Its Been a While...

Hello Everyone! Its about time we caught up on here...

We passed a smooth few weeks here at the B&B. We had the experience of quite a few families from France and the US. It is alot of fun to have the little kids around and to see their eyes light up with excitement. Activity wise, we have been pretty quiet which gave us a chance to spruce up the van a little bit with a brand new battery and to finnaly repair the leaking oil! Nothing major, just minor details! We also ( I always say we, but it is actually Karl that does the work :)) painted the kitchen...it is a really nice and warm green. We have also made some adjustments to the suite royal (bodega turned into our room when we are full :)). Little by little, small changes that make it more our place.

Baby Gabrielle from France (6months)

Our New Green Kitchen

We have some reservations coming in for December which I find incredible, but before you know it the Holidays will be at our door!!

Today we had a little visitor in our garden...we don't know what type of bird but we have adopted Big Bird into our backyard. If anyone know what type of bird he might be, please let us know!

Big Bird

Happy Days with Peace and Friendship...Pura Vida!

Costa Rica Mo

Cacao Plantation & Rafting

We have returned from Nicaragua and boy what a different country compared to Costa Rica. It is amazing how different we view Nica now since being in CR. We can feel a different vibe with the new Ortega government. Vamos a ver to see what will happen. Because of this situation in Nica, we recently cancelled our residencia. You would think this would be a pretty straight procedure…a lot of paperwork and money and waiting finally finished the process. We still have to wait to see if we will be able to receive our deposit back…We will keep following up and hopefully it will all come out for the best.
A semi tranquillo week here at the B&B. I organized a cacao plantation tour and white water rafting day for Karl and a client named Roger (from Texas). They had a great day learning about the cacao and its significance and how it is processed and the importance of this product for the Mayans. It was also Karlès first time for rafting…a great day had by all!
This week we have a client that will be staying with a homestay family for 3 months. I am excited and looking forward to the meeting as I know everyone will have an excellent experience.
That is it from Grecia…we would love to hear what is new with al of you! Send us an email and keep in touch!
Pura Vida…Moni

The Chocolate Pod...inside are the cacao beans...umm chocolate :)

Cette fin de semaine nous avons visite une plantation de cacao, très intéressant, nous avons pu voir la transformation depuis l arbre jusqu au chocolat comme on le connaît.
Nous sommes arrive a la plantation de cacao Tirimbina situe dans la région de Sarapiqui a temps pour notre rendez vous de 9 h am avec notre guide Wendy.
La région de Sarapiqui est merveilleuse pour ses montagnes sa foret et sa fameuse rivière répute pour ces descentes en rafting .Nous commençons notre marche vers la plantation en traversant le deuxième plus long pont suspendu du Costa rica au dessus de la rivière Sarapiqui qui ces temps ci coule a flot a cause des pluies journalière .Nous arrivons a une ancienne plantation d ou nous pouvons voir le fruit ,Wendy nous expliquera que le fruit pousse sur la partie la plus vieille de l arbre c,a,d le tronc. En craquant la coquille nous pouvons voir une multitudes de noyaux (grains) enrobe d une muqueuse blanche d un goût sucre que les singes et autres animaux raffolent. Ces noyaux seront déposé dans un endroit pour les laisser fermenter et pour ensuite les faire sécher .Une fois sèche ils devront être rôtit et ensuite broyé pour en faire une poudre.
Le cacao aussi appele theobroma, boisson des dieux, était très prise a l époque des mayas .Les grains de cacao servaient aussi de monnaie a cette époque.
La culture du cacao représentait un pourcentage énorme de la culture ici au Costa rica avant d être atteint d un fungus qui reste jusqu a aujourd’hui difficile a contrôler .L Equateur le Mexique et la Cote d ivoire sont aujourd’hui les principaux exportateur de ce fruit des dieux.
Vers midi nous avions rendez vous pour ma première descente de rivière en rafting sur la sarapiqui, ce fut une expérience inoubliable que les clients de www. banbgrecia.com ont beaucoup apprécie.
Saludos de Grecia.

