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

 

Whew!

I don’t know how to even start with what happened the last couple weeks.  Most of it is pretty personal so I won’t be sharing.  Sorry.  Ciudad Quesada is a very nice town though, I will tell you that.  It is up in the mountains a little ways, about 45 minutes to an hour to San Ramon, about an hour and a half or so to San Jose.  E opened his taqueria and by all accounts it is going pretty well for him.  For reasons I will not explain, we decided not to go into the business with him and also, not to stay in Ciudad Quesada.  Suffice it to say, we learned a lot, grew some more, through some good and bad experiences and are once again, richer in our lives from the experience. 

We returned to Nosara day two days ago.  A 7 hour bus ride.  We did have a layover in that time.  Don’t trust the bus schedule thing online for Costa Rica.  The times are pretty accurate but if you plot out the connections it does not tell the whole story.  Once again we were dragging two big suitcases, one carryon, a couple backpacks and Annie in her carrier. We started in San Carlos at 5:15 am.  They put Annie under the bus with the luggage which I argued about but the driver insisted it was against policy to have her in her crate in the bus.  First time I ran into this, so poor Annie had to ride down there in the dark for an hour or so.  

The online bus schedule thing showed only one bus change.  We ended up with 3.  We first took a bus from San Carlos to near Sarichi.  Bus change.  Ok, this was not an ordinary bus change and just to warn you if you ever come here, you don’t always get off one but and then right on to another.  A lot of times the other bus you have to catch is blocks away.  This was the case for us in Sarichi.  Luckily, I have ridden them enough to know that when they drop you off on some street, you better find out where you catch the next bus.  So I asked a guy that was standing there, “San Ramon Autobus aqui?  No, he points to a church and tells us it is on the other side of the church is where we catch it.  Oh, great.  We schlep all of our luggage a couple blocks.  Get all kinds of looks from the ticos.  A strange group of crazy gringos, hauling luggage and a meowing cat along the streets and getting on a very local bus.  About half an hour this trip.  These local buses are converted school buses so they are not comfortable.   

We get to San Ramon and we stop at the area where San picked me up when I came into town.  Jacob said, “Should we get off here.”  I said no, I think there is an actual bus terminal here.  But we can’t figure out where we get off at.  Finally everyone gets off so we do too.  On some street.  We ask a few people where the bus to Nicoya is (we have to go to Nicoya to get to Nosara).  We get questioning looks.  I decide when all else fails, get a taxi.  So we flag down a taxi and ask him to take us where we catch the bus for Nicoya.  Pay another $2.00 to find out it is where Jacob suggested we get off in the first place. 

A few buses come and go.  They have signs of the names of where they are going but we don’t entirely trust the signs.  So we ask the first couple “Nicoya?”  No.  A guy sees us ask a couple times and tell us the Nicoya bus comes at ocho y media.  8:30.  Ok, it is 7:30.  Ah hour to wait.  So we don’t really trust that people are telling us the truth and we keep asking each bus.  Finally about three people were telling us ocho y media.  I’m sure they were thinking “these dumb gringos just don’t get it”  LOL.  Sure enough, the Nicoya bus pulls up at 8:30 on the dot.  A few hours ride to Nicoya.  Beautiful scenery!  I truly do love this country.  With all its good and bad!  It is amazing! 

We sleep part of the way because this isn’t a local bus and is more comfortable with cushioned seats.  As we get nearer to Nicoya though, it gets hotter and hotter.  The beaches are quite a bit hotter and more humid than the mountain towns.  Although it is refreshing to see the sunshine.  We got very little of it and a lot of rain in San Carlos.  And most of you know I pretty much hate that kind of weather.  To be fair it is the rainy season and everywhere in the country is getting a lot of rain, torrential rains most of the time, even the beach.  The beach usually gets sunshine in the morning though so I can get a dose of sun at least. 

