pura gringa

I'm back and better!!

2012-02-03T16:33:00.000-06:00

Wow I was showing someone where I live today and realized I hadn't posted since June! So I logged in and found that people had sent me messages. Sorry!! I haven't been checking the blog or anything. So I am better thanks for asking, actually better than better. I have been really busy creating a new life here. I am still not 100% sure I am going to stay but I would say I am 90% sure. I have made a ton of new friends both American and Costa Rican and I am happy. I have been dating woo hoo and it has been going ok. It's still hard to figure out the cultural differences, but it makes it interesting too.

I celebrated Halloween here. I finally lost enough weight to be able to buy a costume off the rack. Too cool because this is the first time in my life I have ever been able to do it!! There is no trick or treating because in reality Halloween isn't celebrated, but there were parties and the bars had contests so it was fun.

I also went to Panama to renew my visa. I went with a friend and it was an interesting experience. I went to Pasa Canoas and it was pretty easy to get my passport stamped. The trip takes a bit, like 3 hours, but we hit a pothole and got a flat and when he tried to change the tire the lug wrench broke. Of course all of this happened in a torrential downpour so we both got soaked and had to wait wet and cold til the rain stopped and we could flag someone down to borrow a lug wrench. We survived and I did my first successful border run. Kind of cool I feel like an expat now.

I have also found a few fun things to do during the week. Thursdays are my feria day. I love going and talking with all the people there. Afterwards I usually go out for a bite at a place in centro where they often have live music. It's a lot of fun and I meet new people. I haven't been doing very much site seeing as there isn't a lot of people to do it with. I have gone to Manuel Antonio a few times which I love and I am heading to Dominical today for a bit.

So all in all I have survived. I lost 90 pounds since I have been here - wooo hooo! I am adapting and I, for the most part, am loving my life again. This time I am not depending on someone else and so I am sure I will continue to be better and better.

Again thanks for the support! Hopefully I write more often now :)

I'm OK

2011-06-12T10:15:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't been posting. This turn of events in my life has hit me very hard but I am getting myself together. I wanted to take a quick minute to thank everyone that has reached out publically and privately, your support is much appreciated! I formed a sociedad and now have my phone and internet in my name. No one will ever have the control over my ability to work again. I can also get a bank account now for the company, but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. I found out my car needed to go for the annual inspection or RTV in June, I went, it failed, I have a mechanic that will fix what is wrong and help me through it next weekend. Things are moving along and falling into place. I have made a decision to stay here for a year and see how it goes. I am way too emotional to decide to move back to the states. Funny enough someone contacted me recently saying that they had a failed relationship here and had moved back and now many years later she is returning because she missed Costa Rica. I don't want to make an emotional decision that I may regret later. Since I am not an "alone" kind of gal, I haven't been travelling or doing the weekend activities I was doing before and have started to save some money. So I figure I will stay here and save, that way if I decide to move I will do it with a nest egg, if not I can always use the cash here to buy land or a house in the future. I still am happy that I am here, it's really beautiful, but I am missing my country, my culture, my friends, and my family.

That's it for now. I just wanted to say thanks and let everyone know I am still alive and kicking.

The bad and the ugly or can I make it alone in Costa Rica

2011-05-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

Relationships everywhere fail. Mine did in Costa Rica. Mario and I are no longer together and I am coping, but barely. I don't want to go into details and circumstances, but I do want to share a bit of what I have learned:

You have rights as a foreigner in Costa Rica. He believed he would have more rights than me because he is Tico. He was wrong.
The police come quickly when called and can actually find your house even though you give them the wrong address. Understand here there is no 15 Maple Drive. We live 800 meters north of Trapiche Nayo, not 300 as I told them. We also don't live on the main road, but apparently people know where we live because they asked and they found us.
The police don't mess around and come up with clever solutions to difficult situations.
When you are down people come out of the woodwork to make sure you are OK and to help you. Without a cedula (or ID card) you can't get a phone here. Because of this my phone and internet was in Mario's name, since we are no longer together I needed to find another person to help me and FAST since I need them to work. I had at least 5 offers to assist me in getting the stuff I needed. I have offers and suggestions for a gardener to take care of the gardens and a maid if I think I need one. I have been getting tons of texts and emails from people I have met here asking what they can do to help me get through this. I never saw such an outpouring of affection and good wishes when thigs got screwed up in my life before.
Setting up an association allows you to get a phone, a bank account and health insurance (well this is what I am told, I am in the process and will see if it is true)
Even the best laid plans can come crashing down at any moment, always have an alternate plan. I unfortunately did not, luckily I am devising one at the moment.

I plan to stay here even though my original dreams have been shattered. I am getting a LOT of pressure from family and friends in the states to move back there, but truthfully I really love it here, with or without Mario. I am going to have to learn to do things on my own, Mario had helped me with so much, but if he could do it so can I. I plan to come out of this stronger and independent, and I will make a life for myself.

Whirlwind tour!

2011-04-25T19:36:00.002-06:00

We had our first visitor! I had gone home to the states and my bff Trisha decided to come back with me to visit! What fun!! We had a blast and she took some kick ass photos of all the stuff we did! This is me and Mario at the table at the top of the driveway. I have never quite figured out why they put this table here, well the view is incredible, but there is no way coffee would stay hot to get up here. I have been trying to get a little more exercise, well a little exercise(since more implies I was getting some), since I spend my days sitting at a desk, and so I walk up to the table and then down the steep road back to the back of the house. A few times around and I am worn out! as are Dora and Diego, so I guess it's doing us all a bit of good.

This wonderful spot is a hotel/restaurant near our house called Papa de Paramo (there should be an accent over the second a in papa so that it is the father of Paramo and not the potato of Paramo, but I forget how to do that). We came here the first time when some new friends invited us to a party when their brother came in to visit from Texas and we just LOVE it. It is so tranquil and the food is great! Trish and I spent the day here - just the gals -

and I looked up and saw this sloth in the tree. How cool! He hung out for a long while going up and down the tree. The waiters were worried about him when he went out to the teeeeeny branches way up top to eat. He finally came all the way down to pose for a picture.

We made the obligatory trip to Manuel Antonio to see the monkeys and other wildlife. Sadly, there were no monkeys to be seen. I have never been to Manuel Antonio and not seen a single monkey! Rotten luck - but we wound up renting beach chairs and a tent and sitting out on the beach. We drank some girlie drinks with flowers and umbrellas and Trish got a massage from a woman who gives them right there in the chairs. What a great relaxing day!

The day ended with this incredible sunset. We really couldn't asked for more - ok maybe monkeys - but what a nice day!

We also FINALLY made it up to Arenal. I had such hopes of seeing my first volcano spew lava. I was really worried, but for naught. Arenal apparently has been napping for 7 months. We saw a huge cone shaped mountain covered in fog. Trisha and Mario thought it was great, but I was a little let down. We stayed in a hotel with a great view of the volcano for $30 for the night and drank the BEST sangria in the restaurant next door. Boy is it expensive though. After a pitcher we really didn't mind. I had bought a thermal coffee pot when we got stuck in San Jose so we ordered a second pitcher to go!

The next day we splurged and went to Tabacon. It was expensive - but well worth it. What an escape from reality. Tabacon is a series of thermal springs, all piping through a natural setting. The gardens were unbelievable. The water was really HOT but you eventually got used to it. There are waterfalls everywhere which give a nice massage. We found a few falls that were cool water which was nice too. We had a few drinks at the bar, Mario managed to sit on the stools, but we stayed out of the water because it was too hot. We paid for the included lunch, but I would skip it in the future as we found the food mediocre.

We found this really cool shop outside of La Fortuna. The sculptures were so beautiful. Trish couldn't resist cheesing it up a bit. I really enjoyed having her visit. Hope she comes back soon!

Creepy crawlies

2011-03-20T07:18:00.001-06:00

We are moving from summer into winter and have such an abundance of wildlife. There are TONS of butterflies in the flowers and birds that I have never seen before flying by on their way to who knows where. Probably north I guess. Yesterday was the day of weird bugs. Mario called me into my office to see the mula del diablo this morning. It's weird because they use the word bicho (I have no idea how to spell it but it sounds like beecho) to describe any pesty kind of thing, so a bicho can be an insect, bird, lizard, mouse, you get the picture. So since he was talking about a mula (mule) I figured we were in the mammal category - but nope. He is pointing out the window and I don't see anything, when I realized what he is showing me is ON the screen. A walking stick about a foot long!! How cool!! He said it's called mula since the head looks like a mule's head. I thought it looked more like a seahorse. Anyway this guy hung out all day and then left in the night. He didn't even run when Diego went to sniff him.

Next I went out to feed the birds and there was a single strand of web across the path to the yard. I broke it and realized the garbage hanging from it was the weirdest spider I had ever seen. He clung to the fence and rolled the broken web into a ball and ate it! I looked him up on the internet and found he is a crab spider. A fitting name if you ask me. The "shell" on his back has spikes around it so I am thinking he doesn't have a lot of enemies waiting to gobble him up!

I am heading home again on the 1st of April. The family is spreading my mom's ashes in the ocean and it's my 3 month get out of town time. I think I explained before that when you come to Costa Rica you get a 3 month visa. You need to leave before it expires for at least 72 hours. I have been leaving more often since my mom was ill. We are thinking to go to Panama next time because flying home is so expensive. Although, if Mario's divorce comes through, which it may since they have had the paperwork for a while, we will be getting married and then I can apply for residency and won't have to leave. Anyway, the point is we are getting our first visitor!! My friend Trisha is coming for a week! I am uber excited! I hope she loves Costa Rica as much as I do!

Freedom!

2011-03-02T18:25:00.000-06:00

I haven't written in sooo long so this may be a long post. Firstly I want to share the flowers I received over the past few months. I didn't even know you could send flowers here, but a little while after my mom passed away I got a call and was told that a new friend, Phil, had sent me flowers. What a wonderful surprise!! I was able to give the florist directions to my house (another surprise) and on Monday I had this beautiful bouquet! Thanks Phil! I think my mom had a hand in it because they used her favs - gladioli and gerbera daisies. It lasted a long while and definitely cheered me up everytime I saw it.

On valentine's day my honey came through with this beautiful arrangement of roses. How creative to make a heart from the palm fronds. I loved it!

So on to freedom ...

Lately I have been feeling trapped here in Costa Rica. I think it is because I gave up so much of my independence. I rely on Mario for so many things. Everyone says I speak a lot of Spanish, and I can usually get my point across, but it isn't always easy and there are many people I have a hard time understanding. Mario is always there to help, but I am used to fending for myself so it is hard. I also have developed phone-phobia and have a hard time calling for things since I am afraid the person on the other end won't understand me. I have also been petrified to drive here. We have a Suzuki Sidekick that has a standard transmission. When we bought it I was leery since I barely drove a stick in the flatlands of New Jersey. There is no way I can handle one here. The hills/mountains are STEEP and I am afraid of sliding backwards trying to get into first gear. Mario has always taken me wherever I need to go, but lately I have been antsy to make my own way in Costa Rica. So I bit the bullet and bought a little piece of freedom - my own automatic, Geo Tracker! So cars here are REALLLY expensive. I think there is an 85% import tax which jacks the prices HIGH. This little baby ran $4,600 and it is a 94! Still it is 4 wheel drive which I thought I could do without and then found out - nope - need it. The first big trip we took was to Panama to get her some tires. There is no tax in Panama so the tires are supposedly cheaper. We bought other things that turned out not to be cheaper so I didn't look into the tires cause they were expensive in my book too. The frontera - the border between Panama and Costa Rica is really interesting. We went to Paso Canoas and one side of the road is Costa Rica, the other Panama. You have to remember which side you are on to figure out if you are getting a "bargain". We bought a stereo for Mario's car - yes now it's his - I couldn't drive it anyway. It has an ipod connection so we can listen to the ipod on long trips. I took his stereo since my car came with a casette player and I haven't seen a tape in years. Now I can play CDs! The deal is if you bring stuff into Costa Rica you need to pay taxes on it so everything you buy gets installed in Panama and you say you bought nothing if asked. Worked for the tires. While I was shopping I thought wouldn't it be nice to have electronic entry into my car. I had to use the key (oh my) and I prefer the remote. So I asked at a store and they said it would be $90 for an alarm system. I really didn't need an alarm, but they said they always come together and I could get it deactivated. What the heck - I figured it was safer to have the remote so I could get in the car quickly if I was shopping and an alarm couldn't hurt. So I went for it. The man said he was throwing in this little gadget that would turn the car off if it was stolen. Well that I REALLY didn't need - but hey if he was giving it for free... an hour later - boop boop my car locked and unlocked like a charm. The installer shook the car and the alarm went off. He showed me the little button under the dash that I had to push to start the car and off we went. An hour and a half into the 3 hour journey home the car turns off. hmmmmm - so we push the little button and no luck the car won't start. Uh oh. Luckily Mario had managed to coast the car to a little pulperia (corner store) in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea what to do. There is no AAA in Costa Rica. The people in the store tried to help but they didn't know anything about alarms. I had the receipt but no idea how to call Panama for help. Finally I thought to call information, who told me the country and area codes to dial Panama. We got the installer on the phone and he starts telling Mario to disconnect and reconnect wires. Of course it is dark now so it is impossible to see, and we have no flashlight in my new car. Thankfully when the store owner heard me start to cry he remembered his brother was a mechanic and nicely went to get him. Marco worked on our car for at least an hour to no avail. Finally we called Panama again and the installer told Marco which wires to disconnect. Yee haw we were in business!! So we paid Marco like $6 and his brother $4 for the gas and went to leave. Well we hit pavement and the car shuts off again. hmmmm blown fuse. So he replaces it and looks over the wires and off we go! Now we make it a few feet onto the pavement when the car dies again. I am panicking now. I don't want to get in the car and make it another hour and the car dies. We decide to call for Mario's brother to come get us. He says it will be $140 - risking my life doesn't seem so out of the question now. So they put a bigger fuse in and voila we are in business! Off we go!! Everyone cheers, we wave, and hit the road! About 100 meters down the road - guess what - yup car dies. Luckily there is a bar there so we coast in. Mario calls Marco and he says he will come, we can take the car to his house and he will work on it in the morning. The bartender says Marco doesn't know what he is doing, but their son is a top notch mechanic and he can fix it in the morning. They offer to put the car in the bar for the night and we accept. So Marco comes and tells us that it would be better for us to look for another mechanic the next day since he doesn't know what is wrong. My dad is an electrician so I am pretty sure we have a short and I want someone who knows wiring to fix it so my car doesn't catch on fire. 4 hours and $140 later we are home -thank God! We get home at 2 AM, sleep until 7 and start the process of trying to figure out how to get the car home. We got a message from the bar folks, seems their son is ill and can't fix the car. So we start calling everyone we know to find an electrical mechanic willing to drive 2 hours to hot as hell town near Panama to fix a car and drive 2 hours back on a Sunday. Unbelievably we find someone! He removes the alarm system, fixes the short and drives my car back home. So like $400 later I have the same car I had on Thursday - joy. Supposedly I can have someone here install the alarm correctly, but I have had enough excitement for the time being and think I will wait.

On a brighter note - I wound up getting sick with the stress and lack of sleep. I got my annual strep throat or toncilitis. In the states I would have to make a doctor appointment because they don't trust my diagnosis after having the same illness for 50 years. Once I get to the doctor they have to do a culture because they don't know if it is strep or toncilitis. The treatment is the same - antibiotics - which the prescribe before the culture comes back so I never get the reason why they need the culture. Then after the $20 -$30 copay I would get to go to the pharmacy and pay 80% of the antibiotics. Well here in Costa Rica, we went to the pharmacy, I opened my mouth and they said yep you need antibiotics, I paid and off I went. Man I love it here!!

Ode to my mom

2011-01-08T11:27:00.003-06:00

I usually don't write much about my family and friends here, but my mom passed away yesterday and I can't help but remember how she has influenced every aspect of my life. My mom encouraged me to move to Costa Rica, she said that she was proud that I was doing something so adventurous with my life. One of the only regrets I have about my move here is that I wasn't able to be with her and my dad for her final days.

I am going to post more pictures of our gardens here. My mom was the one who taught me to appreciate gardening. She always had spectacular gardens. She taught me about cultivating new plants from seeds, realizing that plants had specific needs for sunlight and water, and just to enjoy and revel in the beauty of nature. So these pictures are a tribute to my mom:

I don't know much about the after life, but I know where ever it may be it's a much more beautiful place now that my mom has arrived ... and it will be filled with flowers. Rest in peace mom, I miss you.

Monkeys!

2010-12-31T09:18:00.002-06:00

Mario's kids are visiting us from Canada so we went to Manuel Antonio to see the wildlife and spend some time on the beach. Manuel Antonio is a national park. It is well worth the trip and the price of a guide. It is not a zoo so each time you go you see different animals. The guides carry telescopes and set them up so you can see the animals clearly. They are very knowledgeable. We saw many different species of bats on this trip.

Not being one of my favorite animals, there are no pictures :).

You don't need a telescope to see the monkeys. They run along the beach stealing food and fun things from the tourists. The parks discourages contact with them, but they don't seem to care.

You need to secure everything if you hang out on the beach. We saw them steal a cracker from a toddlers hand!Still they are really cool to watch. I never get tired of seeing them. The kid's got a kick out of them too.

You usually can catch sight of a sloth or two as well. This baby was hanging out in a tree very close to the trail. I missed the shot where he looked right at us, but the smiling face is unforgettable.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

San Ramon del Alejuela and back

2010-12-17T19:22:00.001-06:00

This past weekend was the busiest we have had in a while! We went to San Ramon del Alejuela to the 50th birthday party for Mario's brother-in-law. They have a furniture factory (all handmade), that's where we got the balcony furniture. They cleared out the main gallery and had the party there. Everyone had a wonderful time! We stayed in town because their house was packed with relatives. We wound up at La Posada Hotel in the center of town. It was beautiful! We stayed in the end room on the second floor (#27). There is a sitting area in front of the room with comfy rockers that looks out on the road in front. The woodwork in the hotel is unbelievable. The beds are all carved as are the doors. It was fairly cheap too, we paid $52 for the room with no breakfast.

