Our new rental home is located in San Roque de Grecia. We have a typical Costa Rican address: “400 m. este de Restaurante La Paila, detrás del taller de aire acondicionado Serví-Frio”.
We are mostly settled in. Only a couple of bins left to sort through, put the contents away and then try to remember where I stowed what. We have found our gardener and housekeeper. They’ll both come every two weeks.
Part of the fun has been exploring the garden area and finding out what is growing. Fruit wise, we have mora (a berry rather like a blackberry), a mango tree and an avocado tree, a couple of lime trees and what I think may be a limon mandarina - it is green on the outside and yellow on the inside. The mango tree has two almost ready to pick mangos and lots of tiny ones. No avocados as yet.
For herbs, there is a large rosemary bush and I have just planted dill and Italian parsley. Our garden is walled and slopes downward. Lots of truck tires have been situated to help prevent erosion. They are great for gardening and all of them are filled with soil so I will plant more herbs. I found several rose bushes, lots of crotons, some vanda orchids, and two Norfolk pines. There are lots of places for me to hang up my orchid collection.
Someone spent a lot of thoughtful time creating this garden. There are quite a few large lantana shrubs and they attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
And now for the inside of our new house - 4 bedrooms, two baths, big kitchen and living room. Three, at least (end to end) car garage. Gas oven and six burners, gas dryer. Side by side refrigerator with ice maker, etc. Big round wooden table in kitchen with six chairs. The wood is beautiful - Costa Rican hardwood. Lots of counter space and cabinets.
Including indoor garage space, outdoor patio space and indoor living space … we have over 3,000 square feet for USD 850, furnished, utilities extra. The cost of utilities is much less. The stove and gas dryer rely on propane and not electricity. In our previous place, the stove and the dryer were electric, leading to a bill of about $100 USD per month. Our first bill here for electric for a month was about 25 USD - I was shocked.
Laneway to our house - garage entrance is on the right:
Living room:
Lots of wall space to hang my paintings:
All the inside doors are like this - Costa Rican hardwood.
More wall space for my art:
Kitchen - gas stove and microwave:
Kitchen table and my favourite refrigerator type:
One side of the loggia:
