Costa Rica B&B AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Home Sweet home....in Costa Rica!

2007-01-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

I’m back in sunny Costa Rica and I am sure glad to be here! While I enjoy visiting the United States, even if it is primarily for my surgeries (one more left and hopefully that’s it!), I think I enjoy it less and less each time. This time, during my visit was particularly interesting considering during that President Ford died, Saddam was executed and most sadly, my good friend/Godson’s brother died. I think I’ll stay away for a while.

I definitely don’t miss the hustle and bustle of the U.S. I actually tired very quickly of so many people where I was (mainly New York and Washington, DC) coming and going, traffic, noise, and more often than not, general rudeness. I know not everyone is rude in the U.S., heck I lived there for the first 40 years of my life,

I did, though, have a great time running around Washington, DC, going to some holiday parties, celebrating New Year’s Eve there and seeing friends. My Godson is working on a paper for his landscape architecture class so the pictures for this blog entry are the various sites in Washington. I lived there for 15 years, made some terrific close friends and will always remember my time there.

First things first….

What does one do when he returns home to Costa Rica? Well, there are many things but the first and most important thing is to hug my dogs Reina and Osita. I wanted to talk with them while I was in the U.S., but I still cannot understand barks (it’s tougher than Spanish believe me). When I first saw them, they were eating dinner and while they turned and took note of me, they promptly went back to eating. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, interrupts their meal time! They did eventually come over and climb all over me but they were not as enthusiastic as the last time I was gone (for two months and they were at the vet’s office). Perhaps it is because I was gone for less than a month. It could be that they are finally maturing into adults and slowly but surely breaking away from their “father.” Whatever it is, I was sure glad to see them.

The second thing one does when returing to such a stunning environment is to reaquaint oneself with the scenery. Fortunately, nothing had changed on that score. The mountains were still many shades of green and right where I left them. The valleys were deep and busy with animals and all sorts of flowers, trees and plants.

After the first two things to do upon returning to Costa Rica, the rest of them don’t seem to matter as much, except to remember to enjoy living in paradise despite how busy we may get. It is going to be busy year for me—tours, real estate, and more—but I aim to “smell the coffee” at least once each day no matter how busy I may get.

Trying again on gardening….

Last year we tried our hand at having a vegetable garden and were mildly successful. It could have been a bigger and better garden but I think our timing was off for some of the vegetables and other issues got in the way of keeping it up. This year, however, I hope it will be different, and no matter what is going on, I plan to find the time to keep it up.

I have this wonderful greenhouse that I’m starting to use again. I’ve got 35 pots with seeds in them and I’m hoping that this year—a few months from now—we’ll start to see plants ready for the garden. While I like a variety of vegetables, I’ve started out with the basics this year: tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, onions, carrots, herbs and other items I’m currently forgetting. We’ve mastered the chickens by getting up to ten eggs a day so I’m hoping the garden will provide our salad stuff. If it all works out, I suspect I will have more vegetables than I’ll need, but giving them away is part of the fun of it—or I could set up my own roadside stand—well, maybe not. Now, if I could only learn how to maintain a few cows and pigs, our farm would be almost complete. We’ll see as I have enough time doing everything else!

Dry Season?

I made some predictions in an earlier blog about the dry season being here but I was flatly wrong about that. During my first few days home it has been sunny and warm and I hope this trend continues. It’s supposed to be the dry season and I suspect it is, but I’m not making any predictions any longer. I’ll just enjoy our 75+ degree weather and leave it at that.

Thanks for reading and for your comments. More soon!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com (4-day/3 night relocation/retirement tour!)
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com (Boomers in Costa Rica blog!)
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com (the B&B!)

Hola from New York City!

2006-12-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

I am visiting New York again and will be in the area for one month. Last time I was in New York for an extended period of time—this past February—I got a bit of criticism from anonymous commentors (why not post your name?!) asking me how I could be away from the B&B for a month, particularly during the high season? It is a good question (though really not anyone’s business but mine) so I wanted to answer this question here and set the record straight.

Since I moved to Costa Rica, I’ve been back in the U.S. three times, and never for fun/vacation. I’ve only visited the U.S. because I’ve had to have series of serious surgeries to fend off a potentially fatal disease and my doctor in Costa Rica thought it would be better for me to have these surgeries here. That’s the deal. I should also mention that I have a very good manager/staff and all is taken care of at the B&B while I am gone. Now back to more fun stuff!

Being a New Yorker again….

It is very fun being here again, especially at Christmas time. The city is bustling with activity and the shoppers are out in force. I spent several hours at Macy’s today, just wandering around checking out the huge selection of things for sale. Costa Rica has a lot to offer but certainly does not have the variety of products you can get here—which is just fine with me honestly.

Each time I come back here I do go through “sticker shock” as I’m continually amazed at what it costs to live here. These days you cannot find a decent hotel for under $250/night, expect to spend $50 for dinner, and between taxis, and other items, it takes a lot to be here. However, the sites and sounds of the city make up for it and I always enjoy my time here (even with the surgeries).

I am definitely no longer a city person even though I was here for a long time. It’s just too much sensory overload and I think as I get older I’m getting used to the countryside in Costa Rica and more than that, the fact I can nearly everything I need easily in my quaint little town of San Ramon! If I can get back sooner than one month, I will!

Boomers Tour!

Alex and I had our December “Boomers in Costa Rica Tour” (www.boomersincostarica.com) for four days last week and what a terrific time it was! We toured the towns of Escazu, Santa Ana, Grecia, Naranjo, Atenas and our home town, San Ramon. We had some great meals and spent a lot of time going over how to move here, what to expect after moving here and of course, where to find affordable real estate deals. One of the best things we did was to introduce our clients to many of our friends in these towns and think our clients feel very comfortable knowing there are other people living here who are just like them. It makes the transition easier and makes them more confident in their decision to move here. The pictures on this entry are from the tour. (To see pictures, go here: http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Ramon/blog-110935.html)

Doing tours of the Central Valley is more fun than I thought it would be. It is a terrific feeling to have people come to trust us for our knowledge of Costa Rica and to provide them with an honest assessment of living here, and most importantly, in buying real estate here. We’ve seen so many shady developments and brokers here so filtering out these people and deals is helpful to our clients as we want them to be happy with their choices as we don’t just do the tour and walk away—they’re life-long clients and likely new friends and neighbors!

That’s it for now. I’ll have more when there is more to say!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com (4-day/3 night relocation/retirement tour!)
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com (Boomers in Costa Rica blog!)
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com (the B&B!)

Misc. Ramblings

2006-11-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

Summer is in the air in Central America

Spring is in full swing here meaning its raining less and summer is just around the corner. After a full onslaught of guests in recent weeks, things have quieted down a little in the last two weeks and that has enabled us to do some spring cleaning and to spruce up the B&B. It didn’t need much work, but change isn’t bad in this case. Terry, our new manager, has painted many of the rooms in uniquely tropical colors and reorganized the living area. His re-do definitely opened up the living space a bit and it is now more conducive to meeting other guests, having conversations, reading, or just relaxing. Since the last time we did some work on the rooms and common areas it was during the initial refurbishment of the entire B&B when first moving here, it was good to freshening things up—and painting always does the trick! We also made some curtains for some of the bathrooms. While it is nice to have large windows with plenty of sunlight coming through, bare windows are not conducive to privacy!

Road work!

The other major work we have been doing lately is on the 500-meter dirt driveway to the B&B. It’s a long road for sure and it does get abused during the rainy season, and this year was no exception (though it wasn’t as bad as last year). So I had my friend Ben, who is the top real estate developer in the San Ramon area, bring in his crackerjack crew to re-work the road including adding real drainage pipes, smoothing out the rough areas, adding a large rock base to the road in key spots, and cutting back some brush and dead trees to allow for more sunlight (and thus, enabling the road to dry more easily after rain storms). The crew is still working on it but these changes should keep the road in good condition for nearly a decade.

In other road work, I’m amazed (or maybe not so amazed) that some of the major road issues on the autopista between here and San Jose have still not been repaired. In a couple of spots, parts of the payment on the edge of the road have just fallen into the valleys below. The government is good about putting up warning cones and so on to ensure no cars go down the steep hills off the road, but on one rather large cave-in of the road, it has been several months since the road broke up and nothing has happened. Oh, well, there is not much I can do about it I suppose except to hope the road crews get to it in my lifetime.

Economic Growth in CR and good gringos (Ticos) vs. bad gringos (Ticos).

There has been a lot of chatter recently on various blogs and some comments on one of my past blog entries about economic development here in Costa Rica, gringos moving in, gringos ripping off Ticos and related subjects. So, I just want to chime in and provide my perspective, right or wrong.

I’ve heard a number of ex-pats say recently, either directly to me or through others, that “they don’t want Tico life to change” and that “they like things just the way they are.” Apparently, some people are increasingly miffed about life in Costa Rica changing, particularly in smaller towns like San Ramon, and that they don’t want economic development. My response to that is: “Has anyone asked the Ticos what they want?” I imagine there are many Ticos who also don’t want to see much change and they like their towns just the way they are, thank you very much. Change can bring many problems of course. However, there are also many Ticos who welcome change and the money and employment activities that ex-pats bring to the country. I personally do not think change is a bad thing if done correctly. If housing developments, etc., are done in an environmental friendly manner and don’t impede on what Ticos desire, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Obviously, change will occur and there is not much we can do to stop it. It just needs to be done well and in consideration of everyone’s needs.

I’m also concerned about thoughts that many ex-pats, particularly Americans are here ripping off Ticos and that is all we do. I’ve heard references to various businesses such as B&Bs, real estate ventures, retirement/relocation tours, and other businesses. Yes, there are definitely many Americans ripping off Ticos and equally, other Americans. It happens all the time here. However, there are also many good Americans here who have good businesses and provide significant value for their products or services. It isn’t good to lump them all together. As someone else has suggested, if we can all work with the good people and refer customers to other good people, we’ll all do well and ensure our reputation as guests in this country, is not ruined.

There are bad gringos here and good gringos here. There are also good and bad Ticos. I cannot count how many times items at a market came out to double their posted price somehow, or more recently how I was charged for two dog haircuts instead of one (I caught the charge well after I left) and numerous other cases. Some are innocent mistakes but others are not. There seems to be this misnomer among some in the gringo community that Ticos are these innocent people who don’t understand business, who lead very simple lives, are not interested in making money, and in fact, don’t understand much about our complex world. I can tell you that in my own dealings with them that this is not always the case. Sure, many of them are not active in business and truly do lead lives reminescent of days past, but there are also many Ticos who are sharp business people, spot a gringo a mile away, and know how to make money. So to those people who assume Ticos are all the same and claim to know their interests and ethics, take a look around more broadly. As in any open society and culture, not everyone is the same, and it isn’t helpful to lump people together, whether Ticos or gringos.

I’ve also heard recently comments such as “I didn’t come to this country for it to be like the U.S.”and “I came here to live away from America and just among Ticos” (I’m paraphrasing). The fact is, Costa Rica, while perhaps considered the “wild west” for a lot of Americans who are considering moving here, or are already here, it is not that unless you live in very small towns on the fringes of the country, or go live among the Bribri or other indigenous peoples. Costa Rica, while poorer compared to the U.S., is hardly a third world country compared to a lot of countries, particularly countries to the north on this ithmus. Ticos are heavily influenced by North America from television to clothing to the movies and more. It’s just a fact of life. If people want to live in a completely foreign culture and not see American influences (or even other Americans), then I would suggest other countries, such as Bolivia, Uruguay, or Ecuador. And, even in these far-flung places, they won’t be like they are now forever. It’s just how it is here, and around the world, for good or bad. Development will continue to occur—it’s just a matter of how it occurs—and hopefully it will be done respectfully, with everyone’s needs taken into consideration to the extent possible.

Finally, and to end my thoughts on this subject, I know many Americans move overseas for various reasons, one of which is (particularly in the last six years), that they don’t like the politics in their country of citzenship or cannot stand the administration in power. I understand this completely. However, outside of politics, I’m very proud to be an American and will always defend and support my country. We are also representatives of our country when living abroad and it is important for us to be good ambassadors for our home country.

Osita is now mulatto!

I took Reina and Osita to the vet the other day for their regular checkup. They did well and they remain in excellent health. While there, I asked the vet to bath both of them thoroughly and trim Osita’s hair. Osita has wild, thick hair that goes in all directions and hence her name, “Osita,” which is “teddy bear” in English. I thought I told the vet to just tirm her hair and clean her up a bit. Well, the vet’s assitant shaved off her hair completely! I was shocked when I went back to pick them up and Osita was mostly white with some brown spots! She really does look mulatto. Well, it will grow back thankfully. Funny, she is smaller than Reina without the hair! I’m sure she feels better too with less hair. We’ll see how long it takes for her hair to grow back!

That’s all for now. Happy Thanksgiving! We have many things to be thankful for!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com (the B&B!)
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com (4-day/3 night relocation/retirement tour!)
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com (Boomers in Costa Rica blog!)

On Being an Inkeeper, etc.

2006-11-06T00:59:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year again. In a few weeks, the rainy season should be just a memory and the next six or seven months will be filled with bright sunshine and few clouds. The bumpy dirt road leading to the B&B will become nearly dusty, the green fields surrounding us will eventually turn from a vivid, deep green to something approaching a yellowish brown, and the days will get a bit warmer. As my friends and family in the northeastern U.S. begin to settle in for winter, here we’re getting ready summer.

While it wasn’t a particularly bad rainy season, likely due to the lack of hurricanes, thankfully, in the Gulf of Mexico, waking from the rainy season isn’t unlike the arrival of spring in the U.S. It’s as if everything gets a fresh coat of paint. And, the people here seem friendlier too in the dry season (not that they aren’t already very friendly).

There are other signs that summer is coming as well. Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner and there’s a definite up tick in tourists throughout the country, including here at the B&B. It is still a bit odd to me equating Christmas with summertime, however, I guess the weather doesn’t take away from the joy of the season (though I do miss at least some snow). The roads become more passable after being victimized by heavy rains, big trucks and the inevitable potholes that return during each rainy season.

Inkeeping….

At the B&B, it’s also a time of change. In addition to welcoming many new guests—and returning guests—as the season approaches, it is a time for coming out of a mild hibernation of sorts, making sure everything works, giving our rooms a deep cleaning (and in some cases a fresh coat of paint), and preparing the grounds for much more activity than in the rainy season. It’ll also soon be time to prepare yet another vegetable garden, hoping our lessons learned last year will result in a more abundant bounty this year.

The other day I had an email from someone in Colorado asking me about what it takes t room a place like ours. So, here goes. Now that I’ve had a decent amount of time under my belt as an innkeeper, including two rainy seasons, I’m beginning to discover the routine inherent in this profession. Or, at least I’ve now been able to step back and made some mental notes on what it takes to be successful. Yes, there are many things that need to done in the day of an innkeeper. Here’s a partial list:

• Try to get up before any of the guests do;
• Turn off the outdoor lights from the night before;
• Make coffee, and early;
• Prepare breakfast—varying the choices each days—and the do the dishes;
• Check guests in and out;
• Read email several times a day for reservations;
• Prepare rooms for arriving guests (or clean rooms after departing guests);
• Respond to huge array of guest requests from arranging for a taxi to planning sightseeing activities;
• Dust, mop, wipe, polish, and any other activity associated with cleaning;
• Wash guest sheets and towels—an almost daily activity;
• Shop for food, cleaning supplies and other items needed for the B&B; and
• Many other things!

In the end, however, no matter how grand or modest one’s inn, hotel, B&B, guesthouse or whatever else you want to call it is, as long as the basic things are done well, it really does comes down to how the innkeeper interacts with his or her guests. While client pays for a room and breakfast, staying in a place like ours, it’s true that they tend to come for the broader “experience,” and yes, to interact with the innkeeper. Whether its just a passing interest in the business, a burning desire to do what I’ve done, or just simply to meet new people, clients come for the people—the owners, other guests, neighbors—as much as just having a place to rest one’s body and soul.

Actually, cleaning, preparing breakfast, taking reservations and all of the other tasks involved in running a place like ours is a relatively uneventful, and possibly even mundane, series of activities. One way or another, these activities will get done, hopefully well, and they are fairly automatic. However, the “people interaction” is the singular activity one needs to have the personality for and interest in (or get used to), if one wants to be in this business. A B&B is open 365 days a year, and while there are some days without guests, you must always be “on” to run a successful operation. Now, this doesn’t mean faking your interest in one’s guests. It means that while you may be inviting guests into your home, your home is your business and you need to treat it as such. Not feeling well? Breakfast still needs to be made. Sorely need a few days to get away to the beach? Sometimes tough to schedule with guests always coming and going. Want to spend hours by yourself reading or doing something else one’s own? Not gonna happen very often.

Despite some of the negatives, running a B&B is still a terrific opportunity for anyone who wants to meet interesting people from many places, learn from others, and just take pride in providing a good service.

Other news & notes….

Osita and Reina (our terrific dogs) are about 16 months old now, and from the looks of it, they’re almost fully grown. They are still a bit raucous, but I am now seeing signs that they are finally moving from being children I inevitably have to clean up after to adults. Like humans, they’re finally sleeping through the night and they are actually beginning to follow my orders, particularly when its time to put them back in their pen. I’ve also noted they’re not chewing up everything in site! While owning dogs isn’t always easy, I’ve decided I wouldn’t have it any other way. Just seeing them wagging their tails like crazy (and even Osita moaning with joy) each morning when I first see them and feed them, is reason enough. They’re probably the best ambassadors of the B&B!

Several people asked how our new chickens are doing. We recently acquired 10 new chickens to replace the non-producing ones. I’m happy to report we’re getting on average, 8-12 eggs a day! We’re also “free-ranging” the chickens, letting them roam the property each afternoon. They definitely seem happier being able to run around the yard—and they’re great for the garden. While I don’t have a lot of prior experience with chickens, I’m finding that while they are not “man’s best friend,” by any means, they actually do appear to feel some connection to their owners. Lately, I’ve noticed them following me around as I move about the yard and they seem not to fear me.

I’m discovering things I’ve never known about animals since living here. A few days back I stopped on my out along our driveway, as I often do, to say hi to our neighbors—cows—who roam along our driveway (on the other side of the fence though!). I don’t know really know what one does with cows. With dogs, you can put your hand out and it’ll sniff you and get to know you a bit, but I just have no experience with cows besides knowing the as entrees. So, the other day, I put my hand near one cow’s nose, and sure enough, he sniffed my hand, and then, licked my hand! Cows have rough tongues!

It’s been an amazing experience these past 6-8 months preparing to kick off our Boomers in Costa Rica Tours (www.boomersincostarica.com). With several clients coming in December and through February, it is going to be terrific for me and Alex to show people this wonderful country and impart our knowledge on moving here, living here, and buying real estate here. When we assess the many things we’ve learned in our time year, even small things, it is truly amazing how much we now know (and didn’t know before getting here) compared to people in North America or Europe just now pondering a move here. We were in the same boat not too long ago. We read everything online we could get our hands on from real estate sites to online forums to books. We studied the different locations, possible businesses, types of real estate and so much more. However, once we got here, we learned what it takes to live here, and live here well. It’ll be fun to share this with others, and in particular, share out excitement about being here.

In preparing for the tours, I have been struck by how things have come together so nicely among many of us who are like minded in our small city of San Ramon. It seems, almost haphazardly, that we’ve formed a terrific network of people, all working together and all having complimentary businesses and services that feed off one another. And, most importantly, it is a network of people with businesses all of us would recommend to others without any reservations. That’s the key issue I think in living here and having a successful business: finding the right people—people with integrity—who share your passion and can help you be better at what you do.

Summer’s almost here so come on down and see us sometime!

That’s all for now. Keep your comments coming!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com (the B&B!)
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com (4-day/3 night relocation/retirement tour!)
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com (Boomers in Costa Rica blog!)

A Dinner Party Every Night at the B&B!

2006-10-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Food, food and more food….

I must admit I do love it when I have guests of the B&B who love food, and love to cook! I do fairly well preparing breakfast, but dinner is still beyond my modest talents. This month is definitely a fun one at the B&B! We have some terrific long-term guests including Deb & Bob who are considering moving here, Reene (from my former home of Washington, DC), an architect who is here for a month working on on a land development project, and Jake, who is also considering moving here. They’re all very fun and enjoy good food. Bob in particular loves to cook as he finds it relaxing and has offered to cook for the group as often as we’d like. Can life get any better!? I think my new marketing slogan for the B&B is going to be: “Breakfast and a dinner party included every day!”

Last night’s dinner included an incredible chicken dish with perfectly cooked rice, fried onions, peppers, and….okay, I need to stop!

Most importantly, though, it’s so incredible meeting new people from all over. One learns so many new things from new people and finds out about the many perspectives on life whether it’s about moving to Costa Rica, U.S. politics, and more.

Meeting new people….

It’s been fun meeting new people who have moved to San Ramon, including my newest friends Preston and Mike. Both 22 from the U.S., they moved to San Ramon just three months ago, right after finishing college. They’ve already “turned heads” in San Ramon, partly because they outfitted their entire home with everything available from “Maxi Bodega” (a combination of Walmart/grocery store—an incidentally owned by Walmart), including, I think, even the kitchen sink! Preston (from Rochester, NY), like me, is a huge Yankees fan and my DirecTV with ESPN provided the perfect venue for watching the Yankees go down in flames in the American League Division series. Somehow, though, Preston managed to get his laundry done while here!

Already entrepreneurs, they’re working on some very interesting land projects in the area and it’s been fun working with them. They’re bringing tremendous energy and a breath of fresh air to San Ramon, and more importantly, they plan to give back to the area by donating some of the profits from their work to the local community. I’ll provide more details as the project develops and the website goes live. Should be interesting though!

Also, in my work to kick off “Boomers in Costa Rica Tours,” I’ve met many terrific people throughout the Central Valley including Isabelle and Howard, land developers/real estate agents in Atenas. They’re involved in opening an American school in Atenas (email me if you want more information) so we attended a fundraiser at “Ricks’ Internet Café” in Atenas. I think I’m getting to know the ex-pats in Atenas as well as the ex-pats in San Ramon at this point. While I love San Ramon, it’s always good to know there are great people in some of the other towns in the area.

Weather update….

I’ve been asked what the weather has been like lately in the area. I’m pleased to say that it has been terrific! We’ve been having very sunny mornings and early afternoons with only a few showers in the afternoon. In fact, it hasn’t even been raining every day! So far, this rainy season has been both warm and a lot less rainy than last year. If we can make through October, we’ll be well on our way to the dry season!

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and for your comments! Keep ‘em coming!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com (the B&B!)
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com (4-day relocation/retirement tour!)
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com (relocation blog!)

Exploring the area, Keeping Busy, and Dealing with the Government….

2006-10-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Zarcero and around….

This past weekend Jake (a long term guest of the B&B) and I did a one-day road trip up to Zarcero, a neat little town about 20 minutes north of me. We were both curious about the towns surrounding Zarcero as we had both been there before. For both of us, we wondered if any gringos lived in the area and if there were any good real estate deals. From prior knowledge, it was our sense that the Zarcero area was a little remote, and perhaps at little cool for most people. It reminds of the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. more than the tropics! But we explored the area with full anticipation that we’d discover at least something interesting.

Jake fortunately found a halfway decent map of the area on the Internet—well, it had at least a few of the surrounding towns noted—but certainly not all of them. The best part of the trip was just picking a road leading out of Zarcero and seeing it where it would take us. In a few cases the road ended fairly quickly and became a dirt road before long. I wasn’t willing to risky taking my often-ill Trooper on these roads. So after a few tires, we found a road we liked. I have no idea what road we go on but we did figure out that we were heading north/northeast of Zarcero and our intention was to do a loop, eventually hitting a town called Bajos del Toro, and then making our way back to Zarcero, and finally home.

The road north and east of Zarcero was a lot of fun. Even though we didn’t have wide views of the various valleys and mountains due to significant cloud cover on this day, we did get to see some amazing canyons along the way, dropping off by the side of the road for hundreds of feet. I liked this area. It felt very “untouched” and we probably saw two cars the entire town we were making our loop.

The road was remarkably well paved and maintained with concrete water gutters for such a remote area. This didn’t appear to be a heavily traveled road nor did it appear to be a truck route, because as we found out, the road became hard-packed dirt/stone after about 15 kilometers, and went right through a national forest—one neither of knew existed.

We saw many “se vende”(for sale) signs along the road and we stopped numerous times to check out property. When you are on your own, it is hard to tell what you are looking at, but we did see some incredible view properties in the most pristine of settings. The only problem, again, is that this location seems too remote for most gringos. I like it though and someday I’m going to just live out there away from everyone! No television, no Internet, no phones! (okay, I take it back—I have to have television at a minimum!).

As we got close to the hamlet of Bajos del Toro, and the rains appeared to be closing in, we came across signs for a waterfall/restaurant so we pulled into to check it out. The “Carratera del Toro” is a terrific, largely unknown waterfall and hiking trail along the road we traveled. What a terrific find—and it did indeed start to rain—to spend some time looking at rushing torrent of water some 100 feet or so high, and have a decent lunch.

The drive back to San Ramon was somewhat eventful. We saw no less than three car wrecks, two of which involved large trucks, on the ride back. That made the trip back a bit slower. Costa Rica is known for having a high rate of car accidents. I think that while people know better, they just don’t slow down enough on the many hairpin turns and switchbacks!

This is one of the best parts of living in Costa Rica: having the chance to explore new places. For a country the size of West Virginia it offers so much to do and seems so much bigger—particularly when you are on small mountain roads.

Governments are about the same everywhere….

I have to be honest and state that if CAFTA brings competition in key services to Costa Rica such as telephone, Internet and electricity distribution, I’m all for it—much more so today then perhaps—yesterday! I got a new cell phone recently and the last step in getting it set up was to get the voice mail activated. As many friends will remark, I have learned to have considerable patience living here. Some would even suggest I’m much different than the “A type” personality I was when I lived in the U.S. However, dealing with “ICE,” the government-owned electric/telephone monopoly has just about tried my patience!

For starters, the woman I spoke to over the phone said she couldn’t help me on the phone. If I wanted the dial in number and passcode for ICE, I’d have to go their offices. Okay, she was not going to help me so I was stuck going downtown. ICE ‘s office, at least the one in San Ramon, always is overcrowded and understaffed. No matter how many people are waiting, if it is time for a worker to take his/her break, then a break it is! The first time I went (yes it took two trips to get a simple code and password), there were about 50 people waiting for be helped and only two people behind the counter on the telephone side of the office. However, the people on the electricity side of the office had no people waiting when I was there and four people behind the counter! My question is: why not train the people who handle electricity issues to help with telephone issues when they are not busy and vice versa!? I guess it is too easy. When my number finally came up—I was number “C97” and when I arrived they were assisting the person who had number “E45” (huh!?!?), the man behind the counter couldn’t figure out how to use my phone or how to get to the code and password to work and suggested I come back tomorrow. Ughh!! Unfortunately, I cannot yell and scream in Spanish—something I need to learn to do I guest—but patience, patience, I know!

The second trip to ICE was more fruitful as I was only about #15 in line, and somehow my number came up after about 10 minutes of waiting, and I’m not sure what happened to the people who had numbers inbetween! So, a different worker was able to get my number and password to work on my phone. Now all I had to do is go through the menus on the phone and set up my voicemail. Well, that did work right either and will require another trip to ICE. I’ll save that for next week as I just cannot bear three trips to ICE in one week! I guess things could be worse as I could be living in Nicaragua with power cuts for six to eight hours a day in recent months!

Busy, busy, busy!

It’s weird. October is one of the slowest months for tourism in Costa Rica, if not the slowest month. In many places it rains a lot, kids back in the U.S., are in full swing at school and parents are working as hard as ever. But here at the B&B it has turned out to be a very busy month with many guests coming and going. Now why is that? I think because we are not the typical B&B mostly attracting tourists for a few nights or a week. We seem to attract all types: people here long term who are considering moving to the area, others working on projects for a month or so, and then some who just come for a few days and end up staying much longer. I did that actually when I first came to stay with Jose and was considering buying the property. Well, nice problem to have I guess. Lets hope the rest of the year is as good. Come on down and stay with us!

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and for your comments! Keep ‘em coming!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com (the B&B!)
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com (4-day relocation/retirement tour!)
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com (relocation blog!)

I Just Cannot Catch a Break!

2006-09-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

I decided I would head to the beach this weekend to get a little R&R because things are definitely getting busy again, starting in October for the “high season” in Costa Rica and I didn’t know when I would be able to get away again. The bookings just seem to rolling in now for the U.S. winter (which I’m thrilled about).

So, I headed to my favorite beach area Quepos/Manuel Antonio. All was going well at first: the weather was beautiful when I arrived on Friday and my favorite hotel, “Hotel Manuel Antonio” (right on the beach near the national park), had rooms—and they always give me a good rate. Friday was a good day.

Saturday was a beautiful day as well but not a good day for me and my $!#$@*^@$*!$*%^%# car! I decided I would drive down a road to secluded beach I like which is in between Quepos and Manuel Antonio. You can park right on the beach and walk over to a beautiful white-sand beach. All was going well until one of my back tires got stuck in the sand. Usually, with 4-wheel drive, zipping up and down the beach is not a problem for my usually trusty Trooper but this time it just pooped out in the sand and did not want to move (I also suspect my 4-wheel drive was not working).

Fortunately, several locals and gringos tired to help me extricate my car from the sand. One Tico, Javier, who sits at the edge of the jungle and watches people’s cars while they are at the beach, was particularly helpful. He found some rope to tie to another car to try to pull it out—the other car wasn’t strong enough however—and he watched my car while I went to get help.

I had two concerns: One, that my car would still be there when I returned and/or not stripped for parts; and, two, that I could get back to the beach with help before high tide hit and potentially took my car out to sea! On the second concern, luckily high tide wasn’t until 10pm that evening so I had plenty of town.

A terrific guy from a local real estate company, whom I happened to meet at café helped me find help in Quepos. So I went to Quepos, found the mechanic with a truck and asked for his assistance. Of course, I caught him right at lunchtime. He was more than willing to help but said he needed to have his lunch first because he had “stomach problems” and eating on time was very important (frankly, it’s likely the lack of ruffage in his diet that is his problem). In any event, after about a two hour wait, he came back from lunch and in no time we were at my car and he easily got it off the beach. Clearly, he had done this before because he brought a shovel, rope, chains and a whole assortment of tools.

By the time this whole experience was over, it was pushing 4pm and decided I’d just go back to my hotel and have a nap, hoping that evening and the next day would be much better. That night and the next day were much better except for all the rain! Luckily, I can visit the beach almost any time I want—it’s just a perk of living here!

On a more positive note….

While at the beach I was able to see a sloth very close up. There was one in a tree right outside of my hotel room no more than 10 feet from my balcony. He sat there in the tree slumbering around, eating leaves and (I think) sleeping for about 3 hours. It was a thrill to see a sloth so close up! Only in Costa Rica!

Just how do we do take off sometimes?

Someone asked me the other day about our travels to the beach, the U.S, etc., and how we manage to take off a bit, and run a B&B, etc. Well, for starters, having a business partner and a terrific house manager makes it a lot easier. For example, while Beth and I were away for two months this summer (because we had rented out the entire B&B for two months), Karol was able to handle everything for us. When we got back it was as if the house had never been rented. Our rooms looked exactly as they did before we left and the house was as spic and span clean as we had left it. Hiring well is a keep ingredient to running a business in Costa Rica and we were very fortunate to have found a “God-send” in Karol (and her husband Ernan).

Part of the joy of living in Costa Rica and having a small business with some excellent staff is the ability to take off now and again and see other parts of the country—indeed much of Latin America—and still make a little income to live on.

In other news….

This was also a very busy week as Alex and I launched our relocation tour company, “Boomers In Costa Rica.” The site is finally up: www.boomersincostarica.com. We also have a blog at: www.costaricarealestate.typepad.com.

Take a look when you have a chance! We would love to have some of you join us on our tours!

The B&B is also the proud owner of 10 new chickens! It has always been our intention to purchase new chickens and increase their production of eggs so we can be self-sustaining in eggs. We just didn’t get around to it until now. Back in June, we gave away our last three remaining, somewhat decrepit chickens to Karol’s (our house manager) mother and they’re now leading a quite life in Sarapiqui. Hopefully, the new chickens will start producing soon—we’re told it will take about one month—but if all goes well we could have up to 10 or more eggs every day. It’ll be great to use them at the B&B but I also suspect we’ll have plenty of fresh eggs.

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and for your comments! Keep ‘em coming!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com

Dogs Just Want to Bite Me!

2006-09-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

It is weird! In the past two weeks, I have had two dogs try to bite me! This occurred while looking at properties in the Central Valley. The first time, I was leaving a house in Escazu, high above San Jose, and I was petting a seemingly friendly dog, and then all of a sudden, he just tried to take away a piece of my flesh on my arm. Luckily, he missed my arm.

The second time, I was at my friend George’s house in Puriscal. His dog was on a leash but he just came up behind me and tired to take a bite out of my arse! I’m no rump roast but what is it with me and dogs??? I suspect both dogs may have smelled my own dogs on me. So, in the future, I’m not getting friendly with or close to any dogs but my own!

Road Signage

I’ve been traveling around the Central Valley nearly daily in the past few weeks scouting out properties for my new tour company, “Boomers in Costa Rica,” (www.boomersincostarica.com) and (www.costaricarealestate.typepad.com) so I’ve gotten to know the roads of the Central Valley quite well. The roads in this area are pretty decent—even most of the secondary roads—but the signage is not. For example, we know how to get to Santa Ana (just outside of San Jose) from San Ramon, but getting back is more difficult. There’s virtually no signage leading you from Santa Ana to the airport (or Alajuela) which gets us to the autopista and on to San Ramon. Sure, there is an on-ramp near the Marriott hotel to the autopista but good luck finding any signs leading to the entrance! You really have to feel your way around. We did figure it out after about three tries.

That is the thing about Costa Rica. There are roads leading most everywhere and some are in worse condition than others, but there you are driving along following the sparse road signs, and all of sudden, you come to an intersection, and there’s no sign! I believe improving the road signage would be a major improvement to the country’s roads. I know there are many other things that need to be done here but it would just be so much more easier to drive in this country if you knew where you were going! Well, having better road signage doesn’t deal with the fact that no matter where you drive, gasoline is very expensive here!

Automatic bill pay….

After over a year of living here I finally signed up for automatic bill pay with Banco Nacional. Prior to this here is what I had to do:

--Go to the “Cruz Roja” or “Red Cross,” and pay my electric and phone bills (land line and cell phones). Then I had to go to the local pharmacy and pay my Internet bill. I would need to do this at a set time each month or my services, particularly my electric and phone service, would be shut off. And yes, we’ve ended up in the dark a few times but not any more luckily.
--I’d also have to go to a different place—a local convenience store—to pay my water bill.
--Oh, and my DirecTV bill would be paid each month by credit card.

So, it would be three different stops to pay all my bills each month. We’re not talking a ton of money mind you, but we are talking major inconvenience, particularly when there are lines.

Automatic bill pay from my account at Banco Nacional is terrific! It automatically takes the funds from my account and pays all of my bills each month. So, if I’m out of town, I know my bills will be paid and I can relax.

I also really like my personal banker, Christopher, at Banco Nacional. When I’m there, if I’m having trouble communicating in Spanish with a teller, he’s bilingual, and always there to help. He even set up all of my bills for automatic pay. I just left copies of my bills with him and less than a day later, he had them all set up! If you move here, find a personal banker who speaks English and treat him/her well! Plus, with automatic bill pay, there’s more time for spending on your hammock!

Comparing Central Valley towns….

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been touring various towns in the Central Valley, getting to know them for our upcoming tours. Here’s my take on the towns I’ve visited. Keep in mind, these are just one man’s opinion; so if you plan on moving here, see them for yourself and decide!

Grecia

I really like Grecia. Not just because Grecia means Greece in English and I’m a Greek-American but because I like the size and climate of the town, not to mention the location of the town, a hop, skip and a jump to the airport (about 15 minutes). It’s also a good size town with all of the services you would need. I think Grecia is more congested than San Ramon (where I live now) but it still has a small-town feeling. There are some beautiful properties in the hills above Grecia with stunning views of the Central Valley, and in some areas, real estate is still reasonably priced. Unlike San Ramon, however, Grecia does not have a movie theater—but I’m told one is coming very soon.

Atenas

Apparently National Geographic rated Atenas as the “best climate in the world.” You’ll have to see for yourself but I found it to be too hot—certainly hotter than San Ramon—and my sense is that they get some rain too, but perhaps not as much as the San Ramon area. Compared to San Ramon, I do think Atenas is a pretty town with a really nice town square and some interesting, Gringo-run shops. However, I think San Ramon and Grecia have more to offer in terms of shopping and services. Atenas does have some stunning properties and the views are amazing, but like the Pacific coast, the prices are going up and except for a few pockets, I’m not sure there is any longer as much value there.

San Ramon

What can I say about San Ramon? It is my new “home town.” Actually, I live in Los Angeles Sur, about 3.5km north of San Ramon, but San Ramon is my town. I do not think San Ramon is as pretty as some other towns in the Central Valley and some think it is a bit remote since it is the farthest most western town on the way to the Pacific coast. However, it is only about 40 minutes to the airport in Alajuela and one hour to the beaches near Puntarenas so I think the location is pretty strategic. San Ramon is also a very friendly town. Nine times out of ten when I am in town or heading to town, I always run into someone I know and they are all very friendly. What I also love about San Ramon, along with a few other towns nearby, is the fact that I can go into town and almost always park in the same block as the shop I’m visiting. It makes it so easy for grocery shopping or checking for mail at the post office, etc. I do wish San Ramon had a few more restaurants beyond the “casado” variety of offerings. On the real estate front, compared to almost any other town in the Central Valley, San Ramon is still a bargain with some beautiful lots for building still available. My friend Jose has two sites: Rancho Lobo (www.rancholobo.com) which is located just above my B&B (www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com), and Butterfly Dance (www.butterflydance.co.cr), which is just outside of San Ramon on the way to Puntarenas. My friends Ben and Jim also have properties with ocean views near San Ramon (www.iguanalandcompany.com).

Escazu and Santa Ana

Both of these towns are near San Jose and would be rightly considered suburbs of the capital city. If you want a real bagel or some of the same stores you’d find in shopping malls in the U.S, these are towns to live in. If you want real furniture, artifacts and rugs imported from India, these towns have them. If you liked gated communities with stunning (and pricey) homes, Escazu and Santa Ana are tops. If you need to be in San Jose frequently, these towns fit the bill. If you want a slice of America in Costa Rica, you should live here.

These towns aren’t for me as I don’t want the traffic and congestion around these towns or to live like I did in the U.S. But for good schools, many services and incredible shopping, these towns are great. You’ll also pay through the nose for a home here but if you like the convenience and the quality of the offerings here, these towns cannot be beat.

That’s all for now! Thanks for your comments and for reading!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com
www.BoomersInCostaRica.com
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com

Checking out the Caribbean again, rain, and more!

2006-09-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve spent this past week doing a combination of entertaining my friend Terry who is visiting for three weeks and doing more work than I have time for! Whatever happened to “Pura Vida” anyways! Actually, I cannot complain as last weekend I spent on the Pacific Coast and this week I spent on the Caribbean coast.

The Caribbean coast….

I really love the Caribbean coast! It’s just not as built up as the Pacific Coast and there are still some good real estate deals there! I stayed at a cool B&B, Banana Azul, right on the beach in Puerto Viejo. While there, I learned that someone bought the land right behind Banana Azul, about 2000 meters, for $45,000! My God, one block to the beach and a perfectly flat piece of land with tons of room to build a house and guest house, for that money! I’m keeping my eye on that area, and heck, maybe someday I’ll have a nice little beach house there!

