Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Home for the Holidays

If anyone out there actually happens to be following this blog, you will have noticed that I recently took a short hiatus. From the day before Thanksgiving to the eighth of December, I (Kate) traveled back to the United States to begin the process of gaining Costa Rican residency for our family. Combining official business with family time and apple pie took some finesse, but overall, it proved to be quite an efficient use of a precious plane ticket.

Almost immediately upon entering the U.S., I was struck by the differences between the life we’ve been living for the past six months, and the life we left behind. For me, the biggest shock was to be back where I could communicate effortlessly with anyone from my fellow airline passengers, to the waitress at Starbucks, to the conductor on the train. I realized how much more connected I feel to the world when I can share a quick joke with a stranger, and how my limited Spanish language abilities have been stifling my personality and hindering my happiness. New Year’s Resolution #1: start taking formal language lessons and become fluent by the end of next year.

Secondly, after living in a developing country for an extended period of time, I seem to have become hyper conscious of U.S. consumerism. I found the sheer number of stores to be overwhelming, and the amount of money flying out of people’s pockets inconceivable. Granted, I did more than my share of shopping and eating out at fancy restaurants, but I felt a heightened awareness every time the cash register went cha~ching.

Another indication that Costa Rica is slowly permeating into my system included my inability to acclimatize to the cold weather. Did I really spend four college winters in upstate New York without turning into an ice cube? Celebrating Christmas on the beach instead of in front of a crackling fireplace is going to take some getting used to, but we’re looking forward to creating some new tropical traditions.

By the time I arrived at the Costa Rican Embassy in Washington, DC to submit our paperwork to become permanent residents, I realized Costa Rica had become a greater part of me than I had been willing to admit. I felt I was asking to be accepted by a country that I truly wanted to be associated with, rather than simply going though the legal motions. Although we still have a long way to go, Costa Rica is slowly becoming our home, and I have to admit that I’m glad to be back. It turns out it’s where my heart is after all.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Proof is in the Poop

When I was in the Second Grade, our teacher asked us to write down what we wanted to do when we grew up. I wrote (and I still have the paper to prove it) that someday I wanted to go to the jungle to study monkeys. More than thirty years later, there I was in the jungle last weekend helping two American researchers gather information on the endangered squirrel monkeys that frequent our property. Coincidence? I think not!

To be completely honest, the Jane Goodall experience I imagined as a child didn’t quite measure up to reality. For starters, the monkeys didn’t cooperate and pulled a complete no~show. The researchers were good~natured and understanding, but I felt like an embarrassed mother being stood up by her truant teenagers. Thankfully, on our search for the little rascals, we came across a fruiting tree where they had recently eaten. Under the tree, we found precisely what the researchers were looking for ~ Monkey Poop!

It turns out that the poop contains ethelial cells from the intestinal lining from which DNA can be extracted. With it, the researchers will be able to tell whether deforestation that occurred in Costa Rica in the 1930’s and 40’s led to increased inbreeding among squirrel monkeys. If such negative consequences of deforestation can be proven, the stronger the case against continued destruction of the squirrel monkey habitat. It may sound hard to believe that so much can be determined by a tiny stool sample, but I shit you not.

In the hours I spent with the researchers staring up at empty trees, I learned some interesting information about our fuzzy cousins. For example, how do you tell a female squirrel monkey from a male? The female is the one with long Elvis sideburns (naturally!). Of all primates, which one has the fastest metabolism for its body size? That would be our little friend the squirrel monkey, of course. With the holidays upon us, feel free to keep these gems up your sleeve to spice up any flagging cocktail conversation.

In all seriousness, Patrick and I feel pretty fortunate to have squirrel monkeys as visitors to our property and will continue to do whatever we can to ensure their continued survival. For myself, I feel fortunate to have been able to fulfill one of my life~long dreams. It just goes to show parents and teachers that even the most outlandish of their children’s aspirations should never be poo~pooed :)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Transported Traditions

Over the course of the past week, we’ve faced the challenge of celebrating two very American traditions ~ Halloween and Election Day ~ as expats in a foreign land. I am happy to report that on both occasions, what we lacked in authenticity, we more than made up for in enthusiasm.

Halloween was a particularly tricky, given the fact that in Costa Ricans perceive it as a day for devil~worshipers. Churches of all denominations preach its evil, and warn their congregations against participating in festivities. Despite attempts to convince my friends that I’ve never seen a baby sacrificed or witnessed any other satanic rituals on Halloween, they would still have no part of it. Thankfully, one of our Gringa friends had more luck with her neighbors. She was able to persuade ten of them to pass out candy to our kids (provided, of course, that she supply the candy!).

