1/22/08
Ahhhh, another exercise in patience. We have now been here 3 months, and so we needed to extend the tourist visa on the truck. What we had been told by multiple folks was that the truck, even though it arrived a month later than we did, was subject to the same visa dates as Tim’s tourist visa (since we imported it in his name…the title was in his name so it was easiest to do it that way). Tim’s original tourist visa was set to expire today, so yesterday we set out for the Nicaraguan border. We took the dogs over to Steve’s around 8 in the morning, since we had heard that we could spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days trying to work the magic needed at the border. We set out around 9 for uncharted territory. I was anxious about the whole thing since there were so many unknowns…what if we couldn’t get in touch with our customs agent? What if the computers went down and we had to spend the night? What if something that I couldn’t even imagine happened? It is amazing how much ground you can cover when you’re measuring it in kilometers instead of miles! We arrived at the border about 11:30, and could instantly see the complications that may lie ahead. For starters, 18-wheelers lined the road approaching the border for about a mile; we thought “What have we gotten ourselves into, and how long might this take?” when we saw all the truck drivers getting out of their trucks and milling around. We skirted around the trucks and headed on to Penas Blancas, and the actual border crossing. When we got there, there were about 1,000 people milling about, everyone waiting to “help” with whatever you need. People were all over the road, offering to help find a parking space, a customs agent, to bribe an official, or whatever. There were buses creeping along the narrow road in the opposite direction that we were going, forcing us to pass with only a fraction of an inch of clearance; the road itself has been paved so many times that there was about a foot of asphalt, with zero shoulder on the sides. The immigration office was packed with people and had a line coming out the door. We met a guy who said he could help us get the visa, and presto! he was our man. We were ready to head back after only about an hour and a half (and a bribe, of course -- anything can happen if you pay to make it so), and now we have until April 21 to pay the import taxes on the truck.
On the way back to Junquillal we tried to find roads that were less traveled than the highway (since we have both spent lots of time going to and from the airport recently), but ended up on a dead end road that took us through Playas del Coco and Playa Ocotal…we didn’t like either one at all and couldn’t get back to the highway fast enough. The roads were narrow and winding (given), and had TONS of construction traffic everywhere; condos and houses are being built at a crazy pace, even though the hillsides they’re being built on are already eroding. And even though Tamarindo has the exact same traffic and erosion problems due to the same lack of care about the future and has had them for years now, the building continues at wildfire pace. I think the same will eventually happen here too, it just hasn’t gotten here yet. We were back from the entire border adventure before dark! I think we both slept better knowing it is taken care of for 3 more months.
1/25/08
As another example of how things seem to work themselves out, last Monday morning we were sitting on the front porch after walking the dogs and Barry came over (he’s the next door neighbor who is a helicopter pilot). We chatted with him for a while when out of the blue he said, “Hey, I know you guys are looking for a place to live for the next month before you can move into your new house, and I wanted to tell you you’re welcome to move into my place for February if you want.” We just about fell over. He’s going back to Peru to work for 5-6 weeks, and so no one will be in his house. We can just move all our stuff over to his garage, and have just the bare essentials in his house. Since his house is at the end of the road before the estuary, the view out his upstairs bedroom window is amazing – you can see mountains, acres and acres of grassland, the estuary and the ocean. Plus a pool!!! His house sits right on the 50 meter mark on the beach (the law prohibits any permanent buildings less than 50 meters from the highest high tide mark), so it is even cooler than the house we are in now! We are moving in on Thursady or Friday of this week.
Our new landlords seem to be very cool and laid back. They are from Canada and have spent their winters here for the last 6 years. The house is tiny but really cute, with lots of shady porch on the front and back, plus a large yard for the dogs.
1/26/08
Today we went to Santa Cruz because we needed cash and gas, plus we have heard that there’s a farmer’s market every Saturday morning so we wanted to check that out. When we got there, we couldn’t believe that we haven’t been going there for the last 3 months! There was so much produce, and everything was dirt cheap. We bought more than we can probably eat in the next week, and I think we spent around $5.
