Final Update on Blogspot: November 7, 2009

I've finally had it with this site and Blogspot's problems. Future posts will be here. Don't expect one today, however, I haven't set it up just yet!

Life in Paradise Update: October 29, 2009

 

Another trip to the north has been finalized so I’m now on my last monthly trip to and from Costa Rica. I’m really looking forward to being able to stay in one place of a few months but would prefer that place to be here. I’m happy that we’ll be able to spend the Holidays with family though so it will be worth the time spent up north.

 

There’s not a lot to report on the activities prior to my departure to the north last week. Vicky’s sister, along with her family and Jorge, left on Saturday for La Fortuna to spend the night in the shadow of Vulcan Arenal, which is a rarity in that it flows constantly. You can usually see this, especially from La Fortuna so that was to be an adventure for them. They were to leave on Sunday morning for the national park and to visit Lake Arenal, which is one of the major attractions here. It’s also been featured in one of Michael Crichton’s movies (I think it was “The Lost World”). They got off ok and I’d hear more about their adventures later.

 

With just a few of us in the house again it was a much more relaxed time but on Friday evening, prior to the others departure, several of James and Vicky’s friends had come over for another party and I just wasn’t up to it, again. I went to the bedroom to read about six o’clock, came out to eat at about seven and immediately returned where I slept the entire night, only being awakened once by the noise. Therefore, the solitude of only seven in the house was rather nice!

 

Other than a trip to Turrialba on Monday, where both Doris and I had dental appointments, we stayed at home for the entire time.

 

On Monday I left early with Vicky in the Suzuki. Vicky has purchased that from us and I took her to meet the mechanic that has done wonders keeping it in excellent running order. There are a couple of repairs that need to be made and we spoke with him about them and arranged that I would return it to him following their departure. They really needed to have a car for the remaining week of their visit and as ours is a rental they aren’t authorized to drive it or all the insurances would be void.

 

Following this, Vicky went to the bank and then we had breakfast at the little kiosk that used to be the train station. It’s one of those little treasures that you can find here that looks like a dump but where you find some of the best food available. It’s also busy all day, which says something about the food. I had my favorite breakfast, pinto with carne en salsa and two fried eggs, covered in a liberal amount of hot sauce (see, I actually am liberal in some things!) and enjoyed it thoroughly!). After that Vicky had to stop at the vets and then she returned home while  I waited for Doris to come into town for her appointment with the dentist.

 

We (actually, only Doris as I was still full from breakfast) had lunch at Tico Chino, stopped by the Maxi-Bodega for some food items and returned home late in the afternoon. I had to leave the following morning so went to bed early.

 

I didn’t get up as early as planned but we were in San José early enough for me to use the available wi-fi at the Hotel Kekoldi and catch up on online work, daily reading and correspondence, prior to having to head to the airport at 10:00 am. Doris was going to spend the night so that she could finally get some “alone” time prior to returning to the circus in Chitaria.

 

At the airport I ran into Jorge, who was leaving the same day for Mexico. I found out that in La Fortuna there had been sufficient cloud covering the top of Arenal that they were unable to view the magma discharge. Jorge had not gone to Lake Arenal with them as the side trip would have impacted his ability to return to San José in time for his departure flight but had had a nice visit, alone, in Ciudad Quesada. I think he enjoyed the solitude for a change, also!

 

The trip to the US was standard but I did have some trouble with the publication. The dummy and the article worksheets weren’t in agreement so on Sunday I had to redo the entire pub from page 17 to add a page. This seems to be occurring at least one in three times and really puts me behind the eight-ball to get it finished on time to be proofed, corrected and printed on Monday. This was following a re-organization of the articles so that an advertiser could have their color ad in the story of their race and that involved moving the article to different pages in the issue, changing the ad index for the adds (most of the publication had moved) and also the table of contents. Having to add one page meant redoing all this work. All I can say is that another issue was completed on time, one issue less than 27 years of perfection!!!

 

I had one other little item to do while there that was also mandatory. This was my third visit since Doris had come to Costa Rica and when I know that I’ll be the next person in the apartment I’m not always as conscientious about cleaning it up prior to my departure as I should be. Well, three months! I had a bit of extra work to do but had the time on Tuesday pretty well planned for that.

 

As you might have noted in previous posts oft times plans get changed! On Sunday evening Doris had called me stating that she needed some medical supplies that we have only been able to get from a pharmacy in Thousand Oaks and I’d needed to call them early Monday morning to arrange that they would be ready on Tuesday. That meant trip to Thousand Oaks on Tuesday but I planned the time to do so and didn’t consider it much of a distraction. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the pharmacy they only had half of the items that I needed so it now became a panic to try and find the other half. It also meant that some of the items that I’d planned to accomplish at the apartment would be deferred.

 

I went back to the apartment and started making phone calls. It seemed that the only place that I could get the needed items was in downtown Los Angeles and that was simply out of the question. I figured we could find them in Costa Rica but knew it could become a critical situation for Doris if we were unable to.

 

I decided to check online availability so that I could arrange for the missing supplies to come in the mail and be available immediately upon our return to the US on the 17^th of November. What I found was a medical supplier just a few miles from the apartment that carried the missing items and also supplied a phone number so I gave them a call. They did have the item in stock and would be more than happy for me to come to their office to purchase it. I was happy to resolve that issue but unhappy that I wouldn’t get everything planned accomplished.

 

Doris had driven Vicky, James and their son Daniel into San José on Tuesday (the very same day as the above paragraph) as they were leaving that day to return to Laguna Beach so again stayed at the Kekoldi awaiting my return the following morning. She gave me a call just as I was walking in the door with her supplies and informed me that she’d found enough in one of the suitcases stored in Chitaria to get her through the month. Wonderful! Oh, well, now she has plenty!

 

Another all night flight and I was back in Costa Rica. My friend, Todd, was going to be at the Dunn Inn the day of my return and I’d been carrying some items that I’d  purchased for him three months before in the car. The Dunn Inn is only a block and a half from the Kekoldi so I left Doris to rest and meandered down to that hotel with his goods about noon. We had a short visit and then Doris and I headed back to Chitaria about 1:30.

 

We stopped for lunch at Betico Mata, food at Maxi-Bodega, and arrived in Chitaria just prior to the sun’s departure around 5:00 p.m. Needless to  say, I was beat! In bed at six, up at four and here I sit making this update.

 

Con Dios Acompaña

 

 

Life in Paradise: October 17, 2009

 

As I was finishing the last entry the man we were waiting for arrived and we packed up the car, planning to leave San Marcos as soon as we’d viewed the properties that he knew were available. As it turned out, this particular gentleman, who’d been working in the hotel the evening prior, was the developer of several new neighborhoods in the area so we got to see some pretty nice properties, and at a cost much less than those we’d seen on our excursion. I’ve not yet uploaded them to my Facebook page but should do so this coming week when I’m back to having a real internet connection in the US.

 

At around noon we headed back to Chitaria and it was really nice to know that I didn’t have to head out somewhere the next morning.

 

Vicky’s niece’s husband, Jorge, was now in residence in the house, visiting from Mexico so things were again in a liquid state, with much activity in the house. James was healing from his surgery but still not able to function as he would like and according to his doctor he’ll still have a week of inactivity when he returns to the US on the 27th.

 

It was also good to get back as my suitcase only held clothing that had already been worn, with the exception of a bathing suit and one t-shirt. That made laundry a priority and it needed to be finished prior to our planned departure on Monday to Puerto Viejo and subsequently, Panama.

 

I must note here that our plans were never completed. After putting off the departure until Tuesday we decided that we really didn’t have the time left prior to my return to the US next week to properly visit Panama. Plans for Saturday, Sunday and Monday were already made and although, as is everything, they were flexible, we just decided to remain in Chitara for a week and rest up.

 

On Tuesday morning I made a trip over to Tres Equis to pay Martín, who is stabling our horse, Sunshine, and had made a trip into Turrialba on Monday to purchase a couple of bags of food for him, which I also delivered. Jorge went with me and wanted to see the old farm so we went past there. I also wanted to check on Casey, and as she was right by the stables and corral, that was an easy thing to do. Again, no one seemed to be home. We pulled a tick off of Dito’s nose that was at least the size of the one I photographed last month from Baby. I don’t know what’s going on there but all the dogs appear to have lost a considerable amount of weight. If the Padre hadn’t specifically said that he wanted them I would think they were being starved to death. I should drop him an email and let him know of the things that I’ve seen but don’t really know if I should become involved in it. It might seem like sour grapes, as we no longer have possession of the property.

 

Although we didn’t get out and about for the majority of the time this past week, there were a couple of notable things that happened; this was the week for Fútbol in Costa Rica! On Tuesday, after heading to the farm, us guys stopped at the restaurant/bar in Tres Equis and watched the semi-finals of the Under 20 World cup. Costa Rica was playing the powerhouse, Brazil, and had lost their first game to this team by five points in the first round. They played a good game and only lost in the last few minutes of the game by one point, putting Brazil against Guyana in the finals. Then, on Wednesday evening the adult team played the US in D.C. and, lost in the 90th minute. Now, for Costa Rica to qualify to play in the world cup next year they have to prevail in a two game series against Uruguay of which the winner will fill the wild card slot from the Americas. Yesterday brought the game for third place in the U-20 World Cup and CR lost on kicks after a pointless 90-minute game against Hungary. Regardless of the loss, this was the first time that Costa Rica has made it to the semi-finals in any world cup, their best prior performance qualifying in the final 16 way back in 1990.

