Bidding farewell to Atenas, we hopped a bus for the famous surf/beach town of Jaco. On the way, we outsmarted and intimidated three men who were conspiring to steal one or more of our backpacks. It helped that Bill was about twice their size and has a cold, menacing stare, but they were conniving little varmints and not easily discouraged.

But we made it to Jaco with all our crap intact. We checked into our great little 2 bedroom condo right on the beach (“home” for the next month), including a rooftop perch from which to greet the day and see great sunsets at night. And a huge pool for when we tire of the beach. This is a true party town, with all that comes with it, good and bad. We’re going to show Jaco what good clean family fun is, because our kids are on there way. We’ll be armed with a 15 passenger van and unlimited 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke. Look out!