01: real access to social services - With my mother at an old folks home, my brother finally gets access to a real social worker and perhaps more of his SSI money.
02: pre-Costa-Rica packing - I have to make sure I have all the things I need and that I'm leaving the woodstove in good shape for the housesitter.
03: unpleasant cannabis and hospitality - Eating too much pot before boarding a plane and our hostess is an unfunny woman who makes us feel bad for no reason.
04: Calle Cóbano - A noisy, crowded beach road that isn't too much fun to walk along.
05: what it takes to have a fancy house in Costa Rica - Wet take a late night stroll of the neighborhood.
06: two-factor authentication trap - A few issues to deal with before I can begin working remotely from Costa Rica.
07: how to escape the wicked witch - Gretchen accidentally rents another place for two weeks in Montezuma.
08: a whale and some hermit crabs - Also, sourdough pizza.
09: electronics stores in Costa Rica - The sell refrigerators and laptops but not HDMI cables.
10: the delivery of an ATV - Gretchen gets sick of walking the dusty main drag of Santa Teresa.
11: Playa Cuevas - Down the west coast of as far as the roads go in our rented ATV.
12: advice for Canadian newlyweds - They were sitting at the next table this evening at Drift.
13: rock bottom for Powerful - Now he's using a credit card Gretchen had him on just to build up his credit, evidently after, well, destroying his credit. Also, Gretchen doesn't feel so great after last night's lasagna.
14: Valentines Day in Santa Teresa - Greasy food and a slow-to-arrive caja.
15: treed critter in the night - The dogs tree a raccoon who doesn't get a chance to escape until morning. Also, dealing with an irritating magpie jay.
16: birthday #55 - Just another workday in Costa Rica.
17: decamp to Montezuma - A new casita, this time with monkeys.
18: hiking superpower - A walk to the falls on the Montezuma River and successfully hitchhiking back to the casita.
19: shortcut to Agua Vista - All we had to do was cross a dilapidated barbed wire fence.
20: Boris the Lizard - Another, bigger poolside lizard. Also, Gretchen melts down about how ghetto things are at our casita.
21: where Boris sleeps at night - Watching him emerge from beneath the pool deck. Also, a toucan.
22: long skinny snake - What I saw climbing a palm tree. Also, two trogons and some howler monkeys.
23: a visitor to our vacation - One of Gretchen's former students flies in from American exile in Barbados.
24: Casa Frangipani trail - It's not really something one would want to take more than once.
25: sushi and spaghetti - There's a good restaurant across the street from Casa Frangipani.
26: monkeys among the wires - It looks dangerous, but they all do it.
27: overlooking the center of Montezuma - We move down from Toucan Hill to a two-pool hotel inside the town of Montezuma.
28: chicken sculpture - We run into the guy who recommended Gretchen go snorkeling at Las Islas Tortugas after she comes back from doing that.