exploring

"And the end of all our exploring

 Will be to arrive where we started

 And know the place for the first time"-T.S.Eliot

Ten days into the month of March, 2020 my husband and I embarked on a vacation trip to the country of Costa Rica. We had never been there and thought it would be an interesting short trip that we could fit in with his college spring break week. I began planning this trip six months ago. I bought a Lonely Planet guidebook and a large map of the country. I researched places to see on Trip Advisor and booked excursions online months ago. I had hoarded airline miles and hotel points. It was all planned down to the hours of each day. Have I mentioned how much I love to travel? And the vicarious pleasure of planning and looking at websites months ahead with anticipation is almost as good.

My husband is not a lounge-on-the-beach-relax-all-day kind of guy. Well, neither am I, although I always hope for some time to sketch and maybe get my watercolors out. Traveling And Painting is really the best!
So we did a few planned activities, including one long day of adventures. We went with a tour group to a volcano to soak in hot springs, zip-line down a river gorge, ride on horseback up the side of the volcano and finally inner-tube rafting down river rapids. The river rapids adventure was really intense. No sketching that day. We also booked a sailing and snorkeling trip which was lovely.
Unfortunately all the fun ended abruptly with the news from home that urgent travel restrictions were suddenly coming. I changed our return flight, cancelled another snorkeling trip and we left early. The last night of our stay I sat on the beach and sketched rapidly as the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean. Now in hindsight, we should not have taken this trip. March 2020 will go down in history as one of the most disruptive times in history.