Total Eclipse of The Sun

Everyone everywhere seems to be so excited about the eclipse of the sun today. My daughter, her husband and his parents rented a Winnebago type vehicle and drove to Nashville to watch it. There will only be a partial eclipse in Costa Rica. The clouds are starting to roll in since it is the rainy season, so we will probably not be able to see any of it.

When I was in grade school at Lamar Elementary my friend, Liz Montgomery's father, smoked pieces of glass for Liz, Brenda Reeves and me to watch the eclipse. I will never forget it. It was such a big deal for three little girls to experience together. I wish I had a picture of the three of us that day. People just did not take many pictures back then. This was taken of Brenda and me at my 6th birthday party. I am on the left and Brenda is on the right.

God bless everyone today, and remember to use the correct eye protection!

Pura Vida!

Handling Mold In Costa Rica

I am not writing this to complain or boo-hoo. It is just some good information I am learning as I go into each new day.

I had a terrible cold about 4 weeks ago. I am still coughing my lungs up! Sometimes it feels like I will suffocate before I can stop. Little unknown fact to me....Did you know some people are allergic to mold? My friend, Kristi, was suggesting to me yesterday that this might be the problem. I told her it keeps forming on my leather jacket! Then there's the question, "Why did I bring a leather jacket to Costa Rica?" Learning....

This is the rainy season, and since windows and doors stay open most days because there is no air conditioning there is a lot of moisture all around. It does not feel humid. It is just that it rains almost every afternoon for a little while, so mold forms. Once December gets here and the rainy season is over this problem should go away.

Kristi told me to use vinegar and water and get after my house and anything that looks funny. Mold here is like greenish dust. I got my little bucket out this AM and poured the vinegar (had to buy it yesterday while in Escazu) and water into it, and I went after it. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the wood floor upstairs. I had seen a tiny bit of the greenish dust, but I had no idea it was mold! Hopefully, with this and the inhaler I got yesterday (mine was almost out) I will finally stop all this embarrassing coughing.

That's the other thing! I walked into the pharmacy yesterday and handed them the inhaler I had brought from the States from the last time I had bronchitis. The guy just went to the shelf and got me a new one. I paid and out the door. Again, no doctor visit to pay for and no prescription. I love it here!!!!

Moral of the story....if you are allergic to mold you will need to take some extra steps when you get here.

Pura Vida!

Finding Fun and Friends in Costa Rica

One of the things I had worried about when moving to Costa Rica was what my social life would look like. In my life I have always been blessed with many friends, and have always been socially active. That was one of the things that made my decision to move to Costa Rica a hard one. Leaving my family and friends.

Well, I have not taken many breaths since arriving here. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. So far, in my two months in paradise I have been to 4 dinner parties, Father's Day celebration with my Tico friends and their family, dinner and a movie on Monday nights at Carol's home, several lunches, 2 trips to San Jose with friends and last night the pièce de résistance...The 50th Anniversary of The Summer of Love party.

My new friend, Carol Berman, is from San Francisco. She had been home for a visit and had seen on the news about plans for the big celebration of the anniversary. She came back to CR with the desire to throw her own party. What a blast we had getting together with a small group and planning it. Last night the party was a huge success. Everyone came dressed like they were hippies in the late '60s. We provided an accessory table out front, so if anyone needed help enhancing their costumes it was there. Since I still dress in the fashion I did not need to go shopping for a costume or jewelry. Our friend, Roland Klein, made a great music video of the bands from the day, and he also made videos with the words for a sing along! Everyone participated, and it was just the best. We ended the party with hamburgers, hotdogs and all the goodies. Lots of brownies for dessert! Not Alice B. Toklas, but yummy none the less.

Never let it be said that you will not find friends, be lonely or have nothing to do in Costa Rica. Life is what we make it, and Costa Rica is a very good place to do just that.

Pura Vida!

Learning To Drive A Costa Rican Car

I bought a car about 2 weeks ago. I picked up my friends Cathy and Roland, and I was not able to make it up the steep hill with my car. They had to get out and walk up the hill so I could get us out of there! Roland thought maybe I needed a new gas filter or possibly a new pump.