The weather was spectacular for the most part. It didn’t feel like winter there as it did in Manuel Antonio last weekend. The water was warm and gentle and only a few clouds dotted the very deep blue skys. What I also love about the Caribbean, especially Puerto Viejo, are the terrific restaurants there. It’s such an eclectic mix of Costa Rican food, Jamacian, Italian, Chinese Tex-Mex and much more! Compared to the area I live in, it’s an eater’s paradise!

The drive down was terrible, mostly because we couldn’t find the short cut route from San Jose and ended going the long way through Cartago and Turrialba. It took almost seven hours and wasn’t fun. Luckily, on the way back we found the short cut and made it all the way from Puerto Viejo to San Ramon in hour and a half hours. Take a look on a map: Puerto Viejo is within spitting distance of the Panamaian border—it’s a haul! One of these days I’ll figure how to get to Puerto Viejo as quickly as I return home, but the signage around San Jose is just horrible!

One thing I love doing in these beach towns—is nothing! There isn’t much to do besides relaxing, eating and swimming. It’s hard to ask for anything else in life!

My last day there was interesting. While my host, Colin, told me August/September is a great time to visit Puerto Viejo, and it rains little, well, on the last day, quite a gully washer came through, complete with heavy winds and it even knocked out the power! Time to go!

“Boomers in Costa Rica Blog” and website (coming soon!)….

I have created another blog, operated by me and my friend Alex,
www.CostaRicaRealEstate.typepad.com . It’s a blog all about Baby Boomers (like us), moving to or already living in Costa Rica. It’s filled with a quite a bit of information and it’s fun to share what we’ve learned living here. Check it out when you have a moment!
This blog is a pre-cursor to a new tour company Alex and I have created called “Boomers in Costa Rica Tours.” The website will be www.boomersincostarica.com and should be up in a few days, so check it out! Alex also has a personal blog at: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Alex-from-Boomers-in-Costa-Rica/.

Getting ready for the rainy season….

So far the rainy season (roughly June to November), has not been so bad in the San Ramon area where my B&B (www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com) is located. Most morning and early afternoons have been bright and sunny and then the rains come around dinner time. Not a bad thing and certainly not as bad as last year—however, it’s only Sepetember and from my experience, October is the worst month! People always ask me, “So, what do you do, if anything, to get ready for the rainy season?” I tell them:

-Clean the gutters thoroughly to remove the leaves, etc., and so the water flows.
-Patch up any holes in my window screens.
-Plan a lot of indoor activities around the house.
-Get some new books to read.
-Enjoy the company of my guests and neighbors (indoors!)
-And, lastly, travel to other parts of the country if I can!

Pictures, pictures, pictures…..

I’ve been remiss on putting photos on my blog lately. I just haven’t taken any that I’ve found to be worthwhile. However, to see a bunch of photos, taken by yours personally, both Costa Rica-related, and non-Costa Rica-related, check out my webshots album at www.webshots.com/user/Drew1DC

That’s all for now! Thanks for your comments and for reading!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Once Again Back Home in Costa Rica!

2006-08-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

It has been several weeks since I’ve updated my blog, actually the last time was on July 29th. I had hoped to update it sooner but getting back and getting into the routine of things has taken longer than I had expected. So, from here on out, I’ll try to update it as I usually do, on a weekly basis. You have to give me some credit, however, as I’ve been updating this thing for 14 straight months! The pictures in this blog entry are of land and homes I was scoping out in Grecia and Atenas. These are areas I had not explored much previously. Enjoy!

If you have been following my blog regularly as do over 3,000 of my subscribers, you know I’ve been traveling in South America for the past two months while my B&B was rented out to a terrific family from the states who spent their summer holiday here. By all accounts, they had a terrific time and I’ve heard they miss being in this wonderful country. I can certainly understand why!

Coming home….

A friend asked me the other day what it was like coming back to Costa Rica after being away for so long. For one, nothing really appeared to have changed at least at the B&B. That’s a testament to two things: first, to Karol for cleaning up the house thoroughly and even making up my bedroom, and second, to guests who took such good care of the house. So, the house appeared exactly as I had left it and that made me feel good in returning home to it.

The surrounding area, particularly fast-growing ex-pat community above me, Rancho Lobo (www.rancholobo.com) certainly has changed with homes partly finished a few months ago, now finished, and new neighbors moving into their new homes. It’s great to see my new friends and neighbors getting settled into their homes and its nice to see the interesting and friendly community that has developed here.

I’d be remiss in not pointing out that coming back to Costa Rica was like going from winter (in Peru) to summer even though it’s technically winter here now. While Peru was largely cold and overcast—I wore sweaters much of the time—Costa Rica greeted me with warm temperatures and sunny skies. Yes, the rains have returned but so far, they occur mostly in the late afternoon and evening. Now, it’s only August and if past trends hold, September, and most certainly October, will be much worse, but for now I’m enjoying the warmer temperatures, wearing shorts most of the time, and looking out on the gorgeous mountains and valleys that surround the B&B.

The plants around the B&B have certainly grown quite a bit in two months and I’m delighted to report that very few of them died while were gone. I do however, have quite a bit of weeding to do but that’s actually a fun project in such beautiful surroundings on a warm, sunny morning!

Coming back to Costa Rica was also about coming back to a slower pace of life, particularly up here above San Ramon in my relatively rural area. Lima, where I was based for two months, was crazy-busy, crazy-dirty, crazy-polluted, crazy-noisy yet crazy-fun, but Los Angeles Sur is about stepping back and seeing things, enjoying the scenery and fresh air, and taking the time to enjoy life at rate one can manage without being overwhelmed.

The girls….

Coming home to our two dogs, Osita and Reina, was probably the highlight of my first full day home. They had to be kenneled at our local vet during much of the time we were away because they just were two noisy—particularly at night—but they seemed to have survived well. While they did not have the wide open space in the vet’s facilities as they have here at the B&B, I know the vet’s staff took care of them well as they looked healthy and certainly and as rambunctious as ever. It’s terrific having my two girls back at my side. I don’t think I’ll ever leave them for this long again!

Road trip….

One of the things I missed in my travels in South America is the beautiful beaches all over Costa Rica. True, South America has its share of terrific beaches but I just wasn’t near any of them during my time there! While people have their favorites here, I tend to like several of them, some on the Pacific Coast and some on the Caribbean coast. In returning home, my friend Terry from Washington, DC decided to visit for a few weeks so he joined me in touring the Central Valley, taking in the sun (well, what there was of it) in Manuel Antonio and soon, looking around the Caribbean and Nicoya Peninsula. It’s certainly fun to come home to Costa Rica and hit the beach, whatever type of year it is!

Exploring the Central Valley was eye-opening as I had not to date, really taken a good look at some of the towns near me such as Grecia, Atenas, Naranjo, Sarchi, and others. I’ve passed through them many times on my way to other places, but I never really spent any time in each of them. Stopping in each of their town squares, chatting with fellow gringos in coffee shops and Internet cafes and sampling some of their restaurants opened my eyes to parts of the Central Valley I really didn’t know much about. I realized just how many terrific neighborhoods there are throughout the area and how each town seems to have a distinct culture. For example, Grecia felt a bit more upscale and busy compared to San Ramon while Atenas felt more laid back. Sarchi and Naranjo seemed to be a combination of the others. The common thread among them all, including San Ramon, is that their inhabitants are friendly and welcoming—strong traits among Costa Ricans. I feel I could live in any one of these cities. It’s more a matter of the differences in climate—San Ramon perhaps gets a bit more rain, for example—and what particular shops and services one might be looking for, and certainly the views from one’s home. It was certainly terrific to get to know these areas more and it has made me more confident to visit them again on my own.

They keep on coming!

I’ve reading a lot of articles lately about the huge group of baby boomers now retiring in the U.S., or expected to retire in the next 10-20 years, apparently, some 78 million people! Some say that Costa Rica is becoming overpriced in terms of real estate but after my recent road trip through the Central Valley, there are still bargains here! Retirees still seem to be coming down in droves, because compared to the U.S., even though the cost of living here as risen somewhat, it’s STILL cheaper to live here than in the U.S., particularly for retirees who live in high-cost areas of the U.S. I had the pleasure recently of spending some time with a tour group on George Lundquist’s “Retire in Costa Rica on Social Security” (www.costaricaretireonss.com) tour program. It was both fun and interesting to hear about their experiences in visiting the country for the first time and particularly hearing their many questions about what it is like to move here, live here and even run a business here. What was most amazing, however, was that they wanted to talk to me about my experiences living here and they peppered me with questions for nearly 30 minutes. As in the past, I always get the question, “What is the single reason that prompted you to move to Costa Rica?” Well, I cannot answer that question with a single reason. It is many things as are most decisions in life. But so far, there are no regrets. Funny, I’ve always thought of myself as a newbie here, even today, but I’ve realized a lot of people are coming in behind me and to them I have some knowledge by having already gone through what they are about to experience. It’s fun seeing others stumble along as I did, but hopefully they’ll learn from my mistakes—and there were plenty.

What’s next?

Now that I’ve been living in Costa Rica for over year and I’m getting the hang of being an ex-pat, learning a little more Spanish, and making terrific new friends, it’s probably time to spread my wings a bit and take on new and exciting challenges in addition to running the B&B. What are these new challenges? Well, I’ll save them for a future blog entry, however, needless to say, as moving to Costa Rica and running a B&B has been a learning experience, I’m sure these new challenges will be as well. Stay tuned!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Cusco and Machu Picchu

2006-07-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges—Something lost in the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!” --Rudyard Kipling, “The Explorer”

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated my blog largely because until this past week, life in Peru has been fairly uninspiring and routine—until I went to Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Heading to Cusco—the Inca Capital

I headed to Cusco, the closest large city to Machu Picchu with some American friends here in Lima who also wanted to explore Peru’s most well-known ruins and tourist spot. At over 10,000 feet above sea level, my first concern even before heading to Cusco was whether I’d handle the altitude well and not get a bad case of altitude sickness, or “soroche,” as it is called in Spanish. I remember being in Bogota (which is at about 8,000 feet) that I felt tired and out of breath, particularly when I walked around so I figured Cusco would be worse.

I had a plan to combat altitude sickness, namely getting on anti-altitude sickness pills prior to leaving and taking them during my time in Cusco and Machu Picchu. I also read that I should rest for a full day after arriving, eat little and drink nothing alcoholic. This regimen worked well as I never got sick and was only a little short of breath on a few occasions—mainly when climbing up a steep mountain—more about this later. I did notice that the hotel we stayed at in Cusco has an oxygen tank in the lobby and every hotel in the city offered free supplies of coca tea, apparently a very good natural defense against altitude sickness.

Exploring Cusco

Cusco is a short one-hour flight east and south of Lima in the middle of the Andean mountain range. When flying in you seeing nothing but tall mountains, many of them snow-capped. As you get close to the airport, this small city with terracotta-looking roof tops suddenly appears, enclosed completely by the mountains.

On arrival in the airport, you notice two things immediately, compared to Lima: bright sunshine with incredibly blue skies, and the thin air. It is also cooler in Cusco, given its altitude but surprisingly, not really cold, perhaps in the mid 60s.

We stayed at a very nice hotel right off the Plaza de Armas, Cusco’s main square, formed by two churches, old colonial-style buildings, and like most Peruvian cities, a well-manicured square in the center with benches, pools, gardens and monuments.

Cusco, established in the mid-15th century, is puma-shaped and claimed to mirror the Milky Way—the city was considered the most beautiful and successful one in all of South America in its heyday, primarily until Peru’s capital was established in Lima. Spanish invaders originally wanted to destroy the city and build their own city in its place but they quickly realized it would take considerable effort to tear it down and build their own city. Instead, the Spaniards built their own structures on top of, in front of, and next to, Inca structures.

The Incas were incredible builders, in fact, some would say much better than the Spanish and this proved to be true when a major earthquake hit Cusco in 1650. The original Inca buildings withstood the earthquake while the Spanish-made structures toppled over.

The trip to Machu Picchu

“Getting there is half the fun” is certainly a relevant statement for our trip from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is actually about 100km north/northwest of Cusco, with the Inca ruins themselves situated about 8km from the small but pleasant town of Aguas Calientes (“Warm Waters). There are essentially four options for getting to Aguas Calientes: take a bus (too bumpy!), drive (no way!), hike (yea, right!) or take a train—not a bad idea.

Due to earthquakes and rough terrain, Peru doesn’t have much of a train system but it does offer rail service between Cusco and Aguas Calientes. There are four types of rail service offered to Machu Picchu/Aguas Calientes. One is the local train, not available to foreigners and another is the backpackers train. A more upscale option includes the “Vistadome” train and most luxurious option is the “Hiram Bigham” train (Bigham was a Yale professor who in 1911 discovered Machu Picchu hidden under the growth of the jungle). The Hiram Bigham train offers “Orient Express” type service complete with a dining car and top chef’s on staff while the Vistadome train offers fairly comfortable seats, large windows, domes in the ceilings and free snacks and beverages. We opted for the Vistadome train.

The train left Cusco at 6am for the 4-hour trek to Aguas Calientes. Even leaving Cusco was interesting. To get out of the city and make it up into the valley between the many mountains we’d eventually encounter, the train makes about four “switchbacks,” going forward for a bit, then back for a bit, crossing onto another track, before finally hitting a straightaway into the valley leading towards Aguas Calientes.

The trip through the valley was spectacular to say the least. Filled with Andean, snow-capped mountains, large valleys with farmland of potatoes and other unknown produce, we marveled at this postcard-perfect scenery. I could hardly believe I was there!

Reaching Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu

We arrived in Aguas Calientes just fine around 10am and quickly dropped our bags off at the hotel. We wanted to spend as much time at Machu Picchu as possible. The ruins are about 8km or 2000 feet up a windy road from Aguas Calientes. Being Peru’s most famous tourist attraction, the local authorities certainly had a good system in place for getting tourists to Machu Picchu—and having them pay for the privilege. There was an office in town for purchasing tickets to the site (about $22), and then just down the road was the bus station for catching a ride ($12) up to the ruins. Yes, I’m sure both the entrance feet and bus ticket are overpriced but it was well worth the money.

Obviously, Machu Picchu is huge given that there was virtually non-stop bus service to the ruins throughout the day. As soon as one bus was filled, another one would be right behind it, waiting to take tourists up the mountain. These were fairly nice mini-buses, not quite what I expected but pretty comfortable given the road is a dirt one.

As soon as you reach the site of the ruins, you are almost disappointed in a sense because the outside of the ruins looks like a typical tourist trap with some cheap restaurants, souvenir stands, and more tourists than I’d like to imagine. I immediately became concerned that the ruins would be overrun with tourists and it would be a less-enjoyable experience than I had hoped for.

What I learned later on is that the bulk of the tourists visit the ruins between 11am and 2pm, most of them day-trippers from Cusco. They arrive in Aguas Calientes, like us, at 10am but need to be back in town by 3pm to catch their train back to Cusco. We decided to stay overnight in Aguas Caliente and I’m so glad we did. Before 11am and after 2pm, the ruins became fairly deserted. Sure, there were tourists but the ruins are so large, you weren’t bumping into other tourists as I did on my first trip there, and viewing the ruins from a hill above them, you could hardly tell anyone was there.

After passing through the obligatory ticket counter, you walk a short path to an intersection, and from there, you can either take the “long route” to the ruins which essentially goes up a steep hill to a viewing area above the ruins, or take the shorter route, which brings you in through one of the Inca’s ceremonial entrances. As many of my friends would expect, I chose the short route. The hill Machu Picchu is situated on is about 2000 feet above Aquas Caliente and it cannot be viewed from below or even when you are right next to it, which was rather smart of the Incas.

When I walked through the ceremonial entrance to the Machu Picchu, I was truly blown away. First, I could not believe how large the actual ruins were with many different areas serving many different purposes. Second, I was amazed at how in-tact the ruins were—you could almost envision where the Incas worked, lived, and worshipped. And lastly, I was surprised at how well-kept the site was. Beautifully landscaped grassy areas and well-thought-out footpaths for tourists ensured the site would remain in good shape. I did learn later on that UNESCO almost pulled Machu Picchu’s “World Heritage” status several years ago due to mismanagement, but apparently all of that has been fixed.

I walked around the ruins a bit but soon headed to the back of the ruins high above to get a better view. The view from several hundred feet above Machu Picchu near one of the guard towers and terraced barriers they built was spectacular. You can get a view of the entire site as well as “WaynaPicchu,” a mountain some 6,000 feet above which sits at the far north end of Machu Picchu, and I assume was a look-out post. In fact, the Incas built some structures at the top of WaynaPicchu as well.

As the day dragged on, the day-trippers disappeared as quickly as they came and I found myself sitting alone (almost) watching the sun set on Machu Picchu. It was interesting to watch the sun’s rays fade behind the mountains that surround Machu Picchu. Still not nearly having my fill of Machu Picchu, the guards starting blowing their whistles, signaling it was time to leave.

Sunrise and a hike

The entire evening after my first view of Machu Picchu, I just could not get it out of my mind. I’ve been fortunate to have been to many countries in the world and have seen many ruins of all types, but this had to be the most incredible, no spectacular, site I’ve even seen. I cannot imagine I’ll ever top this, until the next morning.

Luckily, the local tourism authorities realize that Machu Picchu at sunrise is something not to be missed, and fortunately, the first buses head there at 5:30am. So, on the second day, we made sure we were on the first bus and at our perch above the ruins, near the guard tower, to watch the sun overtake the ruins. If the first day was incredible, the second day was MIND-BLOWING, and not just for the sunset (as I’ll explain soon).

I guess at high altitudes with mountains all around, it takes some time for the sun to come up over the ruins but we got to watch the entire show. Slowly but surely, dark mountain ranges around the ruins became illuminated and eventually WayanPicchu’s summit lit up revealing its Inca structures at the top. Later, streaks of light filtered in through the mountains and eventually bathed the entire ruins in sunlight. I’ve never seen a sunrise like this and perhaps never will. After three days of getting up very early, I was tired but the adrenalin was pumping.

Climbing WaynaPicchu, #143

All the guidebooks said that to get a terrific view of Machu Picchu and the entire area surrounding it, one must climb WaynaPicchu, about 6,000 feet above Machu Picchu. As many people know, I’m more of an “indoors kind of guy,” but after much debate between me and two of my friends, we decided to try it. We’d go as high as we could, and if we ran out of steam, we could turn around and head back down. I probably wouldn’t have tried this on my own, but with friends, we’d all share in this slightly dangerous trek up the mountain.

There is a small gate at the base of WaynaPicchu and the guard makes you sign a book and provide your passport number and home country. They also only let 400 people a day climb the mountain and none are allowed to start the trek after 1pm. I was number 143 on the list of hikers that day. I wrote my number on my hand with a pen just in case they had to identify my remains! This would be interesting.

The guidebook also mentioned that the trek up 6,000 feet is not as bad as it looks and that the many stone steps the Incas put in are not as steep as they look and anyone of average shape and health could make it. I decided I was pretty average and decided to do it. This was a terrific decision I would later learn.

As you hike up WaynaPicchu, one definitely starts feeling the altitude a bit. Breathing becomes labored, and that combined with the strain of getting the most incredible “stair-master” workout on the Inca’s steep and small rock steps, makes it a difficult hike for a guy like me (I moved aside many times as kids passed us on the way up!).

The book told us it would take about one hour to make it to the top of the mountain. We left at 10am and ended up at the top, in reasonably good shape, at 11:30am. I cannot recall the last time I was on the TOP of a mountain. As I looked around, I noticed I was about at the same level as the other mountains around me, and below was an incredible view of Machu Picchu—far below, that is. If I couldn’t believe I was actually at Machu Picchu the day before, I certainly couldn’t believe I was on the top of a mountain more than 8,000 feet high, sitting on a rock looking at mountains all around me. INCREDIBLE!!! I cannot imagine doing anything in my life more exhilarating, incredible, spectacular, stupendous, or mind-blowing ever again!

I have over 400 pictures of my trip to Cusco and Machu Picchu on my photo website:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552564595ezVPIx

Last thoughts on Peru

If there is anyway you can get to Peru, I highly recommend it. For me, it is one of the most incredible countries on earth. There’s the vibrant city of Lima with much to offer and then there is the northern city of Trujillo with its colonial buildings and pre-Inca ruins. The “white city” of Arequipa with the incredible volcano “Misti” near it and towering mountains and valleys offers days and days of adventure. Then there is the area around Ica and Nazca with incredible “Nazca lines” drawn into the desert. There’s also Iquitos, with the Amazon river running wildly through it.

The people are friendly, the food is terrific, and the country’s natural beauty is stupendous! I’ll be back again for sure!

Unless I go somewhere else interesting, this will be my last blog from South America. After I head home on August 15, this blog will revert back to my life in Costa Rica, so look for another entry later in August from the tropical paradise I now call “home!”

Thanks for reading! And thanks for all of your wonderful comments and emails!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

North to Trujillo, Peru

2006-07-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

After returning from Ecuador I spent several days back in Lima in the comfort of my very nice B&B which is my base for two months. It has been a terrific place to meet other travelers and it is in an excellent location.

More on Lima….

Having been in Lima off and on for almost one month, I’ve noticed a few things about “living” here. To start with, I was told the weather would be lousy—overcast all the time and cold (well, “cold” is a relative term; in the low 60s)—but so far the weather has been fairly pleasant with several sunny days and highs in the 70s. Lima is certainly grim looking when overcast but when it’s sunny, the area I’m living in, Miraflores, reminds me of Miami Beach.

Also, when you stay in place for a while you starting noticing its idiosyncrasies, or better stated, just things that are different from other places you’ve been or lived in. Whenever I eat out, which is often right now, I’ve noticed that the napkins provided with the meal are tiny and thin, so it takes about ten of these just to wipe your hands. I’ve also noticed in restaurants, particularly in some of the better ones, that each chair has a clasp attached to the chair for attaching a purse or bag. Not a bad theft-prevention idea I’d imagine.

Something I find very convenient about Lima is the official money changers on street corners throughout the city. You can walk up to anyone of them, offer your dollars or other currencies, and get Peruvian nuevo soles in return—and they give a good rate as well. I’ve found this to be very easy, particularly much easier than going into a bank or finding an ATM machine.

North to Trujillo….

After a week or so in Lima, I decided it was time to take off again. This time, however, I wanted to go somewhere relatively close by, and to a smaller city because as Gandhi once said, “People live in their small towns….” While Trujillo isn’t that small, it certainly is much smaller than Lima and has small town feel to it. I wanted to see daily life in a smaller city and Trujillo certainly fit the bill.

About forty minutes by plane north of Lima on the Pacific Coast, Trujillo, a city of about one million people, is the home of the great Chimu civilization, a culture that existed in the 12th to 15th century, and were known as expert metal workers. The existence of inhabitants here dates back some 12,000 years as evidenced by numerous archaeological remains scattered throughout the greater Trujillo area. Trujillo is also known as the home of Chan Chan, the capital of Chimu people who lived in the area and includes the largest adobe citadel in pre-Hispanic America.

The city is blessed with an excellent climate, known nationally as the “city of eternal spring” for its year-round temperatures in the low to mid 70s. The center of Trujillo is stunning, carefully preserving its 16th century architecture consisting of grand old houses, palaces and churches.

Parades and Protests in Trujillo….

I was lucky to arrive when I did because the next morning after my arrival the city’s most famous square, “Plaza de Armas,” was closed off in celebration of the city’s revolutionary history. While Peru declared its independence officially in 1821, Trujillo claims to have stated its independence first in 1820, and the city’s citizens are fiercely proud of this. So, on my first full day in Trujillo, I was honored to view an enormous parade complete with marching bands, students and city officials giving speeches.

It was also interesting to see protestors, a small but vocal group of people standing in front of the large of statute of Simor de Bolivar, South America’s famous general and liberator, chanting and singing while local dignitaries gave speeches. From the little I could understand, their beef was over misuse of funding for education and the low rate of pay for teachers in Peru.

At the same time, another group of protestors was organizing its own march on the other side of the square from the “official” parade. This group consisted mostly of ordinary workers and they were protesting the limited pay and benefits provided to average workers. They were heading towards the official parade so I thought this could get interesting.

As this group of small but rowdy marchers headed around the square and closer to the official parade route, I watched the police, complete with batons and large shields head to the street to “cut them off at the pass.” It was also fun to watch the various members of the press, previously standing around looking bored, running towards the marchers and police ready to get the two camps’ stories and take photographs. I followed the press, wanting to get some good pictures of my own, and for a short time, actually felt like a reporter thrust in the middle of on-going tensions.

As the marchers came to close for comfort to the official parade route, the police lined the street, essentially stopping them in mid-march, and before long a yelling match between several marchers and some other men ensued, and before long, they were surrounded by many members of the press, taking pictures and shouting questions at both sides, while the police, a few feet away, kept an eye on the scene. I got closer but stayed just comfortably near a tree in case I had to take cover.

Eventually, tensions cooled and the marchers disbanded and moved toward other areas of the square realizing that they wouldn’t get any closer to the official parade. It was interesting to watch this unfolding before my eyes. The official parade, with its numerous speeches beforehand, went on as events unfolded with protestors in the center of the square and other groups on surrounding streets. It was all peaceful and I was lucky to see to democracy in practice in Peru.

The President-Elect comes to Trujillo….

I was fortunate to see another expression of democracy as the President-elect of Peru, Alan Garcia, came to Trujillo the very next day to greet his supporter and announce a new education initiative. He takes office on July 28th. His first term was in the mid 1980s and generally was considered a disaster with high inflation and an increase in poverty. I guess Peruvians are forgiving or as is often the case in other countries, they voted for the “lesser of two evils.” In any event, I was standing in front of the tourist office in the Plaza de Armas, waiting to take my tour of local pre-Inca sites and I see 5 or 6 pickup trucks with guys in the back of each one, speeding down the street. Apparently, I missed seeing the lead car, the one carrying Alan Garcia. It was interesting, having lived in Washington, DC for many years, and seeing the President’s motorcade many times, that Peru’s presidential motorcade was much different. Rather than having black limos followed by dark SUVs, this Presidential motorcade consisted of a fairly new car (I think something like a Lincoln Towncar) followed by several pickup trucks.

The President’s motorcade stopped at the other side of the square from where I was, in front of the city’s municipal building—an old colonial-style building—where the President-elect went in. Many of his supporters gathered, waiting for him to come out on the balcony on the second floor of the building. I debated for several minutes whether I should go across the square and take a photograph of the President-elect and risk missing the bus for my tour but I was unsure at that point if the President-elect would be in view for a photograph, and how long that would take. I opted to stay behind and take my tour but I did get a glimpse, from a distance, of the President-elect stepping out onto the balcony to a thunderous roar from the crowd below, and for a short while, heard him speak as loudspeakers blared throughout the Plaza de Armas.

Tours of Pre-Inca sites….

My main objective in visiting Trujillo, besides taking in this smaller city’s daily life, was to see the well-known archaeological remains from the Cupisnique, Salinar, Viru, Mochina and Chimu cultures that are located just minutes outside of Trujillo. There is so much I could write on each of these remains so I will just briefly describe them, leaving the rest of one’s imagination.

One of my favorite ruins is the “Huacas del Sol y de la Luna,” a ceremonial area about 5km south of Trujillo. The Huaca or Temple of the Sun, is a large pyramid measuring some 43m in height and according to oral history, was built in only three days by some 250,000 men. It was largely used for ceremonies and housing the upper classes. A tomb was also uncovered here containing some 40 sacrificed people. The top of the tomb contains an adobe surface with the remains of large multi-colored murals and a depiction of the Moche God, Ai-Apaek.

Another incredible site is called “Chan Chan,” or “Jarij Jarij” in the ancient Yunga language, and “Sun Sun” in English. It is an enormous complex in the Moche valley, about 5km from Trujillo and was the religious and administrative center of the ancient Chimu Kingdom. Apparently over 100,000 people lived here and it is the largest adobe structure in pre-Hispanic America. What is fascinating about this site is not only how large it is but the various structures built within it including houses, stores and plazas. It was has an incredible underground aqueduct system built with amazing thought given the large distances water would need to flow. In 1986 UNESCO proclaimed it a “Historical and Cultural Heritage of Mankind.”

North to Huanchaco....

While on my visit to the Chan Chan site, afterwards our tour stopped in Huanchaco, a small seaside town about 13km northwest of Trujillo. Huanchaco is famous for its “little horses of tortora,” or small reed boats that are used for travel and fishing. A quaint village, Huanchaco is known for its delicious seafood and large handicrafts center. It also boasts a famous Baroque church and throngs of people visit this town during the summer months. We were fortunate to have stopped in Huanchaco at sunset (I’m sure it was planned this way), and I was able to see one of the most incredible sunsets I’ve ever seen—certainly worth our short visit here.

Back in Trujillo…

After my various tours, I spent my remaining two days looking around Trujillo. I didn’t do any organized tours; rather, I simply just watched life go by in this relatively small city. Each day I discovered something, from interesting restaurants to street performers in the Plaza de Armas to street kids doing flips in front of stopped cars at red lights to earn a sole or two, to the many churches all coming to life in prayer and song on Sunday morning. I also saw far too many young kids selling all nature of things from candy to shoe shines to earn some money when they should be in school. Peru is a beautiful country with much to see and do but you cannot escape the poverty that exists here. It’s on most street corners and in many large shanty towns. Despite this poverty, Peruvians maintain a positive outlook on life and take pride in their country. I’ll definitely come back to Trujillo one day.

Thanks for reading!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Driving the “Ruta del Sol” in Ecuador….

2006-07-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

One of my objectives in heading to Ecuador was to find a relatively cheap package to the Galapagos Islands. However, finding a package, within the price range I wanted, and within the time frame I wanted to be there, was next to impossible. You can simply fly to the Galapagos for about $350 roundtrip but you risk either not finding a package within your budget or you end up having to wait several days before being able to explore the islands. It is virtually impossible to tour the Galapagos without being on a guided tour (usually by a small boat with cabins and all meals included) and I wasn’t willing to sit in some town on the islands with all the wildlife so close, yet so far!

So, I sat in my hotel room in Guayaquil, figuring out my next move. I had already toured Guayaquil, there was not much else to see, and I had three days before my flight back to Lima. While in my room I saw a map/brochure that described the “Ruta del Sol,” a drive along Ecuador’s Pacific coast. So, now I suddenly had my new objective: drive from Guayaquil west to the coast and then head north until I reached the town of Jama, which sits on the equator, so I could put one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern hemisphere.

Pondering a drive along the Pacific coast of Ecuador….

It would be a challenge doing this drive for a number of reasons. First, I’d have to figure out how to get out of the complex city of Guayaquil, in which road signs are few and far between. Second, I’d have to figure out how much time it would take to get to the equator and which towns I would need to stop in overnight. And finally, I would need to do all this in less than three days, and with only a modicum of Spanish language skills. On top of all this, I had no idea what the roads were like along the coast, whether they were paved and/or well-marked and most importantly, if there was any risk in being stopped by roadside bandits who would steal my car and all of my luggage, money, credit cards, camera, laptop computer, and perhaps even slash my throat just for the fun of it!

With my trepidation at its height, on Monday morning I caught the hotel’s shuttle bus to the airport where the car rental office was located and surprisingly quickly got into my 4-wheel drive SUV. While it was a fairly new car, it had tons of scratches and dents so at least it didn’t look like rental car which is a good thing. The gas gauge read nearly empty; apparently car rental agencies in Ecuador don’t give you a full tank to start with so getting gas would be my goal. Fortunately, the clerk at the car rental agency spoke some English and she was able to point me in the direction of the gas station and the road that heads out to the coast.

I found the gas station easily enough and the on-ramp to the highway that supposedly led to the coast was right next to the gas station. I did notice that gasoline is less expensive in Ecuador, only about $2/gallon compared to around $3/gallon in Costa Rica, so it never cost me more than around $20 to fill my tank and I think I filled it four times on this road trip.

The other thing I should have mentioned in my previous blog entry but didn’t, is that Ecuador’s official currency is the U.S. dollar. Up until this trip, I don’t believe I’ve visited another country where the currency was the dollar. I’ve visited many countries where the dollar is widely accepted and used, but never the only currency. Ecuador’s coins, however, are an odd mix of one-dollar, U.S. government-issued coins and 10 through 50 centavo coins which were equivalent to U.S. coins of these denominations. I’d not sure how it all works, but it was nice for a change to not convert the cost of products and services from the local currency to dollars all the time.

Getting lost then finding my way….

Finding the correct road to the coast was more of a challenge than finding the gasoline station. I was told to look for signs that said, “Salinas.” Salinas is the farthest town west of Guayaquil and sits on the edge of the Guayas Peninsula, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I would be driving towards Salinas but turn north about 20 kilometers before actually reaching it (my guide book didn’t seem make it seem it would be worth my while so I skipped it). Several of the signs on the highway that encircles Guayaquil read “Av. Salinas” which means “Avenue Salinas,” which I assumed was in Guayaquil. Other signs that read just Salinas appeared to go off somewhere I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, such as an industrial facility, or in one case, a military base.

I ended up spending about 45 minutes on Guayaquil’s maze of highways and in at least three instances ended up on the same road not sure if I was heading north, south, east or west of Guayaquil. Finally, I turned onto a new road that I hadn’t been on three times and followed it for about three kilometers. Luckily, as I was on the on-ramp to this new road a bus in front of me read “Guayaquil-Salinas” on the back, so I assumed it was heading west towards Salinas. I took that road and several minutes later I finally saw a road sign saying, “Salinas y Ruta del Sol.” I was on my way to the Pacific—not sure how long it would take to hit the coast—but on my way nonetheless! New rule: follow buses if you aren’t sure you are on the right road (and pray they are actually heading to the destination listed on them)!

Heading across the Guayas Peninsula….

To get to the coast and to the real start of the “Ruta del Sol,” you have to cut through a two-hour, flat, dull, totally uninteresting stretch of highway. The terrain the road cuts through is mostly brown with little vegetation and there is not much in the way of services along the route. In fact, there are no rest stops, gas stations or even emergency stopping lanes until you hit the coast. Luckily, there is hard-packed dirt on either side of the highway so I was able to pull off and take a “biology break,” hoping no one would see me (there weren’t any trees either).

As an aside, I should mention that there were several stretches of road between Guayaquil and the coast, and then, during the drive up the coast in which there were no gas stations, stores and in some cases even people. I can remember driving one stretch of road that jutted inland from the coast for about 50 miles through semi-tropical rainforest with trees encroaching on the road, in which there was nothing: no signs, no people, or any other drivers on the road—and my gas tank indicator was reading between ¼ of tank and empty. I kept an eye on the tank and prayed I’d hit a town with a gas station soon. It would be a bad place for a mechanical failure! New rule: get gas the first chance you get and always try keep the tank near “full!”

Reaching the “Ruta del Sol”….

Getting to the Pacific coast about two hours after I finally figured out how to get out of Guayaquil, was a tremendous experience. After leaving a mountainous area and spending an half hour in fog so thick I could barely see five feet in front of me, the fog clears and I’m now down at sea level with a long expanse of ocean on my left side, with nothing but beaches and small, thatch huts dotting the coast, apparently constructed for the tourist trade during the high season (I was on the coast in the low season). There was no one around except a few shopkeepers trying to make a few dollars during these intervening months.

It wasn’t cold; my guess is that it was about 70 to 75 degrees, but it certainly wasn’t warm enough for swimming, and during this time of year on the coast, it is generally overcast. However, I did have one day with bright sunshine which almost made some of the very poor towns along the coast almost look inhabitable. Whatever the weather, there is certainly something relaxing about being the only car on long stretches of road right on the coast, with no particular destination or objective in mind, only to find a decent town with decent hotels and restaurants, before nightfall.

Overnight in Montanita….

I had read in my guide book that Montanita, about one-third up the coast, was a surfer town filled with hotels and restaurants and would be a good stopping point for the night. Montanita wasn’t more than an half-dozen small streets with tourist stands, cheap hotels, surf shops and restaurants but it had a fun, “bohemian” feel to it. So, I drove through town to assess its appeal and the possibility of finding decent accomodations for the night. I decided it would work just fine but decided to head up the road a few more miles to find this eco-lodge on the hills overlooking the Pacific. “The Centro Samai,” eco-lodge/resort/spa was beautiful and had stunning views of the Pacific. It also had individual cabins dotting the rainforest and its manager was nice enough to show me several cabins. Each cabin had terrific views and the price was good but there was no one else there, and for lunch and dinner, I’d have to drive into Montanita anyways so I decided to head back there.

Charo’s Hostal in Montanita….

I usually spend some time evaluating hotels, B&B or hostels to stay at because the older I get the more finicky I am becoming in terms of what I want in a room. However, in this case, I was tired, hungry and just wanted to find a room and have lunch. Charo’s Hostal, just off the “main square” in grubby but quaint Montanita, fit the bill. For $10, I got a quiet room facing the ocean—so close to the ocean that when the tide came in so of the water spit on my window of my room—and the basic necessities: bathroom with hot water in the shower, a comfortable bed and clean sheets. It fit the bill for the night. Charo and her husband David were very nice hosts and they ran a restaurant within the hostal so I ate “al fresco” in front of the hostal with a view of the dirt street, tourist hawkers and the handful of gringos making their way through town. Charo made an excellent fish ceviche, rivaling the most famous ceviches of Peru. Her hamburgers were quite good too and for $3, including a beer, it was a great deal.

Just down the road from Charo’s Hostal I found a terrific coffee house with several different types of coffee, friendly people, good music, and a pretty expansive menu. In fact, one of the staff played his guitar—and quite well—in between serving guests. I knew I’d be back for dinner.

Montanita is known as a “surfer’s town” due a long-breaking wave that hits the coast at just the right height and length (in fact it is the longest right-breaking wave in Ecuador) very close to town. Besides the various residents, others on bicycles selling eggs, milk and produce to the hotels and restaurants, you find many surfer going back and forward on the main street head to or from the beach, surfboards in tow. There isn’t much of a beach here, however, it’s more pebbles and rocks from the road jutting down to the ocean. The 1997-1998 El Nino wiped out most of the beach here. However, the town survives and it remains a tourist-surfer haven, even hosting a surfing competition and bikini contest each April. Unless you are a surfer, it isn’t worth spending more than a night or two here but just wanting the townsfolk going about their daily activities and watching the tourists come and go, makes for relaxing stay.

I did end up back at the coffee shop for dinner as I really liked the atmosphere and people there. Being a coastal town, seafood is the main choice on Montanita. I had the dinner special, some kind of white fish drenched in a creamy, spice sauce with avocados, potatoes and vegetables. While I like seafood well enough, I don’t crave it or eat it that often. However, this fish dish was one of the best I’ve ever had. I almost ordered a second plate of it. And, at $6.50 for the entire meal, I could have!

Racing Towards the Equator….

It is now Tuesday and I have to be back in Guayaquil to catch my flight back to Lima by Wednesday afternoon. I decided one night in Montanita was enough so I’d head north, hoping to reach the town of Jama, and the equator, before nightfall. My next big destination would be the town of Bahia de Caraquez, supposedly a town with a look and feel similar to that of Miami Beach. From Bahia, I could evaluate if I had the time to head farther north to the equator.

The road from Montanita to Bahia remained fairly nice, only some stretches filled with potholes. However, the road was no longer a straight shot. Once I left the town of Manta, the largest port town on the coast and the banana capital of the country (but quite an ugly town and the “official” end of the “Ruta del Sol”), I had to watch the road much more closely to find connecting roads to the next biggest town going north, and eventually, Bahia.