Once we had Trick~or~Treat lined up, we had to come up with costumes. What I’ve always loved about Halloween is its creative element, and this year offered a great opportunity for my inner Martha Stewart. With no Target costume aisles for thousands of miles around, I bought some felt, threaded a needle, and started sewing. Thankfully, Luc wanted to be Baby Jaguar from the Diego cartoon, and not something complicated like Chewy the Wookie. In the end, it might not have looked as good as a store~bought costume, but I’m sure I had as much fun making it as he had wearing it.

Election Day for me has always been a day to celebrate, and this year was certainly no exception. The main difference this time was that my election day happened on October 28th, the day my absentee ballot arrived. Given the precariousness of mail delivery here, I nearly hurdled myself over the post office counter when I saw that it had arrived on schedule. It was such a great feeling to vote in this historic election and be counted as an American even though I’m so far from home. Absentee voting is a privilege that Costa Ricans do not have, and it’s one that I will no longer take for granted. The only thing I missed (apart from the long lines) was receiving my “I Voted” sticker to wear proudly throughout the day.

With CNN tuned in non~stop in our house once the polls had closed, November 4th played out for us quite a lot like it might have in the States (thankfully we live in the Central Time Zone). Although we missed celebrating with crowds in the streets upon Obama’s victory, we joined thousands of Americans living abroad in raising our heads up high and feeling genuinely proud again of who we are and where we come from.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Financial Matters

Considering the current state of the world economy, I thought it might be appropriate to dedicate this week’s blog entry to financial matters, particularly an examination of our monthly outlays. Following is a list of our expenses:

Rent $ 150 (Yes, we know we’re pretty lucky in this regard)
Electricity $ 32
Telephone $ 73
Internet $ 42
Satellite TV $ 24
Water $ 10
Gasoline $ 450 (at about $5.20 per gallon!)
Groceries $ 400

Because we live in the tropics, we don’t pay anything to heat our house, and the gas we use for our stove is a minimal expense. We don’t currently have any insurance costs, mostly because we haven’t figured out yet how exactly we should handle this. For now, we have a private doctor who charges $40.00 per visit, but emergency medical insurance will probably need to be factored in eventually. We don’t have Lucas in daycare anymore (a $2,000 a month savings!), but when we do have a babysitter, it costs about $2.00 per hour.

So, overall, our expenditures here are considerably less than they were in the U.S. (with the exception of gasoline). This is a good thing, especially considering we’re currently UNEMPLOYED. Having been in the travel and restaurant industries in the States (can you say non~recession proof industries?), we’re pretty sure we would have eventually been UNEMPLOYED there, too. This makes spending down our savings a bit more palatable. At least we’re spending it slower here than we would be there. Wait, we didn’t have any savings there…

Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Week's Work

Despite the ceaseless rain (where the heck does it all COME from?!), we’re still managing to drag ourselves out from under the covers and continue our work on Petit Paradis. We’ve slowed down a little bit since it’s too soggy to do much on the property, but there’s still enough to do to keep us occupied. I should preface things by saying that Patrick continues to be the driving force behind the project and is doing most of the hard work. I’m keeping Lucas out of his way as best as I can, and I’m also serving as official sounding board (one that probably talks back way too much!).

Our first order of business continues to be the search for just the right contracting company to construct our buildings. We’ve spoken with nine different companies ~ both from our area and from San Jose ~ who we believe could do the job. We’ve walked most of them through our property with our preliminary site plans, and we’ll be sending the detailed construction plans for them to bid on next week. If the stars are in alignment, at least one of them will come back with a bid that’s within our budget.

Because our budget is probably much tighter than it should be, we’re trying to find as many cost~saving measures as we can. One of those things is finding and purchasing the construction materials ourselves (rather than paying the contractor’s markup!). Patrick has been meeting with the owners of all the hardware stores in the area to see what kind of deals they’re prepared to offer to get our business. In addition, we’ve been sussing out a variety of different wood suppliers. Because the Costa Rican government is (rightfully) protecting more and more of its beautiful hardwoods, it has become difficult to find large quantities of permitted wood. We’ve got a couple of good leads on reasonably~priced teak which would be a nice wood with which to build.

Another project we’ve been working on is our landscaping. Last week, the owner of the largest nursery in the region walked with us through our property to help us decide what we should plant and where. Armed with our books on tropical ornamentals, we’ve developed a preliminary list of bromeliads, heliconias, orchids, lilies, fruit trees and flowering bushes to order. I’ve appointed myself head~gardner, but it’ll be another month yet before I can do anything besides make mud pies.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, Patrick has started talking with the electric company to see if we can convince them to bring power to our property, which is currently off the grid. In response to our initial request, they’ve agreed to do a study, which we’ve decided to interpret as a positive response. Our preference would be to go solar (which we’re also exploring), but we’re afraid it will be out of our price range. With luck (and with a certain environmentally~friendly president in the White House), by the time Lucas inherits this place, maybe the price of solar technology will have come down enough to make it affordable. Go Barak!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Surviving Rainy Season

Chances are you’ve seen the Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook series, and chuckled your way through explanations of how to pry yourself free from the jaws of an angry alligator, or what to do if you find yourself free~falling down an elevator shaft. In DC, I found those books amusing, but now, I sure wish I had ponied up at Borders and bought myself a copy. Three times last week, I found myself in situations where I wished I had a heck of a lot more MacGyver in me.

