Father's Day

Mother's Day in Costa Rica falls in a different day and month than the US. However, it appears that Father's Day comes on the same day.

My two daughters Christie and Amanda, each called me this morning to wish me a happy Father's Day. It was great that they remembered me in spite of being 2,800 miles away. A few of our friends have the same situation with their kids not being close to be with them, so we decided to head to Grecia to have a late lunch at what is supposed to be a great steak house. Because it was Father's Day, we had to make reservations that were secured for 1:30 PM. Well, we all met up in Grecia (about 1/2 hr. north of Atenas, and known for being the cleanest city in Central America)

The Galeria restaurant turned out to be very nice and clean. It is located by the famous Grecia steel church that was a gift from Belgium. It was assembled in Belgium and shipped to Costa Rica where it was reassembled in Grecia.

I went back to get the camera out of the truck to get some pictures - This is a picture of the front of the building, Standing in the doorway is my friend "Big Lee" - remember the post where I told you that he played and coached football at UT?

The only problem with the restaurant was that it took a very long time to get our drinks and food. The first round of drinks took about 45 min. Although we were very thirsty, I can tell you it was worth the wait - and besides, we didn't have anything else to do today.

Seated around the table (going to the left) is the Big one himself, his lovely wife Kathy, the soon to be famous artist Stef, our friend Bek from Arkansas who is building here and will move down in a couple of years, Dennis and Karolyn Matthews who are a great couple from Colorado.

This is 2 1/2 hours after we ordered our meals. But, I can tell you that it was about the best steak that I have had since coming to Costa Rica. - In spite of the fact that we ended up having more Rum & Coke than we intended, we survived. No... Lee is not passed out, he is just ducking so you can see Dennis & Karolyn.

Based on the quality and price value for the food, we will be back again to eat here.

This Girl Has Talent

Stef has been taking art lessons every Monday morning for about the last several months. Now, she didn't know it and neither did I, but the girl has some talent. She is into water colors and in a class taught by our friend Mary Park.

Below, are a couple of samples of her work that we had framed and put up on the wall in the salon area.

Being a very well-known art critic...I can tell you that I am impressed. She has been working on floral objects and now graduating up to sketches of people, but she ain't going to sketch a picture of this ugly old man..

The Girl With the New Green Thumb

Well, my lovely wife has finally did it - She joined a Garden Club and got interested in growing herbs and vegetables. After 3 unsuccessful attempts of starting a garden - she finally got it on the 4th try. - I will let her explain it to you because besides not being able to cook, I have no idea of how to grow food. This is what she put in an email to some of her friends here in Costa Rica:

For those of you Nay-Sayers, my thumb is getting greener!!!! Yeah!

These were just taken this week of my new raised garden. The first time ever I have grown much, and I lost the last 3 gardens for various reasons - - - -bad soil, bad drainage and bad shade - - - -but after researching raised beds and a lot of advice from experienced ones, I came up  with this plan.

Look at the difference in the beds of lettuces, they were taken 3 days apart and I think they are growing about an inch a day!! They sell really bad soil here, so you have to get real creative and just about make your own. I used half soil and half coffee shells in the one on the left and then they ran out of the coffee things, so the bigger one on the right is 1/3 soil, 1/3 charcoal and 1/3 rice shells - who knew!!!!!

  Th

This is the curb view to the garden. It is made of bambo poles with a 50% sun shade over the structure. The two tables you see are where Stef is getting her plants into the soil

She can thank Pete, Gerald & crew and the various suppliers for the new walk to the area, the new sod on each side of the walk, and the new plants that are present.

These are some of the plants she planted only a couple of weeks ago.

Ms. "Green Thumb" coming back to the house after a long day in the garden :-)



Anyway, I'm sure she will keep you all informed of the progress!

May We Have Your Attention

Stef and I moved here what will be 3 years in November. We bought some property and built what we thought was going to be our last home. Well, we put so much into it that it has become much more than we want to handle - We have made the decision to down-size on the lot and house. The objective is to sell the property, buy a lot in Hacienda Atenas with a smaller building area and build another house. I already have the ideas for what we are going to build and have a great builder to build it exactly the way we want. However, to do this we must first sell the current property.