 

I should also make note of the fact that Vicky’s sister, husband and little boy also arrived Wednesday from Mexico so there’s really a full house. Daniel and his wife and two children came back to Chitaria from Turrialba on the same day so that he could visit with his aunt, who he hadn’t seen for several years. That puts the total population here at 11 if I’m counting everyone except Gypsy!

 

Yesterday everyone went on an excursion with the exception of Vicky, James, Doris and I. We’d made a trip to La Cruz, halfway from here to the old homestead, for lunch and enjoyed the outing and solitude of being just us four tremendously.

 

Last night, with everyone but the four of us gone for the day Vicky decided to make spaghetti for dinner. That way it didn’t matter what time the travelers returned home, there would be food for them. The only problem with this was that there was no pasta in the house, necessitating a trip to the store just down the hill. That was OK as we needed another box of beer for when the travelers returned so James and I went to get the needed items. Somehow a bottle of very good rum ended up in our shopping bag so I’ll finish this post with the note that the rest of the evening was very pleasant!!!

 

Con Dios Acompaña

 

Life in Paradise Update: October 10, 2009

There's been a lot happen since my last post so it's time to make an update.

On Sunday following the last entry our friends were scheduled to arrive at their home in Chitaria and as we hadn't seen them in a couple of years were looking forward to their visit. That morning, prior to their arrival, Sunshine managed to get loose and took off towards the street. I looked down the hill but couldn't see him in the near area so retrieved my car keys (the old one that he knew) along with a good rope and headed down the hill. He was nowhere in sight. I asked at the MiniSuper and was told that he was headed back towards Tres Equis so continued on. A mile or more past that and as I passed the Restaurant at La Cruz two men were out front waving me on towards Tres Equis. Everyone in the area is familiar with every animal so they know he was mine. i finally caught up with him just a bit before the farm so roped him and took him back to the corral that he's familiar with.

It was only about 11:30 and when I asked Eugenia where Guido was found that he was already at the bar, up on the highway. I then headed there to let him know that Sunshine was back in the corral and see what I could do to get him back to the new house. The problem with Guido having ridden him to the new house was that Sunshine knew the way back to his only home so when able, headed back.

Well, Guido was already halfway to inebriation so I decided to tell Guido that I'd make arrangements to get him the next morning.

After arriving back to the house in Chitaria Doris and I decided that it would be better to just place Sunshine with a neighbor who also has stables for about $70 a month and be sure that he was being taken care of. As we were planning to do some traveling I wasn't sure if anyone would be around to care for him in Chitaria so this was a pretty good plan. The real rub was that I'd offered Guido more than this amount to care for him after work (the law in Costa Rica only allows 8 hours of work and six days of work a week. Additional time is mandated to be paid time and a half) but Guido had earlier told me that Father Abel had mandated 12 hours of work a day for him. Although I didn't believe Guido it's no longer my responsibility so just let it go.

So, back to the latest happenings! Our friends did arrive and we immediately initiated a four day party, which doesn't really require much of an explination. We'd planned to leave that area and start searching for a new home on Tuesday but with the late nights, that wasn't possible. We kept delaying our departure and then our friends wanted to celebrate Doris' birthday with her so our new plans were to get started on Sunday, a full week after their arrival.

On Friday James had a doctor's appointment (one of the reasons for their visit to Costa Rica was for him to have a double hernia operation) and at that appointment it was decided that he would have the operation the following morning at 7:00 in San José and then be released to return to Chitaria. There went our plans for Doris' birthday!

All went well with the operation but we still didn't get out to do our traveling until Monday morning!

Finally, we were off! We decided to make our first stop in Grecia, on the other side of San José, but took the long way from Turrialba to Cartago just to enjoy the views along that route. Of course, once at the upermost part of the journey, it began to rain! As the rain was on-and-off, our spirits were about the only thing that wasn't dampened. We made an uneventful trip and arrived in Grecia about 2:30 in the afternoon. We used the GPS in the rental car to find the three hotels in town and after seeing what was available decided to stay at the Automundo, just half a block from the famous metal church that Grecia is reknowned for. Getting settled into the room was enough for one day.

On Tuesday we returned to the main road into town and contacted a real estate agent, whose office we'd noted upon arrival the day before. Of course, appointments had to be made so no visits to prospoctive properties could be made that day but we did select six from their catalog that we wished to see.

After leaving the real estate office we turned on the GPS and proceeded to Sarchi where we had lunch and spent the afternoon shopping. Then we returned to the hotel in Grecia for another night.

On Wednesday we were a the real estate office, as requested, at 9:00 and in the morning went to visit three properties. Two of the properties were under long term leases so no longer available but two additional ones had been located that they though we might be interested in. The first was a cute little A-frame but even though the person living there, and guarding it, was inside the home they wouldn't respond to our requests so all we saw was the outside. This house was fairly new but already showing damage due to poor construction materials so that was a definite no.

The second, although the owner knew we were coming, and at what hour, was also unavailable to enter as the owner had gone into town and wasn't expected for some time. Again, what we saw, although not too bad, just wasn't what we were looking for in a new residence.

The third was really nice and I've posted several pictures of it on my facebook page. Great views, great quality in construction, not a large home nor is there a large amount of property but that's what we really want as the maintenance, especially during returns to the US, would be minimul.

Back to the agent's office where we enjoyed a really good pizza lunch!

Off again in the afternoon and again, we only encountered one house that we really would be interested in. It was a larger home with very high ceilings and only about a year old. The owners worked at the airport and the wife didn't like living so far from her mother (a typically Costa Rican thing) and that was the reason they were selling it. The only problem was with location, being much too close to the center of the downtown area and only one house from a main thoroughfare that was sure to have trucks traveling past in the evenings.

That was the end of our adventures in Grecia and on Thursday morning we were going to head to Samara on the Nicoya Penensula but once we found exactly where it was decided to head to Manuel Antonio, on the Pacific coast, instead. About forty kilometers and an hour into the journey we were driving through Atenas and noticed a B&B sign that pointed up the mountain and looked interesting, so we went to check it out. Again, pictures are on my facebook page and we stayed the night making new plans for Friday.

On Friday morning we headed out for the Valley of the Saints to the south east of San José and this is the only time, so far, that the GPS got confused. I'll shorten the post by saying that we spent some time in the outskirts of San José because of detours of construction and one corner where we were supposed to turn right but there was no street to turn on to. Eventually we did get onto the right road and once in the mountains the GPS tried to take us on a side road rather than the main highway and then just froze up in confusion.

We spent a good amount of time traveling in mountains with gorgeous views into the Valley of the Saints and eventually found our way to San Marcos where we went in search of a hotel. It was getting late in the afternoon and whoever programmed the GPS managed to get all the one-way streets programmed in the wrong direction in San Marcos so our poor little GPS wasn't giving us very good information and constantly saying "Recalculating"

We eventually found a hotel and although it isn't up to the standards of our earlier nights stays does offer wi-fi and is clean.

Today we are supposed to visit some properties here, having made arrangements last evening, but so far the man hasn't arrived so who knows what we will be really doing.

That's it for now....

Life in Paradise: September 25, 2009

 

As I noted in the past post we left the farm for good on the third of September and spent our first night at our friend’s home in Chitaria, where we are still located. One item that I didn’t mention was the day from hell that followed. I knew this would take a considerable amount of time to report so have saved it until now.

 

A couple of background notes must be made here so the entire story may be told. First, is about the car:

 

We’d been having an increasing loss of power in the car for a considerable amount of time and I might have mentioned this in earlier posts. This was a repeat of a problem that we had several years ago when it required changing the fuel pump twice (quality control isn’t always the best here with parts) so I took the car to our mechanic prior to my trip to the US in August. They confirmed that my assumption of a fuel pump failure had been correct and replaced it. The car ran much better, but not for long! I drove it into San José for my departure and Doris drove it back to the farm, noting along the way that the problem was intensifying, and doing so rapidly. That was the reason that I took the bus back to Turrialba from San José when I returned from the north.

 

It was running well enough to complete the transfer of all the items from the farm to Chitaria but wasn’t what you might call, totally functional.

 

Background item #2:

 

Over the past several months we’d sold all the cattle and as is the custom here, those transactions were all in cash, in colones, the local currency. We only have a dollar account at the bank so we’d been storing a bit more cash at the farm than we would normally keep on hand, as converting it to dollars costs more than converting dollars to colones. The difference in rates of exchange is generally ten colones and although that isn’t a lot at rates of 582/592 it adds up to a considerable amount when dealing with quantities in the millions.

 

Had we still been on the farm this wouldn’t’ have presented a problem but I had to go into town on the day following our final move to Chitaria. When we’d moved we’d separated the cash on hand into different trips so that we were never carrying the entire amount at any given time. What I’d neglected to realize was that the bag I generally carry still had a half million colones in it that wouldn’t normally have been there. I don’t like walking around in town with this amount on my person.

 

So, the car was continuing to degrade in performance and on the way into town it got even worse. Doris had mentioned the possibility that we were low on gas, and that was a good assumption considering that we’d done a lot of traveling between the two homes at low speed and under a lot of stress to the vehicle due to the weight being transferred. The gas gage hasn’t worked for years so we reset the trip meter and fill up when we pass 150 miles, which usually leaves us more than a quarter of a tank in reserve, but I’d stretched that to over 175 miles on this fill up. As the vehicle was operating fine going downhill, but sputtering immediately when an uphill grade was encountered, I thought that Doris’ assumption might be correct. The pickup for the gas is in the front of the tank so this made sense! About a mile out of Turrialba, when I encountered the slight uphill grade after passing into North America at the Rio Reventazon, the car sputtered a couple of times and finally just quit running. I steered off the road a bit and considered my options.

