July 26, 2005

CR Update July 26, 2005

Hi everybody:

Welcome to my blog. I leave for CR tomorrow—actually in several hours. Joe is doing well, learning Spanish, overseeing the completion of the buildings on the property, and working with professional landscapers to get the area fully landscaped. My pool is dug—John has been doing it in the evenings. It will be 9 feet wide and 50 feet long. I will be able to do laps and Joe will have a water feature which looks like a canal.

The pub is being built on our property. There will be English and German rooms. We will show films and it will be convenient for our guests to have a pub and swimming pool on the premises. The name of our property is “El Otro Lado”—(the other side) and for some reason our lawyer added to it El Otro Lado es Mejor (the other side is better).

I am intending to focus on 3 things in Costa Rica. Learning Spanish, doing Yoga, and doing Breathwork. There are many other things to get involved with but I think this is a good beginning. For my New Age friends, Yogasage is big here—a combo of Yoga and Massage—so if you choose you can have a wellness vacation-I can send you to the good practitioners and it is $45/session.

I signed up with a travel nurse company and I am hoping to get a 3 month assignment in March in San Leandro, Calif. This is near San Francisco and Joe can stay—an apartment is provided. So try to visit us in Costa Rica before March—actually Nov-Feb is our high season and there is no rain. Let us know ASAP when you want to visit—we may rent our guest houses. However, we do have a very nice guest room in our house and there are hotels on or near the beach we can direct you to.

I will update as things happen and as I am able to get to a computer—living in CR is a bit frustrating sometimes. For example, this morning when I talked to Joe, he was without water and electricity-this is the other side of living in Paradise.

I officially retired from the state of Massachusetts last week. I had a lovely weekend in NH with some of my friends. Our wedding anniversary is July 28th. Everything is on schedule and once Joe and I are back together we will be ready to begin this next chapter in our lives.

So long—till next time—write back, Joe and Helena