Living in Paradise

Well, we’ve been on our own for an entire week.  And so far, so good.

We ventured into town last Monday, and took in the sights and sounds of downtown Jaco.  Very reminiscent of most beach communities.  Lots of shops selling their wares on both sides of the street.

From our condo to the edge of town is roughly a half an hour walk.  Once on the main street, we slow down and just stroll taking in as much as possible. 

That first afternoon, a man was selling adventure tours.  We said no thanks; and continued on walking.  He then asked if we were from Canada.  Which we responded yes to.  He had noticed the Canadian flag pin on Mike’s Tilley hat.  Turns out he lived in Vancouver, BC for a few years.  Herman already asked for the pin; which we will give him, but not until we leave here. 

I do get a kick when people ask where were from and we respond Canada.  They then ask where in Canada; and we say London, Ontario.  Which, usually brings on a response of “London, England, I thought you said you lived in Canada?”  Much easier just to say we live in Toronto.  Everybody knows about Toronto.  And this isn’t just people here… many Americans have asked the same thing.

On Tuesday, we walked around our complex just checking things out.  We live up a hill; and there’s a few more complexes, plus a couple of fancy hotels all in the same area.  By the time we got back to our place, we were in desperate need of a shower.  Everything seems uphill around here; plus throw in high humidity; and boy oh boy the sweat just pours off of us!

Wednesday, we hiked to the grocery store.  It’s only about a 20 minute walk from here.  Found a nice short cut, down the stairs for our pool; down a short hill and then it’s only another 700 metres up the road. 

Thursday, we spent some time lounging at the pool.  It’s three condos over from us; but 65 stairs down a switch back concrete staircase.  Can’t see a need to have a gym membership here; you get quite the work out just opening the front door.  It’s 3 levels up to the road.

Friday, we discovered an unsecured internet connection at the complex across from us.  Posted the blog; and then made some Skype phone calls.  It was wonderful to talk to so many of our family and friends. 

While on the phone to Dave, Mike’s youngest brother, a Tucan flew right past us and landed in a tree.  But unfortunately the camera was at home.  It’s the second time we’ve seen Tucan’s over at that pool complex, and I’m sure we’ll get a shot sooner or later.

Saturday, we walked back downtown.  We stopped and talked to Herman again, and asked him where the locals ate.  He told us about a place called Rustico. 

We continued on down the main street; stopping again for a fresh fruit smoothie.  This time pineapple, banana and strawberry… boy what a refreshing drink after a long, hot walk.

We then continued on til the end of the main street and headed towards the ocean.  Watched a few surfers and families playing on the beach; and then found our way to Rustico.  Discovered very quickly why the locals ate there.  The food was amazing!!!  It was about 4:00 in the afternoon, there wasn’t a seat to be found; and a line-up out the door.

Mike had a bowl of seafood soup that was enough to feed a small family; plus he helped me eat most of my dinner.  Rice, beans, beef, fried plantains and salad.  The portions here are huge; and so far we haven’t spent more than $10 on a meal and that includes your drink!

Sunday, we did a whole bunch of nothing.  In fact I didn’t even get out of my p.j.’s yesterday.  We had been on the “go” since before leaving home; and a day of doing nothing was much needed. 

There was some kind of street party going on downtown.  We could hear music and drums from our balcony.  But the day was very overcast and had been raining on and off since getting up.

Last night we had our clearest night so far.  And there are some beautiful constellations in the sky.  Don’t know what any of them our.  Guess we’ll have to get out a star chart so that we know what were looking at.

And today, we were up and out the door shortly before 10; heading to the grocery store for a few things.  We had worn our bathing suits under our clothes; and stopped at our pool on our way back.  Again we were soaked from the sweat; and the cool pool felt wonderful!

We have turned into morning people since being here.  Mike and I have always been night owls; and we find by 10 pm, we can hardly keep our eyes open.  Most mornings, were up and ready to face the day by 7 am.

And today, we got our cable and internet.  Most of the stations are in Spanish, but there’s a few in English. 

Oh, yeah, and for a cab ride home from either downtown or the grocery store, is $3.00.  Don’t think you can even open a cab door at home for less than $5.00.  And it’s well worth the price, for the cab to take us and our groceries up the long hill from the road!

Take a look at our pictures

First Week in Costa Rica

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Costa Rica for over a week already.  It still feels like we’re dreaming.

Mike’s brother Ken drove us to Toronto on November 15th to begin our Costa Rican adventure.  It seemed fitting, as we drove Ken and Calen to the Toronto airport to begin their adventure summer of 09.  We were up bright and early and headed to the airport shortly after 4:00 am.

We sailed through customs and security and then flew out at 6:30 am.  I had never flown over Toronto with the city lit up; and it was quite pretty to see.  Within a few minutes we were over Lake Ontario; and then a short 2 and a half hours later in Atlanta, Georgia. 

We barely had enough time to get to our connecting flight.  In fact, they had already called the final call by the time we got there.

The flight went well; and we were greeted to a warm, sunny afternoon upon arriving in Costa Rica.  Mike’s luggage got lost somewhere along the way; but it was delivered to our hotel the next afternoon.