On the way home we stopped at El Quetzel Mountain Lodge for a bite to eat. They have a lake where you can fish for your lunch, but we didn't. The most incredible thing (aside from the delicious casado we ate) was the hummingbirds! They have a deck where you can watch them come to eat. The guy from the restaurant, also a bird-watching guide, came out and told us all about them. He put his hand out by the feeder and they landed on his finger to eat! You know we bought a hummingbird feeder when we got home!

Aren't these guys spectacular?! We are getting better at taking photos. Although we wound up with lots of finger shots sans hummer. These guys are QUICK!

On the homefront - Dora got her first haircut! She looks even more like a monkey now!!

We also witnessed a caterpillar turning into a butterfly - way cool!! I tried to get photos but I was working so this was the best I could do. I went in to do some work and when I came out there was a floppy winged butterfly. I came out later and startled it and off it flew.

I got my first bird at the feeder! Mario put out pineapple. I thought he was nuts but this beautiful baltimore oriole came to munch. It's a regular visitor now!

Christmas Prep!

2010-12-06T07:32:00.000-06:00

I am having the hardest time getting into the Christmas Spirit when it is so hot out. Usually I am freezing my ass off putting up lights and decorations and this year I had to worry about sunburn!

We decided to put the tree on the balcony, it seems that a lot of people here put the tree outside. At first it seemed too wierd for me, but we use the balcony like a living room so now I am OK with it. In fact we almost NEVER use the living room except to watch TV, so we will see the tree more on the balcony. It was fun to decorate it outside with the birds and the butterflies flying by, but so strange to see my flowers blooming next to it. I have always lived in the NJ/PA area so I am used to it being really cold for Christmas.

The lights looked spectacular at night and we can see the tree from our bed. The downside is that every bug in the valley can too so we had a living display of moths and such fluttering around the lights. Mario let me know that we will have to peel them off of the ornaments when we put the tree away. Nice - not! He also reminded me how happy the spiders will be to have the tree as a home. I really wish he would have mentioned all this sooner lol, the tree may have gone in the living room after all.

The stores are now staying open on Sundays woo hooo another shopping day! There are all these little shed like things for sale in the nurseries. Mario told me that they are for nativity scenes. Apparently that is the decoration of choice here. There are tons of lights too. It is really cool how everyone decorates for Christmas. We drove around visiting family this weekend, and the poorest of neighborhoods still had decorations and lights. I was worried that I would miss the glitz of the US, but nope! They do it big here too!

It's just wierd seeing snowmen decorating the houses and grass. I am thinking most people have never seen one in person. So the tree and most of the decorations are up - let the season begin!

It doesn't get any cuter

2010-11-18T20:58:00.000-06:00

Diego and Dora have their afternoon siesta. He does this so she stops bothering him.

Guess who came to lunch?

2010-11-10T06:46:00.002-06:00

These toucans came to eat the platanos that were in a tree near the house.

As I was watching another bird about the same size came to eat along with them. They all rallied and sat on the bananas so he couldn't get any!

When the rain came the tree fell so we lost our friends.

I just love the view from the balcony!

The portulaca is filling in the driveway nicely. Mario has fallen in love with this plant and looks for it in every nursery in town. I think we have bought the country's supply!

But they are really pretty close up and they will be spectacular once they fill in all the space. He has been adding abono organico (compost) to them and they are really thriving.

I thought I lost the lantana near the bird bath, but it came back after he fertilized it. We have a lot of butterflies that visit this spot. They also seem to love the dog crap in the yard (yuck).

The aftermath - there is a sun!

2010-11-08T21:15:00.000-06:00

Annie was right - the sun did come out tomorrow! So far I am REALLY impressed with Costa Rica! There was a lot of damage in our area, there were three washouts from our house to the city. We waited until about 11 to check it out on Saturday. They already had filled in the holes and were moving the debris from the landslides off of the roads. I think it will be a while before we are paved, but we can pass through to town. At one point we had to take a detour and drove through a really scenic neighborhood (with lots of lots for sale - definitely taking this route with pen in hand for the numbers). The detour took us over muddy unpaved roads. There was a steep slick incline that the people without 4 wheel drive were having problems getting up, but the road crews were on it! They had a few dump trucks full of rocky dirt and a roller. We had to wait around a half hour as they dumped the material into the road and rolled it flat, then we all made it up the hill and back out onto the pista.

Costa Rica also stepped to the plate to help those people who had lost everything. Banco Nacional sponsered a food drive and has a link to donate on their website. Banco Costa Rica has a donation line and internet site to donate money. It is a shame because there really is no house insurance here so these people have lost EVERYTHING, including family members in some cases.

On a lighter note, daylight savings started or ended (I never get it straight) in the states so I am going to enjoy getting up a little later for work.

The plants have benefitted from all the rain and look great! I thought that maybe the fruit hadn't ripened on the trees in the farm this week so I ran out to get bananas. I am still trying to have birds come. I put half of them out the day before yesterday and saw no birds, but when I got up in the morning the bananas were gone! Even the peels. I thought maybe we had early birds. So I put out the second half of the bananas yesterday. Last night we were on the balcony with Mario's brother and his family when I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like the buzz electricity makes. It was pitch black but I could tell the sound was coming from the bird feeder. Mario grabbed a flashlight and the mystery was solved. BATS! I HATE BATS! but there they were all in my feeder eating the bananas. So now I think I will be retiring the feeder. Yeah Yeah I know God's creatures and all that, but did I mention that I am terrified of bats? of all the banana eating animals I could have attracted....

Oh on the pest note, the other night I went downstairs and found the doors still open. We usually close them at dusk, but I guess we both thought the other had done it. The dogs went outside and when they came in I shut and locked the door. Diego made a beeline to the sink and started chasing something along the wall. I screamed for Mario just as a mouse came running right for me! OK so I am also petrified of mice. Who knows why, it's not like the would kill me, but at this point I am not thinking, I am screaming at the top of my lungs and dancing all over the kitchen trying to get past the 2 dogs and the mouse and onto higher ground. Mario came running because he thought it was a snake in the house. When he heard it was a mouse he calmly opened the door and out it ran.

I am starting to identify with Eva Gabor.

Still raining perros y gatos!

2010-11-05T18:01:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures of the area courtesy of Perezzeledon.net: Floods and landslides.

Rain Rain Go Away

2010-11-04T20:23:00.000-06:00

We made the stupid mistake of going to the feria today. It has been raining here non-stop for days. Tropical storm Thomas. The roads were terrible! I never saw conditions like this. They put cement tubes under the road for runoff and I guess the water washes the dirt out around them so the road collapses. You see the cracks and the sunken part and hope that there is actually something solidish under the blacktop as you pass over. Mario so thoughfully pointed out pieces of the road that were caved in like that and said the rest would wash away shortly. SHORTLY?!! Like how shortly? While we are passing over it? He always thinks I am so funny when I am panic stricken. On the way down into town the police had all tractor trailers stopped at Trapiche. We asked if they were closing the road and the officer said not to light cars like our SUV. hmmmm sounded perfectly safe to me. We continued on because it wasn't raining and I foolishly thought it was over. While we were at the feria it started to downpour again. Here in Costa Rica a downpour is like someone tipped a bucket over and is pouring it all over the land. It's hard to distinguish that there are actual raindrops. I was so scared the road would washout to the house. We drove slowly and arrived safely. We passed a downed pole and a lot of the area was without power. Luckily we are not. Hoping that the side of the mountain holds through this bout. They say we are going to get 18 more hours. They have already declared a state of emergency for the country and a lot of people have been killed. Hope this is not a normal winter here.

Trying to stay warm and dry til next time ...

My 7 Dollar Fix

2010-10-27T06:58:00.000-06:00

This is what $7 can give you in Costa Rica! We were at the feria when I saw these beauties and had to have them! The flower guy is always so nice. One of the luxuries I have here is fresh flowers. We buy a bunch whenever we go to the feria, well, that would be weekly. Usually I get daisies, he has beautiful yellow and white daisies that last for at least 2 weeks.

This week he had these lilies. They smell wonderful too! Funny thing is in the states I would have paid a ton for these and here it was $3500 colones or $7. Still I hemmed and hawed since I usually only shell out $800 colones for the daisies. But these look incredible in the dining room and have stayed fresh for about a week now so I am glad I splurged!

Here is our other splurge. Diego's new sister Dora. She is a Peke/Maltese mix. Diego loves her (mostly). She has stolen all of his beds and toys. They are playing together nicely, he is sooo gentle. She will stay about 10 lbs so she won't add much to the patas sucias (dirty feet). Mario has nicknamed Diego Patas Sucias since he has a habit of sleeping in the drainage channel in the yard and then coming in to the house. We are constantly mopping up his footprints. Luckily summer is coming so I hear the yard will dry. Thank goodness because the grass here is like a sponge and it squishes as you walk over it!

Last night I was sitting on the balcony when I noticed these wasps near the light. I thought how odd there is a ticket or something there that I hadn't noticed before. Upon closer inspection I realized they had built a nest that covered the whole side of the light! When it got dark Mario broke out the Mata Todo (Kill Everything) and sprayed them. He said there was no other way since these wasps were bravo (angry) and they would bite if we left them there.

Finally here are some of the flowers in bloom in the yard.

There and Back

2010-10-14T19:19:00.000-06:00

I just got back from the states again, well on Monday, but it feels like just. It was great to see my friends and family but I really missed my life here. The most interesting part of the journey as far as blog material goes was the company I kept on the plane ride to and from. On the way down I met a guy who lives in Escazu. We had a wonderful time talking about our lives in Costa Rica. He told me that there are tons of American places in Escazu, and that you can get most everything that you would want there. Except apparently good lunch meat since he brought back a slicer and a backpack full of meat on his last trip. He said he caused quite a stir in customs lol. He also shared his story of a failed marriage to a Colombian woman and warned me to take precautions when entering a relationship with a person from another country. On the way home I met a woman who had lived in Costa Rica for 18 years. She also loved the country, but had decided to move back to the states to be near her grandkids. She had been married to a Costa Rican man and gave the same warning. She had many stories of people who had married here and then had to pay alimony when they divorced. She said that one man could not leave the country because of the alimony payments. Very scarey stuff. It's sad to think that love needs a lawyers help, but I think it is the same where ever you live. Just here I am in the dark about the laws. Better study up.

Ketchup and Mishmosh Illustrated

2010-09-28T19:11:00.004-06:00

So this is my first attempt at a video. I took this on Sep 15th in the center of PZ while the families paraded by with thier faroles. It was really beautiful. All of the kids (with help it looked like) made these beautiful boxes, some in the shape of houses, some animals, some abstract, but all with a light inside. For Sep 15th, Independence Day here, they have a big parade and everyone walks around the town square with their faroles. We had a flat tire before we went to town and stopped at a gas station to get it patched. The greasy mechanics were all huddled around this small table making a Spongebob farole. Too funny, they were all discussing what to use and how to do it, it really looked great, but we left before they finished it. The other odd thing is that the faroles are lit with a candle. It was so strange to see really little children proudly holding their paper and cardboard faroles with a lit candle inside and yet there were no burns that I saw. Something you wouldn't see in the states.

After the parade the children from the various towns don traditional costumes and dance on a stage they had set up. I had no idea there were so many people in this area! The dances were spectacular you could tell the kids worked really hard to learn them.

On the homefront, Mario talked to our landlord about the mud problem. I think it was after we got the waterbill lol. It was only about $20 but he feels it is high since he is washing the car like twice a day. So she agreed to go halves on a load of stone. He got it all spread out how he wanted it so now the car comes in relatively clean unless it is pouring. Which it does everyday at 2 and in fact is doing as I type *sigh*. I am patiently waiting for the summer they promise me will be hot and dry. I am so cold lately, whoda thunk it in the tropics! So here is the driveway now:

Note the tire tracks on the right side. After they got done laying the stone Mario felt that it should be compacted and used a half a tank of gas riding back and forth over it. Well I may be exaggerating a tad, but it seemed like he went back and forth for ever.

Here is the bottom part of the drive. We have some stone left up top and Mario tells me he will be leveling the hump and filling them in. They left some extra in case the mud sucked up what they had laid, but it seems like it will be fine so he wants the bottom to look good too. Plus the road is really steep coming in on this side so it is hard to hit the 2 tracks when we come in this way. You can see the portulaca we planted down the center in this pic, it should be beautiful once it fills in. We just got 10 more plants to help it fill in faster! Also Mario divided the purple plants and now they are filling in to be a straight line on both sides of the drive.

Guadelupe asked me to post some pictures of the yard for her brother in the states so here they are (Mario has been VERY busy!):

This is my attempt at keeping the mountain at bay. We have 2 of these vines and then 3 other kinds that are planted at intervals next to the house. I also put in morning glory seeds. I am hoping all of these flowering vines will grab hold of the dirt and keep it from falling, plus it will look spectacular when they are blooming!

These are plain old marigolds, but they really match the house. They grow bigger everyday. Mario loaded them up with compost. We also got fertilizer with Guadelupe's help, she is the landlady, and he has fertilized all the palms, purple plants, and the flowering bushes that were here. They look better already!

This is another shot of the big area we planted. We doubled the plants in the hopes it will fill in faster. Mario liked the marigolds so much we filled in the lantana with yellow ones. They really pop on sunny days.

This is another shot of the mountain in the front of the house. The blueish gray palm is a bismark palm and you can see the bougainvillea we planted with the same hope of it climbing up and covering the dirt.

This is the back yard, we put the mesh fence up to keep Diego in. There is no traffic, but I am afraid he would walk in front of the few cars that pass. Also being in front of the coffee farm there is a danger of snakes if he wanders. There are also poisonous toads, but they are almost as big as he is and he is afraid of them.

This is the area up top where the new part of the driveway is. Mario made me this cute garden. He used stones that were scattered all over the place. We put coreopsis seeds that a woman had given me when I was admiring her beautiful garden. The people here are so nice. They are starting to come up so I hope one day when we build our own home I can start more plants from these.

That's all the pics. I am heading home on Friday for my 3 month treck. When you come to Costa Rica you get a 3 month Visa and have to leave the country for 72 hours once it is up. I am going to visit my parents for 11 days in New Jersey. It's with mixed feelings as I will miss my home and life here, and my mom is going into assisted living. I hope to help with the transition for both her and my dad. It's one of the hard things about being here, not being able to help at the drop of a hat; but, I am a phone call away and talk to my dad almost everyday.

My mom's situation has also caused me to worry what will happen when I get older. In my experience here I see that families care for the older folks. Usually the families are very big so there are many people who can help out. Either someone comes to stay with the elderly person or they move them in to their home. I have no family here and Mario is the same age as me. I have been thinking a lot about what will happen as we age. He has no children here either so he is in the same boat. Luckily we are both healthy and as I found out when I made this move nothing needs to be permanent. We are starting to look at land and we are keeping ease of travel and public transportation in mind as we do. This house is wonderful and we really love it, but it is a far way down from the main road and pretty steep. We don't think we would want to build a house in a similar terrain because it would be hard to make it out if we couldn't drive.

On a lighter note - my son turned 23 today! Happy Birthday Jake!!!

Whale Watching and Why I just LOVE Costa Rica!

2010-09-11T17:14:00.001-06:00

Today we drove down to Playa Bellena to go whale watching. It was a great day. We arrived and thank goodness had the GPS on or would have missed the dinky sign pointing to the dirt road to the beach. We drove until we hit the parking lot where they had an old guy tugging on a plastic ribbon which blocked the cars from passing through. If you passed the lot he lowered the ribbon. Apparently they blocked it just long enough for the attendant to convince you that this is where you want to park. If you decided not to it was OK you could pass. But most people thought since the road was blocked you had to park here. The guy persuaded Mario that for 1500 colones ($3.00) it was best to have the car safely parked. We purchased the tickets to the boat for $15,000 colones each ($30.00). You would have had to paid an additional $6.00 to enter the park, but after much discussion they decided that I do indeed live in Costa Rica and we got in free. Funny enough the park entrance, like so many things, was in dollars.

The tickets were for the 9 AM boat so we decided to have a bite to eat before we left and stopped in a cute little place along the road to the boat. They had 1 entree to choose from, pinto (beans and rice with cilantro), sauced meat, and hot dog. Interesting combination but filling. The resident little dog waited patiently for his scraps. As we were eating we saw the boat guy pass with the people that we were supposed to go with. As usual I panicked and said we had to go and Mario assured me we could catch another boat. Sure enough when we left somebody stopped us and had us follow them to the next boat. I really have to learn the Pura Vida way!

We went out about 20 minutes and then hung around waiting for whales. All of the advertisements I had seen said there were high tec GPS systems to locate the whales. Well our captain and mate had cell phones and they kept calling and were called getting the latest positions on the whales. We saw several spouts as they surfaced, very cool as I have never seen that except on TV. The mate (I am using the term loosely as you can see how big the boat was in the picture) told us that they are not allowed to be less than 200 meters from the whales and there is a 15 minute time limit for each boat. They also had to go very slowly as not to scare them. Just as we were giving up we saw what we at first thought was a huge dolphin, but no! it was a baby albino whale! We only could see it's back as it swam bit the baby and mother surfaced a few times and it was soooo coool!

Here is a picture of the mom. I tried to get the baby but I have really slow reflexes and have a ton of pictures of the ocean now. That dark spec in the ocean is her. The group we were with were so friendly! and we had a wonderful time.

As you can see the boat is pretty small. on the ride back I noticed the "captain" kept lifting this blue container on the floor. Then I noticed the container had a hose that went into the motor. You guessed it, it was gas! I was thinking hmmm this would never fly in the states. But pura vida we had enough gas to make the trip.

All in all it was a an experience and I just love the laid back atmosphere here. It is like a vacation all the time.