By selling this house and building a smaller one, we will have the time to start doing a lot of traveling throughout Costa Rica, and the rest of the world. I once promised Stef that I would take her to the places in Europe and Asia that I have been...She is still waiting.

The property is listed with many of the local realtor's and we will soon be going on the new MLS with a specific realtor. The link below will take you to one of the realtor's ads that I think is especially cool because it includes the house being shown on You Tube. - let me know what you think.

http://www.property2.realestatecostarican.com/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=417

Wish us luck, and don't worry - we will always have a place for you to stay

The Nashville/Jaco Man

We met Dale Patterson through Bob McDow many years ago. When he found out we were moving to Costa Rica - He told us that he was building a condo on the Pacific Coast in Jaco. This bustling town on the beach is only an hour away from our home.

Because of his busy work schedule, Dale scoots in and out to Jaco and back to Tennessee on a regular basis. He will usually drive through Atenas and meet up with us for lunch or something on his way in or way out. This time, we were fortunate enough to have him stay the night on his way out so he could catch an early flight the next morning.

Here we are having dinner at LaTroja's where Frank grilled up some great food. Dale had a filet and said it was probably the best steak he has ever had - Great job Frank!

When we got back home, Dale showed us pictures of the devastation from the recent flood in Nashville - This was unbelievable, and we are very happy that all of our friends and family made it through with no major problems.



Early the next morning, Dale headed out to the airport to catch his flight. - Don't worry, he will be back soon - We are looking forward to it.

Making Homemade Pasta

Several years ago, our daughter Christie, and her husband Rob gave Stef a pasta maker for Christmas. Christie and Rob are both excellent chefs so they knew exactly how to use this thing. However, it took Stef a couple of years to get the guts to try and make some homemade pasta. With the help of her friend Karolyn, they proceeded to start the process and the end result was outstanding. Check it out..

 Now that they have the hang of this art, Stef is wanting a separate table to mount the pasta maker so they can make much more pasta - Thanks Christie & Rob - The pasta is great!!

Earthquake in Costa Rica

Earthquakes are a common occurrence here. The average is about 300 a year, but most are very small. Yesterday around 4:00 PM, we experienced one that was a little larger than normal. It shook the house a bit and there were waves in our pool. However, everything is cool - nobody hurt and no damage whatsoever to our house or belongings. The quake occurred near Quepos, which is about 40 miles from us on the Pacific Coast.

Below, is an article from the Tico Times website:

A 6.1 magnitude tremor rattled Costa Rica's central valley and the southern zone of the country on Thursday, The Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) reported.

The tremor occurred at 4:16 p.m., with its epicenter located 30 kilometers southwest of the Quepos, a port town on the Central Pacific. It struck at 10 kilometers below the surface along the Coco plate, according to Ovsicori.

As of 5 p.m., Thursday, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) had received reports of fallen objects in houses, but no injuries. In Ciudad Neilly, a small wall in the town center collapsed.

Press officials with the CNE said they didn't see a reason to issue a tsunami warning.

The United States Geological Survey reported the tremor as having a magnitude of 6.2 with a depth of 38.8 kilometers, and centered 67 kilometers south-southwest of San José.

In the Central Valley, Twitter posters reported feeling �very strong� shakes in Orotina, La Guácima, Pavas and Alajuela, west of San José, and in San Pedro and Cartago, east of the capital.

In downtown San José, employees evacuated office buildings. The shakes lasted for roughly 15 seconds in downtown San José.

