Day 12: Dirt Roads and Veggie Loads

---

Cher and I went for a nice walk last night around the neighborhood. It was warm and I was wearing my pajama pants with no shirt, my usual dinner attire here. Something crawled across the road in front of us that we thought might have been a crab that had strayed a little too far from the ocean. It turned out to be a very large spider. We commented on how cool that was and kept walking.

It’s amazing how quickly we adjust to things that are different or that would normally be considered scary; I’ve grown used to the constant growl of howler monkeys, the lizards running everywhere (including the one living in our house), and the crocodiles out back. I actually went looking FOR crocodiles on my morning kayak paddle today and was disappointed to not see any today.



One thing that we are still getting used to is the hard fact that we need to constantly lock up all of our windows and doors when we leave the house, as well as keep the front doors locked even when we are in the house to reduce the risk of robbery. We are not at risk of being harmed or assaulted but it is possible that someone might wander into the house and grab something that’s at hand without us even noticing.



The fact is that most locals will never, ever, be able to afford an iPhone or iPad and stealing is the only way they will ever get one. We knew this before we came down of course, and the feeling of potentially being robbed was the cause for a lot of sleepless nights. We’re finally getting over the fact that we need to hide our electronic devices every night and set the alarm. The reality is, a lot of people back home use their alarm systems all the time. Come to think of it, we used to sleep with the alarm on at home every night until I got frustrated with the constant false alarms and ripped the system out of the wall one night. Ironically, I slept MUCH better after disabling the alarm system.



Here are some challenges so far:



- Charlie is settling in well at school but Ella called home crying today. She’s having a difficult time fitting in with her group of kids that speak almost exclusively Spanish to each other. I truly hope she makes a good friend at school and learns to fit in. I do believe it’s just a matter of time. We did find a girl the same age as her (Bella) that lives a few minutes away so it’s possible they may start to hang out together.



- This is our first week back at work and yesterday was really frustrating with neither of us being able to have telephone conversations with clients without the calls dropping or our having our part of the conversation just completely garbled. It turns out that upload speeds here are really slow AND Charlie had left his computer on which was seeding downloaded content to the world of Bit Torrent users. This was completely killing our available bandwidth and we had a nice conversation about it when he got home. It won’t happen again :- )



- Steve and Priscilla (our landlords) have turned out to be SUPER nice people. They have quickly responded to any and all issues and are becoming friends. They went into Tamarindo today to get us signed up for a faster and more reliable internet service. This should completely fix any problems we are having that might impact our work communications.



On the bright side, I booked my first gig, at the Garden Grill restaurant, and have two other bars interested in having me play. This should be fun!



Boogie boarding has turned into our favourite activity. As Ella and I agreed yesterday “I would take one hour of boogie boarding here over a full day at Canada’s wonderland”. It’s exhilarating, exhausting and just great, free, fun!



The real highlights so far have been in fulfilling little bits of the vision that we had in coming down here. Namely, we have found a local couple (Marcela and Sergio) that are delivering fresh produce and seafood to our home twice a week at about ½ the price of what we would pay in Ontario. I’ll post a separate note on that experience for those of you interested in the cost of living down here.



We also have a weekly delivery set up of fresh bread and croissants (plain and dark chocolate-filled) from Manfred, the German expat that lives 3 doors down from us. He was a hotel/restaurateur for many years and now runs a home-based bakery for the local expats. His baked goods are absolutely delicious and arrived warm and fresh out of the oven on Sunday morning. MMMM….good!



We are walking, biking, surfing and (I am) kayaking on a regular basis. We are eating well and really enjoying the opportunities available to us in this forever warm climate.



My favourite thing so far has turned out to be a bit of a surprise - dirt roads. Walking and biking on these dirt roads elicits some strange rural instinct that I never knew I possessed. It’s almost impossible to articulate but there is something deeply romantic (for me anyway) about seeing people WALKING, with groceries in hand, or to and from local restaurants, the beach, etc… on these rough and bumpy dirt roads. Think about images of rural Africa or South America and this is what we have here all around us. If one of our goals was to slow down, then there is nothing like a dirt road to serve as both a metaphor and real device for accomplishing this. The roads are so bad you can’t drive more than 20kph on them. So instead, you take your time. And in taking your time you are free to notice the birds, the flowers, the fruit trees, the lizards, the trees and the people who all give you a friendly “Hola”.



So, yes, we are having a few challenges but overall, the air is soft and the people are warm. What’s not to love about this place so far?

---

Photos

Costa Rican Bike Gang
Stay away from this crowd. They are tough!!

Injured Bird
This little yellow warbler flew into our patio doors and after about 30 minutes of slow recovery, flew off to join his friends.

Marcela and Sergio
Our bi-weekly delivery of fresh fruit, veggies and seafood. All with smile (and half of what it would cost in Ontario).

Kayaking
We've been lucky enough to have access to two kayaks and an amazing estuary right out back. My morning paddles are awesome.. birds, crocs, monkeys...

Waiting for the Water Taxi
No docks due to the tides.. just step into the boat and go. A beautiful 10 minute ride to or from Tamarindo in a small motor boat.

Comments

[Zlata Happy]

Song about Dirt Road possibly
Hey Dan looking forward to your new song, it's there somewhere. Ella will adapt. Remember what Mom said about tears. Cry, moje djeto, cry, there will be less pee, or something like that. Give my girl and guy a big hug. Kisses to Cher. See you soon.

[Anne Bokma]

Lovely writing Dan!
I see you aren't just a songwriter but a great reporter as well. Your posts are full of great detail! Sounds like you are settling well into life in Costa Rica, but not without some road bumps along the way -- isn't that just like life? And you've got some gigs already -- that's awesome! Anne

[Margaret Knechtel]

Creepy crawlies and reptilian beasties
I can't help but wonder why one would say "cool" to an enormous spider, perhaps because one is in denial that they now are co-habitating with such creatures, mayhaps even poisonous? And Dan, last I heard crocodiles always win. However, it sounds like an amazing family and life experience