10 Things I Have Learned While Living in Costa Rica

10 Things I have learned while living in Costa Rica

1.      The trucks driving around with ICE on the side of them are not selling ice.  They are the electric and internet company trucks.  And it is not pronounced ice like we say it.  It is “ee say”.   And ice is yellow.  Not the color, that is how they pronounce ice in Spanish.  But the color yellow is amarillo, and I’m not talking about a city in Texas.  Amarillo is pronounced “amareeo”.    So please don’t get ice and yellow and a city in Texas mixed up.

2.     Molasses is not only for baking here.  It is to pour on the roads to keep the dust down on gravel roads.  The horses love the roads during the dry season. Not because they are easier to walk on but because the taste delicious.

3.     Here in a lot of areas it is like the wild, wild West, with horses and cattle roaming free.  And it is perfectly ok to see them forging through the river all by themselves.  I’m sure they still shoot horse thieves here or at least use a machete to punish the offender.  Having to hold up traffic for a herd of cattle being herded down the road, by riders on horses and motorcycles, is what we affectionately call a “traffic jam”.  Jacob and I encountered one on the quad the other day.  It was fun but a little intimidating sitting on an ATV with cows with big horns walking past you on all sides.  But the cows are very docile and very, very adoreable so if this ever happens to you, you will actually love it.

4.     When you hear someone outside your house yelling something like “whoopi” they are not necessarily happy.  It is a traditional way to let someone know they are at your house and want you to come out and talk to them and they are actually saying something like “ooopi”.  They may or may not actually be excited to see you and/or want to make whoopi with you.

5.     IF a shower has hot water and if said hot water is heated by what is affectionately known as a “suicide shower”, do not turn the water on full blast.  Turn it on all the way, then turn it back down.  If you do not, you will never believe the hotel, family, friend, etc that it actually has hot water.  It will stay cold.  A suicide shower has an on demand electrical heater, which hopefully is connected properly to the shower head. At any new shower, it is best to let your friend or family member test it out first, preferably not a good friend or the worst family member in attendance.  If they survive, you’re good to go!

6.     Do not be surprised to see entire families riding on a motorcycle.  I don’t mean Dad, Mom and Grandma.  I mean, Dad, Mom, big sister, little brother and baby.  Merrily scooting down the road.  My son even reported seeing a toddler passed between two motorcycles driving down the road.  I have no idea what the accident and injury statistics are but Gisele Bundchen has nothing on the Ticos.  To be fair, they are experienced riders and for many families this is the only mode of transportation to go a substantial distance.  It just kind of freaks me out to see.

7.     People are not the only ones to enjoy the beaches and the ocean.  There are gangs of beach dogs.  They are not vicious, in fact they are shy of humans.  There are also pigs who come down to enjoy the beaches.  Let me clarify further.  These animals do not come to the beach with their human owners.  Most of the beach dogs don’t have owners. I have no idea if the pigs do.  However, I have seen groups of dogs on several occasions run down to the beach, play in the water awhile and then head off up the road again.  All without accompanying people.  I have on one occasion seen a pig and 6 of her little piglets, come down to the beach, play in the water awhile and head back out to the bushes.  All without accompanying people. 

8.     They don’t call it Tico Time for nothing!  Tico Time is similar to Island Time but a bit slower I think.  Do not expect to get anything done quickly.  For example: At the hardware store, you wait and wait for someone behind the counter to notice you (not unlike a car parts store in the US).  Most of their stuff is kept in the back and not readily available for you to pick up and walk up to the cashier with it.  You tell them what you want, in Spanish if you know it, in a combination of badly translated and badly spoken Spanish and sign language, if you don’t.  It is a fun and challenging game of charades.  Once the hardware guy guesses correctly, he shows you your prize.  No, you don’t get your prize yet.  He will print out a sheet of paper showing what your prize is and what the cost is.  Wait, you mean after all that, I didn’t just WIN this.  You take your piece of paper to the cashier window area, where you stand in line again to pay.  Once you pay, you get your receipt.  You then go stand in line again until someone behind the counter notices you, looks at your receipt and then goes and gets your prize and finally gives it to you.  It is a fun game to play when you are not in a hurry, which should be all the time if you want to survive here.