Pics n stuff

2010-09-10T19:07:00.001-06:00

I have had a few requests for a pic of the front of the house so here ya go! The doors on the bottom go into the living room and the one on the top goes into the bedroom. Poor planning for the upstairs door because although it is so great having the light stream in and the balcony right there, everyone walking by can look right into the bedroom! Ok so like maybe everyone walking by is like 1 or 2 people a day, but still it's a little creepy. I wanted to buy tension rods and put up a curtain since we can't put holes in the door for a regular rod, but apparently no one in Costa Rica uses tension rods or my spanish sucks because they all look at me like I have 2 heads when I ask for it in the stores. They get the idea of what I want, but keep coming out with shower curtain rods. Same concept, wrong scale. Oh well, I go to the states again in Oct so I know what's on the list.

We ordered a bunch of furniture from Mario's brother-in-law and it is really great! These are the loungers and table that he made us. Eventually we will get cushions for them, but I am really enjoying laying on the balcony reading. Diego loves it too, he has become a lap dog!

This is a crappy picture of the garden that Mario put in for me. It's nice that he is planting everything while I work. I have tall orchids with mexican petunias in front. In front of that we put lantana. The butterflies love lantana. There is also a tree that gets really pretty pink flowers but I doubt we will be here to enjoy it when it is tree size. I like the flowers so I will enjoy them while it is still small. There is also a fig tree and mamon chino that I plan to keep at bush size. Easier to pick the fruits and they tell me the fruit is better too. The center of the driveway has portulaca which is beautiful on sunny days. We hope it will fill in the dirt strip with a burst of color. The redish mounds were here when we moved in. Mario thinned out some that were close to the house and filled in the holes. It should look like a strip soon. He did the other side of the drive today, hopefully they grow fast. It is challenging here because unlike the soil in Los Angeles this is awful orange clay. We have been buying sacks of organic fertilizer, abono here, but still things seem to yellow quickly. It's a shame because there are palm trees and other flowering bushes around the perimeter of the property and they are dying. We are doing our best to save them so maybe with some TLC they will make it.

I was trying for a pic of the planter here, but I love how the sky looks. Sitting on the balcony just makes me glad to be alive, it's incredible how beautiful it is here. We are starting to look at properties. Mario wants to sell or trade his house in Los Angeles for a property in this area so we can stay.

Well that's it for now. There is a whale festival in Playa Ballena tomorrow and we are going to go out on a boat to see the dolphins and whales. I can't wait! I will put up pics as soon as I can.

Roads in the Rain

2010-08-31T19:09:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Casey from a Dull Roar for posting the pics of the road to our house. It was a mess for weeks and really scarey to drive over! One day we were heading up the mountain behind a really heavy truck and I made Mario stay wayyyyy back because I was sure the truck wouldn't make it and the road would collapse with us right behind him! To see the pics and Casey's post - A Dull Roar: A road by any other name would smell as ...

COWS

2010-08-26T20:26:00.003-06:00

This morning I was in the bedroom making the bed when Diego started barking towards the front balcony. I opened the door to see what he was upset about and to my surprise saw 4 cows coming down the driveway! They were calmly eating the grass along the edges. Diego went ballistic and started barking like crazy! The cows looked up and bolted away. I swear Diego puffed up to twice his size, lol, he was so proud that he scared those HUGE dogs off his property!

I can communicate!

2010-08-23T22:34:00.001-06:00

After months of people asking if I am living in a tunnel I can finally drop Skype and make calls via a phone card! I have no idea why when I use Skype to call out it sounds like I am in a cavern, but it does. So my conversations consisted of what? what?! WHAT!!! OK I will call you back. ICE, the telephone/electricity company here is government owned and currently the only game in town. For some reason (read $$$ here) they do not let you use Skype on your cell phone to call out. You can forward incoming calls to your cell, but cannot make Skype calls that way. In both of the houses I have lived in there was no internet option save the data card over the airwaves. Because of their gross underestimation of how many people would want to actually use the internet, there is hardly enough bandwidth to have any kind of performance over these cards. I am able to work at a decent speed, well mostly, but trying to use VOIP and run anything else is virtually impossible. So I shut down every application with the exception of Skype and repeat myself incessantly. This makes teleconferencing for work virtually impossible. So if I had a phone meeting I was using an office at Mario's brother's shop or hoping I would not have to share a desktop while on the phone. The nicer folks would call me so I could let the call go to my cell and they would conference me in. Those days are gone - YIPPPPIE!

While we were at the feria I decided to stop at the used books stand in the back corner. I had seen the ad for it on Craigslist and really wanted to read some english. I do miss english here. So I stopped and there is this sign - phone calls to the US 6 cents! Woo hoo - now I had been looking on the internet for phone cards, but couldn't fins any that let you call from CR to the US - only the other way around. So I bought one to try out. I also bought books and cheese, yeah there's always a mixed bag at the feria. I spoke the vendor for a while, what a nice woman. Mario was laughing because he knew I was liking the english for a change of pace. But anyway the card is great! I got 200 minutes for $12 (she takes a little profit on the card). I used the whole 200 minutes over the weekend and in meetings today so I emailed her for more and asked for a card with more than 200 minutes. Within a few hours she had gotten me 2000, well I will have the codes tomorrow, but whew what a relief! Everyone I talked to asked why they could understand me, my dad's really happy cause he was the biggest complainer!

The info for anyone who is interested in these cards is:

http://puravidaconnections.com/
or email 6cents@puravidaconnections.com

I am not selling the cards, just passing the info along. It was a godsend for me so maybe someone else is having the same issues.

What a storm!

2010-08-16T20:12:00.000-06:00

OK it was yesterday, but still the effects kind of freaked me out. We weathered it close to our old house in Los Angeles because we were at a soccer game again. It didn't feel that bad there, just a TON of rain and thunder and lightning. When we got home I thought we had been robbed! We had Mario's sister, Maria, and her family over in the morning. It's one of the things I have had to adjust to. She came at 8:30 AM. I don't know about you, but in the states if someone decided 8:30 was a good time to visit I would set them straight! Here we are usually up at 5:30 so it was no big deal.

Anyway, we showed them the house and must not have shut the doors well because we came home to Diego greeting us from the balcony! Both balcony doors had blown open, the 2 bedrooms had the screens wide open, and the trap door for the attic had blown off! It must have been a LOT of wind! All of our valuables were still intact so I am sure we weren't robbed lol. Mario assures me wind can do all of the opening we had experienced. Oh and the upstairs floors were all soaking wet so the wind came with rain. I am kind of glad we weren't home, but I am sure Diego was scared!

Las Quebradas Biological Center

2010-08-13T17:53:00.004-06:00

Today we had planned to go to Wilson Biological Center in San Vito but it was POURING this morning and we decided against it. When the day turned out to be beautiful we wound up at Las Quebradas Biological Center across the river from our house. The drive there is pretty, and the gardens are OK. It was only $2 to get in, $2.50 if you don't live in Costa Rica, and you sort of get what you pay for. If you live close it's worth a trip. It seemed like maybe in the tourist season there was more because there were several buildings and a souvenier shop that were all closed. There was a class from Canada volunteering to fix up the butterfly exhibit so that was closed too. The man at the gate said in the morning there are monkeys, but we didn't see any. So these are the cows on the road to the place. I never tire of the cows in the road lol.

The really cool thing about the ride up was that we got to see our house from afar. Being bright orange it really stands out!

OK Maybe you don't find our Diego as cute as we do, but this is new hobby... we call him Señor Busybody.

Clouds for Breakfast

2010-08-08T06:59:00.001-06:00

This is breakfast at our house, I wonder why we pay for TV?

Mario enjoying his first cup of Costa Rican coffee. (Johanna notice his FAVORITE mug, we can't believe how big Bianca is now!)

These 3 shots were taken within 15 minutes of each other, the clouds roll in and out in the morning.

Yippee Found the cord - Here's our new home sweet home!

2010-08-04T19:18:00.003-06:00

This is the kitchen, we really are not fond of the green but Mario is all painted out since he painted our house in Pa to sell it and then his house in Los Angeles. He just can't face painting this house too and I don't blame him! I am trying to get some stuff for the walls to tone it down. The shelves and counters are all tiled.

The barn doors in the front of the living room go to the front of the house. The side doors go to the garage/car port.

This is the dining area. We finally got the chairs back today. They were easily chipped and it was driving us crazy so we sent them back to Katia and Carlos and they put a coat of poly on them. Lets hope it works.

This is the garage/car port. Mario was going crazy cleaning the orange mud off of the white tiles so we bought some rubber runners to keep it clean. Now the stones they put in are ripping the rubber so he washes the car before he puts it in. Way too much work if you ask me, but he is happy. See the mountains in the backround? That's what makes me happy!

We had bought this table for the other house. There is a place down the road that makes them too (it's not where we bought it). We stopped in to see if they made patio blocks. Not only do they make them but Cristian came to the house and laid them. I had seen the tables tiled at the Mirador restaurant near our house. Turns out Cristian did the work! So we went to the tile place and used some of our credit and he tiled the tops of the table and benches for us! I think it looks great! He also made me 6 hangers for the balcony so that I can hang the plants you see in the garage pic. Since we rent we can't make holes and this works great! He also made a sheppard's hook for the platanos I am using to attract birds. What an inventive guy!

Here some views from the balcony on the second floor. I really am loving it here!

This is a little building below us that the coffee farm in our backyard uses. I think it's kind of cute.

It's a small world after all ...

2010-07-29T08:33:00.000-06:00

We are doing well settling in to the new house, spending money like we have it (though we don't lol) and loving every minute of it. Mario got himself a weedwhacker (note it is HIS cause I never want to whack) and is outside chopping everything down that looks unruly. Those of you that know my Mario know that almost everything is unruly (he is a tad bit OCD), so he is really happy. I still haven't found my cords, I have his awful feeling I tossed them into the tangled mess of cords I brought from the states "in case". It is on my to-do list to sort them out and organize them into neat little rolls ( a job for Mario? lol) but if my camera cord doesn't show up soon I will have to get to it.

So the other night about 7:30 - 8:00 I am inside on the computer when I hear Mario talking to someone outside. Now this is VERY strange since we live on the mountain and never see anyone when it is light out let alone in the pitch black, and it is pouring! Turns out our only neighbor, up the mountain about 300 feet, across the road, and down the mountain about 300 feet, decided to walk over and meet us. Well, not exactly meet us, since she already knew us! Remember the nurse that came out to see my leg and scheduled the rush appointment since it looked so bad? Well guess what?! She is our neighbor! What a small world! She said she had passed by and saw us and thought we looked like the couple that she had helped. Her husband laughed and said something along the lines that there are a lot of gringas and this couldn't possibly be the same one she helped. Then she saw the bandage on my leg and said HA! It is her!! lol. So we have a new friend, Patricia!

Off to look for my cords and work ... Pura Vida!

I'm back and boy have I been busy!

2010-07-23T19:13:00.000-06:00

I got back on Sunday night. After the Spirit fiasco everything went smoothly. I got to the airport with plenty of time. I hit the first snagget when I tried to get a boarding pass. The gal at the check in said she couldn't find my return flight. I handed her my bus ticket and she was concerned because it was an open ticket, not for a specific date (lesson learned, next time I will pick a random date). The manager wasn't around and her coworker nicely explained to me that Americans can't leave the country without a return flight. Hmmm never heard of that law, but she said it with such authority. So finally they find the supervisor and she says my ticket is fine. They note it in the computer as the "authority" slunk away. I asked for an empty seat next to me because of my leg and the gal was really accommodating. I was on a flight to Orlando that continued onto Ft Lauderdale and apparently you need to keep the same seat on the whole trip. She found me a seat with tons of legroom right behind the Big Seat row and I had no one else in my row for both flights! I spent the extra for a Big Seat on the CR leg of the trip so that was no problem. So on to security, of course I am the random traveller to get searched, but then I think I have only flown once where I wasn't. The searchers were nice and the woman with the wand was really careful with my leg. The rest of the day was uneventful. I met a really nice Tica in the airport in Florida, we chatted for a bit and exchanged numbers. People are so friendly here. I got to San Jose at midnight and by 12:30 was in the car with Mario and his brother. Oldemar drives a taxi at night and we figured out it was cheaper to use him then rent a car and stay in a hotel. So off we go, they had borrowed someone's GPS because no one knew how to get home from the airport. Usually you go into San Jose and then grab the interamerican highway. This GPS however took us on the scenic route and we got to climb a mountain through some really dicey neighborhoods and traverse a rut filled dirt road. What fun at 1 AM, but we finally got home at 5:30 in the AM.

The next day we got up late, I even managed to sleep through the roosters and we looked for a doctor. Mario was convinced that I needed to go to the hospital so he never made the appointment (sigh). His dad recommended a clinic but they were booked, gee SOMEONE made appointments. They sent us to the next clinic 2 doors down. They also were booked, but the nurse came out to look at my leg (I had stayed int he car this time because it was bleeding and hurting). She looked at it and had Mario go back in with her. They fit me in later that day - not a good sign for me since that meant it was BAD. We went to the appointment and the doctor told me the skin had died and I was heading for gangrene. He had to cut all of the dead skin off and it would be a BIG open wound that will take months to heal. Oh joy. He said there was really no other way. So he opens this door in his office and there is an exam room. He did it right there. I was my usual big baby self and cried. It REALLY hurt! He gave me anesthetic, but still there were parts that he cut that felt like I had nothing. He also gave me more antibiotics and pain killers and explicit instructions on how to care for the wound. It is actually looking much better now so I am hopeful the worst is over. Oh yeah - cost? $80, and he apologized and said from now on it would be $60, but he had to charge for the operation.

The next day we signed our lease and Wednesday we moved to the new house. I said I have been busy lol. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it here! I will tell more about it in another post, when I find the damn cord to the camera and I can post pictures. But it is a dream come true, I never thought I would live somewhere so beautiful.

Today Mario brought the rest of our stuff. We got a late start because the cable guys were here. So he got here late and it started to rain before they could get the big truck out. To get to our house you need a 4x4. We couldn't find a 4x4 so Mario borrowed his brothers box truck and his dad helped it along by pulling with his 4x4. That worked great on the first trip on Wednesday. Today however, the rain made the clay/rock road slick. They decided that it had just started and they could make it out. So they tied the 2 trucks together and started out. Mario had problems from the start, they big truck had no traction, his dad started to pull it and we heard a horrible noise. They think it is the transmission on his dad's truck. Then the bumper snapped off on the big truck. So now we had 2 trucks that couldn't move stuck on our road. So Mario hiked up to the top of our road to see if anyone had a tractor (this is why I love it here). He called me from the highway, nobody could help us. He called Oldemar and he was going to take the taxi to his 4x4. I suggested a tow truck but the look on his father's face and Mario's reaction told me this wasn't gonna happen. I started dinner for everyone because I figured we would be stuck for a while. Mario left with Oldemar to go and get his car, but his dad got impatient and decided that he and his wife would walk to the highway too. Now I know where Mario gets it. So I called Mario and back he came, he got them safely, they are in their 70's and I was so worried that something would happen to them on the gravel mountain road. Hours went by and I called mario to see what happened. He said he was on the way with his dad, his brother, and a tractor. Sure enough a half an hour later the tractor pulled out his dad and the big truck. They can fix the bumper with 4 screws so it is not a big deal. His dad's car drives but they need to get the 4 wheel drive fixed.

Whew that's it! I'm heading to bed and can't wait to see the mountains in the morning!

Last Day in the States

2010-07-17T19:51:00.001-06:00

Well this is it, I leave tomorrow. What an odd feeling, vacation in Pa and NJ and home to Costa Rica. I had a great time! A HUGE thanks to all the friends and family that gave me such a warm welcome, took me shopping, transported me from here to there and back again, and just made me feel sooo happy to come back! But I miss my Mario and Costa Rica so I am leaving with mixed emotions. My leg is awful. I am really worried, the wound is black and the skin around it is red. I went to an internist and he wouldn't even touch it. He wants me to go to a surgeon for a possible skin graft. I explained that I was leaving on Sunday so he put me on stronger antibiotics and advised me to get to a doctor soon in Costa Rica. Mario made an appointment for Monday so I will go then. I think it is looking pinker and I have been icing it so the redness is less. Who knows how much damage I will do tomorrow with all the planes.

I was supposed to fly out of Atlantic City to Ft Lauderdale and then on to Costa Rica. When I got the confirmation today I noticed that it said Atlanta and not Atlantic City. I am flying Spirit for the first time since a) they are cheaper and b) I could buy a one way ticket. Costa Rican law says you need a ticket out of the country within 90 days when you enter. When I came in April I had a round trip ticket. That's how I just got back. Now I don't want to commit to a date so I didn't want to buy a round trip ticket this time. I bought a bus ticket to Panama. I read that this is acceptable. It is an open ticket that needs to be used within 3 months. Let's see if I can get by with this $14 purchase.

Anyway, I called Spirit in a panic because obviously I cannot leave from Atlanta. They say no problem for a mere $270 I can switch my ticket to Atlantic City, but wait there are no flights tomorrow. So I look and there are 6 flights from AC to Ft Lauderdale. Oh but the flight from Ft Lauderdale to Costa Rica is full so I cannot reschedule for tomorrow. OK I am not a rocket scientist, but if I HAVE A TICKET from Ft Lauderdale to CR why would I not be able to get a seat? Well it seems that the ticket is from Atlanta so you cannot reschedule only 1 leg and the flight is booked to CR. So I try again - if I reschedule then my seat is not being used so therefore there is room on the plane. Again I get the same answer. I demand to speak to a manager. No luck she reads from the same script and cannot think on her own. She tells me to call the Spirit desk in Ft Lauderdale and see if they will let me board the plane if I fly there from AC without changing the reservation (which would cost $150). So I look up the number and call, there is no Spirit desk in Ft Lauderdale but I can have baggage. The woman there tries to help, but there is no one I can talk to. She directs me to someone else who is a supervisor but that woman tells me she is much too busy to talk to me, can I wait on hold? 20 minutes later I give up. So after this 2 hour stressful interaction with Spirit I decide fine I will pay the extra money and book the flight on Monday. So I get the next moron err customer service rep on the phone and he says he will be more than happy to rebook. He rebooks me for a Tuesday PM flight. While he is confirming etc. I check again online for a flight tomorrow and voila! Now there is a seat. So I have him look again and he tells me oh yes a seat has opened - DUH could it be MINE that you just switched???!!! You could hear the light bulb click as he realizes this is what I had been saying all along. He says but I just booked you for Tuesday. I practically reach through the phone to strangle him but say in my sweetest voice through clenched teeth - but I really want to go tomorrow. I am waiting for him to say he can reschedule for another $270 but to my relief he says OK hang on and books me on the f-ing flight I asked for 2 hours ago. But now I get to leave AC - fly to Orlando - fly to Ft Lauderdale and then fly to CR. I will be travelling for 12 hours but dammit I will be home tomorrow!

