CRL Get Together at Tequila Joe's

Saturday I went to a CRL get together at Tequila Joe's in Santa Ana. CRL stands for Costa Rica Living. It's a Yahoo group that I joined four years ago (could it be that long ago?!) when I was thinking of moving to Costa Rica. It's composed of about 4500 non-Costa Ricans who either live in Costa Rica or want to.

When I was first researching Costa Rica on the Internet from my home in Florida, I was befriended by several people in CRL, a couple of whom are still friends. By reading the questions and answers about everyday life and moving to a foreign country, I learned much of what helped me land on my feet when I finally made the move in August of 2005.

Every few months, whoever feels like it initiates a lunch get-together at a different restaurant. I volunteered to scope out Tequila Joe's because It would mean not having to drive very far. I talked to the owner, an American (geez, there are so many of us here), who assured me the indoor/outdoor restaurant could accommodate 100 or more of us, all with individual checks. The moderators of the Yahoo group decided this would be the place, so about 35 of us turned up for lunch. The Mexican food was just okay, but the socializing was very good.

I got to see old friends (George and Fred, John from Texas, Sharon/Dick/Maia - original friends from four years ago, LizBrit and Dick, Janet and Courney, Steve my grammar buddy, bold and funny Robbie, Sally/Hal and their two handome manchildren -to call them boys is such an understatement) and made some new ones.