It’s hard to describe how much water there is in the rainforest during rainy season. Let’s just say that there’s more than MUCHO. It rained so much last week that the river that runs alongside our main road overflowed a bridge and blocked our way home. Having spent the day on a road trip and being in no mood to wait patiently until the water receded, we (my mom and I) back~tracked and took the long way around the flooded portion. When we finally arrived in our little pueblo, we faced another small bridge that was on the brink of being submerged by fast~moving water. With night falling and wanting desperately to get home, I took a deep breath and gunned the car across the bridge. Only after we were across did I admit to my mom that I had visions of the old bridge collapsing and being swept down river. When Patrick asked if we had at least opened the windows before driving across, I had to sheepishly admit that it hadn’t even occurred to me. Oh, the hours I wasted watching Rescue 911!

I feel somewhat prouder of my performance during the second~most precarious situation of the week, which found us (my poor mom and me again) on a treacherous dirt road winding up the side and over the top of a steep mountain toward the Boruca Indian Reserve. We were on a quest for indigenous art ~ including painted wooden masks, woven materials and carved gourds. The 8 km drive to the reserve was about as precarious as they get, but we were urged on by a hitch hiker who kept convincing us the worst was behind us. “Pura Vida” was his mantra, the Costa Rican version of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. “Pura Vida, my ass!” I thought, as I clutched the steering wheel for dear life.

Once we arrived, the drive proved to be worth it. The artwork was beautiful, and I came away with lots of interesting decorating ideas for our project. I cut our visit short, however, when I felt the wind pick up and smelled the clouds rolling in. As I had driven over the deep ravines carved into the middle of the road on the way up, I at least had the sense to know that we needed to make our way down before the rain came ~ which we did with only seconds to spare. Not that I could have told you this then, but if you should ever find yourself in a car hanging over the edge of a cliff, you should 1) pull the emergency brake, 2) open the windows, 3) turn off the engine, and 4) all move in unison toward the safest exit (unless, of course, movement upsets the balance of the car, in which case you should just sit tight and bank on the good karma you’ve amassed by picking up all those haggard hitch hikers!).

The last event occurred in the comfort of our home. Perhaps because the rain had flooded the ground, or perhaps because it was a particularly cold evening, a family of very large spiders decided to walk in under the door and join us in the living room. Now, here in Costa Rica, tarantulas are not uncommon, and I had visions of finding a fury friend in bed that night. As a matter of fact, just recently, Patrick had stopped to watch a tarantula cross the road. Do you know how BIG a thing has to be for a driver in a pick~up truck to notice it crossing the road?!

Well, for all you potential house guests, it turns out that a tarantula bite is usually no worse than a bee sting for humans, and there have been no reported tarantula~related deaths. Maybe we should stop worrying and just be happy after all!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

A Comedy of Errands

Every place has its quirks, which if you live there long enough, you barely even notice. When you move somewhere new, however, the quirkiness is magnified and is a great source of confusion (and humor!). For example, I can just imagine the amusement my
Costa Rican friends would find at the Trader Joe’s in DC, where volume is so high that an employee with a whistle directs cart traffic through the check out line.

Here, an afternoon of errands around town offers its own raw material for a comedy routine. The bank is a prime example (no pun intended). Unlike in the U.S. where you simply stand in line for the cashier, here, you take the first empty seat in a line of chairs. When the person in the first chair is called up for his or her turn, everyone else stands up and moves over one seat. It’s like a grown up version of musical chairs or a practice session for the Mad Hatter’s tea party. The worst is in the afternoon when you have a number of large men in front of you, all of whom have eaten a large plate of rice and beans for lunch.…

Next stop is the post office to check if there’s any mail. We have an actual physical address ( “800 meters west of the school in San Gabriel”), but since mail only gets delivered once a week ~ and only if Jésus the Mail Guy’s motorcycle is working ~. we’ve made it a habit to check as often as possible. We’ve learned that if our mail sits too long in the office, it’s given to a friend or neighbor to pass along. The hitch is that some of our friends don’t have phones or cars, so our mail sits at their houses longer than it takes to fix Jésus’ bike.

Finally, it’s on to the pharmacy. We still haven’t quite figured out how the pharmacy works, but it appears that a prescription isn’t always necessary. I’ve gone in looking for a bottle of regular strength Advil, and have been offered a selection 600 mg pain killers. While this surely has its benefits, you have to be very careful about taking what you’re given. When we first arrived, I went to the pharmacy for birth control pills and was given (and took) a month’s supply of hormone replacement therapy. Talk about an estrogen~induced emotional roller coaster!