 

I didn’t have a telephone but just prior to crossing the river there is a mechanic so I hoofed it back there to see if they had any gasoline. I didn’t expect that they would have but also figured that I could use their telephone to call for a taxi to take me into town and back with gas.

 

I was fortunate enough to encounter a young couple (for me that’s someone younger than 45) who were just leaving for Turrialba and they offered to take me to the gas station. On the way, we stopped and pushed the car further off the road where it didn’t’ interfere with traffic. As it was Friday, there were many people in town and about two hundred meters prior to the gas station traffic came to a creeping halt. That afforded the couple to sit and speak with a friend, just about fifty meters from the service station and one of the items that I noted being mentioned was that they would be back shortly to visit.

 

When we arrived at the service station they dropped me off and I decided to purchase two, one-gallon containers of fuel as the car was on an incline and I didn’t know how much would be needed to cover the tube that provides gas to the motor. That done, I went to pay for the gas and found myself in somewhat of a dilemma, I’d left my bag in the car when I got out of it.

 

Now, I had no idea who the people were that had given me a lift and here was my bag with not only the half million colones in it but several hundred dollar bills, as well. I know, stupid to carry that amount of money at anytime but I’d not remembered that I’d had it there until when the car had quit running, I’d checked to see how much money I had for the items needed that day, plus gas and a taxi.

 

I considered my options and walked back to the house where we had stopped and talked earlier. I asked the young woman that they had spoken with if she had their cell phone number and if so, could she call and advise them that I had left some property in their car. She did this and informed me that they would be soon returning and would stop at the gas station.

 

Soon turned out to be over an hour but, this is Costa Rica and in Costa Rica time that’s almost immediately. While waiting I wondered if they would find what was in the bag and just ‘forget’ to bring it back. That was a very good possibility. I also had time to question whether I’d, perhaps, neglected to take the bag from the vehicle when I left it, or when I’d opened the door to push it off the road a bit later. I just could not remember! It had been pouring rain so I’d taken my umbrella with me and couldn’t distinctly recall carrying the bag, too!

 

Against all odds here, the couple did return and had my bag with them. It also contained all the funds that had been within when I had so stupidly forgotten it. I offered them a considerable amount, 10,000 colones, as a gift for returning it and they weren’t eager to accept it but they finally did. I considered that I’d gotten off very inexpensively for this amount and was more than happy to prove to them that honesty can also have its rewards.

 

I’d had a taxi waiting so we loaded the two gallons of gas into the trunk and returned to the car. The taxi driver stayed to help and to follow me back into town to insure there were no further problems.

 

I don’t know how many reading this have ever run out of gas before but one of the things consistent with this is having to crank the motor over long enough for the fuel pump (a manual pump, not electric) to re-supply fuel to the engine. That didn’t happen and as soon as the starter cranked, the engine was running. That could only mean one thing; the vehicle hadn’t been out of gas! I trundled on into Turrialba but was certain that the car would be staying the night, it was just a few minutes prior to four p.m.

 

One of the reasons that I was going into town on this day was because I had to go to the bank to get some money out. Don’t ask, that’s another thing entirely but it had to do with the sale of the farm. Another reason was that Doris and I were to meet the Padre at the Wagelia restaurant for dinner where we would finally consume the bottle of wine that he’d brought to celebrate the changing of the guard of the farm. Doris hadn’t been feeling well and I’d made the trip alone.

 

So, my first stop was at the bank where I found out they no longer closed at 5:00 but at 4:00. I arrived, according to the bank’s clock, at 4:03 and the doors were already locked.

 

I then took the car to the mechanic who had changed the fuel pump and arranged to pick it up the next morning at 11:00 a.m.

 

With nothing left to do, I headed to the Wagelia and waited for the Padre at the bar, in the process consuming a couple of adult beverages. He was to have arrived at 6:00.

 

At 6:30 he still hadn’t arrived so I paid my tab and prepared to leave, as the last regular bus leaves for Chitaria at 7:00 p.m. As I was leaving, I decided that a trip to the men’s room would probably save me a considerable amount of discomfort on the way home, so made that stop first. It was fortunate that I did or I would have missed the Padre by about a half a minute. He was there when I exited the men’s room.

 

We had a nice dinner, although without the wine, as he had forgotten to bring it along. That bottle of wine was certainly not destined for consumption at this time! He then gave me a ride home and my day from hell ended. He spent a few minutes at our temporary digs in Chitaria, visiting with Doris, and I prepared for a return to Turrialba in the morning to pick up the car.

 

As there isn’t a telephone where we’re staying (I probably mentioned this before in explaining all the needs of acquiring a new cell phone) I took Doris new computer with me the next morning as it is so much smaller and lighter than mine. I needed to check email for work and also become current with the world news. I also planned to make an early trip to the bank (I’d emptied my bag of the excess colones now) as I needed cash in dollars in excess of the amount on hand for various reasons. After the bank I then went to the Wagelia, once again, where I used their free wi-fi while I enjoyed a nice American breakfast of toast, jelly, fried eggs and a whole plate of bacon. To give it a bit of local flavor they also include a fresh fruit plate.

 

At about fifteen minutes shy of the 11 o’clock pickup time for my car I left the restaurant and headed across town on foot. It was a nice day for a walk and the walk included a jaunt through the downtown park, which is always a nice couple of minutes, as it’s only a block square.

 

My car was finished and the old man at the mechanic’s shop had personally taken care of the repairs. He’s had over 40 years experience, mostly with dealerships, so he really is a good mechanic. He’s also one of the few mechanics that has all the electronic equipment required for newer automobiles and relies on it heavily to properly tune his client’s vehicles. He’d taken the car for a drive the night before and then done the repairs in the early morning after which, to took it for another test drive to insure that the equipment hadn’t missed anything.

 

There were two items that had contributed to the loss of power and I should have figured the first one, if not both of them, myself, as I’ve done a considerable amount of repairing my own vehicles. When the fuel pump had been starving the engine the result was that the spark plugs had overheated and were no longer functioning at their optimum. I’d not really considered this as the plugs had been changed just a few months prior when the car was made ready for the Revision Technica, the annual inspection required for all vehicles here, although I really should have considered the possibility that they were bad. The second problem was a result of my allowing the fuel level in the tank to become lower than normal and when this happened it pumped bottom-of-the-tank sludge into the fuel lines and clogged the fuel filter. The gas in Costa Rica doesn’t go through the refining processes equal to those in the US so sludge is a constant problem and changing the fuel filter is one of the items accomplished with each oil change. Had I replaced either the plugs or the fuel filter I would have still had a problem so both items were required for the engine to function properly.

 

And, function properly it does! Our little buggy is running better than it has in years and the total repair costs, including the first trip to have the fuel pump replaced, were just a bit over $50. That’s a major reason that I no longer bother with doing my own work on the car. It’s just too inexpensive to have a professional do it. We gave it a good run on the way to and back from the beach and it functioned without a glitch!

 

We spent the weekend with me getting ready for the trip north and Doris getting accustomed to our new location. As always, there’s a lot of laundry to get done prior to my departure and as I’ve lived alone a good part of my life, prefer to do my own laundry. On Monday, September 14, we went into Turrialba in the morning and picked up a rental car for our upcoming adventures. It was delivered from San José without additional costs, which made it very convenient.

 

As we now had two vehicles I used the old buggy for the trip into San José on Tuesday morning for my departure back north. That way Doris didn’t have to make the trip and had the rental for whatever travelling she wanted to do. She really didn’t do a lot other than using it for church on the Sunday that I wasn’t here and for a trip to Siquirres with Doña Miriam for lunch one day. Nevertheless, she was more than pleased to drive a vehicle that doesn’t have the suspension of a truck and also is air-conditioned. Too much of this and she’ll be spoiled!

 

We’d left two horses at the farm, with the Padre’s approval, and Guido was to care for them. One, Casey, is in pasture but Sunshine, being a Stallion, has to be kept in the stables with so many mares in close proximity. He’ll break whatever wire fences he wants to be with the mares and there are no wooden fences around pastures that he can be put in. It seems that after the Father left Guido decided that he didn’t have time to care for Sunshine so called Doris to have him moved from the farm. That created a whole bunch of problems as I was in the US when he did so.

 

I decided to call a friend, who lives just a couple of hundred meters from the old farm, to see if he could watch Sunshine until I returned but found out that his telephone doesn’t accept international calls. This is something that you have to indicate you want and the majority of telephones in Costa Rica aren’t internationally viable.

 

I then attempted to contact Guido at the farm to see if he would speak with José Luis about watching the stallion but there was no answer. Either he was away from the house or seeing the number on the caller ID didn’t wish to speak with me about it. That left the situation for Doris to resolve, which she did. José Luis agreed to watch him until my return.

 

I spoke with the owners of the property where we’re staying and they indicated that I should just bring the stallion here as they have lots of pasture. That will require him being tied up but I’ve a couple of people interested in purchasing him so hopefully that won’t be for an extended period of time.

 

Yesterday, my first full day back, I took the rental car (this was the first time that I’d driven it) to Tres Equis and first spoke with José Luis. I had a couple of options in getting to Chitaria and they both involved the hiring of a truck to bring him. It’s only three miles but as I’ve not ridden him in a long time didn’t have the confidence that Sunshine would respond as well as needed to my control. I also am aware that if I don’t exhibit the confidence that the horse is going to be aware of it and could result in a potential disaster.