Pull into Nicoya, which actually has a bus terminal.  Donde es autobus de Nosara?  Oh, awesome, it is the bus right next to us. How much is the bus?  2000 colonies each.  $4.00.  Crap, I only have $4.00 total.  I need more money.  However, the bus driver for the Nosara bus is trying energetically to get us on that bus.  It is pulling out in a couple minutes.  I explain in bad, bad Spanish, no money, no colonies, sin dinero!  He finally lets go of our luggage and we walk away.  There has to be an ATM around her somewhere.   It’s a freakin bus station!  Ahhh, but it is a freakiin bus station in Costa Rica.  “Donde is Banco Automatico?”  Blank stares.  I pull out my ATM card.  “Donde?”  Ohhh, in Spanish he motions me down the road.  I am wondering how far when a guy who speaks English says he is looking for an ATM too and the taxi driver told him it was 200 meters straight down the road.  So Jarred and I head out. 

We go way beyond 200 meters, no bank, no ATM.  The taxi driver and the English speaker drive by us and waive.  Thanks a lot!  We follow the taxi as far as we can see it go.  We don’t see where it turns and we are lost, once again.  Hmmm, I decide I am going to ask someone in a store so I go into a woman’s clothing store.  They try to tell me and finally one comes out and says in her own unique Spanglish way, “See the park.  Go past the park. (arms moving indicating past the park).  Then turn right. (arms indicating turning right).  Ohhh, muchas gracias! 

So we walked down there and found an ATM.  While walking back I decide I need a smaller bill for the bus than the 20 mils it gave me (which is roughly $40.00) so we get a couple pieces of pizza.  We get back to the terminal and sit and wait for the next bus to Nosara.  

I really want to shop at the local food market that is by the bus station but the boys are whining about how we have too much too carry as it is.  Nevertheless, I bought some homemade tortillas and talked Jacob into going and buying some strawberries.  3 containers for $2.00.  I haven’t seen strawberries being sold in Nosara and the strawberries here are delicious.  They remind me of when I was growing up and had to pick berries in the summer to make money.  Well, I didn’t have to but my best friend Debbie Adams talked me into it. (Thanks Deb)  But the strawberries back then were mostly small.   It took forever to pick a flat full, not to mention we ate almost as many as we picked.  However, those small little strawberries had so much more flavor than the big, juicly, perfectly red ones we buy at the stores today.  The strawberries in Costa Rica are like those strawberries of my childhood.  Scrawny and a little blotchy, no perfect color but soooo good!  So much flavor.  And I won’t even torment you with how good the pineapples are here.  Ok, I will.  They are grown locally so they are allowed to ripen on the plant, not picked really green.  So they develop the most amazing flavor.  Even better than the pineapples I had in Hawaii in my opinion, however I don’t know why they would be better here. 

Anyway, we get on the next bus to Nosara, about an hour wait total.  I sat next to this fun girl from Arkansas.  She came to Costa Ricaa year or so ago to be certified to teach yoga (there are two yoga instructor training facilities here, both world renowned.)  She then moved to Playa Grande where she lives with her tico boyfriend.  She is coming to Nosara to help out on another yoga training.  She is now training teachers.  She is also a physical therapist so we discuss my recent hip replacement.  The hour and a half goes pretty quickly and soon we are being dropped off at Five Points.  We have to walk down the road about ¼ mile, dragging suitcases along the gravel, dirt and sometimes muddy road.  Somehow I don’t think the rolling suitcase wheels were meant for this kind of terrain but luckily, they hold up one more time!  Once again we are back at our house.  J

CIUDAD QUESADA

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  HOW LONG WILL YOU KEEP WAITING? DON'T SIT BACK AND WAIT FOR LIFE TO HAPPEN TO YOU.  HAVE A PLAN AND TAKE THE NEEDED STEPS TO CREATE WHAT YOU WANT." -  Steve Maraboli


Many of you have contacted me concerned with my well being since I haven’t been posting blogs lately.  I appreciate your concern and I want to let you know I am doing fine.  I apologize for the delay and any worry I caused you.  Life here, at least for me, either goes at the pace of a sea turtle crawling across the beach or the speed of a bat diving for insects in the night sky.  However, fast or slow, the adventure continues.

A little over a week ago E came to Nosara and stayed with us a few days.  He wanted to try harpooning some fish but the reefs here at Playa Pelada are too far out and too deep.  The water was also too turbulent and there was little visibility.  So like usual, Jacob, Jarred and I played in the waves.  The warm water, wave action, and exercise of swimming and jumping in the water is helping strengthen my hip immensely.  I still lack some strength but it is almost back to normal.  I have no pain in it.  I am so happy to have the ability to stretch my legs out in ways that I haven’t been able too for several years.  I am so grateful to the surgery techniques of today that helped me so much.