I hope Barry’s house doesn’t have bats in the roof like this one does. It will be nice to sleep the whole night through every night. I have to admit, though, that the noise has quieted down a lot since Tim poured Creolina (creosote, the local remedy for bat infestation) in the rain gutter right outside the point where they were the loudest. We still hear them in the roof, but it sounds like they’ve moved somewhere other than right over the bedroom so it’s a lot better than it was.
Tim and I both have a couple of irons in the fire regarding work possibilities, but right now they’re a little unfocused. Tim is bidding some small-scale construction jobs now that he has some tools down here, and I have been hired part-time to be a marketing assistant for a development near here, I just don’t know exactly what I will be doing or what days/hours I will work. Things here happen slowly, so I’m not too stressed out about the fuzziness right now.
I think that’s about all that’s going down at the end of the road this week. Next week we move over to Barry’s, and so good bye telephone but hello Sky TV (just in time for the Super Bowl). Life is good.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Lame, I know...
Hi everyone, it's been a while since I've been able to do this. December was sort of a crazy month, so I didn't get much of a chance to write. We received an offer on the house in Dallas, so I changed my already-scheduled trip home to accomodate the closing; the buyer wanted to close in 2 weeks. The offer ended up falling through (because the buyer was a jerk), so instead of closing on the house I had to list it and get it rented while I was home. I'm really excited about the renters, and believe that it's not totally a bad thing that the house didn't sell. It simply isn't the right time to sell a house. I got back just in time for New Year's Eve, and Tim was happy to have some home-cooked meals again!
Following are some posts that just haven't made it onto the blog yet. I apologize for being remiss about posting, I can't tell you how complicated it is just to respond to e-mails let alone post pictures and blog content. Lame, I know...
12/12/07
So last Saturday we went to Steve’s house to do some laundry. Steve & family are in San Jose at the moment, and we took advantage of their absence to use their washer & dryer for some of the hard-to-hand-wash items like sheets and towels. I have learned that towels end up stiff and rough if there is no breeze blowing to dry them! And washing king sized sheets in the kitchen sink is a nightmare I don’t want to repeat anytime soon… Anyway, we were hanging out at their house, enjoying the view and the cool ocean breeze while doing laundry. While we were hanging out, a group of girls and a woman cut through the property on their way to the beach (most of them are the daughters of one of Steve’s employees). One girl was holding a green bucket that contained well over a hundred baby turtles! They came from the beach at Junquillal, where there is round-the-clock protection for a turtle egg nest. The eggs are rescued from nests on secluded beaches, where they are more likely to be poached by Ticos looking to sell the eggs and taken to the protected nest until they hatch. When they hatch, they are returned to the beach they were gathered from and released into the ocean by the volunteers who collect the eggs and guard them. Tim and & asked if we could follow them to the beach and take pictures and they said sure. The volunteers measured each turtle, documented the measurements, and released them one by one onto the beach to make their way to the ocean. I think the woman with the group was a volunteer for the WWF, and the volunteers are teaching the younger generation to help protect the turtles. Turtle eggs are thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac and a delicacy, plus they provide income for many Ticos, so it’s tough to change people’s thinking. The going rate is $6 for one hundred turtle eggs.
So last Saturday we went to Steve’s house to do some laundry. Steve & family are in San Jose at the moment, and we took advantage of their absence to use their washer & dryer for some of the hard-to-hand-wash items like sheets and towels. I have learned that towels end up stiff and rough if there is no breeze blowing to dry them! And washing king sized sheets in the kitchen sink is a nightmare I don’t want to repeat anytime soon… Anyway, we were hanging out at their house, enjoying the view and the cool ocean breeze while doing laundry. While we were hanging out, a group of girls and a woman cut through the property on their way to the beach (most of them are the daughters of one of Steve’s employees). One girl was holding a green bucket that contained well over a hundred baby turtles! They came from the beach at Junquillal, where there is round-the-clock protection for a turtle egg nest. The eggs are rescued from nests on secluded beaches, where they are more likely to be poached by Ticos looking to sell the eggs and taken to the protected nest until they hatch. When they hatch, they are returned to the beach they were gathered from and released into the ocean by the volunteers who collect the eggs and guard them. Tim and & asked if we could follow them to the beach and take pictures and they said sure. The volunteers measured each turtle, documented the measurements, and released them one by one onto the beach to make their way to the ocean. I think the woman with the group was a volunteer for the WWF, and the volunteers are teaching the younger generation to help protect the turtles. Turtle eggs are thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac and a delicacy, plus they provide income for many Ticos, so it’s tough to change people’s thinking. The going rate is $6 for one hundred turtle eggs.
