One quirk. . .

About getting married in Costa Rica. . . Since we did a civil ceremony, and had to sign the protocol de registrio, we had to agree to obey the laws of Costa Rica.

Not a problem.

Naturally, the laws were written a long time ago, and the lawyer actually apologized a bit as he was reading us the legal-ese in Spanish.

Highlights (or lowlights):

**The man agrees to bring home the dinero and bacon and to take care of the lady and manage the finances;

**The wife agrees to keep the house and the kids;

We did ask if we could substitute kids for pooches (Mini, Akila and Coquita) and the lawyer informed us that it was not possible.

Considering that the editorial department would be lost without the art department's aid in the finances, we have already broken the law and are getting a feel for living life on the lam!

Getting hitched. . . again. . .

For those in the know, this is No. 3 for the editorial department. . . and No. 2 for the art department.

Because of a quirk in the Costa Rican legal system, we got hitched again. Why?

Long story, though here is the gist:

Lucy's health insurance is linked to the editorial department, as we are both permanent residents of Costa Rica (like a green card in the States).

HOWEVER, in order for Lucy to renew her carnet (Costa Rica insurance) we had to show proof of marriage.

No problem, as we had the translated license from the U.S. from 2005 that we used to get our residency.

HOWEVER, in order for Lucy to be covered, the license from the States that we have is no longer valid. Meaning, we would have to fly back to California, get a copy of the original license, take it to the Costa Rican consulate (Los Angeles), have it translated and back in the hands of Costa Rican immigration--all within a time frame of 30 days, or else the whole process would need to be done again.

HOWEVER, if we were to do the hitchin' down here (like hundreds of other ex-pats); then we would not have to jump through all of the hoops.

So, we contacted a lawyer friend of ours, who knew a lawyer who does the hitchin', and we tied the knot once again.

The parents of the editorial department wanted to know why we were wearing black at the second hitchin'. Fill in the blanks with comments below.

So, the second hitchin' took place on September 29, though the official second hitchin' will be October 1, our 11th anniversary and there will be a hootenanny at the hotel.

Lazy, lazy and lazy again. . .

No good excuses, just been occupied with life in Costa Rica and everything else. Here is a link for folks to check out:

http://www.wkow.com/story/33099869/2016/09/15/multiple-fire-departments-called-to-large-fire-overnight-in-town-of-westport

The parents of the editorial side are featured in this story, and are fortunately doing just fine.

We will try to have more posts for other things going ahead (though the editorial department did forget the password to log in!)

Fortunate once again. . .

To be honored by one of the larger travel sites in the world. This is the fifth or sixth straight year that Tree Houses has been awarded an honor by Trip Advisor. Thanks to all of the folks who have stayed with us and for those of you that haven't, get yourselves down here!

Sloth sighting!

It has been a while since we've had a sloth on the site, so here you go!

This one was wondering what the sam hill was going on as it was heading down a tree by one of the tree houses.

Nice. . .

To be honored by one of the larger travel sites in the world. This is the fifth or sixth straight year that Tree Houses has been awarded an honor by Trip Advisor. Thanks to all of the folks who have stayed with us and for those of you that haven't, get yourselves down here!

Coquita still thinks

That she is still 5 pounds and a lapdog, as evidenced by her behavior with the art department.

Water games

Coquita is getting bigger (now 9 months and close to 50 pounds) though she is still very much a water dog. She loves to hike down to the river or waterfall and go swimming with the guests.

More great pictures. . .

Of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog.

It is a critter that we are lucky to see most nights of the week.

OK, so this is what Pa Eidson was doing more of during the making of the tortillas. However, it was about 90F with humidity around 95 percent.

When you can find a place to relax in the jungle, you go for it!

Still working on the tortillas. . .

By Ma and Pa Eidson (dad Eidson is just to the left of the picture). The tortillas are made and then cooked atop a wood stove. They are really, really good.

The Eidson clan

In Costa Rica! Here is Pat (mom) at our friend's house, cooking away for dinner with them.

Ma Eidson is a whiz in the kitchen, though this may have been the first time for her making corn tortillas from scratch (and they were great).

Long, long time. . .

And without a doubt, the editorial department has been incredibly lazy. There was a trip up north for the holidays (and some time stranded at O'Hare) though now we are back. This is a great photo of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog (non-venomous) that we are lucky enough to see regularly.

The Rufus Mot-Mot

One of the more striking birds that we get to see down here at the hotel. The tail breaks into two pieces and looks like two ping-pong paddles.

The Rufus is larger than most of the mot-mots that we see down here, and is always great to come across.

A cousin to the toucan. . .

If you look up high and in the middle, you'll see a Collared Arakari, a cousin to the Toucan. These birds swoop down regularly for breakfast at the rancho and will make appearances regularly at the tree houses in the mornings as well.

Chacalaca!

T

This bird has a name that sounds like something from the SyFy channel (in Spanish, that would be the Canal SyFy).

The Chacalaca, in Spanish, loves to scoot around until it needs to take flight, so we are fortunate enough to see it around here regularly.

They are larger birds that shoot around, mostly on the ground, until they feel/hear the pooches, then they take flight.

The Chacalacs can kick up some serious noise when they want.

Just cool. . .

This little dude was spotted around and was just too cool to pass up. Non-lethal, just fun to watch hop and jump around.

Growing up. . .

Lucy came upon Akila one day when she was driving back from Fortuna. Akila was just a wisp of a pup, and was hop-scotching between traffic on the main road between us and Fortuna.

Lucy pulled over, dashed into traffic and pulled Akila out. Akila was tiny, weighing 1.2 kilograms at the time, and could barely walk from one end of our house to the next.

Now, Akila is a maniac and tears around the grounds.

FYI: Her name comes from a kilo (2.2 pounds) when we found her, though since she is a girl, in Spanish, there is an "a" on the end of her name, hence Akila (just a bit over a kilogram). She has long-since outgrown her name.

Akila. . .

Here is Akila. Lucy pulled Akila out of traffic on a busy road 2 years ago and she has been living here ever since.

Akila is 3 years old now and is just a wild one when in the jungle.

Her underbite endears her to everyone that visits Tree Houses.

Relaxing. . .

Just for a brief moment. Coquita is growing rapidly, and sometimes is very, very mellow. Coquita is one of nine pups from a litter. The family dropped off all nine at the vet, and we chose Coquita, who was the runt of the litter at the time. The other day, Lucy was at the vet's office, and someone brought in one of Coquita's siblings. Unfortunately, Coquita's sister was much smaller, had lost a lot of fur and was all-around not as healthy as Coquita, who is more than chunky and happy here at the hotel. If you look close at the paws and ears (especially those gi-normous ears) Coquita isn't even close to done growing. Still, she thinks that she is a lap dog and will jump up on us at any time.