Ryan's Adventure

When my 21yr old nephew Ryan from Columbus, OH caught wind that I was in Costa Rica for the winter, he immediately seized the opportunity to scratch a travel bug.  Ryan was on winter break from his final year at Miami (OH) University, studying sports management.  He had been to New Zealand in 2019 and wanted to see another part of the world.  Costa Rica had been on his radar because he loves nature at least as much as I do.

It's a reminder that people can still make things happen in this difficult era.  Yes, there were health care concerns, primarily voiced by his mother Michelle (my sister).  She didn't want to see anything put his final year of college at risk.  There were also financial concerns about how to make it work on a college student's budget.  And there were travel concerns of crossing borders as each country is reacting to COVID.  But none of that stopped Ryan.

It was fun to be a part of this family event.  While I was the catalyst to make it happen, he wouldn't have been able to do it without his grandpa Jerry buying the airline ticket.  I chipped in and bought the rental car.  Michelle helped him think through the logistics.  And Alex helped us understand what was feasible for Ryan's 5-night trip. 

All of this reminds me of the efforts my family has done to help me travel at a similar age.  My grandmother Betty helped me visit my Aunt Pamela and cousins Nathan and Gabriel in Venezuela as a teenager.  My mother helped me see France during high school.  My dad took me to Hawaii during high school to see the island where he grew up.  And my other grandmother Tutu helped me visit her in the San Francisco area after graduating from high school.  These memories will last a lifetime, as I hope Ryan's trip to Costa Rica does for him.

So with that team in place, Ryan recruited his college buddy Gabe to join him on the adventure.  They flew down on a Sunday morning.  Alex and I got them set up in the rental car, equipped them with supplies for the week, fed them a meal, and gave them a place to stay for the night.  Monday morning at 5am they were off. 

I would have liked to go with them, but I had to work.  And besides, I'm too old to hang with these college kids.  I would have been holding them back.  They spent four nights in hostels, meeting people from around the world, and probably staying up way past my bedtime!  They soaked up the Santa Teresa beaches, swam in the Montezuma waterfalls, visited the cloud forest Monte Verde, and zip lined the Arenal volcano.  They returned to San Jose on Friday to fly back home.  Whew!  

Meanwhile, back in San Jose, Alex and I helped her brother Silvio (red shirt) celebrate his 50th birthday.  Alex is the oldest of four siblings. 

Family here in Costa Rica is very tight.  I'm thoroughly enjoying family time.  Alex's parents and two of the brothers all live on the same property.  The third brother and Alex both live nearby.  It's refreshing to see a family live so close together as a contrast to my family who each lives in different cities.  The three brothers even work with their father and mother in the family business (a bank).