Costa Rican praises.

For the last several years we've traveled the world looking for an ideal retirement location [Travel Queeries, March/April]. Our steps so far have been to take a two-week vacation arranged through Costa Rican Trails, which provided a rental Toyota RAV4 and hotel vouchers redeemable throughout the country. Though for the most part, we stayed one night in each location, we found the country small enough that often a change in location was only an hour or so drive. Our next step is taking a three-month sabbatical toward the end of the rainy season (we were there in the dry season) to thoroughly investigate and get a feel for living down there.

In addition to the general feeling of pura vida (and being away from George Bush's America) we really enjoyed the spirit of Americans working alongside the "Ticos" in improving skills and providing jobs. I can give countless examples of this, including one hotel owner passing along gourmet cooking skills to locals who work in the hotel kitchen. Also, The Beach Times and Tico Times are two online English-language newspapers published locally, and there are several gay Web sites originating from Costa Rica.

KENT CARTHEY, Walnut Creek, Calif.