Needless to say I won't be travelling Spirit again.

Emergency Room Visit :(

2010-07-08T21:10:00.001-06:00

I got to see the medical system in action yesterday. We went to Dominical to pickup some last minute gifts and I had to run to the sanitorios when we got there. I went up these rickety stairs to get there and when I came back down I managed to severely cut my leg on the rusted nails and rotted wood. The blood was gushing out and I had the sense to apply pressure quickly. Mario saw it happen and grabbed a paper towel from the little food stand that was right there. We got the bleeding to slow down and wrapped it with a rag (dirty of course). We opted to return to the hospital in San Isidro because we had Diego with us and it was too hot to leave him in the car. So we drove back and went to the emergency room.

What an experience! There were people everywhere in wheel chairs, on stretchers, in the hallways, wandering. As soon as I started walking I started to bleed again. A nice woman offered me her seat, another started talking to me to calm me down. I was scared and upset because I had no idea what was going to happen. Mario took my passport and went to fill out paperwork. He came back and grabbed a nurse and said I was bleeding and they had to help me. I never saw him so forceful! I didn't know he had it in him, but he was really worried about me. In about 15 minutes from the time we came in I was on the stretcher face down getting ready to be stitched up. Pretty impressive for a non-life threatening injury. I am sure I would have waited hours in Philly. They shot me full of Novocaine and stitched the wound, Mario said there were a lot of stitches and it was very neat. They put a bandage on and I was ready to leave when a doctor came in with the person that had stitched me up (I don't know if she was a doctor or a nurse) and asked them to remove the bandages so he could look at the wound. He said that I needed to be stitched again since she had only used one thread. Because the wound was so large he wanted the stitches tied off each time so that if there was infection they could remove a few and not all. So more Novocaine (man I hate needles) and out came the old stitches and she restitched. Now the wound looks kind of hairy but I guess it's better.

Next we were told that I would need antibiotics and pain killers and a tetanus shot. We had to pay first so we went to the caja (cashier). We expected the worst, but everything came to 36,000 colones or about $72. That's with no insurance because we procrastinated about looking into any here. Incredible.

The pharmacy is in the hospital so we got the medicine right there. I go the tetanus shot in the same emergency room. The people were really nice and they explained everything that they were doing and how I need to take care of the stitches. All in all I am really impressed. We stopped in a local pharmacy today to buy gauze and stuff to keep the wound clean. The pharmacist asked what they gave me for pain and then sold me something stronger than the Tylenol they had prescribed. I am not sure if I will take them, but I bought some because I will be on the plane all day tomorrow when I fly home so I wanted to have something in case it hurts. He also sold me a cream that is an antibiotic and will also help scarring. Pretty cool if it works.

Anyway I probably won't be updating for a few days as I am travelling to see friends and family. When I come back we are moving so stay tuned!

We may be nuts but we are moving!

2010-07-06T20:50:00.000-06:00

So we have been working like crazy to fix up our house and it looks really nice, but I really wanted a house with a view. Our house is in a little town, filled with people, dogs, and chickens. It was starting to get to me waking up every morning a 3 to the song of the rooster that sleeps outside our window. This wasn't the tranquilo life I had imagined. But still I LOVE Costa Rica, I could live in our house for years and still be happy here. One day as I was looking through my favorite real estate site Chirripo Bienes Raices I saw this house. WOW what a beautiful house, and the view!

My sensible side said nooooo you are living rent free, no mortgage, why would you rent a house? Save save save and one day you can buy a house with a view. But my adventurous side said it can't hurt just to LOOK at the house. So we went, we looked, and we rented. Not without obstacles, apparently you need to have a 4x4 to get to the house. Our little Toyota couldn't handle the driveway. So we traded it in and poof we have a Suzuki Sidekick that can make it. So when I come back from the states we are moving in. Crazy I know, but you only live once. So if you know anyone looking for a really cute tico house in Barrio Los Angeles we are renting ours out for $200 a month! Rooster wake up calls are free!

So why do I want to live in the mountains? Well for one it is about 10 degrees cooler. I hear it is blistering in New Jersey and Pennsylvania right now. There is no escape. Here in Costa Rica, just drive up into the mountains and it gets cooler and cooler until you actually need a sweater. The other reason? These are some picture I shot from the restaurant on the way to Dominical:

This is the center of Perez Zeledon (San Isidro del General), the church is the same one in the header of my site.

So green! and the lofty clouds over the mountains are ever-changing.

Just loved the clouds that day, so peaceful.

So there is my dream, to wake up to views like this everyday. Let's hope this house is as perfect and peaceful as it seems....

Birds, Diego meets a Costa Rican Kitty, & Chicken Shit

2010-06-25T16:14:00.001-06:00

Birds:

I FINALLY have birds wooo hoooo! After weeks of trying I started putting out platanos (big starchy bananas) and voila! they came. The pictures came out better than I expected so I will be taking more! These are red-legged honey creepers. The handsome blue bird is the male. The green one is the female and she is much braver than him because she always comes first. We have a bunch coming now and they chatter away in the trees waiting their turns!

He is really a beauty!!

This is a blue-gray tanager who also is coming by with friends. The shot is not the best I know - where are you Mary???!!! I need help! But still this is also a beautiful bird. It started raining, surprise, so this is all I got today :(.

This is a blurry pic of one of the hummers that visit every day. This plant is in a palm tree that Mario hollowed out for me. I just love living here!

I have no pictures of Diego with this story but we are still laughing so I thought I would share it. Yesterday morning he went outside for his morning business and there was a CAT eating his food! Well Diego pretty much hated cats in the states, but here they all come into the yard to steal his food so now he REALLY hates them. He spends his day checking on his bowl and chasing any that come along. (I feed him outside because of the HUGE bugs here) Well this cat ran like all the others with D in hot pursuit. He cornered the cat near my lipstick palm and started barking madly. I don't know why the cats won't jump the chicken wire fence, but they all seem to think they can't and head for the gate. This cat couldn't get to the gate with Diego in front of him so he did what all cats do, puffed up to twice his size, hissed, and lashed out with his claws. We have no idea if he actually touched D but Diego started screaming like he was dying! Yelping and running and rolling on the ground heading right for me for protection! Mario started laughing hysterically and saying "how embarressing" over and over again. I am not sure if he was embarrassed for D or for us having such a wimpy dog. Well D must have been embarrassed because he recovered himself and went back for the cat. The cat meanwhile had a surprised, did-I-do-that look on his face, paused for a moment, we are sure he was also laughing, and then scurried out via the gate. Poor D, thank goodness none of his new doggy friends were around to witness his humiliation.

Chicken Shit:

We have it and it stinks! With all of the plants I have been putting in I have been looking for organic fertilizer. As all good gardeners know chicken shit is gold. Well I saw a sign for organic fertilizer and gallina something as we were heading out of town one day and Mario got all excited. His dad too! They also needed some. We called the number and for a mere 1250 colones per bag were the proud owners of chicken shit. These are not small bags! They are the big potato sacks so you can imagine how 4 of these smelled in transit. 1250 colones is roughly $2.50. So I put our 2 bags in my composter to ferment further, spread some around and hopefully my flowers will be even more beautiful!

When the cure is worse ...

2010-06-18T16:30:00.002-06:00

The fumigated again today. I am assuming it was to kill any emerging mosquitoes. We missed the motorcycle guy yesterday but Mario's mom let us know so I was ready! I closed all the windows and curtains and made sure Diego and I were way out back. Well as way out as we can be in our little yard. We listened as the whine of the fumigators came closer and closer. Finally we saw the smog coming down the road. They stopped when they got to our house and since everything was closed up didn't shoot the smog in. Mario's mom came out to see how we fared since Mario had gone to check on our car in the shop. We saw the smoke approaching her house and she scurried off to check on things. I started to head into our house since most of the smoke had cleared, when I heard Mario's dad shouting "Where is my wife??". Turns out his mom went into the house thinking that they would not fumigate inside. His dad, who was out front, asked the guy to do inside the house. When his mom saw the house filling with smoke she ran into the back room thinking the smoke wouldn't reach her. So when the fumigator opened the last door there she was. He told her to run out of the house since the rooms were filled with the smog. She came over to our house to breathe. She was OK thank goodness! Hopefully this is the last round of spraying. There are at least 5 cases of dengue in our little town so they are doing everything they can to eliminate the mosquitoes that spread it. I hardly get bit around the house, but I know there are tons of mosquitoes in the woods behind us. I usually off myself before going there. Think I will stay clear for a while til this dies down a bit.

I got my hair cut pretty short today. I like it though! It was so hot with it long and strangely it seems to be growing fast here. She made it so I can still put it up. I brought my color with me and she applied it, color, cut, styling and eyebrows, $16 - just wow! Some things are really great here lol.

It's not easy being green ...

2010-06-15T19:31:00.001-06:00

Yesterday a motorcycle screeched up our alley with the Minister of Health emblem on the side. The rider informed me that they would be fumigating the neighborhood today since there are reported cases of dengue. We have heard our next door neighbor has it. If you don't know what Dengue is here is the Wikipedia link: Dengue Fever. Anyway, he tells me that they will be by after 8:30 am and will fumigate the house and yard to kill any mosquitoes which carry the disease. Now I used to chase the mosquito trucks on my bike when I was younger and wondered what lasting affects this may have had on my health. For those of you youngins that never experienced mosquito trucks, they used to come through our development and fog the area with a pesticide that would kill off mosquitoes. The kids in the neighborhood would hop on bikes and ride in the smoke as the truck went through. It was tons of fun because it smelled cool and you couldn't see where you were going because of the thick smoke. This of course was back in the ignorance is bliss days when you were certain that the government would NEVER do anything harmful. As a side note, I went to a flower show in Philly as an adult and saw an exhibit on the natural ways they are controlling mosquitoes now. I asked the man at the booth if there were any long term affects for us bike riders from the pesticides the trucks were spraying. He looked at my son and told me not to worry about it since I had a healthy child. When I told him that my son was adopted he made a quick exit - hmmmm food for thought.

Back to Costa Rica ...

So I wake Mario up at the crack of dawn, ok the f-ing rooster woke us up before dawn, and I tell him we need to poison proof the house. We cleaned off all of the counters and put anything that food might touch into the cupboards. It was irking me that I had no say in this, it was going to happen no matter how I feel about indiscriminately killing every insect with poison, but at least I could reduce the amount of it that would enter my body. So everything away we waited for the fumigator. We heard the hum of an engine coming down the road, so I packed up my computers and put them in the desk. I went to the back of the house to use the bathroom and let Mario know they were coming. As I came out of the bathroom Mario was looking frantically for Diego. Apparently the men came down our alley and fumigated without telling anyone. The house was filled with choking smoke, they just pointed the apparatus into the front door and let it fill the house. Luckily Diego came running and we all got outside, but there was no escape since the air outside was also filled with the same smoke. I took a deep breath and went to the front of the house where I had Diego's leash. We got him on it and walked until we came to an area where the smoke was thinner. In about 5 minutes the air was clear outside. We hung around for about a half an hour and then went in and turned on all the fans to clear out the house. I really resent having this done, I understand the risk of dengue, but I also feel I should have some sort of a say in what I breathe.

A few hours later the motorcycle was back. He was checking each house for any standing water that could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I asked him what the fumigators used to kill the mosquitoes and he told me that it only affected mosquitoes. Oh and it might kill spiders and cockroaches too. I asked about the butterflies, since we saw one dying in the road and he said oh no, they are too tough, the poison doesn't affect them. Funny cause I thought cockroaches were pretty tough and it kills them. The woman across the street has lovebirds outside that survived the ordeal and we saw lots of other birds, including hummingbirds, and butterflies this afternoon so life goes on. He says that they will be back again to repeat the process. I have learned from this experience. I plan to completely close the house and take Diego on a day trip. I don't want to be around here when they come again.

We are tiled and I am coming back for a visit!!

2010-06-13T11:29:00.001-06:00

The tiling is done and we finished painting, ok we still have the molding and a few doors, but we have the majority done!! So this is what we look like now!

See how cute Diego is without his rosey glow! We still want to paint the bars white to contrast with the blue.

This is the view from the front door.

The living room. I know the candles are REALLY orange. For some reason it is almost impossible to find decorative candles here. Most are the emergency white kind. These are manderine and didn't look sooo orange in the store.

The kitchen/dining room. Notice it is no longer yellow. After we picked the tile I realized the yellow doesn't really match it. Thank goodness we had only painted the primer coat and were able to put this beige over the top. We left our bedroom and the spare bedroom yellow (no pictures since they are still a work in progress). The daisys on the table are from the weekly market and cost me a whopping 2 bucks. I plan to have flowers in the house all the time!

This is my office. We got the drapes in Dominical from the cute gal Mary and I met last year on our trip. She remembered us! These are actually wraps to use over your bathing suit but I like them as drapes. Yes that is luggage behind the desk, storage is tight here. The desk is covered in glass. I looked all over for a desk pad since I was scratching the surface with the keyboard. We couldn't find any thing like a pad in our city. When I decided to use my trunk as the coffee table in the living room I wanted to get glass cut for the top. Mario though I meant the desk so he measured that instead. I told him to keep the measurements but that it would be way too expensive to get glass for the top. I had priced it for my desk in the states and it was over $150. So we went to the glass store, yeah they have a glass and mirror store, 2 in fact, and they charged $20 for both pieces of glass, amazing.

I am coming to Point Pleasant NJ July 9th through the 18th. I hope to make it around to see everyone. I am staying with my parents so give me a call if you want to get together!!

If you live in Costa Rica how do you know when you are on vacation?

2010-06-02T18:45:00.003-06:00

We took a four day weekend since my work was slow and everyone in the states had off on Monday. What fun!! We rented a car and went up to San Jose. I had the I want to buy everything in sight frame of mind but was able to restrain myself! We are having the floors tiled in the house, all of them, so everything is topsy turvey once again and we were just in the way, a perfect excuse for a get-away. We took Diego with us just for the fun of it and because he has been looking so depressed since there are no dog parks here.

Mario had a problem getting to the rental place so they delivered the car here. We will be utilizing that service a lot I think! We decided to go to San Jose via the Costenera. They paved the whole thing since Mary and I were here in June! Funny enough they still ride horses there although it looks like a highway now. This is one of my favorite pics from the June trip:

This is a paved road now.

We decided to skip Dominical until the way back, and headed directly to Manuel Antonio. Mario hadn't been this way for many years and kept commenting on how much everything had changed. We stopped for a bit in Manuel Antonio and Diego got to take a dip in the ocean. He loves the beach here. He can run out really far because it doesn't get deep and lay down til the waves break over him. The he runs around in the surf like a nut. It was great to see him so happy. We ate in a restaurant on the beach and a guitar player came and played one of my favorite Spanish songs for us (Te Amo Demaciado by Koporacion). Diego decided it was a sing-along about half-way through and almost gave the guy a heart attack. I guess he didn't see D under the table lol. From there we went to San Jose. I really don't care for cities and I remembered why while we were there. I can't take the traffic! It really sets me on edge. We stayed at a hotel called Hemingways. Thanks Michael from Doin Costa Rica! He suggested it as a dog friendly spot and it was. The hotel is a block from a park where Diego could do his business, hard to find greenery in the city so that was a blessing. They have a cute cat there so D couldn't lounge around with us in the public places, but the room was HUGE so he was comfy. We ate right next door and the restaurant had a bar so we hung for a bit. It was an interesting night, we were talking with a guy from Belgium who had come to Costa Rica for a long weekend 5 years ago and was thinking it might be time to move on. There were also 2 young guys there, one from Spain that worked on a cruise ship and another from Sweden who had just arrived and was staying in a hostel. We all swapped "how do you say this in your languages" for a while and had a great time. Then 2 of the bartenders "friends" came by and sat with the young guys. After a while we figured out the "friends" were there to entertain the young guys. Interesting evening to say the least.

The next day we walked to the boulevard and shopped shopped shopped. I didn't get everything on my list, but I put a dent in it! We had paid an extra $10 to stay in the hotel past the noon checkout time, and by 10 am we were pooped and thinking about leaving San Jose. We went back to the room and Mario crashed so we wound up using the extra time for him and Diego to sleep.

After the death defying drive leaving San Jose we went to his sisters' houses. I think the Costa Rica maps I got from NavSat for my GPS were a great investment! We used it everywhere this weekend! Although it kind of spooked me that the closest landmark to his sister Zuly's house was the morgue and it was in the POIs. As with all of Mario's family, although we had eaten and asked only to have coffee, both sisters made us dinner. We had a great time and I got to speak a lot of English with Mario's niece's husband who is from North Carolina. We left way later than we should have and headed to San Ramon.

We had booked a cabin in San Ramon at a place called El Bosque Lodge. It was kind of strange because you had to pay for the room in 12 hour increments. Now if I had my US brain working I would have said hmmm hotel by the hour, wonder why that would be... But I didn't think about it until we were leaving. The cabin was really n ice and clean, but there was no phone, no restaurant nearby, nothing that would make a 2 night stay worth it. It was a nice place to sleep and that's what we used it for. It was relatively cheap also. It was REALLY hard to find and at the bottom of a mountain road, not a fun drive at 9:30 in the pitch black. Waking up was beautiful, no traffic sounds, no roosters, just tons of birds.