Update Time

Karl s corner
Salut du Costa rica. Nous revenons de deux jours au Nicaragua,bon dieux la différence est incroyable entre les deux pays. Nous en avons profite pour canceller notre residencia,vue le changement de gouvernement et sa politique plutôt socialiste(Sandiniste,Ortega) nous avons préfère nous consacrer au Costa rica ,plus stable et plus facile de faire des sous. Nous avons mis le B&B a vendre, nous avons d autres idées en tête .Nous avons eu quelque visites et plusieurs rendez vous a venir, je suis confiant que nous le vendrons prochainement, nous vous tiendrons au courant.
Nous avons eu un bon mois de mai et juin et de plus en plus de client avec www harmoniacasa.com et juillet s annonce très bien..Nous avons plusieurs projets pour améliorer le confort et les services offerts au bandbgrecia.com.
Cette semaine nous allons faire du Rafting et visiter une plantation de cacao .
Bonne semaine a tous
Saludos
Karlos

Ok…I celebrated my 37th birthday here in Grecia on June 8th. It was a wonderful day….it started with getting a phone call from my Dad whose birthday is the day before me and then a beautiful phone call from Charlotte (Karl’s mom) singing Bonne Fete! What a grand way to start the day! Karl got a delicious birthday cake from a shop that just opened up around us and he bought a beautiful bunch of flowers! He is so very special and I really love him and appreciate him for who he is. I also received lots of birthday wishes from everyone…Thank you very much to everyone for your thoughts and wishes…they mean a lot.

We have been quite busy these past few weeks which we are happy about. We had a client (he is from Alberta) and we went white water rafting on the Saripiqui River…it was totally awesome! The place we went is very professional and they made the day so much fun. We also got to do the canopy…an awesome adventure for those who have not yet tried it.

We are headed to Nica for the weekend s it is our 3 month time period…we will stay in Masaya not Managua this time. A little more tranquillo. Marilyn will be looking after the B&B…she is nervous but we have total faith in her. She is beautiful both inside and outside. It is a good opportunity fo her to sho and use her skills. Her daughter Pamela who just turned 6 is awesome. She comes to visit her mom when she does not have school. Her and I have bonded…she calls me Moni and we have a great time drawing and playing cards.

We have thought about the idea of selling the B&B. We are opening ourselves to different options and opportunities and w will see what happens and what doors present themselves.

A la proxima Mo

Happy June!

The 6th month of 2007 incredible!!

It has been pretty quiet these past few weeks here in Grecia. We have had a professor from the local college stay with us for the past 3 weeks...he is a really nice guy and has introduced us to alot of the local foods from his home town of Puriscal. Muy buena gente (really good people) as they would say here! Federico, is a professor of Economics at INA which is a college that has branches all over Costa Rica with one being here in Grecia. For the past 3 weeks his course was offered here so we had the pleasure of hosting him at our B&B.

The kids here are starting to gear up for the "2 weeks" which is at the end of June. It is literally 2 weeks of holidays for the students and staff. It is kind of like our March Break as they have school through July and August and have their "summer" holidays in December and January. I am sure that kids at home are really excited about the summer holidays coming up!!

This past Saturday we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean with Marilyn (the girl that works with us) and John a friend of ours. It was a good adventure. The theatre is really incredible...really comfortable seats with lots of leg room...you did not even have to move if a person wanted to pass you...This was a good thing as the movie was almost 3 hours long!

I have had the chance to be able to enjoy doing more cooking here in Grecia. One of my specialities I create is my homemade pizza - dough and all. Because of this and a few little amazing pasta dishes that beautiful Charlotte taught me, have earned me the new nickname of Benkerelli with Karl. He has such a wonderful sense of humour...he is truly a beautiful person and I am very happy to share my life and experiences with him.

