My morning walk today took me first to the super mercado that I prefer but since I found out thet their discounted days are Wed. & Sat. I decided to put off my shopping until Wed. So I headed in the direction that I walked on Saturday when I didn't have my camera with me. I had it in my mind that I would focus on taking photos of dogs, plants & flowers. While walking through town I ran into another couple staying here at Ana's Place. I mentioned that I met Roger in the cabana yesterday. Today I met his wife....I feel bad because now I can't remember her name:( They were waiting outside a pet store to speak to the owner since their new little puppy was sick. I'm not sure if the owner ... read more

Well someone replaced the toilet upstairs that was causing leaks in my bathroom this morning. It really hasn't been a big problem but I noticed last night that there's some mold developing where it's wet. Darren said he's ordering three new ceiling tiles. As with everything in Latin America one has to be patient. As I am trying to keep my expenses down while here (okay other than dark chocolate) I cooked up a large batch of brown rice this morning. It'll come in handy to eat in the coming days. Doing laundry here still feels like a novel experience due to the semi-automatic washing machine. Once you set the dial to wash/rinse, and turn the lever to wash, you then add the clothes a soap and turn on the spigot (Keith it's exactly like the ... read more

The weekly farmer's market here is very impressive. I left my apartment at 7:30am, it took me less than 10 minutes to walk there, it was already bustling with Tico vendors of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, breads & sweets (none gluten-free), plants & flowers and shoppers. Many shoppers were Ticos, I'd say 2/3. The rest appeared to be caucasion. It's difficult to be sure since many Ticos are light-skinned. I'm told that's from the European influence. But there are also people who have more of an indigenous look. I took a number of photos, that I'll upload soon, after taking my time looking at everything then buying as much as I could carry in my backpack & in a large bag by hand. For the next week I'll be vegetarian! The whole feria experience was ... read more

Today has been a very busy & special day since I have finally moved to Atenas! I left Nitzi's house at 9am in a taxi that she called, one that she uses all the time. Jose was the driver. By 9:30 we I was dropped off, along with my very heavy 2 suitcases and backpack with all of my belongings. I was lucky enough to find a place on the many benches for people waiting for the many buses at Coca Cola. During my half-hour wait I had a man, gringo, offer to help me with my suitcases when I needed to get in line then eventually have them out in the storage area underneath the bus seating area. His name was Lou and he's from Chicago getting away from the cold winters there too. He ... read more

My friend Kat met us at the Atenas Bus Stop where we got off the bus about noon. The first thing we noticed was how much warmer it was there! Ahhhhh....well into the 80's I think! I started peeling off a couple of layers. We had our nice greetings & hugs and I introduced Margie. Then we took a taxi to take us up to a house where I had scheduled to check out a possible room to rent. It was in a gated community called La Roca Verde, The Green Rock. I will try to upload photos the owner sent me after I finish this blog. It's a very nice, new & modern American-type house. I was getting a bit desperate to move into Atenas for the warmer weather and smaller community so the possibility ... read more