We stayed at the Best Western Irazu and it turned out to be a good choice.  On the first afternoon, we started walking around; and found a small mall beside our hotel.  In the mall was a realty office; we were looking at some of their properties, when Tom from Georgia came out to say hello.  We told him that we were looking for a short term (3-6 months) condo rental. 

He had a couple for us to see.  And one of his agents, Merari, was asked to show them to us.  This young lady, turned out to be more help then we could have possibly hoped for.  Her English was very good; and she was quite eager to help.  She had a couple of places in mind; and was confident that we would take one of them.  Having found a agent to help us so quickly; freed up the rest of our time in San Jose.

Wednesday, we took a cab to Sabana Park; and enjoyed strolling around for the afternoon.  We stopped to watch some locals playing soccer.  We then had a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice from a vendor.  And we just took in the sites and sounds of San Jose. 

After walking back to our hotel; we had an hour or so before happy hour started in the bar.  That’s where me met Jeff and Cathy from Port Elgin, Ontario.  We shared all kinds of stories and ended up joining them for dinner.

After dinner, we headed down to the hot tub; and soaked away the days walk.  Also met Canadian Gilles, who turns out to be renting not far from us.

Then early Thursday morning; Merari, our agent picked us up; and off to the coast we went.

The drive was very beautiful through the country side of Costa Rica.  And I was glad to be a passenger and take in the scenery. 

The first rental that she showed us turned out to be the one that we took.  It’s in a little beach community of Jaco (hawk-o).  Our condo is owned by a Canadian named Mike - how ironic is that?!? 

We have the lower unit; of this 2 story chalet.  We’re on the side of a hill; with a private balcony looking directly into beautiful, lush green foliage and a mountain.  Pretty nice! 

The town of Jaco itself is about an hour walk from here; but it’s nice to be away from the noise. 

Merari ended up staying for the weekend; in the unit upstairs.  On Friday we took care of the rent details; and she helped get the cable/internet ordered for us.  It was supposed to be here by today; but looks like that’s not going to happen.  Another neighbour in the complex is also waiting for his; and said a week here isn’t like a week back home.

Merari also took us to the grocery store and made us dinner on our first night here.  She made us a local delicacy, ceviche.  Which is fished “cooked” in lemon juice with spices and vegetables.  The fish is only cooked by the acid of the lemon.  A little different for my taste buds.  She also went shopping for us; and got us a TV, a slow cooker (to cook beans in, which she also showed us how to do); and a patio table for our balcony.  Of course, this was all on Mike’s (owner) nickel.

So far, the hottest part of the day is first thing in the morning.  Our balcony is facing East and we get the early sun.  And boy, oh boy, is it ever hot!  Seems though, that that is the hottest part of the day so far.  By mid to late afternoon, the skies open up and the rains come.  Since being in the condo, it has rained at some point everyday. 

We’ve also had ourselves a few really nice lightning shows.  Our balcony is perfect for storm watching; and we’re nicely protected from the rain.

On Monday, we walked into town; and spent the afternoon looking in shops.  We also stopped and had ourselves a fruit smoothie; and watched all sorts of people on the street.  And so far, we’ve been able to get along with just English.  A lot of people that we’ve had to communicate with, have some degree of English.  Hopefully, we’ll start to understand some Spanish as the time goes on.

Please take a look at our pictures

Decisions... Decisions

By now we should have already been long gone.  We were supposed to have left Ontario back on October 31st.  Destination was supposed to be Oklahoma City first; to meet some new friends of ours; and then we were supposed to head to Texas.  This is the second time that we've planned a winter in Texas.  And this is the second time that that isn't going to happen.

We've been having some problems with our truck; and decided to have it looked at one more time before heading out.  Boy, was that a good decision.  It turns out that we need a new engine!  But that's not all.  We apparently have a blockage of some sort in the coolant system.  Because of this, we had too much pressure, which in turn messed up our torque converter; which in turn messed up the crankshaft; which in turn messed up the engine.  Kind of reminds me of  "the ankle is connected to the shin bone, the shin bone is connected to the..." well most of you would remember that.  I have learned more about diesel trucks and engines than I ever cared to in this past while; and know that any way we choose to go equals expensive!

If we choose to only put a re-built engine in, then we're back to square one.  So that means fixing everything; and the cost of this is astronomical.  We've been quoted up to $12,000 to do this - yikes!  Our other options are to  trade our truck in and hope that the next one is okay; or to buy brand spanking new. What to do, what to do.

So... after much consideration, we've decided to go and bury our heads in the sand for the next six months.  Literally.  We're heading to Costa Rica this Tuesday morning; and we'll figure out what to do with this truck in the spring. 

As I write this blog, the rig has been winterized; the truck has been parked; and our bags are packed.  We are house sitting in London for the weekend; and will leave on Monday night to head to Toronto.  We fly out bright and early on Tuesday morning; and will arrive in Costa Rica by early afternoon.

We can hardly wait!  We even stopped at Chapters today and bought ourselves an English to Spanish dictionary.  Might come in handy, as neither of us speaks any Spanish.  But the name of our blog is Adventures with MnM and we are about to go on one heck of an adventure!  This feels like Molly's last gift to us; the freedom to go and adventure abroad.  Wish us luck.