We went to visit Mario's other sister and her family. The views from their house were INCREDIBLE and of course I forgot to take pictures. They have a furniture business and we got to see where they make the furniture. Really cool and interesting. The wood here is beautiful! Oscar is going to make a table for our living room from the center of a tree, he had a slice of a tree there that looks like it will make a beautiful table but unfortunately it is sold, he is looking for one for me.

We went to some really beautiful places with them, first we went to Zarcero to see the topiaries.

Then they took us to see a spectacular waterfall.

It was a great day! The next day we took a spin through Sarchi on the way home. They are famous for the hand painted ox carts they produce. Here is Mario next to a wheel:

Exploring my new home is really a blast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHANA!!

Buenos Aires Costa Rica

2010-05-23T19:46:00.004-06:00

Today we went to Buenos Aires and I saw some of the most incredible mountain views. Mary I miss you and your camera because these pictures don't do it justice!

Every trip here involves crossing a rickety bridge. Here is today's:

Buenos Aires is where Mario's older kids grew up. Here is their elementary school:

We stopped to see Buenos Aires' balls, I know they need a better name, even the town is called Balls, but it is really interesting. Here is a snippet from Wikipedia about the balls:

The stone spheres (or stone balls) of Costa Rica are an assortment of over three hundred petrospheres in Costa Rica, located on the Diquis Delta and on Isla del Caño. Known locally as Las Bolas, they are also called The Diquis Spheres. These are the best-known stone sculptures of the Isthmo-Colombian area.

The stones are believed to have been carved between 200 BC and 1500 AD.

Numerous myths surround the stones, such as they came from Atlantis, or that they were made as such by nature. Some local legends state that the native inhabitants had access to a potion able to soften the rock. Another claims that at the center of each sphere is a single coffee bean.

It has been claimed that the spheres are perfect, or very near perfect in roundness, although some spheres are known to vary by 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in diameter. Also the stones have been damaged and eroded over the years, and so is impossible to know exactly their original shape

Also from http://web.ku.edu/~hoopes/balls/intro.htm :

The stone balls of Costa Rica have been the object of pseudoscientific speculations since the publication of Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods in 1971. More recently, they have gained renewed attention as the result of books such as Atlantis in America: Navigators of the Ancient World, by Ivar Zapp and George Erikson (Adventures Unlimited Press, 1998), and The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization, by Colin Wilson and Rand Flem-Ath (Delacorte Press, 2001). These authors have been featured on television, radio, magazines, and web pages, where they do an incredible disservice to the public by misrepresenting themselves and the state of actual knowledge about these objects.

Although some of these authors are often represented as having "discovered" these objects, the fact is that they have been known to scientists since they first came to light during agricultural activities by the United Fruit Company in 1940. Archaeological investigation of the stone balls began shortly thereafter, with the first scholarly publication about them appearing in 1943. They are hardly a new discovery, nor are they especially mysterious. In fact, archaeological excavations undertaken at sites with stone balls in the 1950s found them to be associated with pottery and other materials typical of the Pre-Columbian cultures of southern Costa Rica. Whatever "mystery" exists has more to do with loss of information due to the destruction of the balls and their archaeological contexts than lost continents, ancient astronauts, or transoceanic voyages.
Hundreds of stone balls have been documented in Costa Rica, ranging in size from a few centimeters to over two meters in diameter. Almost all of them are made of granodiorite, a hard, igneous stone. These objects are not natural in origin, unlike the stone balls in Jalisco, Mexico that were described in a 1965 National Geographic article. Rather, they are monolithic sculptures made by human hands.
The balls have been endangered since the moment of their discovery. Many have been destroyed, dynamited by treasure hunters or cracked and broken by agricultural activities. At the time of a major study undertaken in the 1950s, fifty balls were recorded as being in situ. Today, only a handful are known to be in their original locations

Whatever the official explanation is Mario tells me there were 3 of these balls at the school in Las Bolas but someone stole one (I have no idea how). They were moved here but he doesn't know from where. They are really impressive.

Mario is 6'2" tall. These are really big balls!

Rethinking the city life ...

2010-05-23T06:53:00.001-06:00

When we decided to move to Costa Rica I came to see if I thought I could live here. I loved everything about Costa Rica except the area where Mario had his house. It is very close to the city of San Isidro del General and I prefer country living. I like the thought of a house perched on a mountain with spectacular views and no one around for miles. Of course I thought I may never be able to afford that since the prices here are skyrocketing since it is the new Florida and everyone seems to want to retire here, but still, it was my dream. Now that we have been here over a month I am rethinking this "dream". I am really starting to love our little shack, and Costa Rican city life isn't exactly New York. This is my view from the yard:

The fence we put up is barely visible, but the wooden thing in the center of the picture is the gate. The building is Mario's parents garage. To the left is the bird feeder that we made together from a plate and chain. The birds won't come near it so far, but Mario tells me it's because they are full since the woods in the back are filled with bananas. This doesn't feel too much like city life, except the neighbors are really close. The other night I needed to use the servicios (bathroom) in the middle of the night. Our bathroom is sort of outside since it is in the pila (sink) room which is open except for the grates on the walls. When I opened the door I saw a huge rat-like tail on the boards over the bathroom door. I started screaming for Mario (understand it was late at night and he was sleeping), I was yelling rata, rata, so of course he came running out in his underwear. I had slammed the door and was holding it shut with all my might since you know about the man-eating killer rats here in Costa Rica. (Well it IS a jungle so who knows what they are capable of). Mario goes into the pila room armed with the fly swatter, and starts to laugh. He says that is not a rat it is a zorro. A chicken eating zorro. So he proceeds to push it towards the back door with the fly swatter. Again I am peeking through an inch crack in the back door trying to see what a chicken eating zorro looks like, but I never actually saw anything but the tail. The zorro leaves, Mario patiently waits for me to pee since I am petrified that this chicken eating zorro may convert to human flesh and we go back to bed. As we lay down he says, you know they are kind of cool these zorros, they carry their babies in a pouch like a kangaroo. An opposum? that was an opposum??? Yup. Hardly the jungle monster I had thought, none-the-less not something I want to meet on my midnight bathroom run. So yeah, maybe I am not cut out for green acres, maybe the city is a better place for me. Do they have man-eating rats in the country???

Here's some more views of my city life:

This is our patch of corn that Mario's mom planted on the only spot of soil in the yard with no stones. We didn't have the heart to pull it up so I planted coreopsis in between the stalks so at least we will have some flowers there too. I just put in a mamon chino plant that produces tasty big grape size balls of fruit. I thought it was a bush, but the neighbor's bush towers over our house. I am hoping if I keep topping it off it will stay a reasonable height.

Here is the coconut palm behind Mario's parent's garage. It makes a great rustling sound when the breeze blows.

We have a favorite restaurant here, thanks mom some things never will change, I still hate to cook. This is the view from our table, when the sun shines on the mountain you can almost see the people it is so clear!

This is the fruit of the cocoa tree in our yard. Yes cocoa, the chocolate tree. You crack open the fruit and there are white milky covered seeds inside that you can pop out and suck on. This one wasn't quite ripe so it tasted like sweet tarts, I liked it so much we may never have a ripe one! You can put the seeds out to dry and then grind them up to make cocoa powder which of course is the basis of chocolate. Mario made me put the seeds in the burn pile since he says if the touch the earth they will root and we will have more chocolate trees than we can handle. I don't think he has any idea how much chocolate I can handle, but I put the seeds in the burn pile anyway!

One last treat from Andy and Fran from Boomers Offshore:

http://www.vimeo.com/11954396

It's almost 7 am here (yes it's Sunday - damn roosters!) and I have to get ready because we are going to the country today. We are heading to Buenes Aires to see where Mario grew up and visit his family. Hope I don't run into any man-eating rats!!

My very 1st earthquake!! Ok well tremor

2010-05-20T20:23:00.000-06:00

There was an earthquake in San Jose or Quepos today. We felt it here but it was more of a tremor. Being from Jersey (or Pa) I had never felt one before. Very odd! I thought the laundry was off balance but then remembered we live on a slab and the house is half concrete so the washer won't shake it! I looked up and everything was moving. Mario saw my face and laughed, he's been through worse quakes then this little tremor. Diego slept through it. It was a 6.2 at the epicenter, but I heard there is no damage there. Thank goodness!

It's raining, it's pouring ...

2010-05-16T15:31:00.000-06:00

Just WOW I never knew it could rain so hard! The soil here is incredible! There is a stretch of it between the house and car port that filled up and over flowed onto the walk way. in 10 minutes the water was gone. Hope the mums drank some of it. We had lightning and thunder but only lost power once. I am running the laptop on batteries because I am worried about it frying, grounded has a strange meaning here - nothing is. I think the plants look greener now. This morning was incredibly sunny, I even watered the fushia sine it was wilting then drop ... drop ... buckets! So fast! The garden is coming along. The portulaca are beautiful, unfortunately Diego finds them comfortable too so I hope they stay nice. Everything you put in the ground here grows like crazy. I am going to have one kick ass yard! Unfortunately we came home last night to find one of the papaya trees had fallen over. Of course it wasn't the one we want to take down since the roots are under the bathroom. It was the other one that looked so cool in the yard. I got to watch Mario hack it up with the machete. Sometimes I just can't believe this is my life now. Who the heck has a machete in Pa? They sell them in the supermarkets and hardware stores here. I want a little one, but we are afraid I will cut my leg off lol. The thunder was frightening, very loud. I think it has passed now so I am going to plug in the work computer and get back to it.

I am working and car woes

2010-05-11T20:13:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am working. Good thing cause we are spending way too fast. I think we are winding down now with the exception of the car. Nice car, a little dipute cause Mario bought it without me while we were in the states and it is a standard so I can't drive it. He says he did it on purpose because I take the dog with me. Worked out badly for him though since now he has to come with me on every shopping spree! He is painting my office since it looks like I can work from here now that I have the data card. The speed is decent and I set up a small network so I can talk on the phone from 1 computer while working on the other. The work laptop doesn't support skye which is working way better than the magic jack was.

So anyway the car... the way it works here is different than in Pa, the license plate stays with the car, so many times people don't transfer the title when they buy the car. So now we own this car, but it turns out that the tiltle is held by someone 4 owners ago. Luckily Mario happens to know the guy, unluckily he moved 6 hours away and needs to sign the title over. Mario found a lawyer who will take the signature by fax and do the paperwork, but we are stuck with the car until it all goes through which may take a month. Great. The car does well on short trips but whenever we go a distance the top blows off of the coolant tank and rusty water spews all over. Our Dominical trip was a bit harrowing because the car did like 2 miles an hour climbing the mountains and seemed like it was going to die before we reached the tops. I was praying for all I was worth cause I was afraid a big truck would come barreling up behind us on a curve and run us over. When we finally got close to home the car started to overheat and just when we got to our road it redlined and we pulled over and waited the half hour for it to cool down. Mario added water and said no problem and drove it home. It worked fine for a few more weeks and then the other day popped the top again. We took it to the "mechanic" at the end of our drive who replaced the radiator cap and said that it is fixed. I don't believe him though so I get scared everytime we go out.

The other gem of a surprise was that there is this little switch, like a toggle, in the dash. It works the engine fan. The first day we had the car we didn't know that so we over heated at the bank. Mario and his dad pondered a while trying to figure out what was wrong and then his brother came over and knew about the switch. Everytime we went out it was my job to remember to turn the fan on and off, cause if you forget to turn it off the battery dies. The "mechanic" bypassed the switch and now the fan works off the key. I don't understand why this is not how it is supposed to work, but Mario is happy not having to remember the switch.

Mario and his dad fixing the car our first day here

Woo Hooo we are tiled!

2010-05-07T07:26:00.001-06:00

After an icredible amount of red dust we are tiled, painted, and furnished! What a difference!
Here's before:

and now:

The red dust came from the grout and it was everywhere! Seeing the results made the project well worth it! Cost - about $400 wow.

Rest in peace Uncle Tony - You will be missed. Take care of yourself Dad, I love you.

Old houses are old houses no matter what country you are in

2010-05-03T10:14:00.000-06:00

The bathroom is tiled and ready to use, wooo hooo! Except I wanted less than cold water. Mario started hooking up the ducha, or suicide shower again and I asked him which was the hot wire, he answered they are both white. Wrong answer! I knew one of the wires had to be hot and so began this morning's "discussion". He stormed out to his parents house and returned with an electrician. Thank God since he had the wires reversed! Thanks Dad for teaching me that you don't play with electricity especially in the water. The electrician fixed the ducha and we asked him to look at the stove. I have been having nightmares of a fire since the stove doesn't heat well, which to me means bad wiring. So now I am sitting in the living room as Mario and the electrician rewire the connection from the street to the breaker box. Seems they didn't use the correct gauge wires whent they did it the first time. Hopefully this fixes the problem. Kinda cool having a simple house though. It's a straight run from the edge of the house to the breakers so it is not too much of a problem to fix.

The bathroom came out beautifully, I will put up pics when everything is back in place and I have showered. We put in a fence over the weekend so now Diego has a place to be without being tied up. I can also start to garden! I constructed the composter out of 2 of the plastic totes that we have, thanks to Andy and Fran (boomers offshore) for showing the idea in the first place! I am also making a greenhouse of sorts from another so that I can start seeds without the dog, chickens, and birds abusing them. Pics to follow as always lol. I suck at taking pics!

It's a beautiful day so I am off to garden!

Life is good! I have my stuff!

2010-04-30T08:14:00.000-06:00

FINALLY we got our stuff out of jail in San Jose. It looks like it is all here and the bed is not moldy! In fact it is even more comfy than I remember. I slept like a baby. Of course it may have had something to do with trying to unpack all 30 boxes in 1 day. We need more storage furniture. I still have totes to unpack and we have no more room. But it is here and all in one piece!! Again kudos to Kevin and Billy and Mario, I thought for sure something would have been broken. So far I lost a shot glass. I can live with that!

German (Herman) is pounding away in the bathroom. I think it's going to be the nicest room in the house now lol. I can't wait to see the tiles up! I never picked out tiles before so this is exciting.
I also heard from work today. Thanks to Vern and the people at Atlas I will be telecommuting for 14 days in May. Yeeehaw I can live in paradise and work in the states. Who could ask for more?

Saratica from http://abroadincostarica.com/ posted as well. She was very ill and I was really concerned for her. I am glad to hear she is better and that the hospitals and doctors here really came through for her. It's reassuring to know that they are up to snuff.

Well off to unpack more stuff and plant the flowers we bought the other day! Have a good one!

Tomorrow we may have stuff!

2010-04-28T18:15:00.000-06:00

The stuff we shipped from the states is still in San Jose. Mario has been on the phone with Ramon off and on for the last few days. We thought we could get it today but this morning's call informed us we had a "red light" and everything would be searched again. I called our shipper Port to Port and they said we were on our own - how nice. So guess I won't be recommending them to anyone soon. It is our fault, but I kinda hoped they could help a little. Apparently although both the shipping company and I stressed to Mario that EVERYTHING had to be included in the list of items in the shipment he decided to be creative and only list the stuff that seemed important to him. Note to self - if you want a job done right ... Well the customs agent noticed that like all my shovels and the metal chairs and the clock and other things that were not in boxes were also not on the list. He told Mario that by rights they could hold the stuff and not give it to us. I guess we have joined the band of mad shovel smugglers or something. So Mario tipped him and they tried to straighten out the paperwork. Yesterday the paperwork went to the reviewer who found some other issue and gave us the red light. So from 9 AM until around 1:30 they went through all of our things AGAIN. We now apparently have the green light and only need to go and pay the storage costs for them keeping our stuff all this week. You got it - we have to PAY because they wouldn't release the shipment. They assure us it isn't much, but still sheesh. Mario and our new furniture guy friend, Carlos, will be leaving at 4:30 tomorrow morning. I get to greet the tile guy Herman, also a really nice guy, at 7 when he will start to tile our bathroom! Yeah!!! No more skeevies in the shower.

We also got cable today. No TV, it's in San Jose, but we are ready dammit! Again I was assured in 2 months I will have real internet. This connection works OK but every now and then you just can't connect. My old job wants me to work from here, another BIG yeah!!, I need a reliable connection. Plus I use it for VOIP so I depend on it for the phone too. I will be renting an office in the city until I find out for sure that working from here is feasible or Cabletica gets me a reliable connection.

The really weird thing I have noticed about my life here is that I am tired when it gets dark. Remember that it is dark at 6 so going to bed now is sort of not a good idea. I hope my body clock adjusts or the damn rooster stops waking me up at 3.

The ceiling fan is here!

2010-04-27T14:47:00.000-06:00

Apparently we have 2 main circuits in our house, lights and outlets. If you turn off lights you have none. So we have no lights as Mario installs the ceiling fan in the rain. But we have outlets so you can see him doing it lol.

ACK! Nothing is easy here!

2010-04-26T17:09:00.000-06:00

As you know we shipped about 30 boxes and our bed here. Mario called to see when it wold hit San Jose and wooo hooo it was there. That was Thursday. We needed to pay a $15 fee to be able to pick it up. So we went to the bank and deposited the $15 and thought we were set. First we were going to use Mario's brother's truck to go get it. Nope the truck had a problem and the other one had issues with the paperwork. So the hunt for a truck was on. After a few fall throughs we had a firm truck, the guy who made our furniture agreed to go with Mario and pick up the stuff. Last night he calls and backs out - but - he has another guy that will do it for the same price. Mario is worried the stuff won't fit on the truck, but what choice do we have? So at 5 AM the guy shows up. Good start! He showed up! off they go for the 3 hour treck to San Jose. Mario figures they will be back at 3 latest. I ask that he call and let me know when they have the stuff so I can relax. At 1:30 still no word, so of course I am frantic. So much for my pura vida state of mind. Mario calls, bad news, what a surprise. They opened every box and looked at what we shipped. Apparently you are not allowed to ship perfume or shoes so they were going to pull them, but with a "tip" they allowed Mario to keep them with the shipment. He needs my email address because the process is that the import tax is calculated and emailed to you. You then go to the bank, pay the tax and go back to San Jose to pick up the stuff. Great, so we pay the truck driver for nothing, well for a ride to San Jose. It's 4:30 and they still aren't back and I still have no email on the tax. Looks like maybe the end of the week for a return trip. At least he says the bed is not molded and all of our stuff made it intact (thanks Kevin!! You are a hell of a packer!)