Now, one very interesting things I learned this morning is that there are a lot of earthquakes every day around the world. California is not the place to be if you are bothered by quakes. Check out this site:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

Anyway, for those of you that are wondering about us - Everything is fine down here - Take care

Carol's New Medical Healthcare Reform Trip

April 19 - 30, 2010

Remember when our friends Bob & Carol were here in November for Thanksgiving? That was the time that Carol decided to design her own healthcare reform plan. And, it was the time the political leaders were fighting over healthcare reform in the US The idea behind this was that the cost of her medical insurance in the US was starting to get out of hand and the cost for excellent medical care here is dirt cheap as compared to the US. The way Carol looked at all this was to cancel her regular medical insurance, get a major medical policy, come to Costa Rica every so often for the routine work. The money she would save would pay for a vacation here every quarter. And, it was much more simple and less costly than what the political leaders came up with. -Ahh Costa Rica - what more could you ask for?

Carol's healthcare venture here began on April 19th. With the tax season over along with the miserable Tennessee winter they had,  it was time to relax a bit and enjoy the beautiful Costa Rica weather.









Stef had some plans in store for the time Carol was visiting here. Carol knew a little bit about it, but didn't know that she was about to become an official member of the Girls Ya' Ya' Club. Stef had made some big plans for the girl's Friday card game. She made arrangements for her massage girl to give massages, and the nail gals from town to come do manicures & pedicures. The event was to start at 9:00 AM and last all day. This convinced me that I didn't need to be around, so I headed to San Jose. It's was really a good idea that I left as you will see below:

Yep, Bloody Mary's in the morning, massages, nails done, cards and more to drink. You can see the effects of this in the picture above. This is what I came home to, but it was good that they had fun. Welcome to the Girl's Ya' Ya' Club Carol.

Now for the medical part of the trip. - What Carol wanted to do was to get her eyes checked - and get some new glasses for driving. Stef got them set up with an eye doctor, and you are not going to believe the results. The exam was $20, Guess what? Both Carol and Stef found out that they had been wearing their contact in the wrong eye for years!! Both of them can see much better now. Carol ordered a pair of glasses for driving and another for reading tiny print. When she got them, she could read things better than ever before, and the cost for both pairs was around $200 - Not a bad price for all of that would you say?

After a few more days of relaxing and reading her books ( Carol loves to read), it was time to head back to Tennessee. The night before she left, we went out for dinner along with our good friends Ed & Johanna. A good time was had by all as you can see in the picture below.

Carol, as always, it was a joy having you here - Your next scheduled medical visit is scheduled when? Looking forward to it!!!!!

Somebody Had a Birthday

 "Pistol" is a nickname that was given to me years ago

Well, I guess that I can say I made it another year in this crazy world. Thank God we are in Costa Rica and away from the hustle & bustle of the north. Anyway, Stef got this idea to take me out to dinner at one of my favorite resturants with a couple of friends. Little did I know that she invited many other of my friends. I really enjoyed this night with these people because they are all very special to me. Especially - my lovely wife Stef. She got going with the camera so I will have to describe who these crazy people are:

This is Don & Elaine - they are a great couple from Canada whom we are fortunate to call our neighbors and friends. They built a guest house, garage and pool here in Hacienda Atenas and plan to build the main house when they retire in a couple of years.

Graham and Mary here - Graham is from Ireland and Mary is from South Africa. Mary is also Stef's art teacher, and has taught her well. They have recently built a beautiful home in the country and are seriously into gardening.

Well, I have to tell you - from left to right - you have Ken who moved here from the Northeast, then you have Ursula who is German and happens to be married to the crazy guy on the right. His name is Robin, and we have become very close friends. Robin is a bio-chemist who is starting a new venture in Costa Rica that will provide many benefits for those in the USA. - In addition, these two guys are on the BOD for Hacienda Atenas and try to keep all of us in line - they have a little problem with this guy, but they still like me.

It's obvious that these two are having fun. These crazy people are Ed & Johanna from CT - We spent 10 days last year on their yacht. Ed is retired NYFD and Jo is a retired divorce attorney. They are a great couple and we love them dearly.

