Costa Rica Journal - Monday, 5-25-09

Our morning was spent in the usual way; Kevin made breakfast we shared 2 small pots of coffee between the 4 of us. He would usually wake up before any of us and go off on his own searching for breakfast ingredients. Sometimes he would return with fresh coconuts, and other time he would come back with oatmeal and eggs from the market. No matter what he would make, he would always take pride and pleasure in creating food for us all.

There is something deeply endearing about the way we would all eat together. Often times, Kevin would put his own blessing into the food before we ate as well all joined hands. It wasn't religious in any way, it was more of putting thought and intent into the meal. I found this ritual to be enjoyable and even comfortable. The blessing of food is something that both Joe and I grew up with and our families still practice religiously. Taking out the religious aspect made it feel more organic to me as the ritual was embedded deeply with the love that Kevin and Heather would share with us so openly. When they stayed with us, it felt like family.

Upon returning, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the other couple had bought us a sugar free ice cream treat, and they were also talking to a very nice woman with an electric bicycle. She mentioned that another woman she lived with was willing to help us learn Spanish in exchange for our help with English. We accepted and then it was time to move on.

After a short drive, we arrived at the beautiful, turquoise river of Rio Celeste. It was tricky finding a good spot for swimming and lunch, but soon enough we found a spot that happened to be right at a place that was obviously meant for tourists. Luckily for us, there was nobody around and we were able to swim in the river naked. It turned out to be a very nice location and we spent a few nice, relaxing hours there swimming and eating our tasty lunch of tomato, avocado and cheese sandwiches.



On our way back home, we stopped at the Morgans and introduced Kevin and Heather to Amy. We also invited them over to our house for dinner the following night and they said they'd be there. We then spent some time catching up on our emails and Kevin made some calls after we downloaded Skype. Fred sent us home with lots of limes and passion fruit. For dinner, Heather cooked a delicious sweet potato lentil soup. The rest of the evening was spent singing and playing music.

Costa Rica Journal - Sunday, 5-24-09

Olman came over around 10:00 am and we all piled up into his Land Rover to go see another property. This one was close, in upper Cabanga, just off the main road. The moment we set foot on the land, we all fell in love.

It was beautifully landscaped with banana and papaya trees. There was lots of ginger plants along the edge of the property and huge 1 acre garden area. A 3 bedroom house was already there on the property as well as a huge garage that doubled at a wood shop. Large piles of bamboo were stacked against the walls of the shop, waiting to be made into fences.

The property is about 14 acres with dense forest as well as river access. The road that we drove up on is public and it was a short distance to the main road that goes from Arenal to Guatozo. This property is probably about a mile away from the rental house we are staying in right now.

On our way back home, we stopped by Olman's house and he showed us his yard. We had a delicious snack of young coconut water and flesh, then his wife made us a nice oat milk drink. After sitting and talking for a while, we decided to go back up to the property to take the road down to the river for a swim.

Once you started downhill, the road turned into more of a hiking trail and within 5 minutes we were at the river. The temperature was nice and cool and the pools were deep enough to swim in. It was so quiet and peaceful to bathe there. Long after our time spent at the river, we daydreamed of calling this little slice of heaven our own.

Costa Rica Journal - Saturday, 5-23-09

After breakfast we decided to drop back in on Patrick to see if we could go see the property. He wasn't there when we arrived, so Charlotte showed us around the beautiful garden until he came home. We then went inside and talked for a while and then we had a visit from Brock, the beautiful macaw that liked to visit them on a regular basis. After some more time we finally were able to steer the conversation into going to see the property. As we were driving over, the rain came down and drenched the three in the back of the truck.

It was a good thing that the town we were headed for was not far. It was a town we'd been through many times but not actually stopped there. It was very sad to see the store we had arrived at was flooding in the back. We went across the street and had some coffee at a soda while we waited for the rain to let up. As we waited, we talked and it was becoming more apparent that Patrick's views for his community were very different then Kevin & Heathers. Soon, we took a tour of the property. It was nice enough, the views showed toe town, the lake and the wind turbines. There was a certain charm to it, but I didn't really feel it was anything special. Just a typical big house on the hill kind of place.

There was a gorgeous place at the end of the tour next to the river, but when we tried to get a price out of Patrick, he couldn't really quote us one. It became obvious to me that this wasn't a place where I wanted to live. Soon we left and went back to Arenal, dripping Patrick off on the way. We had dinner at the pizza place, and then came home for some music and thought processing.