More pics - Kitchen before:

The kichen now:

The table we had custom made:

OMG I have the INTERNET!!!

2010-04-24T18:32:00.000-06:00

Finally! Now I can post some updates. We will be here 2 weeks tomorrow. More work than fun! We have finished the primer coat in the living, kitchen/dining room, and our bedroom. It looks waaaayyyy better than before. Cheery. So here's some before and after pics:

The house when I saw it in June:

The house now:

We are going to paint the window and door trim white again I think.

The living room in June:

The living room now:

It still needs stuff on the wall and some tables but we are getting there. The floor is the red ochre that I wrote about last time. If we stay here we will tile it but we aren't sure what we are doing yet.

I will post more pics tomorrow and as we get stuff done.

So let me tell you what was involved with getting the internet. First of all we don't have internet in the barrio where we live. They say it is coming in two months. Right. So they told me to get internet on my phone and use it as a modem. Sounds good, works for 5 minutes at 4 am and works slowly. A really nice guy at I.C.E. (eesay) the government run communications distributor (i.e., the only game in town) told us we can get a data card and then subscribe to a service for the card. They get 200 cards at I.C.E. approximately once a week. They come in with little notice, and sell out within a half hour. Needless to say we are not one of the lottery winners. So the girl at I.C.E. says why don't we just buy one in the city? Oh, this is an option? sure! OK so we go to the 1 store that sells them and lo and behold Mario knows the guy who sells them. Shoot, just sold the last one. So he says there is a shipment that is coming on Friday at 4:30 and he will hold one for us. Whoopie! Friday at 5 we go to the store just to make sure. Yup the shipment came, but they are not in inventory, come back in 15 minutes. No problem! I am so close to internet access I can taste it! We come back in 15 and bad news. The truck could not fit all of the boxes so they left one and you guessed it, it was the cards. But they will be in tomorrow first thing. OK I can wait! Next morning, this morning, we go into the city at 8:30 and wooo hooo there are the cards! But they are more expensive, seems everything was repriced last night since the dollar is so low. Regardless we buy one. Wait, you need to activate it, and they don't do it here. So they send us to Alex Cellulars across town. Alex Cells says they can't activate data cards, only I.C.E. can do it. Luckily they are open until 12 on Saturdays, because Costa Rica closes on Sunday. So off we go and find the I.C.E. office close by. Take our number, everything here has a number machine so you know how long you will need to wait before it is your turn. Our number? 61, what are they on? 25. sigh. Finally we get our turn and I have my precious internet access!!!

It's 6 AM in paradise what the hell am I doing up?

2010-04-18T07:08:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful morning! The sun is streaming in the windows and the birds are chirping. We are going to Dominical today where I hope to find a bird feeder or something so I can start attracting them to the yard. We have been here a week now. I am sloooooowwwwwwlllllly getting accustomed to my surroundings. We live in a neighborhood that has some really shacky shacks, but also some nice homes. At first all I saw was the shacks, but looking around I am now seeing some of the beauty here. This week has been really busy. The house is pretty on the outside since it was painted, but inside it was Costa Rica green. Think the green that was so popular in the 50's. Nice for a blender, putrid for every painted surface in the house. So we are painting the inside sunny yellow. I got the primer tinted, so I have a pretty good idea of how the house is going to look when we are done. What a difference a coat of paint makes!

We also got the dining room furniture yesterday. I got a table with really funky chairs and a cabinet that spans the kitchen for about $500. The table was custom made since the one that came with the chairs was too big for the space. It is round with a glass center. It also appears too big, but we are leaving it in the kitchen for now. If it becomes cumbersome the guest room off of the kitchen can become the dining room. I think it will work out fine that way.

I have been learning tons, for example there is a red waxy substance that they use on cement floors here called ochre. It is preety cool if you can live with the red color since passing a broom over it shines the floor and it always looks good. The drawback I found is that a wet white dog will roll all over the floor to dry himself which produces a damp pink dog. Not a manly look for our Diego.

We went to the market the other day. I felt like a little kid. Every 2 seconds I was asking Mario - what is this? We bought some really odd food though. Some of it I like, some not so much. We got the oven on Friday but it is still not installed because we are painting. Mario worked all day yesterday on installing the washer and dryer. Also still not installed. It reminded me how different it is here.

Dad - this story is for you. Mario's brother Danillo had this house before and said there is a 220 line on the porch for the dryer. We didn't see one, but Mario thought that this one outlet MIGHT be 220 since the wires were thicker. His father came over and confirmed that the workmen who had done some of the work on the house had plugged the saw into the outlet and it had sparked and smoked so yup that's the 220 line. We went to the hardware store and got a new outlet when we got the dryer cord so no one makes that mistake again!

Next came connections for the washer. There was a PVC pipe sticking out of the ground with a cap on it. You guessed it, that needs a spigot and is the water pipe. We called Danillo over to find the drainage pipe. Apparently since this is not sewage, the pipe runs along the side of the house into the drainage ditch at the side of the road. Mario dug until he found the end of the pipe and then went and got the couplings we needed to connect a piece of PVC that someone had laying around to the existing drainage pipe. No permits, no calling experts, just do it. Weird, but somehow fullfilling knowing you control your own house. Of course I am praying we don't get electricuted when we plug in the dryer. Oh yeah, we threw the main to connect the 220 outlet. The "main" is outside the front of the house it is a lever near the dangerous looking wires.

I am off to enjoy the best coffee I have ever had since I hear Mario's parents have stopped their morning prayers! Have a great day!

We made it!!

2010-04-15T13:23:00.000-06:00

We are here!! Unfortunately there is no internet access where we live so I will be posting sporadically.

We got into Costa Rica on a Continental Flight on Sunday. I dropped my dog off at the Quikpak station in Newark without an issue. We were able to check with the stewardess to make sure he made it on ok. My experience may differ from most since I was with my fiance, a tico, and put him as the receiver of the dog in Costa Rica becuase I figured he would have less problems than I would.

When we got to the airport in Costa Rica we proceeded through immigration and into the baggage claim area. They announced Mario's (my fiance) name over the loudspeaker and asked him to go to the desk in the baggage claim area. We provided the receipt they had given me in the Quikpak area and the man helped us through customs with our luggage and the dog. I thought we were going to a vetenarian to have the dog checked or something, but nope, next thing I knew we were outside on the sidewalk with all the luggage and dog. We tipped the guy and that was it. All that worry for nothing.

We went to see Mario's sister and all of the family from the San Jose area when we first got here. It was nice but very confusing, I can't remember who was there but they extended a warm greeting. We stopped up in Cerro del Muerte for lunch. I recognized the fried chicken and rice, but not much else. I had picadillo de palmito which was good and something I never had before. We finally got to Mario's parents (it is about 3 hours from the airport) and there was another gropup of the family to meet. Again, what nice people!

We have spent the last 4 days doing errands to set up the house and our new lives. We got a washer, dryer, fridge, oven, sofa set, dining set, and a cabinet for pots and stuff. The houses here come with nothing! In fact we had to buy lightbulbs. The first 2 days I showered with cold water since the house did not come with the hot water shower head. Coming from a family of electricians, it is very scarey here with electricity. The stove and dryer are hard wired into a 220 switch. Now this is not a normal switch on the wall it is a lever. I will put a picture on when I have a chance. The ducha or shower head is wired for hot water and is installed the same way with the wires running along the metal pipe to the plastic head. It is nicknamed the suicide shower. I can see why.

We are almost settled in now and are starting to enjoy our new life. We wake up to roosters crowing. I thought they crow at dawn, but no, it is well before dawn. At dawn all the birds start and the neighborhood wakes up. It is weird that at 9 am I feel like half the day is gone. I have always been a night owl, but I see this changing since there is not much to do at night and we are always exhausted.

We are sleeping on the air mattress until our stuff gets here. It is not really that uncomfortable. There are a bunch of dogs that roam our neighborhood, I know that sounds scarey, but they are about the size of a minipincher or smaller. Diego is marking his territory and letting them know he is here. I foresee a scuffle in his future, but I hope he can make some friends.

We are in Newark! Final countdown!!

2010-04-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

After an arduous week of patience testing (prepping for my transition into Tico time I think) everything is as done as it is going to be. Since the entry I have been running around learning just how disorganized and confusing doing things in the US can be. Here's the rundown:

April 5 - Went to the vet for Diego's health certificate and final round of shots. Made appt with the USDA to get the paperwork stamped. Vet assures me there is only 1 type of health certificate and agrees to write Diego's value on the certificate. We debate whether he is priceless or worth $0. He is priceless to me but can I really sell him for anything? I sort of win and Diego is worth $0 so I will pay the minimum taxes when we hit CR customs.
Stop at TD bank to get the Affidavit of Single Status notarized. The woman assures me she is a Mercer County notary, important because the county and state also need to stamp the paperwork.

April 6 - Wake up to a call from the friend who was supposed to drive our stuff to Delaware tomorrow. He can't. He found someone that can, but we don't know him and he would like us to have the truck loaded when he comes. I call Kevin, my BFF's husband in a panic, and he finds someone to go rent the truck with me who can drive in the morning.
Go to USDA in the AM. Clerk informs me that the health certificate should be a 6 page form not the little sheet my vet gave me. No, he cannot give me one, the vet needs to order them from the USDA and it takes 7-10 days to get to him. Call the vet, hmm, never heard of the form. He gives me another vet's name - bingo! they have the form but I need to have Diego come in and see the vet. Rocky, my new best friend at the USDA, says with that form and the valid rabies cert I am golden. Luckily I ask if the rabies cert I have is valid and he says yes and no. It's the right form but it is missing the manufacturer of the vaccine and the serial number. So I make another appt with the USDA and off I go to the vet. The backup vet agrees to give a form to my vet who completes the 6 part health cert and rabies info. Back to the USDA at 3 and whoopppeeee I have the paperwork I need to get Diego into CR!

April 7 - Off to Delaware with all of the things we will be shipping to CR. Everything is loaded without a hitch. Hope we see the stuff again. Really weird feeling seeing all your important stuff crammed into a trailer and closing the door.

April 8 - Go to the county to get the Single Status stamped. The woman at the desk informs me that the notary is not from Mercer County and that I should have asked her specifically. Crap - there are a few notaries in the area so I can walk Trenton to get the paper re-notarized. I call the bank and speak with the notary, she insists she is a Mercer notary, but it comes to light that she lives in Middlesex and usually you are registered where you live. So off into the streets of Trenton I go. Find a lovely woman at Sun Bank who agrees to photocopy the top half of the affidavit so that I can re-sign it and she can notarize it. Thank goodness because I can see the trouble ahead having 2 signatures and 2 notaries. Go back to the county and they stamp it, off to the state.
Now Trenton is a city to me and you really need to know how to parallel park in a city. Not my best skill, so I drive around until I find a spot you could back a tractor trailer into and park. Pay the meter and off I go. Apparently they give tours or something at the stat department in NJ because I arrive at the same time as 30 or so 8 year olds. The only way in or out is a revolving door, get the picture? Not fun. I get in and the desk guy is trying to talk with the teachers who can't decide if they are ready to come in. He finally asks if he can help me and I tell him why I am there. OOOOOHHH, that department moved out of this building and is now just to far to walk from here. So off I go into my 100 degree car that has no air and drive around and around until I figure out that there are no more tractor trailer parking spots in Trenton. I happen on a parking garage and go to get stamped. Whew almost done! The nice woman at the counter has me fill out the obligatory form and pay the 40 bucks and then says I can come back tomorrow after 11 to get the paperwork. Crap - come back??? but OK I will be there.
In between all the other exploits, Mario and I, well mostly Mario, cleaned the house, packed the suitcases and got the pool up and running. Also thanks to Mary and Kevin who got to listen to us argue, sold our stuff at garage sales, did backbreaking work at the house, and kept us on track, we would not have been able to do this move without them! We leave the house for the last time (after my hour crying jig) and off to our vagabond hotel life.
My other BFF throws a wonderful going away party for us at our favorite bar. It was great to have all of our friends around us to say goodbye. I am really going to miss them!
April 9th - Today is the closing at 10 AM. It should only take an hour or so. At 4 it is finally over. I won't go into the details but I hope that anyone who has an aunt that is a lawyer leaves her home when they close! Needless to say I didn't make it back to the county for the paperwork, but I called and am assured that it will be mailed out on Monday - Again ty Mary for handling the cleanup!
Luckily banks are open late so I take the settlement check to the bank. Crapola, when I bought the house I still was married, when I divorced I took back my married name. Big problem with the Title Company, but I showed the proof of name change and they believed I was me. Of course I failed to notice the settlement check is written out in my married name. Back to the hotel for the form and the check is in the bank.

That brings me to today sitting here nervous as all hell in the Newark Sheraton with Mario contently snoring and Diego wondering what is coming next.....

Happy Easter! OK a day early, but I'm trying to stay on schedule

2010-04-03T14:12:00.000-06:00

I just love the way my brain farts when I am under stress! I feel so disorganized. We are going to my parents tomorrow which will be great, but sad, it's the last time I will see my family before I leave. We have a picnic today at Mario's brothers house. All of Mario's family will be there, also sad because it will probably be the last time we see them before we leave too. I have rented the truck for Wednesday's trek to Delaware with our stuff. I am following them down so we leave the truck in Delaware. Looks like I will be renting a hotel for Thursday night too. It's too stressful to have to vacate in the AM on Friday. The closing is at 10 AM so we would be rushing at the last minute. So I think almost everything is in place. Next week I am trying to get all the paperwork stamped and ready, Diego needs another round of shots and a haircut. I am trying to find out how to get his record stamped by the USDA. Wow makes me crazy thinking about it!

Have a Happy Easter!

Last Day at Work

2010-03-31T19:25:00.000-06:00

Wow my last day at work. I am really going to miss all of the people I have met at Merck. What a wonderful group! Yesterday we went out to lunch and I can't remember when I have laughed so hard. It has been a great year. One more ending that is needed to start the new beginning. sigh.... endings are hard.

2 weeks 1 day and counting & Jake's on his way home!!

2010-03-27T11:58:00.000-06:00

So I spent the morning packing and think we are gonna have to thin down what we are bringing. At first we said that we weren't going to bring anything, just whatever we could carry on the plane. Then I realized I would like to have the new king size bed I bought last year, it was expensive and we really sleep well on it. So the hunt for a shipping place began. We looked into a few options and talked to as many people as we could. We finally opted on a company that a friend of ours uses to ship cars and trucks to Costa Rica. The company is called Port to Port International. We went with them because for a reasonable rate we could ship a small amount of cargo to San Jose. They offered a 5x7x7 and a 10x7x7 space. You also can ship a haf or a whole container, but for the price we figured we could dump our old furniture and get new stuff in CR. So we now have reservations for that too. Our stuff has to be in New Castle, Delaware on April 7th. It will sail out on April 12th and with any luck will hit port in Limon on April 21st. From there they truck it up to San Jose and call us to pick it up. So we will be in Costa Rica several weeks before our stuff shows up. That seems ok to me right now because word has it the house has been fixed up and repainted and it is papaya and avacado. Light papaya and avacado but still I can't picture those colors with the red floor so I think I will get to do some decorating before the stuff comes.

We opted for the 5x7x7 space since we really were only going to bring the bed. Then I turned into Steve Martin in the Jerk! All I need is this bed, oh and this chair, and this lamp, and this ..... You get the picture. So now we have all these totes stacked in the office with marks on the floor and the wall to show how much space we have and I still have stuff I NEED to take with us. Looks like Mario will be sneaking more black garbage bags out of the house lol. (He cleaned out all the rest of the stuff I NEEDED that way when we put the house on the market)

On an even happier note, my son texted me to let me know they gave them leave early and he left Iraq this morning at 4AM. Great news because I will have a longer visit with him before we leave too.

It's getting closer all the time and a bit of adjustment

2010-03-23T16:16:00.000-06:00

So I am driving home from work and Continental calls and lets me know that apparently the law changed in Costa Rica and now you need to pay an import tax on your pets. Crap I think, what's this gonna run? At a minimum $20 she tells me - hmmmm - a minimum? wonder what the maximum is. Any way that is the tax, but oh you need to hire a broker to get you through the process and that costs between $120 and $200 dollars. What??!! for a $20 tax? I ask her what if the dog's owner is a Costa Rican? (Luckily I thought ahead and Diego is now Mario's dog, I figured it would be easier to have a tico get him in than a gringa). She tells me it's the same for them.

OK adjustment to the budget time, I am trying my this is how we roll in Costa Rica mantra, it is what it is - relax. So not the end of the world, but not good news either. BTW, I also asked if anyone had any info on this great website - Association of Residents of Costa Rica.

On a more positive note we passed the U&O (Use & Occupancy) inspection so we are set!

We have tickets! so does Diego!!! We are leaving April 11th!

2010-03-21T15:42:00.003-06:00

I took the plunge and bought the tickets today. Can't believe it! We sold almost all of our stuff at the yard sales this weekend and are almost done packing. We will have to do some last minute stuff right before we ship it but so far so good. Can't keep my heart from racing at this point. I am facilating from exhileration to pure terror. I am as prepared as I will ever be informationwise, but still I am thinking can I do this? I saw a video yesterday from Michael Alan and D'Angelo (travelcostarica.com) which described me to a tee and then told me these are the types of people who have a hard time making it in Costa Rica. Well I hope I can become less type A, more forgiving and more patient. At least I have Mario blocking for me and explaining his gringa's silly ways.