I was definitely heading north along the coast but when I hit the fairly ugly coastal town of San Jacinto, the road just seemed to end, in the center of town, along a dirt road following the ocean. Given it was almost 1:30pm at this time, I found the only open restaurant, parked the car right in front and had a decent beef and rice meal for $2, including a soda. The owner, a nice woman in her late 20s with two adorable kids, was able to point me in the right direction to get to the road for Bahia, however, by the time I left San Jacinto, it was almost 3pm and Bahia was still two hours north. It appeared I wouldn’t be finding the equator today as it was another two hours north of Bahia.

A night in Bahia….

Bahia, which lies on a small stretch of narrow land between the Pacific and the Bay of Bahia, was one of the cleanest and most well kept coastal towns in Ecuador that I had seen, and yes, it did remind a bit of Miami Beach. The town (more a small city, really) had a combination of newer, high-rise condominium buildings and smaller, colonial-style buildings. The first thing one will notice about Bahia is how clean it is, and unlike other towns along the coast, is fairly free of pollution from automobiles and trucks. Like Montanita, the town was hit by six months of punishing rains and wind during the 1997-1998 El Nino and then in August of 1998, a major earthquake damaged many of the town’s buildings leaving some 2500 of Bahia’s 20,000 residents living in the streets for several months. In fact, the town didn’t have water or electricity for almost six months. Since then, the town has been completely restored to its original grandeur and town officials declared it an “eco-city” in 1999, recycling waste, implementing strict pollution control laws and encouraging all residents to do their part to protect the environment, particularly its large bay. It also helped that a former President of Ecuador was raised in Bahia and still maintains a home there. He was instrumental in helping to rebuild the town, providing some money and sweat equity.

Driving through Bahia to find a hotel was quite easy as traffic, unlike other parts of Ecuador, was light and moved a leisurely place. I took the main route which follows the outer edge of town, starting on the bay side and routing through the other side of this small land mass to the Pacific side, where I found a hotel, the Hotel La Piedra, the most posh hotel in town. During the off season, however, the rates where very reasonable and I was given a large room with a balcony facing the Pacific Ocean.

When I arrived at the hotel, it didn’t appear to have a parking lot and frankly, I was a bit nervous throughout the coast, worrying about having the car stolen. A staff member told me just to leave the car on the road in front of the hotel. Apparently, he was there all night watching it while I slept.

There wasn’t all that much to do in town, particularly in the off season, not to mention that by the time I checked in and made my way to the center of town it was nearly 4pm. However, I wandered Bahia’s very pleasant streets, poking my head into shops and sitting in the town square, watching the car ferry let of assorted trucks and automobiles coming over from San Vincente.

By nightfall and dinnertime, I found a quaint Italian restaurant, a short walk from my hotel, attached, not surprisingly, to the Hotel Italia. The restaurant had an eclectic mix of furnishings and wall fixtures, some walls had paintings of small Italian towns, then another wall had pictures of various motorcycles and biker-type guys. However, by 7:30pm, on a Tuesday night in the off season, this restaurant of eight or ten tables was nearly full, mostly with residents but a few gringos as well. I had chosen well and had another outstanding three-course meal with two beers for $6.50. I’m really getting to like Ecuador!

The equator is out of reach for this trip….

After dinner, I had to face facts. I was now about seven-hours north/northwest of Guayaquil and the next afternoon I had to catch my flight back to Lima. I actually didn’t have to do anything; I was on vacation. So, I could get up the next morning, head the two or so hours north to hit the equator, stick my foot in the northern hemisphere, and then drive nearly nine hours back to Guayaquil, hopefully arriving back by 4pm to check in for a 6pm flight. I decided against going north for a number of reasons, mostly that the road continuing north deteriorated significantly from Bahia and the weather, I was told, would be turning colder and possibly rainy. The towns north of Bahia, particularly the closer one gets to the Columbian border also deteriorate fairly quickly. I decided, therefore, it was not my best interest to not end up in a bad town close to the Columbian border (Ecuador and Columbia have had border issues and skirmishes in the past). So, instead, I decided to leave at 6am to get back to the airport in Guayaquil with plenty of time to spare, treating myself to breakfast at Charo’s Hostal in Montanita, along the way.

I did make it back to the airport, with two hours to spare. While I didn’t get to see the Galapagos or the Equator, driving the “Ruta del Sol,” was a terrific adventure. I saw mile after mile of pristine coastline, white-sand beaches, and cute (if a bit grungy) fishing communities, had terrific meals and relaxed along the way. It is not a bad way to spend a few days.

More adventures soon. Thanks for reading!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

From Lima to Guayaquil

2006-06-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

I am writing from Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, located in the southern part of the country, just north of Peru. I’ll say more on Guayaquil soon. I’ve included a few more photos from Lima, and yes, none of them show much sun. It is just how Lima is this time of year. However, one day last week there actually was a day of partial sun which was terrific. The city just seemed so much more pleasant and the Miraflores section, where I am staying, felt a lot like Miami Beach.

My blog entries are usual very upbeat and several people have commented that I rarely seem to have many “issues” in my travels whether it is getting lost or being ripped off, or some other issue. Well, that changes in this blog entry as I spent four of my first seven days in Lima hanging around the B&B, mostly in room (thank God for TV and Internet access!) due to nasty case of upset stomach—“Delhi belly”—or whatever you want to call it. It was the first time in quite a few years that I actually got sick on the road. I enjoy sampling local food so perhaps it was that. I also think eating something that did not agree with me, plus my running around Lima like a madman for the first three days, wanting to see everything, and not to mention the change in climate, could have done me in. Luckily, by the time I was ready to fly to Guayaquil, my stomach problems had subsided.

Ah…flying in Latin America….

Since I moved to Costa Rica over a year ago, I have been flying TACA Airlines (www.TACA.com) fairly consistently as they fly to many destinations in Central and South America, and between both. So, I booked a ticket from Lima to Guayaquil on TACA.

My friendly taxi driver in Lima picks me up on Friday morning at 7:30am so I would have plenty of time to arrive at the airport, check in, and all of that, for my 10:40am flight. It was fun to drive between the B&B and the airport as I got to see a lot of Lima at an early hour: people hopping on buses to get to work, shops opening, and more generally, the hustle and bustle of the city. I also saw some fairly cruddy parts of the city, areas in desperate need of redevelopment.

“Y-M-C-A!”

On the way, my driver puts on the radio to listen to some English language music and the third song is “YMCA” by the Village People. So there I am in a taxi in Lima and my driver is singing along with the radio, even briefly removing his hands from the steering wheel to make the “Y” sign with his hands during the “Y-M-C-A” part of the song! If that wasn’t funny enough, that evening—and now I’m in Guayaquil”—I see a bunch of people doing the same thing in a bar near my hotel! I’m not sure if there is some hidden meaning in coming across this campy American song twice in one day in two different countries. Whatever its meaning, if any, it sure was unusual

I arrived at the new, modern airport in Lima right on schedule and fortunately the check-in line at the TACA counter was not terribly crowded. However, I knew as soon as the customer service agent handed me a “food voucher” at check-in that we wouldn’t be leaving on time (geez, my former airline experience paid off!). The agent told me the flight would be an hour late I leaving. I thought it was odd that she would give me a food voucher for an hour delay but I gladly accepted it and had breakfast courtesy of TACA, not giving it much more thought.

I should have given the flight delay more thought. When I arrived at the gate about an hour later (after the worst breakfast I’ve ever had, consisting of way overcooked eggs and something that looked liked sausage but tasted like something I was not familiar with), the board still read 10:40am for the flight’s departure and no one was around. So, I sat and waited and waited some more. Finally, after two hours, an agent arrived at the gate. She told that there was bad weather in Guayaquil and the flight would not leave until 1:15pm, in another 2.5 hours!

In another 2.5 hours I inquired about the flight again and was told it would leave at 2:30pm. We finally took off at 3:45pm over five hours after its scheduled departure! Funny, I saw the LAN flight for Guayaquil, two gates down, take off at 10:30am, right on time. I had a choice between the two airlines and chose TACA. I guess the LAN flight didn’t have the same weather problems in Guayaquil as the TACA flight!

What bugged me the most about this experience—and I’m no stranger to flight delays—is that no one from TACA every apologized for the delay either in the airport or even when we were on the plane. Luckily, I’ve learned to have some patience living in Latin America (reading a good book helped pass the time too) and frankly, I didn’t have any pressing business in Guayaquil.

The tropical city of Guayaquil….

I have to admit I knew very little about Guayaquil. In fact, I had rarely heard about it before making this trip. Ecuador’s other large city, Quito, was somewhat familiar to me having read it in several books, but on Guayaquil, I all I knew about it was what the famous travel writer Paul Theroux had said about it in “The Old Patagonian Express:” “Visitors to Guayaquil are urged to raise their eyes, for on a clear day it is possible to see the snowy hood of Mount Chimborazo from the humid streets this stinking city; and if you look down, all you see is rats.” Theroux’s book is some 15 years old now so I hope it has improved since then.

I knew Guayaquil was not really my destination, only a jumping off point for other things I’ll be doing later, but nonetheless I figured I should know something about the city, since I’d be spending a few days here. I did a day-long tour of the city, mostly walking, and discovered it actually is a fairly pleasant city once you starting observing it more closely. At first, the ride from the airport to the center gives a bad impression as all you see for miles are run-down buildings, However, some of the colonial style that have seen better days, I could imagine were quite impressive 50 or 100 years ago. However, once you get out and walk it actually isn’t so bad. It is fairly clean and since Theroux’s assessment, many parts of the city have been redeveloped.

Once of the city’s proudest accomplishments is the building of “Malecon 2000,” the redeveloped waterfront area featuring long boardwalks with views of the dirty brown River Guayas, numerous restaurants, an IMAX theater and green spaces with benches. I walked much it and thoroughly enjoyed the sunny skies and warm temperatures, particularly compared to my first week in forever shrouded Lima.

One of the things you notice in Latin America during World Cup time is that most businesses—bars, restaurants, even “convenience stores”—all have a game showing and people standing on the street nearby watching, no matter who is playing. It certainly is huge down here. One of the more unusual things I witnessed was a “half time” show during one of the games, consisting of three men, apparently analyzing the game that was on at that hour. I couldn’t tell if was an Ecuadorian television station, but all three of the commentators were smoking cigarettes and had ashtrays in front of them! I cannot remember the last time I saw commentator on television smoking a cigarette. Maybe it was a spoof and I didn’t realize it, but I don’t think it was.

While Ecuador is largely known as an Andean nation, Guayaquil does not have that feel. It has a Caribbean feel due to its proximity to the Gulf of Guayaquil and because this city of over 4 million people is very racially mixed and includes Asians, mestizos, and black Ecuadorians. It’s also a sweltering city during the summer, and where there is heat, there is a relaxed atmosphere.

Two Generals meet in Guayaquil….

Guayaquil’s fame to claim is that two of Latin America’s greatest generals in the struggle for independence from Spain, Simón Bolívar and Jose de San Martín, met here in 1822. A large statue at the Malecon 2000 commemorates this meeting and apparently while both men wanted independence, Bolívar wanted Guayaquil as part of his notion of a greater “Gran Columbia,” while San Martín wanted Guayaquil as part of Peru. Apparently, Bolívar won out and on the evening of their meeting, San Martín quietly went back to Peru while Bolívar danced the night away with the ladies of Guayaquil, eventually becoming the sole “protector” of the continent.

Simón Bolívar Park, in the center of Guayaquil was one of the most interesting parks I’ve seen in South America—and every town has several parks, usually with a church on one side. However, what was interesting about this park was the number of iguanas in the park I tried to count them all but stopped at 50. The seven or eight green spaces in between the walkways had iguanas in each of them. Some were small but many were quite large, perhaps four or five feet long from head to tail. They were also on some of the walkways, a few were on benches and several were in the trees above. In fact, I saw a few locals get “spat on” by a few of them in the trees. I also saw one rather iguana loose his footing on a branch of a tree and fall about 25 feet to the grass below. It didn’t seem to bother him as he simply regained his composure and scurried away. I am not sure I’d want to walk in this park at night because I’d fear stepping on one of them!

More World Cup action….

Last week I watched the Brazil play along with dozens of Brazilians living in Lima. This week, I watched Ecuador play England (Ecuador lost 1-0) on the streets of Guayaquil along with thousands of Guayaquilians. You definitely get the sense there is a ton of national pride here, and frankly, not the discrimination you see among races in Peru. The majority of Ecuador’s players are from a remote area in the central part of their country, and they’re known as “black Ecuadorians.” Descendants of slaves who toiled in Ecuador’s vast banana, coca and other agricultural areas, these players are revered as gods throughout the country. It was quite and experience to watch the game along with the local, share their ups and downs, and take it all in. When the game ended, rather than leaving the area where televisions were provided by store owners (and even on the back of pickup trucks), with their heads down, they stuck around, sang the country’s national anthem and cheered for their country, win or lose.

That is all for this week! More places to discover in the coming week, so stay tuned!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Lima via Costa Rica

2006-06-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

Hello from Lima, Peru! I’m traveling in South America for the next two months so this blog will temporarily be a “South America” blog instead of a Costa Rica blog. I’ve never had two months off to travel, so this should be an adventure!

I picked Lima as my home base, and from here, I hope to visit more of Peru, then Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia (not necessarily in that order). When? Where exactly? For how long will I travel in each country? These are questions I cannot answer at the moment as I’m making no specific plans. I’ll get up and go when I’m ready, stay as long or as little in one place, and then move on. It’s all about exploring and deciding for once in my life, where and when I want to go!

Landing in Lima….

I arrived in Lima on Thursday night. The first thing I noticed besides the very easy customs and immigration process was how clean the airport is. It is one of the most modern airports I’ve seen. Someone at the airport, someone “official looking,” told me it was very clean and well maintained “because the Germans built it and now run it, not Peruvians!” Funny, Lima’s airport does remind me of the airport in Munich.

My pre-arranged driver was right there waiting for me outside of customs. He was very friendly, spoke some English, but surprisingly, I understood much of his Spanish. He said many times in Spanish as he put my bags in his taxi, “Seguridad, seguridad…security, security….” Basically, he put my luggage in the back seat, covered them with a blanket, and told me to lock my doors because many parts of Lima are unsafe. That was a bit off-putting, particularly being late at night and I’m in a taxi with a stranger heading to a hotel in a city I did not know. Well, I’ve traveled through Bosnia on dirt roads in the middle of the night, driven down the side of a mountain near a military base in Athens, and more—so this couldn’t be too bad!

I made it to the hotel just fine. I worked out an arrangement to stay here for two months and use this particular hotel as my base. So far, it has been everything I expected and the room has two important features: an “in-suite” bathroom” and high speed wireless Internet in the room! Oh, and cable TV, for keeping up on world news. Between the Internet, TV and a bathroom, I’ve got just about everything I need!

Touring Lima….

I’ve packed a heck of a lot into my first three days here! We’ll get to that in a minute. The first thing one finds out about Lima is that coming in winter, while it isn’t cold like the northern U.S., compared to Costa Rica, it is cold! I’ve had to buy a few sweaters since arriving here. It isn’t really cold but it is damp as Lima sits low between the Andes and then butts up to the Pacific Ocean. The views are dramatic driving along the western part of the city!

The other thing about the weather during “el invierno” (the winter) is that the sun does not shine at all. It is always cloudy or foggy, or a combination of both. This phenomenon apparently only happens in the Lima area and other parts of the country are sunny. So, while Lima will be my base, I think I won’t be here for too much of my trip. While I do not like the six months of rain in Costa Rica, at least it is sunny in the morning. For six months in Lima, there is no rain—it hardly ever rains actually—but there is no sun either.

As I’ve said, I have done a lot in three days from taking an organized city tour, to exploring my new neighborhood, to taking in the local nightlife to even getting rowdy with a bunch of Brazilians while watching the World Cup!

My neighborhood is Mirarflores, a few kilometers from the center of Lima, and definitely one of the nicest parts of the city. Old mansions are found in between towering apartment buildings, offices and hotels. Narrow streets connect larger avenues and lead to the ocean, which offer incredible vistas high above the rough surf. The problem is that it is always cloudy so one can only see a short distance out into the ocean. It’s still pretty intense though!

There are plenty of shops in Miraflores. The area reminds me of Georgetown in Washington, DC. I found a terrific supermarket called “Vivanda,” which is just like Whole Foods. Except Vivanda gives out even more free samples than Whole Foods—in fact, when I was there Friday night, they had several wine tasting stations (Peruvian wine is actually not bad—but it’s no Chile or Argentina) so after about an hour of sampling various cheeses and wine, I walked home a bit tipsy—and full. Not a bad way to spend happy hour!

I ended up doing one of those lame city tours, a half day organized by some large tour company. I figured it was a good introduction to the city. It wasn’t bad as I got to see the major sites and the tour guide was actually pretty good. I just hate tour groups and buses. Fortunately, there was only one other gringo on the tour so I didn’t have to deal with all of those “ugly Americans.”

I have enjoyed walking the streets of the Miraflores area as there is much to see and do. From the parks high about the Pacific to the many, many stores crammed into various neighborhoods, there is always plenty to do. It’s a very good area conducive to walking, and big enough to keep me occupied, but small enough to find my way back home.

The Peruvian people are very friendly. Many of them often say “buenas dias” as they walk past and they are anxious to help you when shopping or asking for directions. But they’re not pushy, either. In Costa Rica, as soon as you enter a store, a clerk is all over you; in Peru they tend to hang back and not assault you from the moment you arrive. I’m a big browser, so I appreciate that.

World Cup Fever….

Of course, the World Cup is huge in Latin America and I am definitely getting into it. On Sunday morning, I’m strolling along a pedestrian street, lined with nice restaurants and cafes, and I hear a roar coming from one of these restaurants. I look inside and see the place awash in yellow and green—it’s a hangout for ex-pat Brazilians who have come to watch Brazil play Australia in the World Cup. I decide to go in, and like the others, at 10am, grab a large beer and watch the game.

It was amazing being in there. Here I am an American living in Costa Rica, visiting Peru and hanging out with a bunch of Brazilians in a bar on Sunday morning. They were very, very friendly though (as long as I rooted for Brazil). In fact, someone bought shrimp for everyone in the bar so the hour or so that I spent there I got all the free shrimp I could eat. Some guy even bought me a beer when the Brazilian team scored their second goal.

When they learned I was American, they continued to be friendly but told me Americans just don’t have the passion for the game that Brazilians or Europeans have (which I tend to agree with). They did tell me, though, that Americans make the best movies in the world and for that I was okay! They also wanted to know if I ever saw Paris Hilton in person (no) and if I was in Iraq (no, too old!). One guy even asked if Americans get in fights at bars over football (soccer) games (don’t know!).

That’s all from Lima for now. More soon!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Fiesta Time!!!

2006-05-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

This blog entry has many pictures and little text, particularly to compensate for the lack of pictures in my last blog entry and because I took so many pictures from our recent birthday party (more on this below). For those of you reading this blog in my “blogspot” blog, click over to http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AndrewNCostaRica to see the pictures.

We decided to have a big birthday bash for our terrific cleaning lady, Karol, and our great neighbor, Fernando, since their birthdays fall around the same time. It was also a good time to “celebrate” the beginning of the rainy season (called “green season” by the national tourist board). We also decided we would go all out and ordered several trays of vegetable and meat lasagna from the man who owns the local Italian restaurant. It was definitely terrific! In addition, we had our neighbors and friends bring dishes so with about 40 or so guests, we had all types of food ranging from typical Costa Rican to Italian to American and more! It was definitely a food-lovers paradise—and of note, not a single slice of cake was left by the end of the evening—and we had a lot of cake, but I only got one piece!

We were a bit worried the entire day as we thought the afternoon and evening rains might put a damper on our plans to have salsa dancing on our patio. As it turns out, barely a drop of rain fell the entire evening. However, at the most inopportune moment, about 10 minutes until 4pm (the “official” start time of the party), the power went out. Usually, the power goes out for a few minutes here and there, particularly when it is raining or storming but this power outage lasted for over two hours and the outage apparently struck all of San Ramon, Palmares, Naranjo, and other nearby towns. Fortunately, we have a gas stove so re-heating food wouldn’t be a problem and candles added to the atmosphere. It did put a damper on the music as I either couldn’t find a radio/CD player in the house that took batteries (and we have several) or when I did find one, it didn’t take the batteries that I did have. Well, it worked out okay in the end as the power came on just as we were moving from the eating part of the party to the dancing part.

The evening became very exciting and even more festive because at about 7:30pm, a group of Mariachi players we had hired came up the driveway and everyone moved outdoors to the patio. Without much prodding, our patio became a dance floor and the evening kicked into high gear, with the last guest (I think our friend Jorge), leaving around 11:30pm. It was very satisfying to see throngs of people, some dancing and some on the perimeter of patio enjoying the sight of dancing under the stars, with the patio only lit by candles and string lights above.

This was one of the best days I’ve had in Costa Rica. I’m amazed that after living here only a year we were able to rustle up about 40 friends and neighbors for the party. Someone commented that where our B&B is located, there is a real sense of community and on this night, it definitely showed. All ages, ethnicities, social backgrounds, married, single, and many others were represented at the party—and everyone had a terrific time!

The pictures provide more about the party than I can write. So, enjoy, and see you next time….probably for more introspection! :-)

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Questions, on being an Entrepreneur, and other Relevant (or irrelevant) Matters….

2006-05-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

As I come close to my one-year anniversary living in Costa Rica (June 4, or 5, I forget exactly) I again find myself being introspective. I ask myself a number of questions such as: “How would I characterize my first year here?” “Am I happy living here?” “Did I accomplish the goals I set for myself in the first year?” “What would I have done differently looking back at the last twelve months?” “What will I do during the next year?” I am sure there are many other questions I could ask myself if I thought about it a bit longer.

I won’t answer all of the aforementioned questions in this blog entry for fear of driving many of you away (I’ll save it for my “one-year anniversary blog entry!). However, I will try to answer one question, and I think the most important question one needs to ask oneself, no matter the place or situation. I also get asked this question frequently by guests, particularly those guests considering retirement here. That question is: “Am I happy living here?” My short answer to guests is “yes.” But of course, this is not a question that deserves a short answer. However, like everyone, even in Costa Rica, I find myself short on time so I provide the easy answer. For oneself, and in fact, for one’s self preservation, though, it is important to examine this question thoroughly I think, particularly when moving to a foreign country, and one where things may work differently (and more slowly!). I also think it is important to answer this question before moving here and to re-assess frequently after being here for a while.

Most people who have moved here figure out how to purchase or build a house, buy a car, find the supermarket, learn some Spanish, etc.—these are issues with a learning curve that most people can manage to travel fairly well. The larger issue then becomes after you’ve done all of the routine things, are you happy?

Being happy depends on what you want, how you want to live and I think most importantly, the people in your life in the situation you’ve found yourself in. Moving to Costa Rica such that in most cases, you won’t have many friends at first, and won’t know the language right away, is a big step. It takes a certain type of person. It takes a person who can build networks socially (and sometimes, professionally). It most definitely takes a person who can adapt to a new culture—actually, live in the culture—and gain insight and rewards from it. It also takes a person willing to give back to the culture by sharing his or her own experiences with the local people and being open to helping them, just as the newcomer is bound to need a lot of help from the locals, particularly when just starting out.

I’ve often marveled at some of my new friends and neighbors and how they’ve adapted to their new lives here. They’ve built thriving businesses, gotten involved in social or community activities, provide a valuable service to tourists, retirees, and even locals, and all the while, seem to find time to enjoy the beauty and charm that is Costa Rica. How do they do it?

I think many of them work very hard at what they’ve chosen to do but I see very few of them doing things here they don’t want to be doing. I am not sure if that is by making a measured choice or they just happened to luck into something they really enjoy. Whatever the reason, many of the successful, still-working ex-pats here seem to have one thing in common: they’ve found their niche in life.

The longer I live here, the more I think it is all about finding one’s niche to be happy. In the states in particular, we often find ourselves in a particular job or career field and find it hard to get out. We either like the regular paycheck, find it too hard to switch careers, or more generally, don’t want to give up the things our current career brings us: job security, a nice home, food and clothing for the children, etc. Finding the right niche, particularly in a work-related situation, often brings more heartache than many people are willing to take on.

Moving to a place like Costa Rica, you have to be willing to take some risks in order to be successful—to find that niche—and to be happy. There are not any regular, paying jobs here that you can get (in fact, as a foreigner you generally cannot work as an employee anyways); you won’t find very many ready-made social networks that you’ll feel comfortable in at first, at least not like the kind you can find in the states (I’m still looking for a local softball league!); and, most of your life-long friends live far away and are not likely to make the leap of faith you’ve made.

So, to be happy, particularly as a foreigner living in Costa Rica, I believe it takes above all, finding that niche that makes you happy, and being open to letting your new surroundings, new ways of doing things, and in fact, a new culture, become a part of your life. If you continue to do the things you’ve done in the past—those things that defined your life in the U.S. or elsewhere—you’re unlikely to be happy here. While our demons tend to follow us everywhere, it is important, as I’ve learned, to at least try and rid yourself of them here, because it will be harder to be happy here if you bring what bogged you down in your former life, to your new life here. I cannot say I’ve achieved this completely but I’ve made great strides in the last year.

Working for oneself is different…but rewarding

I get many emails from people asking about how I moved from having a (seemingly) cushy corporate career to a “less than corporate career” in Costa Rica, running a B&B. I usually respond in several ways but often I describe my desire to leave the “rat race,” do something more meaningful, etc. But desire is one thing, facing the reality of trying to make ends meet is another thing. And, it isn’t for everyone. I had no idea before I moved, frankly, if living here and trying to make it on my own was for me. I didn’t take a one of those psychological tests to determine what kind of person I am and what my “skill set is” nor did I make a very detailed plan (though I had many checklists!). Maybe I should have had an in-depth plan or maybe it doesn’t matter. Still more time is required I think. I decided, though, that the worst thing that could happen is that if I completely blew my bank account, I could move back to the U.S., stay with one of my friends or family, and start over again. So far, fortunately, I am not facing that prospect.

What I did know, however, is that having a background in the travel industry made the transition from the corporate world of large (generally money-losing) airlines to running a B&B would enable me to take advantage of what I learned about the industry, what people want in booking travel, and what they expect once they arrive at their destination (unfortunately, in today’s world of modern air travel, it is no longer about the “trip,” rather getting to where you need to go in very modest comfort). However, knowing something about a particular field or business isn’t enough.

The scariest aspect of moving from the corporate world to this new world of mine is giving up the regular paycheck. In my corporate life, whether I had a productive day or not, whether I closed a deal or not, and whether I even came to work or not, I still got a nice paycheck without fail every two weeks. I could bank on it. Luckily, living in Costa Rica is fairly inexpensive so I’m working to support a much more modest lifestyle. However, you have to be confident in your abilities and have a positive outlook on life in order to make it here. If you are the type of person, who, on a bad day, will just pull the covers over your head and stay in bed all day, you are unlikely to be successful here or happy.

Working for oneself, which I hadn’t done prior to moving to Costa Rica, is certainly different. You only have yourself to rely on to earn a living. That means picking a business that will sustain the type of lifestyle you want, doing something that makes you happy (read the previous section again) and being prepared to work hard in it (and probably losing money at first) in order to achieve your goals. It also means making sacrifices you may not have made working for someone else. For example, in the B&B business, customers often want to take a vacation over time periods that include a major holiday such as Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years. That means for me, working on those days. Other sacrifices include being “on” when perhaps you don’t want to be, such as when you have a cold. It also can mean working doubly hard over one time period to ensure there is money to cover expenses when the business is typically slow (at least in this business).

However, having almost 25 years to go until retirement (at which time I could live well on social security—assuming it still exists then—and savings), some people think I’m crazy for doing this at my relatively young age. However, I asked myself over a year ago, that when I die, do I want to my obituary to read that “Andrew was VP of blah, blah, blah….?” Who cares! Life is really about what you do now to be happy (and to have a life beyond work in which you can survive relatively well), what difference you are making in life, and what you accomplish that is good and honorable. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t think there is much more to it!

Beth: “He was overzealous with the weed whacker….”

Sometimes Beth will make a statement that just puts me in stitches. I occasionally do this as well but the weed whacker statement hit my funny bone hard. The statement struck me partially because of the statement itself and partially because we often find ourselves saying things here we just never dreamed we’d say in our former lives in the U.S., either to each other or even only in our heads. It is always situational such as the time several months ago there was a large animal in our front yard, and not being able to see it clearly, I asked Beth, “Is that a cow or a horse in the yard?” Who would have thought I’d ever be asking that question in my lifetime.

I am not sure why it is, but we seem to get into amusing situations (generally at our own expense) more often than we would have when we lived in the U.S. I think it is due to the fact that we live in an environment outside of what we knew, read: going from a city to the country, and that when you are dealing with natural forces such as bad rains, scorching sunlight, runaway horses and dogs and more, for us transplanted city folks, you just have to expect some interesting, if not highly ridiculous situations. Like anything, go with the flow, and all will be okay!

That’s it for now! Thanks for reading!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

The weather predictions were correct; the rains have come….or not?

2006-05-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

The weather predictions were correct; the rains have come….

It’s officially the rainy season in Costa Rica, at least where I live, about one hour north of San Jose. It started in earnest on Tuesday of this week with a fairly soaking rain much of the day. So soaking were the rains that we learned our pipes are clogged somewhere near the house and some unclogging is definitely required. Wednesday was a bit better and what I had hoped for during the rainy season: rains in the early evening and at night. We’ll see what the season brings. Since it has taken me a week to write this entry, I’ll note this late-breaking news: I’m not sure now if the rainy season is here or not as the last three days have been rain-free. Stay tuned!

My lawn is parched so I’m actually looking forward to seeing it green again. Not to mention the rains are good for my gardens—and the rains are regular too—nearly every day so there are some benefits to this season. The dry season did go by too quickly though. It is odd as I am used to four seasons in the northeastern U.S., but I am getting used to it. I definitely enjoy the fairly constant temperatures around 70 to 75 degrees or so.

A big test for us during this season is to see how our dirt road holds up particularly now that we have smoothed it out in some places. The water drained fairly well but it is obvious that some spots need drainage trenches. Our local handy man/jack-of-all-trades Chico, will definitely be doing that for us soon.

There are other precautions one must take during the rainy season, particularly during electrical storms. We always shut down and unplug our computers, television and even the phone sometimes, during storms after having blown two modems and two phones last season. The other day someone from the states asked me, “So, what’s exciting on the horizon this season?” He meant it as if this were the Hamptons or Palm Beach. For those of us in tiny Los Angeles Sur, what is on the horizon this season is rain gear and boots! And, for those of us with dogs, trying to keep them out of the mud!

Comida Italiano…

I often crave certain foods that are hard to find in the greater San Ramon area. While there is some decent Chinese food, and plenty of rice and beans, it is hard to find decent Italian food here. Recently, however, I was introduced to small Italian restaurant called “Mi Casita” on the road just outside of San Ramon. I’ve driven by it many times but just recently learned it is becoming the ex-pat Italian hangout. For about $3 I can get a large plate of homemade pasta and a drink. Now if I could only find a decent slice of pizza! If there are any Italians out there who know how to make certified neopolitan pizza (yes, you have to get certification from an official body in Naples, this I know!), please move here and open a restaurant. I’m banking on my soon-to-be-new neighbors Trisha and Ernesto to make pizza occasionally (hint, hint, hint!)—they’re wonderful chefs!

El Jardin…

The vegetable garden continues to provide a wealth of produce. Lately, I’ve seen cucumbers coming up, radishes, and we have more cherry tomatoes than anyone could possibly need. Soon we’ll have dozens of beefsteak tomatoes and I’ve told myself that I will try to learn to make fresh pasta sauce—no more canned sauce for me.

Yes, all dogs hate going to the vet…

We took Osita and Reina to the vet the other day as we had been a little remiss in getting this done. Getting them into the car wasn’t that bad. It was hard to tell whether they were nervous or curious; Osita just sat in the back and panted heavily during the entire trip to town and Reina stood up for most of it, trying to keep her balance while looking at all the new things in her life through the car window.

Once we pulled in front of the vet’s office, they definitely could smell where they were and they were not happy. We put leashes on them, which they hate, but I had to carry them most of the way into the office as they just wouldn’t get out of the car. In fact, Reina jumped from the trunk to the front seat. Meanwhile, Osita’s legs were quivering wildly. We felt very bad for them. Surprisingly, they were well behaved while the doctor examined them. When Reina was on the table getting her various shots, Osita sat quietly under the table—you could tell she knew she was next.

When their examinations were done and Beth was taking care of the paperwork and paying our bill, the dogs became very curious about the other animals in the office, particularly Reina, trying to get at a hamster in a cage. In fact, they both didn’t want to leave so I ended up carrying them back to the car! When we got home, Reina jumped in the front seat again, perhaps not realizing she was home. Finally, I managed to coax him out with some biscuits and she followed Osita back to their pen where they both promptly fell asleep. It was definitely an exhausting morning for them.

More patience required….

I’ve written in previous blog entries that if you are going to live in Costa Rica you have to become a bit more patient with things. “Type-A” personalities can find it a bit hard here at first, and I know as I was one of them—in a former life that seems decades and decades away from today—even though it was only about 1.5 years ago. For example, we recently bought some items at “EPA,” an IKEA/Home Depot combination store in San Jose. As often happens, these items did not work in the house. So, I carefully re-packaged the goods, found the store receipt and credit card receipt and took them all back to the store. The woman at the return counter was friendly enough but like in many American stores, she wanted to give me store credit rather than reversing the charge on Beth’s credit card (Beth had originally paid for them but I went to return the items). The staff behind the counter discussed the issue in great detail, though luckily I had my neighbor Fernando with me. I was getting impatient but every so often cooled my heels as Fernando skillfully negotiated with the staff. Obviously, he’s lived in Central America much of his life and has learned to have a great deal of patience. After about 30 minutes, they finally agreed to reverse the charge on the credit card. However, I think the staff realized it was a bit of an ordeal for me because even as we shopped the woman who finally relented to our insisting we get the cash back came up to me numerous times offering assistance. Funny thing about it, the receipt clearly states “no refunds or exchanges after 30 days,” and we were on day 42!

Another area that tries my patience (again, I’ve written about this before), is in dealing with government offices here. Recently, I got several vaccinations (we’ll talk about where later), as it had been more than ten years since my last updates, and with my traipsing around Central America, I thought it was a good idea to get them done. One of the vaccinations required me to get it certified at the “Ministerio de Salud” (Health Ministry) in San Jose so if I traveled to a country requiring this vaccination, I would have an official record of it and the Costa Rican immigration authorities would let me back in the country when I returned home. Going to the Ministry would not be a problem and the cost of having a clerk stamp my vaccination certificate (after she carefully reviewed the letter from my doctor for about 15 minutes) would only be 200 colones (about 39 cents). However, what drives me crazy in situations needing an official government seal is that one has to purchase these special stamps that the clerk affixes to the certificate, and, of course, you cannot buy them at the offices of the Ministry, rather, you have to go to another office to buy the stamps—in this case the “Cruz Roja” or Red Cross—which is down the street. It didn’t take very long however, it is just another stop in a seemingly simple process. And God help you if you don’t have every piece of required paper.

I see similar processes in various stores. For example, at a hardware store I frequent (yes, I’m becoming a tool junky since moving here!), after finding an item to purchase, you have to get a receipt from the clerk, take it to another counter to pay for the item (the “caja”) then take the receipt to yet another counter to pick up the item. What I had to go through one day last week to buy a 75-cent flashlight! The newer and more modern stores have the place you bring your items and where you pay in once place. I think they are called “checkout” counters in the United States—LOL! I asked about this arcane process recently and someone told me that shop owners, particularly in family-run shops in smaller towns, want someone they can trust handling the money and generally keep the sales people and “money people” separate. I can see why countries like Costa Rica are often considered “full employment” countries!

Full employment holds true in another time-honored profession in Costa Rica: security guard. It seems every store from the mammoth “EPA” to a simple shoe repair shop has a security guard. I’m not sure if theft is a real problem here or if it is simply a defensive mechanism but I still get a little discombobulated when seeing a uniformed guard with a sub-machine gun outside of my bank. I’ve been wondering, at the banks in particular, if a simple side arm would be enough. It certainly would keep me from entering into a life of crime! If someone tried to rob a bank, is the point of having the machine gun so that the guard can be sure that he completely riddles the perpetrator’s body with bullets (and perhaps taking out several innocent customers/bystanders in the process) or is to let the bank’s potential criminals know, “Don’t $#%@% with us!” If anyone can shed some light on this issue, please drop me a note.

Etc…..

The other night we went to a birthday party for our house manager, Karol. It wasn’t really a birthday party, rather just some cake among a few friends. Much to everyone’s surprise, about 10 minutes into the event we could hear music emanating from the street. Apparently, Karol’s husband, Ernan, hired a mariachi band to serenade Karol. There they were, seven of them, dressed to the nines, in Karol’s tiny house playing traditional music and singing. They were quite loud however. So loud that it made Karol’s 5-year old son cry and run into the other room. They were really terrific, through, and I immensely enjoyed their music. I may have to hire them for events at the B&B some day.

I mentioned a few blog entries ago that I had been gearing up for the rainy season, in particular, working on our road and preparing our gutters for the onslaught of the season. I needed to do some additional work on the gutters this week as a leak had developed, largely from a weird right-angle in the gutter system that kept the rain water from flowing normally through the system. While there are many more important things in life to get upset about, the whole gutter design made me irate for various reasons from the bad design of the gutters, to the fact only a 5-year old could get his hands in the gutters to clean them out to the lack of covering the prevent leaves and other debris from getting in them. I keep asking myself why it appears to me that Costa Ricans aren’t the best at issues like this, but a friend reminded me recently that it was only about 30 years ago that the country was electrified and hardly any Ticos had cars back then. In fact, most Ticos still don’t have cars. With that knowledge, I’ll let them slide and hope that the current and next generation will continue to seek and gain knowledge.

Thanks for reading and keep up the comments!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Observations on San Jose, Inauguration day, etc….

2006-05-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

I had to spend a few days in San Jose this week doing some business but also to have a short getaway. It’s always fun to spend a few days here even in this city; there’s a bit of an adrenalin rush with all the buildings, stores, restaurants and people.
By most accounts, San Jose is not much of a city to look at. Except for a handful of buildings such as the National Theatre, there isn’t much architecture to enjoy so one must therefore focus on the people and their culture. One of my favorite places to hang out is the News Café, a decidedly gringo-focused restaurant and bar right on Avenida Central which is a major, pedestrian-only, shopping street downtown. The food is pretty good at News Café, particularly after weeks of eating “tipico” food. Having a good cheeseburger or fish and chips definitely hits the spot! It is also a great place for people watching with it’s open-air bar area. On a lazy Saturday afternoon, I sat at New Café and over a large Imperial on draught, watched the Ticos coming and going, darting in and out of buildings and ducking under overhangs, as it appears the rainy season’s rains have finally come (at least to San Jose).

The rain brings out all types of entrepreneurs, particularly the street variety. Some are hawking umbrellas, others are selling ponchos, and still others are selling plastic—yes plastic—which I assume would work as cover from the rain. The plastic appeared large enough that it could also be used as I tent! I, of course, forgot to bring an umbrella and when one of these young entrepreneurs approached me at the restaurant, I decided that 1000 colones ($2) was well worth it to avoid getting wet after I left the restaurant. As the rain became more intense, I noticed the price of umbrellas went up. The same person who sold me the umbrella was back about twenty minutes later and the new price to the other grinos sitting near me was 2500 colones; later on it was 3000 colones. So, I guess I got a bargain!