Costa Rica Journal - Friday, 5-22-09

This morning I woke up with a headache. Apparently I wasn't drinking enough water the night before. I had plenty of fluids, and some Emergen C that kevin made me. It all helped and soon the headache disappeared. Lake Arenal was our destination, and we headed over the hill to the town of Nuevo Arenal. First we stopped at the German bakery for some internet and fruit. While we were there Kevin walked to the store for some lunch materials. Heather and I copied down a few more Old Crow songs. Soon we packed up everything and headed down to the lake. We went to the same spot that we went to with my mom. The water was wonderful and we all enjoyed the swimming immensely. After a while, we got out and had tomato, avocado and country cheese sandwiches . They were simple, but so good! It wasn't long before we met two other guys, one older and one younger.



The older man was hitch hiking and the younger one had driven to our spot for a smoke break. Kevin went over & started talking to them, pretty soon we were all over there talking and laughing. The younger guy had to leave and we decided to go over to the older mans house. His name was Patrick and he lived in a big nice house 5 minutes away from the lake. As we pulled into the long steep drive, we were greeted by an army of barking shitzus of various sizes. Patrick's wife Charlotte waved at us and attempting to quite some of the dogs. We took a quick tour of the gardens & then we were in the house, which while looked nice on the outside, had evidence of the dogs all over. We spent a long time in that house, most of it was spent listening to Patrick go on about all sorts of ideas. He had some honey mushroom wine that we all had a small amount of. We were all apprehensive to drink it, but it ended up not being very strong. The effects were barley noticeable. It was finally time for us to leave.

We enjoyed the couples company, but it was obvious that they were starved of company themselves. Particularly younger minds from America. We promised to come back and see the land that Patrick was trying to sell. He claimed that he was building a community built around a Tibetan Center. We were all intrigued and Kevin & Heather thought it might be a good place to start their vision.

Costa Rica Journal - Thursday, 5-21-09

Much has happened since my last entry. The dealer brought the car into Guatuso the next day and we had Joaquin's help in making sure the vehicle was sound. We withdrew all the money in cash, to make things less complicated. A lot of the time was spent in a lawyers office, where he wrote up a sales contract, notarized it and money was ex hanged, then it was ours. Much of the fallowing days were spent traveling around our area, including a few trips to Arenal.



We then planned a trip to Limon for a few days. When we got to the coast we found Limon to be a rather industrial type of city with not much to offer us. We decided to head down toward Puerto Viejo to find better accommodations. One of the first places we arrived was Cahuita, which is a cute little town with a huge Rastafarian influence. The cheap cabinas we stayed in had a huge dead tarantula on the window; that made me a bit nervous. I made Joe do several spider checks before we settled in. There was free wireless there, so we were able to get ahold of our friends Kevin & Heather who have been traveling through out the South and Central Americas for 10 months or so. They happened to be in Panama, which was only about 40 miles away.



They decided to take a bus into town the next day where we met them in Pueto Viejo. This time, we splurged on a much nicer cabina and when evening came, we met them in town. After dinner, we walked with them back to their hostel where they wanted to watch a man named Cliff present several conspiracy videos. We watched a few of the videos and heard what he had to say. A lot of his claims were worth looking into, but his closing statement was very extreme and turned us off completely. It was decided the next day that Kevin & Heather would stay at our place until they left for Nicaragua, so they got as comfortable as they could in the back of the truck and we all headed north to Cabanga. The trip took about 5 1/2 hours and we stopped at a Sloth refuge close to Cahuita. The baby sloths were so adorable!



We made it home well after the sun went down As we were getting close to Guatuso, The clutch started to break down. Joe couldn't get out of 2nd gear and we were lucky to get all the way home. I think we all slept well that night. The next day, Joe & Kevin rode the bikes down to Finca Leola to ask Joaquin about some clutch fluid. Heather and I sang and played music while they were gone, and continued until they returned about 2 hours later. Then we went out to Quebradon to see one of the possible home sites. When we got back, we had a nice dinner at Alfonso's. Right after that, we attended our first dance class that the locals have at the community center next door.

I had an absolutely wonderful time and I think everyone enjoyed our presence. Almost immediately, we had other couples coming in to switch partners. The dance teacher was a very good instructor and he walked around us all to make sure we were doing the steps right. I think after drinking some alcohol then sweating while dancing left me a bit dehydrated. I drank some water while we practiced singing.

Costa Rica Journal - Wednesday, 5-13-09

Yesterday was spent mostly waiting for a bus to arrive to take us into Guatozo. We finally got on the 2:10 and took it into town. After buying groceries, we walked back to the bus terminal where many people had accumulated. Here, we found the same bus that brought us into town and we took it back home as well. It was our first successful trip into town and back completely by bus!