After our errands are completed, we leave town on the main street, which on Fridays is an experience on its own. Since local radio and television programming are virtually non~existent, businesses hire pickup trucks outfitted with huge speaker systems to drive slowly through the streets announcing their events and promotions. The drivers use a Mr. Microphone contraption to project their best monster truck voices (“It’s HUGE, HUGE, HUGE!”) to try to get the people’s attention. The truck announcements create a circus~like atmosphere which, combined with a sighting of the creepy clown who stands on the corner making balloon animals, always prompts Luc to exclaim, “Mommy, we’re in a parade!” Parade or no, one thing’s for sure ~ we’re certainly not in Kansas anymore :)

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Taking Shape

Petit Paradis is officially taking shape this week, with the arrival of our architect, Boonma Yongprakit. Boonma is originally from Thailand, but we met him four years ago in Boulder, Colorado. Boonma answered an advertisement we had posted on Craig’s List to do some preliminary sketches for our project’s concept paper. We liked his work so much that we hired him to come to Costa Rica in 2005 to design the buildings for our larger (20 bungalow) project. Now that we have scaled things down considerably, Boonma is back again to reconfigure his original plans and add a variety of new design elements.

Some of the new touches are a result of Boonma having spent the last two years in Hong Kong working on resort contracts for a large architectural firm. His job took him throughout Asia, where he was able to visit some of the most beautiful resorts in the world. One of Boonma’s most recent projects was designing the masterplan for the new Four Seasons hotel in Hainan, China. To say that we feel fortunate to have Boonma working on our little Balinese~style project is the understatement of the year. Thanks Craig’s List!

Taking current construction costs in Costa Rica into consideration, it now looks as though our mountain retreat will consist of three separate structures (if all goes as planned). The main building will have a restaurant and an area for nature talks and indoor exploration (with telescopes, exhibits, and library). It will have a separate, private wing, which will serve as our living quarters. Our wing will be separated from the restaurant by a small but elegant infinity~edge swimming pool. In addition to the main building, we will have two bungalows for overnight guests ~ ~ one with one bedroom, and one with two. If there’s anything left at the end of the day, we also plan to construct one or two open~air pavilions for yoga, meditation, or massage services.

Once Boonma finishes his sketches, he and Patrick will spend next week in the office of our Costa Rican architect, who will be in charge of managing the project throughout the construction process. Together, they will transform the sketches into architectural plans, which we will then present to local construction companies for bid. The collaboration is tricky to begin with, but considering a Frenchman will be serving as translator for a Thai~American (with an accent) who speaks no Spanish and a Costa Rican who speaks no English, it’s really a spectacle to behold!

The next challenge we face will be finding a construction company that is capable of building what the plans call for, and finding quality construction materials at a reasonable price. Although we haven’t found many builders who do the quality work we’re looking for, they do exist here and it’s just a matter of finding them. With strength and determination powered by the dream of an outdoor soaking tub and deck overlooking the ocean, LET THE SEARCH BEGIN!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Down Time

So, if you’ve been reading, you might still be wondering how we spend our weekend down-time. If you can imagine what weekends might have been like in a small Iowan town circa 1950, you’re probably pretty close.

First, we spend a lot of time visiting with Costa Rican friends. Having lived here twice before, we have developed some strong friendships in the community. Among the closest are Gerardo, who has worked for us on and off for the past ten years; Luis and Sonja, a carpenter and his wife, who have made almost all of our furniture and who have become like family to us; Warner and Yini, the supermarket manager and his wife, who have been stocking their grocery shelves with items we can’t seem to live without. They have introduced us to their families and friends, showed us the local haunts (the public swimming pool, a tilapia farm with fishing holes), and kindly explained Costa Rican customs and social norms.

The nice thing about Costa Rica is that drop-in visits are not completely frowned-upon. Perhaps it’s because telephones are still not universal, but it’s perfectly acceptable to show up unannounced, shout a few times (no doorbells) until someone comes to the door, and be welcomed with a cup of coffee. Because we live in one of the major coffee producing areas of Costa Rica, a main topic of conversation over coffee is, well, coffee – which direction prices are going, recent fertilizing fads, and how the current weather is affecting the crop.

In addition to our random drop-in visits, we do actually get invitations on occasion. There is a core group of ex-pats here from the U.S., France and Canada who enjoy good food (and drink), and we invite each other over to share anecdotes and advice, talk politics, and just to speak our native languages. Many of these ex-pats have located here for the fabulous birding in the area, and they make up the majority of the San Vito Bird Club. I (Kate) have become a proud member of the SVBC, and I’m slowly learning how to focus my binoculars to tell the difference between a bird and a leaf… The SVBC is involved in a long-term research study on migrant birds, so I have also started learning how to band spindly little avian legs, and where to blow away feathers to find well-hidden private parts.

