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Published: September 30th 2005
The week started off nicely on Sunday with a full house of guests brought by George Lundquist, (www.costaricaretireonss.com) one of the people here who do “retirement tours” for people—mostly North Americans—considering spending their latter years (or not so latter years) in this beautiful country. It’s a nice tour and I’m glad he comes to stay with us every month at Angel Valley Farm B&B. He gives a great “insiders” view of Costa Rica and shows his clients property for sale throughout the Central Valley. I am still amazed at the prices here for which one can buy a nice piece of land and build a custom home. Who said living the “good life” had to be expensive? A great group for those considering a move to Costa Rica is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CostaRicaLiving/.
Monday was a chaotic day. It started with an early breakfast for George’s group before they headed out on the remainder of their tour. Everyone loved the breakfast and left happy. The kind of customer I like and hope I get every time: They get a good night’s sleep, often with rain to lull them to sleep, and wake up to a bright morning, full of energy and ready to go, after enjoying our breakfast.
Right after the guests left, literally within five minutes, we lost our water due to some kind of pipe break up in Zacero. The water came back on by 6pm and I was thankful because I had not showered all day (and I had to use a makeshift “outhouse” outside….). Yes, we do have very good indoor plumbing with hot water here! We rarely have issues like this, but like anywhere, natural events occur, such as the heavy rains the day before, and that can cause a water main break. In fact, other parts of the country have had huge amounts of rain and at Quepos on the Pacific coast, there apparently was a quite a bit of flooding. Later this week I’m installing (correction: having installed) a big backup water tank to carry us for 3 or 4 days, just in case. For more on the flooding in Costa Rica, you can read the Tico Times: http://www.ticotimes.net/index.htm.
So, with a lack of water….
Rather than sit around a bit grubby all day, I did a brief tour to see more of the area surrounding San Ramon. I’ve discovered that some of San Ramon’s suburbs are quite nice with beautiful homes. I also learned that there are some incredible properties with waterfalls and views of the Pacific/Nicoya Penisula. I knew this already but hadn’t seen many areas around San Ramon until today. I was also introduced to a new restaurant in San Ramon for lunch, called “El Rinconcito,” a great place for a quick and cheap meal, mostly typical Costa Rican.
In between doing all the things it takes to run a successful business, I’ve found myself either reading or writing in my off hours. I’ve always wanted to read Bill Clinton’s autobiography because I was curious about what he would say about some the personal controversies he had during his presidency. However I refused to pay for the hardback copy, $30 at the time it came out, so I bought it in paperback. However, it was such a long book that his publishers had to create two paperbacks! It’s over 1200 pages and I finished the first volume last night. I enjoyed the first volume because I knew little about his early years, before he became President. Tonight I’ll start the “Presidential years.”
I am also writing often. Between this blog and the writing I’ve started to do a little of on travel and tourism, I’m keeping busy. I don’t think most people know that as a kid I wanted to be a writer, and even at the age of 14 I sometimes bought “Writer’s Digest,” a professional magazine for writers. One of my favorite authors is the famous travel writer, Paul Theroux, author of “The Mosquito Coast, “Riding the Red Rooster,” and others. I’ve read every book I am aware of that he’s written and someday soon I am going to write my own travel narrative. Ha! I guess in some ways this is a travel narrative!
You may have noticed I have put a few website links in this blog for the first time. I will do that periodically when I find good sites on Costa Rica or have a personal relationship with the site’s owner and want to let people know about friends of mine here.
I’ll probably go on a brief weekend trip soon. I might hop the bus and head to Granada, the oldest “colonial town” in all of Central America, in Nicaragua, or visit a small beach area here in Costa Rica I heard about across the sound from Punteranas on the Pacific Coast/Nicoya Peninsula. This area is apparently mostly visited by Ticos and has beach cabins for $8/night with the beaches often deserted. I’ll report on the beach if I end up there—and will have pictures, of course—but for now I’m keeping it my secret until I get a chance to see it and do some “product testing,” (essentially lying on the beach and then finding a nice little café for beer or lunch.
This week we started work on the front yard of house, putting in a stone patio and walkways along with nice new sod. We also bought a bunch of tropical plants we’ll plant tomorrow that should bring a good deal of color to the front of the house and give it, as they say in the states, “curb appeal.” I think the new plants will provide for quite a dramatic entrance as our guests and friends pull up into our driveway.
The puppies are doing well. They are still driving me nuts but they’re adorable just the same. No rain the past few days. It’s nice to have a break from the rainy season!
Pura Vida!
Andrew
Am4cr@hotmail.com
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Chris
non-member comment
What is "typical" Costa Rica Food.
Hi Andrew, Enjoying the blog and looking forward to visiting you and Beth soon. You have commented on typical costa rican food many times and we have even seen pictures. Can you give us more descriptions. You know I love to eat and am always up for trying something new. Give the puppies and hug for me. I bet they are quite a handful. All the Best.