We Have a House!

No more living out of suitcases .... we found a pretty, yellow casa in an area not too far from Atenas - not walkable but a short taxi ride.

Thanks to the great guys - Roberto and Andrew - at Reimax Best Climate for finding this house for us. It has two bedrooms, one bath, kitchen, living/dining area, fenced yard with lime, orange and mango trees, two hammocks, and all furniture and appliances, indoors and out, right down to dishes, cutlery, pots and pans and all appliances. The rental price includes all utilities - electric, water, satellite, internet, phone and security system. All we have to pay extra for is the gardener and at $2 to $3 CAD an hour, that is hardly a huge expense.

I can tell you that we are saving a huge amount of money compared to what we paid for a leased house in Cloverdale. There we were responsible for the rent obviously, plus gas, hydro, phone and cable. The rent was considerably more than our new place in Costa Rica. We needed a car so there were car payments, gas and insurance. We may eventually buy a car here - we'll decide in a year. Car insurance in Costa Rica is so cheap compared to Canada. In the meantime, we can take an awful lot of taxis for what our vehicle in Canada cost us and taxis here are very reasonable. So is the bus system which goes all over the country - I think the fares are less than $2.00 CAD.

We get the keys tomorrow so we'll be moving in a day or two...and, hey! no need to pay for a big moving van - we'll just call a taxi 'cause all we have are suitcases and a cat!! I do like this style of living - not dragging heaps of stuff all over the place with us.

There is a very special type of washing machine at the new house - I'll tell you all about in after I try using it. And I'll post photos too once we move in.

Can't wait to try out a hammock and make some fresh, really fresh, orange juice.

Guard Dogs Out of Control

The three guard dogs here at Finca Huetares have become rather destructive since our arrival. First they stole my shoes - the right ones of two pairs. Magda found the sandal, but the blue shoe has never been found.

Then they moved on to bigger things. They stole the seat cushion from one of the wicker chairs in front of our cabina and tour it literally to shreds and left the mess at our front door. The next day it was the little mat in front of our door.

Now I leave nothing outside at night. No doubt ticked off that I've ruined their fun, they stole the newspapers left on top of an outdoor table and tore them to pulp (ha! get it?). A garbage pail was next.

The are penned during the day and let loose at night. They hang around our cabina, sleeping on the veranda. One is named Rex but we don't know the names of the other two. One is a Rotweiler and the other two are about the same size. They are really friendly - to us.

Unfortunately, they discovered Genny lives inside. She was foolishly ogling them through the California windows (screened), hissing and growling, and the dogs went crazy. Flung themselves at all the windows (3 of them) and, since they are so big, they can look right in. We closed the glass slats and drapes.

The noise was something else, all that barking and slamming. Genny went and hid in her storm cupboard. They eventually gave up but now we are extra careful before letting her outside. We go and check the pens to make sure they are really contained.

Atenas Park and Market

Here are a few photos I took when we went to the weekly farmers' market on Friday.

Part of the central park - green parrots in the trees.

What an amazing tree.

The Catholic church next to the park. It is beautiful inside - lots of local woods and stained glass.

Farmers' market - it also extends down another side street. Best place to buy eggs, cheese, meat, fruit, vegetables, tamales, flowers, etc.

I'm Back!

Well, I haven't actually been away anywhere but the keyboard on my iBook G4 has gradually been falling apart since we arrived in Costa Rica so it has been difficult to blog. I lost the "e" key first, followed by the "y", "h" and some numbers. Why couldn't it have been the "z"....

Anyway, today we bought a mini keyboard from an Atenas computer shop for $12 Cdn and it works just fine. It plugs into a port on the side of my laptop and it's small enough to sit on top of the non-working computer keyboard (with a piece of cardboard under it). Plus, it's a wonderful shade of red!  Here's a photo of my new arrangement ..

Friday, we took a taxi into Atenas and went to the Friday farmers' market. It was amazing - lots of venders with every kind of fruit and vegetable you could want. I managed to buy radishes (and they are really spicy), spinach, sausage, tamales, farmer's cheese and more. I'm starting to understand a teeny bit of the language ... sort of. At least I was able to buy food for us. Lance says I have to order the taxi next trip. I've figured out the paper bills, but the coins still confound me.

