The girls wasted no time in getting into the natural springs… The 18 spas get heated by a vein of the Arenal volcano running just under us… — at The Springs Resort and Spa, Costa Rica.

It is called a rainforest for a reason… — at The Springs Resort and Spa, Costa Rica.

On the top of Cambroneros mountains. This is Pan American Highway – we had taken this same highway in Peru as well as Chile! I am told you can drive on this highway from southern tip of Chile all the way to San Francisco – provided you figured out how to cross the Panama Canal!

Yesss!!! Sharmila likes Herradura area as much as Zapaillar in Chile and is willing to consider settling down here instead of Zapaillar. As she pointed out, it is only 4 hours of flight instead of 9 to Atlanta.

Next few years Thanksgiving will be in Guatemala followed by Jamaica, Miami and then Valdosta, Georgia. If you get the drift, by 2018 I will have her convinced to just stay put in Atlanta 🙂

Settling down for a typical Costa Rican dinner “Casado”. As close to “thali” as it gets!!!

Somebody hit the bar early…

This one is 4 feet long. Literally begging for food from the folks by the pool…

Snapped these two in the tree. As I was trying to focus on them, a local helpfully explained to me that these macaws mate for life and are therefore always seen in pairs. My first reaction was “Mate for life?? First, respect the stamina! 🙂 Second, don’t even bother applying for a CIA position” 🙂 🙂

5K run. That would be the 11th country I put in a 5K run after US, Canada, India, Spain, Portugal, Germany, England, Peru, Chile and Argentina. I had to stop twice – partially due to the heat, humidity and hills. And partially because I have never seen so many colorful birds in one run….

Both the girls are down with stomach virus. That was a great opportunity to meet a lot of locals – while running or just making friends with the resort staff. Today I was focused on learning about the education system. Again, fascinating….
There are 50 universities! For a country of 4.3 million, that sounds like a lot. However, most of my questions were around K-12.
1. Education is mandatory for