courtney and Kent were lounging at their resort on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. 
Once at our Airbnb - Casa Luna - in RÃo Cuart, we too rested, relaxed, and I worked on this blog. 
We had dinner two miles away at Perezoso Steakhouse. The beer was tasty and refreshing. The Caesar salad I had was presented with the lettuce on top of warm Canadian bacon strips. Unbelievably yummy. 
My meal, chicken fettuccine Alfredo was also amazingly scrumptious. And look at the beautiful presentation of Travis' meal.
There
was a sloth in a tree in a courtyard just outside the restaurant that
the bartender had us (Patty and I went) come see after we all (except Travis) were finished eating. And then he showed us the cacao fruit that chocolate is made from. 
He offered us a try. Each bean was covered in a slimy but sweet white fruit pulp. You don't eat the bean. Patty stated they looked like chicken hearts making it impossible for me to give it a try. (I did try one on a tour Tuesday however.) We hit a grocery store for breakfast supplies on the way back to our Airbnb. 
Monday 7/7 - I had slept better because our double bed here was much firmer than the one the past three nights at the hotel. This is a sweet photo, at the hotel bar, a day before the wedding, that Courtney took and just shared. 
The boys had left early to check out a park and Chris sent us this photo of the Arenal Volcano, which later in the day you couldn't see the top of because the clouds had moved in.
Then we all left at about 10:00, drove about 45 minutes to Mistico Park Hanging Bridges near La Fortuna. 
We asked someone to take our photo with Arenal Volcano in the background. Notice the clouds covering the top of it now.
We had a small quick lunch before meeting our tour guide and then took a 2½ hour tour, with one other couple along with us.
Chris, Travis, and the couple crossing one of the seven hanging bridges. 
And in this close-up Patty and our guide, bringing up the rear. Joe was in front of me. 
This is a later bridge crossing after we had been drenched by a heavy rain. My jacket ended up not being water proof.
In addition to walking 2½ miles, up and down the mountain side, we also saw lots of wildlife and got caught in a 30 minute torrential downpour. 
Can you see the walking stick? Hint - It is horizontal, under the leaf, and almost a foot long. 
This waxy looking tube attached to a tree was made by the small Stingless Bee. Because it has no stinger, it goes through the pipe to hide in the tree. If you enlarge the photo, you can see a few of the tiny bees on the pipe. 
These next four photos were taken by our tour guide through his spotting scope. This is the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog also called the Blue Jeans Frog. 
This is a very small tarantula, in a hole about the size of my thumb. 
This is an Eyelash Palm Pit viper. 
This sloth was not happy about the rain and was waiting it out curled up on the side of this tree, about 40 yards up.
Our guide got us towels when we got back to the visitor center. Once 'dried off' or at least not dripping wet, we drove back to RÃo Cuart. 
We went to our next Airbnb, just a mile from last night's (which wasn't available for a second night). We got out of our wet clothes and put on swim suits.
Now we were off to Baldi Hot Springs, just 15 minutes away. There were eight different pools of varying temperatures. The hottest one you couldn't stay in for more than 15 to 20 minutes. 
This pool, where we spent much of our time, was warm but not too hot. And it had a bar.
At some point during the day, we got word from Emily (who was touring elsewhere in Costa Rica with her friends) that they had gotten a flat tire.
The hot springs had been wonderfully relaxing. We got back to our Airbnb about three hours later, changed, and headed to Nanku, a restaurant Tracy and Teresa had enjoyed and recommended. It was another great dining experience.
Tuesday 7/8 - Today's tour had been moved later, to 11am, and was only 15 minutes away, so we had a slow, relaxing morning. I had so many photos to download, edit, and organize, I only made a small dent.
We arrived early to La Fortuna, San Carlos for the Craft Specialty Coffee and Chocolate Tour. After doing some souvenir shopping, our tour got underway. 
Our guide lead the 14 of us for the full 2½ hours. He gave explanations of the entire process for cocoa seeds (that I tasted the pulp of) and coffee beans (which I smelled many kinds of) to the final product. Sugar cane harvesting was also demonstrated and tasted. Everything was thorough enough to understand, but not so in depth it was boring.
We got lots of samples throughout the tour and I discovered that I prefer the dark chocolate that's 85% cocoa. And it's even better with a little sea salt sprinkled on top.
I did not sample the coffee, but loved the smell of it roasting.