Well my friends, we are keeping all of our doors open for all kinds of possibilties. Life over the past year and a half has taught me so many things...I have learned to communicate in Spanish (more or less...it always needs more practise), we have travelled throught most of Nicaragua and have seen a good part of Costa Rica. We have our own business and have had the opportunity to work in alot of unique places and with alot of unique people. It has also taught me alot oabout myself and for the whole process, I am very thankful!



On that note, I will complete this entry. We hope everyone is well. Peace and love to everyone!



Pura Vida, Monika


Bernie, Anne Marie, Karl and I enjoying Benkerelli pizza!!

About time for an update

Ok! Ok! We know it has been a while and there are those that are encouraging us to update more often so we will make a solid effort!

So what's new here...

The rainy season has brought with it all the incredible flowers and an intense green all around. You can really feel the life and energy in everything. It is a good feeling!!

My friend Nancy from Victoria visited us for 10 days. She even celebrated her birthday here with an official Costa Rican birthday cake. We also took the opportunity to go and visit Manuel Antonio Park and Beach. We took the bus from Grecia to San Jose and then from San Jose to Manuel Antonio. It was very easy to do and it dropped us off right in Manuel Antonio strip of restaurants and hotels which made it easy to find a place to stay. The entire trip took about 4.5 hours...not so bad.. The beach is really beautiful with lots of natural surroundings and monkey's sloths, iguanas and snakes all trying to share your lunch!!

We did alot of day trips to local attractions like Poas Volcano, La Paz Waterfall garden, Doka Coffee (where we learned that 70% of the coffee they grow goes to Starbucks) and we also visited the Botanical Gardens in Sarchi. It was a great adventure and I really have to thank Nancy for bringing lots of little treats for Karl and I...they were really appreciated.

Another grand adventure was having Bernie (a long time friend of Karl) & Anne Marie, also were here for some time and Karl got to do some mountain biking with them in Poas and Volcan Barva. I decided that I should give it a try to we all went to a little town called Santa Rita with some other Tico friends and took a nice quiet 15KM!! ride. It took about 3 hours and I was not sure I was going to make it...yet I did finish the whole thing! I did quite a bit of walking my bike up the hills and I managed to make it to the end. I was pretty proud of myself. The family that we biked with was so incredibly generous...not alot of money, yet they were willing to do anything and with such happieness and no expectation in return! It was a really heartwarming experience.

I think I will leave it like this for now and promise to keep you updated more often!

Hasta pronto, Monika

April Update

My first horse ride in Costa Rica!


The fourth month of 2007 and the beginning of the rainy season. The rain comes usually in the afternoon around 2:00 to be exact and lasts for about 2 hours. Sometimes it is a light little shower and other times it is a grand storm with lots of lightening and thunder taking out the power.
Mangos are in season and it is amazing to see hundreds of them hanging from the trees. It is quite a site!
We passed a very quite and calm Semana Santa (holy week or Easter week). As of Wednesday in the week, everything was closed…grocery, liquor, restaurants and even buses! Everyone really respects this week and takes the opportunity to descansar (relax) as it really the only time all year where stores close for extended periods of time. We enjoyed the company of our long term guest Marilyn and watched the festivities in town with the church. Really quite something to see and experience. We also spent some time in Nicaragua as we had to leave Costa Rica as our 3 months were up. You can really sense a difference in the country with the new Ortega government. Perhaps this was my own imagination…it will be interesting to see what happens…if anything.
The remainder of April and May will be interesting to see. Nancy will be coming to spend some time here as well as Bernie (a long time friend of Karl and Eric’s). We will keep you posted with our adventures!

Hasta luego!