Anyway some info:

We are flying Continental. I have read many good things about shipping the do through them and that's why we are using them. So far they have been friendly and helpful and I am very happy.
Since I am an American I need a round trip ticket. You cannot enter Costa Rica without a ticket to leave the country within 90 days of your arrival. Mario does not need a round trip ticket and we are doubtful he could get a visa to come back with me in 90 days. Having said that, apparently it is more expensive to purchase a one way ticket than a round trip so he also has a round trip ticket.
Diego at 25 pounds will not fit into the small carrier you can use to have him in the plane with us. I think maybe a toy dog might, it's really tiny. It may be better anyway because I figure he would whine the whole way if he knows I can hear him. If he doesn't see me he probably will sleep.I bought the crate for him a few weeks ago and we have been using it in the house so he is used to it. You need to have something absorbent on the bottom so I put his bed in it. You need to call a second number to book the flight for a dog travelling as cargo (in the bottom of the plane). You can cancel your flight within 24 hours if they can't get your dog on the same plane as you. I had no problems booking us all on the same flight.
Diego needed to have a rabies shot at least a month prior to leaving. They originally said it could not be more than a year old, but the guy at Continental told me the 3 year shot is fine now. CHECK FOR YOURSELF if you plan to do this. I got Diego his shot 2 months ago so we are fine. Ten days before we leave he will need some other shots and a certificate of health. The info can be found on Costa Rica Consulate Pet Policy.
Our flight is non-stop. I opted for this so I can rest easy about not losing Diego when we switch planes. Unfortunately we need to bring him to Quickpak to send him which is on the Domestic flight level so yeah I am freaking that he may not be put on the same plane. This is going to be the first - breathe deep - loss of control and trusting that everything will be ok.
You need to provide a telephone number and address in Costa Rica where they can contact you. I decided to have my phone turned off after we get there so that in case of an emergency I can be contacted. I gave Mario's name for the receiving end since he is a Costa Rican and I thought maybe customs would be easier.

So that's the poop on what we have done so far. I plan to try on Tuesday for the single status and police report paperwork again. This time with the county. We are also getting the U&O inspection which is the last hurdle on the house. I think we are really going!

COSTA RICA we are coming!!!

2010-03-16T20:03:00.000-06:00

WOOOO HOOOO the deal is a done deal!! After we make the last few fix-ups to the house we are set! Looking to buy tickets for an April 11th flight. I can't believe we are really going!

I sent an email to the Costa Rican consulate in New York to try to figure out what paperwork I need. They responded in 1 day, faster than the county seat in Doylestown lol. They said:

Regarding your concern, besides the divorce papers will be necessary a certificate from the city hall establishing you are single or performing a sworn declaration before a notary public. Then your documents must be certified by the notary, by the County Clerk and by the Department of State of where the document was issued (see enclosed). Once you have the documents duly certified you can send the documents by the post office duly certified with an additional prepaid envelope with your return address.

That's what will constitute and affidavit of single status. So I sent an email to Doylestown (the county seat) seeing if they can do this certificate because I am reasonably sure that if my little town of Morrisville has a City Hall they will look at me like I have 3 heads if I ask for this certificate. If I don't hear back from Doylestown I will go the Notary route. Hopefully I will be working from home on Friday and can get some of this done then. Once I have all of the paperwork (Original birth certificate, Affidavit of single status, Police record, Valid passport, Divorce decree) I have to send it off to the appropriate Departments of State to be certified. The NJ documents should be fairly easy since they go to Trenton. I am going to see if I can go there and do it. PA documents have to go to Harrisburg so I am thinking Fed Ex. Then everything goes to New York. Since we have only about 3 weeks to go I have to get this done quickly!

Wow we are really going - still not quite sinking in.

Almost there!

2010-03-11T07:59:00.000-06:00

The home inspection report came in and the buyer did not ask for anything unreasonable - woo hooo!! We are almost done fixing what he asked for. We are waiting on the FHA Report and his approval. Fingers crossed - this actually may go through!

We are looking for more info on the paperwork I need for Costa Rica. I need an affidavit of single status and have no idea what that is. I am emailing the consulate. Hopefully I get a response.

I just found out this really cool thing! Apparently I have a web feed associated with this blog so feel free to subscribe!

Inspections are in!

2010-03-07T16:41:00.002-06:00

The inspection results are in and they are not too bad. I think we can fix most of what is on the list. If this is acceptable to our buyers we are one step closer! If not back to the drawing board. Next step - figure out the paperwork I need to get translated and stamped so we can get married when we get there!

Another day ...

2010-02-26T12:39:00.002-06:00

another snowstorm, another contract, do we dare hope to close this time?

Back to the Drawing Board

2010-02-15T17:19:00.000-06:00

Crap the contract fell through again. This is no fun. We are going to try fixing the floors the best we can and then putting rugs over them. Our house is older but has a lot of character. Apparently what I see as character other people term "Flaws". It's so hard having the house I love trashed by a home inspector. Actually the inspection wasn't that bad. But the young couple that wanted to buy the house had never seen a report before so they panicked and backed out. So here we are looking at making the move - take 3 once it sells again. Wish us luck...

We're Moving - Take 2

2010-02-09T20:30:00.001-06:00

So I finally have this blog up to date. I had started one at another site but they were very strict about putting links on the site because they thought it would be advertising. I like the format of the blogs here better too, so here I am.

To catch up - the deal on the house here in the states fell through and we had to put it back on the market - bummer! It sold again now and it looks promising for an April closing. I am a validation specialist for the pharmaceutical industry and was on a contract that was supposed to end in December but thankfully got extended to last Friday. So now I am unemployed. So we are thinking why wait? and plan to leave at the end of February and start our lives in CR.

When I visited, Mario's house looked like this:

He had the roof and wood that was bad replaced (they say it was most of the wood) and they painted the house a light blue and light yellow. They painted the inside of the house a light green. It should be more cheery now and ready for us to move in.

I bought the GPS program for the Garmin from NAVSAT so we are all ready to tackle the roads when we get there. Mario bought a car, an older toyota which I won't be driving since it is a stick and I am petrified to try a stick on the mountain roads. He says he did it on purpose so I get a car to take the dog around in. He really thinks I am crazy to treat the dog like a member of the family.

We will be going to the consolate in New York next week, when the blizzards here in Pa let up, so that we can get my paperwork translated and stamped. We plan to marry in Costa Rica and they require a bunch of paperwork, official translation, and stamps all done here. I got the required police report online, I had to do it years ago when I adopted my son. We had to wait weeks for it. Now if you aren't a criminal they send you the certificate to print out. I hope it's acceptable at the consolate.

I also got magic jack. Really cool, it sounds good here but I have high speed internet. It gives people the ability to call a 215 number to get me in CR, so they won't have to pay international rate to call me. I sent one to my son in Iraq and he called me and left a message. It was really clear! Hope it is in CR too!

We are packing everything up now and trying to figure out what to bring. We found a shipping company that leaves from Wilmington and delivers to San Jose. A friend recommended them and they seem reasonable. We have opted for a 5x7x7 space, although it looks like we will be needing 10x7x7. The 5' space is $750 and the 10' space is $1250 so I am trying to see if the stuff we are adding is worth the extra money. Originally we were only bringing our king size mattress and boxspring, but that has slowly increased over time. I feel like the guy from The Jerk, "All I need is this chair and this lamp and this..."

So that's it again. Seems like we are really leaving this time, kinda surreal still.

We're Moving - Take 1

2009-11-19T19:55:00.001-06:00

Well 5 months later and it's official! We sold the house, threw out the shit and are moving in the beginning of January to COSTA RICA!! I am going to try to document the process for us, the good and the bad and also our lives once we get there. A little background, my fiance is Costa Rican, he has a house there which I don't really love but think I can tolerate. I don't love it because it is in a residential area that is not, well, let's say it is not what I am accustomed to here so it seems kind of shabby. By tico standards, from what I saw on my brief trip, it is lowish middle class. But the house is kind of private and set back from the main road (which is sort of paved) so I think I can do ok there. We maybe looking for something else if we don't like it there, but who knows when and if we can find it. He likes flat and city, I like hilly and country. We are a match made in heaven lol.

I speak quite a bit of spanish, so I have an advantage in that I can communicate. I am the gringa-est of of the gringas and will stand out like a sore thumb so I doubt that I can just meld right in. I am very nervous about making friends and fitting in. The area we will be living in does not seem to have a large influx of Americans like the north, so I am going to have to adjust quickly and learn customs. Thank God my Mario is patient and understanding!

We are bringing a dog. My little love Diego, so there is another hurdle. Mario and his family like dogs as long as they are outside and don't come anywhere near you. Mario still wipes the seat down if Diego rides with me in the car. He is very worried that his family will never understand that Diego lives in the house and has his own bed, etc. let alone that I give him kissies. Oh and in case you were wondering he came named. It's Dora's cousin the previous owners had kids and couldn't keep the wild man anymore.

Well that's it for now. Next step is plane tickets, I am getting round trip because without a cedula I need to have a return flight when I get there. Mario is going one way. Diego, I think can be carry on luggage. We'll see......

Our Last Fun Day

2009-07-02T19:35:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Club Fred. Fresh fruits and cereal and great coffee. We hung out for the longest time not wanting to leave and hoping to see a macaw or 2. I was talking with Ely when I heard them! I have a macaw and can recognize that scream no matter what country they are in. They flew in over the river, yelling like only macaws can and looking like they were having a blast. Mary shot a bunch of pictures,, but they look like little red dots. And then they were gone, but wow they were beautiful. To see them flying wild is something I will never forget.

We opted to drive the Costanera up to Manuel Antonio. I was nervous (of course) to go over the rickety bridges, but again Mary's sense of adventure prevailed and off we went. It turns out I was nervous for nothing. The road is being paved and for the most part is flat and easy to travel. It is only underlayment, no asphalt so it is really dusty, but way less scary than the mountain roads. We were able to go along at a decent clip until you hit construction. Which was the oddest thing, there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to where you would hit construction. We kind of thought that you would start at the both ends and pave to the middle, but it seemed that they were working closer to the middle and then sporadically out to the ends of the road. Anyway, most of the bridges are done, nice wide bridges. We only had to pass over one that looked like the ones you see on youtube.

As we went North, I liked it less and less because it looked more and more like here. There are developments with bigger homes and more traffic. Jaco had a really big multi-story hotel that loomed out of place in the Costa Rica we had come to love. Fittingly right after Jaco we got stopped by the police. There was a little guard house and the officer saw our shining white faces and blonde hair and motioned us to stop. Ugh. Stupidly, I spoke to him in spanish, in retrospect I should have played dumb and not understood what he said. Anyway he informed me that they strongly enforced the seatbelt laws in Costa Rica and we were not wearing ours. We would be issued 2 tickets at 15,000 colones each ( a little more than $26.00). I told him that I did not have colones, all I had was $20 would he take it? He was thinking for a second when helpful Mary - understanding part of the conversation - piped in with "Wait! I have colones!" lol you could see the dollar signs in his eyes. Well Mary had 20,000 colones which he accepted in addition to my $20. Of course we got no paperwork, no receipt, nothing. He invited us back to Costa Rica though!

Poorer and no wiser we sped off, seatbelts on, to Manuel Antonio. Thank God we had the belts on! As we were discussing the things we coulda, shoulda, woulda, the road ran out. Now there may have been signs, we weren't really paying attention, but all of a sudden on this wide road there were cement baracades and we were barrelling towards them at 50 miles an hour. I don't know how Mary managed to stop the car, but she put it sideways and didn't hit anything! Whew heart pounding moment!

We arrived in Manuel Antonio after that. We ate in a restaurant made out of one of the planes from the Iran Contra Affair. It was pretty cool. The bar was in the plane and you walk under the wings to get into the restaurant. The food was excellent and so was the view. We went to the national park after that. Manuel Antonio was a let down after our experiences in Hacienda Baru. As you drive around town people shout to you from every parking lot, AMIGA AMIGA park here. We finally parked right next to the entrance and the guy said it would be 2 dollars and he would watch our car and make sure nothing happened to it. Of course I was convinced we would come back to no car, especially when he told us to pay when we returned. There were tons of tour operators at the gate trying to convince you to take a tour. We opted not to. We went into the park and followed behind a tour. Everytime they stopped we could see what they were looking at so it was the poor gals tour lol.

We heard tons of howlers but didn't see any. Oh it costs $10 per person to get into the park. It is worth it because the park is really beautiful. The beaches were more crowded than Hacienda Baru (ok so we were the only ones on the beach there so 1 more person would have made it crowded lol). We walked the shorter trail and saw an iguana and this really silly racoon. Then it started to pour so we headed on out. Unfortunately we wound up on the other side of the park so we had quite the hike to get back. All was not lost though cause we bought a pipa from a local vendor on the beach and wound up in the street vendor section. I got a few dresses and shirts there for the folks back home.

On the road to the car we finally saw our monkeys! There were all these white faced cappuchins in the trees outside of the park. lol We apid and didn't see them in the park and here they were for free laughing at us. We watched them for a while, it's incredible how they go from tree to tree without falling, even the little guys!

We finally found the car and sure enough the guy had kept it safe! Somethings are so surprising lol. From there we went to look for a hotel close to the airport. I really don't recommend driving at night. I was soooo scared, the roads are curvy and dark and of course it was misting so they were wet and visibility was poor. Mary drove really slowly, but I was in tears coming down the mountain. It's not like they would see you dive off of the cliff, who knows when you would be found. But we made it. We drove all around Alajuela looking for a hotel. Boy I loved that GPS program, I am going to have to buy it before we move.

The hotels were really expensive in comparison to what we were used to paying. we finally opted for the Hotel Aeropuerto at $90 a night. Well sort of $90, see they quote the price in dollars, then they convert it to colones using a higher rate and charge that to your credit card, which then converts it back to dollars. So you wind up paying like $95 dollars. Anyway we were exhausted, there was a shower, TV!!, and internet so we coughed up the money and had a great night.

Sadly, we left for home the next day. Boy I miss Costa Rica. Can't wait to go back!

Day 5 The tour and Club Fred

2009-07-01T18:56:00.001-06:00

Day 5:

Ok it's been a month since we were in Costa Rica and I still haven't finished the blog, sorry!

So we broke down and coughed up $20 a piece to do a tour on our last day at Hacienda Baru. Well worth it! We should have done more than one. We had two wonderful guides, Nicholas and Christian. Both were fluent in English (and really cute). We went trekking through the forest with them and they would stop, point up to nothing it seemed, set up the telescope and low and behold there was a sloth, or a toucan, or monkeys, I never did see any of it with the naked eye (except the monkeys), but it was really cool looking through the scope at them.

Christian would grab my crappy camera and take pictures through the telescope that were nicer than the ones I took straight on. That's why all the pictures you are seeing here are from Mary's collection. Anyway it was lots of fun and very informative.

After the tours we went back to the cabin to pack up and leave. We were really sad to be leaving such a wonderful place and were thinking about our poor Sammy, when poof there he was. It was like he came to say goodbye! We had never seen him during daylight hours. We figured he was afraid of the other Baru dogs and stuck to night, but he came said goodbye, got some last loving and left. Too cute!

So on the road we went, we stopped again in Dominical but not for long, and then continued on the way to Club Fred. We had wanted to get lunch, and got a taste of Costa Rican culture instead lol. It was probably 10:30, and we were trying to get this humus sandwich we had seen on our last trip in, We found the restaurant, but it was closed. I went to the tour place in the next shop and asked when they opened. The guy says 11 and comes out screaming for the café owner lol. She's not around so Mary and I decide to go shop for a bit and come back. We come back at 11:15 but still no owner. Now we were too hungry to wait, resigned ourselves to not having the hummus and went on our way.

We stopped at a beach in Bellena and it was really cool. Instead of sand there were all these rocks which made the waves reverberate. The view, like everywhere was really spectacular.

We made the climb to Club Fred, Mary got really good at 4 wheelin', and we checked in. Fred and Ely's kids were doing their homework. What an incredible way to grow up, living in paradise. We chatted with them for a while and decided to go find a waterfall to swim in. We were looking for a waterfall called Vagina since it was formed by a split in the rocks and apparently a large rock jammed its way in and it looks somewhat like a woman's private part.

We didn't find it, but we did find a place called Cascada. I was starving and they had a sign for Tilapia. So we go in, and when I say in, it's not really inside, it seems there are no real structures in Costa Rica when it comes to bars, restaurants, etc. The weather is so wonderful; it's more like a roof over a floor. This teeny woman comes out with a few dogs and says we can walk to the waterfalls but it's a little dangerous, she calls for her husband to come help us old biddies out but he is not around. We order tilapia, it's all that is on the menu, and decide to set out for the falls. Oh wait, the woman wanted to know if we preferred to catch our own dinner. There were these little ponds where the tilapia live and apparently you have the option to fish for dinner. Not being real fisherwoman, lol, we opted to let them provide the fish.

The falls were pretty, not like we had expected though, more long than high. You couldn't swim since it was rainy season and the water was running fast and deep. When we got back we had a great dinner. We were a little surprised when she served it, being the connoisseurs we are we figured tilapia = filets, not so, we had little fishy eyes staring up from the plate at us. It was really good though! Mary the vegetarian tried to get every bit of meat off of the bones (avoiding looking the poor lil fish in the eyes of course). I don't know what spices she used but it was the best fish ever! They had a little parrot named Paco who tried to eat Mary, and various dogs came in and out while we were there. The neighbor from up the road came with 2 more dogs to visit, a very colorful place. Oh yeah and there were chickens everywhere too, but they stayed out on the grass. I talked with the husband, who finally showed up and he told me he was selling off 1 acre lots and I should tell all my gringo friends. He is selling them at $100,000 a piece and doesn't know why they aren't selling. So my fellow gringos, make sure to look him up if you are in town!

We got back to Club Fred right when the rain hit. WOW what a storm!! The rain came down in buckets and there was tons of lightning! Fred and Ely decided to go out to dinner and left during the storm. Wow I couldn't do that, the road is really step to get to the hotel and it is clay and stone. To them I guess it's an everyday occurrence but I was nervous for them. Lol they are so laid back, as they are leaving they tell us there is another guest who has no key, make sure to let him in when he comes. We told him we would try to rent out the other rooms as well. So about a half hour into the storm here comes, Ed I think his name is, his son and a California surfer-dude named Rama. We chatted with Ed til he went upstairs to pass out. Rama stayed downstairs with us, he was a nice guy, and when Ely and Fred came back he made us all Rama Bamas from the fruit and liquor in the fridge. I think we drank everything poor Fred and Ely had.

