Nosara March 2009

Nosara March 2009

The only blemish on the fabulous St. Patrick’s Day party was that toward the end of the evening, Joe broke his wrist—details later, he says. We had at least 200 people, Joe’s nephews visiting; a good team of bartenders, a good cook, and live music. We will likely go to San Jose on Monday to have the wrist x-rayed and treated. We are recently back from Ciudad Quesada and we loved it—this will be our next home—temperate weather, close to medical facilities and other amenities, and lower cost of living. We had a great time with Pedro and Lisa, met many people, looked at lots and found one we liked. However, we cannot buy until we sell here so like the rest of the world we wait and hope for the economy to recover so that people will spend again. Our best prospect for selling appears to be realtors in the states.

Joe’s nephew Chris has been helping me get comfortable with my quad. He has been riding on the back while I go up and down the mountain—soon I will be doing it myself. I have started the process of trying to get back to NY to work in the spring/ summer. It will be great to see my family and friends, take a writing class, check out Yoga studios, etc. not to mention all that the city has to offer. Hopefully there will be a spot for me at Beth Israel Hospital—it looks promising.

It has been windy on and off here which means there are snow storms in the northeast—however extreme the weather is here, it is always warm.

Our drive to Ciudad Quesada was a challenge. One hour after we left Nosara, on a dirt road to Nicoya, every so often the car would rock from side to side. We finally figured out that the problem was the bushings and that the car would rock when we went over 25 miles per hour (15 km per hour). It was a Sunday, no mechanics were working, so we crawled to Ciudad Quesada, passing the scenic road around Lake Arenal—a 6 hour trip took close to 2 days which included staying overnight in Nuevo Arenal.. It was fairly stressful, especially not knowing exactly what the problem was and if it would get worse.

I met Kelly Patterson, a former AIDS worker in South Africa who is dynamic and encouraging of our efforts here. We have started procuring and distributing condoms and have another Tica pharmacist and a Tica yoga teacher in our group. So our efforts here are moving along.

Write when you can. I hope to be in NY soon. Love Helena and Joe