The next day we headed to Garza, to We found a little Italian pizzeria across the street from Playa Garza.  Uri, the young Italian who owns and runs the place had mischievious eyes with long, dark lashes.  He and his US girlfriend run it together.  His pizza wasn’t too good but we enjoyed talking with him.  I am constantly impressed by the people who come to live in Costa Rica and the adventure in their spirits.  Few US citizens I have met are willing to throw themselves into a life of this challenge and uncertainty.  Most likely because we have all become too comfortable with our lifestyles of excess and ease.  I can’t say I blame anyone for choosing that comfort.  I often find myself wishing I was still living it.  But once again, if having my whole world turned upside down taught me anything, it is that certainty is just an illusion.  We all grasp at it tightly as a security blanket against this cold world.  Most know how easily it is stripped away.  On the other side though, is truly living.  I have learned so much about myself, am growing so much.  I am having experiences that I could never have even imagined.  It is more than worth the trade off!

URI

 

After a couple days, Jacob and I headed back to Ciudad Quesada (San Carlos) with E to ch

check out that area and meet his family and some of his friends.  First we went to his Mom’s house to meet her but she was at work.  She is an accountant.  She lives near the city.  We met his youngest brother and his nephew.  E has 6 brothers and one sister.

 

We then headed out to meet his sister.  She and her husband have a house in the country by a creek.  E likes to walk along the river there and fish.  It is up in the mountains a ways and it is very beautiful there.  I felt so a home there, partly because of his family’s warmth and hospitality.  Those of you who know me from childhood will recognize the kind of weird, but awesome, familiarity of these pictures.  It looks just like the creek and swimming hole on the Little Washougal River where I grew up.  And just like Washougal all those years ago, the area around here is rural and agricultural, dotted with dairy cows and farms growing produce.  Sitting at his sister’s house with the warm breeze blowing through the house and listening to cicadas and frogs and watching butterfly was wonderful.

E called Angie, his good friend for many years.  He took us up a little farther in the mountains where she and her family have a small dairy farm.  They currently have 20 milk cows.  We came to their place just as they were finishing up the milking so we headed up the mountain a little further and E showed us more of the beautiful country side.  When we got back to Angie’s to watch her make cheese, which is one of the reasons E brought us there.  She makes it totally by hand.  They make it after the morning milking and the afternoon milking.   She gave us some without salt, that’s how E likes it.  I didn’t like that too much myself.  Then she salted some and gave it to me.  I liked it that way.  It is like mozzarella.  They sell it at markets in the area where others also sell their produce.  I am anxious to go to one of these markets.  Jacob and I liked Angie right away.  E said she was good people and she absolutely was. 

 

CHEESE!

 

Angie speaks pretty good English too.  Of course E speaks the best English because he spend many years in the US.  I am always surprised at how they keep saying they don’t speak it very well.  Well, ok, they don’t speak it as well as we native speakers of English but they are superstars speaking it compared to how well I speak Spanish.  I would love to fool myself that someday I could speak Spanish as well as they speak English but I know that will never happen.  But, I am learning a little, slowly and little by little.  And I love to hear them all speak, either Spanish or English.   

We stayed at E’s sister’s house that night.  The next day was his sister’s birthday. I was so happy because Jacob had grabbed some of the jewelry I made and brought it.  I picked out a beautiful cabochon that Ed Scott’s dad had made that I had wire wrapped in copper.  I was so happy to give her something I had made.  I know Ed will be happy to hear that a cabochon that his dad had gathered, cut and polished, was now being worn by a lovely woman in Costa Rica.

So we headed back to E’s moms house in San Carlos.  Jacob and E had some running around to do.  I went with his mom to her office and really enjoyed getting to know her better.  All families have their problems, hurt, anger, resentments but even though families let us down many times, they are still family.  Family is and always will be very important to me.  His mom invited me to a dance some of the family was going to.  I was very flattered to be included and welcomed to go, so of course I said we would probably go.  I talked to Jacob and if you know he and I, you know we were excited to go dancing. 

