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 [View Full Entry]

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It’s been a little while since I wrote so I thought I’d take the time once again to share my thoughts with whomever is ready this—hopefully many people. I get many emails from people. Most are from people who want to be here, others are already here and want to learn more about San Ramon (where I live), and others just want to get to know other people in the area. Whatever their reasons, it’s great to hear from people who also are taking the “road less traveled.” The photos throughout this blog entry are fairly random—just a smattering of our [View Full Entry]

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When will the rains come? We’ve had some spurts of rain lately and I would have that thought that by now the rainy season would be in full force with the typical afternoon/early evening showers but we have not seen that yet. Maybe I’m just forgetting as I enter mine fifth rainy season in Costa Rica. I’m sort of hoping they come soon (even though most people that realize I prefer the dry season), because this transition season is no fun. At least in the U.S. fall is a great transition to winter, but here it is as if the weather [View Full Entry]

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It’s been since March, 2008 that I updated my blog. That’s over a year! I didn’t realize it had been so long. So, just to get a few facts straight: 1. I’m still alive (and well!). 2. I’m still here in San Ramon, Costa Rica 3. The B&B is still here—and we now have super-duper high speed Internet. 4. I’m still doing tours and real estate development. 5. And, I’m still traveling the world when I can! Photos The photos throughout this entry are various scenes from the San Ramon area. What’s up!? So, what’s happened i [View Full Entry]

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I visited the site of my casita in Baho La Paz last week. When I was there in February the bulldozer was not able to complete the land leveling (NO trees were removed!!!) because of the heavy rains. But now, 1 1/2 months later, all the walls are up, the crown is being finished, and the roof starts this week. It is becoming VERY real - this move anticipated to take place sometime this summer. I have a wonderful crew of Ticos working on the house - a master builder and assistant and 5 brothers in the Ramirez family. The Ramirez's [View Full Entry]

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The train is leaving the station! I am retiring at the end of June and moving to the Baho La Paz area as soon as my house is ready for occupancy. Although I have become dear friends with several Tico families in the area, I also still want to reach out to other North Americans in the area just to create a network of friends and acquaintances (and to seek advice, too). I am a retiring university professor/administrator and will continue teaching online for the university (University of Maryland University College) after I get settled in Costa Rica. I am very [View Full Entry]

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Being a former restaurant owner and foodie, I love learning about local foods. Costa Rica is blessed with some of the best fruits, vegetables, fish etc. in the world but local cuisine is sometimes lacking creativity and strong flavors. Since moving to the country, my neighbor Mariellas has been inspirational in teaching me some local favorites. We just planted an organic vegetable garden that both our households will share and we also have plenty or oranges, limons and bananas on our land. On a lazy Sunday, our neighbors invited us over to make cheese empanadas. Their famil [View Full Entry]

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Thursday Costa Rica had a major earthquake. The current information is 23 are dead, 11 are missing and 2,300 people have been left homeless. The epicenter was near Poas Volcano just a few hours from my home in San Ramon. President Arias declared some areas uninhabitable in the future. There were photos of people walking away with just a garbage bag filled with a few possessions with all else lost. The planet seems to be reacting strongly with extreme weather all over the world and natural disasters on a regular basis. Fortunately, there was no damage or impact to the people, [View Full Entry]

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Preston and Andrew took us to the properties that they have in San Ramon. They are so beautiful they don't look real. One property had a lot with this incredible tree that looked like something out of a movie. Piper wanted that lot... it would make for an amazing back yard... [View Full Entry]

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Sunday in Costa Rica and that means... football! What? Yep. Mark is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and Preston (our other tour host) is a rabid Buffalo Bills fan. Preston usually comes to the B&B to watch games so he was quite happy to discover that the current guests were all in favor of watching the games. We called Mark's parents after the game (mostly just to tell them we were able to watch it just like we were at home. His mom had been freaking out just a bit that her "kids" were in a "foreign country.") I had purchased [View Full Entry]

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