Inauguration Day….

I noticed on the bus ride into the city a larger than usual police presence, particularly near Sabana Park on the western edge of San Jose. Not long thereafter a cab driver mentioned something about Oscar Arias and I was able to understand with my weak knowledge of Spanish that Monday is his inauguration as “President of the Republic,” and preparations were well underway for this event (Arias also lives near Sabana Park apparently).

As in most countries, Inauguration Day is a big event here. For one, all public employees have the day off—which means about a quarter of the population!—and once again, most government office will be closed. I swear, given all the holidays, that the post office is open an average of 3.5 days a week!

A lot of dignitaries are coming to San Jose for the day including U.S. First Lady Laura Bush (apparently she’s not staying at our B&B this time!), several U.S. Congressman, and most heads of state of Central American countries. Like the U.S., security is tight and several roads will be closed particularly around the stadium in Sabana Park where the actual swearing in will take place.

Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is the first President reelected in 36 years and will take office again twenty years after his first term in office. He clearly has less of a mandate as he eventually won with 41% of the votes in his favor, and with less than 50% of the electorate actually taking part in the election.

Things are much different today than in 1986 when Arias first took office. While tourism has increased significantly, Intel has a huge production facility here, and the country’s economy has diversified quite a bit, there are many problems he’ll need to address including a crumbling infrastructure/transportation system (particularly the quality of the road system), a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and a taxation system that cannot makes ends meet.

While the political situation has generally stabilized in well-known trouble spots such as Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras, there is a growing leftist trend in Latin America, particularly embodied in Hugo Chavez, and Arias will need to decide where he stands in relation to other Latin countries, and in particular, the United States, as this movement grows. Most recently, Bolivia nationalized its oil industry and while Arias’ country does not have vast natural resources, only time will tell how he approaches his neighbors and his protector to the north. He clearly supports the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), much to the chagrin of his fellow countrymen, but realizes it is not the panacea for Costa Rica’s problems.

In other news….

The honeymoon couple that stayed with us went home to Reno after a great trip here. I understand they may be purchasing property in our area and if so, they’ll be great neighbors. We hope they move here soon.

Next week will be as exciting as it sometimes is for an ex-pat B&B owner in Costa Rica with plenty of cleaning chores (chicken coop, bodega, dog pen, etc.) and more generally, odd jobs around the house. I hope the rains, predicted for these first two weeks of May, hold off a little longer so I can stay outside, and continue to work on my ever-deepening tan!

That’s all for now!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

The Adventure in Costa Rica Continues....

2006-05-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been very busy with numerous guests and many, many loads of laundry, along with stripping down rooms, making up rooms, moving different beds into different rooms to accommodate various guests and other minute details not worth getting into. April was a very good month for the B&B which is great as it is also the month of the year when the “high season” ends (either around April 15 or April 30—I’m not really sure). We’re definitely a bit tired at this point.

April has also been a fun month. We were also able to find some time to go to the beach, try some new restaurants, and most recently have our new neighbors Trisha and Ernesto stay with us. They are moving to Angel Valley/Rancho Lobo and their house is about done being built. We hope they move down here permanently soon! Remember them, as they come up later in this blog!

The mundane tasks in life….

Every few weeks or so, one realizes that life in Costa Rica is not all sitting in the hammock or swimming in the ocean. You have to work (occasionally!), shop, pay bills and in our case, greet and take care of guests, scrub floors, clean the dishes numerous times a day (no automatic dishwasher here!) and do many other tasks to keep a large home/business functioning. My latest mundane—but very necessary task—was to get my passport renewed. Yep, it has been just about 10 years since my current passport was issued. And, having worked in the airline industry and visiting nearly 70 countries in my life, it has a lot of visas, stamps and who knows what else. I even had to have pages added to my passport twice in the last five years alone.

Luckily, the trip to the U.S. embassy near San Jose is not all that difficult. It is located in a nice part of the city which is actually a close-in suburb called “Pavas,” so the drive isn’t so bad. I’m amazed that I can now find my way around the city by just knowing where various landmarks are. It’s taken 10 months but it isn’t an easy task in San Jose.

For a small country, the embassy is much larger than I thought. The building is five or six stories high and takes up almost a city block. I must admit, when I got near it, turned the corner and saw the U.S. flag atop a pole in a grassy area inside the compound (of course, there is massive security there like all U.S. embassies around the world), I had a sense of national pride come over me. Sure, living in Costa Rica is terrific but I’m still a very proud American even if I am not thrilled from time to time with the political situation.

So, I found the entrance to the consul area where visas and passports are processed. There is a saying, “membership has its benefits,” and my US passport got me through a huge line of Costa Ricans attempting to get visas to go to the US (more about that later). After I figured which of a dozen forms was to be filled out for passport renewals, I could a number and waited my turn. However, I noticed my number was 75 but the electronic sign in big red letters said “serving number 14,” and the office was to close in one hour. Well, it quickly became obvious that I’d have to come back another day.

For my next trip to the embassy, a week later, I fared much better. For one, I got to the embassy a full 45 minutes before it opened, filled out a new form (because I finally found the color-coded signs on the wall indicating which form to use, such as, “If you are over 14 years old, your passport is less than 15 years old, you are citizen, you have two 2x2 inch photos, you have U.S. currency…..then use the purple form, unless….” So, after solving for “X,” I figured out it was indeed the purple form!

I was first in line for processing and the Tico helping me from behind the 3” thick bullet-proof glass was quite pleasant—perhaps because I was his first customer of the day and he already had a cup of rich Costa Rican coffee. In any event, I learned a few things about Costa Ricans’ ability to get visas to come to the U.S. For starters, I learned that the embassy processes over 1000 visa applicants each working day—just from Costa Ricans. That’s 4,000 a month or perhaps over 200,000 a year (taking out days the embassy is closed such as holidays). That’s also about 5% of the Costa Rican population. I can only imagine what the numbers are like from countries whose citizens really want to leave.

I also learned gaining approval for a visa isn’t easy either. Are you a Tico and want to take your children to Disney World for a week? Get a visa. Need to see a dying relative in New York? Get a visa. Want to see a potential business partner in Miami? Get a visa. Have no good reason but just want to see the U.S. for a few weeks? Forget it. No matter what your plans are in the U.S., if you are Costa Rican, you must have family ties (and not even an extended family) or solid, verifiable and existing business relations in the U.S. I don’t aim to comment on the U.S. government’s tough stance on granting visas to foreigners, I am just stating that it is a tough process to get through, if you are lucky, and most aren’t. However, I was told that only a tiny percentage of Costa Ricans overstay their visa time period. I guess that while Costa Ricans are much better than Mexicans or Nicaraguans about not overstaying their welcome, the country get lumped into the rest of Latin America when it comes to extending visas.

What is funny to me is that as an American, I’ve gotten visas to visit countries that America has had strained relations with, or worse had wars with, such as Vietnam and Cambodia.

Three birthday celebrations, same person, less than a week….

Ernesto’s (of “Trisha and Ernesto”—I told you to keep an eye out for them in this blog several times—birthday occurred while they were staying with us. It is always fun to celebrate one’s birthday while on vacation and particularly in the community in which someone will soon live. Well, one night we had a fabulous dinner cooked by Ernesto. It was a whole red snapper, probably caught the same day, topped with an incredible mango sauce. I had to mention the food as it was that delicious. During dinner it was announced to us that it was Ernesto’s birthday so we put a few candles in whatever our dessert was (cannot remember!), and sang happy birthday to him. Well, apparently his birthday was not that exact day and it took “someone” two more tries to get the day right, along with two more birthday celebrations! Well, here is some proof, that in Costa Rica at least, it can be your birthday everyday! One couldn’t ask for a nicer guy to have three birthdays a year. When Trisha and Ernesto come back to live here permanently I need to remind myself and his spouse to write down his birthday so we won’t ever forget: April, 28th, 29th, and 30th!

The happy couple….

As I write this tome, we have our first newlyweds staying with us. Too bad our honeymoon suite is booked! Okay, our “honeymoon suite,” is actually a room with an “in-suite bathroom” and hot water. As Bill Maher often says, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” They are a terrific couple from Reno who are considering retiring here in a few years from now, got married on Saturday and the next day were on a plane to stay with us. They arrived late on Sunday night with the rest of our guests already asleep.

Monday morning at 7am the Reno newlyweds woke up to a full house of guests—about 14 total—getting ready to have breakfast. I knew they were getting married but I didn’t realize it was the day before staying with us! However, they went with the flow and have been having a thoroughly great time. Actually, because our other guests that morning are also considering retiring here, it was helpful for them to interact with the other guests. In fact, the couple is cutting their trip to other parts of the country short to come back and stay with us, realizing that the weather and “feel” of our area is what they are looking for. It’s terrific having guests like them and Beth went the extra mile by finding some beautiful flowers for their room and putting heart-shaped lollipops and Bon Bons on their pillows. We look forward to them coming back for their 10th anniversary—hopefully sooner!

Ah, yet another dinner party….

The past few weeks have seen more dinner parties at the B&B than in the entire preceding 9.5 months of living here. Actually, I think we had more than in the prior 20 years of my life! Some of them have been with friends, some with neighbors, some with guests, and some with a combination of all three groups. I just don’t know if I can keep going with all of this good food, terrific wine, sumptuous desserts, interesting conversation, highly intelligent people, fascinating stories, and lively political banter! I told Beth one day that my next job is going to be “professional hermit.” Fortunately or unfortunately, she might get the job before I do! I jest. I jest! It’s actually been fun if not a little exhausting. I’ve learned so much from other people, often very worldly people who have lived overseas throughout their lives. It provides an interesting perspective on things and certainly reinforces the idea that it is indeed “a big world out there.” It also reinforces the idea that my job is doing the dishes after dinner!

Where to sleep….or, sleeping amongst the dogs just doesn’t cut it….

One night we happily got into an “overbooked” situation (okay sort of), in which not only did Beth and I have to give up our rooms but Trisha and Ernesto (remember them!?) also had to find other accommodations for the night. Beth agreed to stay at the B&B and camp out on the sofa (and, I think, to catch up on mindless television) to wait up for our late-arriving guests while Trisha, Ernesto and I had been invited to use the apartment next door to Karol’s house (Karol is our house manager) that her mother owns. So we made our way to San Ramon that night and Karol set up the apartment just like she does with the rooms at our B&B: fresh towels near the beds, extra blankets and more.

I don’t think Trisha, Ernesto and I realized, that for starters, we’d be sharing the same room—they had the bed and I had a mattress on the floor next to them. That was no big deal however I did mention that we would all soon learn who snored and who didn’t (there’ll be more on snoring shortly). The apartment was certainly not the Four Seasons but it was clean and the “toilet area” with a privacy curtain near the headboard of Trisha and Ernesto’s bed was certainly convenient. What wasn’t convenient was the fact that Tico houses, at least in this neighborhood, have paper-thin walls. I don’t know for sure, because we were inside, but we were fairly certain that we were within the confines of a dog kennel. Just as our conversation started to die down—“Careful if you get up a night because the light switch on the wall is likely to electrocute you….”—several dogs of all types (I surmised) started barking at each other, or Lord knows what else—in unison. Trisha and Ernesto promptly put in their ear plugs though Trisha commented that it blocked out all of the dogs except the six or so chawawas (sorry, cannot spell that breed of dog for the life of me and the word processor’s spell checker isn’t helpful either!) that kept yelping as if they were on their way to someone’s dinner table.

When I fall sleep, normally after changing positions several times for about 30 minutes, I sleep so soundly that there is almost nothing that can wake me up. However, on this night, the problem was trying to get to sleep. We agreed this was going to be impossible.

After about 20 minutes of giggling at the comedy of our situation, we decided it was time to bow out gracefully and find new accommodations—and by now it was getting late. I carefully apologized to Karol for having to leave—it really was the dogs and had nothing to do with her mother’s apartment.
So Ernesto turned on the bright florescent light dangling above the room. Trisha got up from the bed and I could only think to say, “My, the lighting does wonders for you.” So, we packed out bags and headed back to the B&B unsure where we would be bunking down for the night.

At the B&B later that night….

We arrived back the B&B to find Beth camped out on the sofa. All of our guests were tucked in for the night. It was a very eerie feeling as the house was dark and no one was awake. It was also eerie because in the silence of being in the house late at night with guests sleeping, I could hear a cacophony of hums and snores coming from the various rooms. Most were very low and subtle; some were definitely not. I guess the sound of snores is much better than other sounds I could have heard.
Ernesto and Trisha decided to go stay in their new house, which was almost done, using the air mattresses they brought with them. Apparently, the only suitable room they could sleep in was their walk-in closet. I later asked them how it felt to be back in the closet—LOL! They slept fairly well except around 2am Ernesto’s mattress deflated and he didn’t feel like inflating it again. I found a spare sofa and ended up at the B&B for the rest of evening. What an adventure for all of us, particularly for Ernesto’s first time in Costa Rica. He took it all in stride though.

We’ve definitely learned that Costa Rica is always fun and always adventurous. Each day brings a new experience—often something amusing at our expense—but it is also rewarding in the great times we’ve had with new friends and guests.

Thanks for reading and keep those comments coming.

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

A Season of Change

2006-04-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in Costa Rica over 10 months ago it was already the rainy season. In fact, it was raining on the day we arrived. It was a particularly bad season—at least in my view—due to the impact of the many hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico last year. Hopefully, it won’t be as bad this year.

The last few months have been glorious here. Almost zero rain, warm temperatures (but not too hot) and light breezes. One certainly cannot beat the dry season weather in the San Ramon area. But all must come to an end as the various flora are ready for their winter soaking. I keep forgetting it is summer here and that it is almost over.

It is interesting to note that the Costa Rican weather service makes fairly precise predictions about when the rains will come. In the last issue of the Tico Times, government weather forecasters predicted that the rainy season would begin in the Central Valley (where we live) during the first two weeks of May. Friends who have lived here for quite some time are predicting it will start later, perhaps in mid June. We’ll see who is correct. I only hope it is perhaps a more typical rainy season with sunny mornings and rains in the late afternoon and evening. I don’t mind that as I’ve been remiss in my siestas lately.

When one lives in a country with two fairly distinct seasons—at least where we live—it becomes second nature as to the things that can be done in one season or another, and more importantly, those things that most be done prior to the beginning of the new season. For example, with the rains coming soon, there were two priority items to take care of before the rains hit. One was to clean the gutters. Having a fairly large house, this was no easy task. However, I slaved for almost four hours one recent Saturday going through every inch of gutter cleaning out copious amounts of leaves, dead animals, plastic, nails and an assortment of other garbage to ensure the waters from the heavens would flow well. Whoever put the gutters in—I assume when the house was originally built—did not leave much room to get one’s hands in there to clean out all the muck. I really could have used a child with small hands to do it, but I’m against child labor. I ended up bringing our wet-vac onto the roof and blowing out much of the debris. That worked fairly well. I even tested each drain to ensure each one was clear of debris. There’s nothing worse than a rainy day—with water leaking in the house! The other item was to repair our long dirt driveway shared by my neighbors Mary-Ellen and Fernando and our soon to be neighbors, Dave and Mary. There were definitely some bad patches on the road and with a backhoe we rented for a few hours, we smoothed out some of the rough patches. Next, our handyman Chico will dig some water trenches on either side of the road in certain spots to ensure the water flows along the side and into the nearby fields, not flooding our road—and making a huge mud bowl. We’ll see how the road holds up this year.

Sold some art work….

We had two wonderful guests here recently, both from the Washington, DC area. One of them is a reporter and she is preparing an article on our B&B. As you may remember from a previous blog, our neighbor Frans donated some of his artwork for our fledgling gallery and was thrilled that someone wanted to buy one of his pieces. He darted up here from San Ramon to meet the collector and ended up spending the afternoon with them!

Friends, guests and more friends….

We had friends visit during Easter week which was a lot of fun. Beth’s good friend Donna, her daughter Lauren (who is Beth’s God daughter) and our friend David—all from DC spent some time here. David spent a full 10 days with us and I think we kept him pretty busy seeing things and doing things his entire time here. We saw rainforests and volcanoes, went to the beach for a few days, saw a butterfly farm, got a lot of sun and quickly eased into the Tico lifestyle! April has definitely been a great month with both guests and friends visiting. Like the transition to the “green season,” April is also a transitional month as the “high season” is wrapping up.

Easter was also an interesting time in that while we took off for the beach for a few days, we had Karol look after several guests we had staying with us while we were gone. This was great training for her and I think she passed with flying colors. One couple wanted dinner when they arrived and Karol made her terrific soup, “Sopa de Mexicana,” along with salad and ice cream with toppings for dessert. Apparently, the guests loved it and as to be expected, loved Karol. She enjoys talking with the guests and definitely has the personality to run a B&B. Beth liked the fact that she tended to our guests well and I liked the fact that she collected the correct amount of money from each guest—LOL! Okay, okay, both are important!

What you won’t do in the U.S.…you may do in Costa Rica

Okay, while usually not planned, sometimes an odd, or more aptly put, funny thing occurs here at Angel Valley Farm—and it usually involves me or Beth. These tend to be things we probably wouldn’t be caught dead doing in the states but we would do here. For example, I’ll traipse around the house in the evenings in these God-awful slippers I bought in San Ramon. They are comfortable, sturdy and if I need to run outside to deal with the dogs—which is often—I don’t mind getting them mucked up. Well, one day, I walk into the house and find Beth with those “Bounce” fabric softener sheets that you put in the dryer with your clothes, attached to each shoulder and on each side of her hips! I also later found them throughout the house as they fell from her body and she didn’t notice. Apparently, a friend sent her an email that her friend got from someone else stating that they are great for a number of uses besides with clothes, including: repelling mice, keeping mosquitoes away, wiping your television or computer screen, eliminating odors in wastebaskets, collecting cat hair, preventing musty suitcases, keeping bees away (apparently golfers put one in their back pockets), dissolving soap scum from shower doors, cleaning baked-on foods from pans, and many other uses! I don’t know if the company that makes Bounce advertises these multiple uses but they surely should. From now on I’m calling Beth the “Baroness de Bounce!”

Another thing I’ll do in Costa Rica that I rarely did at home is to take showers at odd times of the day. During my 50-70 hour corporate life, I always took a shower early in the morning, and occasionally, on hot days, in the evenings. Here, however, I find myself taking showers at odd times: 2 in the afternoon, 7 in evening, 10am—it just depends on what I’m doing that day and how sweaty I’ve gotten. I guess I should be thankful that I have the kind of work such that I can take showers virtually anytime. And, if the mood strikes me, I may not take a shower for a few days.

Also, once in a blue moon, but not often, I may park in town in an area marked with a yellow stripe if I cannot find a close-in and convenient spot. Supposedly the yellow-lined areas are off limits to cars, however, I see many people doing it. In some areas, there will be men with bright orange vests and you give them a few colones to watch your car which I will do. I guess, like in any country, one should not break the law, even if as minor as parking in a restricted zone. I should heed this as I do not want to find out what the inside of a Costa Rican jail looks like.

Finally, I had mentioned in a previous blog entry about our mention in the April edition of Travel & Leisure Magazine. The article, “Costa Rica 5 Ways,” came out and apparently we’re one of the “five ways.” Here’s the link to the article: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/costa-rica .

Thanks for reading and keep your comments coming!

Pura Vida

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Making T-Shirts in Costa Rica, living it up in the Caribbean and more….

2006-04-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

I never thought in my entire life I’d be making t-shirts. Well, not the t-shirts themselves as Hanes does do a pretty good job of it, rather, I’ve been making promotional t-shirts for the B&B. Yes, I actually did something that takes some physical dexterity! I have wanted to make or buy some promotional items for the B&B for some time now and I’m finally getting around to it. Who wouldn’t want to have an “Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast” exclusive t-shirt (precision made in Malaysia!) to wear while you take out the garbage, cut the grass or even better, to dust the furniture with after a few years of wearing it! But the fact is, tourists love that stuff and the marketer that I am, I decided I needed to have some “takeaway items” for guests and friends. Several weeks ago I went into San Ramon to discuss getting t-shirts made with our logo and web site address on them and like things often are here, it became complicated. There were different types of t-shirts, different colors, types of typesetting onto the t-shirts, bulk order prices, etc., etc., and even having Karol with me and her speaking in Spanish to the store owner, I gave up and vowed I’d try it myself—though I was definitely not sure how in the heck to do it!

So, I was in Office Depot one day last week during our monthly trip to PriceSmart (aka Costco or Sam’s Club), and saw special paper for color printers in which you can print out your design and then iron the paper onto to t-shirts. Now that I could handle! I already had a design that I had made previously so it was just a matter of printing and ironing.

With fresh t-shirts in hand from PriceSmart, it was quite the scene watching me and Beth trying to iron my design onto a t-shirt. During our first attempt, when we peeled back the paper, the design did not take—iron not hot enough. The second time the design came out wrinkled—we apparently were not careful enough—and the third time, we hit it just about right but I put the design too low on the back of the t-shirt. It did work though! Trying to iron the logo onto my underwear did not work though! LOL! However, apparently Reina liked my new “Angel Valley Farm B&B” t-shirt as she slobbered all over it a few minutes later!

I’ve made up some designs for postcards too. That’s next week’s activity!

Ah, the Caribbean side of Costa Rica!!! Muy Rico!!

We took a short trip to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica this past week—me, Karol and Beth. We hadn’t been there yet and were curious as to what it was all about. We had heard many things about it from there are a lot of drugs to there is much crime to it is very poor, and more. I knew there were decent beaches and that was good enough for me!

The drive down was fairly nice actually and the roads weren’t too bad. We went from our house down to San Jose, east to Turrialba, farther east to Cartago, down to Limon and finally ended up far south of Limon near the Panamanian border in Puerto Viejo.

The Caribbean, as we had heard, is much different than the rest of the country (though not quite as different as I had expected). Some of the country’s remaining indigenous population lives near or on the Caribbean coast such as the Kekoldi, Bribrí, and others. What is striking compared to the rest of the country is the number of residents of African and Caribbean descent—particularly Jamaica—living there. You don’t see very many Africans in the rest of the country, and very few where I live. In fact, not so long ago residents of this area rarely went any farther west than Turrialba and were not particularly welcome in the rest of the country. It was almost a racial dividing line and similarly, Costa Ricans of “mestizo” descent, or the Ticos of European lineage, very rarely went to the Caribbean side. This I think today somewhat still exists however I did see more of a mix of Ticos and Africans than I expected. In fact, I had been told that “everyone” speaks English on the Caribbean but what I found was really a decent amount of English and a decent amount of Spanish.

We were not sure where we were going to stay once we reached Puerto Viejo and decided we’d use our guide books as reference and from there, just visit a number of small hotels in the area. Actually, a few of the hotels recommended in our guide books turned out not to be as nice as we had hoped so we began investigating hotels not in the books. Usually, I’d sit in the car and Beth and Karol would go in and investigate. I guess my attitude was: why bother to look at all of them until they found a good one!? On the second to last hotel we looked at, while Beth didn’t like this particular hotel, the owner gave us two suggestions for other hotels and we ended up at them. We wanted to, but never did get a chance to thank him for his excellent suggestions.

The first night we stayed at Bungalows Calalú, run by a French family. It was a terrific place! It was within walking distance of both the center of Puerto Viejo and the beach. It had five really well made and designed bungalows surrounded by a large variety of tropical trees and plants. The pool was very well done with interesting, large rocks all around the pool and the rest of the pool area was enclosed with tropical plants and shrubs, providing both an interesting enclave of sorts, and importantly, privacy. The price was reasonable and the best gauge of a hotel is that I slept well! The rate didn’t include breakfast but that wouldn’t stop us as we ate very well on this trip….

We found several terrific restaurants in the Puerto Viejo area. For breakfast, we found a couple of very cool, funky places. One was called “Bread & Chocolate.” I liked the feel of this place and the ex-pat owners and wait staff were very friendly. They made excellent coffee and I really enjoyed their eggs and potatoes. Café Rico, also run by ex-pats, was quite good as well. Beth asked me to mention that they make the best fried potatoes in Costa Rica. I agree! We also came home with a few bottles of their honey and Beth liked their ginger lemonade.

At lunch, there was a Mexican restaurant I really like and for dinner we ate a good deal of Italian, and even some Asian/fusion. In fact, one small dingy-looking restaurant sitting atop a small convenience store had excellent Italian food, prepared by what I would call a typical Italian mother—and as it turns out, she was from Roma! I think we were spoiled in the Caribbean because of the many food choices. While we love the San Ramon area, it is very typical Costa Rica and rice and beans are the staple with every meal. We were glad to get away from that for a few days. All and all, in this small Caribbean town we found great restaurants, fun shops, friendly people and more things to do than we could imagine—particularly hanging out at the stunning beaches. We’ll be back!

Punta Uva…wow!

We traveled down the coast towards Panama on our way to Manzanillo, the last “big” town before a national park that runs along the Panamanian border. We came across Punta Uva on our way. I’m not sure if it is actually a town, though I guess it is, as I did see it listed on my map. However, there wasn’t much here except a few convenience stores and one or two guest houses. As we were driving along, we peered to our left and saw a narrow dirt road heading to the ocean. So, always wanting to “take the road less traveled,” we headed down it and came upon the beach at Punta Uva. This is one of the nicest beaches I’ve seen in Costa Rica. White sand, clear water at just the right temperature—warm but not too warm—and a long beach front with barely anyone on it. I am not a good judge of distance but I would guess it was 1.5-2 miles long and I don’t think I counted more than 7 or 8 people on the whole expanse of beach. The beach angled out towards the ocean with a huge rock formation, covered in trees at its precipice, with the ocean wildly thrashing it.

Small world….

The second hotel we stayed at, again in Puerto Viejo, is called “Agapi” or Greek for “love.” Whenever I see something like that I know a Greek must be involved and being of Greek descent myself, we had to investigate. Agapi is an adorable hotel right off the main road (some parts paved, some parts not!) heading a few kilometers south of Puerto Viejo. Consisting of two wood buildings with a number of large rooms, some with kitchens, it was right on the beach. When we arrived we met a portly woman of African descent who was the co-owner. I’m always impressed with someone like her as she spoke Spanish, English, some French…and Greek! As it turns out, her husband is Greek and moved to the Caribbean five years ago, met her, and they got married. So, over the past five years, she’s learned Greek. I can hardly imagine a woman with a Jamaican/African background speaking Greek!

Even more interesting for me was that the husband was from the island of Lesbos where my grandparents (on my father’s side) were from! In fact, he lived in the same town as one of my grandparents and he had even heard of my last name. I couldn’t believe that in a small town on the coast of Costa Rica I’d meet someone who was from Greece, let alone Lesbos. Well, they say Costa Rica has a wide international appeal, and he was looking for “perpetual summer,” so there you have it! By the way, the hotel was very nice, inexpensive, clean and one cannot beat falling asleep to the sound of waves! I’d definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to this area.

Don’t blame it on me….

I’ve been getting quite a few emails these days from people who have “read my story” and are now strongly considering moving here either to retire and live a quiet life, or for those younger than retirement age, like me, to start a business. In fact, in a few of the emails I have received, I’ve been told that I “pushed them over the edge” in terms of their decision to move here. Some of my new friends want to open a B&B, others want to try doing massage therapy, and still others want to export products to the U.S. Whatever it is they want to do, I cannot be held responsible for their decision to move here and whether in retrospect, they think they’ve made the right decision! I tell people all the time that vacationing here is not the same thing as living here. Like living in the U.S., there are many day-to-day, mundane tasks that must be done such as paying bills, cleaning the house, going shopping, and waiting in line after line at government offices to handle seemingly simple matters. And for some of us, earning a living is important too—yes, we aren’t on vacation all the time! So, I wish these newcomers well and still being a newcomer myself—but apparently becoming a veteran—I hope they keep their eyes open to the possibilities that exist here, have a lot of patience, and take it one day at a time. If they do it right, they’ll be sitting in their hammocks on a Tuesday afternoon in no time!

There is a lot going on here with many guests and friends visiting over the Easter holiday week. I am curious to see what “semana” is all about here as apparently it is bigger than Christmas and I’m told everything shuts downs and Costa Ricans take holiday. A friend of mine is visiting and we plan to take a road trip for part of Easter week. I’m hoping the roads won’t be too crazy but if they are, we’ll just stop at local beach and relax for a few hours until we get to final destination: the beach!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
New B&B phone number: (506) 456-4084
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

More "grist for the mill" in Costa Rica

2006-03-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine likes to call the local gossip at Angel Valley/Rancho Lobo, “grist for the mill” so when I write my “tell-all” book many years from now I will have quite a few interesting stories about my new home and community (actually, I suspect that many years from now I will no longer have the energy to write a book as I’m expending all of my energy in the present day!). One of the things you learn is that no matter where you live, even in idyllic Costa Rica, there’s always good dirt to be dug up or simply served up on a silver platter. However, being the gentleman that I am, I keep it to myself. I just am relaying this because as soon as I returned it was amusing to find how much gossip people wanted to relay to me!

My return to Costa Rica on March 18 (and after not one, but two snowstorms while I was in the U.S.) was certainly a welcome relief from the dead of winter in the Northeast U.S. The day of my return was simply awesome here. With temperatures in the mid-70s and barely a cloud in the sky, one couldn’t ask for better weather. No heat or air conditioning required!

One of the first things I did was to seek out Osita and Reina, our two dogs. I didn’t grow up in a family with many pets—I think we had our dog for less than a year—but I have come to think of our dogs as my own children. They were jumping up and down and barking when they saw me and couldn’t wait for me to get into their cage. No one has ever smothered me with kisses like that before!

I decided I would take the first day easy and re-acclimate myself. However, my first night at home turned out to be eventful. I am sitting down to some mindless television and even before the first commercial break of the program I was watching, I look outside the front window and notice two large beasts in the shadows. Upon closer inspection, I discovered these creatures were “Gringo”and “Amigo,” roaming in our front yard! Not sure how they got out of the area behind the house they were kept in, they would need to be put back, and for that, I quickly called Beth. Getting the horses back into their field was not all that difficult actually—this time. Beth learned that if she shakes the can of dog biscuits (not horse feed) and starts walking, Gringo, the more docile of the two, will follow her pretty much anywhere, figuring a snack was at hand. Amigo hates being alone so he always follows. So there you have it, Andrew and Beth, at 10pm on a Sunday night directing the horses across our driveway, behind the house, and into their field.
Since it was dark out, I knew I would probably not easily find the break in the fence and hoped the horses would stay put overnight. Ah, not with my luck as the next morning I did not see the horses in the field. Not long after, a neighbor calls and we learn the horses are way up the road roaming a field behind a neighbor’s house, which is under construction. I wasn’t sure how we would coax them all the way home. So, we hop in Beth’s car and make our way up the hill, then down a hill, then up another hill, and down another hill until we finally are in view of the horses. After inspecting the work on our neighbor’s house, Beth starts shaking our handy dog snack canister. Within in 10 seconds, Gringo looks up and starts coming towards us. When he is fairly close, we hop in the car, Beth driving, and me with my hand out the window shaking the canister and horses right behind us (Amigo finally caught up)! The faster we drove, the faster the horses trotted and fortunately for us, they followed us all the way back to the field without slamming into the back of our car. It was just another day at Angel Valley Farm B&B!

The garden is finally kicking in….

I had a hard time imagining we’d ever get our garden going given the long rainy season. While Beth was in the U.S. last November, I planted some of her seeds in the greenhouse but didn’t fare very well as I planted them too soon and transferred them to the garden too early. However, since I have been gone Beth has planted a number of vegetables in the garden including heirloom beans, radishes, white carrots, tomatoes and a bunch of other things. Everything is coming up splendidly and I think we now have enough beans to feed the entire neighborhood! There’s also enough cilantro to supply several local restaurants. Beth, rightly so, is excited about her beans as apparently you cannot get these types of beans in Costa Rica. I haven’t seen her get so giddy over anything as she did over her beans—even to the point of having me take pictures of them in the garden and on a plate (I gladly took the pictures)!

With chickens out of their pen for a few hours each day and the trouble our dogs inevitably get in, fencing in the garden was a smart move. I even found this garden whatchamacallit that sprays water throughout the garden, avoiding the need for me to stand there and water it every day (hey, it cuts into my time on the hammock!).
So, as the garden grows we hope to be able become nearly self-sufficient in vegetables. Now, if I could only find a way to grow Kraft Mac & Cheese in the garden!

Beth’s vacations and roosters….

Beth apparently had a couple of nice “getaways” while I was braving the cold in the U.S. On one of her trips, my sources tell me she drove Karol (our cleaning lady), Karol’s 4-year old son and Karol’s mother up to Sarapiqui where her mother has a farm. As I understand it, there was a fifth passenger, a big rooster Karol’s mom bought in San Ramon and wanted to take to her home. I just cannot image this clan with a rooster sitting in the back seat with Karol’s son driving the somewhat treacherous roads of Costa Rica. God, I wish I was there to see that!
Another of her trips was to the northern Guanacaste region to check out some of the less touristy beaches. Apparently, if you take a “nacional” with you; i.e., a citizen like Karol, you get a much better rate on hotels. They stayed at an all inclusive resort—Beth, Karol and her son, really cheaply. So, come to Costa Rica and grab a local to travel with you!

The growing community….

Houses just keep going up in the rapidly growing ex-pat community up in the hills behind us. The “Angel Valley/Rancho Lobo” neighborhood (www.rancholobo.com) is growing by leaps and bounds with people coming from the U.S., Canada, and Europe to retire, or to get away from the past-paced life of the western world. And, why not come here? It is a quiet, relaxed lifestyle, relatively inexpensive, offers tons of fresh air, terrific views of the mountains and valleys, and provides plenty of things to see and do or do nothing at all—not to mention a community with its own B&B—okay, some self-promotion here! Before long, we’ll have to elect our own mayor and town council! In any event, it is fun to see new people come to live here and learn how they live in their own slice of paradise.

I was amazed to look up the hill the day I returned home and see this concrete tower going up among the other new houses. I wasn’t sure what to think! It looked about three stories high and someone commented that if you put glass all around the sides of it, that it could easily pass for an air traffic control tower! Whatever it turns out to be—I haven’t seen its owner around—I’m looking forward to seeing the views from it! Ah, our own little “Manhattan,” complete with a small skyscraper, developing in the tiny hamlet of Los Angeles Sur!

Cooking/food….

Besides my trying to catch up on the paper work that accumulated during my absence, this week has been about food—terrific food! Beth has been busy trying new recipes for our “cooking holiday” program we’ll kick off this summer (www.angelvalleyfarmbandb.com/fusion.htm). So far this week I’ve sampled a very tasty beef dish with very interesting seasonings, “sopa de Mexicana,” that was out of this world and later in the week I’ll get to sample some chicken dishes and several other things. I don’t know exactly what the cooking program will eventually offer (I’m only the marketing guy) but I do like sampling it all. It is incredible to walk into the house and take in all the interesting smells and see copious plates with all kinds of unique dishes. Too bad it cannot be every week. I may be on my own next week!

Friends visiting….

In addition to keeping busy with guests, in April and May we will have some friends visit. I’m excited about that as it has been fun showing off our new place to friends. It will also get me to the beach again, which I always enjoy! And, now that my doctor says I can swim again, I’m looking forward to getting in the warm waters of the Pacific, just a short one-hour drive from us.
PR….

We got a small plug in Travel & Leisure Magazine’s April issue--we haven’t yet seen the hard copy of the magazine but it should be out and hope there is a little more in the magazine itself, but we’ll take what we can! Here’s the link: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/costa-rica, then scroll down to #4, “Culinary.”

Fun….

One of the things I actually missed quite a bit being in the states for five weeks was horseback riding. I’d only been horseback riding a few times before moving to Costa Rica and now I know why people enjoy it so much! So, I’m planning on sneaking away from work for a few hours on Friday and will hit the trails. The nice thing about riding is that all I have to do is hop on one of my own horses right outside my door—or visit one of many friends nearby. The forecast for the rest of the month is sun, sun and more sun! It isn’t a bad life!

More soon!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Election Day Costa Rican Style, A Beach trip and more….

2006-02-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

Today is Election Day in Costa Rica. This election is particularly important as its citizens select a new president to replace the outgoing president, Abel Pacheo. By many accounts, Pacheo was not terribly successful. Not a professional politician (he was previously a radio announcer among other entertainment-related professions), he did what he could but it seems the country slid backwards a bit during his term. Many in the electorate claim the transportation system, particularly the roads, are in major disrepair, poverty is up, environmental issues are becoming much more serious, and the educational system, while considered the best in Central America, is not educating its students long enough, or as Bill Clinton used to say, “for careers for the 21st century.” In fact, the majority of students leave school sometime during high school and end up working in various manual trades or perhaps in tourism.

Given all of this, the country has a remarkably transparent and incorruptible election system in this; Central America’s longest-running democracy. The elections are governed by an independent body not controlled by the executive, judicial or congressional branches of government. In fact, on election day, the Supreme Elections Tribunal has complete control over the operations of the elections; they even have authority over the country’s police on election day. Many independent election observers consider Cost Rica to have one of the most free and fair elections of any country on earth (I guess the corruption occurs after elected officials take office!).

The most interesting thing about elections in Costa Rica is that by Article 80 of the election code, alcohol may not be sold in supermarkets, bars/clubs and restaurants on the From Friday at midnight until Monday at midnight (the elections are on Sunday). The purpose of this law is to help avoid brawls among aggressive constituents and prevent “vote-buying.” On this particular Sunday, it is a major problem as the law applies to all outlets, even hotels and bars serving foreign clientele—and this Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday!

It is about 9:30pm as write this blog entry and from what I could understand from La Nacion, the country’s leading newspaper, the results may be inconclusive and there may need to be a runoff. However, CNN.com is reporting that based on exit polls, Oscar Aris (see below) won the election though I’m just not sure at this point.

There are 14 candidates for president so I won’t go into all of them, but two are former Nobel Peace Prize winners, two Christian-based candidates, several former Communists, a Libertarian and a surgeon.

Many people anticipate Oscar Aris, the former president and Nobel Prize winner, to win. Aris helped broker peace in Central America in the 1980s and in fact, the constitution was changed to allow him to run again. A strong supporter of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), he has many supporters and is very popular as one of the country’s few presidents with a strong standing on the international stage. However, he has many detractors, those looking for a president who will focus on the many domestic issues facing the country, particularly infrastructure and education, and the country’s massive foreign debt. We’ll see—I just hope he is friendly to us foreigners!

Trip to the Beach…

Today Beth and I decided to get out of dodge and head to the Pacific Coast for some sand and sun. I love driving to the beach. It’s about one hour to hit the Pacific Coast near Puntarenas then another hour or so to head south for some of the smaller, relatively deserted and more interesting beaches. What strikes me the most is how much the weather changes from where we live to the beaches, perhaps, 70 miles or so from us. When we left at around 8am it was very gray, overcast, drizzling and a bit chilly. By the time the coast was in sight an hour later, it was very warm and sunny, even a bit humid. However, I like the change and being near the coast makes real that we’re living not far from the equator in a tropical environment. Sometimes it gets chilly where we are and we forget where we live! It’s a great away for us, and getting away even if for only a day, is great way to recharge the batteries, and of course, explore this wonderful country.

Great guests and praise….