Last week I took my car to the shop of a wonderful young mechanic named Kevin. He had tested the car out for me before I bought it. I told Kevin what happened and his reply was, "Perhaps you do not know how to drive on mountain roads." Well, truer words were never spoken. Not only have I never driven on mountain roads I have not driven a standard shift with a small engine in at least 30 years, and that was on flat Texas streets. So....I made an appointment to come back to Kevin's shop today.

I arrived precisely at 9:30 for the appointment. He was still tied up under a car, so I stood outside where another American walked up to get his car. He and his wife had moved here in April from Round Rock, Texas. So much fun meeting other people that are making Costa Rica their home.

When Kevin finished with the car he came to me and said, "Let's go for a ride." We went back to the hill I could not get up, and the other American rode with us to put the extra weight in the car. Not a problem. Up the hill we went. A little slowly but up. That is when he told me he would be giving me a driving lesson. I just died laughing! Yes, it was I with the problem not the car. He talked to me about torque and where my engine should be revved to when approaching a hill. All righty then! I love "free" advise!

Another challenge and lesson learned in Costa Rica unless there is the small truck rocking along in front of you with 2 cows in the back.

Pura Vida!

A Lost Two Weeks

I am sorry I have not posted in a couple of weeks. I got my first Costa Rican cold. It was really not fun. I did get to meet the doctor that everyone uses here, and I did really like him. I have no idea what kind of anti-biotics he gave me, but I've never had one work so fast. I'm still fighting the cough, but at least I feel alive.

Things are so different here. The doctor gave me my prescriptions. I took them to the pharmacy, and they gave me packets in foil like allergy pills come in. Not a bottle of medicine like we are used to. I do not have insurance here yet, so my antibiotic, med for my lungs, and cough syrup cost me $30.00. The antibiotics in the States would have cost me more than that without insurance!

Last week I went back to the pharmacy. I have fibromyalgia and take pain medicine and muscle relaxants for it. I walked in the pharmacy and handed her my bottle of Hydrocodone that I have to go to the doctor every three months in the States to get, and then am handed 3 prescriptions where I go to the pharmacy each month to have those refilled. When the 3 months are up it's back to the doctor and another doctor's bill for something I have been taking for years. The lady in the pharmacy here told me they did not have hydro, but she could give me 500 mg. Codeine with 30 mg. acetaminophen. No prescription needed. Are you kidding me? No doctor visit to pay for and no prescription.

For the exciting news! I bought a Suzuki Ignis made for the Latin American market from the Veterinarian everyone uses here. It's little, but it gets me from point A to B. Costa Rica has a great bus system. They set the country up for bus travel. It only costs around .95 to go from Puriscal to San Jose. Very inexpensive. The bus runs by the street I live on and takes you straight into Puriscal. I am less than a mile from town, but on a two lane windy mountain road, it is not the smartest thing to walk. Well, lucky me! There are some mean dogs between me and the bus stop, so I was advised not to make the walk to the bus stop. Thus my auto purchase. I would rather not have the expense, but it became better for me. You cannot imagine how free I feel! If you move to CR my suggestion would be to live right in town, or live on a road with no mean dogs. I love where I live, but economically I would have been a little better off living in town. Not as happy, but more economically sound.

Pura Vida!

Little by Little

I continue to make progress here, little by little. Poco a poco. Last week I went into San Jose to complete my filing for my Residency. The last step was to get my head shot for my residency card and finger prints. I expected to go to a city hall type building for this. It is the official identification and final important step. I went to Roberto's office, my CR attorney, where he had all the papers translated into Spanish for me to deliver to the official immigration location. I thought he would be going with me, but he had his helper who spoke no English at all accompany me. He was very sweet, and we mostly communicated by him pointing to where I was to stand or go next.