9.     Lest you think that all of this points to why would anyone want to live here.  The next two things I have learned help trump any other things on the list that people might look at in a negative light.  I happen to think all the above are pretty much positives. Absolutely positive point:  the people are friendly and helpful.  It is very community oriented and supportive here, both with the expats and the Ticos.  My sons have broken down on their motorcycle a few times and Ticos have always stopped to help them out.  Whether it is to let them use a phone or pack the whole darn moto into a back of a truck and take them to the mechanic.  One of the tuk-tuk drivers has also picked them up several times and given them a ride for no charge.  This man makes his money charging for rides but has seen them in a hard spot and taken them for free.  My experience has been they are shy, but friendly and very willing to help you.  Yes, yes, there is crime here too and there are always going to be bad people around. And yes, there are a few that have looked at me with a look I am pretty sure is saying “Died gringo, die.”   Overall though, Ticos are wonderful people and are friendly and open to us gringos.  Can we say the same about how US welcomes others, especially from Arab or Mexican descent?  It is very interesting and humbling indeed to be the one on the other side of the coin that can barely speak the language and does not know their systems.  I wonder how many of them are thinking, “If you’re going to live here, learn the language!”  And as a matter of fact, I am trying.  I imagine the Mexicans are trying to learn English.  It is very uncomfortable to be living in a country where you don’t know the language.  Please be patient with those who are learning English.  Be patient, understanding and helpful.  They are trying!!!

10.  The food here is amazing!!!   While you don’t have the variety that you have in the US, the food here is fresh and full of flavor.  I had forgotten what great tomatoes taste like.  Those back in the US who grown their own, know what I am talking about.  For most people though, you buy tomatoes at the store.  Even the organic ones in the stores in the US cannot compare with the tomatoes here.  It is because they are not picked green and shipped all over.  They are grown locally and picked at the peak of ripeness.  They are also not propogated with size, color and shipping in mind.  The tomatoes here can be downright ugly at times, green areas on them and misshaped but I will give that up for flavor and nutritional content anytime.  The same goes for avocados, pineapples, mangos, bananas, peppers, strawberries and all sorts of fruits and vegetables.  Oh and did I mention, one can pick a lot of these things off of trees just growing along the road or neighbors saying, “Yes, pick all the mangos you want.”  One teeny weeny downside to this is when you buy them, be ready to make them that day or the next.  They do not last when lounging around on your counter or fridge.  Yes, we are constantly running to the store but now I understand why there are little supers (see previous post, these are small grocery stores) all over the place.  We have three within ½ mile from us.  No big grocery store lines either.  I remember coming back to the US and going into a King Soopers (Kroger, Safeway etc) and being dumbfounded and impressed by the variety and size of the store.  Then as I tried to find nice produce I was reminded of how we have this variety, picked green somewhere far away and shipped for miles.  Then I stood in line to make my purchases.  I guess it all balances out, huh?  Longer lines and waits at banks and hardware stores, less lines and wait times in grocery stores and gas stations.  It’s all good.  Pura Vida!

Floreeeda!

 I had been staying a few weeks in Denver at various friends places and hoping that one of them could drive and ride with me to Florida.  However, it was just not good timing for any of them so I was facing the drive by myself.  Todd suggested I put an ad on craigslist for a ride share.  This way I could recoup a little gas money and have a traveling companion.  I thought, “Heck, what do I have to lose.  If someone who contacts me seems a little crazy I can always tell them no.”  I was contacted first by a 36 year old guy from Denver that said he definitely wanted to go with me but was working on getting things ready to go and trying to come up with the money for the gas share.  I told him ok.  Then I was contacted by a 21 year old guy from Kansas City that said he would like to go, had the money and was all set.  He also told me he had arranged a ride with a different guy but he was getting weird vibes from that guy and really wanted to ride with me instead.  I was pretty torn because I had said yes to the first guy and I only had room for one other person in the car because I was bringing a lot of my stuff that still needed to be shipped too. 

 

I had a strong feeling that the first guy was going to bail out at the last minute so I told the Kansas City kid yes too and figured it would all work out.  My gut feeling was correct and the first guy did drop out the night before we were to leave.

 

A winter storm was heading our way so I checked the weather most of the way.  Yep!  It wasn’t looking real good but I thought if I could get started and keep ahead of the storm, I would be ok.  We had had a couple decent days and the main roads were clear. 

 

Next morning I get up to about 4 new inches of snow overnight.  Todd and I are out shoveling once again.  I also remembered I needed my original car title to give to the shipper to ship my car.  I distinctly remember it being in with the other car paperwork in the glove box so I go to look at it.  Nope, not there.  I search everywhere I can search which is not very much because I have already sent the rest of my stuff to Florida for shipping.  No title.  It must be in with my files that are already in Florida and in a container.  I call the shipper to confirm.  Yes, no title, no shipping! Ok well, I have way too much scheduled at this point to change timing plans.  A little research shows I can give someone my power of attorney to someone and they can apply for a lost title on my behalf.  Melissa!!  Help!!!  