1/6/08
Hello and feliz ano nuevo to everyone! I realize I’ve been horrible about blogging but it’s a new year, entonces estoy empezando una nueva etapa en mi vida. Okay, okay, that was cheating…Tim’s sister bought us a Spanish calendar, and that just happened to be yesterday’s phrase. Mi espanol es muy mal!
For those of you who don’t know, I went back to Texas for 11 days to close on my house; ultimately the offer fell through but I was able to rent it so everything worked out in the end. Tim leaves on Wednesday to spend a week at home so expect to hear lots from me in the near future! J It was cold in Texas the whole time I was there, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the beach (and where people drive very, very slow). It was nice to spend the holidays with family, albeit unexpectedly, but it was a different kind of Christmas. Since I hadn’t planned on seeing family for the holidays, I didn’t have any gifts for anyone. While everyone ran around spending money and shopping like mad, I relaxed and made the most of my time with my family. As corny as it sounds, it was nice because it was the way Christmas is supposed to be – my focus was on spending time with folks I won’t see again for several months and not on gift-giving and receiving. By the time I got back, Tim had been cooking for himself long enough that his shorts were falling off!
We spent New Year’s Eve with the McKnight family (our friends who moved here a couple of years ago). While I was gone, Tim and Steve had a grate made and built a barbecue pit on Steve’s property, and bought half of a freshly slaughtered pig. On NYE, we cooked the pig all day long while enjoying the beach, the scenery, the company, and lots and lots of ping pong. We left their house around 10, but couldn’t stay awake long enough to ring in the new year. I’m pretty sure that means we’re old.
I was able to talk lots of friends into sending me back with their DVDs, so it’s almost like we have television now! I scored the first season of Lost and we are hooked. I’ve heard it turned all kinds of hokey in the second season so I’m glad we don’t have it! I also brought back my bike, which didn’t quite make it here without incident. I drove myself to the airport because I had a rental car, and the bike was in a box in the backseat. I had a full backpack on my back and one on my front, and was pulling a Roxy suitcase that was stuffed the point of exploding, as well as maneuvering a 37-pound bike in a box. I got the rental car returned and managed to make it from the shuttle bus to the terminal with all my gear (it wasn’t easy or pretty, mind you). When I went to check in I was told I needed to go to the excess baggage line. I got up to the counter and the Continental employee checking me in told me there was an embargo on excess baggage at the Liberia airport until January 15th, so I wouldn’t be able to bring my bike. I’m sure I looked like I was about to spontaneously combust when I asked, “Why do you suppose the person I talked to on the phone about flying with my bike wouldn’t have told me this information?” He said, “We need a supervisor.” After explaining my situation, the supervisor agreed to override the embargo for me, and the guy checking me in said, “Thank you for not yelling at me.” When I arrived I loaded all my luggage onto a cart at the airport and sailed through customs and found Tim outside waiting for me, with Zac in the truck! My bike doesn’t exactly shift the way that it did before the trip, so we are now trying to find information about rear derailleur repair online. I hope Tim’s bike fares better!
On Friday morning, I was gathering up towels that had been scattered around outside and I opened the back door. I went to open the latch on the burglar bars (our doors and windows all have bars, but the doors have locking latches on them) and saw a snake coiled all around the latch on the inside of the bars. I closed the door and made a sound that was a lot like something Curly from the 3 Stooges would make, and Tim asked me what was the matter. I told him there was a snake on the latch, so he grabbed a stick and we went around from the front. Sure enough, there was a baby boa constrictor! Tim poked at it until it dropped down onto the tile, and then picked it up on the end of a stick and took it across the street to the estuary and let it go. Now I’m on the lookout for snakes everywhere!!!
Hello and feliz ano nuevo to everyone! I realize I’ve been horrible about blogging but it’s a new year, entonces estoy empezando una nueva etapa en mi vida. Okay, okay, that was cheating…Tim’s sister bought us a Spanish calendar, and that just happened to be yesterday’s phrase. Mi espanol es muy mal!
