Becomming

 

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

— Goethe

The past week has been peaceful and restorative again.  I have went down to the ocean several times and laid out by the pool a few times too. 

 

OUR PIECES OF HEAVEN ON EARTH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the amazing things here are the multitude of opportunities that come your way, whether you choose to take them or not.  We have gotten to know our property manager, Bhajan, better.  Due to this connection, Jacob has obtained a job.  Bhajan had started a property management company here in CR.  A friend of hers, who is also a property manager, has too many properties to handle and is referring a bunch of them to Bhajan.  Now Bhajan already has several irons in the fire.  She is a photographer, marketing person, yoga instructor, works part time teaching yoga and working at the restaurant at Blue Spirit, a yoga retreat center.  We found out she also makes chocolates which she sells to a few stores down here.  Being a property manager is not what Bhajan wants to spend all her time doing.  So she is hiring Jacob to talk to clients and renters, show properties, manage cleaning and maintanence crews and stuff like that.  Jacob is very excited about this opportunity as it will give him a good income for Costa Rica living and he loves the idea of working in the area of property.  He and I still haven’t given up on our dream of flipping properties.  We are starting to think that maybe here in CR we will have a chance to do that.  We are hoping this opportunity will grow to include Jacob’s partner Brock and Jarred.  Jarred loves working with plants and such.  With his artistic capabilities, he would be a good landscape architect and landscaper.  Brock has a lot of construction background and would be great for upgrades and maintenance in the property business.  So who knows.

JARRED'S SHELL MUSHROOMS 

As for me!  Well, the only nitch I have found for myself here is writing and self reflection, which while nice, has not paid any bills yet.  LOL.  Ok, that isn’t entirely true.  I still want to teach English classes and while this area is poor, I think that even if I take trades for lessons (yes, chickens, fish and produce) it would be a good thing to do.  Also, my years of midwifery experience can also turn into something down here I think.  However, we really need transportation other than just the scooter and cars are very expensive down here.  A cheap one is $5,000.  That would be one that is about 15 years old.  I also want to ship the rest of my stuff down here so I can make jewelry.   

So tomorrow I am flying back to Denver to find a paralegal job for a few months to a year.  I can make quite abit of money faster in the US so I will make that sacrifice for now. However, yesterday on the beach I was second guessing myself again and asking "Now tell me why again I am leaving this and going back to Colorado?"  :)

 

Which brings me to the quote of the day.  I have achieved several goals I have set for myself during my lifetime.  Some have brought personal growth but a lot of them were career, money earning oriented.  Recently the goals I achieved were finishing my TEFL training and moving to Costa Rica.  Neither of these were based on financial potential.  Rather they were specifically for personal growth.  I have achieved these goals and even though I have not taught English, YET, and I have not found my path here in Costa Rica, YET, I am so happy with what I have become.  I have become more comfortable and happy with myself.  I have learned to live with more gratitude, more forgiveness and less judgment.  I am waaay less consumer oriented and happier to live more simply.  Things are sooooo unimportant, especially the want to have the newest, shiniest toy.  Slowing down and being in the moment is also something I have learned but continue to work on.  I have continued to become closer to God.  I am happy with what I have become and continue to become.  We never stop “becoming”, we continue to grow as long as we are alive.  It is just a matter of becoming in a positive way or a negative way.   

Regarding my spiritual growth, I am still not a church goer and don’t know if I ever will be.  Still don’t believe in the Bible as “the word of God” although I do believe the authors were divinely inspired so in a way it is the word of God.  I do not believe in the literal sense of the Bible though.  Miracles though, yes, I do believe in miracles.  I see them every day when I look at this beautiful world and the people that God has put in my life.  I am so grateful from the gifts you have brought and what I have learned from all of you.  Connecting with others on a spiritual level is one of the miracles God gives us. 

Ok, enough philosophical ramblings.  You aren’t reading this for that reason. You want to know what the heck it is like for an expat to live in Costa Rica.  So back to the car thing.  Costa Rica is a small country.  They don’t make cars here.  They are all imported.  The import tax on cars is at least one half of their value.  That with shipping costs push a car to at cost at least twice its value of what it would be in the US.  There are brand new cars here but they are few and far between and very expensive.  I had one friend tell me he priced a new truck in the US.  It was $45,000.  When he tried to buy if from a dealer here, with shipping, taxes and licensing it was just over $100,000.   

So what they usually do here is import older cars.  They cost less and therefore cost less in import taxes.  Then they fix them up very nice.  The used cars here generally look much better than the used cars in the US.  I don’t know how much work they do on them mechanically but body wise, they usually look very nice.  I haven’t seen many Subarus down here.  They have a lot of Toyota’s.  I mean A LOT!  Gas is expensive here.  At this time a little over $6.00 a gallon.  So if possible, you want a vehicle that is very fuel efficient.  They do have inspections and licensing on cars but I haven’t gone through this process so I am not sure what it entails. 

Talking of cars brings to mind the roads.  We have been very excited because they have been fixing the gravel roads here in Nosara.  When we first came they were very bad.  Huge potholes, very rough, muddy.  It was also much wetter here then.  Torrential rains everyday.  After we got back from Ciudad Quesada, we noted that they had graded the main road.  It was much smoother and you could travel faster.  There is a rumor that they are going to pave it.  However, this same rumor has been circulating the area for at least the past three years.  The past two days they worked on the little side road to Playa Pelada, which we live on.  We heard an affluent family from San Jose bought Pancho’s down this road.  Pancho’s is a hotel, restaurant and super (supermarket, although not very super actually).  We all think they might be doing our road as a requirement of that family purchasing Pancho’s.   We don’t really care why it is happening, it is just nice that it is being fixed.  It is much easier on our little scooter.  Especially when two of us pile on it.  I don’t think the suspension of little Abejorro was meant to handle the weight of two of us AND the rough road.

 

JARRED AND ME ON ABEJORRO

 

Now to explain Supers, since I brought it up.  Supers as they are called, are anything from a small place that sells snacks and drinks to a good sized supermarket, with fresh produce and meats.  I guess in Costa Rica “super” would be the same as when we say “store” in the US.  However, no matter what the size, supers do not have near the same selection as even a small store in the US.  A decent sized super will have a choice or two for every basic thing you need, plus a few fun, interesting things.  However, they do not have, let’s say, 80 kinds of cereal under 10 different brands.  Maybe they will have two brands but only two kinds of cereal under each of those brands.  It can be challenging finding stuff you like to eat.  Especially here in Nosara where supers are very small. 
The biggest one here is Super Nosara.  Downstairs is food and such.  Upstairs is household goods, brooms, coolers, chairs, plastic containers, etc.  It is where we usually shop. 

So, oh yea, another moment of becoming, I am no longer a picky eater!  LOL