 

To stay in Colorado and handle it myself would have meant letting me co-traveler down, missing my flight out of Tampa and Todd was actually flying out of Denver to Costa Rica the same day I was flying out of Tampa and we were meeting in San Jose.  So it would have totally messed all that up.  I had to go, I had no choice. 

 

I head out of Denver and it is overcast and gloomy.  I got a little bit out East and the sun was beaming on a beautiful day.  For a little while!   I stopped in Limon for fuel and bathroom break and by the time I was heading out, it was snowing again.  I got ahead of it again and stopped for the night in Topeka.  I let my travel partner know I would be picking him up early the next morning.  Crashed in the hotel for the night, too tired to even grab anything for dinner.

 

Left the next morning.  Very cold but clear and the roads were clear.  Thank you God.  Just west of Kansas City I pick up my travelling companion.  Kabes, as his family affectionately call him.  Original name is Jacob but he said there were too many Jacobs around so he changed his name to Kaobi Venado, Kabes for short.  I pulled off the freeway onto an on ramp and soon a black pickup pulls up.  I see some conversation going on and then hugs.  Kabes hops out and climbs in my car.  He is a nice, friendly looking young man with his hair pulled up in a knot in the back.  We drive by the pickup truck to turn around and I see his mom inside crying.  He told me she always worries about him when he takes these travelling trips.  I stop and roll down my window and tell here I will take good care of him and he will be safe while he is with me.  Then we head back onto the freeway. 

 

Over the next two days I find out quite abit about this young man and we form a pretty tight bond very quickly.  We have so much in common, even though we have a large age gap.  He tells me how much his family means to him.  He tells me some of their trials through the years.  I tell him what I have been through over the last year or so.  I even cry some and he is very sweet and understanding.  He is on his way to Ocala, Florida where there is a Rainbow gathering there in the national forest.  He is brave too.  He and two of his friends went against their parent’s wishes and took off for a trip to Mexico.  Their adventurous spirits wouldn’t let them listen to people telling them of the dangers there and trying to fill them with fear.  And guess what?  They had a great time.  Did everything go well and as planned?  No.  But they grew and learned and are better people from their experience.  He is concerned about the earth and what we are doing to it.  He helped build earth houses that they made in hillsides and made the front walls out of old tires filled with dirt.  He is a very old and wise spirit I think. 

 

For the most part we stayed ahead of the storm but just before we are to take our turn to the South, we hit snow.  Kabes is driving and he is doing a good job so I just let him go.  It is coming down pretty heavy for about an hour or so but then we turn and head South in Tennessee.  Not too long after that it turns to rain but it is also dark so we find a hotel.  We checked into the hotel and then grabbed some dinner.  It is Superbowl Sunday so I watch a little of the game at the restaurant and plan to finish watching it at the hotel but the game is pretty sad and Kabes and I just can’t quit talking.  We compare tattoos, which was a quick loss for me, I only have one, he has many.  Then we compare scars.  Oh, I soooo have this one in the bag.  I have so many scars.  It would be hard to find someone who has more scars than me that is still living to tell the tales of them.  J

 

Kabes takes  a shower and comes out with his hair down.  Oh my gosh!  I didn’t realize it was so long and that he looks so much like my son Joshua did when he was younger and had his very long hair.  If I was having impure thoughts up to that point, that killed it all right there.  Ha ha.  And for the record, we both had our own beds.

 

KABES

The next day is pretty uneventful with just driving until we reach Ocala.  Thankfully Kabes looked up and wrote the directions down of how to get to the gathering through the forest.  We were driving down bumpy dirt/sand roads.  I was teasing of how this would give Scarface some practice for driving down in Nosara on the bumpy gravel/muddy roads.  We go by a sign that says “Traylor for sale.”  I teased Kabes that he is going to be out here with the people from that show “Swamp People”.   We are making turns on unmarked weird, one lane sand roads with some huge ruts in areas.  Kabes said, “I am starting to doubt myself.”  Just as he said this, we turned a corner and there is a psychedelic tie dyed bus in front of us.  I point it out and say, “I think we found it.  Nothing says hippy gathering like a tie dyed bus.”  We both start laughing.  We pull up and start talking to a guy.  I asked how many people were here at the gathering because where we are at there are about 10 and 3 vehicles.  He paused and said, “Hmmmmm, about 500.”  I am shocked because I swear it looks like only a few.  Apparently they have camps all over back in the woods.  We are advised to not hang out with the camp right up front unless we are looking to drink heavily and party.  I thought one of the main reasons of these gatherings was to party but what do I know?  I have never been to one.

