New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve day started out with no power. It had been off since late the night before. Windstorms had blown down a tree that took down a power pole. Hannah and Francisco had seen the flashes of blue light and wondered if an alien spacecraft was landing in their yard. So while I went to yoga at Rio Shanti, BigJohn headed up the road to La Colina to have a look. The tree had just missed taking out the La Colina Lodge sign which was a bit of good luck.

 Do you remember in an earlier post I'd talked about our first breakfast in Monteverde where I thought I'd smelled smoke and Hannah told me they cook over a wood fire at Casem's? Which is handy when the power is out as they are still cooking meals there! So that's where BigJohn and Francisco ended up having their morning coffee.

 

We decided to watch the sunset at Hotel Belmar as we heard they had this great new bartender.

Isn't she just the cutest!  They also have a fantastic deck for sunset viewing.

 This is the view of their hot tub and a small swimming pond further down the hill.

 Then it was down the road towards Santa Elena for pizza at Dikary's Restaurant. That link goes to their Trip Advisor reviews. I thought the pizza was good but BigJohn was disappointed. As he will be for the rest of his life if he continues to compare every pizza to the ones George makes at D&D Restaurant in Naknek, AK. I'm afraid George has ruined pizza for BigJohn.

 

I do love our bamboo Christmas tree but it appears I may be suffering from CTD (Christmas Tree Deprivation) as I continue to take pictures of every tree I see. It's just sad.

 Francisco and Hannah's friend used to have a bar next to this restaurant called Tres Monos (Three Monkeys) that just closed down a couple weeks ago. I bet that was a rockin' place! Monkeys! This friend is going to be the photographer at their wedding in March.

 While BigJohn and Francisco waited for the pizza, I checked out the gift shop downstairs.

 Oh, and did I mention there was a little fire dancing going on? If you build a fire BigJohn will dance around it.

Picture of the lovely waitress was ruined by this overhead light. Next time!

 Back to the gift shop. This is Diego from Bolivia. I was looking for a prize for my blog commenter raffle and this appeared to be a good place.

 This is the kind of items they are selling. And I did find a prize for Brandie who won the blog raffle. Good news for the rest of you is that I am having another raffle when the blog count reaches 5000. Which could be very soon!

(I bet Brandie is wondering if her prize is in one of the photos.)

 

 And then it was off to La Colina Lodge because we heard they were having some music there. Here's the owner, Nanci, who greeted us at the door. I've mentioned her in earlier posts. She's pretty cool. Remember she runs with her posse of four dogs?

This was the first time I'd been in the lodge dining room. I love their furniture! All of it was hand-painted years ago by Nancy and her kids. Every chair and table is different. It is awesome!!

But you know what the coolest thing about Nanci is? Take a look at this picture that I copied without permission from her Facebook page. (Hope that doesn't upset her if she ever finds out. It probably won't. But that's the chance you take when you post a photo on FB.)  And Yes! She is friends with Iron Man! Can you believe it!

Fun times at La Colina visiting with friends and making new friends. Music was great. It was the same family that performed at the Friend's Christmas program. I remembered them well because they sang that song about the Welsh tradition of dressing up a dead wren and taking it door to door. That kind of stuck in my mind. They were joined by a sax player. Awesome! And a great way to end 2012!