 

I then went to the farm and spoke with Guido, who was just messing around the house at the time, and he offered to ride Sunshine to Chitaria in a couple of hours. I then took the newest saddle that would have been left for the Padre, all the tack needed, the newest rope and Hackamore. The items that Guido would need were left there for him to use and I returned to the home of José Luis to inform him of the plans. I changed the rope that he was using for mine as it was probably his only rope and not really in good enough condition to keep Sunshine tied should he desire to depart.

 

I returned home and Guido arrived about an hour and a half later. After getting Sunshine settled in his new pasture with a very long lead to give him sufficient room to graze, I took Guido back to the farm. I know, not very exciting but we’ve still to get moving on our search for a new home. We’d planned to start out tomorrow but then Doris remembered that she has a dental appointment on Monday so we’ve another delay. Since she has the appointment I called to see if I could also get one, needing to get a new bridge to fill the most recent gap in my smile, and managed to do so.

 

Our friends, James and Vicky, will be arriving on Sunday from the US so that will give us a bit of time with them before we head out. They’re scheduled to stay for a full month, allowing James to have a minor surgery while here, and as we haven’t seen them in over two years I’m looking forward to a few afternoons with them and our old friend, Pilsen!

 

Their son, Daniel, came a few days earlier than his parents and was on the same flight as I on my return from the north. That was more than convenient as he’s sporting a dislocated shoulder and travelling is a bit difficult. It also eliminated the need for him to acquire transportation from the airport as my car was in San José. Another real advantage was that, with both of us needing a stop at the bank, one of us could stay in the car and guard the contents while the other went into the bank. We did this in Cartago, for once there were virtually no other people in the bank, and the stop was rapid.

 

Daniel’s children and their mother were visiting relatives in Paraiso, just a couple of miles outside of Cartago, and on the way to Turrialba so that’s where I dropped him off, to an extremely warm homecoming. I managed to arrive in Chitaria at an extremely early time of 1:00 p.m. so had the whole afternoon to try and stay awake so that I wouldn’t arise the next day at 3:00 p.m. I only made it until a bit after 5:00 but did sleep for a full 12 hours.

 

I’m attempting to convert from farm hours but after years of arising around 4:00 a.m. it’s difficult. Last night I stayed awake (well, mostly awake) until a bit after nine o’clock but couldn’t sleep past 3:30 this morning. Perhaps with time I’ll revert to more normal hours but there’s something nice about having several hours alone each morning and always seeing the sun’s arrival.

 

Well, I guess that’s about enough. I’d like to make one further comment and that’s on the formatting of this blog. I write offline and send the posts by email and for some reason the formatting never remains consistent. Type sizes and often type faces are changed, which gives the post a disorganized look. When I have ample time and a better consistent connection I’m planning to convert future posts to Wordpress, where I already have an unused post. When I do that I’ll put the link in the headline.

 

¡Con Dios Acompaña!

 

Life in Paradise Update: September 12, 2009

 

So, it’s again been a long time since I made an update to these pages. I’ve been using FaceBook for most of my communication as it gets to those who read it much faster.

 

When I actually did finish up the books it turned out to be closer to 300 kilos than the 200 I’d estimated in the last entry. They were all packed in large plastic bags of 10 kilos (a few bags with hardcover books were 15 kilos) so that constituted a considerable number of bags to move and several trips from the farm to Chitaria.

 

Doris returned as expected and I then had assistance with the packing and decision making on what would be taken and what would be discarded. It still was a lot of work!

 

I returned to the US for my normal monthly visit, returning on August 27, just a few days prior to the final sale and transfer of property. There was still more than a lot of items to get moved and we’d now decided to use our friend’s home in Chitaria as a base of operations for our new travels and adventures in Central America. We finally got everything out and transferred to the new location but a couple of days after the final sale. It was, and still is, kind of sad not to own the farm and I already miss the tranquility of being a long distance from the main road and also the views that had become normal after having the property for 14 years. The views at our new place are just as spectacular but at night it’s mostly lights up the side of the Turrialba Volcano, right out the living room window. No more being able to say, “I don’t’ have to see any lights that I don’t pay for!”

 

Since our friends haven’t been in Costa Rica for two years the phone at their home has long ago been disconnected and we can’t have it re-connected. That has to be done by the person who owns the phone line. That also means there is no internet service at the house and for me, having to check on work daily and maintain contact with clients, is a totally unacceptable situation. For that reason we decided to get a new cell phone using the G3 system (our old one was TDMA) and also subscribe to internet service on it. We found out that foreigners may no longer sign up for telephones nor electrical service but as we were already signed up earlier those accounts could stay open. That meant that for the new phone we had to get it in someone else’s name so we prevailed on our good friend at the beach to grant us this favor.

 

Of course, that meant that we had to go spend several days at the beach. We headed out last Sunday and returned with our new cell phone, including internet access that we can connect to using both of our computers, on Thursday afternoon.

 

Just in time to get ready for my next trip north, which will be Tuesday, so there’s now another deadline to prepare for. We are also going to sell our old car; it really isn’t suitable for the travelling we wish to do, having no air conditioning and being like riding bareback on rough roads. It was great for the farm and could go almost anywhere but that need no longer exists and we’re getting to the age that comfort has a higher priority. Considering that we are looking at several countries for relocation we decided to rent one and will have it delivered Monday morning in Turrialba. We’re also getting a GPS system, programmed for Costa Rica, as they are invaluable in locating one way streets, which prevail in this country. I’ll head into San José by myself in the old car on Tuesday so that Doris doesn’t have to make the trip and the parking is actually less than an additional round trip. She usually stays for one night in town so that’s another savings although we aren’t really in a “saving” mode at this time. The real savings that matter is the wear and tear on Doris having to make the round trip twice!

 

I’ve returned a couple of times to the farm to finalize some negotiations and major changes are already being made to the house. It’s kind of sad to see what we loved for so long be replaced with more modern, and really better, construction. Father Abel is just getting started and has lots of items on his list of changes.

 

Should you wish to check out the FaceBook posts just look for me by name!

 

¡Con Dios Acompaña!

Life in Paradise Update: August 7, 2009

It's been a while but we've been somewhat busy with the selling of the farm. I finished selling all of the cattle yesterday, with the exception of one small bull and our full sized bull. Cattle prices have been terrible as Japan hasn't been purchasing any beef from Costa Rica for over a year but I read yesterday that they will resume doing so.

We still haven't any firm plans for when we leave the property and that appears to be at the end of the month. Most of my current time is packing up all the items that we've been able to accumulate over the years and that's a considerable amount. A lot of little nick-nacks but how can you dispose of something that was given to you as a gift. These items have little or no value but each one was given for a reason and that should be remembered.

I am just about finished with the books and the final count will be around 200 kilos of them. As it looks now we'll be storing them and many of the other small items at our friend's house just to the west in the pueblo of Chitaria.

Since my last entry I managed to get an extra week in the US and spent it with my family in Phoenix over Independence Day. Doris returned to the US o the first of June and then proceeded to Germany for a visit with her aging mother and also managed a week in Italy at Batia de Passignano, where the brother who is purchasing our property currently resides. She had a wonderful trip and brought back lots of pictures. She'll be returning to Costa Rica next Tuesday so there is a lot that I need to finish prior to her arrival; all those items that I've been procrastinating over that I know she'd like to see accomplished!

That's it for now, not really antthing to report but I did think I should update this page.

¡Con Dios Acompaña!

Life in Paradise Update: May 3, 2009

While Todd was visiting, the weekend in March that Doris left, we determined that Dog needed to have stitches as she was constantly chewing open her wounds. Guido and I did that on the Sunday morning and on Monday I made my normal trip to Turrialba the day prior to my departure to the north.

 

On Tuesday I dropped Todd off on the way to San José, using the way through the national park and Siquirres, and on the way noted that I’d not taken any of my cash in Dollars with me. I get distracted in the morning of my departure if anything interrupts my normal procedures and that always happens when someone else is going with me. I had plenty of Colones for the trip so that was ok but sure would have liked to have a couple of dollars in  my pocket when arriving in the US.

 

My stay back in Costa Rica during April/May was highlighted by a good friend who had once lived here (check back into the earlier entries to read about Larry who was working with James in Chitaria) returning for a visit. He came with his sister and brother-in-law from Canada where he now has been living since 2001. I heard a lot of “Ehs” during their stay and almost got used to it.

 

I don’t recall whether I mentioned it in earlier posts but a couple of months ago, Eugenia, who had been cleaning our house, just quit coming to work. Upon questioning Guido about this he said that she wasn’t able to work because of her back. I seriously doubt this as she was still constantly going up and down the hill carrying her granddaughter, who lives with them, and never appeared to be in distress. She still hadn’t returned to work so in addition to my normal activities I also had assumed the responsibility of doing the housework.

 

Along with the standard work, visiting with Larry and his family, making a couple of trips into town each week for supplies now I had the upkeep of the house to keep me busy.

 

Not much of a report but that’s it for my stay from the middle of March to the middle of April!

 

The day that I returned to the US I drove into town, parked the car, and then waited for Doris to arrive as she had flown down that night from California. We exchanged a kiss and went on our respective ways; she returning to the farm and me heading for the airport!

 

I’ve been back now a week and have a bit to report. Our new topographic plans for the farm are completed and have been paid for and picked up. That information has been forwarded to our attorney and he is once again in contact with Father Abel’s attorney.