For those of you who don’t know, I went back to Texas for 11 days to close on my house; ultimately the offer fell through but I was able to rent it so everything worked out in the end. Tim leaves on Wednesday to spend a week at home so expect to hear lots from me in the near future! J It was cold in Texas the whole time I was there, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the beach (and where people drive very, very slow). It was nice to spend the holidays with family, albeit unexpectedly, but it was a different kind of Christmas. Since I hadn’t planned on seeing family for the holidays, I didn’t have any gifts for anyone. While everyone ran around spending money and shopping like mad, I relaxed and made the most of my time with my family. As corny as it sounds, it was nice because it was the way Christmas is supposed to be – my focus was on spending time with folks I won’t see again for several months and not on gift-giving and receiving. By the time I got back, Tim had been cooking for himself long enough that his shorts were falling off!
We spent New Year’s Eve with the McKnight family (our friends who moved here a couple of years ago). While I was gone, Tim and Steve had a grate made and built a barbecue pit on Steve’s property, and bought half of a freshly slaughtered pig. On NYE, we cooked the pig all day long while enjoying the beach, the scenery, the company, and lots and lots of ping pong. We left their house around 10, but couldn’t stay awake long enough to ring in the new year. I’m pretty sure that means we’re old.
I was able to talk lots of friends into sending me back with their DVDs, so it’s almost like we have television now! I scored the first season of Lost and we are hooked. I’ve heard it turned all kinds of hokey in the second season so I’m glad we don’t have it! I also brought back my bike, which didn’t quite make it here without incident. I drove myself to the airport because I had a rental car, and the bike was in a box in the backseat. I had a full backpack on my back and one on my front, and was pulling a Roxy suitcase that was stuffed the point of exploding, as well as maneuvering a 37-pound bike in a box. I got the rental car returned and managed to make it from the shuttle bus to the terminal with all my gear (it wasn’t easy or pretty, mind you). When I went to check in I was told I needed to go to the excess baggage line. I got up to the counter and the Continental employee checking me in told me there was an embargo on excess baggage at the Liberia airport until January 15th, so I wouldn’t be able to bring my bike. I’m sure I looked like I was about to spontaneously combust when I asked, “Why do you suppose the person I talked to on the phone about flying with my bike wouldn’t have told me this information?” He said, “We need a supervisor.” After explaining my situation, the supervisor agreed to override the embargo for me, and the guy checking me in said, “Thank you for not yelling at me.” When I arrived I loaded all my luggage onto a cart at the airport and sailed through customs and found Tim outside waiting for me, with Zac in the truck! My bike doesn’t exactly shift the way that it did before the trip, so we are now trying to find information about rear derailleur repair online. I hope Tim’s bike fares better!
On Friday morning, I was gathering up towels that had been scattered around outside and I opened the back door. I went to open the latch on the burglar bars (our doors and windows all have bars, but the doors have locking latches on them) and saw a snake coiled all around the latch on the inside of the bars. I closed the door and made a sound that was a lot like something Curly from the 3 Stooges would make, and Tim asked me what was the matter. I told him there was a snake on the latch, so he grabbed a stick and we went around from the front. Sure enough, there was a baby boa constrictor! Tim poked at it until it dropped down onto the tile, and then picked it up on the end of a stick and took it across the street to the estuary and let it go. Now I’m on the lookout for snakes everywhere!!!
We also found a scorpion in the bathroom this week, so I’m afraid to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without shoes! Also this week, Tim was on the front porch when Zac went after something on the side of the house. Whatever it was made a horrible screeching noise, then I hear the next-door neighbor say, “He’s friendly, don’t worry!” Tim yelled at me to get Zac in the house, and when I went outside there was a little monkey on the side porch with a rope trailing behind him. He turned out to be our neighbor Wayne’s monkey (Wayne’s pet youngun’, anyone?), and so Tim took the rope and led him down the road to Wayne’s house. Always an adventure here at the end of the road.
That’s about it for now, I’ll try to get this posted with some pictures ASAP. Thanks for tuning in.