We pulled up in front of a building that was nothing like I had imagined these offices would be like. First of all, we walked up to a man set up at an outside table with a chair next to it. This was where I was having my head shot made for my license! He had me sit in the chair, took my picture, ran if off on a printer, cut it out and handed it to me. I was almost laughing at how crazy this appeared. We continued next door to a tin building that was completely open. There was a gate around it and a metal door to shut it off at night. This was the finger printing location. Roberto's helper told the people I was a "senior" over 65, and they took me straight to the front of the line! It would have been a 2 hours process instead of the 35 minutes it took. He pointed to a chair for me to sit in and instructed me to (pointing to his ear) listen for Claudia Sullins. Luckily the lady that came and got me spoke some English. We sat at her old metal desk as you took the papers Roberto had sent me there with and put everything into the computer. Her last questions to me were, "Is you house wood or cement, and what color is it?" In CR there are no real street addresses. Addresses are actually location by directions. The very last line of my address is, Casa de amarillo (yellow house). After that she walked me over to the line to get my finger prints. They still use the stinky black ink here.

I wanted so badly to take pictures getting my finger prints done, but there were signs everywhere with pictures of phones with lines through them. It all went so smoothly I did not want to rock the boat by pulling my phone out to take a picture. I did take a couple of the outside photographer given the important job of taking everyone's photos for their licenses.

I love it here. There is no pretense whatsoever! Nothing was in a fancy office or building, and it all worked just fine. Now I just wait for the papers to make their way through immigration then to me.

Pura Vida

Pura Vida

Well, here I am still trying my best to discover Pura Vida. I am afraid there is still a little too much city "crazy" girl in me. I am better, just not all the way yet

My furniture made it here last week with some damage and an entire box missing. The box had some valuable collectables in it, and two cushions I put in there as padding that go to my dining chairs. Now I only have 2 matching cushions. Most of the damage can be repaired at a cost, but my antique floor lamp is toast.

As far as my missing box...I contacted the shipper with less than satisfaction. It is really too bad because up until now I felt confident using him, but the proof is in the pudding isn't it? When I first called Charles Zeller at Ship To Costa Rica he had his movers and I recheck to make sure box #58 was missing. No box #58 any where. After we searched as requested Mr. Zeller said he would call Customs and see if they still had it. I had to call him back then sent an email. He wrote me back giving all the reasons it could be missing with the top 3 being my fault. I did not hear from him for two more days when I emailed him again with all the steps I had taken asking for his help. As I sit here typing this 5 days later he still has not responded. So, the moral of the story is, first of all to not use Charles Zeller, and secondly understand that things can happen in Customs that you have no control over no matter how careful you are.

As a back story, the shipper, Charles Zeller, had me list every thing moved with a number and list each one on an inventory list. As they were moved out of my home I had an additional inventory page with numbers I was to cross out as the boxes and all items were loaded into the truck. Box #58 was there and loaded. A copy of all these inventories were then sent to Zeller for him to check when he received my belongings. He did have note of the damages done to my furniture, but no note of my missing box.

The damages are the fault of me and the mover I hired to load the crate. He did stack things beautifully and tied some things down. It was not nearly enough. You need to tie rope, use moving bars and anything else that works to keep your things from shifting inside the crate. The crate is driven to the closest port near you. Mine being 7 hours away. The crate is then moved by a crane onto the ship. It can be tossed around on the seas then is unloaded by a crane onto another truck and driven to customs. That is a lot of moving, and in my case, a lot of shifting went on despite our efforts. Truly get someone who specializes in loading for over seas shipping.

Now that I am calmed down from all of that I did find a furniture man who picked up my bookcase and antique dresser mirror to be repaired. The smaller items can wait. I have unpacked everything except my paintings and pictures. Why you ask? More of my Pura Vida character building. I have a man that was supposed to paint my walls before my things came. He was busy and did not get to me. Then he got food poisoning, and here I sit with nothing on my unpainted walls and large boxes leaning everywhere. I swear I am trying to stay calm! This is a lesson...if you are considering moving to Costa Rica you better understand NO ONE is in a hurry or even worried about timeliness here. It works for them, and I'm sure it will one day work for me. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, depending on how you look at it, I have never been late for anything, and it has always driven me crazy to put off until tomorrow.

Breath........Okay! Everything else is moving along wonderfully. My immigrations papers have been turned into the government, so I can get my residency! I was so excited to get the copy of my papers. Now all I have left to do is get finger printed which I hope to do this coming week.

I am still LOVING nature here! Every day I see Toucans, parrots, amazing butterflies, hummingbirds and views that go forever, and all this is off my own balcony!

Pura Vida!