We’ve had some great guests in the past few weeks and I’m really glad to see that this blog has prompted people to stay with us. I’m also grateful to learn that people really enjoy Beth’s breakfast. In fact, we were happy to have John Howells and his wife Sherry stay with us this past week, with Sherry commenting, “Beth’s breakfast is the best I’ve had in Costa Rica.” Beth thinks it’s no big deal, but as an avid eater myself, it is a big deal! John is an expert on ex-pat living in foreign countries, and the author of numerous books. He’s currently hard at work on the 7th edition of his book, “Choose Costa Rica.” It’s the bible for people wanting to retire to or move to Costa Rica and I have his last two editions. In fact, he was so taken by what we’ve been able to accomplish here at Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast (http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com) in such a short time, that he will include us in his book as one of the “success stories” for ex-pats having a business here. We’re thrilled about that. We’ve also heard a reporter from the travel section of the New York Times is going to visit soon and we’ll be featured in the April edition of Travel & Leisure magazine. T&L will hit the newsstands March 15, so look for us.

It’s a terrific feeling to be able to get it right (particularly after having a few bumps early on), turn the B&B into something we could be proud of, and most importantly, please customers—and even better have them come stay with us again. I know some people thought we couldn’t do this. We were told that we didn’t have the personalities (that was mostly directed at me!), or we didn’t understand the hospitality industry, or that running a business in a foreign country would be too hard, but I guess we’ve proved them wrong!

The next blog entry…

My next blog entry will be written from outside of Costa Rica. Where you ask? You’ll just have to read next week’s entry to find out!

Being curious, I did a check using the “word count” feature in Microsoft Word and as of this entry learned that my blog is now:

1. 89 pages;
2. 4,047 lines;
3. 724 paragraphs; and
4. 46,195 words!

Phew!!!

Thanks for reading and thanks very much for your comments!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Car Inspection and More

2006-01-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

In my last blog entry I wrote about my half day+ trip to pay my $66 property tax for 2006. If that wasn’t exciting enough, this past week I went to take my car to be inspected near the airport in Alajuela. This must be done annually, along with paying the “Marchamo,” or car tax.

So, my emissions sticker expired last July and my Marchamo was due in December. Yes, I have been very remiss in my duties (apparently I am not alone in this as over 200,000 Costa Ricans, in a country with about 1,000,000 cars, are in the same boat). However, I learned recently that if one doesn’t pay Marchamo by the end of January, the police can take your license plates. Not wanting to risk losing the plates (and hence, the car), I sucked it up and made an appointment to get my car inspected—yes, you must make an appointment. You cannot just show up at the inspection garage.

Prior to taking my car down to the inspection facility, I had my car thoroughly looked over by my mechanic because unlike in the states, Costa Rica’s inspections are very detailed. Called “Reteve” or short for “Revision Technica,” Costa Rica farms out its inspection duties to a private firm. In fact, there has been quite a bit of an outcry that the inspectors are too thorough and many, many cars fail (hell, you cannot even bribe these people—just kidding!). There’s even the possibility that the new government, coming into office this spring, will dump Reteve and put it firmly back into government control. That could be good, or bad.

So, I decided I needed some assistance in getting through Reteve. I needed to find someone to go with me who spoke Spanish and knew something about the ins and outs of getting through Reteve. I initially decided on my neighbor up the hill, a nice older gentleman who has been living here quite awhile and knows about Reteve. He agreed to go, for a small fee: lunch at Denny’s afterwards which is near Reteve! Figuring that my appointment was at 9:45am, by the time we got done, it would be time for lunch, so I agreed. The more I thought about, the more I realized, based on stories I had heard, that I needed to add some sex appeal to the process—namely, someone who could distract or throw off the inspectors a bit. For that, I selected Carol, our housekeeper/assistant manager. She’d be perfect for the job and Beth even suggested she wear something “low cut!” So, there we are at 8am on Friday morning getting ready to drive to Reteve: me, my neighbor, Carol, and Carol’s 4-year old son Brianaire! It was almost surreal!

My biggest fear in driving down the Inter-American highway was getting stopped by the “policia.” I lucked out and did not get stopped but that is where my luck ended.

We pull into the Reteve and I hand my forms to the surprisingly friendly clerk. My second fear at this point was that I would not have all of the required documents, but luckily I did have what was required as I had Carol call and confirm for me (She’s a Godsend!). So, I handed the clerk the 9,830 colons ($19.73) and was directed to the lines. There were four lines and we decided the best line to get in was #4, behind a newer car as the inspectors apparently don’t always reset their machines before checking the emissions level in the next car.

Now, two cars away until the gut-wrenching process is to occur, my neighbor reminds me that every car is supposed to have a jack, first aid kit and one of those triangular, orange signs you put behind your car if you have to stop in an emergency. Well, not having any of those things, I was directed by my neighbor to leave the line, and we were off to find those items.

Luckily, there was an auto dealership just down the road a kilometer or two and next door was what looked like an auto parts store. Well, it wasn’t an auto parts store however the man sitting outside the shop, seemingly bored out of his mind, told us Reteve does not require all of my missing items any longer, only a jack. So, lucky for us, he loaned us a jack. That was really nice of him because frankly he had no way of knowing if we’d return with his jack after the inspection (but we did).

Back in line at Reteve we proceed to our turn after only a 10 minute wait. Our inspector, a man in his early 20s starts checking my car. He has me turn my lights on, turn the high beams on, and flip on each turn signal. Then he inspects all the windows to ensure they move up down, jiggles each door handle, locks and unlocks each door, checks that all the seat belts are present and working, and well, while doing this, he hardly takes his eye off Carol! I knew she was a smart move on my part! Besides that, I think he was somewhat amused by my lack of Spanish as Carol translated each one of his directions.

After the rudimentary checks, the tough part occurs. I’m directed to move the car onto some rolling pin type of contraption and asked to turn the wheels left and right, work the brakes, engage the parking break, and undertake a whole host of other maneuvers that apparently simulated driving. At this point, I was told one of my lights (high beams) was “mal,” (bad), so I didn’t think I would be passing the exam and I’d be back. The final check was the emissions. They took a bunch of readings and I pulled up to the end of the garage, to wait for my results.

I knew I wasn’t going to pass because when the clerk in the dingy, dirty booth was printing out some documents, I didn’t see he getting a sticker to affix to my windshield. So, Carol and I review the results. I wasn’t failed on my headlights or even the lack of a center seat belt in the back seat. Reteve failed me for holes my muffler. My mechanic had checked the brakes, engine and many other items but neither of us thought to check the muffler (and as it turns out, my mechanic is not a muffler person—that’s another shop to go to in town).

So, on Monday I get the muffler repaired/replaced and Tuesday morning its back to Reteve—the last day of the month and the last day before they start taking license plates! Wish me luck! Fortunately, they will only check the muffler when I return, so hopefully on round two, I’ll pass.

Close call….

We have been contemplating lately what to do about the back of the house where we have a decent size area with a concrete floor but because of the retaining wall behind it, there isn’t a view of anything. I went out back one night, flashlight in hand, to look over the roof to see what kind of views there are if we put something back there at the site line above the roof of the house—what I’m not sure but we have some ideas. So, I grab my rickety wooden ladder to climb the retaining wall to get a better look. Well, I don’t see the barbed wire fence in front of me and came within ¼ of an inch of slashing my eye! I cut myself about ½ an inch long just barely to the left of my left eye and got a little dirt in it. Lord, was I damn lucky!! I now know better to do things in the daylight from now on! A trip to the San Ramon hospital in the evening would not have been fun!

Birthday Party

The other night we had some drinks and appetizers at a house up the hill for a neighbor’s birthday. Several neighbors came and Carol and Carol’s brother, Gustavo, who is a teacher but is doing some yard work for us while he is on summer break (funny, I keep forgetting it is summertime now in Costa Rica because it is January!). It is always fun to attend an event like this here because they are always multi-lingual events and the more I interact with Spanish-speaking people, the better. Throughout the evening, in addition to Spanish, there were conversations raging in English, French, and even some German.

The party got off to a great start, until my nosey dogs made their way to the party. Lately, we’ve been only letting them out of their pen after dark so they don’t run all over “Gringolandia,” and so far it has worked. I was very annoyed because our neighbor’s dog started howling and there was no way in hell I was letting Osita and Reina get near the appetizers and booze! One of our guests, who also attended the party, helped me get the dogs to my car up the steep driveway, and I threw them in the trunk and drove like a bat out of hell down the hill to return them to their pen.

I made it back to the party and after a few toasts to the birthday boy (man), more appetizers, and me trying to understand all conversations in all languages (I think I understand French better than Spanish—after eight years of French in school, I should right!?), I took Carol and Gustavo home, in San Ramon. At this point, Gustavo had a few drinks in him and he doesn’t weigh much at all—you get the idea. To my surprise, on the drive to town, he was almost fluent in English. Previously, I was under the impression he spoke very little English. Carol calls him an “Americita,” a Costa Rican who is fluent in English when drunk! A fun night indeed!

More soon! Thanks for reading!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Gran Hotel in San Jose, Property Tax Paying….

2006-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

A few days at the Gran Hotel….

I spent four days in San Jose on a working vacation (meaning work during the day and have fun in the evenings) this past week. The weather was picture perfect and I was able to score a great rate at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica. The Gran Hotel is well situated: right next to the Teatro Nacional (National Theatre) and directly in front of the main pedestrian artery, Avenida Central, which is great for shopping and people watching.

While the Gran Hotel, now 75 years old, is not as grand as some of the landmark hotels in Europe such as the Ritz in Paris or the Mayfair in London, its neoclassical lines were inspired by the great old hotels of Europe.

Impressed by the proposal of Dr. Jimenez Ortiz, the government of President Cleto Gonzalez Viquez met with the founder and owner of what would be the Grand Hotel of Costa Rica, and decreed it a landmark before the Constitutional Congress of the Republic of Costa Rica in 1928. The first great hotel and the first one to be constructed to withstand severe seismic activity, the Grand Hotel Costa Rica stood out as being a five-floor hotel when in those days no building exceeded two floors. With 120 rooms, the Grand Hotel was destined to be converted not only into a historical site displaying the magnificence of Costa Rica that became a monument to the visionaries of the times, but also in the symbol of its capitol and an important part of its history. In fact, John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali, and many heads of state have stayed there over the years.

My room was small and did not have air conditioning (it had a fan though) but it had two conveniences I crave in any hotel: Cable TV and high speed Internet access. Compared to my dial up access at home in Los Angeles Sur, what a pleasure it was to freely surf the Internet, open multiple web pages, download files and watch video clips all at the same time. I was in heaven! The room also overlooked the National Theater and the big square beside it so it was a good vantage point to watch the comings and goings of daily San Jose life. The downside, though, was after four days I was less than happy about the street noise, particularly the street performers playing all types of music, luckily not at night.

My days were pretty much the same in San Jose. I spent my days surfing the Internet, doing online marketing work for the B&B and writing some articles (yes, I’m writing travel and culture articles these days for various publications) and my nights having dinners and drinks.

In the early evenings, I often went to the News Café, a bar and restaurant just a few blocks from the hotel for a drink or two. Usually filled with gringos, it is a great spot for people-watching with its tables and the bar overlooking the street. On the street in front of the café, one finds a mix of Costa Ricans and I would suggest, Africans, with blankets laid out on the ground, selling all kinds of goods. Cuban cigars seem to be a popular item—I have a box of them that I brought back from the Dominican Republic years ago—with gringo tourists. It’s certainly a novelty for us. Another item for sale, which I find amusing, are these crudely painted birds (mostly toucans) with movable wings and legs. The funny thing is, though, they’re made of wood and certainly not ready for flight. Nonetheless, I saw several North Americans buying them.

There are several benefits to being in San Jose, two of which are most important to me and Beth: English-language magazines and decent restaurants. It is nearly impossible to find magazines and books written in English in the San Ramon area. We sometimes crave People, Time, Vanity Fair, and one of my favorites, the Economist. In terms of restaurants, San Ramon has a decent number of them, however there isn’t much variety. In San Jose, you can find Chinese, Italian, Thai, and many other types of food; and all pretty decent quality as well. My favorite restaurant is Tin Jo, an Asian restaurant with a huge menu covering China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. It is definitely an Asian food lover’s paradise!

One thing you do in encounter much more regularly in San Jose than in the San Ramon area, is the sound of fire engines and police cars. I heard them several times at night and it reminded me of where I lived in Washington, DC.

Back in Los Angeles Sur….

Back to reality after a few days away is never fun. In fact, a few days ago, a man shows up at my front door on a motorcycle. Around his neck he has some official-looking badge and I start to cringe slightly. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong here so far (except almost get into a bar flight—see my previous blog entry) but he did have some kind of official-looking paper to give me. As it turns out, it was the annual property tax, a mere $66 (okay, Beth just screamed at the top of her lungs because she though she saw a rat—Lord help us!) which I was more than happy to pay. Of course, this being Costa Rica, I needed to go down to the municipal office in San Ramon to pay it. It seemed easy enough: show them the paper and give them $66 worth of colones (no credit cards of course!).

My neighbor (and a good sport I might add!) offered to take me there since I had not done this before and she needed to pay her bill as well. So, we set out at 9am for the brief trip to San Ramon, thinking I’d be back home by 11 or so—I always add an hour to what I think something should take here—after completing this minor errand. Well, as I knew inherently, it was not that easy and took over three hours to give the local government my money!

The clerk behind the counter at the San Ramon municipal office—called “muni” by everyone, stared at my paper, looking a bit perplexed, then hit a bunch of keys on her computer and made a few calls. After several minutes I was still not at the point of handing over my money. What I’ve learned here is that when they stamp a document one or twice, or even three or four times, then you’re in the clear. This wasn’t happening yet.

A man came over and motioned to me to follow him. Up a windy, rickety stair case, I was presented to another clerk, this time simply sitting in front of her desk while she typed more keys on the computer. She printed something out which I assumed I would need to use in some way. She stapled it to my document, said good bye, and I was on my way to—well, I wasn’t sure.

The small piece paper she had affixed to my property tax bill had the name, address and phone number of a local attorney on it. As I’ve also learned living here, most things involving property, purchasing an automobile or even a cell phone, require an attorney. So, after many false starts me and my friend found the attorney’s office and went in.

I wasn’t sure what the attorney was going to do but learned fairly quickly in the conversation that it would cost 18,000 colons (or about $36) for her services. Even before we could get to her services, she should showed us a picture of her home and plenty of small talk ensued, much of which I did not understand. So, the attorney finally turns to her computer. She has some legal looking document on her screen and I watch her quickly delete the name of some other corporation in the document and replace it with “Angel Valley Enterprises, S.A.,” the name of our corporation. After a few more name changes (I’m not sure she knew how to use global “find and replace” in Microsoft Word), she prints out this one page document and sends us on our way. I think, but I’m not positive, that the document said this was a valid corporation and there were no liens on it or some such thing. How she would know that, I’m not sure, as she didn’t search any online directory or database that I could see—and I wasn’t asking questions.

Back at the “muni,” we go to the same clerk and clearly she’s having difficulties as I don’t see here stamping my document and asking me for money. After more phone calls and explanations that I cannot understand (even my friend who is quickly becoming fluent in Spanish could not understand her), we’re told to come back at noon.

Our biggest concern in coming back at noon is that many offices, particularly government offices, close at lunchtime, and exactly at noon for one hour. So, we made our way back there by 10 until noon just to make sure. I hand over my document and we wait and wait and wait, until finally someone brings a piece of paper to the clerk, which to us looked like a bank statement from Banco Nacional. She stamps that document, twice, I pay the bill, and we’re on our way—by about 12:30pm. Who know really what went on but I’m hoping this means next year’s tax payment will be easy. It just boggles the mind how hard it is to give up a small amount of money!

In a few days I go to get my emissions inspection for the car. That may be a whole other blog entry!

Thanks for reading and keep those comments coming! In the next entry I may write something about the ins and outs of running a B&B (unless something more interesting comes along!)

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Cows, Earthquakes, Festivals....

2006-01-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

It’s been a fairly quiet week here at Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast. Well, not perfectly quiet. This past week has seen to brought many cows, calves and bulls in our yard! One more, we were awakened early by the bloodly loud sounds of Osita and Reina yelping at the top of their lungs. From my window, I couldn’t tell what they were barking at, but later on, we discovered a bull had gotten loose and came right into our side yard, most likely to feed on the various vegetation growing there.

Later in the week, in full view of our guests sitting outside on the patio, we had a whole parade of cows, calves and bulls streaming up our driveway—they apparently got loose from their pen down the road. This happened several times this week. While we like the farmer who owns the cows, his fences must be like Swiss cheese as these cows just don’t stay in! Well, it was a fun experience for our guests. They got a real taste of farm life for sure!

Bar fight….

Earlier in the week I found myself at my favorite hangout, “Las Poetas,” a fun bar on a hill about San Ramon, which I wrote about in an earlier blog (http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Ramon/blog-32750.html). I was with my drinking buddy and we were there minding our own business, having a few drinks and chatting with the locals. Next to us was a gringo speaking mostly English with two Ticas. I’d guess the gringo was in his 50s. Well, as time went on he got louder and more drunk. At one moment, my friend—always the gentleman—invited one of the Ticas the gringo was sitting with, to dance as the music became amenable to such activity and she made motions as if she wanted to dance. So, my friend indulged here. It was a very innocent gesture on my friend’s part but the gringo did not like it and started to cuss at him and me (geez, I was just sitting there minding my own business!). Luckily for us, we had a number of friends there—all Ticos, all younger, all strong—so they protected us. The gringo wanted to get up and take a swing at my friend, but frankly, he was too blitzed to do much of anything except incessantly cuss and call his “girlfriends” all manner of names I cannot write here except in code: %$@%#^%((((($%^#$@%@%&*$^&^. You get the idea!

Eventually, he was annoying most everyone in the bar and locals took it upon themselves to somewhat forcibly remove him from the bar while telling him the place was closing early. Actually, it wasn’t closing as we stayed for a good while after he left—he walked home as it turns out as his girlfriends wanted nothing further to do with him. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying our new friends and telling them that this obnoxious drunk doesn’t represent all gringos. I think they believed us luckily and invited us back again soon!

Breakfast baby….

I am starting to cook breakfast a bit more often now that my confidence in cooking is starting to building. I can actually multi-task: make toast, scramble, eggs, and make coffee all at the same time! Yes, to Beth, it’s no big deal, but for me to make breakfast for others, and actually learn that they liked it, is a huge for me! God, two years ago, I could make one dish and boil water! The other day I made breakfast burritos which our guests devoured quickly. They either really like them or were very hungry. Well, at least I’m not a total embarrassment to cooking now! I still like it better when Beth cooks (plus, I’m just not a morning person) though.

Summertime (for the most part)….

As most of you know, it is summer now in Costa Rica and most days are sunny and warm with light breezes. Everything is fresh and still green as we do get some rain occasionally but nothing like the rainy season. Last weekend though, was really nasty and quite unusual. Apparently, a nasty cold front swept into the southern U.S., particularly Florida, dropping temperatures even there into the low 30s for a few days. Well, that same front affected our weather last Saturday and boy did we feel it. It was so cold on Saturday that I had on two sweaters most of the day and barely left my bed. And, the wind! Being up at 3800 feet in the mountains, the winds wail over the mountains from the Caribbean coast (actually from both coasts sometimes) at times and Saturday was an exceptionally windy day, even for us. Our house is pretty well protected from the winds, unlike some of our neighbors who feel the brunt of the winds but we even felt them. I don’t know what the wind speed was but I’m sure at times we had wind gusts of 40-45 MPH or more. The winds, combined with some rain, made it day for doing nothing but staying in bed and reading. As I said, it is rare to have wind and rain together with such ferocity this time of year, but at least it was only one day.

Festival in Palmares….

Palmares, a quaint small town not far from us, is having its annual festival this week. As an aside, there are at least three towns in Costa Rica named after Greece: Grecia, Atenas and Palmares. In fact, at the entrance to Grecia off the autopista (highway), there are four large Greek columns.

The festival is one of the largest in the country and visitors come from all over. It’s such a big festival in fact that in addition to festival goers, 400 police officers also attend, trying to keep the relatively rowdy crowd in check. Apparently, the festival is also prime territory for pickpockets. That aside, there’s a large horse parade, many booths with food and goods for sale; grandstands with music and entertainers, and much more. Virtually ever town in Costa Rica has a festival at some point during the year. San Ramon had its party just before Christmas; our hamlet of Los Angeles Sur had its festival in August (which I unfortunately missed). People show great pride in their communities here!

Earthquakes….

In the days leading up to New Year’s we had two tremors and thankfully no deaths or injuries were reported. One, on December 28 had a 5.1 magnitude and woke me out of bed (okay, it was 9:30am but I was up late the night before!). The bed shook like crazy; I rolled over, and make the proverbial “whoa!” Well, I had to get up anyway. According to the officials at the “Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica,” the quake was felt the most in the Central Valley (where we live), particularly just south of San Jose. A few days later, a larger earthquake, measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit the southern part of the country near the city of David, near Panama. That one I didn’t feel.

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Starting the New Year....in Manuel Antonio

2006-01-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, a new year is upon us. They just fly by and I’m not getting any younger. Yikes! There’s plenty to do in the coming year and the next few months are very busy with customers—which is good given that the B&B, under our ownership, has only been in business for about 6 months.

Manuel Antonio—again

I spent a few days over New Years in Manuel Antonio. I must admit I love that place! The beach is terrific, the people are friendly, the food is decent, and if you look hard enough, you can actually find a hotel room at a reasonable price, even in peak season.

After taking the local bus down there last time—which took about six hours—I decided to see if the ole Trooper would hold up, so I drove down there on the Thursday before New Years. Sure enough, it made it, and surprisingly there were very few cars on the road, at least from Puntarenas to Quepos. I don’t know what it is but the road from San Ramon to Puntarenas is always a pain in the neck. I think it is partially due to the fact that it is not only hilly in spots but winds around sharp turns in several places. This combined with the many trucks that travel this route, make it less than pleasant. At least after bypassing Puntarenas about 1.5 hours from San Ramon, heading south along the Pacific coast is much easier.

From Puntarenas to Quepos (Manuel Antonio is really part of Quepos), you breeze past Jaco and other fairly large towns, and luckily for the most part, you don’t have to go right through these towns. Every so often you come close to the shore which is a pleasant respite after dogging potholes just south of Puntarenas (and I mean in some places, you cannot dodge them because they litter the entire road!). About 1/3 of the way from Quepos the road become straight, and luckily flat, for most of the drive. On either side of the road you come across rubber tree and other plantations, no doubt owned by large foreign companies. Alongside these plantations you’ll find new neighborhoods apparently built by the companies for the workers. Solidly-built, concrete slab houses all exactly the same, while small, are neat and cozy. A few years ago I remember driving through this same area and only remember a bunch of ramshackle houses scattered about, so I gather this is a big improvement for the workers and I am glad to see the improvement in their lives (I assume).
Driving in the center of Manuel Antonio is always fun, if not a bit dodgy, given the tourists, hawkers and other cars on this narrow road—barely made for two cars going in opposite directions. In the center of M.A., I run into Gama, a friend who does tours of the national park, just off the beach. He tells me about a fashion show/happy hour at a local hotel that evening. It’s as nice feeling to be able to make my way into a town, by myself, and find people I know, especially a good four hours from home. So my plans are set for the evening.

Models and more models….

I was amazed how many models appeared at the hotel fashion show. This is a fairly small hotel, however, with a nice bar and pool area. The patio just off the pool was used as the runway. At the end of the show all the models dove into the pool—oh, this was a swimwear show!

I was pleased to meet a bunch of locals/ex-pats through my friend Gama, who apparently is well known in M.A! I’ve learned that no matter where you live in Costa Rica, everyone seems to talk about the same issues: the long rainy season, the onslaught of tourists, lack of funding to repair roads, residency status, and so on.

After the fashion show, we all head to dinner at a great seafood place just up the road. I was tired and actually turned in fairly early that night as I was determined to have three full days at the beach.

Snows Cones on the beach….

While I am not much of a beach person, I find myself sitting on the beach at Manuel Antonio on the last day of the year. After six months of living through an unusually grueling rainy season northwest of San Jose, the paleness of my skin is as much a reflection of my mood as it is a lack of sunshine. Fortunately, the sun is in abundance. There’s beautiful surf rolling in and out with proletarian surfers attempting to catch the less than gigantic waves. Tourists on a day trip roll along not far from shore on a polished-white sailboat. An occasional whistle is heard signaling that someone needs to be dispatched from a nearby restaurant to bring some food or drink to a sun-worshipper unwilling to give up a prized spot in the sand.

This beach, set across the street from the usual rattrap of t-shirt shops, restaurants and bars is crowed on this holiday weekend but not unpleasantly so. Sunbathers keep a respectable distance from each other. While there are a number of families on holiday enjoying the playa, there are not nearly as many snowbirds from North America, having fled their chilly hinterland, as I would have expected. A Costa Rican family with grandparents, parents, and not less than a baker’s dozen worth of children, sit near me. They have a full bar set up on their sprawling beach towel, complete with vodka, gin and “Centenario,” Costa Rica’s most well known, but not best, rum. They also have enough mixers to make even the most experienced bartender proud.
Enjoying the luxury of not having to hide among the shadows of the palm trees that dot the far edge of the beach to avoid irritating gringo tourists, I find myself wondering about the local people who live and work here. I wonder about those people who ply their trade day after day hoping to make a living from the conveniences expected by developed-world citizens before the sunshine again retreats behind the clouds of the rainy season. I reflect on their lives and livelihoods—probably not a bad day for reflection on the last day of the year.

My new friend on the beach is Jorge, the snow cone maker who I’ve gotten to know over a few days. He seems to cautiously notice my skin transforming from modestly ashen to bright red while fastidiously keeping to his route along the beach. It becomes apparent to me that generations of family history must have made his dark brown skin immune to the ills of the sun. He looks darker than most Costa Ricans though. He could have indigenous blood in him, or perhaps he is Nicaraguan or El Salvadorian. It might just be that his many years of living at the beach accounts for his dark complexion. He doesn’t appear to be more than 40 years old but I’ve never been accurate in guessing ages.

Jorge travels up and down this fairly long stretch of dark sand beach dozens of times a day bringing a chilled joy to the masses. I’ve had snow cones many times before but never one con leche; the milk swirled adeptly in a zigzag pattern on top of the cone by Jorge’s experienced hands. The shaved ice now saturated with sweet, creamy condensed milk and combined with cherry syrup does not wear thin even after eating three of them in rapid succession.

As I watch Jorge push his snow cone cart up and down the beach my business mind turns on. I wonder a number of things about him. First, as any good businessman is likely to do, I wonder how much money he makes a day at $1 a pop. In a half hour I observe him dispense ten cones, three of them to me. So, if that holds true he could be earning $20 an hour which I suspect for a Tico is a good income. I also realized that I was thirty percent of his business in this short time span so perhaps I was due a discount on my next purchase. I won’t ask however.

My second thought about Jorge’s small sliver of the snow cone industry is to consider whether he runs an efficient business. As I watch him make his way along the beach I wonder if his straight-line trajectory, as if he is on a highway for which he cannot exit, brings him the most income. I think perhaps he should be going in and out among the sunbathers rather than traveling in front of them.

As the day wears on, the beachgoers inch their chairs, towels and umbrellas back at fairly consistent intervals as the tide creeps closer to them. I notice, somewhat surprised, that Jorge does not alter his route, staying in his highway’s right lane, moving at the same leisurely clip as he had all day. An occasional parent runs over and purchases two cones most likely to keep her sniveling kids occupied and at bay.
Later in the afternoon, Jorge stops for a few minutes not far from me appearing to be just as weary from the sun as the rest of us. Thinking it to be a convenient moment for me to approach him and make conversation, I seize the opportunity.

“It’s hot out here,” I tell him casually in very broken Spanish. “Si, muy caliente,” he responds wiping his forehead with a scraggily, soiled hand towel. I want to know why he hasn’t altered his path in the sand since his customers have all moved significantly away from him. I don’t want to be pushy, however, especially when the sand and the sun are enough to try one’s patience on this hot day.

He asks me, as any good businessman would, if I would like another snow cone. I decline not wanting him to think I’m just another overindulgent Norte Americano, even though it has been some time since my last one. Gaining some bravado as he doesn’t appear to want to move on despite my having just rejected his business proposition, I ask him more about his voyage up and down the beach.

“I see all of the people are far away from the water now but you are still here.”

Before I could further explain myself and ask my burning question, he breaks into a thin smile perhaps because my abrupt statement is as obvious as the sun is hot. After he unclasps a button from his shirt to let some additional air in, he points to his small thin lump of ice seemingly taking up less and less space in the bottom of his cart. “It is almost all gone. No ice, no money.”

“But it looks like you have enough ice for several more snow cones?” I would have thought he would want to sell as many more snow cones as possible before the ice became just a small trickle of water leaking out of the bottom of his patched-up cart. My mind rattled with several good reasons why he should get out there and “Sell! Sell! Sell!”

“Yes, I want to sell many snow cones.” All the while he fidgets with his numerous bottles of syrup, wiping some down, closing others, but making no effort to move on. “My family depends on me.”

I wasn’t sure he understood me. If he hustled up to the edge of the beach that meets up with Manuel Antonio’s main strip, where the beachgoers were now congregating, he could perhaps sell a few more.

“If your family depends on you, then why not go where the customers are?” It seemed there was just something I did not understand about his business and I hoped he would provide an answer that as a foreigner in this country and to his business, was not be apparent to me.

“It is 4:30. I have to be home by 5 prepare dinner for my children.”

That’s as good an answer as any I could have imagined!

Talk to you all soon.

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Holiday Tidings, Year-end Ruminations About Living in Costa Rica

2005-12-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that I have been living here in Costa Rica for six months already. Who would have thought that at this time last year, I would be living in this developing country paradise “south of the border.” A year ago I wasn’t working, figuring out where to go, what to do—essentially trying to determine what my next move would be. I had some good options but none of the places in the United States I could have moved to motivated me very much. Even the jobs offered to me did not do much for me. I think I had enough of working for some big company, making faceless shareholders rich. So, I am here, and it is my home until somewhere else, something else, or someone else motivates me. Not that I am leaving any time soon.

There are a lot of good things that I’ve discovered about Costa Rica while living here these first six months. First and foremost, what comes to mind are the people I have met here. Almost every Tico or Tica I’ve met has been helpful and friendly, genuinely expresses a desire to know more about me, and always appears trustworthy. Ticos, unlike those from some other Central American countries, do not seem to want to leave here. That’s a good think I think because it says something strong about the country, its people, the way of life here and perhaps something about the government, well, maybe not so much on that score!

I also love the fact that it is a slower pace of life here. People don’t seem to be inpatient. If they have to wait an hour at the bank (which is often the case), so be it. If it takes a week for a repairman to get something done, well, that’s life.

Living in a country where national pride is pervasive but not in a fascist, dangerous sense makes this a special place. While Costa Rica is a small landmass situated between two oceans and covering well less than one percent of the world’s land, it boasts at least five percent of the world’s plant species, owing to its rich terra and dozen or so different microclimates. I wouldn’t say Ticos are inherently naturalists, but they are fiercely proud of their flora and fauna. And why wouldn’t they be? Here I am on a lazy Tuesday afternoon sitting in front of my house as the sun hovers low over the western sky dotted with a few wispy cumulus clouds, with only the sounds of nature to remind me that I am not asleep. I am amazed actually at the complexity of the mountains that make up my front yard. They crisscross in an indiscernible pattern, some hills crossing in front, others behind. Some mountains are dotted with large trees in various shades of green, others with hints of yellow. Then there are green valleys, devoid of trees but instead covered with plush grasses and fields of sugarcane nearly ready for harvest. While there isn’t a pre-determined pattern to the trees and bushes speckled among the mountaintops, hillsides and valleys, somehow they fit just perfectly within this vast landscape. Honestly, it gets me thinking about the forces of nature and perhaps some Godly or other spiritual involvement in their creation. Of course, I realize that an historic—actually prehistoric—combination of the oceans on both sides of the country and volcanic and related seismic activity, all had a hand in creating what I claim as my front yard. Certainly, I believe in evolution and the physical and natural forces that created the earth and its inhabitants of all kinds. But then again, one has to wonder about the perfection of nature and particularly, its beauty, and question whether some spiritual being or perhaps a society or planet of creatures much more intelligent than us had a role in creating all of this wonderful scenery that ceases to amaze me. And Costa Rica, particularly where I live, is one of these wonders. I seem to have gotten a bit off track however the beauty of this place is another good thing about living here.

Another good thing I’ve discovered is not only the locals I’ve met but also our guests. I always learn something new from them and given my insidious desire to travel, and even already being well traveled, I’ve discovered new places I might like visit someday, given time and resources. I also recently learned a bit about Canadian politics and their take on Americans from a mother and son who stayed with us for a few days. I learned from a couple and their daughter both the joy and sorrow of leaving the land of opportunity (the U.S.) to move here, perhaps—hopefully—where new opportunities await them. An old, and certainly wise man taught me that life is not about what you ARE in it, but what you DO in life. Whether you are doing something worthwhile for yourself—if it makes you learn and grow—or are doing something for others, that is what matters most. I knew this lesson inherently when I lived in the U.S. and had a career and all of that, but who had time for that kind of introspection? Now that I am running a fairly simple business and can take long breaks during the day if I so choose, I have the time to think about such things.

I cannot say with certainty what I like most about this country but it is an amalgamation of things for sure. The people, their culture, their seemingly inherent happiness and their genuinely friendly attitude towards foreigners, are among my top choices. However, if I was forced into naming one thing that I liked best about Costa Rica I would tell anyone who asked that it is what I have yet to discover about this wonderful place. It is what comes next—tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year—that intrigues me the most and what I look forward to by living here.

There are of course a few things you learn about living in a new place that are less than good—things that sadden you, things that annoy you, things that just make one’s day a little more strenuous than one may want, and things you wouldn’t know before moving. For example, I recently picked up a friend at the airport. This was a Tuesday in the middle of the day. The road from San Ramon (the nearest “big town” near me) to the airport, the InterAmerican highway, is a decent road by Costa Rican standards with some parts of the road even having two lanes in each direction, particularly on hills, thank God. It is also one of the most traveled roads in Costa Rica with holiday makers heading to the Pacific coast and all nature of goods being shipped back and forth between the ports and San Jose by truck. However, on this particular Tuesday there was some sort of bike race originating north and west of San Ramon and going at least to the airport where I got off the road. So, of course, I was right behind the leaders of the pack going a cool 25 miles per hour all the way to the airport. Even worse, cars and trucks going in the opposite direction were completely stopped in some places. I found myself being annoyed about this because my plan was to stop at Denny’s (my guilty pleasure) and have lunch before meeting my friend and I left for the airport early in order to do so. Well, as it turns out, her plane was over two hours late so I had plenty of time for lunch. I got to thinking though about this slow lurch to the airport. I was thinking how in the middle of the day on a very important business route during the onslaught of the tourist season, and also at a time when Ticos hit the road to visit family, why would there be a bike race? What were they thinking!?! It seemed nonsensical to me! I later learned that this is a good time of the year for such a race because the trade winds change and allow for good weather from the Caribbean coast all the way to the Pacific coast. The more I thought about it the more my displeasure about it subsided. I mean really so it added an hour to my trip. Did it really make a big difference in my life? No, not really. This is what Costa Rica has/seems to have done to me—my time here has made me step back and put things in perspective, and I’m lucky to be able to do so at relatively young age. Sure, I could do this type of introspection in other countries but this is where I live now.

There are other daily annoyances related to living here including visiting the bank and waiting in long queues to conduct simple transactions, or being frustrated over the generally slow pace of business. But again, compared to people who live on a daily basis hand- to-mouth, I cannot, and should not complain.

It has certainly been a transitional year moving from a relatively cushy life with a nice home, a terrific group of friends and relatively more conveniences, to a place, while beautiful, involving adapting to a new culture, making new friends, getting into a new routine—a new life really—and of course, learning another language. Adapting to a new culture has not been as difficult as I once thought. It is a matter of learning to live life like a local in terms of where to bank, when and how to travel, where to find the best produce, things like that. I’d like to think I’ve adapted fairly well, at least on a basic level. However, becoming totally immersed in a new culture, or more importantly, really being of a new culture is something different altogether. As a foreigner in Costa Rica, I will certainly be part of the community; a patron in a restaurant, a shopper at the town market and so forth, though as a non-native it is likely I will not pick up all of the cultural nuances of being Costa Rican. I will surely learn about them but those perspectives, outlooks, views of the world and many other things as seen through a Costa Rican’s eyes cannot become inherent in me. This may be an obvious statement but it is important as a way of rationalizing what to expect when one travels to or lives in a foreign country. I recall telling someone before I moved here that I wanted to “live like a Costa Rican” (mostly in an economic sense, at the time) but the fact is, I live as an American in Costa Rica. I read a great book several years ago called “Hard Travel to Sacred Places,” by Rudolph Wurltzer, about essentially how to get the most out of visiting some of the most historic, grand, beautiful and oftentimes religious places in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma). Reading this book taught me that unless one is steeped in the history of a place, reared in its mist, it is difficult, if not impossible, to truly understand it in a meaningful, deep way. The best we can do is to try to understand our surroundings, particularly the cultural activities that have become part of the history of a place and somehow relate to it given our own life experiences. This is what I am attempting to do in Costa Rica. What is the meaning of a festival? What does it mean to its people? And, as I learn about these cultural activities and experiences, what do they mean to me? It strikes me that I shouldn’t do this only here, but wherever I live. It unquestionably makes living in a new place more real; not just a superficial existence from day to day.

I think this tome started in regard to the transitional year this has been for me moving to Costa Rica but I seemed to have diverted a bit, getting into a cultural discussion. Culture is part of the transition of course. It has also been an “awakening year” for me. Giving up the 60- or 70-hour work week, getting out of the rather mundane routine and into something that has challenged me on many levels—intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and occasionally physically—has awakened me to ideas and aspirations I rarely thought about. Living a place where the primary focus of one’s life is the outdoors undeniably changes one’s perspective and absolutely how one spends one’s day. It also provides a different outlook on life. You come to better appreciate nature largely because you are living in it, and you adapt to the slower, rural life that is my home and community. You also come to learn, and I am glad I did not learn it too late in life, that there are other ways to earn a living, albeit modest, if you put your mind to it. As I said early on, who would have thought I’d be running a B&B at this stage in my life? Though I have realized that as long as I have air in my lungs, a place to sleep and eat, and in my case, some paper and pens for writing (oh, and a computer too or else I would not be to communicate with all you fine folks!), I really do not need much more in life. I have found that I can adapt to a new place and live more simply; it just takes a bit of persistence, a willingness to try new things and perhaps to throw out some old ideas. And in Costa Rica, this is relatively effortless because of the openness of the people and the fact that people here seem to want to know me. What happens tomorrow or the next day? Well, that is unknown and perhaps something I will write about in a future blog. In fact, I know I will.

