I'm moving in!

I just realized that I had not published my blog from July! But here it is September and I am moving into my house in 8 days. There are still finishing touches to be completed, but my household goods will be delivered this Friday and I will take up permanent residence on Sept. 16th.

The whole construction process has been so wonderfully managed by my Tico friend who is bilingual. Without his help this effort would have been impossible as I am not yet able to communicate in Spanish. But I have been working with a fantastic architect and with a great construction team. Never having built a home before, I am amazed at the number of decisions that have had to be made - from the type of ceiling wood to the baseboards in the rooms. It has been fun! And I will be able to say, for the first time, that this house is really MY house.

My next big endeavor will be to begin the process of obtaining pensionada status. Under the tourist visa I have to leave Costa Rica for a minimum of 72 hours every 90 days. Although the "leaving" can be anywhere outside of CR, because family lives in Florida that has been my destination so far. The airlines, however, will not allow one to fly on a one-way ticket, forcing me to buy round trip from Florida unless I can already prove (via a ticket to Panama? Europe?...) that I will be leaving within the 90 day timeframe. I plan to make plenty of visits back to the States but need to schedule them at more convenient times that every 90 days. The devil is in the details!

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