Christmas Week

Monday afternoon, we had a full house of teenagers over to help bake shortbread cookies.  Kayleen and Jessica are Joey and Eida’s teenage daughters and they and their friends, Diana and Joshua came over to help.

It was an interesting baking experience, as we don’t have a lot of tools to use here.  The batter takes about an hour to cool in the fridge before you can bake; and during this time, I gave the 3 girls French manicures.  They loved them!

I found out though; that with 4 teenagers helping you bake, there weren’t a lot of cookies at the end; but we all had a lot of fun.  In fact, Jessica wants to get together again real soon to bake cakes.

Unfortunately, because the butter and flour are so different here; the cookies were good; but not near as good as what we make at home.

We are located right behind the main park in Jaco; and there have been lots of activities going on there lately.  On Tuesday, we heard music and lots of voices; and walked over in the afternoon.

There was a very long, slow moving line of very well behaved children.  Figured they must have been waiting to see Santa, cause where else would that many children behave so well for so long.  I was right.

Because we are so close to the beach; we’ve headed over 3 or 4 times already for sunsets.  Much nicer to live this close to the main part of town than tucked away up on the mountain.

Thursday night, we headed over to Joey and Eida’s for a visit.  She made a delicious pork appetizer called chicirona’s and we shared a Christmas drink.  Along the way, we stopped and wished a few of our friends a Feliz Navidad and gave them maple candies and chocolate loonies… they were a big hit and I felt like Santa for a few minutes.

Before we left home; we bought a few “truly Canadian” presents.  A micky of Canadian Club; a bottle of 100% pure maple syrup; hard maple candies; chocolate loonies; a deck of cards with a map of Canada on the back; and a set of Canadian coins.  From the penny right up to the toonie; all made in 2011, so nice and shiny and new.

We gave Joey/Eida the bottle of Canadian Club the night they picked us up; and it turns out they liked it so much; that while in Panama earlier this week; they bought a bottle at the boarder.

And today, we cooked an old fashioned North American turkey dinner, complete with all the trimmings; and shared it with our new  friends Bob and Sherry from  B.C. and Joe from Indiana.

It was very tasty and the 5 of us enjoyed a nice evening together.  We bought the turkey a few days ago; and got the smallest one we could… turned out to be almost 20lbs.  Thank goodness we like turkey leftovers.

The past 4 days have seen little to no rain; and today was hot and sunny.  Glad that the turkey was being cooked at Joe’s place and not ours.  

We would like to take this time to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas!  It was great to talk to so many of you today.

Feel free to take a look at our pictures.

Now that we have a “home”; this past week has just flown past.

We live in a “gringo” area of our complex.  The first condo are Bob and Sherry from Salmon Arm, BC.  Behind them is Liz, a Canadian ex-pat from Alberta.  Then us; attached to us and to the left is Joe from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Liz owns her unit; and manages the other 3.  The owner of our unit usually doesn't rent; but his health is not good; and he's not coming down this year; and since we're "friends" of Liz's, he agreed.  The cable was hooked up a few days ago; and is included in the rent.  We also have free wi-fi from the park that's in front of our condo.

We all get along really well; and it’s nice to have English speaking neighbours all around us.  On our 3rd day here; Liz got out her Ladder Golf game and Liz and I took on Joe and Mike. 

We had good old fashioned Christmas music playing; and Liz had her Santa hat on.  It was a lot of fun.  If it ever stops raining; we’ll play again I’m sure.

We have the most “equipped” condo out of the group.  And it’s quite nice.  And even came with a bike.  We’ve borrowed Joe’s a few time; and it’s great to be able to pedal around town.  A little wobbly at first; but I’ve got my bike legs back again.

We're getting used to only having hot water in the shower.  Most Tico homes do not have hot water; so dishes and hand washing is cool.  To get hot water in the showers; most Tico's have rigged up something called a "suicide shower".  There's an electrical heating element above the shower head, which the water passes through before coming out.  Most people don't mix water and electricity; but sometimes you do as the locals and don't ask too many questions.

We also really love living so close to the town.  Very convenient to get to the grocery store; go out for dinner; or down to the beach for a sunset.  We’ve only been to the beach twice; as it’s done an awful lot of raining here since arriving.  We’re still at the tail end of the rainy season; but still mid to high 20’s daily.  And very humid.

We had a couple of close calls relating to wallets.  Last Saturday after picking up all of our stuff from Joey/Eida’s we took a cab to our new place.  Since they didn’t know us at the gate; they wouldn’t let us in until we showed some I.D. 