 

Kabes gathers his stuff and we have to say good bye.  We have befriended each other on Facebook so we can at least stay in touch some.  I tell him, “Have fun but stay safe and make good decisions.  You have another mom now whether you like it or not.”  He tells me that I have another son now too.  I opened the car door to leave and he yells out to me, “I love you Lori.”   I say “I love you too!”  We wave good bye.  I have to admit when I got back in the car I had an empty feeling where his spirit had been.  I missed him immediately.  I so totally get now why his mom misses him so much when he goes away.  It is not just worrying about him.  She misses the light that he brings.  Love you Kabes, always will.  I hope you and your mom come visit me some day.

 

I find my way back out of the national forest, thanks to Kabes letting me keep the directions and I pretty much back track all the way.  I drive to just North of Tampa to stay for the night before taking my car to the shippers the next day. 

 

The next day I take my time at the hotel because I have all day to drive just a little ways.  I find the industrial complex where the shippers warehouse is at but I can’t find the actual warehouse.  I went to the office and they told me it was right across the street.  I start to head that way and lo and behold, the man’s daughter and her husband spot me and are waving at me to come on.  I meet Ieneke and her husband, Alberto.  Ieneke’s dad Charles is the one who owns the business.  He handles the deliveries on the Costa Rica side.  Ieneke and her husband handle the US side.  Charles is Dutch but married a Costa Rican, so Ieneke is half dutch and half tico.  Her husband is from Costa Rica.  They are so absolutely sweet.  I pull my car into the warehouse, explain the issue again about the title and say I understand I will have to pay storage fees while they hold my car since they cannot ship it yet.  Ieneke says noooo, no storage fees.  Oh my gosh, that is great.  Then I say let me help pack up the stuff that is in the car because I found out you cannot ship stuff in the car.  I think it is because customs needs to be able to check it out good.  Again Ieneke says, nooooo, we will do that for you.  Ok.   I ask if they have a computer and printer so I can print up the forms to request the lost title and give my friend in Colorado the power of attorney to request it.  Ieneke lets me use their office equipment.  Almost done.  I ask Ienek should I call a taxi or what is the best way to get me to the hotel for the night.  She says, noooooo, no taxi.  My husband will take you back.  I’m telling you, these people are so wonderful.  Not only does her husband take me to the hotel, before we go there, he takes me to a UPS store which is waaay out of the way so I can express send the paperwork for the title.  Then he takes me waaay in the other direction to the hotel, even paying the tolls.  He would not even let me do that. 

 

We had a wonderful conversation about their life there, their son, the business and other stuff.  He showed me pictures of his son that were on his phone.  We have a great visit and I loved meeting both of them.  When we got to the hotel he brought my big heavy suitcase in and I hugged him goodbye.  The girl who checked me in is very sweet too.  Her family is originally from Hondouras.  She told me where my room was and said she picked that one for me because it will not be too far from the front reception for the next morning when the airport shuttle is to pick me up.  What she failed to say is that it is on the second floor with no elevator.  So I have to slowly lug my heavy suitcase up to my room and then come and get my carry on too.  Oh well, I see that compared to other hotel rooms, I am pretty close at least.

 

I’m pretty much too tired, hot and a little scared to go out looking for a place to eat that night so I called the front and asked if they knew of a good Chinese restaurant that delivers there.  I way over ordered, being hungry at the time of the call and also knowing it would be my last Chinese food in who knows how long.  Ahhh, but it was very good!!.

 

 

Next morning at 5:00 am, I am schlepping my luggage back down, catch the shuttle, fly to San Jose, Costa Rica and meet up with my friend Caitlan at the hotel. 

 

Still working on getting to that space where I can slow down enough to live in the moment.  I’m almost there. 

Strapped and Wrapped

If you pay attention at every moment, you form a new relationship to time. In some magical way, by slowing down, you become more efficient, productive, and energetic, focusing without distraction directly on the task in front of you. Not only do you become immersed in the moment, you become that moment.

   -Michael Ray

 

I don’t know who Michael Ray is but I believe he is on to something.  So much of my life has been run, run, run, go, go, go.  One of my main objectives in life is to slow down and really see, feel and live each moment. 

 

 After raising 8 kids, while working a full time job through most of that, doing all the housework, most of the cooking, shopping, running the kids here and there, it has been a major challenge to slow myself down.  You see my ex-husband worked out of town most of the time.  In fact for five years, we only saw him one weekend a month and for one week over Christmas.  So I was basically a working, single mother of 8 kids, although some had gone to live with my previous ex-husband.  I know, it is complicated.  All in all, I had a lot of kids to raise, mostly on my own.  So I didn’t have a lot of time to smell the roses and what have you.  I was busy smelling diapers and burnt dinners.  A lot of the details of my life just slipped by me, with only minimal notice, if any.  I am sad to say, even most of my own children’s childhoods. 

