CR Update May 30, 2006

May 30, 2006 CR Update

Hi everybody. Joe and I are back together in Nosara, the rainy season is beginning and our garden is flourishing. May 15th was our one year anniversary of moving to Costa Rica. As we enter our second year, we are more familiar with how business is done here. This past year we have found a good trustworthy mechanic, learned our way around Nicoya, the capital of Guanacaste, improved our Spanish, and we are getting to know more people.

The pub is coming along. It is great seeing all Joe’s pub paraphernalia in a new environment. We had a party May 21st—Joe’s every 10 years 1946 party. We hired Mariachis, and we had a hired bartender and 2 hired cooks. The party was fairly effortless since Joe and I had minimal preparations and clean-up. We had 50 guests—our largest group since the opening. We also have thoughts about how to publicize the pub and bring in the people that will appreciate what we are doing here.

Our residency has been approved. We were given an appointment for our final meeting with immigration with 12 hours notice. We missed the appt. and will be given another chance. If we miss the appt again we have to pay $50 for another appt.

Other problems with the infrastructure continue. In the confusion with changing cell phones our monthly phone bill was not paid so the service was shut off. When I went to pay the bill the computer system was down and they were not able to take the money to have the service reinstated for three days. It was difficult to order CO2 and make sure it made the necessary connections to be sent from San Jose to Nicoya without having our own phone. When we were driving back from Nicoya with the tank of CO2, our car broke down and we were in an area where cell phones do not work. We knocked on doors and we were able to phone our mechanic for help and then we waited for two hours for assistance. The car is currently OK but the roads here are rough on cars and maintenance is ongoing and learning patience is slowly acquired..

We now have direct TV. Joe has been one year without television so this will be something new to integrate. It is great to watch the news though we prefer our nightly movies on our big screen projector. Our pool is functioning and I can do laps in warm water with our bougainvilleas garden on one side and Joe’s pub on the other—the tropical air, the sun, and glimpses of the view add to the experience. I can go to town, which is entirely Spanish speaking, by walking down the hill and crossing the log over the river and I can drive to the projects by the ocean, where most of the expatriates live, to use my wireless computer. There are so many worlds here and it is all lovely despite the lack of infrastructure. Come and visit--July is a good month—we like having visitors because we feel like we are on vacation. August can be rainy and Sept Oct are definitely rainy. But it is very green and Joe had 27 trees cut which has opened up the view to our beautiful sunsets and the clouds hovering over the mountain tops and down to the valley. Always Paradise
Write when you can. We want to stay in touch with everybody. Love Joe and Helena