Meeting people here and making new friends, while a bit of a challenge given the communication issues, is not impossible, and after six months I am finally getting out and “making the rounds.” Me and a friend now head into San Ramon or other parts of the local area, hitting our new favorite watering holes, usually on the weekends. Don’t get me wrong, this is without doubt not a “Studio 54” type of experience—far from it! What it is, though, is a relaxed night of fun meeting the locals, having drinks and a boca or two (a “boca” is small plate of food, similar to tapas). I find it so relaxed and enjoyable that more often than not, we usually head out around 9pm and don’t return home until 2am, spending a few hours in each place. There is an interesting mix of bars and clubs here, all very welcoming. One bar, located in a town near San Ramon has a decidedly local clientele, the type of place where everyone knows each other. But me and my friend, who is fluent in Spanish, have mixed in well, and we are now welcomed like natives each time we go there. Then, there is what I call the “college bars” in downtown San Ramon. Situated along a two block strip, just off the town square, there is a small array of clubs and bars for the younger set, definitely college age, and I’m sure even some of high school age. I am amazed at the number of young people who seem to come out of nowhere in the evenings, though partly owning to the fact that a branch of the University of Costa Rica is located here and also that San Ramon is the largest town west and north of San Jose until one hits Puntarenas on the Pacific coast. While many view Costa Rica as a very poor, third-world country, and it is fairly poor, the people I’ve met in these downtown bars are well dressed, well spoken and educated, and again, very willing to engage foreigners.

There is also another bar we really like and usually find it to be our final stop of the evening. Called “Las Poetas,” or “The Poets,” it is claimed to be the watering hole for San Ramon’s literary and intellectual crowd. I haven’t quite yet figured out if that is true, but it is definitely a more upscale crowd. Set well up a dirt road high above San Ramon, it provides a terrific view of the town and the valley. I like the mix of people here from couples having an intimate drink in a dark corner, groups of guys and girls having a fun night on the town, others prowling for someone single and available, and still others just there to take part in karaoke. We always meet new people here and inevitably find ourselves in the middle of a large group of people with conversations raging in both English and Spanish on all manner of subjects from the weather to politics and music and the arts. Being here and at the other bars is definitely forcing me to try to comprehend Spanish, and I am finding myself picking up more and more phrases and even communicating a bit in Spanish. I definitely understand the language much better than I speak it! Even though I wrote ad nauseam about culture earlier, I have learned that at least in a bar situation, things here are not all that much different than anywhere else. People go out to be with friends, have a drink or two or three, forget about life’s troubles, and perhaps to meet someone new. To that, one can relate in any language. It is also the case particularly for Costa Ricans of college age that being at home often involves an extended family living in cramped quarters, so getting out is a way to get away from all of that for at least a few hours. So in the end, while there are many cultural differences to comprehend in a living in a new place, there are many similarities too, and that makes us all humans.

Well, it is time to conclude this entry as things are busy around here this holiday season. It has been a great year and I’m very appreciative of the loyal readers following my new life in Costa Rica. I hope you will continue to offer comments and please come on down any time—we’d love to see you! Look for another entry shortly after the start of the New Year.

Happy holidays and have a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2006!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Drying out in Costa Rica…..

2005-12-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

It has been a very busy few weeks which has put me a bit behind in writing my blog. With Thanksgiving and many guests and friends here over the past few weeks, I’ve barely had time to check my email, let alone update my blog.

My original intention was to start this blog entry by announcing (unofficially, of course) the end of the rainy season in Costa Rica given it has not rained in the past week and an half or so. Well, with the rain last night, today and this evening, my intended announcement may have been premature. Yes, it has been glorious here lately with much sunshine, gentle breezes and nearly clear skies with temperatures hovering around 75 degrees or so. And, I have been told by several people “in the know” that the rainy season has ended but now I am not so sure. I think it is over and perhaps the rains of the last day were simply the result of a low pressure system that will soon move on its way giving way to the sun again.

It has been an incredible few weeks though. Everything dried out, flowers seem to be blooming again—perhaps after being drowned by an unusually wet rainy season—and in the last few days I’ve noticed an amazing perfume-like scent in my yard. I have not been able to figure out from which plant/flower this smell emanates, but walking around my yard reminds of being at the perfume counter in large New York City department store, perhaps Macy’s or Bergdorf’s. You smell all kinds of scents but you are just not sure from which perfume bottles the smell is coming from without asking the lady at the counter.

While the change in seasons is not as dramatic here—going from the wet season to the dry season—as one would witness say going from the fall to winter in the northeastern U.S., it is still a change nonetheless, and a noticeable one at that. After months and months of rain each day and this year much of the day, not just in the late afternoon, the pilgrimage of the Sun Gods back to Costa Rica is a welcome relief. The clouds clear, the distant hills and mountains become more defined, seeming almost closer than they really are, and the birds seem to be more numerous based the cacophony of sounds I’ve noticed lately. Certainly, after feeling cold (well, cold by the standards of a country fairly close to the equator) and wet for months, the bright sunshine and warm temperatures is enough to make anyone feel better, whatever the aliment—real or imagined—might be.

Gardening time

Since I’ve had a few days to dry out, I’ve finally started to pay attention to growing things around here, particularly our exotic vegetable garden. Two weeks ago, I rustled up the seeds that have been waiting on a shelf in my office for many months to be let out of their dark packets and start their lives anew. Beth brought a bunch of seeds, around 25 packets of various varieties, from the U.S., and I’ve set them up in our greenhouse. I am not familiar with many of the vegetables such as things like “Kyoto Minzua” and “Purple Tomatillo.” She also had seeds of a few things vaguely recognizable to me such as “Sugar Snap Peas” and “Green Globe Artichoke.”

So, I went about organizing the greenhouse, printing up labels so I wouldn’t forget which seeds were in which container and I’ve fastidiously watered them daily for the past two weeks. While all seeds sprout on their own individual time tables, I was very pleased to see about 80% of them coming up already with “Yellow Bush Beans” and “Swiss Chard” not only coming up, but growing to about two feet tall in a very short time. I’m no green thumb for sure, but a combination of the good climate, extremely rich soil I used for each container, and my loyalty to their growth through regular watering, has given me confidence that we’ll have a rich assortment of vegetables in no time at all. I will, however, plant stuff that I am familiar with such as tomatoes and cucumbers!

With the sunshine in abundance, I also did more work on the flower beds in the front of the house, planting some interesting, multi-colored plants throughout. It’ll definitely make a good impression on our friends and guests alike and provides a warm welcome for Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast!

Santa is Coming

It is definitely Christmas-time in Costa Rica, not surprising given the country is about 90% Catholic. Unless I’m already forgetting when the Christmas season kicks in, at least the commercialism aspect of it, in the United States, it seems to rear its profit-inducing head early here. Ticos seem to put their Christmas lights on their homes earlier here and many homes in our neighborhood already have their Christmas trees up. I recall as a child that we put our Christmas tree up around mid-December, perhaps even as late as December 20th, (Ted & Peter: correct me if I’m wrong please!) but in Costa Rica I started seeing them pop up by mid November!

Also, in Costa Rica, Ticos put their trees outside on their front porches, making it obvious to identify who’s got the Christmas spirit, or not. I’m not sure why they put their trees outside but I have my theories. It could be that the typical Tico home is small, not allowing much space for a tree. It could also be that, being smarter than us gringos, they put their trees outside because they don’t want the falling needles as the tree whither away, all over their homes. It might be that they want their neighbors to know they have the Christmas spirit. However, my guess is that because most Tico homes do not have chimneys, having the tree outside makes it much easier for Santa Claus to make his rounds! Their trees certainly aren’t as grand or as elaborately decorated as I’ve seen in the U.S. or some other countries, however, everyone even the poorest of families spend some money on decorating their homes and having a tree.

For us, we’re definitely getting there in terms of holiday spirit. I’ve decorated the front of the house with lights, hung our stockings—with care of course—and next week, we’ll put up our tree, decorating with the many ornaments I shipped from the states. However, I’m not sure I’m putting the tree outside, for a few reasons. First, as a child I always loved peering through neighbors’ grand living room windows to see their trees (and aptly determining every time that we had the best tree) and I’d like to have that same experience here. And, second, and more important, is that there is no way a Christmas tree will withstand the antics of Osita and Reina, our continuously mischievous puppies!

It is going to be an interesting experience celebrating Christmas in a warm climate. I have never been beyond the northeast for Christmas, except perhaps a few times in Birmingham, Alabama at my brother’s house, and even there it got a little chilly. However, here, with the palm trees and the fact that I generally wear short pants all the time, it’ll be different to wake up Christmas morning to sunshine and warm temperatures. I have no need to re-create a Curry & Ives/New England Christmas in Costa Rica but perhaps I’ll make hot chocolate that morning and blare Christmas music. We have guests and friends staying here at that time, so will do everything we can!

Quick trip to Playa Herradura

As many people know, I get “the bug” to take off somewhere, to see another town, to check off another country in my long list of countries visited, and even sometimes to go to another continent, usually more often than I can afford, and this past weekend was no different. I usually have many things to do each day but this past Saturday I woke up, did a few chores such as feeding the animals and then found myself scratching my head about what to do next. I did not feel like answering emails, following up with business contacts, cleaning something, etc., and with an incredibly bright, warm day, I decided I needed to do something to take advantage of a beautiful day.

I have been to most of the big sea towns on the Pacific Coast including Puntarenas, Tambor, Jaco, Quepos/Manuel Antonio, Dominical and a few others I’m currently forgetting, but I just had this longing to take a dip in the ocean on Saturday. So, I threw my bathing suit, a beach towel, a good book and my sunscreen in my backpack and hit the open road, destination unknown.

As I left my house I did quickly realize that I would need to be back home by dinner time or so given my dogs would be clamoring for their supper by then and while my area is very safe, I don’t like leaving the house unoccupied all night. So, that pre-determined my destination, a beach town within a few hours drive. Since I am still familiarizing myself with the vast network of roads in Costa Rica (yea, right!), I decided I’d take the main road to Puntarenas, the most direct shot west to the Pacific Ocean and then head south to find a small beach town for lunch and a dip in the ocean.

While Puntarenas has a decently-long coastline with a number of places to pull off the road and hop in the ocean, it wasn’t as quaint as I was looking for and to me, feels like a big, somewhat grimy city next to the ocean. I wanted a place with thatch-roofed cabins and cozy restaurants and of course, great views of the ocean, but not too far away. This objective took me down the coast about an hour from Puntarenas and I ended up at Playa Herradura. Play Herradura is relatively small town just north of Jaco but with fairly few tourists and much less commercialism than Jaco. While Jaco is a long straight strip of a town a few blocks off the beach with all sorts of tourist traps, Playa Herradura is hidden from the main road and probably not well-noticed by most tourists, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I pulled into the one and only dirt road representing Herradura’s “main street” which paralleled the beach very closely, to find just a few restaurants and surf shops fronted by huge, expansive palm trees and in front of them, a wide beach with only a handful of sun bathers. I parked right in front the beach and behind me were two or three interesting looking places for lunch. What a glorious find! I found a nice restaurant and had a relaxing meal served by very attentive wait staff. As an aside, unlike other restaurants in the many countries I’ve been in, the waiters in most restaurants in Costa Rica are very helpful and seem to genuinely want to serve you. I also should point out that this was the first place I’ve been to in Costa Rica that had a real salad bar. I knew this country had more than five types of vegetables!

After lunch, I popped across the street and enjoyed an afternoon at the beach, away from tourists, away from hawkers selling all kinds of things, and most importantly away from anyone and anything to distract me from the ocean views and before long, a brief beach nap.

That’s it for now folks!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Waterfall hike, Thanksgiving, mucho car problems…and more!

2005-11-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a busy few weeks! Plenty of guests, plenty of friends and plenty of Turkey!! Finally, after being here for several months, I decided one afternoon to take a walk down to the Barranca River which runs near my property. There is another river (I think it is a different river but I’m not sure) up above me but the hike is more difficult.

The dogs decided they would follow me, which was nice actually, as they kept up with me, and most importantly, stayed out of the water. It was a nice downhill hike perhaps a half mile first through some sugar cane fields and then to the river banks. Walking through the sugar cane field on my way to the river made me feel like the baseball players in “Field of Dreams,” walking into that dense field to something mysterious inside.

I was immediately struck by the difference between my immediate surroundings at Angel Valley Farm (www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com) and the river area, just a short distance away. Once I got to the river bank and found the two waterfalls there among the dense canopy of the rainforest, I was amazed by the cacophony of sounds and the lack of light. It was intense! I thought how lucky I was to have such a neat river with waterfalls right near my property.

I saw various multicolored birds, witnessed rodents of various unknown specifics making their way through the many rocks that lay across the swallow part of the river bed, and heard the noises of all kinds of animals, most of them hidden in the dense thicket or high above in the trees. The river was deep in some parts, particularly where the waterfall spilled out and in other areas became a pretty fast moving river, almost good enough for whitewater rafting.

Reina and Osita definitely enjoyed the hike but being still puppies, are not quite ready for swimming lessons and only got dangerously close the water. Osita actually stuck one her paws in the river but immediately retreated. I guess the water was too cold for her!

The climb up the hill back to my house was a bit more grueling than going down but I’ll definitely be back again soon, as I’m sure each time I’ll discover something new about the wide, long river.

“Turkey Day” a la Costa Rica!

Thanksgiving was a great time here! It certainly felt a bit odd initially as this was my first Thanksgiving living in a warm climate in my entire life (I guess Christmas will feel even odder)! It was a great multicultural, multigenerational experience however. A guest list that initially started at 19, ended up at 26 guests, including two of my good friends from Washington, DC. The others were mostly neighbors and some of my new friends.

I must admit I was a bit nervous, as one, I had never hosted such a big party that involved real food, and two, I prayed I bought the right turkeys and they would come out alright. Well, lucky for me, my neighbor MaryEllen cooked two of the three small birds we bought and while I cooked the third bird with the help of my friend Russell, we didn’t even it use it as we had way too much turkey and other food.

The morning of Thanksgiving when Fernando, Mary Ellen’s husband, came up to take two of he turkeys for Mary Ellen to cook, I immediately got a call from Mary Ellen after Fernando returned home, nothing that first, the Turkeys were pre-cooked and smoked (I did noticed they looked a little dark in the supermarket). Second, she said they were past their date of expiration! As it turned out, they were not expired (though they were dead, that I can assure you) thankfully!

All and all, everyone had a great time. We ended up with a quite a few side dishes including a squash soup and a corn chowder, mashed potatoes, rice and beans of course, a few other Costa Rican staples, cranberry sauce, homemade bread, fresh fruit, apple pie, a birthday cake for one of our neighbors, and my favorite, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves).

After Thanksgiving dinner, several of us settled in at “Mi Rancho” bar/restaurant across the street for an evening of karaoke. What a great time!

Oh, my Trooper!

My Izusu Trooper continues to take a beating and remains ill. I guess it got quite the workout coming back from Nicaragua. I had to have the entire gear box replaced which my bilingual mechanic did quickly, however, it still doesn’t switch gears well and has almost zero power in any gear going up hills—not a good thing in my neighborhood! So, it’s back at the shop and hopefully another new gear box will fix the problem. Stay tuned!

Work finally coming to an end…

It looks like most of the renovations on the B&B are about over with today’s fixing of several windows that were missing window panes or the window mechanism was not closing properly, making the house a little cold at night. Tonight it feels warm inside! It was a long haul for sure getting things done, but a great payoff—a place we can call our own and a very comfortable and inviting place for our guests.

The weather is finally breaking and I truly hope the rainy season is coming to an end. Today was warm (high 70s/low 80s) and bright and sunny—definitely why I moved to Costa Rica!! I hope you’ll all visit us soon!

More soon!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4CR@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Bummin' in Bogota!

2005-11-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today I write you from Bogota, Columbia, yes, BOGOTA. I am visiting a friend here. Yes, my travel blog is primarily and usually about Costa Rica but it’s my blog and I’ll write what I %$$#%%# please!

Actually, I figured since I was away from the farm (literally) for a few days, why not write about a different place and then be fresh next time for another entry on Costa Rica? So here goes….

I didn’t know much about Bogota or Columbia in general before visiting here except some of the intimidating things I’ve heard about:

1. 1/3 or more of the country is controlled by so-called “narco-terrorists;”
2. It is the leading producer and exporter of cocaine;
3. It has over 25,000 violent murders a year—more than any other country; and the State Department does not recommend traveling here (http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_941.html)

However, as my friends who know me realize, I have a habit of traveling off the beaten path a bit read Myanmar (Burma), Bosnia, Cambodia, Paraguay, Laos, etc! I’m always very careful and keep myself out of situations that could cause me harm.

Reviewing point #1 above, it is hard to imagine part of my homeland, the United States, being controlled by rebels! New England controlled by some nutty eco-terrorists from Vermont? The west controlled by gun-toting NRA types from Montana? Florida controlled by Walt Disney (oops, already is!)? I don’t know what the people think of that here, except to say they stay away from the trouble spots.

So, we should focus on the positive. First, I was pleasantly surprised to learn what a beautiful city Bogota is! It has many parks and gardens, all told about three times as big as New York’s Central Park. It is clean. The roads were mostly immaculate, gardens and lawns off highways nicely pruned, and for a city that has succumbed to urban sprawl as much as any, it is fairly well organized.

It is a huge city—bigger than I thought—with over 10 million people living the greater metropolitan area and most residents living in high-rise apartments, just like in New York City. It does suffer from smog problems like Los Angeles however, I didn’t find it to be as constant as LA. In fact, unlike Costa Rica currently, each day of my stay has been almost perfectly sunny, highs in the mid to upper 60s!

I should mention it is a city well above sea level, at about 8,000 feet and even I had to acclimatize to the location a bit. This probably isn’t the best city for people with heart problems. However, as mentioned earlier, being so high the temperatures are always moderate as is the humidity. In fact, from what I have read, it pretty much hovers in the mid 60s year around.

It is a very European type of city. It has wide boulevards, ornate buildings, and monuments to many historical figures. The people appear to be European looking somewhat, particularly in their attire: smart, European-looking business suits, classy shoes, coats and so on. These people are right out of Milan or Paris. It was hard to define everyone as Columbian looking. Some looked very European; others definitely had an indigenous look, probably from pre-Columbian times. However, most had dark hair and relatively dark skin as one would expect.

I think after living somewhat “provincially” for a while in Costa Rica, the big city was a welcome change. The area I was staying in was very upscale—it reminded me a lot of Georgetown in Washington, DC (minus “The Exorcist” of course!)

Bogota also seems to have everything! In the area I was in, there were dozens of fancy restaurants from Mexican to Sushi to Italian and many others. In fact, one restaurant sold crepes and waffles. I definitely need to try it!

On one of my long walks, I came across the most interesting mall (at least to me). When I came upon it, I knew it was a mall as it looked similar to many U.S. malls. However, once inside, I realized it was a mall only for computer stores! There must have been 50 or more computer stores in there selling everything—hardware and software-one could ever need for a computer. Several stores specialized in laptops, other is networking, and so on. I wish I had brought my computer shopping list!

Like New York, Bogota is filled with many yellow taxis. In fact, on many streets you’ll see a lot more taxis than private cars. The taxis here are very small, low to the ground, and their tires are barely bigger than those on my mountain bike! However, they appear to get in and out of Bogota’s smaller streets pretty well.

Given my concerns about touring the city on my own, on my first full day here, I hired a tour guide to show me the main sites. Oscar, the guide, had lived here all his life and new the city from top to bottom. At the top, we went up to Montserrat, the mountain-top overlooking the city, about 2,000 feet up. Needless to say, the view was spectacular and the mountain top had an old church and monastery—and of course souvenir shops! Down into the city, the guide took me to the “Gold Museum” to see an incredible collection of pre-Columbian gold pieces dating as far back as 5000 B.C. For a mere $3, I got to see the collection with an English-speaking museum guide. The guide was great and his English was excellent however he spoke as fast as a New Yorker so I had to listen very carefully to keep up. After a while, though, it became the same old thing: “This is a gold breast plate.” “This is gold jewelry.” There are apparently over 100,000 pieces in the collection—while impressive, thankfully I only saw about 5,000 of them!

We also toured the “La Candelaria” section of Bogota, which has the oldest buildings in the city and is the original base of the city. It is now a university area with many students out on the streets, in cafes or relaxing in parks among ancient wooden buildings with interesting architecture.

I particularly liked the “Zona Rosa” area which is much more urban. Truly a city with anything one could want, I enjoyed the hustle and bustle (lots of hustle!) of this area with shops the locals visit, modest but restaurants and hawkers of all types selling a wide variety of items from their wooden boxes or duffle bags. I found a great steak restaurant in this area. For $7, I had a huge piece of steak which was one of the best cuts of beef I’ve had outside of Argentina. I have not been able to find something as good in Costa Rica so far. What I liked best about this place is that it was all locals eating there—no “ugly Americans.”

Speaking of Americans, and other tourists, I found very few of them. I would imagine that given the high crime rate (which is decreasing according to government statistics), part of the country outside of the control of the government, and the cocaine business, promoting Bogota as a tourist destination is not easy. From what I could tell, most of the tourists seemed to be from other South American countries. I also heard some Germans. I may have seen one or two people I thought were Americans, but no more than that.

It is a city filled with things to do culturally. There are many theaters, dozens of art galleries and museums and what I particularly liked, was that there were many bookstores. In fact, one area had about three blocks of bookstores. Another part of the city had a mall, just with bookstores. Despite everything you here about Columbia, a city filled with bookstores, people with intellectual curiosity, and good food, it cannot be all that bad!

I read in a guide book that “Columbia is a country of smiling people.” I certainly witnessed that in my brief stay here. I saw school kids coming out of their classrooms smiling, parents and their children smiling at each other, and couples smiling in that giddy way we all know.

Three days here was definitely not enough and I want to come back. While many people may have a problem overcoming the many negatives portrayed in the media about Columbia, like any city, do what is sensible and you’ll be fine.

I have a busy week coming up with more guests, friends coming, and Thanksgiving, so look for much more soon!!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Costa Rican and Nicaraguan border towns…..and more!

2005-11-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

I will work my way back from today, Sunday, through much of a busy few weeks and back again to Sunday!

Sunrise/breakfast….

Today I woke up at 5:30am—definitely early for me! However, the sun was coming up and there was barely a cloud in the sky. What a bright crisp morning it was here! Makes the move here with all of the trials and tribulations (more about that later) worth it!

This has been a very busy few weeks with non-stop guests every day, touring around, finalizing some of the work around the house and finally settling into a routine. I was very happy to learn that one of our guests this past week actually found out about us from one of the flyers I put up at the English language bookstore, 7th Street Books, in San Jose. I am glad my time there a few weeks ago paid off. In fact, the guest will tell her friends about us which is great too.

A big milestone for me this week was that I actually cooked breakfast for our guests one day (okay, my friend Randy helped a bit). That was a big fear of mine: handling the culinary part of the operation. However, I think I’ve picked it up and now have a repertoire of pancakes (after asking Randy, “How do you make the pancakes round!?”), scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and fruit. Next, I need to learn to make omelets and French toast. At least I know that in a pinch I can handle breakfast. Dinner, well, that’s down the road a bit—though I can make pasta! I need to get an outdoor grill set up as I can do a lot more on it!

Visiting border towns….

My friends Theresa and Randy, whom I worked with (and traveled extensively with) when we all worked at US Airways together, visited for a few days this week. I love spending time with them because they share my interest (actually, my obsession) with visiting new places, usually off the beaten track. And, this week was definitely off the main road.

We decided to head north and make our way into Nicaragua as none of us had been there before. Now, we are not talking about visiting the beautiful old colonial town of Granada or the capital, Managua. We’re talking about visiting the area where the Contras supplied arms during the war in Nicaragua in the 1980s—we’re talking Ollie North country!

So, we hopped into my trusty (or later to find out, not so trusty Izusu Trooper) and headed for the border. Destination: Los Chiles on Costa Rican side. It was actually a pleasant drive up. We stopped in the town of Zarcero on the way. Zarcero is set in the hills north and east of San Ramon and has a lovely town square with shrubs made into various animals. It takes a lot of work to get the shrubs to look like bears and other animals. Though we wondered a bit about the some of the animals being intertwined as we couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to be doing; we had an idea which I won’t print here!

Heading north out of Zarcero, the highway got remarkably good all the way to Los Chiles. The land was flat and there were no potholes or even many cars. We wondered why the road up there which I don’t believe is a well-traveled tourist road, was in such good condition. Perhaps it just stayed in good shape due to a lack of use? Perhaps there is a good deal of inter-country commerce and they need the road to be good? Maybe it could be that money poured into the region from overseas development funds? Perhaps there are other nefarious reasons for the road being so good? Whatever the reason, it was the most pleasant drive I’ve taken so far in Costa Rica.

Before hitting the border town of Los Chiles, we stopped at Cano Negro National Park (http://www.govisitcostarica.com/region/city.asp?cID=81) as we thought we could get a boat from there into Nicaragua. That was our intention: leave the car in Costa Rica and take a boat up the Rio Frio into Nicaragua that dumps into the very large Lake Nicaragua, before hitting the first town on the Nicaraguan side (mainly because there was not an open road crossing this area).

On the way up, car problem number one occurred as I discovered I need to press the brake all the way to the floor to get the car to stop. Luckily, we found a mechanic in Quesada. He flushed the fluid, patched a leak (or something like that) and we were back on our way in an hour.

We quickly learned from a local hotelier that getting the boat from Cano Negro was not possible that we would need to head the 26km up to Los Chiles. For a border town, Los Chiles was decent enough. It had a nice “downtown,” some decent looking restaurants and some shops. However, our stay in town was short-lived as we headed straight for the boats heading to Nicaragua. Our timing was great as we arrived at the docks around 2:30 and the next boat was leaving at 3:30pm. There were two problems though. First, and most importantly, I’d have to leave my car on the street there and as the local guide/money exchange person told me, “Don’t worry. Park across from the police station and it should be okay.” The second problem was that there was no boat back into Costa Rica from Nicaragua the same day. In other words, we’d have to “overnight it” in Nicaragua. We wondered about that. It was not a long boat ride (1.5 hrs). Perhaps the boats were not allowed to travel at night or the immigration offices on either side closed before dark? Or, and this is a stretch, the authorities were trying to promote tourism in the area, propping up the local hotel industry? So, with no information about the border town on the other side, we winged it. Heck, we’ve driven on dirt roads and through tunnels made of hard dirt in the middle of Bosnia in the dead of night and we’ve careened down mountain sides in Greece near a military installation we were not supposed to be at, so this was fairly mild by comparison.

The boat ride up the Rio Frio was pleasant and uneventful. We says monkeys and sloths and various colorful birds—none of which I was quick enough to get pictures of. However, all things being equal, it was a nice experience we shared with mostly locals.

On the way up the river we saw very prominent signs welcoming us to Nicaragua—about halfway up the river I suspect—though we also noticed on the river banks at the border quite a few “border police” with paramilitary outfits and sub machine guns. Perhaps it is a throw back to the 1980s. They actually waved to us, so I assume they were not about to shoot and kill if one of us jumped overboard and started swimming for the shore (the water was pretty brown and who the heck knows was lived in it however!).

The Rio Frio spilled into the vast expanse of Lago Nicaragua with quite a few mountain ranges on the distant side of the lake. It is a huge lake though surprisingly I saw little boat traffic. After just a few minutes, the Nicaraguan border town of San Carlos was before us.

San Carlos (http://www.bootsnall.com/travelstories/ca/jul99loschiles.shtml) was about what I expected even though I had thought little about it. A bunch of ramshackle, low-rise wood houses with cheap tin roofs and businesses catering to the fishing industry dotted the shoreline. We arrived at the dock which was alos the immigration and customs area. As usual, we had to fill out forms, pay a fee and have our bags thoroughly checked (basically in a grubby alley between barely standing houses) before being allowed onto the main street where we were aggressively greeted by hawkers looking to unload Nicaraguan currency.

The little bit of research I’ve done on San Carlos after returning home suggests it is nicer than I think it is, and I’m sure Randy and Theresa would agree. However, I don’t think it is right to disparage anyone’s hometown mainly because I am sure people might think the neighborhood in Washington, DC that I lived in was not so nice (though it is nice $%@%@!). I have to say though; Theresa summed it up in a good way: Los Chiles in Costa Rica represents poverty (very high end poverty though), San Carlos is squalor.

I think our dim view of San Carlos was partly due to the fact that by the time we arrived there it was getting dark, and dusk just isn’t very pleasant there. There wasn’t much lighting on the streets, it was damp and drizzling and yes, we often saw the shadows of people on street corners, others standing in doors coming in and out of alleys. The people seemed friendly enough however, though their meager existence certainly didn’t make for the same cheerfulness one finds throughout much of Costa Rica.

Our first and only order of business was to survive the night; therefore, finding suitable accommodations. I had suggested during the boat ride that I bet we’d find a “Hotel San Carlos,” and sure enough we did. From the looks of it from the outside, I was pretty confident they wouldn’t give me points on my “Starwood Preferred Card!” In fact, they wouldn’t be able to provide much of anything as we found out later.

An old lady met us at the front door of the hotel after we passed by three pretty young girls sitting on the ground near the entrance. In our broken Spanish we asked to see some rooms, figuring we could probably afford separate rooms here. The common area downstairs was dark but it looked decent enough; in fact at it had a nice veranda facing the lake with nice rocking chairs.

Apparently, the rooms were upstairs as the old lady went to fetch one of the young girls to take us upstairs. I could read her body language: “I’m not making the climb up those stairs. Let the kid do it!”

The stairs were dark and we stumbled up to the second floor minding the broken steps and the very low overhang near the top. It was nice though that the girl turned on the lights at the top of the stairs after we were at the landing upstairs!

The girl showed us three rooms and well, that was enough to convince us to stay somewhere else, even sleeping on the street if we had to! The rooms were filthy with dirt covering much of the walls, tattered rodent-infested sheets (from what I could tell) and had ceilings covered in mold. I think it would have been better to call the rooms “cells” and offer realistic prison tours!

So, we had to figure out a “Plan B” as this town did not have a plethora of hotels! We’ve learned from our many travels to find a taxi driver who knows the area and we did just that. Finally, after searching for what seemed like hours, we found a clean hotel in town on a quiet street.

San Carlos does have a long waterfront with a terrific view of Lago Nicaragua. However, to make it suitable for higher-end development, the town would definitely need to be “John Deer’ed” if you know what I mean!

There wasn’t much to do at all in San Carlos at night—at least from what we knew—and finding a suitable restaurant was a challenge. We finally found a small “hole in the wall place” to eat at and the food was okay. It was beans and rice and some kind of tired-looking carne. At least we didn’t get sick from it! From there, Randy and Theresa stayed up for a while and drank some the rum we bought en route to Los Chiles while I went to bed early. I think I got 12+ hours of sleep that night. At least I caught up on my sleep! The next morning, rather than finding breakfast options, we simply slept in and made a bee-line for the 10:30am departure back to modern civilization, I mean Costa Rica.

Car trouble again—this time it really was the transmission—I think….

Driving back from Los Chiles went well at first except when less thoughtful heads prevailed (me and Theresa that is) and we decided to take some “scenic routes” heading south towards my house. First, we thought it would be easy to cut across highways through smaller roads rather than take the long way home. Good idea for a while and dirt roads we ended up on were packed hard and dry, however we took the wrong turn as often happens here given the lack of street signs, and ended up on a steep incline in mud. Stopped on a lonely road in the middle of nowhere we debated for quite a while as to whether to let the car roll down the muddy hill and hope for better road or try to back up the hill and get out of the quandary we were in. And, of course, we did not know if we’d get any traction in the mud backing up even though I had the 4x4 on. So, we sent Randy down the hill—in the rain of course—to inspect the next km of the road. He reported that the road got worse, not better, down the hill a bit and that we’d have to make it up the next hill from there. All the while I was getting no signal on my cell phone. There we were like sitting ducks in the rain with the only option being hope. Hoping the car could go in reverse up the hill and hoping it would get enough traction. Hoping I wouldn’t drive it in the ravine on either side of the narrow road. Hope that I’d have a hot shower somewhere, hopefully at home!

So I gave it a whirl, revving the engine trying to get it to move with Randy giving me directions from behind the car. Actually, Randy was jogging up the hill trying to stay out of my way! Fortunately, I caught a hard rocky area on the road and we made it up out of that swamp of mud and dirt.

The car survived for a while but I think the incident in the mud plus a few other dirt roads we found ourselves on that day put the car into intensive care when we all noticed the poor thing could not get into 3rd or 2nd gear heading up hills on the good roads. About an hour or so north of San Ramon we finally had to summon a mechanic and take a look. He couldn’t fix it there and thought the gear box was burnt out. So, the next day the poor thing was towed to my mechanic here and I anxiously await the car doctor’s prognosis! It could be a few days or weeks before he recovers fully, if at all. Yikes!!!

I should mention that we discovered the car problem right after we learned that a major bridge between Volcano Arenal and my house was out. Yes, there were no signs warning us, we just came upon the bridge. Apparently, several of the railroad-tie-looking boards across the bridge were damaged and someone put a huge pile of dirt in front of the bridge to stop traffic. As we approached the bridge, we watched bus riders get off their buses, walk across the bridge and get onto buses waiting for them on the other side. It was, of course, raining.

We studied the map after being told we’d have to drive all the back to Arenal, and then catch another high way east of this road, and head south again. It looked like there were one or two road that would cross over to the other highway south of Arenal but this time we weren’t taking any chances. We asked a local policeman about these two routes and wouldn’t you know it, both cross roads were washed out. Our only option was to head back to north to Arenal and then head south again!

Wrapping up….

Back on Sunday again, today was like a spring/early summer day in the northeast United States. It is as if we felt the first warm days after a long, cold winter. It is such a familiar thing to me!

Ernan, who is Carol’s (our cleaning lady) husband, gave me a ride today to get a car rental that I’ll use for few days. He’s such a nice guy and his English is much better than he believes it is. We discussed cars, Thanksgiving, Christmas trees, the difficulties of relationships and a lot more. I did get a kick out of the music he likes. He loves “Air Supply” and “Queen” in particular, humming along as we drove towards Alajuela! It is good to be meeting some nice local people here. They help make life a lot easier here.

Driving back to my house this afternoon I saw the funniest thing. In front of me was a small Toyota pick up truck with a rather large cow standing up in the back bed of the truck with rope around its neck and tied to the truck. It was awfully amusing watching this cow trying to keep its balance as the truck made its way up the winding roads of our area, occasionally swaying to one side or the other. I wish I had my camera for that scene.

I am out of town for a few days this week again and this time I may actually be able to update my blog from my location. I’ll tell you where I am in my next update, assuming I can get on the Internet!

Thanks for reading and keep those comments coming!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
andrew4cr@gmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

More on the People, Zip-Lining, Karaoke, etc.

2005-11-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

This blog entry does not have a theme—not that any of my other blog entries have had themes—rather, it is a collection of ideas or items that I have noticed this past week.

PLEASE NOTE: I have a new email address: ANDREW4CR@GMAIL.COM

More on the people…

I again this week have focused my thoughts on the people who live around me, mostly by observing and wondering what they are thinking, and of course, what they think of me. I have come up with a few conclusions this week. I don’t know how accurate my conclusions are, and certainly others’ opinions will differ, though one’s impressions cannot easily be judged I suppose.

In the greater San Ramon area where I live, there seems to be something more innocent about the people here, particularly the younger people—guys and gals in their 20s or 30s. I am sure it is a partially a product of growing up in a fairly rural area with little if any real exposure to other countries or even the bigger cities in Costa Rica, and of course, it is also due to just being younger and not yet experiencing what many people see and do later in life. As I observe their interactions, it just seems more innocent, more polite, and as if they have not been exposed to as many of life’s ills (or bad habits!) as kids have in the United States. The other thing I notice is that they smile a lot! “Pura Vida” does really seem to be alive and well here.

The younger people also come up and shake your hand when they see you and seem genuinely interested in knowing how you are. I never really felt that in the United States, particularly when I was in my 20s. It always seemed as though the other kids had specific agendas, whether it was “acting cool” or meeting the opposite sex. Here it seems, if you are a Tico’s age, older or younger, they always come up to you whether in a bar, in the supermarket, at the town square, or most anywhere else.

The people also seem to take more pleasure in very simple things such as enjoying a cold cerveza, picking a guayba from a tree, or just sitting around and having a simple conversation with others, even with people “Espanol-challenged” like me!

Yes, I suppose I could proffer that in their private lives, or in situations I am not apart of, they are much different, but the fact remains, in their interactions with me, and as I have observed with their friends and families, there is something more innocent and frankly more pleasant about them, than I have seen in other places. We’ll see if this theory pans out over time but for now I’m sticking with it.

Karaoke night

A big night here for many of the local people seems to be Karaoke night, every Thursday, at “Mi Rancho,” the restaurant and bar across the street from my place. Staying with my “more innocent” theme for a moment, it is just good clean fun. Young friends, men and women together, genuinely seem to enjoy their interactions and I rarely see the pouting, arguments or other issues that often arise among friends in other places. Many of the Ticos are also excellent singers and the singing continues until the last people leave the bar (me and Franz and Cynthia as of late!).

It is also a very Costa Rican experience with virtually all of the songs being from Latin America. This differs from other places I’ve seen Karaoke such as in Japan, the Philippines or in Thailand, where the singers sing to American tunes. Someone recently equated Karaoke night here with a Texas “ho-down.”

A trip to the cloud forest park

While we live on the edge of the cloud forest (though sometimes I swear we live right in it!), there is huge cloud forest park and nature reserve just 15 minutes up the road from us and I discovered this week that it is a great place to take our guests. The Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve (http://moon.com/planner/costa_rica/mustsee/los_angeles.html ) offers zip-lining--seven platforms and six zip lines some through the rainforest canopy and some through large fields—horseback riding, hiking trails, natural swimming pools and waterfalls. If you are lucky, you can also see howler monkeys, quetzals, jaguars and numerous species of birds.

Even driving to the park is interesting as you get off the main road heading to Arenal Volcano and follow a very quiet paved road cutting across farms, hills and valleys. I highly recommend a visit, particularly when staying with us!

That’s it for this week. Next week I have friends coming into town and I am very excited about that and then many guests for the next several weeks.

More updates soon!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Andrew4cr@gmail.com
www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

The final word on casados, two fiestas, and more….

2005-10-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

I only have a few subjects to write about today, in fact, one of them I didn’t even write! To start with, I want to clear up the many inquiries I have had on what a “casado” is. I’ve reprinted an article from an online newspaper, “AM Costa Rica,” in its entirety as I think this should be the last word on the infamous “casado.”

Reprinted from AM Costa Rica (10/28/05)

“The casado is the backbone of the Costa Rican Menu

This column is in praise of the casado, the Tico midday blue plate special as A.M. Costa Rica food writer Dr. Lenny Karpman calls it. The typical casado has rice, beans, the meat of your choice, usually beef, fish, a pork chop or chicken and a bit of salad. A medium fruit juice and sometimes a dessert rounds out the menu.

This is the staple that keeps downtown office workers going. And the price usually ranges from 900 to 1,200 colons, about $1.84 to $2.45. Some places charge a little more. Others give a choice of fries and a soft drink. A little delight that comes with most casados is a sampling of fried plantain or banana. Although they may be an acquired taste for some, the banana fried in olive oil brings out the sugars. Sometimes a few corn tortillas round off the meal. Casado, of course, means married in Spanish, and the midday casado is just that, a marriage of the food groups, except the beer food group which is available separately.

One has to wander a bit from the usual tourist restaurants to find a casado, although some upscale restaurants have it on the lunch menu because Costa Ricans demand it. They call a small restaurant here a soda, and every soda has its own version of the casado, frequently extolled on a small sign or chalkboard at the entry to the establishment.

Although many North Americans worry about the sanitation in such places, an inspection of the kitchen usually shows it is about as clean as in a normal household. After all, the owner, the cook and the wait staff are eating there, too. A bad sign at some San José restaurants is when the waiters duck out and bring back a McDonald's burger or Taco Bell Grande for themselves.