Today we were expecting the car dealer to drive our truck to us. When the morning began to stretch into afternoon, we headed up to the public telephone to call the owner of the dealership. The truck was still getting repairs done and he said he'd drive it to us tomorrow. It wasn't until we went over to Fred and Amy's place later in the afternoon that we learned that tomorrow was the actual date that had been agreed upon. Something definitely was lost in translation there.

Costa Rica Journal - Monday, 5-11-09

The weekend came and went without much happening. We woke up early today in case Joaquin came early again today. The man at the Auto Dealer told us that our truck would be ready at 2:00 pm, so we didn't really expect to leave early, but we awoke around 6 am just in case. At about 9:00 am, we decided to go down to the Morgans for some internet time, although I think they are getting sick of us. When we arrived, we learned from Amy that Joaquin would be taking us to San Ramon at 11:00. Joe and I decided to drop our laptops off at home before heading out, so we walked back to do so.

Soon enough, Joaquin came to pick us up and we once more made the long journey out to San Ramon only to discover that our truck was still getting repairs done at a different shop. We went to a few other places and looked around a bit, later Amy told us that one of these places tried to bribe Joaquin into telling us that a car was good. He took us right out of there and we went back to the original dealer. The owner was back at that time and he apologized and offered to bring the truck to us on Wednesday, so we agreed on that.

The ride back home was very long and quiet. I think that we all felt that the whole trip had been a waste of time and money. Next time, we will call ahead to make sure.

Costa Rica Journal - Friday, 5-8-09

The alarm sounded at 5:00 am, but we had an hour before departure so the snooze function on the iphone was used twice. This phone has many fancy features, but from our location, most of them are useless. The sleek, little machine has gone from pseudo-crackberry to alarm clock. Still, it fulfills its purpose.

Joe and I fumbled our way out of bed around 5:30, giving us a nice 1/2 hour for coffee and whatever breakfast we could manage. At 5:40, we were barely making a dent in our cups when we heard a faint knocking at the door. Joaquin had arrived 20 minutes early! Putting ourselves together in a daze, we quickly got ready for the long day ahead of us and we knew we were in for quite an ordeal. Joaquin was taking us car shopping.

I painfully poured out the remainder of our cups into the sink, wishing desperately that we had travel cups. The extra stimulation would have been extremely useful today, especially so early in the morning, which tends not to be my best time of day. Adding heat and mugginess to the air makes the activity even more difficult, but this morning we had the weather on our side. The air was cool and the sun still hid below the horizon. It was a nice time to get started, if only we could wake up this early every day.

Our destination was the San Jose area of the Central Valley, which was a good 3 1/2 hour drive away. Our transportation was a rickety Suzuki Sidekick that barely held itself together. I'm glad we were riding with a professional mechanic, in case the car didn't make it, however I did wish that there was a better seat to sit on for the long journey. As I climbed into the back of the car, I saw that the foam in the seat was worn down, and the whole thing was falling apart. Rusted iron and springs peaked through and when I first sat down, I had to rearrange myself a few times before I could sit without being poked into by some kind of mechanism that was, no doubt, meant to be padded and covered.

I finally found a spot that would work with my body and I braced myself with my hands to insure the position as we slowly made our way down the rocky dirt road of Cabanga. Once we got to the nearby town of Guatoso, we hit pavement which made our travel much smoother and faster. In about an hour, we had made it to Fortuna. Joe spotted a Toyota Land Cruiser and said "Me gusta" to Joaquin to give him a feel of what kind of cars we like. He acknowledged quietly and we went along our way.

Perhaps another hour passed and we found ourselves in a small town called La Tigra. As we drove down the main street, Joaquin stopped and backed the car up. He began talking to some men sitting nearby in their driveway, next to a beautiful, blue Land Cruiser. The dialogue ended swiftly and Joaquin said "No se vende". The care was not for sale.

About a block further, we came across another Land Cruiser, this time yellow in color and for sale as well. Joaquin inspected the car meticulously and seemed to think it was the best car of this type for our money. We took it for a test drive and it had a few problems, one of the biggest was that the seat would not move back therefore Joe didn't fit behind the steering wheel. Joaquin said that the problems could be fixed easily, but I told him that we wanted to keep looking around. As nice as a Land Cruiser would be, we weren't really set on actually having one as our vehicle.