When we first arrived in July, we were taking weekend road-trips that delivered us from small-town Iowa to the Costa Rican coastal paradise of surfers and sunbathers. It’s about a three-hour drive to the beach -- not because the distance is so far, but because the dirt roads are so crappy. On nice days, the drive is well worth it -- particularly for Luc, who enjoys jumping the waves and digging in the sand. Now that rainy season is upon us and the clouds roll in around noon every day, we’re hunkering down and staying closer to home.

As I’m writing this (on Saturday morning), Patrick and Lucas are out in the driveway in their bathing suits washing the cars. Later today, we’ll go to town to run some errands, and tonight we’ve been invited to a cocktail party with some American friends. We may not be shopping at the mall or eating at trendy restaurants, but we’re enjoying our simple life, developing meaningful relationships and feeling the stress drain out from our heads to our dirty little toes :)

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Day Trippin’

We have a new car! My days of driving the big, blue, monster truck with its intimidating stick shift are over (the truck is probably as thrilled about this as I am!). We now have a shiny 2000 Montero Sport parked in our driveway. Unlike Washington, we don’t have hundreds of used car dealerships within a 30 mile radius, so it was a real labor of love to bring our new baby home.

The car was waiting for us in a suburb of San Jose, which is a difficult seven hour drive from where we live. Patrick and I determined that rather than driving both ways to collect our car (which would have required an overnight stay), we should fly to the capitol in the morning and drive the new car back together in the afternoon – it would be a day trip extraordinaire!

Our local airport in the coastal town of Golfito is difficult to describe, particularly to those accustomed to Skycap and X-ray machines. The airport is actually just a landing strip and outdoor waiting area – more like a bus stop than an airport. We arrived at 6:00 a.m. for a 6:40 flight and had plenty of time to spare (the ticket counter staff had not yet checked in for work). Instead of luggage, we sheepishly checked in an empty cooler for the grocery shopping we were looking forward to later in the day. Because the 12-seater prop planes are small and can carry only a limited load, each passenger must “weigh in”-- on the baggage scale no less! Maybe it’s me, but I much prefer the mandatory shoe-check.

Upon landing in San Jose after the scenic (and noisy) 45 minute flight, Patrick and I followed our normal routine and headed straight for the complimentary shuttle bus to Denny’s restaurant (which is connected to both a 24-hour casino and Best Western hotel). We must have looked famished (or maybe it was the empty cooler that gave us away), but the shuttle bus driver knew instantly that it wasn’t the hotel, but Denny’s we wanted. It may sound crazy, but when you’re deprived of normal breakfast food for an extended period, Denny’s hash browns, sausages, and pancakes actually taste good!

With full, happy stomachs, we took a taxi to the car dealership to finalize our purchase. After spending an hour signing legal papers (every major transaction here needs a lawyer’s stamp of approval), we were the proud owners of a used car from Alabama that cost $7,000 more than we would have paid for it in the States – and we were ecstatic! Considering taxes on car purchases here are upwards of 75%, we had actually found a pretty good deal.

We rolled off the lot and headed straight for – more food! With its large gringo population, San Jose has a number of high-quality grocery stores that could be confused for your neighborhood Safeway (well, almost). We strolled the aisles with mouths watering, filling our limited cooler space with a carefully made selection of goodies: English muffins, smoked salmon, strawberries, cheeses, granola, Eggo waffles, pine nuts, Rib eye steak, dried sausage, champagne…

Our drive back to San Gabriel in our new car was smooth, comfortable, cool (air conditioning – Hooray!), and tuneful (a stereo – Hooray!), and we arrived home to find everything still in working order (the running water is back – Hooray!!). In celebration of our most successful day trip, we held a festive mimosa and eggs-benedict brunch that even Denny’s would be hard-pressed to top :)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Bright Side

Here in Costa Rica, challenges arise almost daily that can become overwhelming if you don’t learn to look on the bright side (and put into action your sharpest problem-solving skills!). We’ve had plenty of opportunity recently to practice seeking out the silver lining.

A week ago, we took a trip to the capitol, San Jose, to purchase a car we had found in the newspaper. We had planned to take the “short” route over the mountains, which would have taken about 6 hours. The night before we left, we received a call from friends telling us that there had been a landslide across the mountain road, and it had been closed to traffic. Fortunately, there is another road to San Jose along the coast which we were able to take. We spent about three hours longer driving, but on the bright side, we were able to stop to show Luc his first wild crocodiles, and we also caught glimpses of sloths, monkeys, and scarlet macaws. Also, when we finally rolled into San Jose, the city had emptied of cars for the day, and we found our hotel relatively effortlessly. Driving in San Jose is never easy because there are absolutely no street signs, but the key is to speak enough Spanish to be able to ask taxi drivers for directions.

The next day when we went to inspect the new car, we found that it was in worse condition than we had expected. For the amount of money the guy was asking, we decided not to take it. Of course, I was disappointed, but on the bright side, the lawyer who was going to do the car transfer papers was also an immigration lawyer. We kept our appointment with him and discussed our different options for gaining Costa Rican residency.

