November 14, 2005

CR Update November 2005

Thank you to all who send me replies to my blog update. It is hard to get to the Internet on a regular basis, they charge $3-$5/per hour and the computers are slow. Over a few weeks I type my update, save to a CD, and then paste onto my blog. I managed to get my cell-phone configured as a modem, got it to work once, and have not had the energy to talk with the company about how to proceed--I have to be ready for at least one hour on the telephone to sort it out. Also, my desk top is not turning on at all. The power supply may have been blown out during one of the power outages. Figuring out who can help with this kind of stuff is a challenge. I do have my lap top so I can continue typing.

Just when we thought John had fixed up the roads, he tore them up again. This time it was to put in culverts so that the water drains properly down the mountain. One night we had to walk through several meters of mud up to our knees at some points. Joe lost his dock shoes temporarily—John managed to retrieve them in 2 feet of mud with a flashlight and helped us up the hill to our car. Because his shoes were so muddy, Joe had to walk barefoot and cursed every time he stepped on a rock. The road looks better each time John works on it. We were obviously tired of climbing through mud to get to Eric’s car so we can go to town and we were also getting used to it. And John is an incredibly hard worker. We heard him late at night on the backhoe and out in early morning shaping the roads, to making them better and safer. We are grateful to John-if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be here and we love it here. But we will be glad when the roads are functioning in full capacity and we are almost there.

We had some trees cut in the back to open up the mountain view. I will try to post some pics. The monkeys howled as the trees fell. We were torn about doing it but we felt that since we are on a mountain, we would like the view. And it is great. We can see more of the sky and the mountains. We have someone here now doing machete work to keep the foliage at manageable levels and we will have a housecleaner next week. Joe has done a lot of the painting since the person we thought we hired didn’t show up. I have not figured out why some workers show up and some don’t. Sometimes I think that the people who charge a little more may be the ones who show up but I am really not sure if there is any pattern.

One morning I went for a walk and decided go through a neighborhood I had driven through previously. What a delight-- I was walking along the river and there was so much activity: horses grazing, kids swimming, music, and people just living their lives. The river was clear. Once the river goes down a bit I will be able to walk to town crossing the river—about a 20 minute walk from my house. We are entering the dry season which is very sunny.

We had our first guests since we moved here permanently: Mark and Cheryl were here from New Orleans this past week. It was so great to see them and reconnect and so great to have guests. With all this working we have been doing fixing up the place, we got to have a vacation hanging out with them. It was good to hear about New Orleans recovery efforts after the flood and to wonder which direction New Orleans will go. It was an incredible event they lived through and continue to live with the recovery. They promise they will visit often.

We are doing more on the pub. Our furniture builder was here measuring the bar and I called to figure out who are the importers and distributors. There is still more to find out but so far I have a source of Duval, Hogarten, Guiness, Stella Artois, Leffe, and Kriek. Still working on DAB and some of the German beers I have seen in stores. Our main beer will be draught beer from the only brew pub in Costa Rica but we want some good bottle beer for back up. It is not as easy to hire helpers as we would like. We found a great cleaner who is allergic to cats. Our tree cutter came once and has not returned. Our big challenge now will be finishing up the prep work and opening the pub.

And my last anecdote. Joe was very sick recently. temp 102 to 104. i consulted with 2 md{s by phone and eventually we decided due to his history he should be on cipro for 7 days. this was sat night. i had to go to the pharmacists house, tell her the situation so she could open up the pharmacy to get the medication. no problem she said and i got my medication and joe is fine. pura vida, they say.

write back. i miss everybody. love helena and joe