 

Things here always proceed a bit slowly and it took the registro nacional over a month to place the stamps on the farm. There was a problem with one of the properties not being located in contact with the main part of the farm but this was just an error in the registry way back in 1979 so they had to check all the surrounding properties that indicated where our farm was in relation to the others. There was also a delay as Semana Santa was in the middle of this month and the entire government takes that week off. Thursday and Friday are national holidays  for everyone else and this year another holiday fell on Saturday before Easter Sunday.

 

In addition to those delays my attorney was also in the US for a while, leaving on the day that I returned and staying until the 30th of April. Then May 1st in International Labor day so forget getting anything started before that!

 

Getting to the point, I finally got him all the information on Saturday, the second of May and he’s busily proceeding, having exchanged at least half a dozen emails with me on Saturday.

 

I’ve been working on a little project to put all of our Life in Paradise emails, posts and even some old handwritten journals in one file and in book form. I’ve spent several mornings on that since my return this month and even used some of the extra time last month to do so.

 

As Life in Paradise is winding down we now have several options and once the farm is sold and we have the funds to do so, we’ll be looking for another location. Our original thoughts were to stay in Costa Rica and spend several months searching for another property. That’s still one of the options but we are also considering Panama and Belize as alternatives to Costa Rica. We wish to visit both places and look around so the purchase of another property in this part of the world is a long way off.

 

We also have to consider the advantages of medical services that in the US are unparalleled elsewhere. We might just might decide to purchase in both the north and in Latin America but, again, we need to visit and evaluate our options.

 

Enough for now!

 

 

Life in Paradise: Update March 14, 2009

 

Starting with the last item in the last post, It looks as though we’ve sold the farm. That’s a good thing, I guess, but I’ll sure miss it. We’ll be looking for a much smaller place and although we had originally planned to keep several of the horses and look for something in the neighborhood of 4 Hectors, we’re now considering how much easier life would be without the animals and the responsibility having them entails. That’s not a firm decision, as yet, but we could eliminate the need for a full time farm worker and a good $200 of expenses in just the food it takes to keep the horses healthy and in good shape.

 

The day following the Father’s visit I was off again on my trip north and with the economy tanking it looks like my trips in the future won’t be quite as lucrative (although that never has been a word that describes my little bit of income correctly) so our consideration above now takes an even greater importance. The work was as usual; just a lot of time in front of my computers. I’ve experienced a problem since we converted to an only digital newspaper and that’s been that the program I use, PageMaker 7, doesn’t convert the pages to CYMK as they should be. That’s something that I really don’t understand as the program is specifically designed for the print media. More on that a bit later…

 

I’ll insert here that the day Father Abel visited the farm it was possibly the worst weather we’d ever experienced here. The fog was so thick that less than 100 yards were visible in any direction and as we’d had so much rain it wasn’t really advantageous to use horses to view what could be seen. One of the streams was so high the only place that it could be crossed was on the rocks above a waterfall and this had a major impact in our selling the farm. That’s one picture that never made it to our web page (www.fincadelpacuare.com) but made a major impression on Father Abel. He’d effectively already made a decision on the purchase but returned on one of the days that I was up north for another visit with my sweetie and that sealed the deal.

 

One of the major concerns on of his attorney was the lack of recent plans on the farm and the list of properties included in the paperwork of the farm didn’t match the total area being sold. We negotiated for a topographer to come and do a new plan, which is now all but complete with only the actual registration and the stamps being purchased for the registro nacional. That provided us with a fairly busy month so I’ve not made even an attempt at updating this page.

 

Just as a matter of point, we’d been advertising 81 hectors and ended up with 82.447. Pretty close and it’s always better to be on the long side of something like this.

 

We had a full week after my return before the topographers were coming so I hired an extra hand to work with Guido to clean up the property line, making the topographer’s work easier, and we spent the time at the beach. What else!!!

 

While I was there, I took advantage of my friend’s higher speed internet connection and went searching for an updated program for the work I do up north. I ended up getting the new(er) In Design CS4 program as an upgrade to the old PageMaker one and have since spent a considerable amount of time just familiarizing myself with the differences. It has many nice features for the work that I do so I’m happy that I made the purchase. When it comes to programs Adobe hasn’t created new ones with the frequency of even Microsoft’s operating systems so this is only the third version of the software that I’ve needed since first starting to use it 12 years ago. It’s also nice to be able to purchase the programs at a considerable discount as a user of their earlier programs, which is something I wish Quicken would learn from.

 

Another nice feature of this program is that it’s available for both Windows and OSX operating systems so I don’t have to use the Parallels program on my iMac when doing the major work while in the U.S. Some of the keyboard shortcuts are different but I’ve already gotten used to the differences and don’t expect that to be a problem.

 

While at the beach the weather was still rainy and, as a matter of fact, the last four days have been the only ones that haven’t been wet and cold for several months now. It’s actually nice again but the cooler weather made the beach trip one to remember in that it wasn’t the normal hot, sticky weather that I still associate with the Midwestern US in the summertime.

 

I brought back a couple of items for our friend, Todd, who lives in the northern Caribbean area of Costa Rica and he’s coming today to spend the weekend and pick up his greatly anticipated items. My sweetie headed back to the north for a month (I’ll see her there on Wednesday) so it will just be us guys for a doy or so.

 

A couple of other items of interest from the past month is that we had to lease a month’s pasture as our cattle had made a pretty good mud area where they’ve been grazing. The rain is nice to grow the pasture but too much isn’t really a good thing. The other item is that since we’ve had cattle, which would go back to 1998 when we moved here, I’ve consistently attempted to purchase a 55 gallon drum of molasses to add to their weekly rations of salt. I came up with nothing for so long that I’d effectively given up the search. One of our neighbors, last week, actually took the time to give me a call as he was going to pick up a barrel for himself and wished to know if I’d like one also. We now have that in hand and it should still have sufficient quantity for the Father when he takes possession of the farm. He’ll be getting three of our horses as part of the deal and also has an interest in purchasing some of our cattle. We’ll negotiate that at the time of transfer as the prices do vary considerably over the period of a year.

 

I see that I’m getting sidetracked here so will finish this entry by stating that three of our large dogs decided to get into a battle yesterday morning and we have one recuperating in the corral. The female known simply as Dog decided to attack another female (Baby the Black Lab) and for the first time Baby wasn’t in the mood to be bothered. She did a pretty good job on Dog and in the process they ranged into Prince’s (the male half Husky/half German Shepherd) area where he decided to become part of the fray. To complicate matters our little Gypsy (a whole 12 pounds of Papillion) decided that she was also an alpha female and attempted to attack all three of the others. We were finally able to separate them and fortunately only one sustained any damage.

 

This happened just a few minutes prior to my leaving to take my honey to the airport, a trip that required over six and a half hours!

 

That’s it, kids!

 

 

Con Dios Acompaña

 

 

Life in Paradise Update: February 7, 2009

 

Wow! Has it really been a whole month since the last time I posted? How time does fly!

 

I returned on my monthly trip north shortly after the last post and was there an extra day. I’d had a difficult time obtaining the dates that I wished due to the new website at TACA.com but that really turned out pretty good. The worst part of the change in dates is that I’ll now be returning on a Monday, rather than a Tuesday, and we aren’t allowed to drive our car in the downtown area of San José on Mondays with a license plate that ends in the numeral one! I’ll be catching the bus from Turrialba but have already made the purchase so don’t have to worry about the usual Monday morning migration into the city.

 

I’d mentioned also that I was preparing our little buggy for the annual inspection, that I always fail at least once, and that took up the remaining days of my stay last month. I’d had all the mechanical and electrical items taken care of but still had a vibration in the front end when I hit a small bump. Tweaking the directional device in either direction managed to eliminate the problem but I was sure that would fail so attempted to get a complete front-end alignment, which would have identified the exact problem for repair. To my chagrin, there were no available appointments until after the 28^th and I didn’t wish to wait that long for the inspection, as you can only make appointments two days in advance and that wouldn’t have given me sufficient time to have the problem repaired. I did take the car for it’s annual steam cleaning, including the complete undercarriage, and if I didn’t make note of it before, also had some of the tubing for the exhaust cleaned and painted.

 

That bit of work took the remaining time that was available so while in the north I went online and secured an appointment for the Saturday immediately following my return. That would allow complete week to have any items repaired and time to make another appointment prior to the end of my month. You aren’t allowed to use a vehicle that has past the date of it’s mandatory inspection so I considered this sufficient time.

 

My sweetie returned with me but, as has been the usual case, her flight information had somehow been screwed up so a good portion of the last two days in the north was occupied with the correction of this problem. We returned on separate flights, although the same evening, made contact in the baggage claim area, and had an uneventful trip home.

 

I usually have an extra day to rest prior to having to make a trip into Turrialba for supplies but as I was a day late forced myself to become presentable and drove into town on Friday. We had removed the back seat while my sweetie was in the north (I don’t volunteer to give people rides as my honey does) as the seat wasn’t really needed and that frees up sufficient space to carry a pretty good sized load. I’ll only note here that the trip back to the finca was a bit slower than usual, as it’s uphill most of the way.

 

The next morning I also had to get myself up early for the hour and a half drive to the inspection facility in Guapalis. It’s really only an hour drive but not knowing the road conditions I always try and give myself ample time so that I’m not late. I’d actually left about 20 minutes earlier than I would have, figuring that I might have time for breakfast on the way, and made the trip in good time, actually arriving a bit over an hour early. Rather than make a stop for breakfast, I decided to use a bit of the time doing a quick inspection on the car to insure that everything was as it had been. This took very little time and the only thing that needed to be fixed was the connection to the engine heat sensor, which I was already aware of being inoperable. It must have come loose when the engine was being steam cleaned but took only a few seconds to repair, once I re-located it.

