Thursday, May 02, 2013

Since our family vacation to Costa Rica had gone so well, Beverly and I decided to return to Playa Esterillos for a less family trip in the early years of the century.  We flew into San Jose again and drove in the dark to the Pacific coast.  The lodgings at Le Auberge Pelican were under new management and we had hoped they would have upgraded the rooms a bit, but they were pretty basic.  It was definitely not Beverly’s first choice, but after you land and inertia takes over, it is difficult to get moving again.  We spent a week there but would have been happier in another location.  

It has now been a decade since we have traveled to Costa Rica.  In our absence, the highways have improved, the people are still friendly, and the weather is still beautiful.  Align Technology, the Invisalign company, began making their product in Pakistan, but when the World Trade Center was attacked in 2001, the fear of instability in the region made them look for another location.  A world-wide search landed them in San Jose, Costa Rica.  The workflow actually goes from an Orthodontist who makes impressions for the patients via UPS to El Paso, Texas and across the border to Juarez, Mexico where the impressions are digitally scanned and the 3D image is sent to Costa Rica.  There, the technicians, working with the doctor, move the teeth to the desired position at which point the work product is sent back to Juarez where the aligners are produced and shipped out again UPS from El Paso to wherever the Orthodontist happens to be.  Several years ago, Align began a continuing education course in San Jose which features a morning spent with a technician that becomes permanently assigned to the Orthodontist.  Having an assigned technician who understands what the Orthodontist wants greatly facilitates the process.

Robert and I decided that we very much needed to go to the course in San Jose to become educated, and while we were here, we might as well vacation too.  Beverly and I arrived on Thursday night and the course was Friday and Saturday.  Beverly had researched all possible places to stay in depth, as she always does, and decided that a rental house on Playa Junquillal would be perfect.  A few days ago, I wrote about our first experience together in Costa Rica, staying for several days at Antumalal.  It turns out that it closed and was abandoned about 15 years ago,  but the rental house is several spaces down the beach from there.  The house has been pretty close to perfect.  The house and grounds are extremely well looked after with a pool in the back yard and a side gate directly onto the beach.  The pool is like warm bathwater and the ocean is only a few degrees cooler with a steady supply of waves for boogy boarding.  Air Conditioned, with a full kitchen, washer, dryer, ice maker, televisions, internet…..I am not getting a commission for their rental business, but this is the nicest private location we’ve stayed at.  Message me if you want details. 

The end of a vacation always comes too fast and tomorrow we drive back to San Jose to begin the flight home to Eagle River.  It was snowing when we left a week ago and has been raining and snowing on and off since.  I can hardly wait to get there.