Another great couple is Carolyn & Dennis. They are from Colorado and living here full-time. Carolyn is one of the key members of the group The Ya' Ya' girls. Yes, Stef is also a member - they are into cards every Friday, which gives me and Dennis some free time :-)

Now this is a little deceiving - This is Dan, our new friend and neighbor and our friend Lee. Dan just moved here from Texas and built a beautiful new home here in Hacienda Atenas. Lee is a little worked up because his wife Cathy has been in the USA for 2 weeks, but she will be home in a day or two. For my TN friends it is important to know that Lee played football for The BIG ORANGE UT and also did some coaching there.

This is a great Costa Rican couple - Luis and Mercedes - They have become good friends with Stef and me. Luis is the guy who saved my ass on the construction of the guest house after Pedro bailed out. He also did the same thing on the houses that my friend Charlie was building -  Now, he is building a house for my friend Keith Bell. Besides keeping Luis in line - Mercedes is a godsend in helping us with many things. She also takes care of the finances for Luis's business - In other words - she is the gal I give all the money to at the end of the week.

Here we have the Guanacaste guys. On the left is Marco who is the owner and then we have Manuel on the right. He had a pretty big crush on Amanda and even told some people that I was his future father in law - Fat chance of that Manuel

Guess who this very happy couple is? Yep, you got it - the birthday boy and his lovely wife Stef. We had a great time with these wonderful people and I am thankful that I made it another year. Stef liked that too. Hee Hee

Some Birthday Cards I received

This one was custom hand-made by Ed & Jo. Probably one of the most creative I have ever received. Then, below, you will see one from everyone at the party.

Yes, it was indeed a great night for me - Thank you everyone!!

Cordero Appreciation Day

May 9, 2010

 Left to right: Ana Cecilia, Gerald, Marjorie. Mama Cordero, Don Cordero and  Ana Lilian

Since being here in Hacienda Atenas, we have been very fortunate to learn to know an amazing Costa Rican family here. My friend Robin first introduced me to Gerald who became our contact for getting many things done around the house. Gerald, his father Eduardo, and his brother William are responsible for planting every shrub, and blade of grass on our property. In addition, they have done many other things to help us. We also pay Gerald $40 per month to guard our house at night during the hours of 9:00 PM and 5:00 AM.

In July of last year, there was a horrible car crash when the brakes on their vehicle went out coming down the hill after working on my friend Don's house to lay the sod for my guest house. I do not know how any one of them could have survived the crash, but Gerald and Don Cordero did - Unfortunately, William eventually died from his injuries. - He was an outstanding person who also worked at a school as a guard and the kids absolutely loved him - William, you have been sincerely missed since that time.

His sister Ana Cecilia is here every day to clean the patio areas around the house and and take care of our pool. During the time of the tragedy, this girl took completely over and handled everything that needed to be taken care of.

Another sister, Marjorie, has taken me to the Hospital for tests under the CR National Heath Program - she knows what I need and communicates it to the doctors. Recently, we have hired her to take care of the cleaning of the guest house.

Mama Cordero and Ana Lilian are usually at home to make sure that food is sent out the everybody on the job during the day. In addition, Mama Cordero recently went through a bad situation with diabetes - she has the highest level possible, but continues to take care of the family.

Last year, there were fires around our neighbors house that belonged to Ed & Johanna - The Cordero's jumped in and helped with everything they had - If you would have seen Ana Cecilia leading the fire fighters down a hill through a burning fire with a the lead hose in her hand, you would have been absolutely amazed.

This year when we had the fire around our house, they were back to help again. This time, they brought their cousins, friends and uncles with them to help. Ana Cecilia did it again. - Gerald and his Dad took the pump from the fire truck to pump water from our pool, and Ana Cecilia ran up the hill to the fire with the hose in her hand to put the fire out. - Today - She is better known as "Wonder Woman."

Well, enough is enough and we decided to show our appreciation for this wonderful family. We got together with some neighbors and decided to have them over for a cook-out in their honor. This happened today. We had them over for burgers and chicken and a bunch of sides, I did a banner in their honor and we put together a letter of appreciation. They were flabbergasted because I don't think that anyone ever acknowledged what they have done for the community. I have to tell you that these are some wonderful people!!!