The dance was the next night though so tonight, E took us to a bar in town to drink and sing karaoke.  Ok, once again, those of you who know me understand that I don’t think I could ever drink enough to sing karaoke at a bar.  LOL  We walked into the bar and a soccer game was on the tvs so no karaoke yet.   But not just any soccer game!  Costa Rica v. Honduras a big, big rivalry.  A few minutes after we entered, Costa Rica scored a goal and won the game so the bar went wild for a bit.   Then karaoke started.  I don’t know if this is how they do it at every bar here or even the US, as I have to admit, I have only been to a karaoke place a couple times in my life, but here you don’t have to stand up on a stage in front of everyone.  They give you the microphone at your table and you sit there and sing.  So, hmmmmm, maybe, just maybe, I can drink enough one of these days to sing.  J   E likes to sing so he sang a few, some in Spanish and some in English.  He kept telling us the people would love it if we would sing in English. We were also joking about how funny it would be if Jacob tried to sing in Spanish.  Jacob is absolutely just learning the language and doesn’t know how to pronounce hardly anything.  I’m sure the crowd would have got a good chuckle about it but he wasn’t drunk enough for that either.

Next day we went back out to E’s sister’s house for awhile.  One of E’s brother was there too.  On our way back in to town E said there was a bar he wanted to take us to that was on the way.  It was a really great place!  Remember most of these places are open air.  Ciudad Quesada is much cooler than down at the beach where we have been staying but anywhere in Costa Rica is still quite warm for us.  The evenings are still warm but .just cool enough.  They are magical.  We had a few beers and E and I danced.  I am behind the others on drinking.  E’s brother commented to Jacob, “Slow drinker, smart woman.”  J     And oh yea, E is an awesome dancer.  And YES, I will always remember that night and that bar.

Then we went all the way into town and met up with the family and friends that were going to the dance.  We took a taxi there as taxi’s in the city are very inexpensive.  They had a live, band that played traditional music.  It was in a an area like a Grange dance would be held.  Many different ages of people were there, Many different latin dances were danced but my favorite is Bachata.  I fell in love with this romantic, sexy dance.  I soooo want to learn it better, though the basic step is easy to pick up.  Jacob wasn’t feeling real good so we went outside to get some air.  I forgot to mention that Jacob and I were the only gringos there, in the whole place.  I have more appreciation for those who are the token blacks, latins, whatever.  Of course we were quite a curiosity for the locals.  This is a fairly good sized city by Costa Rican standards but it is not a tourist city so not near the gringos around as tourist areas.  Another comparison to Washougal.  Like being the only black kid at the high school when I was there.  Some people talk to you, most are shy and intimidated and do not how they should/could relate to you, some probably resentful that we were there.  One pretty brave short, older guy came up and wanted to trade his hat for Jacob’s.  He was trying and trying to get this across although we pretty much got the gist of it right away.  Then he shook our hands and walked away so we thought that was that.  Nope, soon he had dragged a young man over to us and indicated to that guy that he should talk to us.  I asked the young man if he spoke English and he said a little.  The little short guy said something to the young man and the kid shook his head and started to walk away but the other guy grabbed his arm and made him talk to us.  So yes, the short older guy wanted to trade hats.  We FINALLY got him to take no for an answer.  It was fun though that someone had the nerve to come and talk to us.  Jacob and I were pretty worn out though so we decided to go home a little earlier than everyone else. 

 

JACOB and FANNY DANCING

Next day E’s mom is getting food and the house ready for a birthday party for E’s sister and aunt.  I went with her to the supermarket to get supplies.  I was trying to find ingredients for one of my favorite salads.  Greens, walnuts, apples, feta, cranberries.  Could not find feta or cranberries so I settled for mozzarella cheese and no cranberries.  I had no idea if E’s family would like this or not but they seemed to like it.  It was gone at the end of the night at least.  His mom made this kind of potato salad dish that they call Russian Salad.  It had beets in it.  Now I don’t normally like beets but this was delicious!!  I’m going to try to get the recipe from her.  We had also picked up two huge birthday cakes.  E brought some of the pig he had butchered the day before and made his kick ass tacos!!  A lot of other good food there too.  We got to meet some more members of the family and Angie and her partner came.  E and I danced and danced.  It was soooooo much fun!  I haven’t danced that much for years and years.  After everyone left the party, E and I stayed up and sang some karaoke.  And no, I didn’t even drink that night.  I was ok singing since it wasn’t in public. 

