Letter from Costa Rica:

Phil and Mary Bookman, formerly of Morada, live in Costa Rica, where they operate a dairy and horse ranch. Recently, the couple experienced a 6.2 earthquake and a visit from wealthy Russians. (Courtesy photo)

Letter from Costa Rica:

Earthquake claims a dream; Russian billionaire prefers to stay in his suite and play poker

Saturday, March 21, 2009 6:19 AM PDT

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We’ve had two exciting happenings here in the past few weeks.

The first was a 6.2 earthquake that killed at least 40 people, some buried alive. It was at Mount Poas, a volcano about five hours from here.

According to Costa Rica handbooks, the country is at the heart of one of the most active volcanic regions on earth. Costa Rica is home to seven of the ismuths’ 42 active volcanoes, plus 60 dormant or extinct ones.

Visitors seeking to peer into the bowels of a rumbling volcano can do so easily. The reward is a scene of awful grandeur. Atop Poas’s rim you can look down into a great well-like vent and see pools of molten lava bubbling menacingly, giving off wrenching fumes of chlorine and sulfur, and, for good effect, emitting explosive cracks, like the sound of distant artillery. Volcanologists monitor Poas constantly for impending eruptions.

It was near here that Leon built his lovely resort on a mountantop overlooking the valley, a truly wonderful view.

It had a Swiss style chalet, cabins and a restaurant. Leon was planning to move with his wife and daughter to Portugal. Perhaps he didn’t say it, but he felt his luck had run out. It had.

Leon estimated his property was worth about $2 million.

He offered it to us at a price far below the $2 million.

Without doing any research, we thought about it, and then said no. Leon’s $2 million property is now worth nothing.

The earthquake took his beautiful chalet, his cabins and badly damaged his restaurant. All of this in seconds. Fortunately, they escaped with their lives.

A local dairyman lost his wife, two sons and all but four of his cows. A government representative asked him what the government could do for him. “Nothing,” he said. “I will start all over without anyone’s help.”

A woman died trying to save her two sons. When found, it was with her arms wrapped around each.

Two men in a car stopped to have lunch at a small roadside resraurant noted for its views of the valley. As they opened the doors of the car, the restaurant slid off the land and into a chasm. The men were unharmed, but a crack in the road behind them left them isolated and waiting for rescue.

Five U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters arrived to help with the rescue.

“It’s good we’re here instead of Iraq,” said one crewman. “In Iraq, we might be killing people. Here, we’re helping them.”

•••

In her Christmas letter, Mary mentioned the wealthy Russian coming to our ranch for a rodeo. They were staying at The Four Seasons, a super luxury hotel.

You drive in along the plush green golf course that has beautiful views of the ocean. I think they have two or three greenskeepers for each hole.

There are three restaurants, contintntal, French and Italian.

The Russian boss, who brought along five associates and six women is one of the richest men in the world. When talking about him, neswmen speak of his billions.

He recently purchased one of the top soccer teams in England. He also owns Juventus of Turin and the Italian soccer league, and we heard he also owns a team in Brazil.

While here, he bought a small franchise near the capitol city of San Jose.

He was reportedly paying $14,000 a night for the hotel’s presidential suite.

A week before the event, their security team came over to inspect the facilities. Ten men showed up, all looking like they came from a James Bond movie. It was easy to spot them, all fairly tall, lean and with brushcuts. Mary and our general manager knocked themselves out preparing for the event. I told Mary it looked quite professional. I won’t tell you what we charged per head, but it was substantial and they deposited the money without question.

Before dinner, we had tropical fruits and goodies that were native to the area, booze of course, and “contrabando,” a white liquor that packs a helluva punch. Dinner was meat, chicken, another meat, black beans and other vegetables. With all of this the boss and his associates don’t show up, preferring to stay in the hotel to play poker. Five of the six women did, none overly pretty. All were in their mid to late 30’s and rail thin. They didn’t dare gain weight.

The previous day, an outing had been arranged to Mount Arenal, one of the country’s top tourist attractions.

After sightseeing, an exquisite French luncheon had been arranged. No one showed up for that and all of these events were pre-paid.

As Mary said, “They spill that much on the bar every night.” Oh, 50 people from the community were invited and they all showed up. We got a nice note from their travel person thanking us for putting on such a nice event.

Life In Costa Rica.

Phil and Mary Bookman, formerly of Morada, operate a dairy and horse ranch in Costa Rica. Phil Bookman is the former executive editor of The Record and Mary Bookman was a prominent Morada-based realtor before they started their new life in Costa Rica.

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