Arrived in San Carlos

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Mike and I arrived in San Carlos on Thursday of last week and it seems like every day we’re in this area, the more we feel at home. San Carlos is quite a large area. It’s more like a county containing many small towns such as Ciudad Quesada, Muelle, La Fortuna and Santa Rosa. It’s northwest of San Jose in case anyone is looking at a map.

On the way to San Carlos, Mike decided we would diverge from the route we knew and see some towns we hadn’t yet visited. Maps of Costa Rica, however, tend to be a bit lacking - as does road signage - and, needless to say, we got a bit lost. We ended up on some bad 4x4 roads. For the first time we found ourselves uttering the words, “We’re lost in a pineapple plantation.” I can say that a year ago, I did not think those words would be coming out of my mouth. Our little side trip, however, managed to provide for us a beautiful sunset, which we pulled over to watch and capture. How nice it is to be able to take the time to do something so simple.

When darkness had set in and we were officially lost, we managed to find a family to ask directions. They were about to head out on foot to the main road, which was quite a hike from their house. We offered them a ride and they gave us directions back to the main road. Now, with all our bags there was really only room in the back seat, and with 4 people piling in and one more waiting to find a seat, the truck was packed. The last girl laughed and jumped on the tire on the back of the truck. She said she was fine and that she would just hold on. Can you imagine someone doing this in the States? First off, no one would give someone a ride because we’d be afraid of getting mugged. Second, you wouldn’t be comfortable with someone riding on the outside of the truck for fear of getting sued should something happen. Neither is a factor here. Giving rides to people is commonplace here, considering that cars are a luxury in rural areas and suing people simply isn’t done. If it is, it’s not nearly the magnitude as we know it in the U.S.

Upon dropping off the family, the one girl who rode on the tire asked us where we were headed. We told her about the budget hotel we had stayed in with Gerardo, El Higueron. It turned out that she went to school with the owner’s son, Wilkie, who we had met the night before. We assured her we would say hello for her when we arrived.

When we finally made it to Santa Rosa, a 1.5 hour drive had turned into a 5 hour “excursion”. El Higeuron was all booked up but Wilkie was able to direct us to Cabinas Katty just up the road. He didn’t seem to remember the girl we had met, although he certainly remembered us - the gringos who took their room keys with them two nights before. We wondered if maybe the hotel did in fact have rooms available, just not for us! Haha…On a serious note though, Wilkie was very gracious about our little mistake and made us really feel as though it was no big deal.

Cabinas Katty, while a bit more expensive, was a little nicer. Still no hot water, as that appears to be non-existent in budget hotels in this area due to the heat here, but nevertheless, the place was clean, the mattresses a bit nicer and there was a TV in the room. If looking to spend some time in Santa Rosa on a tight budget however, either place would do fine.

Yesterday, we set out to make phone calls and find a place to rent for the week. We are now staying at Cabinas Beitzy in Muelle. Can’t beat a room with a tiny fridge and TV for $10 per night after some negotiations. Being here in the rainy season and being able to rent for an entire week definitely allows you some room to work with the innkeepers on prices. The place here isn’t the best but once again, if you are traveling on a tight budget and don’t mind cold showers and inside doors that are merely curtains hanging on pieces of pipe (the “door” to the bathroom has fallen on my head 3 times already), then this place will do just fine.

Currently, we are 30 minutes away from Arenal Volcano. I have to say that I’ve never been so close to an active volcano before and it makes quite an impression. It’ll make you realize how small you really are in the face of nature. How magnificent this natural beauty really is when you see it with your own eyes!

The surrounding areas are all very promising and we have also found that there are several internet cafes here. We have found one that we really like in the town of Santa Rosa (less than $1 an hour) and another one getting ready to open its doors within the next few weeks. E-mail brought news that our shipment has arrived and was not inspected, which should mean a low import tax for us. Anyone else with good news should feel free to e-mail us, as we do have good access to the internet here, despite our earlier fears. The prospects of keeping the blog regularly updated look promising, so stay tuned!

We’ve been spending every day venturing around with different folks looking at farms. The only real way to find properties here is to talk to people. We have been surprised that there are little or no “Se Vende” (For Sale) signs around. The connections we’ve made have been more from talking with folks in restaurants. However, we do have one realtor and one “property finder” (this guy made sure we understood that he wasn’t a realtor) also looking around for us.

So far, every day we’ve had properties to see. One thing I really like about being here and buying property is that you don’t have to sign with one person. Right now, we have 7 people looking for properties for us. It’s always interesting when we’re out with one of them and another one calls us to schedule a day to look at properties. You can see the look of concern on the face of the guy we’re with. It’s quite a buyer’s market here although it’s definitely also a buyer’s beware market. The guys showing you around will tell you anything to get you to buy. Fortunately for Mike and I, we have no problems expressing what we don’t like about the properties and asking to see more.

We usually look at 2-3 properties per day. By the time we get back in the truck after seeing the last property, we are officially exhausted. The farms are anywhere between 50-90 acres and you need to walk the entire property. Some are neglected and overgrown, others are dense rainforest, and my favorites have clear cut paths you can follow due to cattle making trails. No matter what you encounter, it’s not easy hiking. Mike and I have been wearing our rubber boots around every day and spraying the insect repellent (which never seems to work for me as I currently have 34 bug bites. I also acquired a nice barbed wire gash on my knee. Glad we got our tetanus shots before we left the States).

I can’t begin to calculate the number of miles we’re walking every day, nor the grades of some of the inclines we’ve had to trek. It’s a lot different than hiking at home where there are actual trails. Here, you have to be really careful when walking through the rainforests as what you think may be a branch that’s going to help you navigate a steep incline may in fact be a snake. On the plus side, we generally come away from each farm with an armful of freshly picked fruit - oranges, mandarins, lemons, limes, guava and one of our new favorites - a yellow oblong beauty that looks like a small, deflated football - called a carambola. We brought some carambola into our favorite restaurant in Santa Rosa, La Fuente, and asked the owner what we could do with them. He excitedly went back and whipped up an amazing refresco (fruit, water, sugar and ice) that was the best we’ve had yet.

It’s the perfect time of year for us to be looking at properties, considering it’s the rainy season. We have been down some roads where you definitely needed to have a 4X4 and some that even I was a little nervous to venture down, as large ruts caused by rain run-off can be a big problem and some properties have been saturated with water. Those properties are a little hard to be positive about as you already know you are not interested however our “realtors” still insist on taking you to check them out. Once you meet the owners and see how proud they are of their land, it’s hard to not put on those rubber boots and start walking.

Other properties have had extremely steep inclines, some with no water or electricity, and most with prices simply too high for us. One guy even asked for 20k more than his asking price once he saw that we were gringos and yet another guy came down 40k because he needs to move to the city to be near his kids. Prices are all over the board. However, after seeing so many properties, Mike and I now have a good idea of what land is worth here depending on its attributes. The beauty of the process is that we have plenty of time to find the right property, we are in no rush to make a snap decision, and we have multiple people calling us every day to show us their new finds. The right property will present itself when the time is right.

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Photos

Hummingbird at La Paz Waterfall
La Paz is on the way to San Carlos from Heredia. You pass right by La Paz Waterfall.

Hummingbird at La Paz Waterfall
La Paz is on the way to San Carlos from Heredia. You pass right by La Paz Waterfall.