In February of 2004, my wife and I were invited to attend the Julia and David White Artist's Colony in Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica. We spent a total of four weeks at the colony, and traveled around the country for an additional two weeks. It is a lush, ecologically-oriented country, with a rich variety of plants and animals everywhere you look. There are cloud forests, rain forests, tropical dry savannah, volcanos, waterfalls, beaches... The climate is superb, and in the valley where the colony is located it stays the perfect temperature for painting en plein air year 'round. Many Americans retire there because the climate is so delightful.