We resumed our search for our car the next day in Grecia, a suburb of San Jose also known as Used Car Central. After a few hours of searching, we found a Mitsubishi Montero in good condition and low miles for about 5K less than the first car (Bright, Very Bright!!). We thought we would be able to pay by credit card, but between Visa’s security measures for large purchases and Costa Rican inexperience obtaining authorization codes, the transaction was just too difficult. Fortunately, the dealer said he would hold the car for us until we can get a wire transfer into our Costa Rican account. On the bright side, a second trip next week (by plane without Lucas) will allow us some extra time in the city to purchase some furniture we desperately need.

We left San Jose by way of the mountain road which was open, albeit a little messy. When we arrived home, we found that our water had been cut off. That happens around here rather frequently for one reason or another, so we just assumed it would be back on the following day. Pat left for work and stayed later than usual because we had been gone a few days. In the meantime, I had figured out that the water was cut because we had forgotten to pay the bill (which goes directly to the landlord’s house). By the time Pat came home, the water office was closed (no paying by phone here!), and we were facing a three day weekend -- who knew Mother’s Day was a national holiday?!

We’re now in our fifth day without potable water in the house. Living without hot water was one thing, but no water at all is a different ballgame altogether. On the bright side, I finally have a good excuse not to wash the floor, do the dishes, or cook rice and beans! Thankfully, we live next to a river in a tropical country at the beginning of rainy season. With a tank borrowed from friends to collect rain water from the roof, and a supply of drinking water donated from friendly neighbors, we’re muddling through. On the brightest side -- and one of the reasons we’re able to find any bright side at all, wine comes from a bottle and not the tap…

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Progress

After just over a month here, we’ve made some decent progress on our mountain resort project. Patrick has been working at a frenetic pace to get all the necessary tasks completed so we can start building in December after rainy season ends. So far, so good, and, remarkably, we’re still on schedule (in a country famed for its loose sense of time!). So far, we have:

* Decided where our house, restaurant, spa, bungalows, and pool will be located on the property;
* Met with our Costa Rican architect who will oversee the construction of the project to determine what steps need to be taken before we break ground;
* Met with a topographer who will make a contour map of the construction sites and segregate the housing lots;
* Arranged with our American architect to come to Costa Rica in early September to design the various buildings;
* Met with a builder of suspended bridges and identified two large trees for hanging walkways;
* Received preliminary construction permits from the local municipality;
* Had our water source tested and determined safe for drinking;
* Started leveling construction sites with a bulldozer (once the truck that carried the bulldozer to our property became un-stuck from the mud in our entrance way—a three hour ordeal involving two Mack trucks and a chain that could have restrained King Kong...)
* Received quotes for gravel to put on the roads to the housing lots and mountain retreat;
* Bought 250 saplings from a local reforestation project for planting later this month;
* Decided upon an entry-gate design and contracted our local carpenter-friend to build it;
* Began negotiating the price of wood to buy and store until December;
* Identified a new car for me (Kate) that will also help transport customers to the resort next year.
* Started thinking about a catchy name for the business. Petit Paradis Mountain Resort and Spa is our current favorite. We’re open to thoughts and suggestions, though, so please feel free to comment!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Every-Other Days

To give a true sense of what it’s like living in Costa Rica -- and to dispel beliefs that we’re living some sort of dreamy tropical existence -- let me describe the “every-other” days when Luc and I don’t go with Pat to our property.

The days start a little later – usually 5:15 instead of 4:45 – with Luc springing out of bed and begging Patrick to bring him along. Luc is cajoled back into my bed with promises of 6 o’clock pancakes, and by 6:15, the maple syrup is flowing.

By 6:30, we’re fully awake, and the laundry is in the machine. Because there’s limited drying time these rainy days, clothes washing is the first order of business. As the cycles click through their rotation, Luc and I share a good hour of focused together-time. It’s my favorite time of the day, and I’m not sure which of us is having more fun face-painting, decorating the cardboard playhouse, playing hide-and-seek and reading books.

When the laundry is ready to be hung, a little puppy who has adopted us as his benefactors has usually arrived at our doorstep. We call him “Flacko”, which means skinny in Spanish, since when he first showed up he was a starving waif of a thing. Lucas and Flacko are fast friends, and the two of them spend hours amusing themselves and getting into endless amounts of trouble around the yard.

At 8:30, Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego come on TV, and Luc is allowed to watch to get his ear accustomed to Spanish. This also gives me some time to do the remaining chores in peace. I wash the dishes with hot water from the shower (yes, we now have hot water – Horay!), sweep & mop the floor, and make the beds. I feel like a real “Tica” (Costa Rican woman) the way I’ve learned to wield a mop. Of course, I curse my way through the entire routine, but with amount of dust and the bugs in the house, cleaning really can’t be ignored.