So on we drove and in about another hour we had made it to San Ramon. Here we found a number of dealerships and we walked through many lots looking for cars as Joaquin did most of the talking. We finally found a nice diesel Izuzu pickup that looked good and decided to get that. There were a few minor problems with it, and Joaquin talked the owner of the lot into fixing the problems for us. However, that meant we couldn't take it home that day and we'd have to make the journey again on Monday.

It was about 4:30 when we got home and we were both extremely tired and worn out. I hope that Joaquin can take us back again on Monday as I know we'll need the help again. In buying the car as well as finding the place again.

Costa Rica Journal - Sunday, 5-3-09

It has been almost a week since my last journal entry, but not much has happened in this time. We traveled to Liberia with Fred and Amy on Monday to buy some groceries and household items. That was nice to get out, although we realized that we tend to shop faster than they do. We bought a laundry basket, a rack to dry our dishes on as well as some other household necessities. Throughout the week we bought a much needed table and two chairs, though we still need to buy two more.

It doesn't seem as if we'll ever get used to the moist heat here, yet everyone we've talked to says we acclimate. Now it looks like we are going to buy a car instead of an ATV. This will make errands a lot more pleasant in the rain, and it will enable us to travel on road trips whenever we want. The Morgans said that they will send their mechanic Joaquin with us into the Central Valley when we are ready to go car shopping. They even offered to let us go in one of their vehicles, we just have to pay for gas and Joaquin's time. I have to admit it will be very nice to have a car again.

Without easy transportation, I think we've both been feeling a bit trapped here in Cabanga. Not only would we like to get around to see more places with greater ease, we would also like to see if there are better food options outside of the immediate area. The local food trend is mainly fried chicken and rice and beans. The grocery store doesn't offer much else, especially in the way of vegetables. Leafy greens are all but unheard of here. On a better note, we bought some seeds so we could start growing some food on our own. We also bought a blender and a rice cooker which should make meals at home a little more interesting.

Costa Rica Journal - Monday, 4-27-09

My eye ended up healing well and quickly, too. By the end of that day it had decreased considerably in size and by the next morning, the swelling was all but gone. I was so relieved to have my eye back, its amazing how you take even just a normal state of being for granted.

That weekend was rather uneventful, as they usually are. Eduardo came over a few times to practice Spanish with us. He is very nice and very patient. On Saturday evening, he stopped by with his family, while they were on their way to his mother-in-law's house. He brought us a bag full of fruit from his family's farm, I especially liked the huge grapefruits. They were green on the outside, but white and ripe on the inside. Joe picked out two most Latin looking puppets (Frida and Dali) from our collection and we gave them two Eduardo's two children to take home with them. His son took the puppet from me, but his daughter was too shy and Joe gave it to Eduardo to give to her.

Living here in Cabanga is nice and peaceful and the people are seem very happy and friendly. Still, we find ourselves feeling very bored with too much time on our hands. I really wish we had a car that we could go explore the country in. Joe keeps telling me he wishes he were someplace else. Half of the time I find myself agreeing with him, but I also feel that I want to stay and make this work out. As much as I want this, it doesn't seem like we'll ever be comfortable and happy here. Perhaps once we start a garden of our own and have some wheels to make traveling easier, then it might be better.

I do know that I had a lot of naive presumptions about what our life would be like, and it isn't anything how I thought it would be. We have too much idle time, and not enough to do. The heat is hard to handle, so we don't get out much during the day, and that makes my body tired and stiff. I'm also having a hard time maintaining the kind of health that I want. I thought that being raw would be so much easier here than in Utah, but the opposite seems to be true! The produce selection here is very disappointing. I can get some good fruits, but the veggies are very limited. If I didn't eat rice and beans then I wouldn't be eating much at all.

We are very homesick and missing a lot of the conveniences at home, so I know this has a lot to do with our disgruntled perspective. Feelings of frustration by not being able to communicate sometimes get the better of us. I really hope things get better and our perspectives change. Sometimes its hard to always stay positive and look on the bright side when you feel so out of place.

Costa Rica Journal - Thursday, 4-23-09

I awoke early in the morning and found that I had a very difficult time opening my right eye. After looking in the mirror, I saw to my horror, that my whole eyelid was swollen and only a sliver of my eye could peek out. I was in immediate distress and I resembled some kind of monster, or maybe that deformed guy from "Goonies".

I went right into the bedroom and woke Joe up, thinking I would be like that forever, if I didn't do something about it straight away. We both concluded that one of the many nasty bugs that frequented our home bit my eyelid sometime in the night while I was asleep. My eye didn't hurt, as I could move it around and see through the narrow slit that allowed for some very constricted vision. However, my puffed up eyelid felt uncomfortably tight and was probably 3 times the size it should have been.