 

I then went into the facility to find out how early I could enter the line (last year I had to wait to even enter the building until a mere ten minutes prior to the appointment) and I was happily told that as there were very few vehicles there that I could enter immediately.

 

Now, the most unbelievable part of this venture! I actually passed the inspection on the first try. I was, understandably, dumbfounded!

 

I received a couple of minor repair notes including the fact that the steering box was just within the limits of passing. This was, and still is, the obvious answer to the vibration.

 

So, on to life on the farm! Again, all I can say is WET! It has only stopped raining since our return for a few days and even those days weren’t completely without rain. We had another cold front along with the rain and it’s rarely been warmer than 60 degrees since our return. There has been very little actually accomplished in the shorter than normal stay as most of the time has been spend just staying warm and dry.

 

I know, I know! No one is really going to feel sorry for us as much of the Midwest just experienced a devastating ice storm and many people are still without power. I certainly don’t intend to put myself in that category and have great respect for how they are handling the situation without any help from FEMA or even any extended coverage from the media. All that I can say in my own defense is that this is supposed to be the tropics. We have acclimatized to a great extent, even though we spend time monthly in the north, and you should also realize that heaters and insulation are nonexistent. Homes are not even made tight so when the wind blows (and we’ve had many days of rain being driven horizontally) it seeps through the cracks and contributes to the abnormal conditions. This is now the third year of “abnormal” conditions and I’m beginning to seriously consider those who promote global warming in the same vein as those who promoted global cooling in the late ‘70s.

 

Today we are being visited by a Benedictine Monk from Saint Michaels Monastery in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. Our farm has been on the market and his interest is in restoring the forests and making it a religious retreat. I’m certainly happy that I was of a mind to protect the hardwoods (even though my honey often wished to harvest it for funds) and we have even more area in second growth forest than earlier.

 

As I was finishing that last paragraph Monje Abel and a Tico friend (the father of one of the other monks) arrived so I was interrupted for about an hour. They are now off on foot, as the road is way too soft for even the horses to be reliable, to look at the farm. To further elaborate on his plans, he plans to provide a retreat for youths in his area of Italy where they can learn a bit about real nature and get away from the influences that are prevalent in all modern societies that contribute to the high drug and crime rates. Pretty good idea!

 

We’ll see what he has to say after seeing the farm.

 

 

 

Con Dios Acompaña

 

Life in Paradise Update: Earthquake! January 11, 2009

Update:
Later on Friday the death toll was increased to 15. On Saturday the
toll was listed at 30
(http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/january/10/nac01.htm) and a
whole pueblo has apparently been lost
(http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/january/10/nac04.htm).

Life in Paradise Update: January 9, 2009

Just a quick note about the 6.2 earthquake that hit the central valley here yesterday.

 

Guido was behind the house washing Gypsy and I was at the kitchen table. It didn’t seem all that great at the time but it was a long one. There were no sharp jolts, like usual, but a long wavy motion that left both of us a little dizzy afterward. Only one item in the house fell and that’s of no real concern as it was only a splatter screen hanging in the kitchen. Absolutely no damage done but I’ve yet to get into the Pueblo of Tres Equis and will be going to Turrialba this morning.

 

I’d, quite honestly, forgotten about it until getting an email from a friend this morning and then reading all the news afterward. So far they have found eight people who perished in the temblor and hundreds injured with an unknown amount of property and infrastructure damage. AM Costa Rica is has a pretty good wrap-up and will probably be updating their news pages as the morning progresses.

 

Con Dios Acompaña

 

Life in Paradise Update: January 7, 2009

Aggravation, frustration and incompetence have been the keywords for the last several days. Primarily, this is concerning the lousy new website provided by TACA that refuses to complete the booking of a flight. I’ve spent in excess of 20 hours online just in the attempt to complete what should be a no-brainer and still don’t have a flight for this next return to Costa Rica.

 

I’ll get into some of the specifics later but I’ve noticed one thing about all the websites in Latin America. They think it’s great to fancy them up with lots of flash and animation features but for those of us who are restricted to slower internet connections that poses the problem of additional page load times and often requires more than one refresh just to open an otherwise simple page. One example of this is our bank here, BCAC, that requires a reload upon the completion of each box that needs to be filled, even for the simple process of signing on. Why can’t they realize that simplicity is an accepted art form and “Cute” doesn’t cut it when people are concerned with time and costs, i.e., the fact that I have to pay additional fees for each minute that I’m online!

 

TACA’s new page is now in its third month and has consistently presented a problem. I finally gave up on it on Sunday and called the local office to book the flight but found that, not only could I not get the fare rate that was available online, I would have to pay the equivalent of a Business class ticket just to get 100% mileage.  The first time I called I was put on hold after spending 20 minutes with a young lady woman that seemed to be irritated that I’d interfered with her siesta. After waiting fifteen minutes I was disconnected so had to re-initiate the call. I decided that I would continue to attempt to book online but still have had no success with the venture.

 

Yesterday, thinking that the problem might be with my own computer, I went to an Internet facility in Turrialba but was presented the same problem. I then made a contact with them and later, in the evening, was referred back to the local offices. I’m going to continue to attempt to make the reservation online as I really hate to have to deal with the services provided by phone here. Costa Ricans don’t really have a service based mentality and can be quite curt if you don’t just accept whatever they offer. I haven’t found this problem with my dealings in El Salvador so it isn’t a  “Latin” thing!

 

So..

 

…enough complaining!!!

 

I’m in the midst of the annual rush to prepare our vehicle for the dreaded RETIVE inspection and hope that I’m almost finished. I had to go into town on Friday for cash to pay Guido and stopped by my mechanics shop to schedule an appointment. Fortunately, he is service orientated and Monday morning I took the car in for repairs. On that day they replaced all the rubber under the car, fixed all the burned out light bulbs and broken wiring to same, calibrated the brakes and tightened or replaced all the loose clamps, rivets, screws and other common hardware of the car. I retrieved it prior to five p.m. but had to return the following morning (yesterday) for additional work.

 

Now, waiting around all day isn’t the most relaxing thing and although I do like to enjoy an adult beverage on occasion, that isn’t the way to spend the whole day. On Monday I’d taken my laptop into town with me with the intent to utilize the free wi-fi provided in the park but encountered the problem of it being a rainy day. There is a restaurant on the furthest corner of the park but there was no signal within. In the afternoon, as it was then dry, I did get into the park but the city had apparently determined there was no reason to activate the system on a rainy day. Yesterday it was raining again at home so I didn’t bother to carry the laptop, it just means lugging around a lot of additional weight for the entire day. That’s when and why I used the public internet facilities in the above commentary.

 

Yesterday I had the front cam and crankshaft seals replaced, the timing belt replaced, the gasses checked and the associated carburetor adjustments made. I also had the alignment looked at again as there had been a vibration on my way home the evening prior. I also had the oil changed, as that was almost due. I’m currently out a bit over $250 for all the preparations but still have a couple of items to accomplish. I want to get the motor and undercarriage of the vehicle cleaned and all the exhaust tubing inspected for excessive corrosion. I stopped on the way home to fill up with gas as that hadn’t been done since my trip to the beach.

 

I’m taking today off from repairs and plan to get some items accomplished around the house. We’ll see how far that goes. I also need to continue with the purchase process for my next trip.

 

Con Dios Acompaña

 

Life in Paradise Update: December 31, 2008

I’

m dating this post for tomorrow as I don’t wish to go back online today. Service is extremely slow, even though I’m being told that I have a relatively fast connection by my computer. I guess that even if the connection is higher than normal it still depends upon how fast the server is connecting to the www.

 

The weather here has turned fairly nice. We’re having a bit of light rain during the dark hours but the days are clear. Last night I went out to see why the dogs were barking and was presented with the sight of every tree, bush and tall piece of grass being covered with lightning bugs. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that and the Christmas season is a perfect time for it. It’s still a bit cooler in the evenings but about equal to what it’s been the past several years with global warming. Isn’t that what we’re being told? The colder temperatures that we’ve been having since 2002 are a result of global warming!

 

As my sweetie was in the US and I was relegated to spending the Holiday alone I opted to spend it with friends at the beach in Puerto Viejo. That offered me the additional facility of being able to communicate with all my family in the frozen north using Skype rather than having to pay the ridiculous amount of 45 cents a minute for the phone calls. I took advantage of that and called them all!

 

I do have to admit that one of the disadvantages of spending the holiday with friends is that it only intensifies the loss of being with family during this important time of the year. This is either the fourth or fifth time that I’ve been alone since we moved here and the other times it didn’t really bother me. Oh well, perhaps it’s an age thing!

 

I stayed an extra day at the beach, but probably shouldn’t have. The last day that I was there I was gloomier than the others, for some unknown reason, and upon returning to the finca found that one of our cows had fallen down a hill and killed herself. That’s one of the dangers of having a mountainous pasture area and this is only the second time that has happened in the 11 years that we’ve been here. Still, I hate to see it happen!