La saison est presque termine, et oui,,, le parfait temps pour visiter tranquillement le costa rica….. C est ce que je pense,,,,, mais bon.
Nous prenons le temps de relaxer, faire du sport, vélo de montagne, aller a la piscine,,,
Notre ami d enfance Bernard « ,bernie « est ici pour un mois a explorer les trails de vélo de montagne et prendre du bon temps . Super,,,
Nous voyons un nombre incroyable de gens venir investir et apprendre l espagnol ici dans la vallée centrale ….ça m intéresse et par curiosité je pose des questions.La réponse qui revient le plus souvent ex : Je prend ma retraite et avec ce que je recevrai comme pension j en ai pas assez pour bien vivre.
Tanne de payer des taxes exorbitantes… ce que je leur conseille le plus souvent c est de venir vivre un an louer une maison (300 us/ petite maison confortable) et s imprégner et de voir si on aime le pays. En venant vivre ici t apprendra a connaître les gens et en même temps s il y a des deals pour des terrains ou des maisons tu pourra en profiter.
Si vous avez des rêves ou des idée SVP ecrivez nous pour les partager.
Saludos

Spanish Language Learning in Grecia, Costa Rica

Spanish Class in Grecia!

Well, we had a few clients of harmoniacasa enter into the Spanish immersion program here in Grecia! How exciting!! It feels really great to see a vision actually become a reality! We feel that the potential for people to come here to Grecia to learn Spanish and more about the culture is great. We are currently in works with a school in Victoria to assist with bringing students to Grecia also! I have also been doing some leg work and organizing volunteer opportunities in different parts of the community. That has really pushed a comfort zone for me, because I know that I am a people person, but I am not really good at going into a situation of the unknown…like I said, learning everyday! I am looking forward to the developments!
We are really enjoying the city of Grecia! It feels really good and I am happy to be able to enjoy this incredible journey. In these past few weeks, we have met some really special people at the B&B also. It is a special experience with the B&B because you have the opportunity to meet so many people….and so many come in and out of your life. I feel that those that we have encountered have left me knowing a bit more of myself…it is really unique. It is amazing what life presents to you when you stop and listen to yourself.
Everything is as it should be…please do not hesitate to contact us and let us know what you think or if you have any questions or suggestions! We would love to hear from you all!

Karlos`Korner
Voila trois mois que nous sommes installe a Grecia Costa rica.
Notre principal activité et business est le B&B mais aussi harmoniacasa.com .
On voit beaucoup de potentiel dans l apprentissage de l espagnol et le homestay(vivre avec une famille typique costaricienne).Nous travaillons a établir des liens avec des écoles de Colombie Britannique et agent du Japon et Corée , tous ces gens avec qui Monika travaillait lorsque nous étions a Victoria semble être curieux et intéresse a travailler avec nous.Eric mon frère s occupera de faire des contacts a partir de Montréal ou il vit maintenant.
Nous avons établi de bonne relation avec les gens de Grecia afin d offrir des stages intéressant dans plusieurs domaines d activités .Nous essaierons d être en interaction avec nos site Web et de vous offrir des nouvelles le plus souvent possible. Si vous avez des idées ou des propositions, SVP n hésitez pas à nous écrire.
Karl

B and B Grecia….new partners!

So here we are almost the middle of February in Costa Rica in the Central Valley in a city called Grecia. A long way from Little Corn Island in both distance and time. We have become the proud new partners in B and B Grecia! Can you believe it? I am still getting my feet on the ground and digesting the news. I am really happy and excited about the adventure! It has almost been 1 year since we left Canada and it feels like we are where we are supposed to be. Please visit our website at http://www.bandbgrecia.com/ and we are working on updates and new information. We have been pretty occupied running tours to coffee plantations, canopy adventures and waterfall forest trekking. We also have a full house at the moment and it will be pretty steady for the remaining of February.
We are both looking forward to staying here in Grecia. The people, views and and atmosphere is really welcoming and feels really good.
Karl has been keeping busy with his projects of building butcher block tables and I have been organizing things here at the B and B and getting to know more of the area and the people. Our project here is to host people that are travelling through as well as to provide a place to come and enter into an immersion program for learning Spanish and staying in a homestay family with also a possibility of volunteering. We think that Grecia is a perfect place to work on this project. It is a small enough city that you can easily walk to everywhere and have the opportunity to practise what you are learning in your Spanish class with your family and the people in the park and in the stores. Everyone is always anxious to stop and talk and learn more about you!