 

So after years of this, you can imagine that going slow is not the pace I am conditioned for or used to.  However, I am determined to work and work at this until I get it close to perfection.  Costa Rica is a place and this is the time in my life that I really feel I can do this.  Ok, well starting now!  Ok, now!  Ok, for sure tomorrow.  And this is the reason why there has been a slight delay in this goal.

 

 If you have been following the blog, you will recall I went back to Colorado again.  And came back to Costa Rica again, and then back to Colorado again, then back to Costa Rica again, then back to Colorado again and I am now back in Costa Rica.  Try to keep up, please.  Ok, I will retrace this freaky, frenetic flying for you.

 

 Was in Costa Rica, moved here May 2013 with the two oldest sons.  Decided I needed a car down here.  They are not cheap down here.  Went back to Colorado for almost 6 months to work and earn money for a car.  While back there I came to Costa Rica for 10 days to visit friends and the boys for my birthday, knowing I would go back to Colorado to my job.  Went back to Colorado, decided it was time to make the jump.  Gave notice to my job and came back to Costa Rica just before Christmas to stay here for good this time.  While I was still in Colorado, I was waiting and waiting for the final divorce settlement money to come through.  Nothing came, so I gave the proper entity authorization to do a direct deposit into my bank when it came through, knowing sometime after that I would need to shop the rest of my household stuff and my car back to Costa Rica.  The proper entity screwed it all up and I could not take care of it properly from Costa Rica so I had to fly back to Colorado AGAIN. 

 

 I took care of the paperwork for the divorce settlement money and made arrangements for shipping my stuff to CR.  This was not quite as easy as it all sounds.  Shipping my household stuff from Colorado meant renting a truck to gather stuff from three places, get it all to my storage unit, hiring a couple guys to help me stack it all on three pallets, strapping it down, wrapping it in plastic wrap, coordinating all this in the morning of the same day that the shipping company was going to pick up the pallets.  My storage unit was not big enough to have all of the various items I had gathered in it at once.  My storage unit was also an inside unit that the trucking company could not get to with its forklift to put it in the truck.  So I had to get stuff there, get it packed up and ready all before the shipping company’s truck showed up.  Turns out we had it ready in plenty of time and the shipping truck did not come till much later in the day, while I had to sit in my car for several hours,  babysitting my pallets of plenty so no one would help themselves to my hard gathered, strapped and wrapped stuff.

 

PALLETS STRAPPED AND WRAPPED

 

Two things down, one more to go.  Shipping my car!  I found out I could save $1,200.00 dollars by driving the car to the shipper’s warehouse near Tampa, Florida.  So I bought the flight a few weeks out (also to save money), hung out at my friend Todd’s house, who so sweetly cooked and cooked for me and fattened me up nicely with cookies, candy and BBQ, and waited for it to be time to head to Florida.  Of course good old Colorado laid plenty of snow on the area before I headed out, so the morning I was to leave, Todd and I had to shovel snow for a couple hours.  Soon I was on my merry way to Florida, praying I could stay ahead of the snowstorm that was forecast.

 

 Next blog:  The drive to Floreeeda and my traveling partner, Kaobi.

 

Seeing Stars ***

Age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress, And as the evening twilight fades away The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Every day I am reminded I am not in the bloom of my youth anymore.  Physical strength isn't what it was.  Right hip is going to need replacement down the line.  A few wrinkles sneaking in. Worst of all, the saggy skin that cannot be tightened up, sans plastic surgery.

But wonder of wonders, I see stars.  I see them like I have never seen them before.  Literally and figuratively.  The magical serendipity continues in my life as I was just last night looking up at the sky full of starts and was awed at how much brighter and clearer they are here.  Is it because they are closer since we are closer to the equator?  Is it because the air is cleaner in this tropical jungle?  Are my eyes, along with my heart and soul, seeing things clearer than ever before?  I don't know the reason, I only know the stars were amazing to behold last night.

So today, with my aging body staring me in the face, I see the figurative stars clearer than ever before too.  I still don't see them all, no matter how much I search though.  I just know I am getting to know myself better and better.  There is something to be said for being alone in life. That is to say, without a better (or worse) half.  It has been many years since I have been in this space and at the time I was a teenage girl.  A totally different mind set and focus than finding myself alone in these, ummm, let's call them "mature years".  :)   Maybe a little scary having some real time to sit and introspect but all in all, a good thing.  The challenge for me is to use what I am discovering for a better future for myself and all those I encounter and connect with in this life.  I am very excited for my future.  I mean, some people live to in their 100's and it is true that you are as old as you feel.  I feel very young here.  I am very free.