Here, is our neighbor and friend Don grilling all the food for the event.

Everyone chowing down on the great food that was grilled and brought here by the neighbors.

The family with us - you really cannot imagine just how wonderful these people are  - they are friends who we have learned to respect, admire and trust. I once told Robin that I could trust Gerald with my life.

This is a picture of them leaving. They only live about a mile away, so it is ok. By the way - this is the truck that my friend Robin gave them after their vehicle was destroyed in the accident - Not a bad ride.






This is part of what living in Costa Rica is all about!!!

Cost of Living Here

I have had several people tell me that the cost of things are very high here in Costa Rica. Yes, some things are high.Some of this has to do with with the import duties here. I really get a little sick of this crap because I have experienced many positive things about costs here. These are:

• Electronics - yep, expect to pay more for them, or just bring them in from the US.
• Plastics - again, yes they are more expensive.
• American foods -  you had better believe it - If you want to continue to live with those kinds of foods, then you had better expect to pay for them.

These are just a few things that we need to get used to paying excessive monies for, but Stef and I found out that if you quit thinking American and think more Costa Rican, you will save money,  Now, let me tell you the facts about costs:

• Health Insurance - we went from $800 a month with our Blue Cross to $40 per month when we became residents and went on the State run program - I love it -  the doctors are great, the hospitals are great and you don't have to wait for hours to get served.
• Property Taxes - where in the US can you pay $400 per year for a $600,000 home? 
• Labor - we pay about $50 a week for a gardener who works 27 hours a week on our yard and does a fantastic job. - Stef pays our housekeeper $40 a week for a new gal who is here 2 days a week and does great. We also have another great gal who cleans our patio and takes care of our pool for about $20 a week. - The last time we had someone clean our house in the states, this ahole said he deserved $200 for one day's work - figure that one out. - Are you reading this?
• Food - where in the US can you go to have dinner and have meat, salad and vegetables for under $3? Stef goes to the market on Friday's - buys fruit and vegetables and other for less than $6
• Medical - How about $20 a month for a doctor who makes house calls and the deductible is $20? Our doctor here (Dr. Candy) has found problems with us that the US doctors never knew. - Stef just went to an eye doctor here where they charged $20 for an eye exam. Guess what? - Stef was told that she was wearing her contact in the wrong eye for the last 10 years. This is after she had seen 3 eye doctors in the US who told her she was fine. - Dental - figure on 1/3 the cost here from that in the US for advanced procedures from that of the US.
• And much more..

Yep, some things are going to cost you more, but you had really need to take a look at the big things, which really overwhelm the costs of the smaller items. - Think about it.

 

Putting a Little Trama Into Our Life

April 2, 2010

This is what our lot looked like in February 2008 after a fire struck our neighborhood.

This is what the area around our house looked like Saturday afternoon after our lot was surrounded by a fire. It came up so fast that we didn't even know it was there until it crested the hill above our house. Fortunately, the neighbors, two fire trucks and the Cordaro family came to help put it out. We have had fires around here, but when they get that close to home, it's a little un-nerving. The fire department had to use a gas operated pump and take  water out of our pool to put out the flames on the left side of the lot. I have to tell you that our girl Ana Cecilia who takes care of the pool and cleans the patio every day, was the one who called the fire department and carried a fire hose up the hill to put out a lot of the flames. We now refer to her as  "Wonder Woman."

Many of the lots around us were completely burned, but believe it or not this can be good. The lots are cleared for new growth, and nutrients are put into the ground from the fire. In about a month, you won't even know it burned.

Stef was shaken from all this because it did get very close to our house. I told her that they have tornados in Tennessee that you can't do anything about, and we have fires here that you can at least fight. Anyway, we are all ok here - Here is a video of the fire going on around our house

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aKu5KR46ro

 

And now, some more pictures a neighbor took:

Yep, it was all around our house, but everything is ok now. Went and had a couple of drinks the next day, and I am fine. It may take a couple of days for Stef to recover, but she is more emotional than I am. I really want to thank everyone who helped us out during this ordeal.