Coffee plants are seen here with Arenal volcano in the background. The coffee is only ripe for picking December - February. Cocoa ripens year round.
They provided us with umbrellas, and a few times it looked like it could pour, but we never had to unfurl our rain protection.
This cat, sleeping near the visitor center, really reminded me of Rose, and I was starting to long for home.
We hit the road for our next Airbnb about 1:30. It was a two hour drive and about halfway to the airport. We stopped for a late lunch after being on the road for an hour, to fill our tummies and rest my butt. Once again, Chris used his GPS to help us find a nice restaurant.
While traveling, we kept an eye on our front right tire air pressure, which was no longer holding at the already low 30PSI. The tire pressure kept slowly creeping down and was to 24PSI by the time we got to our Airbnb in Casa Vista Verde near Zarcero.
Joe had been given the wrong entry code so we had to wait for the landlord to reply to our 'mayday' text to him.
This is our deck, over looking the mountainside.
And this is the view from the deck! We were at 5500 feet above sea level so it was actually rather cool.
Once into the Airbnb, our first order of business was to head into Zarcero to get our tire checked. The attendant checked the pressure on all four and filled the very low front one.
We proceeded a few miles into down town and toured the Church of San Raphael.
It was a beautiful church and had a gorgeous topiary garden in front.
We walked in and around and even through the pine and cypress trees, shaped into arches and whimsical patterns. 
This one area had a teepee made out of the bushes, with this one in the middle having trimmed branches that connected to all the perimeter ones. It was a very cool fort like area for kids to play in. Joe had me hide and peak for this photo. 
Grabbing foodstuff at the grocery across the street, we got what was needed for a light dinner and breakfast. Once back in the car, our tire was nearly flat again so we went back to the gas station, waited a bit, and then had it looked at. There was a big nail (seen where this plug was being placed). Fixed in no time, for $10.00, we were on our way back to the Airbnb, hopefully in time for the sunset. 
Patty, who had stayed back at the house, sent these two photos. 
And soon we arrived back, with the plug working and the tire pressure holding. 
We started with libations on the lookout deck, but the wind had really picked up and it had gotten colder, so we moved inside. 
This was taken looking down our drive and at the western sky. Dark was descending upon us. The boys watched a silly movie and us two ladies went to bed.
Wednesday 7/9 - This was our day to fly home, so nerves had me up early. I caught sunrise over the beautiful vista.
Our travel day ended up lasting from 7:30am (when we left the Airbnb in Zarcero) until 7:30am (24 hours later) when we arrived at home in Fairfield Glade.
We drove two hours, thankful the front tire held its pressure; filled the rental car with gas, returned it and took the car rental's shuttle to Juan Santamaria Intl. Airport.
We got three of our bags checked, obtained our boarding passes, got through security, and then sat and waited. Travis was flying to Houston (four gates down from us) and Chris was on our flight to Dallas, so we all waited the two hours together. Travis flew out earlier and then our flight was about 40 minutes late leaving Costa Rica.
Seen below can you see my four companions? Patty and Travis are fairly obvious, but where are Joe and Chris?
When we landed in Dallas, we had an hour to go through immigration, get our checked bags, go through customs, drop our checked luggage back off, and then go back through security, before we could go to our next gate to catch our plane to Nashville. And Chris only had 45 minutes to do this and get to his flight to Indianapolis.
Below, in Costa Rica, eating salad and blogging, while standing to 'save' my butt for sitting on the plane. 
American Airlines ended up using our plane to fill in for a different cancelled flight so then we had two more hours to wait. Finally, once boarded just after midnight, I thought our troubles were over. Nope. The plane they put us on had been bound for San Francisco and had too much weight (in fuel) to be able to land in Nashville, so we had to wait to have it de-fueled of 6,000 lbs of gas.
Travis had missed his connecting flight in Houston, but was already home by the time we had taken off. Chris, whose flight was also quite late, was in the air somewhere, so would be home before us.
We were glad to see our suitcases (mine containing Britney's wedding dress) at baggage claim, then caught an Uber to Courtney's, where Joe had a cup of coffee. We hopped in the SUV, me being able to lay down and rest my bottom and catch some sleep, while Patty kept Joe awake as he drove home. At 7:30am we were home.
I despise traveling but would do it again in a heartbeat for such a special occasion. This is a glimpse of my next blog that will be all wedding photos.