Don't look to me for the answers in your own life though.  Everyone has to find their own stars. So don't be afraid of the darkness, it only helps your stars shine brighter!!!

Moving on to what is going on here in beautiful Costa Rica. :) 

It is the dry season now.  Temps consistently in the mid 90's.  Low humidity though.  All the luscious green is starting to dry up.  No worries though, it will come back around in May when the rains start back up.  The dry season is also called the "high season."  Not sure why except that everything goes up in price because of a lot of tourists in the country.  So it is "high prices" and "high tourism".  That is not all bad because especially here in this little coastal village, most of the money is made on tourism.  And the full sunny days are great because no worries of when you should go to the beach.  You can go anytime.  No worries about torrential downpours.

However, high also means "high dust".  The roads here in Nosara are not paved.  They are gravel with a lot of dirt under the gravel.  So as the traffic going down the road increases, so does the dust level.  We drive down the road on our moto with rags over our mouths to help from breathing in the dust.  We had to move our clothesline where we dry our clothes because it was too close to the road, even with a green bushes barrier.  Then moving our clothesline meant we had to treat the tree bases that we hung our lines from with insecticide because ants were getting all over our cloths.

The way that some areas here deal with the road dust is to pour molasses on the roads.  Yep, that's right, no tarred roads for us.  We just sweeten the area.  :)   It is because molasses is much cheaper and easier to get.  Remember, this country grows sugar cane.  And yes, if it does rain, the molasses all dissolves.  However, on the Pacific side here, it is very unusual for it to rain anytime from December to March.

I came up with an amazing chocolate sauce for our dessert business.  It will go on many things but for starters, plantain fried in organic coconut oil.  We found out about Frankie, who lives just down the road.  He grows and makes his own organic cocoa and coconut products.  Their flavor is amazing and the freshness cannot be beat.

For the time being we have decided not to have people come to the house.  We are going to make the desserts to go and take them down to the local beaches around sunset.  Each night around a hundred or so tourists gather at the beach to watch the sunset.  We think at least some of them might enjoy a fresh, locally made dessert.  So we will take a cooler with desserts to go down and try to sell them.  First try is New Years Eve, when I figure quite a few people will be at the beach to watch the sunset on the past year.  

A medium sized cooler at the super is $90.00 but fate stepped in, once again.  I had called a woman about possibly buying a bike they had for sale.  We decided not to buy the bike but they also mentioned they are moving back to the U.S. at the end of January and had other things for sale.  I called her and asked her if she happened to have a medium sized cooler with a handle. She said yes and that she would sell it to us for $20.00.  Wooo hooo!  

I am excited to finally get even a first step going on our new little venture to thrive and survive in this foreign land.!

A Nosara Christmas

Emptiness is a symptom that you are not living creatively. You either have not goal that is important enough to you, or you are not using your talents and efforts in a striving toward an important goal.

— Maxwell Maltz

I am back in Costa Rica, yet again.  I hope very much to stick it out this time.  We have plans and a purpose this time so I think I will be here awhile.

When I walked in the door on December 18, I saw a beautiful Christmas tree the boys had made of driftwood and it was covered in lights.  I also brought lights from the US to put up around our courtyard so your little place looks very festive.

We had the rental car for a few days so we went to Liberia looking for things.  Founds a few kitchen items we needed, some acrylic paint and a few other things including a little Elf on a Shelf.  We had fun over the last week or so posing Elfie for his Costa Rica Christmas pictures.  Here he is macking on a French chick who was here for a yoga retreat.   

 Jacob has been working on his masks and there was a little art show in Guiones.  I finally talked him into us going and setting up a little table.  He sold one of his masks.  Everyone LOVED his work.  He is so talented.  Remember, all of these are made with recycled materials.  The main material is recycled egg cartons, but he also has collected shoes at the mouth of the river (Boca Nosara) and used bits of pieces of shoes, hats, anything he finds at the boca. 

Here is the mask that he sold.








A couple night before Christmas, we decided to make some ornaments for the Christmas tree.  Here are a couple I made from shells. added a little glitter too.  We had a lot of fun coming up with our creative fun ornaments just using what we had available to us.