Joe comforted me as best as he could, but then his mischievous side took over and he asked if he could take a picture. I denied his request in a huff, as there was no way I wanted this to be documented so I could look back on it later. I would much prefer to not have to see myself like this ever again. Going into Guatoso, which was our original plan, was out of the question. Hell, even going outside to walk around Cabanga was not going to happen! People already stared at me as it was, I didn't need them staring at me in horror, wondering if my husband beat me, or if I was coming down with a case of elephantitis.

So it was decided that the best thing for me to do was to put some ice on my eye, take an Ibuprofen and go back to sleep, as it was still quite early. I lay back and drifted back into slumber with a troubled mind, but in hopes that when I awoke, some of the swelling would go down.

A light knocking on the front door awoke us a few hours later. It was one of Fred's workers and he carried some bed plans and a note from Amy with him. I stayed hidden in the bedroom and hoped that Joe would handle whatever needed to be done on his own. Apparently the bed we had originally wanted to make was much too expensive and Joe had told Amy that we needed to put that project on hold until we could figure out what needed to be done.

Joe returned to me in the bedroom and told me that some of the swelling had indeed gone down. With a rush of hope, I ran into the bathroom and checked myself in the mirror. True, it was less swollen, but still very much puffed up. My lid felt slightly less tight than it used to, but still as if was filled with jelly when I touched it. I wrapped up a fresh ice cube in a cloth and went to go lay back down. As the day wore on, my eyelid gradually went down in size and I was relieved to know that this deformity was only temporary.

Costa Rica Journal - Wednesday, 4-22-09

Today we made our first successful trip into Arenal by bus. The bus was rather strange as it turned out to be a minivan. I wonder what happened to the regular bus? Perhaps it was getting worked on today.

When we got there, we walked around the town, making a big loop then stopped in at the German bakery. Here we got online and had coffee and apple strudel for breakfast. One of the many cats that resided there, snuggled up between me and Joe and slept almost the whole time. We stayed there for a long time, and once we decided they were probably getting sick of us, we left and headed up the street to where the Lava Java, the internet cafe was.

Although we weren't hungry, we felt inclined to buy food for our internet usage, so I ordered a green salad and Joe ordered caprese. Both were absolutely horrid, and we couldn't eat all of it. Still, we were happy to sit in the cafe and use some more internet time for another few hours. By the time we were done with Lava Java, we felt we were done with Arenal, so we headed up to the bus stop to wait for the return bus.

Figuring out what time the busses arrive and leave can be a tricky business, and seem to be known by word of mouth only. After waiting at the stop for a while, we decided to ask someone at a shop, who told us that the bus wouldn't be there until the next morning! After that, we hunted down a taxi and made our way back home. It was a very rainy day, but it was nice to get out of town and communicate with friends and family.

Costa Rica Journal - Sunday, 4-19-09

The morning was nice and comfortable even with our still cold shower. After coffee and a pineapple breakfast, we walked to the soccer field in hopes to see a game. Fred had told us that Sunday was soccer day, but we didn't see anyone out playing. Perhaps it was too early still, or maybe today was not a game day.

While we were standing by the field a gringo man stopped on his way up the road to talk to us. His name was Roger and he and his wife are from Canada. They are in the process of building their house and we chatted for a little while, enjoying some more English speaking company.

Soon, we made our way back home and I attempted to dance for a little while. I'm finding its hard to get into the mood of it lately. Maybe its because of the hot, muggy atmosphere, or maybe its because I feel tired a lot. Whatever it is, I hope it changes soon. I miss being passionate about dancing, and I miss dancing with other people perhaps even more. Perhaps that is part of my problem, I probably need some people to share the dance with. That's going to be difficult, especially with the language barrier.

As the day wore on, Joe and I settled into our usual way by reading, until we were interrupted by seeing a farm animal roaming the streets. I've seen a lot of cows walking about, but this was the first time I had seen a pig! A big one as well! She was an obvious mother, on the loose without her piglets and she seemed to be enjoying her moment of freedom, going from yard to yard looking for scraps of food. I wondered how long it would take before she would be taken back home by her owner.

Costa Rica Journal - Saturday, 4-18-09

Joe and I usually don't get up out of bed until around 7 am, so you can imagine our surprise when Fred's bellowing voice awoke us an hour early. He was heading over to the new farm "Amapola" and offered to take us along. The reason for this is that we might relocate our home site there, instead. This farm is further outside of Guatoso and closer to Rio Celeste, the beautiful river that flows bright turquoise.