After his shows are over, Luc is usually ready to call on the neighbor kids. Because the school-day is split and there is such a wide age-range of kids living up the hill, there’s usually always someone home to play with. Sometimes, if Lola, the neighbors’ cow, is in the road, Luc needs me to accompany him past her and her unusually long tongue with its sticky lick…

For the next hour and a half or so, I have some free time to work on the Internet. The connection is extremely SLOW, so it’s a good to have a chunk of time. It takes about 10 minutes to upload one photo to Flickr - Ugh!

At 11:30, it’s time to entice Luc back home for a bath (he’s inevitably covered with mud) and lunch. Patrick returns soon after, and by 12:00, we all feel like we’ve put in a full day’s work and are ready for siesta (all of us except Luc!).

After a good strong cup of Costa Rican coffee, we can usually rally for our afternoon business and errands in town. Luc usually crashes in the car, so I sit and read a book while Patrick runs every-which-way meeting with architects, lawyers, construction workers, and municipal officials. It’s a man’s world here, and combined with my shaky Spanish, I’m pretty much useless in these matters. It’s frustrating, but I’m trying not to let it get to me too much. I’ll find my niche eventually…

We’re home by 5:00 to get dinner ready and watch CNN. We’re all completely spent by 7:00, and while Luc drifts off, we try our darnedest to push through ‘til 9:00 – often unsuccessfully.

That’s our life in a nutshell! It’s no secret that I prefer our jungle days to my housewife days, but it’s all part of the bargain here. Thankfully, unlike a true Tica, I do have a break from household chores and I have managing a resort business to look forward to in my future. At the moment, though, I hear thunder in the distance, so if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to go take down the laundry.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Mountain High

In 1998, Patrick and his mother purchased 24 acres of mountain property with a distant view of the ocean on the Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The property has essentially 12 flat, build-able acres at the top of the mountain, and then it plunges over the edge descending almost vertically to the river below.

About twenty years ago, the flat area was cultivated for coffee, but the steep mountainside was never disturbed for farming and remains thick primary forest. Of course, a lot can grow in twenty years, and even the former coffee fields have become secondary forest now, with a full canopy creating ample shade. The property is home to a wide range of wildlife, from snakes and lizards, to monkeys, agoutis, and shockingly-blue Morpho butterflies.

Plans for the property include creating nine small housing lots for sale on part of the build-able area, and creating a “mountain retreat and spa”, complete with restaurant, pool, nature trails and lookout platforms on the other. We hope to become a day-escape for locals (ex-pats and well-to-do Ticos) and vacationers who want to relax in a beautiful, serene, environment.

Having lived here for a year before (and in Pat’s case, two years), we know exactly what needs to be done in order to get things moving as quickly as possible. The first item on the agenda is cleaning out the underbrush and making things ready for the trucks to come in and dig the road and level the construction areas. Pat has hired five guys to help him chop and groom, and after two weeks of work from 6:00 am to 1:00 pm (when the rain usually starts), the task is almost complete.

Three days a week, Luc and I have been tagging along – mostly to get Luc accustomed to the jungle (and to keep me from going crazy in the house all day!). It’s been a real treat for me to be able to explore with him for hours at a time, and we’ve found a wide array of crazy-looking bugs. In just two weeks, Luc has morphed from a tentative, mud-hating, city boy into a grubby little Tarzan who can recognize toucans by their calls alone. In the same amount of time, I’ve changed from working, weekend-only mom to a full-time teacher, protector and friend. The transformation hasn’t been entirely easy, but I don’t think Pat and I will regret the decision to be the ones to introduce our kid to the wonderful world outdoors.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

La Casa Nuestra

The house we’re renting for the next year and a half while our project is being built is more-or-less a typical Costa Rican “casa”. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Costa Rican architecture and design, that means we’re living in a brightly-painted (in our case, orange) cement and wood house with a tin roof and tiled floors. The rooms are square and basic -- closets, shelving, and cabinets are non-existent. The lighting is florescent, which prompted Patrick to comment that our bedroom looks like a Columbian whorehouse (Knowledge he gained only from movies, of course). Our open kitchen is in the back of the house to keep the smoke from the wood-burning oven out, but unfortunately, a nice variety of insects find their way in! We have quite a large bathroom, but with no hot water, we have yet to use the shower. We’ve been heating buckets on the stove until we get the “suicide shower head” installed – a contraption that warms the water with electrical current as it slowly flows through.

What makes our house un-typical is that with its five bedrooms, paved driveway, telephone line, and satellite dish, it’s quite a bit “fancier” than the neighbors’. With the washing machine and dryer we added, and the stereo and decorations we sent from DC, the place is perfectly comfortable. We feel very fortunate to have found it through local friends, and at $150 a month, it’s a hard deal to beat!

