![\"Tree](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erikdolson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Tree-House.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAt first Susan wasn’t sure she would want to do the zip lines, but after the first one, she was all smiles as we flew from tree to tree, one line itself 800 meters long. We’d walked the the trails the day before, we climbed vines and huge trunks trellised with roots descending from parasitic plants high above to nourishment on the forest floor.<\/p>\n
We were a couple of kids, the rain forest in Costa Rica not\u00a0 unlike the Oregon woods where I grew up. Susan told me she\u2019d broken both bones in her left wrist when she jumped out of a tree to get away from a spider as a 12-year-old tomboy in New Mexico.<\/p>\n
We did everything we could in the two days we had in the rain forest, then on the third, it was time to move on. We caught a ride to Playa Hermosa along the north coast, to a hotel on the beach where the food and weather were perfect.<\/p>\n
I ran for miles on the sand then read and outlined the conclusion of the book \u201cButterflies\u201d while Susan jumped rope and worked out in the room. Eventually it was time to pack up and head to our next stop, Playa El Joba. Susan sat on the floor, as she often does, amid bags and and clothes, reorganizing her packs. I had all my stuff spread out on the bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really IS something!\u201d she said, leaping to her feet. I walked over as she pulled her bags back, and about 24 inches from where she had been sitting, a black scorpion the size of my thumb sat facing the room.<\/p>\n
I got a glass from the counter and put it over the scorpion before it could scuttle off and disappear, then a card from the desk to slide under the glass so our stinging roommate could be put outside on the sunlit deck for a few camera shots, then off the deck he went, back to the vegetation below our second floor room.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Susan looked at the corner by the bedroom door.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s that?!\u201d she said, an edge in her voice. \u201cIs it a bug or a door stop?\u201d She wasn\u2019t wearing her glasses.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just the door stop,\u201d I said, looking over to the corner where the black rubber bumper of the stainless steel stop did look a little dark and ominous.<\/p>\n At least, that\u2019s what I thought she had seen as we were pulling our things together in Playa Hermosa for the late checkout and ride to our next stop in Costa Rica.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not like there wasn\u2019t reason to think \u2026 Read more\u2026 <\/a><\/p>\n