We drove as far as we could, then we got out of Fred's car and hiked in the remaining mile or so. It was very beautiful with plenty of forest and wildlife. The location for the homesite was on the top of a hill which as a panoramic splendor. The view stretched out for hundreds of miles, much of it looking into virgin rain forest. Joe and I both agreed that this was a much prettier location, although it was a bit more difficult to get to.

The hike in and out of the farm was long and hot, and it was nice to rest in the car back to Guatoso. We stopped in the bakery there for pastries and juice, which seemed to be just what we needed. After we got home, I busied myself with some household chores and then we went for a short walk around sunset time. This seems to be the perfect hour for walking. The air is cool and the sun isn't bearing down on you. Plus, the sunsets are gorgeous.

On the way back home from our walk, we stopped by the Cabanga Pipasa (market) and picked up a knife and a few plates, which we desperately needed. We had been eating out of our stainless steel camping cups and chopping food up with Joe's knife from his Leatherman! With our new culinary tools, it was much easier to make a yummy veggie meal. I think Joe is growing tired of all the potatoes and onions and is craving some meat, but we only have 1 cook/prep area and I don't want to contaminate it. Maybe one of these days we'll get some more cutting boards and Chlorox.

House Photos - Now with Mas Furniture!

As promised, here are some more pics of our home in Cabanga. You can see how far we have advanced from our previous state.

The front room, now a bit more complete with a plastic table and chairs. This makes dining much more pleasant as well as our frequent Skipbo games.



Our kitchen counter is improved with a coffee maker, a blender, a rice cooker, and an electric grill. We also have a rack to dry dishes on as well as a few of the sparse spices to give the beans and rice a bit of flare.



In between these two areas, we have a small fridge complete with my finger puppet collection, and Shardul's kennel/feeding area.





We had a new bed made to fit our mattress, now we have a bit more space in the bedroom and we can shut the door! I miss the drawers that the old bed had, however.



Our storage room takes everything else. Our clothes, shoes, bikes, backpacks, laptops and whatever else that doesn't have a place to go.



In the bathroom, we have the much needed addition of the infamous "Ducha", providing us with hot water.



And next to the fridge on the floor, lies a good majority of our entertainment.



Well, that pretty much does it for the inside. I'll post more photos of the outside soon. Also, check back for more journal entries!

Getting the grass cut.

The title to this post is a lie, we don't have grass, nobody has grass in the North American sense, we have weeds. About 80% of the weeds appear to be some type of broad leaf grass, the other 20% are a misc collection of taller weeds.

Today our neighbor was having his lawn cut, I waved over the guy and asked him how much to cut our lawn, as it shardul was often getting lost in the front yard, the job took him about an hour and cost us $4.00

Death of a cow.

I noticed a large gathering of vultures over a neighbors finca the other day, I'm not sure what died, but there must have been over 100 vultures flying around waiting for there turn to feast:

Costa Rica Journal - Friday, 4-17-09

The morning was off to an early start with Fred arriving at our place on his way to Quebradon. He going to check out the farm and stopped by to tell us he'd only be there for an hour or two, then he would give us a ride down to Guatuso. We put on our bike shoes and rode down to Finca Leola with our laptops in tow. I still wasn't able to connect mine, so Joe and I shared his computer. After catching up a bit, Fred returned and we all jumped in the car.

Friday is the day of the farmers' market, and I was very exited to see it. We also needed to buy some other things in town including a broom, mop and a ducha (hot water for the shower head). The farmers' market wasn't a big one, though it probably was in frontier CR standards, and I was used to the one in Utah at Pioneer Park. This one was about the size of 4 - 6 fruit stands, however I was glad to see it and we picked out 5 bags of produce and even got delicious fruit samples.

Next, we stopped by Gallo Mas Gallo and found out that our refrigerator was ready for us so we put that in the back of Fred's Trooper. We purchased our queen mattress as well, and tied that on top. It was very nice to get a ride to and from town like this, and Fred was extremely helpful in all that we accomplished. When we got home, we unloaded our purchases, but our bikes and laptops were still at the office. The only solution was to get a ride back down to Finca Leola, and then we had to ride the grueling hill back up to our house in the midday sun. By the time we were home, we resembled cooked beats, and decided that we should not try that again in the middle of the day.

Once we had recovered a bit, we were spending some time in our front yard and our next door neighbor Danielo, (who owns a wood shop) approached us. He was trying to tell us something that we couldn't quite understand. It seemed that he was offering us to ride over to Arenal with him. He called someone on the phone and handed it to Joe. It turned out to be an English speaking friend of Danielo's and he confirmed that he had some deliveries to make in Arenal and that his trip would take about 3 or 4 hours. Our neighbor was offering us a ride into Arenal and back while he made his deliveries and we graciously accepted.