Take care

Watch Out Nicaragua! - Here Comes the Girls

Stef recently made some new friends who she likes very much. Every Friday they get together and play cards along with some refreshments. The first time they played, it started at noon and didn't finish up until after 7:00 PM.

Well, one of them had to leave the country for 3 days to renew her visa (this has to be done every 90 days if you are not a resident) so they decided to take a trip to Nicaragua to accomplish this task. They wanted to do some big game sport fishing, relax at the beach and enjoy a few good meals. Enough from me about this, so I'll let Stef take it from here:

Thanks Pete
Well, February 3, 2010 I finally did it! Took my first bus ride in Costa Rica. It beats driving a stick shift for hours at a stretch, but I won't do it again. I'll fly or hire a driver. If you have short legs, it may not be so bad, if not watch out! I had pulled ligaments in my legs by the time I got home - after I rode for 8 hours - with my legs cocked out in the aisle because the lady in front of me had her seat set all the way back - so far back that the seat was practically in my lap!! Been there, done that and got the T-shirt!

Enough of that...My friends Cathy, Karolyn and me went to Nicaragua for 3 days so Cathy (far left) could get her visa renewed. Karolyn and I have our residencies so we just went along for the ride. We had a grand time, covered a lot of ground and made the best of the short time we were there. We rented a condo up the hill from San Juan del Sur. It was not withing walking distance, but they provided a shuttle for rides all day long until 10:00 PM, so that worked out just fine for us.  We could not wait to take the "Sunset Booze Cruise" that Karolyn had heard so much about, so we scheduled it for the last afternoon of our trip.


The first day we pretty much just found our way around the area because we did not get to the resort until about 3:00PM. Since we had to be at the bus station in San Jose at 5:00 AM that morning, it made for very LONG DAY. We decided to just cool it and get some rest in order to be ready for the next day.

The second day we had a great breakfast at the Gato Negro Cafe and Bookstore just a block or so from the beach. Then we did some shopping and headed back to the pool for some serious card games - Fun was had by all!!

What happens in Vegas - Stays in Vegas!

The next day the time finally came for the famous "Sunset Booze Cruise"! Yippy! All excited and ready to go our jaws dropped open when the guy at the little office told us "you may want to bring more beer" Now - what does that really mean we said? Well what it really means is they brought one beer for each of us. You heard me - one, 1, uno beer!!

And the boat...OMG. It was a 25' fishing boat with a fiberglass seat running down the middle of it. Then we had the captain whose 10 yr. old son was the second mate. With all this, Karolyn was embarrassed and we started to become worried that we were going to get seasick in the Pacific Ocean. I had insisted on taking Dramamine because of all the sunset trips I have taken over the years. Those were usually on a big catamaran boat that could hold up to 50 people, and had a kitchen and beer cooler. On those trips we would be out for hours and cover several miles. Not today folks! We almost backed out, but the captain, his son and the other passengers (3 Swedish students) - were like just staring at us, so we took a leap and got in the boat. We decided that if we spread our weight around and did not sit too close together - we would be ok, and that is what we did.

We were even allowed to fish. Now listen to this, the helper? He had fishing line on these wooden boards he would hand us, one at a time - mind you because not two of us could stand up together at the same time, remember? So we each fished and all caught something, so that was good.


Karolyn's catch









Then Cathy caught the big one of the day - This is really big game sport fishing!!!

So much for the "Booze Cruise", but it was actually fun.

Back to shore and get ready to leave the next day. Stopped and had dinner at a quaint little place before we retired for the night.

Check out the beautiful sunset. This is what it is all about.

On the last day of our trip we had to leave by noon to get to the bus station for our return. It was a quiet day and an hour to get to the border crossing back into Costa Rica. About the border crossing. You remember our trip to Panama where it cost us $100 in bribes to get across? Not as bad here, but it took us 3 hours to get through and it was HOT, my goodness. Yep - next time I will let the driver get us through, or fly!

Happy Trails, Stef