 

I’ve needed to get started on the yearly repairs for my car so that I can pass the inspection due in January but have been putting off the first trip into town to do so until it’s absolutely necessary. Tomorrow we run out of horse pellets so I guess I’ll be spending the day, or part of it, in Turrialba. It’s a yearly process to first get all the rubber under the car replaced, have any tubing for the exhaust repaired, should it need it, make sure that all the lights work and get the gasses adjusted so that I can pass the emissions test. I also usually take it for a steam cleaning but didn’t do that last year. I’ll probably have to pay for that this year as the engine is in pretty disgusting shape. I also have one rear shock absorber that barely was within tolerance a year ago so to properly insure that will pass, need to replace the pair. This is always a major expense for the year and following December, when we have to pay Income Taxes,  Aguilando, Vacation, Marchamo (vehicle registration and insurance) and also have the Christmas budget to consider, can take its toll! Along with the government here’s propensity to attempt to devalue the dollar during this time so that they receive a bunch more dollars during the major tourist season the actual expenses can come as quite a shock. The attempt this year was frowned upon by the international market and they had to allow the Colone to reach its own level but they’ve continued to make this attempt twice since then, with hazardous results, resulting in an exchange rate much higher than had they not played games with the money.

 

I didn’t really have anything much to report but felt the need to update this page.

 

Prospero Año Nuevo y con Dios Acompaña

Life in Paradise Update: December 18, 2008

Well, the rains have abated to a reasonable state but as this is usually the wettest month in this part of the country they are still present. It's also warmed up considerably and we again have temperatures ranging between 70 and 80 but the nights are still a bit cooler. That's been more of a normal situation from December through February now for a few years so normal would be the descriptive word!

I returned yesterday on the beginning of my 132nd monthly round trip to the north and it seems that I got out of there just in time. Los Angeles is experiencing a rough winter!

I spoke with my sweetie upon arrival to insure her that I'd arrived safely and she's about frozen. She was supposed to spend Christmas here but, once again, her doctors decided that her medication should  be changed and wished for her to remain where she could be monitored a few days longer. We decided that she should just spend the Holiday with the kids rather than make a mad rush down here and I'll be spending a couple of days on the Caribbean Beach with some friends. I've spent several Holidays alone over the years so it's really no great shakes. I'd, of course, prefer to have her here but you take what you can get and be grateful with that! I hope that the roads between L.A. and Bakersfield clear up enough for her to get there prior to Christmas.

Our house was broken into while I was in the US but it seems that our trusty Guido managed to scare whoever was inside away before they could either attach themselves to anything valuable or do any damage in the search thereof. I'm not sure but I believe there  were a couple of my rings that managed to be taken but I might have stored them somewhere other than where I believed them to be. It's been a long time since I even saw them but a thorough search of all my storage places will determine whether they were stolen or not. In any case, they weren't really valuable but the sentimental value will be noted

Oh, well...

...¡Hasta Luego y con Dios Acompaña!

Testing, 1, 2 3

For many months now ScribFire has refused to work. This post is a test only of the newest updated version of that program.

Life in Paradise Update: December 3, 2008

There’s not a lot that can be said about the last couple of weeks. It’s been raining almost constantly and we only had two days that were worth going out in. The cold fronts continue to engulf this part of the world so just staying in and dry has been the major activity.

 

We’ve been having a lot of trouble with the water supply. About a week ago he major aqueduct from the local reservoir was washed out so it’s been an on-again, off-again proposition. I’ve managed to store a bit up but that’s not been enough to get laundry done in anticipation for the trip back north next week. We had water yesterday but the flow was so slight that I was only able to get two loads accomplished.

 

A couple of months ago I was backed into by a truck on one of my outings to Turrialba and the phone number that I had from the driver wasn’t any good. I know that I could go through the process of getting a denunciacion but that would involve hiring an attorney and I’m just not willing to do that. The cost of repairs is only a bit over $70 so I’m just getting the work done locally. I’m supposed to get the car back on Friday so we’ll see about that!

 

The government here is playing their annual trick with the forced valuation of the colone and it’s had about a 6% change so far. It’s been stable now for several days and I see that the international market is starting to adjust to the change. I should have purchased some colones yesterday as I could have earned about $6 on each $100 had I done so. Today it’s only about $1.5 so not worth the effort. I’ll just have to ride it out as I did last year and wait for the spike in April that can be expected. The valuation is also consistent with the Euro and the English Lb, as with Gold and Silver. Silver is still a bit higher than the others but for all practical purposes it doesn’t matter where you are coming from (or what currency you change) this tourist season, You’ll lose about $6 to every hundred that you change to the government’s gain.

 

Of course the locals are also hurt by this, prices won’t drop but when the rapid rise takes place in a few months they will raise drastically. The resultant inflation is now in the area of 15% annually where prior to this forced valuation last year it was a hair below 20%.

 

Well, I need to go empty the rain buckets into the large containers so they can start to fill again.

 

 ¡Hasta Luego y con Dios Acompaña!

 

Life in Paradise Update: November 23, 2008

 

Again it’s been a considerable amount of time since the last post but there have been circumstances that influenced the delay.

 

As I noted in the last post, we were visiting the Caribbean Beach with visiting relatives. There isn’t much to say about the trip to the beach that hasn’t been said several times before so I’ll forgo any additional  details about that. I did spend the majority of my time assisting the Cabinas owner with computer related tasks but that’s nothing exceptional.

 

That visit ended fine and we left on Tuesday, October 21, returning to the farm for one night’s stay. The following morning we headed out in both the rental car and our own little buggy for the trip to San José. The rental was for convenience and space only but my sweetie and I needed a vehicle for the return trip. I drove alone, giving everyone else the considerable luxury of the rental. An odd thing did happen, however, in that the other members of my party passed me about 40 miles from San José and I ended up at the hotel before they did. I’m sure there’s a very reasonable explanation for this but we’ve yet to find it!

 

We enjoyed a nice dinner out that evening prior to Doris’ cousin leaving the following day and ourselves returned home on the Thursday, also.

 

As there had been a considerable amount of time passing without me taking care of some of the higher priority items I went to work attempting to finish, first, the back painting and second, the records needed for filing our Sociadad taxes prior to Dec. 15. It had turned cold and rainy (two weeks of the temperature only occasionally reaching into the 60s) so on Sunday morning, October 26, I headed downstairs to the computer room only to discover that my laptop was completely dead. The battery was fully charged but nothing happened when I pressed the complete Windows button or the Media Direct button. After a bit of investigation I determined that whenever I attempted to turn on the computer that the light on the AC power supply would extinguish. This indicated that a probable short was loading the charger to the point that it was shutting itself off.

 

Although I did receive several years of electronic education, both in college and in the service of our country, that knowledge is related to a time prior to the proliferation of nano technology. I decided, after a cursory examination of obvious possible faults, that I would take the computer to our local repair facility. I shouldn’t have to note that doing so came to naught! They have only occasionally been able to assist with computer problems so, although disappointed, I wasn’t too surprised that I would continue to be without a computer.

 

I then  attempted to get one of the old desktops, that have been languishing in reserve, functional but neither had an operating system and attempting to add one failed to produce the desired results. I determined that I would just have to wait until I returned to the US on the 10^th of November to see if the laptop could be repaired. Subsequent attempts to accomplish this feat since my return have continued to elude me but not all options have yet been considered. It would be nice  to have something in reserve that I could count on, should the need again present itself.

 

I didn’t get a lot accomplished in the interim but did spend several afternoons at our little “internet café” just attempting to check my mail. They, as I, are restricted to the available connection and that’s dialup. Putting several computers on one connection at a speed of less than 50kps doesn’t produce very rapid response from the server so it was a time consuming process.

 

I’ve had a little hand held Poker game for a couple of years and on the third of November actually got a royal flush. That’s the first one that I’d ever gotten, regardless of where or what I was playing so in addition to being surprised, was quite happy with myself, having received a score of 5000 points as a result. Well, I got down to just a few points over 3000 and the next day I got another one. Unbelievable! But wait, on Thursday, just three days after the first one I managed to get a third one, hitting on three of the required cards. Wow, I now had a score of over 10,000 points where for two years the maximum had been 960. Rounding off the actual figures, I’ve calculated that the probability of hitting on four to a royal flush your odds are about 50 to 1; hitting on three: 1000 to one; two: 15000 to one and one: 300,000 to one.

 

A couple of days later, with aver 8,000 points on the machine I had to change the battery and not being careful to  let the unit turn itself off first, lost not only the points but the high point record, as well. On the good side, this morning, hitting on one of those 979 to one odds I did it again. What can I say?

 

Getting back to the real world, on October 29 my honey went back up north so the third trip to San José in a month was required. I made the standard trip back to  the US on the tenth of November, finishing 130 consecutive monthly round trips.

 

I wasn’t too confident that the computer could be fixed and the first day didn’t bother to take it to the shop. On Thursday I did but the tech wasn’t coming in that day so I had to wait until the following day for any news. On Friday I stopped by the store in the morning and noted to them that should it be something that couldn’t be fixed I would just head over to the Apple store and get a new Mac laptop. Less than an hour later I had news that it could be fixed, relatively inexpensively, and an hour and a half later had my laptop back, working fine! I neglected to mention that the last time I took a  unit in to this facility I ended up purchasing the laptop I now have from them as they said the old one couldn’t be repaired. I’d reasoned that the best probability of getting it fixed was if they knew up front that I would not be in the market for another Windows based computer. I don’t know if that actually had any effect on the outcome of the repair but I’m going to assume that it did.

 

So, another job is done and another trip back to the jungle is complete! I arrived on this past Wednesday with the beginnings of a cold so haven’t been very ambulatory in the interim. As I stated previously, it’s been wet and cold, with the temperature today finally going above 60 degrees. It’s currently about 64 and had I not lived here for almost eleven years wouldn’t believe that this could be the situation in the tropics. The cold has been accompanied with torrential rains and for the first time since my return, it isn’t raining.