I had taken my wallet out to pay the driver; and when I got out to go talk to the guard, I dropped it.  Thankfully he wanted to see my passport; and when it wasn’t in my purse, or pocket, I panicked, for just a bit… there it was lying on the road… phew!!! Needless to say I’ve been extra vigilant since.

A few days later, Joe left his wallet on the table at Rustico’s after his breakfast.  Didn’t notice until hours later.  Tore his place apart before panic set in.  Went to Rustico’s… just in case… and luckily for him; a worker cleared his table shortly after he left; and they had it for him; money intact; at the cash register.  Talk about both of us getting lucky.

We biked over to the clinic to say hi to Dr. Brenda; but she’s moved on and no longer works there.  Also our favorite pharmacist David (he helped us last year when we had the parasites) is no longer there; and Sadie, one of the sisters who owns Rustico’s; is now working in San Jose. 

But our friends Herman, Jose, Chris and Joey and Edia are still around.  Felt like old homecoming week around here the first few days.  Lots of smiles; hugs and handshakes from people who remembered us from the spring.

Mike has used the pool a couple of times; I’m waiting for a bit more.  But there hasn’t been too many hot sunny days yet.  Also not near as private as the last year’s but no stairs… yay!

Feel free to click here to look at our pictures.

A Catch Up

I know that it’s been forever since I last wrote a blog; so bare with me if this one is a little long.

We arrived back from our East coast trip middle of August; and the rest of the summer just seemed to fly by.  Lots of dinners; cards and campfires with family and friends.

Then some sadness settled in on Mike’s family.  We lost 3 of his beloved Aunts, Jeanette, Claire and Marie since the end of August.  All 3 were loving, caring, happy women; and all 3 will be missed.  Also in September, Mike’s brother Rob lost his battle.  We had a celebration of his life in October.  His life was way too short; but he’s in a better place now.

Amongst all the sadness though, was lots of laughter.  Sharing memories and stories.  And although the circumstances weren’t great, it was really nice to see so many family members and friends.

We both also had surgeries since my last posting.  Mike’s hernia surgery went off without a hitch in early October, and he’s completely healed from it.  Then I had a surgical procedure on November 29th and that caused our delay in leaving for the South.

This past week has been pretty caotic to say the least.  On Sunday we had a Christmas get together with Mike’s family; then busy packing on Monday; closed up and winterized the rig on Tuesday.  Had dinner with my folks in London; then off to Toronto early Wednesday morning (thanks again Dad, we really appreciated the ride!).

Wednesday was a very long travel day, but we arrived safely at the Best Western Irazu in San Jose around 10 pm.  Our friend Joey picked us up the next day and we drove through downtown San Jose to pick up his wife Eida and daughter.

There were literally 1000’s of people roaming the street complete with the crazy drivers.  Glad that I was a passenger.  We then stopped at Pricesmart (Costco) and picked up a few items that we knew we would be needing.  Ended up getting a double bag of cereal for free!  3 different people to check you out; and all 3 missed it sitting clearly in the cart… thanks!

We then took the scenic way home and stopped at a quaint little Soda (tico food) restaurant.  It was in the middle of nowhere; but the food was good and the ambience was amazing.

The owners family has had this property tucked away on a mountainside for over 100 years.  They run the Soda; and have livestock, orange trees and sugar cane out back.  She toured us around and it was very interesting.  Much more personal than Gray Line, thanks again Joey and Eida for picking us up.

We found a hostel to spend the night; and off to Papa’s & Burgers we went for yet another delicious burger.  The hostel was pretty bare bones, but cleanish and safe.

Friday and most of Saturday we spent walking up and down main street; talking to anybody that had a condo for rent sign.  We ended up back at the hostel for yet a 2nd night; and things were looking grim.  Off to Rustico’s we went for dinner, and it was just as good as we remembered.

By late Friday afternoon, we had met up with our old friend Herman; and he took us to see a couple of potentials; but nada.  Next day, we finally met Liz and she had a place, but only til the end of this month.  Well it was the most decent place we had seen and affordable to boot.  We grabbed it.

Found out just an hour or so ago; that the owner isn’t coming down this year; and if we want it; it’s ours til May… yay!  We’re a couple of blocks from the beach and right off main street.  Minutes from our friends business and restaurants. 

Glad to be settled.  The condo is cleaned and we’re all unpacked.  Even went and got a few groceries today; so we’re good to go.

Last night there was a horse parade down main street.  Started at 6 pm, only about 3 hours later than advertised… that’s tico time.  About 150-200 horses walked, danced and pranced down main street.
1000’s of people lining the side; Salsa music playing.  It was pretty cool to watch. 

And tonight, we had a first sunset at the beach… ahhh the life!

Feel free to click here to take a look at some pictures.