Oh during the storm we were out on the porch with the lights on. Yes it attracted tons of bugs, but after the bugs come the geckos and the frogs to feast. Who needs TV? Mary got some cool shots of the frogs hanging out in Ely's flower vase on the shelf lol. I really recommend staying at Club Fred we had a blast. It was a nice homey atmosphere and views to die for. I got to talk at length with Ely about relocating to Costa Rica. She has a group of local woman who are trying to preserve the area which is really great. I will tell you about the North of Costa Rica later but it is sad. I think that the Ticos have an opportunity to make a lot of money on their properties because foreigners would like to come in and live, but they are plowing up the land to put in developments with little regard to the wildlife around them. Ely's group is working to develop in a more eco-friendly manner, and it's so cool that it is woman doing it. I wish her luck!

Day 4 - the Borucan Village

2009-06-30T16:51:00.003-06:00

It's incredible how early we wake up here. I don't know if it's the time difference or just being glad to be here. We decided to stay here another night because we love it so much. Mary wants to go to Ojochal to see some hotels there this morning so we are off for another road trip.

The trip is incredible. The intercoastal winds along the ocean and you are up pretty high so you overlook the some beautiful scenery. We stopped at a hotel, well cabinas, there really aren't a lot of US traditional hotels here. The climb was too much for these old legs and although at one point there may have been a view it was overgrown now and you couldn't see much.

We wound up at Club Fred. What a wonderful place. The pictures of the river and ocean are taken from the patio outside our room. Fred and Elly were great, very laid back. We decided to stay there for our 5th night.

We ate at this cute little restaurant called Exotica in Ojochal. The food was great and Mary was able to have something without cauliflower and broccoli! I had ceviche and she had a dish called the seashell. It was a shell covered in mashed potatoes, containing shrimp and a creamy cheese sauce, deliciosa! We stopped in this little line of stores and found a shop where the woman made the clothes. They have these serapes made of what I think is rayon, very light and soft material. She makes dresses, shirts and pants from it. Mary and I are both large women, me being larger, but she found a shirt and it didn't quite fit right. The woman said she could alter it and also make pants to match by the next day! So Mary ordered it, I think it was less than $30 in total for the outfit and it was handmade and fitted. The woman did not speak English, she was French, and so we communicated in Spanish, what a country lol.

From there we decided to visit the Borucan reservation. In almost all the shops in Dominical and San Isidro you can find these woven purses and painted (or unpainted) masks. The Borucans make these in their village. We had been told not to go there in the rain because the road is clay and steep. It was nice so we headed off. Steep is not really sufficient of a word, maybe straight up is better? The road was clay with gullies from the previous rains and of course rocks of various sizes. It was a mountain so it was curvy and you couldn't see what was coming down at you. With that type of road who would be coming down right? Well apparently everybody! And quickly too.

But we made it up the mountain and it was well worth it. What a view!

We felt like we were on top of the world. As we were climbing the road we kept seeing a dirt road up higher and guess what - that's where we were heading! There was not much to see at the village, we met a few nice people, chatted a while and bought some masks and stuff at the same price they charged in the hotel. Then it started to thunder so I got scared and we left.

On the way down we passed a little bull calf that had strayed outside the fence. What a cutie! We also saw cows grazing wayyyyyy up high on the mountainside. We barely made it down the mountain when it began to rain. It seems to be a nightly occurrence during the rainy season, but our days were filed with sunshine! We headed back to Hacienda Baru and started hearing a horrible noise from the car. It sounded like giant cicadas. I tried calling 4x4 Rentals but I couldn't figure out how to dial locally in Costa Rica from my cell from the states while I was in Costa Rica. To dial home I just called normally, 215-xxx-xxxx, and about 50% of the time it connected. I tried dialing internationally, locally, but nope didn't want to connect. I got messages in English and Spanish so God knows how much this is gonna cost me. We found that driving less than 30 mph eliminated the noise so we took a looonnnnggg leisurely drive back to the cabin. Boy did we piss off some Ticos! Luckily the intercoastal is pretty flat and they could pass.

When we got back, Jack nicely let us use the phone to call. Diego explained some complicated series of steps to disengage the hub (we had used 4 wheel drive in the mountains). Mary tried it and it worked, something like put it in 4 wheel drive, then reverse, then back up but not too far, then out of 4 wheel, you get the picture. I have no idea how she remembered the steps but we had to do it pretty much every time we used 4 wheel drive.

After another great dinner and our evening talk with Sammy we went to bed.

Day 3 - Hacienda Baru and Dominical

2009-06-29T11:31:00.000-06:00

Our cabin at Hacienda Baru

We woke to the sound of birds. Everywhere and loud, wow what a greeting. There were hummingbirds coming to the flowers near the screened porch and black and RED, really red, tanagers flitting from tree to tree.

We went to breakfast at the café, no sign of Sam, we figured he's nocturnal. We had a delicious breakfast and trotted off to the butterfly garden.

Jack had told us there was a baby owl there; he had apparently fell out of his nest and wandered into the reserve. They are trying to make sure he can fend for himself so they can release him. He was perched on the ladder and we got really close to him. It was so tempting to try to touch him, but we knew it was not in his best interest.

The butterflies were gorgeous, there were signs telling you what was there and we found all of the ones they described. After the butterflies we opted to walk the short path to the beach. The entrance to the park is included with your room too, what a bargain! We walked really slowly looking for monkeys and sloths and whatever else we could see. We saw nothing lol.

Oh we saw leaf cutter ants, everywhere. These ants travel far to find leaves, we still don't understand why since there are leaves everywhere, and cut the leaves into manageable pieces about twice their body size. They then cart the pieces back home so they look like a train of little leaves walking down the path. Cute.

The beach was indescribable. We were the only people on it for as far as you could see. The water was warm and shallow.

There were holes all over the beach like someone had poked it with a pole. If you waited quietly they exploded with a flush of red crabs until they saw you and then they dove back into their holes. There were iguanas running over the sand. Paradise. Mary took tons of pictures. I sat under the palms not burning and just enjoying the breeze and the atmosphere. We went in the water for a bit but some guys came by to clean the beach and told us that there was a strong undertow and to go up the beach to swim. We opted to wade and enjoy it where we were.

On the way back we came upon a couple staring into the trees. Mary whispered, "What do you see?" The woman whispered, "monkeys". Sure enough there were white faced capuchin monkeys jumping through the trees right above our heads! Mary got out her camera and focused. All of a sudden she grabs my arm and starts dancing all over. Lol she accidentally stood in the trail of the leaf cutter ants and they called out the guards! The guards are big black ants that have big pinchers and come at you on their hind legs. She whipped off her shoes and started beating them on the ground trying to rid her feet and shoes of biting ants. The monkeys scattered and the people looked really annoyed. I could feel my face flushed with embarrassment! I made a quick get away and Mary stayed behind. This is why I love her, she got the ants out, the monkeys came back, she got great pictures and made friends with the people. I need to learn not to feed into my emotions and go with the flow. I really regretted running off and missing the monkeys. At least we have the pictures.

When she finally emerged from the jungle, we went back to the room and decided to drive into Dominical. Dominical was disappointing. The beach is nice but crowded, very touristy. The hotels which were mostly hostels were not picturesque, they were run down and dank looking. We bought some towels and serapes from a charming Costa Rican couple at a roadside stand. Their son was there and spoke perfect English. He said he learned it from the kids that come to Dominical on vacation. Mary took pictures of the most incredible sunset on the beach. We ate at a little restaurant that had gotten good reviews online. It was OK but nothing to write home about. Poor Mary is vegetarian, apparently in Costa Rica that translates to broccoli and cauliflower. They had it in eggs, pasta, burritos, every way you could imagine, lol, she was so tired of it by day 3! We stopped in a little market and bought some supplies for the room (beer and chips). I spoke Spanish with the girl and they charged Mary double, speaking Spanish has its advantages.

When we got back to the cabin Sammy was waiting for us, we shared our chips and he hung for a while. Bedtime.

Day 2 - Mario's Family and Perez

2009-06-28T11:59:00.000-06:00

Note: Due to the lack of internet and great times these entries are written after the fact.

The night was a noisy one! There were people in the park until the wee hours of the morning.

It was kind of cool sleeping with the noise of the city. I live in the burbs of Pa, so this may be a normal occurrence for a night in the city. The church bells also sounded marking every hour, lol I don't know why I thought they wouldn't go off in the night. We woke early and I went down to breakfast in the café. I thought that the coffee would be delicious since they grow it here, but it really was no better than the coffee we have at home. I am not really a coffee aficionado so maybe there was some subtle difference. The bacon was incredible though, I don't know what was different but it was really good. I also had pinto de gallo for the first time and I really liked it, though you need to like cilantro since that was a strong taste in the dish.

After breakfast we went to church, the church is the main feature in downtown San Isidro. Everything centers around it. It is a beautiful church and I liked that it was humble, not filled with gold. The area is not a rich area and it always bothers me to see poor people and rich churches. The church was beautiful but not ostentatious. The ceremony was really nice, they sang and prayed and there was a reallllllly long homily, and at the end all the children run up to the priest and he blesses them. Really sweet. We had me Mario's parents at the entrance to the church, they are really nice people and seemed to like me as well. What a relief! We also met his brother Juan for a few minutes. We packed up and followed them to their house in the Los Angeles suburb of San Isidro, about 15 minutes from the center of town.

The roads were fine getting to the house, paved and in no worse condition than here. The people drive pretty crazy, they pass whenever they fell like it, curves, mountainous roads, rain, whatever. Mary did great though and we made it to the house.

The house is beautiful, it's weird they tile the patios, outside. We had a great dinner that his sister made and we spent the afternoon talking and looking at the pictures we had put on the digital frame. I met his niece Tatiana, her husband, Walter, and their baby, Angelica. Mario's sister Surlai (I hope the spelling is right) and her husband were there too. We saw Mario's house, it needs repair but I know I can cute-ify it. The neighborhood was run down and definitely on the poorish-city side, not my kind of neighborhood, here or there. We are talking about living there for a short time and looking for a place more in the country.

After we visited for a while we left and went to visit Mario's sister-in-law, Marta. Her house was very beautiful too. Much more modern and americanized. She was justifiably proud of herself for fixing it up. We spent a short time with her and her family because it started to pour and we had to make it to Hacienda Baru that night. We had a great visit though and it was nice to hear her perspectives on living in Costa Rica since she is a successful single mom.

We then took off for a hair-raising ride through the mountains again. I don't know how Mary was able to drive with me gasping and whimpering in the passenger seat. The road to Dominical was paved and nice but really curvy and steep and the rain made visibility poor. We made it though! The GPS was a godsend! It got us right to the front desk at Hacienda Baru. Jack Ewing the owner greeted us much to our surprise. I don't know why I figured he was a man behind a desk in the back room but he definitely was not! He is a really nice man and makes Hacienda Baru a wonderful place to stay. He called for Maricio from the kitchen (he's one of the chefs) to escort us to our cabin, and they gave us umbrellas so we didn't get wet. The cabin was incredible! 2 bedrooms, mine had a double bed, Mary's had a double and a single.

There was a bench and a chair on the front screened in porch and a bathroom with a shower with hottish water.

Really clean and cheerfully painted. We had a sitting room and a kitchenette too. The price is really incredible for all you get and breakfast is included, not continental breakfast, real eggs and meat or a casado breakfast. Just wow.

We settled in, changed and went for dinner. As we were walking down the path we heard something behind us. We turned and this really scruffy little dog froze in his tracks. We walked, he walked, we turned, he froze, lol we were hooked. Mary named him Sam, and of course we brought some dinner back for him.

We settled in, changed and went for dinner. The restaurant was cute, al fresco so you need bug spray. The food was good and reasonably priced. We ate well and were exhausted so we returned to our lovely cabin, sat outside with Sam for a while and then went to bed at around 10, not the wild woman vacation we had planned but really nice.

We made it!!

2009-06-27T11:14:00.000-06:00

OMG we are here!!! I am writing in English and Spanish (badly) so my bf can read too, so skip down for English.

Hola mi vida te amo!! Estamos en Perez, en el Hotel Chirripo, gracias para decirme sobre este lugar. Es barato y enfrente del parque y la iglesia. Estoy nerviosa por hoy porque voy a conocer sus padres por la primera vez! Ojala les caiga bien. Yo gano porque manejemos aquí anoche sin problemas. Yo se que estuviste muy preoccupado pero hacemos bien. La gente puede entender mi español entonces no tenemos problemas hasta ahora. El carro es bastante bien, un poquito viejo y chocado pero corre y eso es que es importante. El país es increíble! Tan bonito! Me gusta muchisimo! Adiós y cuidate.

I won’t bore you with the flight details, although one is worth mentioning. As we flew into CR we passed over 2 volcanoes, wow what a beautiful sight! I am putting up pictures but they don’t do it justice. Actually none of the pictures do CR justice, what a beautiful country!

We landed in San Jose, the entry process is really easy. A travel tip, bring a pen on the plane, there are forms to fill out and Continental would not lend pens. Anyway, we breezed through customs and quickly had our luggage. We forgot to get colones (the money here) so I ran back into the airport to exchange some. Bring your passport everywhere you go! I needed it to get back in and to exchange the money. I went downstairs first and the were giving $515 per dollar, $516 if you change $130. lol big discount! Luckily I needed a passport so I couldn’t do the exchange because I ran into a guy outside who directed me to the bank upstairs that gave the current rate of $570.

Gustavo from 4 x 4 Rentals was right at the door as promised. He was really nice (and cute) and went through everything involved with the car. The car is OK, it’s a slightly beat up 4 x 4 Tracker. We went for cheap so it’s nothing to look at and runs a little rough, but it made it from San Jose to Perez with no problem. It was a little scary coming up the mountain because it wouldn’t accelerate quickly, but a lot of people had that problem.

Our Car

The drive to Perez is breathtaking. The valleys with the clouds in them , the plants with leaves as big as a table, the lush greenery, just WOW!

We used the GPS to get out of San Jose and come here; it was a godsend. I figured we would need it to get out of the airport, but once on the Intercontinental it would be useless because you stay on the one road. Mary referred to it constantly since it showed the curves in the road and we could anticipate what was coming. The road was fine, not anything like everyone described, we thought maybe it’s been repaved? Yes you need to watch the curves and people pass you on them, but it was not bad at all.

It took about 3 hours to get here with rain, slow trucks and cow crossings included. We are at the Hotel Chirripo in the center of Perez Zeledon (San Isidro del General on all maps). The guy at the desk here is fantastic, and speaks perfect English. The room is tiny and musty, but has a balcony that overlooks the park and church. The church bells ring for every hour and people were partying in the park until the wee hours of the morning, but it is still a great place to stay. Cost: $27 for a room with 2 single beds and a private bath.

Less than a week to go! (previously posted on 6/23/2009)

2009-06-23T11:11:00.000-06:00

Less than a week to go! Boy has the time dragged! I haven't updated 'cause there's nothing to tell yet. I will be sending the link out today or tomorrow to friends and family so they can stay "in touch" while we are away. What's new? well I bought or rather rented I guess a GPS map of Costa Rica from a company called navsat. You can get a 10 day trial and then if you decide to buy it you only have to pay the difference in price. I think this is good because when I researched the maps they started at $25.00 and went way higher. What I found was some of them are just electronic maps that can track where you are, while others are actual GPS units that can guide you to your destination. This one is the GPS kind. It should be interesting to see how this works in Costa Rica since my understanding is there are no addresses, you live like 100 meters from the church going south or some such reference. So I have no idea how we are going to use the GPS. At least it will help going from San Jose to Perez (I hope). So anyway the deal is that you pay, tell them when you are going, give the serial number to your GPS unit (which took me 3 go rounds, who knew it was the numbers on the UPC bar?) and they send you the program to install on your GPS a few days before you leave. It is good for 10 days and then deactivates. I like the idea because I get to try it while we are vacationing and if I like it I can buy it for when we move there, you have 6 months. If it sucks I am only out about half of the full price. I will post how it goes.

So I am going to try to post a picture of my future house now. It's not much, but it's paid for. It's one of the reasons I am going down early to see what it is like and see like if I have indoor plumbing and stuff. My Mario laughs at all my fears and my family eggs me on. Who knows what's in store in Costa Rica?

Well that's it for now! I am nervously awaiting Saturday morning and the beginning of the adventure!

This is Mario's house.

Can't wait to leave! (Previously Posted on 6/5/2009)

2009-06-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

Wow my first blog, what a way to start a new adventure.

It's finally June, the month we leave for Costa Rica. I am starting this blog so that my friends and family (and anyone else that cares) can see where we wind up and the pics before we get home (providing my laptop makes the journey and we have internet access). I created a map of the trip up until we hit Uvita, that is as far as we have agreed on.

I am going to CR with my friend Mary. Her original mission was to point out all the bad things. I am thinking on moving there with my fiance in the near future and am petrified! She knows me though and is well aware that I tend to look at the world through rose-colored glasses prior to making a decision and then see things in a harsher light once the decision is irreversable. Neither is actually reality, so she was supposed to be my reality check. I say supposed to be because I think she is more excited about Costa Rica than I am!

Anyway, our plans are to rent a car in San Jose (we have a reservation with Rent a 4x4 in Costa Rica). They are supposed to pick us up at the airport. Mary is then going to drive us over the Cerro de la Muerte, ignoring my screaming in terror in the passenger seat, and into Perez (or San Isidro del General). We then are going to find a hotel and spend the night.

In the morning we are going to church in the center of town with my fiance's parents. Yeah I know it may be struck by lightning since I can't remember when I was in church last, but good impressions are everything and Mary wants to go.

We are then going to visit with his family at his parents' house and I will check out the house he owns where we will live when we move there. It's rented now and in need of a good paint job (at least).

After that fun-filled day we are heading off to Hacienda Baru for 2 nights and from there we dont know.

Well that's the plan - cya later!!