Hi from Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica Merry Christmas and a very wonderful New Year to all of our friends! Our very best thing about Christmas away from Santa Cruz was my brother, Matt, and his wife coming to visit us. Despite some really lame treatment by Mexicana Airlines (avoid them if at all possible!!) and not getting their luggage until 10pm the night before they returned home, we had a great time. We snorkeled in the area of Playa de Coco and went running on the beach together and ate yummy food and had lots of good talks. Matt, Brooke and I went up to the mountains to some hot springs and spent a lot of time on the very personality-filled public transportation. Good times to talk and see the scenery. It's amazing how much we miss conversations with friends. It was very refreshing to have friends (aka family) on the boat with us. With the new year already here we are acutely aware of how little time we have left before we leave the Americas. We've decided to leave from Panama the 3rd week in February and arrive in the Galapagos Islands a week later. That's only 7 WEEKS AWAY! Although we have the inevitable list of things to do (fill the boat to the brim with food, buy a new outboard engine, take the mast down to run new wires to the light at the top, finish some sewing and repair projects, get charts for the south pacific islands, etc.) we are very grateful that the major projects have already been done over the last few years. We're also grateful for a year of practice on Nomad. We know her better, know each other better as sailing partners, and have made a few mistakes that were good to learn from. We're as ready as we could be. Brian and Megan