 

E was up and going the next day.  I have no idea how he keeps going and going. Jacob and I just hung out at his mom’s that day.  No one was there as they were all out working. I still don’t understand how people can say ticos are lazy.  Every single one that I have associated with work long and hard.  I guess the difference is that they do kind of keep their own hours.  And Mario at the school, who is tico, said they aren’t really lazy, just more laid back, don’t push themselves at the job as much as we North Americans do.  At any rate, I have seen only hard workers so far.

We were going to head back to Nosara that evening but E got held up so he didn’t get home till 1:00 am.  So we headed back then.  E drove us out of the city but then he got pretty tired so I took over driving.  As I am driving along, I can’t quite believe I am in Costa Rica, driving a truck in the middle of the night, grooving on some Bee Gees’ tunes.  Who scripted this life?  This is not even remotely the life I thought I would be living even a few months ago.  Don’t get me wrong!  Am I disappointed?  Hell no.  I’m just shocked as hell though.  A little bit proud of myself, very surprised at myself and yep, crazy as it seems, happy.  Very freakin happy!  I have no idea what tomorrow will bring but in this uncertainty I am alive.  Ok, yea, to be honest, sometimes I am also afraid but I just push the fear away because it is not going to help me in any way.  I see nothing now but the future and all the opportunities that lay ahead of me.  Some will work out, some won’t.  But they will all be good.

 BACK TO NOSARA-AGAIN

 About 5 hours later we are back in Nosara.  As we pass Nicoya, the sun is on the rise and dawn is here.  Soon we are looking at jungle foliage again.  It is funny that this already feels kind of like coming home.  We are going to move to Ciudad Quesada because we have a business opportunity, friends there now, things are cheaper and cooler but I will miss our little piece of jungle beach.  I will miss the ocean being so close.  I won’t miss the humidity, the bad roads, the multitude of bugs or the sand.

We have brought Chezko, E’s dog.  He is a big, gorgeous black pit bull.  He has an appetite for cats and some other dogs though so we have to be careful of Annie.  Jarred told us Annie got into a fight with a cat from the hood here.  J  Although she has no signs of injury, apparently Annie got her butt kicked.  She is a little skiddish about going outside now.  I wonder if it is the ass whooping or the monkeys Jarred let her watch, that keeps her inside now.  LOL

Jacob and I go to Super Nosara, one of the bigger local grocery stores to stock back up on supplies.  I spot Captain Morgan!  YES!!  If I can’t have Gosling Black Seal, Captain Morgan is always my second choice.   Head to the beach for awhile.  Chezko is so cute.  He likes the water but is a bit afraid of the incoming waves.  E takes him for a run down the beach and as usual, Jacob, Jarred and I ride and jump the waves in the ocean.

These last few days have kind of merged together.  No, not because of the rum!.  Well, ok, maybe partly because of the rum.  We had dinner. I can’t remember if E, Jacob or I cooked.  One night I definitely cooked dinner and made stir fry with homemade teriyaki sauce.  E Loved it.   One night I started on the rum.  Jarred, Jacob and E started drinking too.  E is drinking vodka.  I think Jarred and Jacob are too.  Drive down to Olga’s.  We all love that place.  Open, right on the beach, big concrete floor.  Jacob keeps saying he wishes he had some roller skates to skate around the bar.  Jarred and E start playing pool with some other guys.  They come over a couple times and say they are cheating the other guys and laugh.  I have no idea what is going on.  I am just enjoying the atmosphere and the music.  After awhile we decided to come back to the apartment and some of us go swimming in the pool.

Next day, which was yesterday.  I can remember that far back.  LOL.  E and I go to Super Nosara and even in this little place I get lost and we don’t find it.  We have to stop at a smaller super.  On the way, E sees mango trees and stops to ask the owner if we can get some out of the trees.  He gets a stick and knocks a bunch down.  I’m standing on the other side of the ditch and I asked him if he wanted me to help him.  He said yes, because there is a big ditch between where he and the mangos are and where the truck and I are at.  He says back up because if I drop one it will go in the ditch.  I told him he should have faith in me and I can catch them so he starts tossing them across and I catch them all except one that he throws badly.  LOL   He doesn’t know yet that I was a catcher in the softball league I was in.  We all relax, eat, swim in the pool.