There is an elderly fellow who goes around Atenas selling home made flour tortillas stuffed with cheese. Apparently he's being doing this for years .... and often he has different things for sale in his basket. He was at the market on Saturday so I bought three packages of his still hot tortillas. We had some left over today so I made "Canuck Costa Rica Pizza", layering mustard, ham slices, spinach and cheese on each tortilla and then heating in the microwave for 2 minutes so the cheese would melt. Served with the last of Jose's mangos, it was a pretty good meal.

Here is a local cheese tortilla before going into the microwave:

We've Been Here 21 Days Already?

I find it hard to believe we've been here twenty-one days. Seems like we just arrived.


On Sunday, we took a cab into Atenas and had brunch at Kay's Gringo Postres, located just west of the 24 hour  clinic in Atenas, past the Red Cross facility and heading towards Pica Flora (there are no street addresses in Costa Rica, you find your way around using landmarks). My favorite landmark is the bus stop at the Coca Cola bottling facility in San Jose. The business is long gone but it's still used as a descriptive landmark.


It was Father's Day so Kay and husband Tom were serving a selection of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pinto gallo and the best biscuits and gravy I've had in a long time. Prices are very reasonable.


This was the second time we've eaten here and Kay remembered our names as soon as we walked in - amazing. Kay and Tom moved to Costa Rica from South Dakoka. This is a bakery and a library, as well as a restaurant. It's a meeting place for gringos and Ticos and a good place to make contacts. People come right over and introduce themselves. 


They also offer use of their internet. Two walls of books to borrow and share. The restaurant is open air, as are a lot of eating places here. Perfect for this climate.


Wow - just looked outside and the clouds have rolled right in to our mountain cabina. It's been thundering and raining a bit. Lance and Genny have gone off to have a siesta - a good thing to do here in the afternoons during the green season. I was going to walk down the road to the small corner store, about a 10 minute walk downhill and 20 uphill, but then the afternoon storm arrived. Maybe it will clear later.

Pictures of Jose's Horse Farm

As promised a couple of days ago, here are some photos of Jose's horse and fruit farm.

Partial view of Jose's property - showing the horse barn.

Lance, Diana and Jose's Paso Fino stallion.

Jose

The three amigos.

Foal.

Hen and her chicks.

Lance hauling home a huge stash of mangos, limes, apples, and oranges - thank you, Jose! The apples are not what we are familar with - but Jose called them that in English.

Daily Tropical Downpour

It is two fifty p.m. here in Atenas and we are enjoying the daily downpour. I love the sound of the heavy rain on the tin roofs, the air has cooled and smells wonderful. The usual thunder and lightning.

One thing I have learned, get your laundry done first thing in the morning! Nobody uses dryers here (why would they when they have the sun and fresh air to dry the clothes for free all year) so wet wash has to be hung out early enough to dry before the rains. Sometimes the lights flicker but we haven't lost power yet.

Genny never did like thunder storms and she doesn't like them any better here. We open a cupboard door for her and in she goes to hide away in her little nest until the all clear. Maybe over time she will adapt but she doesn't like loud noises of any kind so I sort of doubt it.

Magda, who owns this resort, sometimes offers dinners to her guests. We've had two so far and they were delicious - she's a great chef. Last week, at one of these dinners, she introduced us to two expat Canadians, Diane and John. They are from the Maritimes and have been living in Atenas for quite some time. They built the most beautiful house up in the hills.

Diane and John very graciously offered to drive us to the city of Alajuela yesterday because we think it is where we want to live. It has more amenities for us than the more rural town of Atenas. We had lunch in a Mexican restaurant - excellent - and went to a number of big grocery stores (love the names: Mega-Superstore, AutoMercado) and Price Smart, which is like WalMart. Also tried to find a new keyboard for my laptop, but no luck so far.

Walked around Alajuela - it's similar in some ways to San Jose, lots of noise and traffic, but also lots of restaurants! Interesting shops. We would like to find a house about a 10 minute taxi ride from the city, in a quiet area, all or partially furnished, and if I could have a pool that would be divine.

Two Ticas have rented the cabina next to us - Magda told them about us - and now they've offered to help find us a place to rent. The people here are amazing. Magda even said she'd drive us there. They know the good and bad areas and we don't. So there you go - word of mouth, it's who you know.

Bought some chicken breasts yesterday so I'm going to marinate them in oil with lime juice from the fresh limes we were given yesterday. No stove in our cabina, but four countertop burners and a microwave so I should be able to do something with them. I can make a salad from the tomatoes and mangos too.