 

I finally got around starting a couple of weeks laundry this morning and will finish up the accounting so that I can take it to the accountant tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

I suppose that I should note that when I was moving all the plants from the downstairs living area to an area behind the house, where they would get better attention in my absence, I came upon a two foot Coral snake under one of the pots. Before I could get something with which I could dispatch it, it had moved to an inaccessible location in a small pile of rocks beside Bill’s cage. I just let it go, they do have their uses and this wasn’t the first one that got away!

 

I guess that’s about all there is to say. I realize that “Life in Paradise” isn’t very exciting, but I guess that’s a good thing. After eleven years the novelty and adventure have worn off and it’s just a normal existence! Sorry if you were hoping to find a more exciting post!

 

 ¡Hasta Luego y con Dios Acompaña!

 

 

 

Life in Paradise Update: October 23, 2008

We had a very nice, but rather short, stay at the beach. Our normal sojourn there is in the neighborhood of five nights, leaving on Monday and returning on Saturday. This time we left the farm on Friday and returned on Tuesday.

 

I didn’t make note of it on my last post but when we go to our friend’s cabinas we get the only cabin with an air conditioner. This is because my sweetie has a lot of problem with the additional heat and humidity there and is also influenced by the fact that said air conditioner was brought down here in one of my many trips in my own suitcase.

 

As soon as the unit was installed the first guest in that cabin managed to wrench the control know off of it so the only way to turn it on or off was with the plug; turning the unit on required only to plug it in and turning it off was accomplished by un plugging it! Over the years it’s begun to cool less and less and although that could probably be fixed with an addition of Freon, that’s not something that you can get done unless you remove the unit and carry it to some larger city like Limón or San José. Horst decided to purchase a new one and this one is a beauty. It’s an outside unit with the inside unit wall mounted. Lots of neat features including a remote and no knobs for the uninitiated to break off!

 

The only problem was that it hadn’t yet been installed when we arrived on Friday. That entire afternoon and part of the evening was spent on this endeavor! Now, Horst is a native German speaker and although his spoken English is more than competent he sometimes has problems with the written words (especially interesting are emails I receive from him when I have to guess and what he’s trying to communicate). That meant that first I needed to read the complete instruction manual and anyone familiar with recent editions of these will know that they are often written by Chinese or others who seem to miss a grasp on realistic interpretations of the translation. Simply said, I had to translate the Chinese English into comprehensible English and can’t fault Horst for being unable to do so.

 

Once the instructions were fairly well understood the actual installation ensued and that included a trip to the hardware store for tubes, elbows and wiring for the outside unit. As the plug that was supplied with the air conditioner (and the item was purchased here in Costa Rica) had no counterpart available in this country it entailed cutting off the plug and hardwiring it into the junction box after determining the color coding of the wiring.

 

With the assistance of Thomas we eventually had a working unit about 8:00p.m. and sat down to several homemade pizzas thanks to Marglet.

 

After departing the beach on Tuesday we spent that night on the farm and then left for San José yesterday morning a bit after 8a.m. My honey’s cousin was scheduled for a flight out this morning early and as far as we know, they left on time. We stayed the night and will be leaving soon for the trip back to the farm. It’s been nice having company but I’m way behind now on the items that need to be done.

 

We had to drive both cars into town as the rental car was no longer needed but we had to have a way home. A couple of stops are in order as we need to replenish our stock of horse pellets and whatever else my honey decides we require.

 

Noting the rental car: I’m considerably irritated at the Hertz agency here as they offered the lowest rates online and that was supposedly a complete price, only optional items extra. Upon actually signing for the car, I found that the unmentioned “Mandatory” items, like insurance, actually doubled the price of the rental. I’ll certainly never rent from them again. When my wife called to change the rental date (due to the delay of her cousin’s flight at mentioned in the previous post) there was no longer a vehicle available at the airport when she needed it so the rental had to be picked up here in San José. That actually worked out to the best but when she asked if they could bring the car to the hotel (a common courtesy here) she was told that they couldn’t but wasn’t told that they would pick HER up at the hotel, as is their policy. As I previously stated, I’ll not rent from them again and would discourage others from doing so. I’ve had dealings with other agencies here and they were a lot more forthcoming with their prices.

 

Well, I need to get up to the room and pack my meager bag. I’ve been using the hotel’s wireless connection but it’s too weak to get connection upstairs so I’ve been sitting here in the garden restaurant for several hours this morning. Check out the beach location at www.riococles.com and this great little hotel in San José at www.kekoldi.com. They’re both great places to stay!

 

 

 ¡Hasta Luego y con Dios Acompaña!

 

 

Life in Paradise Update: October 19, 2008

I managed to get most of the painting finished prior to my return to the US for my monthly visit. The last item to get done was all the window trim above the first floor that wasn't directly accessible, and I had a young man come in for that project as it seems age is starting to take it's toll and vertigo raise it's ugly head when I reached about a third of the way up the ladder.

I still have to do the back of the house where the work area is but that was put on hold until all the trim was completed. I'd originally planned to do the entire area in the darker color but am glad that I waited. I think the lighter color will be better as it will be easier to see when it gets dirty and also won't show so much dust when I'm using the worktable to cut wood. That's all on hold now as we have our expected visitors and are taking a few days on the Caribbean beach at our favorite haunt, Cabinas Rio Cocles (see the link on this page!)

I will say that the outside of the house wasn't much of a treat to do. I was able to get the cracks in the walls filled with a little extra pressure from the roller but I had to load it more, also. That caused the paint in the cracks to run at a higher rate than I'd been experiencing so the result required a considerable amount of cleanup of the unwanted drips to the floor that resulted.

The back of the house was the real time taker. Although I'd applied four complete coats of paint of the wall facing the prevailing weather (this was also the wall that needed the most prep) that didn't take anywhere near as much time as the back of the house.

Our house is probably at least thirty years old and in that time the construction methods have changed here considerably. There are very few wooden houses being constructed now and the common use is preformed concrete half walls that are later smoothed over to eliminate the seams. They make preformed, concrete 'I' beams where the concrete slabs fit into the slots of the I and this is also filled when the smoothing of the wall takes place.  Back in the time when our house was built one of the methods was to use overlapping boards that were about 10" by 3/4" and this is what was used at the back of the house. With the overlapping 3'4 inch that produced a considerable amount of area that was untouchable with a roller so either a small roller or a brush had to be employed to paint this area. At this was entirely on the second floor the time necessary to accomplish this task was considerable. I employed both methods, as there were also several other areas that required a bit of imagination, and not being able to do so on the ladder necessitated the use of a 14' pole to do so. Have you ever painted with a 2" brush at the end of a 14 foot pole? It's a real backbreaker!!!

Eventually the job did get finished along with re-screening one window and both of the screen doors. I took the doors apart and painted all the pieces prior to adding the screens and the result was worthwhile. There's a bunch of pictures at
http://my.opera.com/fincadelpacuare/blog/

So, back to the time at hand!

Thomas and Stephi (Thomas is my sweetie's second cousin from Germany) were supposed to arrive on a Condor flight on the ninth of October and I left for the US on the seventh. Prior to leaving I arranged a rental car at the airport for them to pick up on the ninth, leaving my car at the parking lot where it usually resides during my absence, and Doris stayed in town to meet them at the airport when they arrived. As much as I love my little car, it just doesn't have sufficient room to carry four adults and all the baggage they need to tour. Anyway, when I returned I could then pick up my car and they wouldn't have to return to San Jose to retrieve me.

The three of them were planning to leave directly from the airport and head to the west coast to Manuel Antonio where a tour through the national park had already been arranged, spending a couple of days there, returning to San Jose over the weekend and then heading either to the Irazu Volcano on the way home or taking a canopy tour in the Braulio Carrillo National Forest. They'd planned to arrive on Monday afternoon, late, and wait for my arrival before heading to the Caribbean on Friday.

Whom of you recall Apollo 13 and those infamous words "Houston, we have a problem"?

Sitting, bleary eyed, at my computer on Wednesday afternoon in Chatsworth, CA, USA, I received a similar call from Germany!

It seems that Thomas' Condor flight was one of the 35% that are NOT on time and they were now scheduled to leave ten and a half hours late. As they didn't know how to contact my sweetie in San Jose their only option was to try and contact me so that I could let her know of the change.

Now, the original arrival time was just after 7 a.m. so this would put them in late in the afternoon. We don't drive in Costa Rica at night on most instances and certainly don't drive at night on roads we are unfamiliar with, looking for a place that we haven't been in over ten years. That meant that they would be staying in San Jose for the night (fortunately our friend had room in his hotel, the Kekoldi - see link on this page) and the necessity to pick up the car wasn't until the day following the one it was arranged for.

I haven't heard all the stories of their excursion but they did manage to get the tour rescheduled, cutting their stay on the west coast short and still returning to the farm on Monday. They opted for the trip to the volcano but due to weather conditions turned around prior to actually arriving at that location. I suppose if you can't see because of the fog it doesn't make a lot of sense to visit a site where the reason you want to go is for the vista!

Once I arrived everything was back on schedule and so far remains so. We're to leave here on Tuesday, go back to San Jose on Wednesday after a night at the farm, the airport is Thursday morning and then back to normal until my honey heads back north on the twenty-ninth.

So, here it is, Sunday morning and I'm enjoyed the sunrise (mostly overcast) on the beach prior to starting this entry. I'll try and get around to updating this again prior to leaving for the US but no guarantees, there's a lot to do in the interim!

 

 ¡Hasta Luego y con Dios Acompaña!