Pretty big news that is keeping us occupied which feels really good also! We hope to hear from everyone and also to see you also!

Hasta luego! Monika




Easy to get to from all different locations! Visit us also on www.bandbgrecia.com!

Karl s corner.
Ca fait un petit bout que je n avais pas écrit un petit message. Et oui nous sommes partenaire au bandbgrecia.com depuis une semaine maintenant, comme Monika dit je ne fais pas que construire des tables je m occupe aussi de faire des tours, plantation de café, chute magnifique, jardins, volcan, etc. entretien, achat, en gros Monika fait de l argent et moi je la dépense …….
Ca fait du bien d avoir notre propre place et je pense qu on réalisera quelque chose de fantastique ici a Grecia. Les possibilité sont énorme autant pour l hospitalité et l immersion dans une famille typique du Costa rica que pour l apprentissage de l espagnol, découverte et aventure .Nous travaillons présentement a trouver d autres familles capable de recevoir des gens en immersion et de développer le marche anglophone http://www.harmoniacasa.com/ jouera un rôle dans l immersion et apprentissage d espagnol au costa rica et au Nicaragua alors SVP allez faire un tour sur notre site de temps en temps.
Saludos
Karlitos

Adventures with Mo!

Quetzal! Rappel! Tortuguero!


This week was quite something! We were touring around with Karl's brother Eric and stopped at this mirador known for being a home for Quetzals which is a rare bird and we were actually able to see both the male and the female! It was incredible...the bird is so beautiful with such vivid bright colours. Karl was incredibly happy as this bird is something he has always wanted to see. It was awesome.





Another adreniline pumping moment for me this week was my adventure rappeling down Los Chorros which is a waterfall about 75 feet high. I was not nervous until I reached the top and looked down...it was almost a no go but decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and went for it. I can now confidently recommend doing it.





To finish the week, I had the opportunity to travel to Tortuguero which is home to the largest nesting area for the sea turtle in the Western Hemisphere. Tortuguero can only be reached by boat or plane and is a penisula with one side the Caribbean sea and the other side the Tortuguero river. The village is quaint with a Caribbean flare and reminded me alot of Little Corn Island. It was absolutely incredible to see the wildlife...we spotted a very large crocodile, monkeys, lots of pelicans and even a sloth! It was very happy to end my week with this exciting adventure!





Hasta luego!


Mo

Pura Vida

The first day of 2007 at the Hot Springs!

Catarata del Torro Waterfall...Incredible!

Feliz Ano ! Happy New Year to everyone. We spent a great New Year's Eve with Eric and his guests at the B&B where we prepared a dinner for everyone to enjoy and bring in the New Year. On the first day of 2007 we took a drive to the Volcan Arenal and enjoyed a leisurely day in the hot sprints at Baldi resort. We swam in water that was 47 degress C. I could not think of a better way to bring in the New Year.

We have been enjoying experiencing the life in Grecia where the people are warm and friendly and always ready to give you a smile and a hello. The city is located in the Central valley and offers beautiful mountain views, fresh temperatures and a variety of activities to participate in. It is a great city to begin a Costa Rican adventure.

We are taking a break from the island here and enjoying practising our Spanish! We wish everyone the best in 2007!

Karl's Korner

Nous passons du bon temps ici a Grecia . Nous sommes allez visiter Bajos del Toro, magnifigue amphitheatre de verdure avec une chute de 125m, endroit pas trop touristique encore mais qui le deviendra surement. Nous sommes aller surfer a Esterillos et pris de superbe photos. La temperature dans la vallee est agreable cela nous permet de prendre un break de la plage. Nous retournons en fevrier nous occuper de Dereck's place sur little corn. Nous vous tiendrons aux courants. Bonne annee a tous. PS Je n'ai fait aucune resolutions cette annee!