 

E, Jarred and Jacob are going to head back to Ciudad Quesada but I am staying here in Nosara to take care of the cat and get the rest of the stuff organized and packed.  Hopefully they find a place we can rent back there soon.  I have talked with the property manager here and said they can try to rent this house out.  She agrees that if they rent it before our three months lease is up, we will get a refund for the amount of time they rent it.  I don’t really care about the money.  I am just ready to start our new life now that we have a solid plan.  I am very excited because even though staying in the country was always the plan, I’m not sure I thought it was really going to happen until this last week.  E doesn’t want to leave me here alone though.  We discuss it (hmmmm, more like argue about it)  ha ha.  I understand his point.  He feels responsible for us and especially me being a woman.  He is worried something might happen to me.  He doesn’t know how much of my life I’ve been alone, handling everything except the money making by myself.  The drives across the US and back with no man with me.  All the time living alone without my man.  I never thought at all about it at the time but I shouldn’t have had to do that.  My man SHOULD have been with me!  He should have loved me enough to be there for me.  Wow, have I been stupid.  Never again. 

Anyway, I am very torn.  I want to go back with them now.  I also want/need a little time alone.  I am working out the last little thread of the dying dream and the steel cable of my future.  So I convince him I will be fine for a few days by myself although I know every bit of the man that he is, is saying no. We went to the Guilded Iguana for dinner.   I had some amazing sea bass dish.  After that, we weren’t really ready to call it a night yet so we go to Olga’s again where the drinks are cheaper and we actually feel more comfortable.  We are just drinking and visiting with people.  There are three girls there that are from Wisconsin.  They are back packing through Central America.  They just got to Costa from Panama.  We’re out looking at the stars and a three piece band comes out of Olgas and starts playing La Bamba.  They have a guitar, a xylophone thing that is made of some wood so it sounds Carribean and the other guy has a metal thing that looks like a round cheese grater but I touch it and the bumps are smooth, they do not cut.  E starts dancing with me.  Another magical time and night in Costa Rica.  Pura Vida means so much more than just a good time saying.  I am learning that it means truly living life, every moment, every minute, every second.  It means much more to me than Pure Life. 

To me it means -  Pure=Totally  Vida=Alive.

We may not all be able to live Pura Vida every moment of our life but my wish for all my friends and family is that you are able to live Pura Vida, physically, mentally, and emotionally for at least some of your life.

 

 

CRITTERS

CRITTERS 

Since moving in here we have seen a menagerie of critters.  The second day here we saw Howler Monkeys in the trees just out our back door.  We saw a mom with a baby hanging on to her and a few other adults milling about in the trees.  We were unable to get any pictures of them yet but they hang around this area quite often so we will keep trying.

We also saw a squirrel/lumur like thing with red fur climbing around the trees out back.  Jarred got a picture but it was too far away.  We have seen many iguanas and a multitude of lizards. 

The other day a coatimundi came milling out around the back of our place and then came right up to our back door and looked in hoping for handouts.  Here is its picture.

A couple mornings ago Jacob picked up his shorts from the floor and something fell off them.  He looked at and it was a small scorpion.  He caught it in a cup and we released it outside.  I have been told by many people that small scorpions carry the most venom so I am really glad no one was stung by it.  Needless to say, we make our beds every morning so nothing crawls into our beds.  J 

We have seen a few of these colorful crabs here now.  They don’t live right on the beach.  They actually live back up in the bushes which is kind of weird.  They sure are cool looking.  Driving back from the beach today, Jarred and I saw one in a mud puddle.  He was a testy little bugger because as we drove by, he flipped his claws up and waved them around wildly.  Jarred and I got a laugh out of that.

 

Of course living in a jungle basically, we are inundated with all kinds of insects.  So far no really ugly spiders have made their way into the house but Jacob took a picture of a creepy one out in the carport area last night.  His phone has passed away though so we can't retrieve the picture.  We have two resident gecko’s which are very cute.  I hope they are the reason I have seen no creepy spiders.  There are also weird centipedes, ants, various beetles and such that routinely make their way into the house.  So far nothing too freaky or threatening.