On Christmas eve we played Cards Against Humanity:  A card game for horrible people.  We didn't know how horrible we actually were until we started playing that game. It is similar to Apple to Oranges but very rude, sex ridden and downright mean at times.  However, we found it hilarious and I cannot wait to play it with some people that I know.  :)

 

A couple days before Christmas, we obviously had some kind of illusion that we were still in the US and decided to go to Super Nosara in search of a turkey for Christmas dinner..  Do you have any turkey?  Gobble, gobble  No, no turkey. Awww, darn it.  Ok, we will have chicken or something.  So Jacob and I are doing some more shopping and the woman who owns the super, came and found us and motioned us to come back to the meat area.  There was a woman from the US there.  She is married to the guy who runs a local surf shop.  They have lived here for several years, her kids were born here and she speaks really good Spanish.  The owners of the super bring out a huge frozen turkey.  The woman, Sarah, said she had a really small oven which wouldn't fit that big ole turkey and did we want to get half the turkey.  We said YES!!  We were soooo excited.  And even more so when I found out that half the turkey (approximately 12-14 pounds) was going to cost $40.00 US dollars.  Wow!  Pretty expensive turkey but it is Christmas, so yes, we want it.  Then the crazy tico owners asked us which way we wanted it cut in half.  All we US folks started laughing.  Well of course we wanted it cut the long way so we each got half a breast, a wing and a leg.   They take it into the back and wham, cut that big old frozen turkey in half with their meat cutter.  The universe, serendipity, whatever you want to call it, helped us out again. Then we find out the woman is in charge of the activity program for the children's Christmas break.  She had heard about Jacob and his art work and had wanted to talk to him about volunteering to teach some art in the program,  Jacob had already heard about them wanting him to teach but just had not connected with her yet.  So he and Sarah got to meet and talk about it. The craziness and magic of this place just does not stop happening. 

 

Finding everything for a traditional US Christmas dinner here was somewhat of a challenge but we managed to do it but I had to make my own corn syrup.  Then no pie pan so took the handle off of a fry pan and mad a pie in that.  The challenges never end here but it is also fun having your creativity and resourcefulness put to the test.  We had a woman, Maria, that is living here with her teenage daughter and no other family or close friends around.  She is from England but has Italian parents.  We had a good time hearing some about her life.  She was very talkative and interesting.  Her daughter however, did not seem real happy to be dragged out.  LOL  Maria is vegetarian.  Her daughter was VERY excited about the turkey and definitely enjoyed that.  I don't think she gets meat at home even though it is obvious, she likes it. 

 

All in all, it was a very fun Christmas here in Costa Rica this year.  Feliz Navidad.

 

 

 

 

 

Roots or Wings

Don't look at or listen to others as to how you should live your life.  Choose what brings you your happiness.  If you want roots, stay planted to grow and thrive.  If you want to fly, use your wings and give yourself to the wind to grow and thrive.  Each person must choose for themselves.

                                                      -Laurel Sanders-

 

Yes, my very own quote this time.  I just bought my ticket to Costa Rica, again!!.   I have tried and tried to live the life that so many think I should lead.  It is just not for me.

 

Am I jealous of their close knit families, of spending a lot of time with their kids and grandkids, watching grandkids play in football games and babysitting little ones?  Absolutely!!  So many times I wish I was content to stay put in one place.  To be happy where I am, both in a physical and mental sense. 

 

Alas, I am not made that way.  I swear I have gypsy blood running through my veins. I am constantly pushing and striving.  While I may be happy where I am for a time being, I am constantly pushing myself intellectually, emotionally and experience wise. I also get restless in one place for too long.  This frustrates me a lot actually but it is how I am.   

 

Please let me be clear though.  That does not mean I am unhappy.  I am not!  At each phase of my life, at each new experience, at each new place I live or visit, I find great joy.  I do however go through growing and adjustment pains.  That makes the coming through that much sweeter though.  It brings to mind another quote I read somewhere.  Sorry I don't remember the author, maybe one of you knows.  "You are either green and growing on the vine or you are ripe, red and dying."

Do not misinterpret what I am saying here.  You can absolutely stay in one place, grow and thrive.  Many people want and need those kind of roots.  I just don't.  They feel like weights to me.  Pulling me down.

My main point here is to yea, go ahead and look at others and be happy for them when they find what makes them happy.  However, do not think that you have to be the way they are to be happy.  And don't listen to others as to how you should live your life.  I did for way too long.  I was unhappy way too long.  You really need to do what brings you inner happiness because if you are not happy inside, you cannot help anyone else be happy either.  And do not let fear control your life!    Keep watching because I plan to write a large, large blog on the issue of fear.

So yes, grow where you are planted!  But if that is not for you, pull up those roots and turn them into wings and fly!

(oh and I really don't care for Tom Cruise but I love this picture, ha ha)

 

Coming Back

Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.

— William Arthur Ward

As pretty much all of you know, I am back in Colorado now.  Not living an exciting life anymore but most of you indicated that you still wanted to hear from me so I will continue, albeit, more sporadically. 

I am trying to live by the quote posted above.  Trying to participate more, help more, practice my belief more, I have always been kind.  Hmmm, forget?  I am working on that one.  That one will take me quite awhile.  But yes, I am definitely doing the last one.  I am doing more than dreaming, I am working, in many ways.