The focus on the casado is prompted by Dr. Lenny Karpman's column last week about cheap places to eat. He will be back next week. But the newspaper did get some responses to suggestions of where expats could eat cheaply. One such place is La Vasconia on Avenida 1 in San José, a place already known to many foreigners living on a budget. Although the place looks like a working class bar, the menu is a full one. One A.M. Costa Rica favorite is the tripe soup, which is more tripe than soup. Another acquired taste.

Bill Carey of Curridabat suggests Mama's Place, also on Avenida 1 two blocks east of the Correos de Costa Rica main post office. Mama's closes early, about 6:30 p.m., but the lunchtime pasta is legendary and with good service.

Glenn Tellier, the owner of the new Roadhouse Bar north of San José on Route 32, wrote to suggest his own place as a reasonable alternative for expats. His place, too, is a full-service bar, but the menu also includes full meals.

But there are some other low-cost suggestions. Although one does not think supermarket when considering dining options, both Hypermas and Mas x Menos have cafeterias in some of their stores. Mas x Menos on Avenida Principal between calles 11 and 13 redid the entire cafeteria about a year ago and moved it from the back of the store to a sun--filled location near the entry.

Another clean cafeteria is in Mas x Menos across the Autopista General Cañas from the Hotel Tryp Corobici west of Parque la Sabana. Hypermas in San Sebastian next to the circumvalación also has a fine cafeteria, staffers here report. — Jay Brodell”

Fiesta Time!

Today Beth and I went to two parties. The first, down in Santa Ana near the airport, was basically a luncheon sponsored by “Costa Rica Living,” (http://searchportal.information.com/index.mas?epl=UVsPWVALXVUMVV8AVxYSUhNdBVYPXEEID1IbW1dZFwRqXQYFD1IKAA or http://groups.msn.com/CRLeBoard/_whatsnew.msnw) an online bulletin board, mainly for the ex-pat community.

Held at a tex-mex restaurant, several of us, including Jose, Joanna, Tom and Elsie from our community attended. For Beth and me, this was our first time meeting other ex-pats “en masse” and it was well worth the trip. Despite the fact that the restaurant had trouble making a good margherita, there were a mix of people, young and old, doing all kinds of interesting things while living here. Some had small businesses—in fact one nice man brought some used books and homemade sausages that he sells; yes, interesting combination—others were homemakers, and many of course, were retired and living the good life.

It was good for us to put faces with people we had interacted with mainly through email and to get to know some of them better. I was struck by the number of people who followed my blog here in Costa Rica. I’d say over a dozen people claimed they knew who I was and read my blog often, which was very gratifying. In fact, one man, asked, “How did your surgery go?” Another man wanted to know how our dogs were doing, and a woman said, “I want to meet Beth, the chef.” All and all it was a good luncheon and frankly about time we got to know some other people here, outside of our small community in which we live.

In the evening, we attended a birthday party for Carol’s (our cleaning lady) husband, Ernan, at their home just about 3km south of us near San Ramon. Located in a typical Tico neighborhood, Carol and Ernan’s home is small but well kept. Carol’s mother, brother and a few of Ernan’s co-workers also attended. Even though our Spanish is limited, we were able to say at least a few words (and parts of sentences) to most everyone. Carol put out quite a spread with fish (corvina) and tartar sauce (which I actually think is better than American tartar sauce because she uses interesting spices giving it a “Latin flair”) along with the typical refried beans, rice, salsa, and more. I think Ernan really liked the red wine we gave him.

Something you notice immediately about Ticos is how friendly and welcoming they are, and even with the communication difficulties, they try their best in some English and Spanish to have a conversation with us gringos and that makes us try our best as well. Carol’s husband is such a nice person; always very glad to see us, always smiling.

During the party, Ernan set up his karaoke machine and we gave it a go. I sang an Abba song (in English) and even tried my hand at a few songs in Spanish. I gather Costa Ricans do like the United States as one song we sang praised “America,” and the other was all about New York City. Even though I could only understand a few words, it was pretty clear both songs were positive.

The next four weeks, through Thanksgiving, are going to be very busy with quite a few guests and then friends coming to visit. I’m even having a big Thanksgiving dinner for friends and neighbors (and in typical Andrew style, the neighbors are pitching in a good deal of the food—thank you, thank you, thank you!) So, I’ll try my best to keep the blog updated! Also, quite a few of you have inquired about staying here for a few days or so during the upcoming holiday season and during the U.S. winter. That would be terrific! However, reserve a room soon as it’s getting busy around here!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
am4cr@hotmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Thoughts on San Jose, horseback riding, reflections on Latin America and more….

2005-10-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is a multifaceted blog entry, yes by choice, not by necessity. I think it is because I have been thinking about many things as of late and wish to share them. If I get long-winded, someone let me know!

San Jose trip

I know I mentioned numerous times that I would be spending a few days in San Jose conducting meetings regarding our bed & breakfast. That was last week. It was a good week overall though a few things made it tough to get through. For one, I developed a rotten cold just before leaving on this trip so I was not in a terribly festive mood, considering I also wanted to have some fun in the “big city.” Then, and not unexpectedly, it rained almost the entire time I was in San Jose, except for one afternoon when the sunshine finally broke through and allowed me to take some pictures.

I won’t weary my growing list of dedicated readers with the details of the meetings but will make a few salient comments on the nature of business here as I see it through my still somewhat naïve eyes.

At the onset of any business trip to San Jose, I learned that having a good driver is helpful, especially if you have meetings all over the city as I did last week. No, not a limo driver as that is way out of my budget, but a good taxi driver who can get you to where you need to go, is efficient and won’t rip you off. In addition to just getting around town easily, especially when like me, you schedule many back-to-back meetings, a taxi driver here is very important because as you may recall from a previous blog entry, basic addresses are few and far between here. It’s always something like, “50 meters east of the bus station and 200 meters north of the church.” So, if you don’t even know where the church or the bus station is, and San Jose is a fairly sprawling city, having a knowledgeable driver is smart.

Everyone I met with this week I met for the first time so I did not know what to expect. I did know how some of these companies operated assuming that given their businesses, they would be somewhat like the companies I worked with in the U.S. And, they pretty much did work as I expected.

They all seemed genuinely interested in working with me and were enthusiastic about the product we are developing. I was also very pleased at the reaction I got from the material I brought with me—all developed in PowerPoint! However, I was somewhat surprised but heartened to learn that travel agents and tour operators often get requests from their clients to stay in a rustic, farm setting as we offer, rather than staying in San Jose, particularly during their first night here or their last night here. It is certainly a good introduction to Costa Rica, and definitely a good way to end one’s trip, and most certainly better than staying in San Jose. The hotel I stayed at in San Jose while priced similarly to my Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast (www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com) provided for basic needs and had comfortable rooms. However, it was very plain room, had a very less-than-full breakfast and is not able to offer the things we can such as horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking, etc.

The most fascinating meeting I had was probably with Nature Air. Just getting there was interesting as I had to get a special pass to get to their part of the airport, then go past numerous hangers, and then walk around a bunch of planes the workers were painting before finding the small office in the back. Nature Air was bought by an American family after the father visited here several years ago. His son, whom I met, is the head of sales and marketing and shares my (often misguided) passion for the airline industry. I certainly am excited to have met a guy who could talk airlines all night. As a result of my meeting with them, and dinner the next night, they will package our property with their newly formed “Nature Air Vacations” program which I am very excited about. Also, if needed, they told me they will have their car rental company send cars right to our property for our guests.

I also met with another company about creating a special package for our property and three other companies who will be including us among their offerings. While it will take some time for these “deals” to kick in, I think my airline experience is starting to pay off.

I found everyone I met with to be positive and upbeat. Rather than pointing out any negatives my business may have in relation to their needs, they tended to emphasize the positive and how we could work together, rather than why we couldn’t work together. I found that very refreshing as I reflected on some bad experiences in trying to do deals in the U.S. I also was impressed that in being new to this business, how many of the people I met with were willing to give me advice on my business, my presentation of materials, rates, and so on. Not one of them ever said anything negative but offered good advice such as, “You might consider doing this as you’ll make more money….” or “If you want to strike a deal with ‘XYX Company,’ tell them….” I have heard, and completely understand, that Costa Ricans often do not want to say “no,” so one has to ferret out those truly wanting to work with you.

The most important thing I learned last week is that there is a great bagel shop in San Jose called “Bagelmen’s,” located in a more upscale part of San Jose. I’m in the taxi heading back to the hotel from my last meeting of the day. It is pouring rain and I can barely see out of the car’s window. I’m tired, I’m hungry and I long to be free…oops, I mean long to get back to the hotel. However, I catch a blurry glimpse of what looks like a big bagel on a side ahead. In the most commanding voice I could muster, I say to the taxi driver, “Pare aquí! Pare aquí!” “Stop here!” I probably said it in French too, just to ensure he stopped. So, he makes a very hard right turn just barely making the entrance to the bagel shop. I run into the shop, sans umbrella in the downpour of rain, and I reach heaven: a genuine, New York-style bagel shop.

You have to understand, one can rarely get a decent bagel outside of New York City—certainly Washington’s bagels were nothing to write home about—let alone in Costa Rica. So, while the driver waited, I savored a tasty poppy seed bagel, topped with BLT fixings, my favorite, and for the two minutes it took me to devour the bagel, I forgot all about my rotten cold. I just could not get any better for me.

Before I left the hotel to come home, I was perusing Bagelmen’s brochure which I absconded with from the shop, and noticed they deliver. So, for $4 and 15 minutes later I had at the hotel in my hot little hands a dozen bagels to bring back home for me and Beth. Beth, like me, being born in the tri-state area (NY/NJ/CT), was definitely impressed with the quality of the bagels.

Overall, it was a great week of meetings and knowing the travel industry in general and speaking their language was a big asset. Now, I need to get back and meet even more companies. Now on to other things….

So Greek!

We have finally started to unpack our boxes—Lord knows where we will put everything—and I think Beth is about over “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” a la Costa Rica. Every time I pulled something out of a box from Greek olive oil (which I packed in the same box as a stereo and surprisingly, both survived the long trip) to a Greek religious icon, I made sure Beth knew how it excited I was. I think she believes our B&B will look like a Greek person’s home when we are done. And what is wrong with that I ask!?

Horseback riding

Today, two of our guests wanted to ride our horses and it was a great day for it: bright and crisp with decent winds whipping about. It was an event everyone at the house came out to watch—me, Beth, Carol (our cleaning lady), the workers putting up the roof over our new parking area—and of course, our guests. Beth and I were both amused at Carol because as I mounted Gringo (the tamer of the two fortunately) and was about to trot off, she kept exclaiming, “Go Andrew! Go Andrew!” She sounded like most any American cheerleader at a high school football game cheering her team on!

Carol had never been on a horse before, and with some prodding from all of us, tried it and I think she enjoyed it. It’s one of those things—after you try something, you realize you have nothing to fear after all—just don’t walk too close around the backside of a horse!

The Cookbook Committee

Who would have ever imagined me involved in a cookbook committee? Well, I like to eat, not cook. However, our community association decided to create a cookbook of local Tico dishes and the dishes of the origins of the local gringos. So, tonight we had a potluck dinner of the committee. We had several amazing Tico dishes from chicken and rice, tortillas and vegetables, a Tico pumpkin dish, and Franz our local artist, brought some very fresh pineapples he cut up into an interesting design, certainly one I would have never thought of!

Reflections on Latin America….or what I’ve learned so far….

I have been thinking a lot lately about Latin America (defined as Mexico, Central America and South America); its history, current economic status and prospects for the future, particularly given that I now live here. I have also been reading a few books on the history and politics of the region, especially in relation to the United States.

To better understand Latin America, I think one needs to understand two principal facts. First, it is has had a number of conquerors, particularly Spain over its long, rich history (many of the countries, not all) and that has certainly influenced the region’s development (or lack of it), social customs, and more. These conquerors have not always been external as Latin America has seen quite a few dictators, many partly or wholly installed by the United States in a supposed effort to stem the tide of socialism. Hey, I’ll take a dictator over socialism any time, right!? While some countries have managed to develop fairly well, others languish to this day, and certainly a history of having either junta governments or very shaky democracies has stunted the growth of many countries here. Latin America is rich in resources but many would contend it doesn’t get its fair share for the fruits of its labor.

Second, Latin America, like some other regions of the world, mostly plays a subservient role to the rich countries of the west. It provides primary commodities and labor used by the west as inputs to products that generate great wealth for the merchants of the developed world. Gold, copper, other primary metals, housing material, electronics components (Intel has a large facility in Costa Rica), and of course, a number of produce items. Fearful of being cut off as a supplier to the west, it has very little pricing power, and as a result, the hard work and products of Latin America have not typically brought up the general wealth of the masses as power and wealth remains in the hands of the very few, or in many cases, governments through nationalized industries. A U.S. citizen’s average income is seven times that of a Latin American income and grows over ten times faster. There are over 60 million people living in Mexico and to the south on less than $.25 a day. Interestingly, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina combined together consume less than France or Germany although their total population is much greater than any single country in Europe.

There is much more to say about Latin America but I wanted to provide some initial impressions of what I have learned so far. It is an interesting region, rich in customs and history with land and seas that are both a blessing and crutch. I will write more soon—as I learn more!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
am4cr@hotmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Puppy Surgery…near electrical mishap…..

2005-10-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

I just had to write a quick blog update tonight before this highly exciting information left my brain!

Oh, Osita!

Tonight I went outside to give Osita and Reina their “mid-evening” snack (usually a dog biscuit), and found Reina immediately perched by our back door. However, Osita was not to be found and calling her did not bring her out of wherever she was. I waited a few minutes, then looked around the house calling her name repeatedly and still could not find her. Finally, I went to the back door where Reina was anxiously awaiting her treat and alas, there is Osita lumbering out of the dog pen. I was surprised because it is impossible to get them in the dog pen in the first place.

So, I petted Osita on the back and as I did that, my hand struck something metal! A closer examination revealed that she had a big piece of metal fencing stuck to her behind and tail! And, I do mean, stuck! She didn’t seem in pain but clearly she knew something was not right. The fencing did not just come off with a few light tugs. Osita’s hair is very shaggy and definitely not straight and manageable like Reina’s hair.

So, what was I to do? I had absolutely zero experience in removing anything from a dog, besides perhaps a bone or oftentimes, my shoes from their mouths. Always being the quick on my feet, I grabbed the nearest pair of scissors, calmed her down with additional dog treats, and the proverbial, “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt.” It was time for puppy surgery!

It took me almost a half hour to remove all of the metal from her furry butt and tail. I literally had to cut dozens of individual strands of hair—okay, in some cases big clumps of hair—to finally remove all of the wire fencing. Near the end of the surgery I wanted so much to just tug the fencing off, but yes, I can be compassionate at times!

The biggest problem, of course, was getting Osita to sit still. She didn’t seem to mind the “hair cut” but she wanted to sit down on her butt. Finally, after ordering her repeatedly to stay up on her legs, I got the job done. Oh, did I mention, I did all of this in their pen in the dark with just a small flashlight? Just try to maneuver a flashlight, scissors, and keep a 3-month old puppy still! A proud moment for me indeed!

Near Electrical mishap…..or not

Today, FINALLY the movers brought our stuff we shipped from the states to our house. We finally feel like we really moved now that our personal property is here. I was annoyed all day because they called me at 7:30am saying “we’re on our way.” If you give them a few hours to get the stuff from the warehouse and drive here, I was confident they’d be here by noon….and that is what the shipping company told me. Well, at 3:30pm, the movers had not arrived and I was just waiting for the rains to come our way.

There were several “issues” apparently, one of which was “a problem at the warehouse” which delayed them. They also could not find our house which delayed them further, and finally, they were not sure they could navigate our dirt road. I thought for a big truck with big tires it would be easy. Apparently the moving crew walked a good length of our driveway before driving their truck down. Getting increasingly annoyed while waiting for them to inspect our driveway, I grabbed Carol (our bilingual assistant/cleaning lady/woman extraordinaire) and we sped down the driveway in my car to coax them in.

They finally agreed and slowly came in. However, as they passed the house, they hit the electrical line which runs from the pole across the driveway to our house, just hitting the top of their truck. I was certain we’d lose power and have nice boxes to look at by candlelight.

As the truck hit the line, one of the workers immediately hopped out of the truck (and it was a fairly large truck), climbed onto the top of the cab of the truck and held the electrical wire up so the truck could pass. I was amazed at the sight of this guy, like a squirrel or monkey, getting up their so fast. I was also amazed that the wire did not send thousands of volts of electricity through his body, resulting in the obvious. I admit, I know extremely little about electrical wires but I thought I was always told as a kid that you couldn’t touch them. Does any one know?

The unloading of the boxes was fast and routine and as the truck turned around and passed back by our house to leave, Mario, one of our great workers, hopped on the roof of our house to hold the wire up for them. I guest all Ticos know about electrical wires here!

I am heading to San Jose on Wednesday. I’ll write much more on Sunday or Monday!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
am4cr@hotmail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

A Toucan, more on food, San Ramon, and more….

2005-10-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

This week was exciting if for only one reason: the workers and I saw a huge Toucan on a branch in a tree in our front valley! There is a picture of a toucan (For blogspot readers, go to: http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Ramon/blog-23548.html. No, the picture is not of the toucan I saw because by the time I was able to run into the house and get my camera, s/he was long gone. However, this picture is almost exactly what it looked like. Pretty amazing! I am told it is fairly rare to see toucans in this part of Costa Rica, but I am hoping we see more of them particularly when guests are here. That would be a treat.

I often fail to mention that one of the great things about living where we do, besides the great views of the valleys and hills and the great temperatures, is that birds of all sorts swoop in an out of the area, in front of the house in the valley, behind it, on the sides of the house and even sometimes right in our garage! We had a couple here recently that spent almost all of their time with us looking for birds on our property.

More Eateries

This week I discovered two nice eateries in downtown San Ramon. One, a Mexican stand called “Los Nopales,” serves great burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and even vegetarian items. Right on the main road leading out of town to the highway—remember there really aren’t street names here, just landmarks—this place is a virtual hole-in-the-wall with a five stools, a few tables and a long bar area where food is prepared and served. The owner is very friendly and in addition to terrific inexpensive food, services great fruit shakes. And the thing about, as I’ve said in other blog entries, is that even though it is on the main strip in town, I can usually park less than a block away from it. They gave me a menu to take home with me as they deliver!

The other restaurant, right off the town square/park is a hot dog stand! Yes, I love a good hot dog with a variety of toppings. I don’t recall the full name but it is “Perro…”something. They have regular-sized or foot long hot dogs but what I like best about them is that they put them on sub roll buns with sesame seeds. The hot dog stand is right up the street from another favorite restaurant of mine, “Los Minas” (I think, need to check the name though). One night Beth and I went there and I fell completely for their pasta. I think they serve a wide variety of other dishes, not necessarily specializing in Italian food, but they certainly got the pasta right!

I am keeping a list of restaurants I’d recommend to guests and friends and so far I am up to 10 in the San Ramon area. Not too bad for a small town area!

More thoughts on San Ramon

I am really getting to love San Ramon—easy to park, plenty of shopping, friendly people and always bustling with activity, yet I am away from it all too, but only 4km away if I need to be there. For a small city with perhaps 12 or so streets going North to South and another 10 or so going East and West (I may be off a bit but you get the idea), with 30,000 people in the “metro San Ramon area” (LOL!), it is quite vibrant having a few museums, a great park, several supermarkets and hardware stores, quite a few video stores, a branch of the University of Costa Rica, numerous other schools, movie theatres, a mall, and plenty to do at night.

One night, I was in town having dinner with friends and I was surprised to see the number of young people on the streets going in and out of the bars and clubs downtown. I did not realize there were so many of them. I guess I need to do a “pub crawl” one night and check out the scene more closely; looks like fun!

Like many Central American towns, it is not a beacon of architecture nor is it all that clean (though cleaner than many other towns I’ve been in), and yes, if there were funds available, a general “face lift” would be in order, though it is a very pleasant town that is easy to walk in, easy to park in, and easy to find one’s way around, after a few fits and false starts.

The people seem to be a mix of types, mostly modern age Costa Rican who have European influences and are Caucasian in appearance, and some indigenous-looking people (I mean before the Spaniards came here). I say “indigenous-looking” because I am not really sure. I could write a whole blog on the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica who apparently shared a plight similar to American Indians and today, are among the poorest and most isolated in the country (particularly by geography), but I’ll save that for another rainy day.

I will write again at the end of next week when I return from my adventures in San Jose. It should be fun with much to say, and I will have plenty of pictures too.

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Am4cr@hotamail.com
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com

Rainy Regalia, Convincing the Caballos, and Smaller-sized Supermarkets….

2005-10-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

“Rainy days and Mondays always….” and Tuesday through Sunday as well

Yep, it is raining here. My guess is two inches a day but don’t quote me on that. I need to find a rain meter. Yes, I know it does rain in many places throughout the world, but frankly, I’m not used to two seasons—rainy and dry—rather, four seasons! I won’t miss the snow in the northeast this winter though. While many of you are clearing the snow off of your cars or facing higher oil and electric bills (sorry!), I’ll be here sitting outside looking at the crisp blue sky and enjoying temperatures in the 70s or low 80s.

The rain does not bother me as much here, however, as it did back in Washington. It is usually a warm rain, happens in the late afternoon (good for siesta!) and in the evening. Usually—but not this week—it is clear in the morning and early afternoon. It certainly makes everything very green. It is great for planting. Just put flowers or plants in the ground and nature takes it from there. However, it is raining so much today, even Osita and Reina look bored.

I am told the superfluity of rain this month and last (October is the worst month of the rainy season I’m told) is largely due to those spiteful hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast with a vengeance recently, and currently, some tropical wave activity (“Come on, everybody do the wave!”) throughout the Gulf and Pacific Ocean/Caribbean Sea that is causing low pressure systems to continually spawn over Central America. We are actually in better shape than in Guatemala and Honduras, though; they’ve had even more rain and many mudslides, burying whole towns in some cases.

Caballos….

Every time I need to do something related to the horses, it seems to be raining! Great transition to a new topic, eh? But finding the horses while it is raining is even worse, and today I was in that situation. I walked outside to feed them this morning and they were not roaming as they usually do in the field directly in front of the house. They were not down the hill as they often are, either. After scratching my head in befuddlement, I heard them ’ing in the distance. They were in the field behind the house. The odd thing about it, however, is that I don’t know how they got there. I don’t believe they can leave the fenced-in area in front of the house, and I don’t know how they got into the fenced-in area behind the house. I’m sure there is a good explanation—or a gap in the fences somewhere—or perhaps Chico, our occasional handyman, put them there. I’m not sure why he would do that though.

So, I open up the fence to entice them back into the field in the front of the house by holding a plastic container containing their food, and shaking it. That gets their attention. Gringo, the more sociable of the two, starts moving towards me after I open the gate, and follows me back towards the front of the house. Amigo follows eventually. I was a bit nervous, though, as Gringo was literally walking right next to me, trying to box me into a corner (or in this case, onto the side of the driveway and into the tall grass, to get to the food)! I had to do a number of twists and turns but all the time ensuring he doesn’t kick me or something, as I made my way slowly up the driveway. Finally, they both went into the field in front of the house and spent the next half hour enjoying their delicious comida.

Related to the horses is something I don’t understand. See the picture—travel blog readers only: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AndrewNCostaRica/. There is Amigo, standing out in the rain in front of the house while Amigo is down the hill under the “hut” we built for them to provide shelter from the rain. Why didn’t Amigo go in there as well? They’ve both in there together before. Perhaps the rain does not bother Amigo as much? Maybe they are having a fight or something. Well, we built it and figured they come. We’ll see.

Supermarkets….

A few of you asked me about supermarkets here, and more specifically, about those near us. I will try to answer your questions. Yes, they sell much more than beans and rice! No, you cannot find everything you might be accustomed to getting back in the United States though you’ll find most things. Most of the supermarkets have big aisles organized just like American supermarkets. In fact, they even have a branch of the “IGA” brand supermarket in the shopping mall in San Ramon. Discovering that made me chuckle because as my brothers and I know, my mother worked in a bakery for many years that was part of an IGA store.

I tend to find that the supermarkets here, while a decent size, even by “super-size me” American standards, provide most of the things I am looking for, just not in great varieties.

It is the lack of variety of items to select from that often bugs me, especially when it comes to cheese. At least here in San Ramon, you can get perhaps three or four different types of cheese and I love cheese! Perhaps there is a special store I have not found yet, though I am sure there are specialty stores in and near San Jose.

The other issue that I’ve come across, at least in the supermarkets I’ve been in (and I’ve been in many), is that for many items, they are sold in smaller sizes. I have not seen a gallon or half gallon of milk yet. Milk generally comes in hard plastic, rectangular containers and one of them generally lasts a day or two, at least in this household. The pasta I like, penne, comes in a single serving size. That is actually fine for me because it is perfect when I am forced to cook for myself. Perhaps I just haven’t found the larger sizes packages though I suspect one will find them in Escazu (a town near San Jose—sort of like Greenwich is to New York City) where many of the rich Americans live.

The stores are definitely not Whole Foods, not quite Giant, Piggly Wiggly, or Safeway, but are on par with smaller chains in the U.S. If the managers will let me, I try to take some pictures of the inside of supermarkets soon. Now isn’t that worth waiting for?

I will try to write again by Sunday if anything interesting occurs—such as the rain stopping—however I am spending much of next week in San Jose in meetings (no, we don’t lounge around sipping cocktails all the time!). I am sure that trip will make for a long blog entry. I can see it already: Costa Rican business customs, finding my way around town, the hotel I’ll stay at, and more!

Time to make the doughnuts….check that, feed the puppies!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
am4cr@hotmail.com

A good week in Costa Rica

2005-10-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

This was a good week overall. The workers finished making the patio and laying the sod in the front and side yards. I love instant grass by the way. Why seed when someone else can grow the grass for you!? So, all we have left now is to put sod in the back of the house above the retaining walls so the mud doesn’t keep streaming down during rainstorms and we can set up a backyard seating area, complete with tables, potted plants and so forth. I am really excited about that. With some big potted plants and the flowers I’ve already planted, it should be a nice sitting area and a good place to put Beth’s chaise lounge.

As weeks go here, this one was pretty uneventful except for my trip to the warehouse near the airport to inspect my belongings that finally arrived (discussed in my last blog: http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Ramon/blog-22193.html).

Deal on Nature Air….

For anyone planning a trip to Costa Rica between now and November 30, NatureAir, one of the two domestic airlines here (www.natureair.com), is having a special. You buy one one-way ticket and get the second one free. One way tickets run about $50-$65 so it is a pretty good deal especially if you don’t want to drive or take the bus to the beach or other areas that are a decent driving distance from San Jose or our place. I should also mention that high gasoline prices combined with some relatively long distances and so-so roads in some places make flying a pretty good deal. You can also fly Sansa, which is part of TACA, a larger Central American airline based in El Salvador. I’d fly either airline but I just think NatureAir is just a more fun, upbeat airline. Either airline will get you to your destination though.

Want to live here? Full time? Part time? When you retire?

Check out my friend Jose’s lots for sale at http://www.rancholobo.com. He’s got some great properties for sale right here in the Angel Valley Farm B&B area. He also has a new development underway called Danza de Mariposas or “Butterfly Dances,” with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Nicoya, mountains and valleys. He’ll be putting up a web site soon and I’ll mention it in a future blog, but there is some preliminary information here: http://www.intertica.com/land/rancholobo4.htm

You could be our neighbor! We’ve got a great ex-pat community developing here with a diverse group of people from artists to former lawyers, engineers, social activists, and even a former airline manager . I always learn something new about Costa Rica, or about life in general from the group here!

Lunch with the Haskells---not!

On Saturday, my neighbors, Fernando and Maryellen, had me over for lunch along with George, our other neighbor, and his girl friend. Maryellen made an incredible Mexican soup with pork and chicken and a choice of toppings including cilantro, onions, hot sauce and lettuce. It was out of this world. Then for desert, we had pears in tequila!

No such thing, when with friends here, as a quick meal. I came at 1pm and didn’t leave until almost 4pm. It was raining hard anyways so it was a good way to spend the day. It was interesting lunch conversation with a mix of English and Spanish spoken. I’m happy that every day I am understand more and more Spanish. The problem is, though, I am not speaking it very well yet. However, as my vocabulary improves, I can at least make my wants, needs and intentions known!

Car Problem Solved….

Okay, I do feel somewhat ridiculous about the cause and solution to my problem with my car that I mentioned in the last blog. But, this is an honest blog so here goes. I was with my neighbor Paul today in the car today and mentioned the indicator light regarding the suspension/undercarriage of the car. Well, wouldn’t you know, he said that the car was in 4-wheel drive mode and that I needed to shift it back into regular drive! I have an automatic car with a stick for high and low 4x4. God, I feel dumb!! I didn’t even think of that!!

On that, note, I’m crawling back under the rock from which I came!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
am4cr@hotmail.com

Our Property Arrives from the U.S….finally!

2005-10-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, another blog entry. So, why another blog update so soon? Well, because I am sitting in an office near the San Jose airport, waiting for over an hour to meet the inspector who will go over Beth and my goods that finally arrived from the U.S. I was on time at 2pm as requested, but the inspector was late of course.

This is the part of moving to a foreign country that I hate—form, waiting, and more waiting!

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with the moving company in the U.S. I will be sending them a nasty letter. I won’t name them here (for fear of a lawsuit), but if you want to know who NOT to use, contact me.

The moving company was competitively priced but it took over four months to get our stuff to Costa Rica and the goods are not at our house yet! We only had a partial container and I realize the company has to consolidate it with other shipments before sailing here, but the picked up our property in Washington, DC on May 20th, and it finally arrived in Costa Rica on October 1st! And, they think their offer of “free storage” is generous! Yes, our stuff sat in a warehouse in Jersey City for almost four months.

Honestly, neither of us had anything of huge value to ship—I left some stuff with a friend in DC—but we still wanted our stuff.

Interlude from this ranting….

When I left my house this morning to go to the shipping company warehouse, I almost didn’t get out of my house because five cows set themselves down in the middle of the driveway, smack in the middle of it. Honking my horn got them to get up but I was a little frightened as two of them were not cows, rather bulls I think (they had big horns), and they looked none too happy with me. So, I “chased” them about 200 meters down the driveway with my car until they finally found a clear area in which to move aside.

Back to the shipping saga….

Like I said earlier, there isn’t much of value in the boxes but items we do need for the B&B. In particular, Beth bought all new bedspreads, sheets and shower curtains before we left the U.S., and they are waiting in one of these boxes held up in customs, until the Costa Rican government can duly bless our boxes (about 6 days I’ve heard)! Beth cracked me up before I left the house as she exclaimed, “Can’t they just give you the box with the bedspreads!?” Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. The boxes are kind of in “no man’s land” at the moment like the moment in which an airline passenger arrives in a new country, steps off the plane but has not yet cleared immigration and customs.

So, I wait for the inspector and hope I make it back home for a 6:30pm dinner party we are having tonight for 12 neighbors and friends. The main course is pastitio, a Greek lasagna type dish that I’ve made often, but honestly, I bought everything and Beth put it together while I searched the Internet for some cheap airline tickets to the U.S. for her trip in the future. She promised, though, to tell our guests that I made it. It turned out well but needed a little more cinnamon.

As I wait for the inspector and I’m sure there will be more to the shipping story, I find myself gravitating to another subject. Since I am writing often lately, one of the things I’ve learned, besides the fact that my grammar and vocabulary are weaker than I thought, is that when one writes about personal experiences, it forces you to notice things more. I watch people more closely (stop snickering, DC crowd!) and take note of the things people do, and their facial/body expressions. I think it provides better insight into people and events. Now if I could only speak Spanish fluently.

Ah, there is more to the shipping story….

So, I am finally taken into a huge warehouse to go through my goods with the inspector. His job is not to make sure I got everything, rather to go through each box and see if I need to pay taxes on any items. I know there are a few.

The warehouse had all kinds of stuff from all over the world but I was particularly impressed with what I estimated was about 1000 boxes of Yahama motorcycles and off road vehicles—pretty impressive.

So, they bring out a pallet of boxes with a fork lift and I immediately recognize the boxes as ours. However, I also notice of about 65 boxes that we shipped, this pallet appears to have 20 boxes. I don’t panic yet but inquire casually. They’re casual answer is, “Yes we’ll go try and look for another pallet.”

So they roll out a second pallet and now I’m up to about 45 boxes and also pleased to discover that my bike, my large picture of the “Lotus Blossom woman” that I bought in Vietnam, and Beth’s outdoor chaise lounge has arrived. Funny, the inspectors and the various warehouse workers could not understand what her chaise lounge was as it was upright on the pallet. They thought it was a sled. I later demonstrated its purpose: lounging with a tall cold drink on a hot day. I had the whole warehouse in stitches!

Ah, finally, they find a third pallet about ½ hour later and all boxes appear to be accounted for. They were not in bad shape either.

The inspector did open each and every box. It took about 2.5 hours. He wrote down the serial number and model/make of anything electronic from computers to blenders to hair dryers to stereos. Luckily, there isn’t much tax, if any, on older items and most of electronics stuff is not new. I know, however, that I will get tagged on the brand new scanner/fax/color printer/picture printer combo I bought at Best Buy just before moving here.

Thankfully, since we had many boxes and all kinds of stuff in each, he got tired of going through each one and became more casual about it towards the middle of his work. We both kind of snickered when he went through Beth’s box of personal hygiene products. He did do some things I found odd such as count the number of Beth’s disposable razors and count the number of blank CDs I had that I use for writing to on the computer. I tried to communicate with him but he only knew a few words of English.

So, I get out of the warehouse and back to the airport where I left my car by about 6pm. It is a 40 minute drive home and the dinner party is at 6:30pm. I knew I’d be late. It was not a formal dinner, but a buffet so I was not worried. I did not anticipate, though, that a bus would slam into four cars right outside the airport and directly in my way of getting back on the highway (“autopista”) to get home. So, I finally made it home about 8:30pm. Most of the guests were still there, apparently having a great time, and there was some pastitiso left for me! I was very tired having left house at noon, but even more hungry!

That’s all for now!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
am4cr@hotmail.com

A Trip to the Farmacia, Another Road Trip, and More….

2005-10-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Today, I took a trip down to one of the many “farmacias” or pharmacies in town to get a refill on a prescription that I had filled originally in the U.S. The thing about it, though, is you don’t need a prescription in most cases. Just tell them what you want, and you’ll get it. Usually, I’ve found it is best to bring in the old pill bottle or box and just show it to them and they’ll give you exactly the same thing or a generic version.

While, as I’ve said, there are many farmacias in San Ramon, I like the one I usually go to called “Farmacia de Jesus,” complete with a big statue of Jesus Christ on one of the walls of the shop. For about the same price as an insurance “co-pay,” you can pretty much get what you need and conveniently, God will be with you during your purchase!

Speaking of medicine (okay, roughly), I have gotten quite a few emails on the state of healthcare in Costa Rica. In a word, it’s quite good. Like anywhere, you need to do your homework and choose the right doctor and hospital. From what I’ve learned there are both private and public hospitals in Costa Rica. While the public hospitals are generally good, many people, particularly ex-pats, tend to go to the private hospitals which usually provide faster service and better conditions. I’ve been to “Hospital CIMA San Jose” (http://www.hospitalcima.com/portada.htm) for a doctor’s appointment and a cat-scan and found the place to be quite nice. It was very clean, efficient and the doctors seemed well-trained and spoke English. In fact, you really couldn’t tell you were outside of the United States—expect for the mostly Spanish being spoken by the patients and other visitors.

Road Trip…

On Friday, we took a brief (1.5 days) road trip to the Nicoya Peninsula. It is on the Pacific Ocean. To drive to the ocean at Puntarenas, it is only about 1 hour for us. For my DC friends, it’s much easier (and closer) than going to Rehobeth! It feels kind of odd as I always have thought of the Pacific Ocean as being on the west coast of the U.S. off of California. Puntarenas, which means “coastal point” or something close to that as I recall, is a medium-sized town, perhaps 75,000, whose glory days ended quite a few years ago when other ports were built up. It could be worth a day’s visit, but most people either use it to take a connecting bus heading down the coast to Jaco or Quepos, or as we did, use it to catch the ferry to the Nicoya Peninsula.

The car ferry ride across the peninsula to Paquera is about 1.5 hours. Honestly, I think on a faster ferry it would only be 30 or 40 minutes but nonetheless, you ride your car on and grab a seat for what is a very pleasant ride. We had to wait in line for about one hour until the ferry arrived but it wasn’t so bad. We were immediately greeted by a “non-official” bilingual man handing out free brochures and maps of the Nicoya Peninsula and explaining how we get a ticket for our car. Getting things done, or more specifically, paying for things, do annoy me here on occasion and getting your ticket for the ferry is one of those annoyances. One doesn’t just walk up to the ticket booth and buy a ticket, rather, you have to wait for a man to give you a voucher and then you walk up a long line of cars for a few blocks to buy the ticket, then get back in your car and drive onto the ferry. It wouldn’t be a completely terrible system if they handed out the vouchers a little earlier than 15 minutes prior to departure. In fact, on the way back, I was still in line buying a ticket while Beth was already on the ferry with the car.

While waiting for the ferry the expected vendors with carts selling ice cream, drinks, and other food were in abundance. One man was selling barbecued pork on a stick. I haven’t had that in a long time and didn’t expect to see that here as I considered it to be more Middle Eastern or Asian. However, I hadn’t had lunch so I took the plunge. If you ever find yourself waiting for the ferry at Puntarenas, definitely get one (or two as I did) as they are probably the best I’ve ever tasted, and inexpensive too.

The ferry was a fun ride. The lower level had seats and the scenery on either side of the water was stunning, with mountains draped in trees in full green bloom. I was amazed watching teams of birds flying in and out of the water looking for prey, all in unison—nobody could have choreographed better movement. The upper level of the ferry had a full bar with tables and DJ playing music. And, at times, passengers did karaoke! Inside the ferry, there were tables and they offered a buffet lunch or dinner—for an extra charge of course.

We arrived in Paquera and as I mentioned in my last blog entry, headed for the deserted beach we were told about. It is called Playa Orangos, and it is only about 2km down the road from the ferry. Here is a bit of information about Playa Orangos: http://www.1-costaricalink.com/costa_rica_beaches/playa_organos_beach.htm. We found the sign and left turn off for the beach easily off the main road. I should mention, however, that the road was a dirt road and mostly uphill with many big, natural potholes and tons of mud from the rain, even trying the patience of my 4x4 Izusu Trooper. I should also mention that a few minutes earlier a warning light came on in the car indicating that something was amiss in the undercarriage of the car. That light coming on made the rest of the trip a bit tenuous, not knowing if we were going to lose an axle, a wheel or some other important part of the car, particularly in the middle of nowhere, where we often found ourselves on this trip. I dread going to the mechanic on Monday.

After a torturous 2km drive on the dirt road we first came across the cabins we had heard about just behind some trees off the beach. Run by a nice Costa Rican family, they were pretty decent but basic. We even saw some monkeys up in the trees near the cabins which was fun. The problem was, they were in the middle of nowhere and anytime we wanted to get food, we would have had to drive that dirt road and I did not want to risk it given the state of the car. Before heading out to find more suitable accommodations for the night, we went down to the beach and sure enough, it was a very nice deserted beach with trees. If you want to get away and just be by yourself, I recommend it for a few hours.

We found a nice hotel on the beach in Tambor. Except for the rain, it was a beautiful hotel and beach. The hotel was empty the night we stayed there and we met the Belgian owner. She told all about how she found it, refurbished it, and bought it. Definitely cost her millions of dollars I’m sure, though she said she sold her company in Belgium (unlike the two of us who simply left of our jobs). I learned recently that when staying at another hotel, show your business card and you get a discount as a fellow hotel/B&B owner.

