Please accept my apologies, Dear Reader, for not posting last week. Here is my excuse: We were in Costa Rica. 

Even so, I planned to post on Tuesday as usual, but something happened. My computer went haywire when we were less than halfway through our two-week trip. It was not convenient to remedy this problem while in Costa Rica, so I shut the thing down and did not look at it again until we returned to Madison. Then it took a few days to get up and running again with a new machine. 

So here I am, back again, just in time to post for Tuesday. Could I have posted last week, I would probably have come up with something beyond wonderful. But at this moment, all I’ve got is a mini-travelog on Costa Rica.

It’s a great place to visit, Gentle Reader. Go if you get the chance. 

Costa Rica is one Central American republic that works very well. You can drink the water. The roads are good. The electricity is reliable.

But why would you go? 

Scientists believe Costa Rica was part of the last piece of American landmass that rose from the ocean, only a few million years ago. That completed a connection between the North and South American continents. Plants and animals, previously isolated, flowed from north and south into the space between. Agoutis and raccoons, ospreys and Montezuma oropendolas, red-eyed tree frogs, crocodiles, blue morpho butterflies, two-fingered and three-fingered sloths, and four different species of New World monkeys–spider, squirrel, howler, and white-faced capuchin–mingle extravagantly across a wild landscape.

Because of that mixing of previously isolated species, and because the land is mountainous, with varying elevations, wind patterns, and ocean currents, Costa Rica possesses more natural environmental diversity than almost any place on earth. Seashore, mountain peaks, volcanoes, sun, rain, tides—and hordes of birds, reptiles, mammals, insects, and other creatures—occupy this tropical slice of heaven. 

The human inhabitants, by the way, are first-rate. Friendly, helpful, literate, and industrious, they’ll help you enjoy your stay. 

My wife, Jo, and I visited twelve years ago. Our visit this year brought back fond memories, though the experiences were different. The tourism business is more highly developed now than it was a mere twelve years ago, but not enough to spoil the fun. 

This time we brought our daughter, Katie, and her two teenagers, Elsie and Tristan. We stayed in four different areas. We took nature hikes, lounged in hot springs from a volcano, challenged the surf at a Pacific Ocean beach, and went whitewater rafting, ziplining, snorkeling, and volcano climbing. A good time was had by all. 

Next week I’ll get back to some other topic, but in the immediate afterglow of our trip, it’s just nice to know a place like Costa Rica exists, even in January. 

Not to mention: You can’t find a bad cup of coffee in the whole country. 

Blessings,

Larry F. Sommers

Your New Favorite Writer