Toot, toot, II

It appears that the hotel has picked up another Trip Advisor.com kudo. The other day, Lucy noticed that Tree Houses Hotel Costa Rica has been named the No. 1 hotel in all of Central America for families.

How this is all figured out is still a mystery to us, and it comes on the heels of the hotel being named best service in the region and No. 11 for service in Central America.

We did get a plaque for the first honor in the mail about a week ago (it was about three months after the hotel was first honored) so perhaps another will show up around July.

Construction update. . .

Yep, these pictures are a bit outdated, but we were gone and this is what we have. This is the Yiguirro tree house, the newest one. It's nearly all finished now. This is the view from the lookout point that extends 6 feet past the normal patio on the other tree houses.

The first guests are due to check into the Yiguirro on April 11 and while all the doors and windows are now on it, there is still quite a bit of work to do before the first folks arrive.

Update II

Here's a look at the inside. Now there are beds inside and the cabinets, etc.

This is from the back end looking out and you can see the front of the lookout through the door in the center.

Nearly everything is in place. However, being Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday was Semana Santa (Holy Week) not a lot is getting done during this time, as everything, save for tourist-related businesses, are closed down during this time.

Aw crud. . .

With the new tree house ready to open, we finally had a good rain around here (the first in a long time).

We all guessed wrong: The new tree house is facing the rain, so when it comes down, the lookout gets soaked and the first six stairs catch a lot of water as well.

Palomino and the boys are coming back on Monday and there will be a flurry of activity to get everything done and ready and keep folks dry on their porch before April 11, when the first guests check in.

Back. . .

We've actually been back for nearly three weeks. . . We went to visit Lucy's family in California, and we both brought back an unwanted souvenir: a cold.

Couple that with Ma and Pa Eidson visiting, and we figured that since two-thirds of our loyal readers were down here in Costa Rica, we didn't need to post.

We had a blast in California, saw some movies, shopped for stuff we can't find down here and came back to a full load of guests and new construction still going strong.

Vacation? You don't need no stinkin' vacation. . .

At least according to our three loyal readers, we don't, since we've been slugs in posting anything of late.

Yes, we've been busy with full houses every night; we're running back and forth to the hardware store and lumber yard to get supplies for the new house; we have plenty of excuses.

Now we have free time. We're vamoosing and will be back, with Ma and Pa Eidson in tow, on March 15, so we may get something up shortly after that.

We're heading to Visalia, Calif., to visit family back there, eat a lot of good food, relax and most likely buy everything that isn't nailed down, as this will be our first visit to the States in nearly a year.

No warranty for jungle use. . .

In this increasingly electronic world, the rainforest and jungle of Costa Rica isn't exactly kind to electronics.

Hawaii was tough, as well, particularly when you were near the water; which is pretty much everywhere in the Islands.

However, it seems that the humidity and weather down this way takes a particularly tough toll on the gadgets.

Amazon Kindle? Shot after about a year. Ipod Nano? Two done in less than a year.

I would love to upgrade to a Kindle Fire or a bigger Ipod, but it just doesn't seem to make much sense to pony up the extra moolah for something that is going to go belly up in a year or less.