1/11/08
Day #4 on my own. Tim left on Tuesday to go to San Jose, and then flew home on Wednesday, so it’s just me and los perros until next Wednesday. Our next door neighbors have finally moved into their house, but they still have no kitchen cabinets or countertops, and workers are still finishing up the outside of the house. Bruce and Sheila invited me out to dinner on Wednesday, and also took their general contractor and one of the workers. It was a nice evening. Yesterday, Sheila came over and invited me over for chili. I said OK, and THEN she said, “Well, I don’t know where my crock pot is, so I was thinking I could come over here and cook, and we could eat over here.” At the time she invited me, I had already cooked some chicken breasts with the intention of making chicken enchiladas later in the day; I said, “Since I’ve already started cooking, why don’t I make chicken enchiladas, and you can come over and eat them with me.” Sheila said, “OK, that sounds great. By the way, we are feeding Diego and Leonardo for one more night.” So I spent the day cleaning and cooking, and ended up hosting dinner for 5. Sheila and Bruce have invited me over for chili tonight (they bought a new crock pot), and then to go with them to Santa Cruz tomorrow. I am going to have to find a way out of this. I think they don’t want me to be alone, when I actually like it. They even offered to set up an inflatable mattress for me in their office, in the event that I get scared here by myself. It really is a nice gesture, but I don’t spook easily.
I went to Santa Cruz today for gas, my biggest outing on the roads alone. It is 45 miles round trip to the nearest gas station, so we can’t wait until we’re on empty to fill up. Since I will have to drive to Liberia next week to pick Tim up (about 50 or 60 miles one way), I wanted to make sure I didn’t get too low over the weekend. Like everything here, even getting gas requires planning and patience. On the way to Santa Cruz I saw a girl who had just been hit by a car, lying on the side of the road, unconscious. She looked about 10 or 12, and her bike was crunched between the car that hit her and a guardrail on a small bridge. I passed an ambulance heading in the direction of the ambulance a few minutes later, and a few minutes after that I saw the ambulance heading back to town with its sirens and lights on. Very sobering.
For those of you who wonder what has happened to my blog, I am in the internet café writing this, but once again, there is no internet access.
That’s about it for now, I’ll try to get this posted with some pictures ASAP. Thanks for tuning in.
1/11/08
Day #4 on my own. Tim left on Tuesday to go to San Jose, and then flew home on Wednesday, so it’s just me and los perros until next Wednesday. Our next door neighbors have finally moved into their house, but they still have no kitchen cabinets or countertops, and workers are still finishing up the outside of the house. Bruce and Sheila invited me out to dinner on Wednesday, and also took their general contractor and one of the workers. It was a nice evening. Yesterday, Sheila came over and invited me over for chili. I said OK, and THEN she said, “Well, I don’t know where my crock pot is, so I was thinking I could come over here and cook, and we could eat over here.” At the time she invited me, I had already cooked some chicken breasts with the intention of making chicken enchiladas later in the day; I said, “Since I’ve already started cooking, why don’t I make chicken enchiladas, and you can come over and eat them with me.” Sheila said, “OK, that sounds great. By the way, we are feeding Diego and Leonardo for one more night.” So I spent the day cleaning and cooking, and ended up hosting dinner for 5. Sheila and Bruce have invited me over for chili tonight (they bought a new crock pot), and then to go with them to Santa Cruz tomorrow. I am going to have to find a way out of this. I think they don’t want me to be alone, when I actually like it. They even offered to set up an inflatable mattress for me in their office, in the event that I get scared here by myself. It really is a nice gesture, but I don’t spook easily.
I went to Santa Cruz today for gas, my biggest outing on the roads alone. It is 45 miles round trip to the nearest gas station, so we can’t wait until we’re on empty to fill up. Since I will have to drive to Liberia next week to pick Tim up (about 50 or 60 miles one way), I wanted to make sure I didn’t get too low over the weekend. Like everything here, even getting gas requires planning and patience. On the way to Santa Cruz I saw a girl who had just been hit by a car, lying on the side of the road, unconscious. She looked about 10 or 12, and her bike was crunched between the car that hit her and a guardrail on a small bridge. I passed an ambulance heading in the direction of the ambulance a few minutes later, and a few minutes after that I saw the ambulance heading back to town with its sirens and lights on. Very sobering.
For those of you who wonder what has happened to my blog, I am in the internet café writing this, but once again, there is no internet access.
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