The three of us crammed into the small pickup and made our way over the pass to bustling Arenal, taking in some beautiful vistas along the way. When we got there, Danielo dropped us off and said he'd be back to pick us up in one hour. We took advantage of the pizza restaurant that was there. This place also took part in a book exchange, so we grabbed a few books as well. After about an hour and 1/2 in this small city, our neighbor returned from making his deliveries and we got into the truck once more and drove back home. We thanked him as we got out and walked next door to our house, thinking our trip was a nice change of pace from Cabanga.

Costa Rica Journal - Thursday, 4-16-09

We had planned on waking up early to go into town with Amy, but it did not work out that way. Our morning was spent at home, recovering from the physical and emotional toil of the previous day. For breakfast, we enjoyed coffee, and a Probar as well as some leftovers that we heated up from last nights dinner. By then, it was late morning and then two of the Finca Leola workers came over and fixed the leaky faucet. After the workers left we rested, as Joe wasn't feeling well. It was agreed that we needed to take it easy for the day and not go into town. Unfortunately, we had no phone, so we couldn't call Amy to let her know.

As the day worn on, we got out of the house and tried to walk to Pejibaye to find another market. Being midday, it wasn't a very good time to be walking about and we had to turn bank before we got there, because we forgot to put on sunscreen. Still, it was nice to get out and explore, even though we burned our skin. On the way back, we made a stop at the Cabanga market for some ice cream to cool us down. We also used this stop to get some bread and eggs which I prepared for Joe when we got home.

We spent some time playing our instruments and then we decided to tackle the task of burning our garbage. Fred came over during this, bringing me a coconut gift. He invited us to go on a short bike ride of Cabanga where we visited one of his workers, Eduardo, who lived by the soccer field just down the road from us. He turned out to be a very nice, former school teacher being able to speak a little English. Fred suggested that we help each other out, him teaching us Spanish and us teaching him English.

After our brief visit, we all rode our bikes a little more around Cabanga and stopped at the market where Fred bought us another ice cream. It was really good talking to him as we got out some of our anxieties about living here and he reassured us that we could make a decent living by internet marketing. This helped out a lot, and we also came to the conclusion that it was smarter to buy an ATV first for transportation, and worry about a car later, when it becomes more necessary. An ATV is really all we need right now, and its so much cheeper. But this time, the sun was going down and it was time to say goodbye to fred. We were very happy that he came over to talk to us. It was just what we needed to calm our nerves of living here.

Costa Rica Journal - Wednesday, 4-15-09

Over last night's dinner, we arranged to go to the Morgan's for some internet time and a trip into town with Amy. That was the plan, however we woke up rather groggy from our poor sleep on the leaky mattress. There was also the problem that we did not have any coffee or breakfast, nor anything to cook with. So from waking up, it was straight onto the bikes and down the road. Luckily, they only live 5 minutes away.

Only Joe was able to connect to the internet and Amy couldn't go into town with us, because her car was being repaired. She immediately showed us some garage sale type household items and we picked out $20 worth of things to take home with us. Then she wrote us up letters of recommendation so we could open a bank account. By this point, we were feeling overwhelmed, tired and undernourished, so we shared a Probar before heading into town.

It was a rather easy ride into Guatuso, but it was starting to get very warm. Our first stop was to the Pali grocery store where we bought apples & orange juice and a few necessities like toothpaste and scrub pads. Then it was time to tackle getting a bank account. The letters Amy wrote for us stated exactly what we were there for, and although we had a hard time communicating, we got out within an hour, goal accomplished. Next, we headed over to Gallo Mas Gallo to buy a fridge and something to cook on. We picked out a coffee maker, an electric skillet, 2 pillows, a mattress and our refrigerator, the last two would be delivered on Saturday.

There was a bit of a problem when it came time to make our payment, as our card did not work. We soon figured out that we had to break up our purchases, as the amount was too large for everything, so we decided to wait on the mattress. At this point we were feeling very grateful for the English speaking employee! After making our purchases, we hired a cargo taxi for a bout $12 and put our bikes and merchandise in the truck bed and headed home, stopping by at the Finca Leola office to pick up our kitchen supplies.