The next day we headed further south down the Nicoya Peninsula to the little hamlet of Montezuma. It was a very pretty down right on the beach with only two streets, one going north and south, and one going east and west. It looked more European than Costa Rican with fun shops for jewelry, books, quaint eateries and the like. I really liked the town and hope to visit it again. We only stayed for lunch as the rains continued in earnest. Also, after Montezuma, the road heading across the peninsula westward get much worse, apparently lacking pavement.

The reason I went to Montezuma was that my guide book said there was a small place with cabin rentals (“cabinas”) and a Greek restaurant. I wanted to try this Greek restaurant essentially in the middle of nowhere. Oddly enough, the map in the guide book showed the cabins being a few miles south of Montezuma, however, it was literally two blocks away. So, I found it, but sadly the restaurant was closed for the low season. Next time I’ll check it out. We decided that we had enough of the rains and headed all the way up back up the peninsula to Paquera to catch the ferry home.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the state of the roads on the Nicoya Peninsula. They aren’t great and you have to be careful. In many spots it was impossible to avoid the huge potholes because they covered the entire road! What I learned though, is to follow the guy in front of you. If he knows the road, you’ll avoid the potholes along with him. Also, several stretches of the road were simply hard dirt with no payment and occasionally single car bridges, again with dirt. A 4x4 car is definitely needed in the rainy season.

Once we got back across the water to Puntarenas where we originally caught the ferry, it was a one hour drive back to San Ramon. By this time, it was dark out, totally driving rainstorm and Costa Rica roads don’t have many street lamps. The road was full of big trucks interspersed with cars and there are many twists and turns on this part of the road back home. It was doubly hard to drive in the rain, see the road and avoid the potholes. The potholes weren’t as bad as on the Nicoya Peninsula but a one-hour drive normally took almost three hours. In the future, I think we’ll stick to daytime driving. After we got back, someone told me that the road between San Ramon and Puntarenas is the most dangerous in all of Costa Rica, with the most car deaths in the country! Well, we survived just fine.

I highly recommend this trip though. It’s a beautiful area, less expensive than Jaco, Quepos or Manuel Antonio, and the scenery at least during the drive is worth the trip.

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Am4cr@hotmail.com

Miscellaneous Mid-Week Musings

2005-09-28T01:43:00.000-07:00

The week started off nicely on Sunday with a full house of guests brought by George Lunquist, (www.costaricaretireonss.com) one of the people here who do “retirement tours” for people—mostly North Americans—considering spending their latter years (or not so latter years) in this beautiful country. It’s a nice tour and I’m glad he comes to stay with us every month at Angel Valley Farm B&B. He gives a great “insiders” view of Costa Rica and shows his clients property for sale throughout the Central Valley. I am still amazed at the prices here for which one can buy a nice piece of land and build a custom home. Who said living the “good life” had to be expensive? A great group for those considering a move to Costa Rica is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CostaRicaLiving/.

Monday was a chaotic day. It started with an early breakfast for George’s group before they headed out on the remainder of their tour. Everyone loved the breakfast and left happy. The kind of customer I like and hope I get every time: They get a good night’s sleep, often with rain to lull them to sleep, and wake up to a bright morning, full of energy and ready to go, after enjoying our breakfast.

Right after the guests left, literally within five minutes, we lost our water due to some kind of pipe break up in Zacero. The water came back on by 6pm and I was thankful because I had not showered all day (and I had to use a makeshift “outhouse” outside….). Yes, we do have very good indoor plumbing with hot water here! We rarely have issues like this, but like anywhere, natural events occur, such as the heavy rains the day before, and that can cause a water main break. In fact, other parts of the country have had huge amounts of rain and at Quepos on the Pacific coast, there apparently was a quite a bit of flooding. Later this week I’m installing (correction: having installed) a big backup water tank to carry us for 3 or 4 days, just in case. For more on the flooding in Costa Rica, you can read the Tico Times: http://www.ticotimes.net/index.htm.

So, with a lack of water….

Rather than sit around a bit grubby all day, I did a brief tour to see more of the area surrounding San Ramon. I’ve discovered that some of San Ramon’s suburbs are quite nice with beautiful homes. I also learned that there are some incredible properties with waterfalls and views of the Pacific/Nicoya Penisula. I knew this already but hadn’t seen many areas around San Ramon until today. I was also introduced to a new restaurant in San Ramon for lunch, called “El Rinconcito,” a great place for a quick and cheap meal, mostly typical Costa Rican.

In between doing all the things it takes to run a successful business, I’ve found myself either reading or writing in my off hours. I’ve always wanted to read Bill Clinton’s autobiography because I was curious about what he would say about some the personal controversies he had during his presidency. However I refused to pay for the hardback copy, $30 at the time it came out, so I bought it in paperback. However, it was such a long book that his publishers had to create two paperbacks! It’s over 1200 pages and I finished the first volume last night. I enjoyed the first volume because I knew little about his early years, before he became President. Tonight I’ll start the “Presidential years.”

I am also writing often. Between this blog and the writing I’ve started to do a little of on travel and tourism, I’m keeping busy. I don’t think most people know that as a kid I wanted to be a writer, and even at the age of 14 I sometimes bought “Writer’s Digest,” a professional magazine for writers. One of my favorite authors is the famous travel writer, Paul Theroux, author of “The Mosquito Coast, “Riding the Red Rooster,” and others. I’ve read every book I am aware of that he’s written and someday soon I am going to write my own travel narrative. Ha! I guess in some ways this is a travel narrative!

You may have noticed I have put a few website links in this blog for the first time. I will do that periodically when I find good sites on Costa Rica or have a personal relationship with the site’s owner and want to let people know about friends of mine here.

I’ll probably go on a brief weekend trip soon. I might hop the bus and head to Granada, the oldest “colonial town” in all of Central America, in Nicaragua, or visit a small beach area here in Costa Rica I heard about across the sound from Punteranas on the Pacific Coast/Nicoya Peninsula. This area is apparently mostly visited by Ticos and has beach cabins for $8/night with the beaches often deserted. I’ll report on the beach if I end up there—and will have pictures, of course—but for now I’m keeping it my secret until I get a chance to see it and do some “product testing,” (essentially lying on the beach and then finding a nice little café for beer or lunch.

This week we started work on the front yard of house, putting in a stone patio and walkways along with nice new sod. We also bought a bunch of tropical plants we’ll plant tomorrow that should bring a good deal of color to the front of the house and give it, as they say in the states, “curb appeal.” I think the new plants will provide for quite a dramatic entrance as our guests and friends pull up into our driveway.

The puppies are doing well. They are still driving me nuts but they’re adorable just the same. No rain the past few days. It’s nice to have a break from the rainy season!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Am4cr@hotmail.com

Mr. Green Thumb this Week, Dinner is Served

2005-09-24T00:33:00.000-07:00

Green Thumb Goes Into Action....

In Beth’s absence this week in addition to the copious amount of marketing work I got done, I also did some gardening, believe it or not! Yes, many of you know my gardening skills. I took Carol, our cleaning lady and her son (see picture with her son “Brianaire”) to La Garita one afternoon, a beautiful town just south of here where there are many garden shops with a variety of plants and flowers. Until my Spanish improves, I thought it important to bring a Spanish speaker and she has a good eye for this stuff. Not mention, she can talk in “technical terms” to the garden people such things that are beyond me like, “Does that plant need sun?” LOL! I was also glad to see another area and now know where to get garden material and plants. I wanted to bring some color to our back yard/patio since all it is right now is a concrete slab with four walls around it. The back wall is stone straight up for about 5 feet then there’s a hard dirt incline up higher near the top with a road beyond it that swings behind our house. The idea is that the wall protects the back of our house from wind, mudslides, etc., and it does.

So, I bought about 25 plants, some flowering some not, with the idea to cover up the dirt area and make it a colorful, fun, but serene area when we turn that space into and outdoor dining area for our guests. What I did, and thought smart of me, was laid out all the plants on the concrete in front of where I wanted them on the dirt area up above, got a small ladder and went to work. It took me about three hours to plant them all but I’m very happy with the outcome. Now I only hope they live. Carol told me to water them right after planting them, though nature took care of that just as I put the last plant into the ground. I took a chance in leaving the puppies around while doing the planting. They just sat and looked at the plants with curious looks on their faces while I did my work. And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I stepped into the house to get something, they were both pecking at one of the flowers! They spent the remainder of my time working, in their cage!

In other news….

I am really pleased with the reception I am getting from my blog. So far I’ve had about 300 emails commenting on it (mostly good) and I now appear to have readers from 25 countries (there’s got to be a way to make a buck on this!?!) some of whom give me a hard time if I do not update it regularly! I don’t think my life is that exciting, and living in a foreign country is not nearly as exciting as having a holiday in one. However, it is certainly an “off the beaten path” experience.

Oh, the puppies are driving me nutty. On Thursday, Carol found them in the chicken coop munching on a few of the chickens! Luckily, they only slightly injured the chickens. One of the chickens was on its back and Carol and I thought s/he was near death. However, Gilbert, our contractor happened to come over he and simply grabbed the poor thing by the neck—as Carol and I both said “eewwwwwwww”—and put it back on its legs. The chicken simply went back on its merry way. I guess they really do mean “tough old bird” (A chicken is a kind of bird right?).

The rainy season continues in earnest here with the last few days bringing what I believe is 2 or more inches each day. However, the rain occurs at night which is just fine. It is a good time to read a book, go to bed early, or like me, cuddle up with satellite TV! I’m a total news junkie so each night I sit down with CNN (the only news channel I get) and follow the stupid Iraq war, the newest Hurricane.

It looks like our little slice of paradise will make it into a few travel guides, which is HUGE, so we anxiously look forward to that. It also appears that a few tour operators may put our hotel into their packages which will be tremendous for us if it actually happens. Most exciting for me is that I found out today that I am going to be the “San Ramon reporter” for the Tico Times (http://www.ticotimes.net), the national English language newspaper, mostly read by ex-pats. No, I won’t be writing daily for them as there just isn’t enough news to report on daily from here (oh, and the Tico Times is a weekly paper) but every few weeks I’ll collect local gossip, events, etc., and serve it up to my editor for obvious polishing! When my first article appears, I’ll provide a link to it. Wow, I have an editor and my own “beat!” Call me Clark Kent!

Weekly Ritual….

One of my weekly rituals (sometimes twice a week) is to head across the street to “Mi Rancho,” the local bar and tourist shop and watch the tour buses come in with boat loads of grinos on their “week in a third-world country.” We’re about half way between the famous Arenal Volcano and the capital, San Jose, so it is a perfect spot for a break. I usually sit with Tom, my neighbor, who tries to interest tourists in land in our area. It’s fun to watch him interact with the tourists and he is quite a character. He’s around 70 years, from California, an ex-activist and Green Party member. He’s interesting to talk to and I always learn something.

Okay, one of the coolest things for me when I make this visit is that I was told that my house and MaryEllen and Fernando’s house just down the road are photographed every day by many tourists as they consider it quite a beautiful area apparently. Sometimes, when a tourist is snapping a picture, I’ll approach them and say, “That’s my house.” It feels good to do that.

Food Tasting Goes Slightly Awry….

Friday and Saturday nights were fun. We’re testing a local cook who may cook dinner for our guests (okay, I’ll probably eat too!) as we plan to offer an optional dinner plan. Since I’m no food expert (I wish my friend Jody was here to be a critic!), I invited our cleaning lady Carol and her husband, as well as my neighbors, Franz and Tom (“I’ll eat anything put in front of me.”) to join me for dinner and provide feedback on the cook’s work.

On Friday night, the cook, Edgar, made filet mignon along with rice and vegetables. It was very good and we were all pleased. However, there is one caveat. Just before we were about to sit down and eat, Carol’s son Brianaire locked himself in one of our guest rooms and it took us about a half hour to get him out. While he was able to turn the door locking mechanism (we were peering into the room from a window), we quickly learned that there was a problem with the lock. Therefore, we ended up having to remove the screen from the window in this room. Then, to get into the room, we had to remove each of the narrow window panes that open for air. Brianaire’s father climbed through the window, saying in broken English as Franz helped him get in, “Don’t push me, don’t push me!” Luckily, we have a one-story house! Quite a scene as everyone pitched in to help, all the time trying to keep Brianaire calm! So, dinner was finally served and it was quite good, just not as hot as it would have been if eaten a half hour earlier.

There are few things of note about this dinner. First, filet mignon is not what one expects in the United States. It’s more like flank steak here, but still very good. Second, I had noticed during his preparation, that Edgar had brought with him a wide variety of fruits. I suspected, and was later proven wrong, that we would have some nice fruit after dinner. Instead, Edgar made fruit shakes for us to have with dinner. They were quite good, but we all agreed that fruit shakes are better served during breakfast, or perhaps as a midday refreshment, rather than with dinner. They just don’t seem to go with dinner and with wine. They could work if spiked appropriately though!

Saturday’s dinner was baked fish (tilapia, which is very common here) topped with an avocado-type sauce that Costa Rican’s call tartar sauce. It isn’t tartar sauce as in the U.S. but it was quite good nonetheless. This was a great dinner and we’ll probably use him in the future.

That’s all for now folks. Keep those comments coming as they are much appreciated!

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Am4cr@hotmail.com

A Novice Takes Care of Puppies….

2005-09-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

My good friend Andrew L. suggested that I update my blog more often, even if I have less to say, rather than letting a long time go between updates. He believes that people want more frequent updates. I agree. I also think I need to balance frequent updates with good “content,” as they say in the business (it’s not personal, “it’s only business”). I don’t want my readers to get bored! So, I need to have at least mildly interesting things to say.

I am surprised no one has commented yet on my last blog entry given it was 7 weeks since my last entry, so much had happened, and I had quite a bit to say. I love seeing comments, so get writing!

One of my chores Beth left me with was taking our new puppies, Osita and Reina (this is how they spelled their names at the veterinarian’s office so I’ll go with it), to the vet’s office. The doctor (he looked a lot like a friend, Gamma, from Manuel Antonio, actually) was very nice, spoke some English, and mentioned a couple of times that I needed to become fluent in Spanish. That annoyed me a bit, especially after the third mention of it, but nonetheless, he seemed quite competent and thorough.

Getting the dogs to the vet was the toughest part of the chore. They both screamed bloody murder as I put their collars and leashes on and did not want to get into the car. They finally got in by my tempting them with treats. They did not enjoy the first part of the ride, particularly through our ½ mile dirt driveway. They calmed down once we got on the main road, and in fact, took to looking at the scenery out the window, however, one them threw up. I don’t know which one but it made quite the mess in truck, which luckily the vet actually cleaned up for me when I arrived.

When we got into the vet’s building and I let their leashes go, they both scrambled for the nearest table to hide under, and it took some coaxing by both me and the vet to get them out and onto his examination table. They got all required shots, etc., and when the doctor left the room for a bit, they fell asleep. I guess the morning was too traumatic for them.

I got them home and when I let them out of the car they bolted like bats out of hell for the back door where they sleep at night, eat their food, and drink their water. I guess that is their safe space, and they sit as close to the door as possible—right up against it actually. I gather they long to be indoor doors (they’re definitely outdoor dogs). I fed them their lunch and immediately one of them threw up—didn’t see it so I don’t know which one. They didn’t each much of their dinner though this morning their food was gone and I fed them again. They’re much better today and have probably forgotten their torturous day at the vet’s office.

Osita and Reina are a pain in the you know what, they’ve soiled many of my clothes, they don’t listen well, and get into all kinds of trouble (though I think I’ve gotten them to stay off the roof and to stop chasing the chickens and horses), but you cannot help love ‘em.

The rains of Costa Rica….

Speaking of dogs—and cats—it poured like crazy for about three hours last night. I think it was the hardest I’ve seen it rain so far. I love the rain hitting our tin roof as it makes for a really cool sound, gives the place a very cozy feel, and it is great to fall asleep to. My DirecTV satellite worked for most of the time except for about 20 minutes during the height of the storm. That’s good because in Washington my DirecTV even seemed to go down even during a light rain. Perhaps there is less “junk” in the air down here—certainly there is very little air pollution, if any, in my area—so perhaps the signal is better. Fortunately, despite all the rain, I could not find one leak from the roof anywhere in the house as evidenced by puddles on the floor, nor did any flooding occur that Beth experienced while I was gone. Good work Beth (And the workers)!

Quick Emails….Nada!

Just logging onto the Internet and sending a quick email is one of the most frustrating aspects of living here. Dial up is, as some of you may remember, incredibly slow—forget about sending more than one picture at a time or a Powerpoint presentation, without going down to the Internet café in town—so each time I want to send an email, check out a web site, etc., I have to plan on at least an half hour in front of the computer. I did learn the other day that the national Internet monopoly is upgrading all the lines on October 1 and dial up users will witness faster speeds. It won’t quite be broadband or DSL-type speed but it should be much better. In fact, the other night web pages seemed to be loading super fast. Hopefully that means they are testing the system and it is a forbearance of good things to come. They promise us broadband in a few months but that was four months ago, so maybe by the middle of next year we’ll have it! I just imagine the day when both Beth and I (and guests) can be on multiple computers at the same time through a wireless network!

Stupid Stuff….

I let the gas in the car get really low and I think I just made it to the “gasolina” station the other day. And sure enough, I get there, and didn’t have the fuel key for the gas tank as I had been making copies of keys and forgot to put the fuel key back on my key ring. Luckily, the gas station attendant had a key that opened it perfectly—makes you wonder! I guess in the days of high gas prices people stole gas from tanks. Oh, “high gas prices?!” That’s today! Guess I’ll keep locking the gas tank even though I find it annoying.

I haven’t heard from Beth since she left for Maine which is good. She should enjoy her time away and I hope she is.

I have actually got tons and tons of things done being here alone this week. I won’t go into everything but I’ve done many chores around the house and I’ve finally begun my marketing work in earnest. I think I am working harder and longer now than I ever worked in a corporate career but I am my open boss (okay, I only answer to Beth--LOL!) and there is a ton of payoff down the road.

That’s it for now…more on the weekend!

Pura Vida

Andrew
Am4cr@hotmail.com

Back in Action in Costa Rica!

2005-09-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

There is so much to write, and so little time, but I’ll guess I’ll put off what I need to do until manana. Why not? Everyone else does here! Yes, it has been about 7.5 weeks since I last updated my blog, so this could be a lengthy one! I did not purposely avoid writing my blog however. As some of you know, I had some surgery in the states and was not allowed to fly for one month. So, I knew I’d be in the states for about that time. However, what I didn’t know then is that I’d develop DVT—or, better known as a blood clot—in my left leg and have to stay two extra weeks, just when I was preparing to leave the states. That almost killed me; certainly the blood clot could have done the trick! Between the pain from the surgery for a few weeks afterwards, and the pain from the blood clot initially, I just did not feel like “blogging.” I do now thankfully.

I had a blood clot once before, five years ago, and I was told I was susceptible to them in the future. What I learned this the second time around, besides becoming expert at injecting into my legs and stomach large needles twice a day (four times a day for a week because the pharmacy didn’t have the right dosage and I had to “add 2 and 2”), is that I really cannot do things that keep my legs in one position for long. I must walk around at least every hour on a long airplane ride and I must stop each hour during long car trips. By and large, I must stay limber in my legs and let my now thinned out blood flow.

Being in the U.S….

I am not going to discuss my stay in the states in a lot of detail because you are reading this, I assume, to learn about Costa Rica and our hilarious and sometimes heartrending antics here. I must though mention a few things about being “home” in the U.S. Surprisingly, it no longer felt like home and I’d only been gone six weeks. It surely was a familiar experience but I learned quickly that my own bed, my own “stuff,” the house I now own in Costa Rica and the new people I’ve met here is where home is now.

Surely, the many friends and extended family I saw were absolutely TERRIFIC! I cannot say enough about them and you know who you are. They cooked dishes they know I like, took me out, helped me get slightly drunk and make a fool of myself, picked me up, took me places, let me recuperate in their homes, and generally made me feel like a million dollars. I cannot thank them enough. Did I mention I have to have another surgery next year? 

My aunts Diana, Peggy and Joanne and my Godmother/cousin Marina, were particularly nice to me when I visited them and the rest of my relatives in New Haven. Joanne and Marina cooked me incredible meals. Marina’s was so incredible I ate way too much of everything and had a very bad case of acid reflux (which I get sometimes) for about six hours. That was a terrible evening for sure, panting and trying to breathe, my heart on fire and beating wildly, my stomach turning and tossing like a Category 5 hurricane making its way through the Caribbean.

My aunts Diana and Peggy, my father’s sisters, and both in their 70s, just crack me up. They are both huge “characters” which I suspect they know to some extent. I know my aunt Diana does. They’ve both had tough lives for different reasons and I think being bold, loud and most often, amusing, is their way of dealing with life.

My aunt Peggy kept trying to pawn off a painting of the last supper my mother gave her in the 1950s (which I suspect Peggy didn’t like), commenting, “It’ll be good to have God with you in Costa Rica.” I didn’t take the picture because it was took big, but I think it would amusing to guests so perhaps I’ll have her ship it to me. She did, though, force a small, orthodox bible on me, which I took gladly because she wrote a sweet note on the inside cover—and also left the $.75 price tag on it! Between the two of them, I must of heard, “S/he’ll send me to an early grave” about a dozen times!

I also found it amusing that when Diana and Peggy, along with my cousin Maria, wanted to take me out for a meal at a local seafood place Peggy wanted to eat at 4pm so she wouldn’t have to drive home in the dark. However, her home is 30 minutes from where we were, and it doesn’t get dark until 8pm or later in the summer. I guess it’s an age thing. They’re all terrific nonetheless!

Here’s a quick “compare and contrast” between the good ole US of A and Costa Rica. Well, it is more about what I learned I really didn’t like, or got tired of, in the United States.

I’m definitely over traffic particularly in New York City (where I had my surgery) and in Washington. There are so many, many, many better things to do with one’s time than sitting in traffic jams. I also very quickly took a shine to living el cheapo in Costa Rica. $2 lunches, $1.50 movies (first-run too!) and so on make it very livable here. I was amazed, better still, reminded, just how much it costs to do things in the U.S. Every time I stepped out the door for dinner I dropped $30 or $40! I suppose for a few weeks it is okay but my income here is much, much lower than it was in the U.S. Funny, I just realized I have not had a full time, regular job in one year. I’m still alive and doing well though. For that, I’ll take all of the credit.

What I’ve learned….

I also realized I had enough with having to earn a fat salary just to have the things everyone is told they should have in the United States: Big SUVs, more electronics gadgets than anyone should ever desire, the nicest home, furniture, big and expensive dinner parties and well, in some cases, but not mine, many fair-weather friends who are nice to you as they climb the business or social ladder but would kill their own mothers to get ahead.

I’ve also realized even at age 40 (okay almost 41), that I didn’t want to live just to have stuff any longer, and in some ways living in a somewhat third-world country on a meager income would force me to focus on what I’m doing in life, not what I have.

I also suspect that because my father died at 71 and my mother died at 63, that I’ll either get my “calling,” in that age range or only slightly beyond my father’s age. Of course I could go before my mother’s age—that would really bite—or I could live until 103. No one knows. However, I figure I should enjoy the rest of my life, which is now, rather than taking the chance of dropping dead at 65 and realizing I hadn’t done everything I wanted to do. This is one of those things I’ve always wanted to do: live overseas and adapt and integrate into a new culture. So far, I’m making one dream come true.

In Costa Rica, particularly here in Los Angeles Sur on this big farm I call home, the air is as crisp as it could get, people are not cramped for space, I don’t hear police and ambulance sirens all night and the people are as friendly as can be, really living to the fullest their short lives on earth. They don’t say “pura vida” for nothing when they greet you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d never renounce my citizenship because when things get tough, I’d rather be in a country I know and was born in, than one I’ve adopted. I believe there are many major problems in the U.S. right now and country is WAY off track. These problems partially pushed me into leaving (among other things), however, even at it worst whether it is an utterly and completely moronic, no-brain President, or a horrific, mismanaged natural disaster, I’d still take a bad U.S. government over a foreign one particularly when times are rough.

Back at Angel Valley Farm Bed & Breakfast….

All I can say is WOW! What a difference between what this place looked like when I left for the states and when I returned seven weeks later! It was just starting to come together when I left but Beth really turned up the heat while I was gone and obviously kicked some arse with our contractors—and it’s impressive. While I was gone here’s what I think was done on the renovations, and forgive me if I miss a few things, as I find new things each day:

1. Painting of the house inside and out;
2. Putting on a new roof;
3. Upgrading the electrical system;
4. Building a shelter for the horses;
5. Completing the chicken coop;
6. Adding hot water to the kitchen sink;
7. Throwing out the “suicide showers” in two bathrooms and adding a hot water tank for those showers, now with normal, 21st century shower heads;
8. Putting in new lights in the living room and kitchen;
9. Adding new outlets—with dimmers—throughout the house;
10. Installing a doorbell—I always gave a few of my neighbors on S Street in DC, including Beth, a hard time for not having them;
11. Adding new curtains to all of the guest rooms;
12. Completing the enclosure of the shed/storage area and putting in a secure door;
13. Getting the remainder of our newly built furniture including a kitchen island on rollers that will make cooking in the kitchen much easier;
14. Adding a new door to one of the bedrooms;
15. Putting in a new parking area for guests—yes, Beth hired a backhoe and had a guy apparently dig into the side of a hill next to our house (it would have been fun to actually see Beth work the backhoe though!);
16. Making a nice flat area for the horses to roam in front of the house; and
17. Firing the previous maid and hiring a terrific new maid—who appears will be quite a hit with our male guests—who speaks English, is trained in tourism and will help me with the marketing! At around a buck an hour, I couldn’t be more pleased!

The place was pretty clean and livable before I left and was generally good for guests, and we had quite a few of them, but now it is a real, functional B&B with great colors, furniture but also a warm and inviting home. Oh, and in the midst of all of this, Beth suffered through what I believe two complete floods in the house, losing power and phone service, among many other things. Amazing is all I can say. She should be proud. I surely am!

The First Few Days Back in Los Angeles Sur….

My first day back at the B&B, September 11th of all days, kept me busy from the start. We arrived from the airport around 2pm and sure enough, there was a “community meeting” at 3pm at a neighbor’s house. Our B&B, as many of you know, is situated in the middle of a growing ex-pat community of about 20 or so residents with more coming every few months. The community group was initially formed to share the expense of having a night time security guard, but over time began to address other issues such as environmental concerns, future development of the area, etc. More generally, it is just a good way to interact with our fellow ex-pats (there are some Tico residents as well).

I should have mentioned earlier that I was welcomed back by our two new little girls, Ocita and Raina. They are both 3-month old puppies and well, they quite active little devils. It’s too easy to fall for them and immediately I did. Now we just have to train them!

“Ocita” means “teddy bear” in Spanish, and looks like one. She’s sensitive but can be a tough cookie when needed but overall is the sweeter of the two in my estimation, and the calmer from what I can tell so far. “Raina” means “queen” in Spanish and she fits that billing. The wilder, more aggressive of the two, Raina knows she is special and it shows.

They are great puppies and will serve as good guard dogs down the road (they are outside dogs) but so far they have eaten away at most of the new screen door in the back, scared the living hell out of both the horses and the chickens, got dirt on almost every pair of pants I’ve worn this week, and well, did one other very amusing thing….

On Monday, both Beth and I heard this very loud thumping noise all over the roof of the house. Apparently some very small animals and birds will get up there once in a while and just perch for a short time, but this noise was too loud for either. Well, as you guessed, Ocita and Raina figured out, via a low roof area at the back of the house, how to climb up onto the roof. When I ran outside and looked up at the roof, there they were, on their backs sliding down a part of the roof where the incline was fairly moderate and having the time of their young lives. They did it again today (Thursday). Imagine how much fun they’d have on sleds in the winter!? I guess I need to build a barrier where they’ve discovered they have access to the roof!

Also on Monday, we decided we needed a few of the workers who work with us regularly to help install a bunch of kitchen shelving units, knife holders, racks for pots and pans, and other utility items I had brought back from the states. No, we are not totally useless mind you. However, we just painted the kitchen and did not own drill bits capable of going through our concrete walls. So, I took the Trooper, drove up to the work site where we knew our workers would be, and found two of our best workers to help us. Not bad getting someone right away to help us on my first day back. Well, as you know, our neighborhood is all dirt roads traversing the various hills and valleys of our community. There I am with two non-bilingual Ticos in the back driving down towards the B&B, and of course, I went too wide on a turn and sure enough the front end the car went right down into a fairly deep, water drainage ravine. The two of them tried to push the Trooper out of the ravine but it was just too heavy and at a bad angle to be moved. The car needed to be lifted up a bit and pushed by several very strong men to get it out. A 1991 Trooper is a big, solid car, not to mention heavy. With fast thinking and complete calm, Mauricio yelled up to the other workers at the house being built and in about 30 seconds here come 10 Costa Ricans running down the hill to help this hapless American and his car. It was a site to see. I was so embarrassed which they knew, and mocked me a bit while I cussed profusely. As they went up the hill, I could hear the laughing and saying the “s” and “f” word under their breath.

My embarrassment quickly dissipated when I learned from Beth that she drove the car into ditches, not once but twice while I was gone, and apparently was away from home and had to get a neighbor come get her out.

Today, Thursday, Beth left for 10 days of R&R with as she calls them, “the Maine crowd,” and for the first time I am alone in Costa Rica and tonight at least, alone in this big house. I like the tranquility, except that the puppies will surely send me an early grave!

I’ll end this now and go watch a re-run of the “The West Wing.” That is one thing I do miss in the states! More in a few days and thanks for reading this!

Pura Vida!

Andrew

Am4cr@hotmail.com

Banking, Haircuts, Cell Phones, Some Philosophy Too

2005-07-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Banking, Haircuts, Cell Phones, Some Philosophy Too

While I was told this by many people before arriving in Costa Rica, you have to experience it to know it and, that is this: Living in a foreign country is much different than being a tourist in one. Sounds obvious, but until you do it, you just don’t know what is in store for you. So, today’s blog entry is devoted to some of the routine things one does in a foreign country to get things done.

First, several of you have asked about our adopted dog, Jack. Well, despite our best efforts, Jack is a roamer. He left over a week ago and we have not seen him since. I’m afraid he’s with a new owner, or worse. If the dog situation gets resolved, I will let you know. LATE BREAKING UPDATE: Jack was spotted up at our friend Joanna’s house tonight. He has not made his way to our house, but at least we know he’s alive!!

Speaking of animals, a somewhat amusing thing happened yesterday. I was moving our two horses, Gringo and Amigo, from their field behind our house to their field next to our house. Gringo, who is much more friendly when he wants his food, happily followed me up the dirt road to the field as I shook his pail, for which I was going to fill with the food we keep in the garage. Amigo, the much more frightened of the two, stayed put and I decided I’d deal with him after Gringo. So, I have Gringo in the new field and I decided at that point I’d go to the garage, get their food, let Gringo eat and then deal with Amigo. Well, Gringo followed me all the way into the garage! I called Beth, and there she found me in the garage with a large horse by my side sniffing first at the birdcage—I swear all the birds turned white—then at the container stored with his food! I wish I had my camera for that! I’ll try it again and snap a picture.

Back to the mundane tasks incumbent in living here….

Opening a bank account is a half-day ordeal. I decided I would open an account with Banco Nacional, because it is government-owned and one’s money is most secure there, not to mention insured (though there is some debate about that). I met Chris Lopez in the loan department, the only English speaking staff member. He’s helped all of the gringos here. He also likes to drink cervezas at my local watering hole, so we had that in common. He happily set me up with the right people. However, you just don’t simply open an account. You need paperwork, and more paperwork! You must be a resident, and if you are not (I’m not yet), you need to have an official corporation and the paperwork that goes with it, a document from an attorney saying you are the owner of the corporation and can act on its behalf, and two letters of reference. It appeared I had everything that was needed. So, I sat for about an hour and watched the clerk type, yes, type on a typewriter, all of my banking documents. She must have typed up 15 different documents, all in Spanish, and I simply signed everything. However, every time she made a mistake, she had to use the old “correcto” tape! So, I gave her a check I had, written on Banco Nacional, that I received at closing on my house here, and I was all set, so I thought. The next day, I get a call saying my corporate documents are not correct, and I need this and that, and the other thing, blah blah blah. Therefore, they have my money but until I get the documents I need from San Jose, I’m in limbo. Thank God I can access my funds in the U.S. with my ATM card!

The result of being in limbo with my local bank account is that every time I have to pay a worker/contractor, I need to get cash. Not a big deal but the ATM I use (not all of the ATM machines here work with my card) only spits out 5,000 colones notes (about $10 USD) so if I have to pay a contractor say $500 for some work, just think about that!

It’ll be about four months before we can get cell phones. We need cell phones. First, we only have the one phone line at the B&B and if we are on the phone or using the Internet (yes, it is dial-up access with a modem for now), callers cannot get through. Second, it is just smart to have one when we are away from the house. Well, I was told even before getting here that getting a cell phone is not a problem. The problem is, however, is that there are no lines available currently. Our hopes were raised in San Jose when my computer repair guy told me there were well over 6,000 lines now available and all we had to do was go to “ICE,” the government-monopoly telecom company and get some lines. So back in San Ramon, of course we are told there no lines available until October. So we wait—uggh!

Finding your way around isn’t easy. While San Ramon is a very small town, it still seems like a day-long event just to go the 5 km to downtown and run a few errands. Getting there is no problem as we’ve figured that out. However, finding a particular shop, or remembering how to get to the post office, is a major chore. Because there are no street signs, you have to remember what a store or office is near. “300 meters east of the church,” or “200 meters north of the school” (the high school in San Ramon is called “George Washington High School!”). Well, after a while one gets used to it. At least now I generally know how to get to the post office, supermarket, computer store and Internet café (when needed). I also know where a few decent restaurants are, so I’m learning.

In other news….

I am trying hard to live like a Tico. This means, eating at home most nights, not buying any new clothes or gadgets, and generally trying to adapt to a simple, less materialistic life. So far it has been going fairly well. The only luxury I have besides Internet access and microwave popcorn, is DirecTV satellite. It “conveyed” with the house anyways and it is good for guests. It is the same (almost) as in the states so I can catch up on the news via CNN, watch one of the 10 or so movie channels, or generally just channel surf when I do not feel like doing much else. That’s the thing about Costa Rica, and in particular our location, it is very conducive to doing nothing. Some days I just sit on one of the hammocks and take in the incredible views while reading a book. Other days I just walk the property and “chat” with the horses, birds and chickens—and even the neighbors once in a while!

I don’t even spend money on haircuts. Not that I have tons of hair. In fact, I talked Beth into cutting my hair using the nifty hair cutting kit I bought in Washington. So, two Saturdays ago in the midst of another exciting weekend (yea, right!), I her cut my hair way back as I like it these days. She picked it up quickly so I told her if she ever needed to earn extra income she could become a hair stylist down in San Ramon! Haircuts, for men at least, are cheap here--$2 or $3 at most—but $2 or $3 is a beer or two so it is worth having her do it!

We have a brand new….

C-A-R!!!

Yes, we finally have our own car. It’s red 1991 Izusu Trooper, V6 engine, 4x4, complete with tinted windows. It’s built like a brick sh*t house for sure. It even has dual exhaust pipes, a real man’s car. I love it!

Funny, purchasing the car was much easier than paying my bill at the hardware store. I simply wired the money to the seller’s bank account from my own account online, he had his lawyers draw up the legal papers and two days later the car was ours.

We had rented a car for the last three weeks and it was mucho expensive. We also learned not to rent a car at the San Jose airport. There, they charge you 12% airport tax.

Having a car here certainly brings a sense of freedom and certainly enables my tendency to roam—just like Jack (I suspect he and may get in similar sorts of trouble too). I actually love running errands, being the big man around San Ramon so to speak. Today, for example, I finalized opening my bank account. Yes, it took about four hours over two days. “You need more paperwork.” Your attorney needs to give you….” So, as of today, I have access to online banking in Costa Rica, have a genuine Banco Nacional debit card, usable at dozens of ATM machines throughout the country, however only in Costa Rica. Thank God, I have my U.S. account! Chris Lopez, the English-speaking bank there treated me very well, even showing me how to transfer money to another person—to him. LOL! We transfer 1 colones or about .002 cents to him today and he prompted transferred the same amount back to me. I respect an honest guy.

Back to the new car, we went on Monday to pick it up at about 4pm in a driving rainstorm, with our neighbor Fernando. There we are sitting in the office of the seller, with Fernando, me and Beth. The seller read the entire agreement out loud in Spanish (I knew it was MY car when I heard her bungle my last name several times). During the reading, I turned to Beth and whispered, “I think we’re married now.”

Oh, when we left to pick up the car, the power went out at our house/community. Apparently, a truck knocked over an electric pole on the main road near our house. So, there we went, leaving the cleaning lady and four workers behind, assuming the power would not be out for long. At the time we did not know how long the power would be out.

When we returned from the car purchase oddessy three hours later, the lights were on but the main road by our house was blocked, so the road crew fixing the power lines let the cars go around the blocked area through our little dirt road that passes our house. We pulled in with several cars in tow and found our guests outside taking it all in. They said they were holding a flashlight while our workers put up walls, etc., in the dark! Thank God they took it all in stride. It has not been an easy transition, taking over this business for sure, particularly while we are trying to upgrade the place.

I do not think running a B&B that is “well-oiled” is that hard. We’re not there quite yet. Beth’s kitchen, for example, is not where she needs it to be. We did put up a metal shelving unit this week and that makes access to our kitchen stuff more convenient and in a few weeks we’ll have a new table for her to prepare food on, but for now it certainly is not an optimal situation. She’s managing well with what she has to work with though.

One of the things I have learned quickly is that you cannot escape, whether in Washington, DC, Costa Rica, or anywhere else, is the politics of the community in which you live. Just like back on “S” Street in DC, even in our quaint, picture-perfect area, everyone talks about everyone else. Some people won’t go to a party “so and so” will be at, or “He’s done this,” and “She’s done that….” The big question is, however, “What are they saying about me!”

I think it is important to avoid the politics if you can and one of the keys to enjoying life here is to relax and take things in stride. Some of us are better at this than others. I’m trying. For me, it makes no sense to be in an environment like this and feel anxious, worried, etc. I came here to make a little money, have a simpler, less hurried life, and of course, stay healthy. So, if things don’t go perfectly, I will not let it get to me. One screw up by a contractor, or even more likely, by me, is not the end of the world. Why am I discussing all this? Well, because I see the people who have been moving here, or will move here soon, and some are cut out for it, and well, in my judgment, I can tell the ones who won’t make it. You have to be willing to give up some conveniences, be rest assured that things will take longer to get done here than in the states and most certainly know that things won’t go according to plan every time. However, the payoff is a great life, less hassle than in the U.S, and even a chance to make an okay living. It is the small things here that make it great: Lying in the hammock on a Tuesday afternoon, feeding the horses, and just taking pleasure in the things many of us missed out on day in and day out in the U.S. Not everyone does this well. For me, I am learning to relax and to take the time to learn a new way of life.

I’ll contrast this life with the fact that I’ll be in the U.S. for about a month starting next week to have some minor surgery, see friends and take care of some personal business. I’ll be in New York, DC and other points currently unknown, so it’ll be interesting to see how I “re-adapt” to being back in the U.S. I’ll tell you about that in my next entry in a week or so.

Pura Vida!

Andrew
Am4cr@hotmail.com