One thing that I have been asked  repeatedly is why I left Costa Rica and came back to Colorado.  There are many answers to that question.  Despite this being a fairly public forum, there are some things I will not open up about on here.  One of them are my deeply personal issues.  I will give small glimpses perhaps but I find it impossible to lay my heart out there for everyone to see.  I think it is enough that you all know of the wounds my heart and soul have taken this past year.  Some in the US, some in Costa Rica.  I continue to work at healing and growing stronger.  So let's take this quote I am trying to live, one point at a time.

Do more than belong: participate.   I have absolutely been working on that strongly.  Since coming back to Colorado, I have been sailing 3 times and taking dancing lessons, bachata and salsa.  I am participating like I haven't been able to for many years.  It feels good and it feels sad.  It feels good in that I am finally being able to do things in my life that I enjoy.  It is sad that I don't have anyone special to do them with.  Although, if I am honest when I look back on my married life, I didn't have anyone special to do these things with then either.  So I just did not do them. Now, I am not waiting around for him to find time to spend with me.  And the guys I have done these things with, enjoy being with me and have fun.  They don't bitch and complain.    So overall, when I look realistically at my past life and my present life, I am free and happy. The key is to keep looking forward.

Do more than care: help.  Doing that too.  I have signed up to help on Legal Nights and submitted my resume for a volunteer TEFL program here in Denver.  Legal Nights is where lawyers and paralegals volunteer their time interviewing immigrants about their problems, whether they be legal or otherwise, and help direct them to services and people who can help them.  They have interpreters on hand also to help with communication.  Will be a great way to help out and practice my Spanish a bit too.  I had to miss the last one because I had to pay my little old (really old, 1998) car off. 
As far as the volunteer TEFL teaching, I have not heard back yet.  Hopefully soon.

Do more than believe: practice. I really believe in my future vision for living in Costa Rica permanently.  I have plans that I have been putting into motion while back here in the US that should help me achieve that dream.  I cannot actively practice on the actual plan at this time but I think by setting things in motion, my beliefs will materialize.  I am so excited for this aspect of my future.

Do more than be fair: be kind.  While I continue to do this pretty much constantly, I have fallen a few times.  I have lost control of my anger a couple times and did things that were not so kind.  I have only deliberately tried to hurt someone one time and that is because he was being dishonest with his company.  I rationalized that what I did was the right thing to do, which is probably was, but that is not the reason I did it.  I did it to try to hurt him.  Other than that though, I truly am a kind person and even when people strike out at me, rarely strike back.  I will keep working on this one though anyway.  :)

Do more than forgive: forget.  Ok, this one is a tough one for me.  I can't say that I have even totally forgiven, let alone get to the forget part.  And is forgetting good?  Maybe in some instances.  It eases the pain when I push the memories away.  I would love to forget most of the time.  What I am remembering though is the good times.  For some reason I tend to romanticize the marriage and ONLY remember the good times.  That is just crazy because there were plenty of bad times.  I need to work on forgiving myself too for letting him down, or not knowing how to make him happy or whatever else I screwed up.  That is probably the hardest of all to do.  So once again, should I work on forgetting?  I think the healthiest way to deal with it right now for me is to forget it all, good and bad.

Do more than dream: work.  This one kind of goes back to do more than believe: practice.  So, finally I get to the point!  The main reason I came back to Colorado was to work.  I cannot legally "work" in Costa Rica, the pay is low, I don't speak much Spanish.  All of these countered the idea of making any real money for my future plans  so I came back to Colorado to work as a paralegal for an undetermined time.  I needed money to pay off legal bills, to buy a car in Costa Rica, to pay to ship my stuff to Costa Rica, to save to invest in a business in Costa Rica.  So even though I don't hate being back here, I don't love it either.  I would much rather be in CR (and no for my Washington state and Colorado friends, does not stand for Castle Rock).

God has been wonderful to me though and placed me in an awesome law firm.  The focus on employment law and helping workers who have been discriminated against in their employment.  A little bit of criminal defense too.  It feels great to be on the little guys side for a change and feeling like the work I do makes a difference in a person's life, not just that I am protecting the big company and helping them keep their bottom line in tact.  I am the office manager/paralegal here and it is great.  I couldn't have asked for a better firm to work for and nicer lawyers.  Yes, there really are nice and caring lawyers in the world.  :) 

I am here in Colorado for now, working again as a paralegal.  And that is ok.  Some dreams happen fast and easy and some you have to work for to earn.  So I am working for my dream.  But I do have a dream!  And I will make it come true!

So that's all for me right now.  Should probably catch you up on my dating life in the next blog.  :)