When we arrived and home, the number one priority was to take a shower. I relished washing my hair with proper cleaning agents shaving was divine. It seemed like it had been forever since we had these simple sanitation tools. After we were properly cleaned, we went for a walk and made the pleasant discovery of a small market, where we bought groceries to make dinner. It was a busy day for us and we retired early and slept well on the makeshift king, coming to the conclusion that it was better then the leaky air mattress.

Costa Rica Journal - Tuesday, 4-14-09

We arrived in the San Jose Airport at 5:30 am. It was possible that I got in maybe an hour worth of sleep on the plane, but my rest wasn't very comforting. Luckily, the airport wasn't busy and customs took hardly any time, even with Shardul. The poor cat started yelling at us the moment he saw us. It looked as if the pills had worn off, and he was not impressed with this traveling business.

Our hired driver was waiting for us outside the airport, so we loaded up the minivan and set off for the 3 hour drive for Cabanga. Joe and I both got a bit more sleep in for that ride, but exhaustion was taking its toll mentally and physically. I could hardly concentrate on much anything Fred and Amy said to us once we got to their office. Amy made us all coffee at their house and that helped a bit. Finally, it was time for us to go to our rental house, only 2 miles away!

It was a bit nicer than I had expected, except we all discovered that there was a water leakage and our half of our front room resembled a small lake. I quickly used a sheet I found in a room plus one of our few towels to soak it all up. Amy and Fred Morgan had a bed set up for us with a makeshift "King" mattress made out of a flimsy 2" twin and similarly sized foam padding.

With all the lack of sleep even this funny bed looked good to us and after taking a very cold shower (there was no hot water), we slept for at least 2-3 hours. When we awoke, we did some unpacking and realized just how little we had. There was no shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, food or any appliances, save the washing machine that we had previously arranged for.

What we did have, was our instruments, so I got out my little backpacker guitar and sat on the front porch and played for a little while. A young tico man sat close by next door at the community building and listened as I sang "Poor Man". I think he was impressed because he pulled out his walkman and starting playing the Titanic theme song as I was putting my guitar away. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if that is exactly complimentary, but I was too tired and shy to talk to him about it.

As the afternoon wore on, we were unpleasantly surprised to see that Shardul had chosen our bed to use as a litterbox. This was the first accident he's ever had and I know its probably because of the stress and confusion of traveling. And he also didn't have a litterbox anywhere in the house and didn't know where else to go. I cleaned up the mess the best I could, but it didn't do much good.

When the Morgans came back over to have dinner with us at Alfonso's, they brought an air mattress that they thought might suit us better, so we changed it out and gave it a try. That night, we regretted making this change. The mattress slowly leaked out all night long and by morning, we were laying in a painful, twisted heap almost right on the boards.

Costa Rica Journal - Monday, 4-13-09

It was a long drive from SLC to Denver. All of our belongings barely fit in the Subaru and we had a difficult time getting Shardul in there. We wanted to have him up by us near the front of the car, but he was stuck in the back, because it was the only place we could squeeze him in. The cries of confusion and protest from his carrier were heartbreaking, but soon his sedation pills kicked in and he fell asleep. It was probably better that he was further away from us, so he couldn't see us. The few times when he awoke, he was very loud. I ended up putting a sweater over his carrier and that seemed to help keep him calmer.

It took a while for us to find the farm where we would be storing the Forester for the next three month, but we finally arrived there around 8pm. After parking the car and locking it up, we loaded our stuff once more into the farm owner's truck and got a ride to the Denver Airport, Shardul crying the whole way, as his pills were starting to wear off.

Checking in didn't take very long, no doubt most of the time was because of Shardul. We gave him two more half pills while waiting for an agent to come to take him, then we accompanied the agent in checking in cage. After that, I reluctantly said goodbye to him, hoping that he would be all right.

By this time, we were still about 4 hours early for our flight, so we decided to jump online and take advantage of the easy internet access available to say goodbye to our family and friends. We had not stopped anywhere to eat recently, and Joe was able to get a sandwich while I watched our belongings. However, when I tried to get some food, it looked like all the shops were closed. I was happy enough to eat a Probar, as the airport options have never excited me much.

At 11:45, it was time to board the plane and we took flight soon after. The seats were very uncomfortable and we didn't get much sleep, even though we were both extremely tired. It was also very cold, and there were no blankets or pillows available. The one nice thing about the ride was watching the sunrise come up over the blanket of billowy clouds that covered the sky.

Our House - Interior

Here's a few pics of the inside of our place.

Front Room (this is pre-furniture)



Bathroom



Bedroom



Kitchen (Pre-appliances)



Check in soon to see pictures of our place with our new furniture, and be amazed at the dramatic transformation!