The best part of the house is its location. We’re a seven minute drive off the main road in the middle of farm country. We wake up to the sounds of cows and chickens, and there’s a stream that runs past our front yard. There’s a coffee plantation in back, and banana trees galore. It’s very peaceful, and we haven’t heard an ambulance, car horn, or garbage truck since moving in. Lucas is thrilled to have a large family living next door with about eight little kids to play with, and with their help, we hope his Spanish with come along quickly.

Life is slow here in the country, but we have time to think, listen to the birds, play with our kid, and spend time with friends. What more could we ask for? Well, a little hot water would be nice…

Saturday, July 5, 2008

A Circuitous Route

It’s been a month-long journey, but we’re finally here in Costa Rica! We came by way of France and Massachusetts (again) on our way to San Jose. En route, Lucas managed to pick up chicken pox, which struck in full force as we were meandering through the market stalls of St. Tropez, and Kate came down with a nasty case of strep throat on the day before our Costa Rica flight (and about five days after our health insurance ran out). Let’s just say that we now have plenty of material for a Michael Moore “Sicko” sequel, but we’ll leave that for another day. On the bright side, there’s nothing like being sick at your parents’ house and realizing that Mom and Dad can still make everything OK:)

By the time we left Massachusetts at 3:00 a.m. last Saturday morning, we had four very heavy suitcases, and three carry-ons containing our most important possessions. While Patrick and I carried birth certificates, property titles, and expensive electronic equipment, Lucas clung tight to his backpack holding Nanou the stuffed dog, Dora the Explorer videos, and a Go Fish game. As we staggered to the ticket counter to check our bags, the woman behind the desk informed us blankly that the airline had an embargo on bags weighing more than 50 pounds - which applied to three of our four suitcases. After several moments of panic (which in Kate’s case was a “feverish panic”), we were told we could purchase a duffel bag and unload the excess weight from each bag into it. Although we were relived to have found a solution, it was quite an ordeal to rifle through and select the heaviest items from each bag with a line of 200 impatient travelers looking on behind us. It was kind of like realizing too late that you haven’t brought enough cash to the grocery store and have to decide what items to put back. If you don’t know that feeling, you’re lucky – it isn’t pleasant!

Thankfully, the rest of our trip was smooth sailing. After about 350 hands of Go Fish, and 20 trips to the airplane potty (with its really cool flush), we arrived in San Jose with all our bags. It was a circuitous route, but we’re really here. And this time, it’s for good. Hola, Costa Rica!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

U-Haulin'

Five years ago, after Patrick and I had spent our honeymoon driving from Massachusetts to Colorado, we made a solemn promise NEVER to rent a U-Haul again. So it was with great trepidation that I wedged myself into the middle seat of our 14-footer to shelp our "not-quite-suitable-for-Costa Rica" STUFF from Washington back up to Massachusetts. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Lucas kept the screaming to a minumum; gas in New Jersey is still below 4 bucks a gallon, and we only had to drive through two hours of torrential downpours. But still, if anyone can explain to my why the floors of the trucks always seem to reach blistering heights, I'd be really interested to learn.

We are now completely unencombered. Fourteen hundred pounds of STUFF has been shipped to Costa Rica (The books, rainy-day board games, and never-used power tools weighed about three times more than we expected them to...), there are two pallets of furniture and three shelves worth of photo albums and Christmas ornaments stored at my parents house, and we are now happily living out of four suitcases. It's quite a liberating feeling to be homeless, car-less, job-less, and STUFF-less. For those of you who have never tried it before, it's worth doing at least once. Of course, this is about our third time around, so beware, it might be addictive.

On our way to my parents, the children's game "My Grandmother's Trunk" kept running through my head. I drove to Westborough, and in my U-Haul I packed: My cat's Sparky's ashes to bury in the backyard; the top of the pressure cooker that missed the boat to Central America; our cell phone contract which can't be cancelled for another three weeks, two days and seventeen hours; and my wedding dress, which still hasn't made it to the cleaners...

Our adventure has begun, and so far it's inspired a catchy tune: "We're U-Haulin' and re-fallin' in love with you".

(Note: For more on STUFF, refer to George Carlin).

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Departure Date Approaches

We've got our tickets in hand, and our time left in Washington is quickly ticking down. We have 13 days left before the shippers arrive, and we still can't quite figure out what's going in the boxes. As of now, it seems that our 500 pound shipment will consist mostly of books -- on hotel design, teaching English as a second language, and cooking, as well as Luc's Dr. Seuss collection. We've also got a huge steamer trunk filled with power tools. Patrick is convinced that he'll need them, but considering he can barely wield a hammer, I'm sure having the tools around is a recipe for disaster...

In the next two weeks, we also have to wrap up our jobs, sell our car, collect paperwork for our Costa Rican residency application, figure out what to do about health insurance, and most important, say good-bye to all our friends . We hope this blog will help us keep in touch with them and keep them posted on when they should start making plans to come visit us in our little jungle lodge :)