Our Goodbye Toast - Relocation Costa Rica

This video is from the going away party on 5/14/16
this is our goodbye toast

Love our friends!!!

A Kick-Ass Costa Rica Send Off - Relocation Costa Rica

We are coming to the end of our time here in the states as we will be heading out to Costa Rica in less than 2 weeks!

We have some absolutely wonderful friends who gathered on Saturday night to throw us 

one

kick-ass party.

Good friends, Good food, Good gifts, Good laughs =  A Great Time

and the BEST GOING AWAY PARTY

EVER

(short video at the end of the photos)

Oh and the BEST Bernie Sanders cupcakes (made by my Hillary supporter friends)

because

"Yes, we all can get along"

Best Going Away Party - EVER!!! from Devon on Vimeo.

What are the chances? Our house in Costa Rica

How often do you rent a house

sight unseen

in a foreign country no less 

and then -- just happen to connect with

not one 

but TWO recent tenants? 

The answer for me, would be

NEVER!!

This move has taken on a life of its own!
It has all magically come together, which is another reason that I feel this is the right house for us.

Today, I was in touch with Tina, a former tenant. And guess what else??? Tina and I share the same birthday, May 8 -- which was yesterday, Mother's Day!! Crazy huh? 
Tina shared some additional house information with me and when I remarked about how all of the pieces were falling into place -- she said, "you'll be amazed at how often this type of thing will start to happen!"

I call it serendipity!

Sarah and her family are the most recent tenants and I was fortunate enough to see her comment on Facebook before we rented the house. 

She is the mother of 2 small children and has a blog called Something Adventured.
It was very nice of her to send me so much information regarding the house. It made our decision a lot easier.

I also read her blog post "We Found a House." She has given me permission to share the story, in its entirety, with you today.

We Found a House

We met at the city square, talked for a while, and then headed up to her barrio on one of the mountain sides of Grecia. It is amazing how high you climb within 15 minutes of leaving the city square! She showed us a house that was vacant in her neighborhood. We were in love!! This house not only fit our needs perfectly, the layout could not have been better. We were supposed to meet a Realtor to view a few more rentals, but cancelled as we knew this is what we wanted.

It has 3 bedrooms of which one is ours. The master bedroom has a corner window that the bed looks out. It is hard to get out of bed with a view like this!

The kids are sharing the bedroom next to us

 there is a 3rd separated from the others that we are using a guest room and an office on rainy days. 

Most days we will be working outside. 

There are 2 bathrooms, each with spa jet tubs. The master bathroom tub could fit our whole family if we wanted it to! I am not a bath person, but this is something I may have to test out. The kids have tried out each and are super excited to be taking baths again! 

The dining room is in the center of the house and has a skylight, which is perfect for the afternoon sun. The kitchen is very nice and even has a dishwasher and hot water (this is not usually the case here). There is a gas range that I’m loving. I have never cooked with gas before and this is awesome! We have a living room in the front of the house and a separate TV room in the back. The house has an electric gate to come into the property, as is very common here. And there is a covered porch/car port in the back.

As amazing as the house is inside, nothing compares with the view outside. Breath. Taking. Have I mentioned that we are on the side of a mountain? We are near the top of it and the view is awesome! We can see 4 volcanoes from here with the most well known being Poas, which is off to the left of our view. The biggest one we can see is Turrialba. No worries, they are off in the distance

We plan to go to Poas at some point to hike and will post more about it then. And we are surrounded by coffee fields (mountain grown coffee, anyone?) and can see farms and towns for miles and miles. We can see the neighboring barrio that is in the “valley” (it’s really still on the same mountain), several barrios beyond that,  and we can see to the city of Alajuela. On a clear night we can see the lights of San Jose as well.

We have a lot of privacy here, yet we have neighbors close by. The ones we have met are awesome and we look forward to meeting others. We live in a typical Tico barrio right off the main road.  There are small stores at each end of the barrio, a panaderia (bread store), and two restaurants. There is an organic farm in town that sells delicious vegetables and coffee. They have a monthly event where they show you around the property as well as have a mini farmers’ market. It happens to be today, so we will be going there shortly. There is also a soccer field and a recreation center that offers exercise classes and team sports.

The temperature is lovely! We have around a high of 80 each day (85 is a hot day here) and lows in the 60s at night. One day it only got up to 72 and that is considered a really cold day here. I will take it!! There is no need for air conditioning or heat. We just open the windows during the day and shut them at night.

We are about a 2 hour drive to Jaco Beach and about an 1.5 hour drive to Puntarenas Beach. Going to San Jose or Alajuela takes about 45 minutes each way. However, we can get most of what we need in Grecia. We are only about 15 minutes from the town square and there are local food vendors galore and several supermarkets for other things we may need.

Our landlord is great. He speaks English as well, which is super helpful as we learn Spanish. And his voice totally reminds me of El Macho from Despicable Me. Ha!

We moved in a week ago and it already feels like home. The kids love it, too! There is a small yard to play in and there is a lot to do around town. As for the lady we met that led us to this house, she is amazing! We are very excited that she is going to be watching our children. She has also become our first friend here in Costa Rica and I think we will remain friends even if/when we decide to leave. I believe God led our paths to cross and I am so very grateful.

This view, though….

If you have a chance, please check out Sarah's blog Something Adventured - she writes in detail about her time in Costa Rica and her current life in Spain. 

You can find Tina on her podcasts Start Something.

Thank you Sarah & Tina for all of your help

It won't be long now - Countdown to Relocation Costa Rica

Our 2 boxes were successfully picked up this morning using Door to Door shipping 

by Mario Barquero Ent

The boxes are driven to LA, put into a container, trucked to NJ and then go by ship to their final destination. 

Thank you Johnny Morales -- the West Coast driver! What a nice guy and on time too. 

See you in Costa Rica in about 5-6 wks. 

Next up, get out of this apartment! That move goes down on 5/12.

Day Dreaming and I'm thinking of you - On the move to Costa Rica

Packing is the worse thing EVER!
 I would rather do almost anything else.

'Hey baby let's get away let's go some place, huh'' *Where, I don't care" (Day Dreaming - Aretha Franklin 1972)

However, today (my 1st Monday after retirement)
I am heading into the home stretch of our relocation plan
but first
I must get ALL of my belonging packed. Some will be shipped to Costa Rica at the end of the week, to arrive in about a month. Another group will be stored for use if we return to the US (after all if we do come back I do not want to start over from scratch) Yet another group will be things I am taking in my suitcases.

My strategy is to move items to the living room and pack from there. Clearing the area and then bringing in the next group. It's a bit easier in the living room as I can pack to the chatter of the TV.

YIKES
Currently this is what my living room looks like.
A similar look exists in the bedroom and the bathroom on a smaller scale.

The U-Haul box is what we are shipping to Costa Rica

the box is now a little over 1/2 full

This is our living room in Costa Rica

In between packing I dream about what it will be like to finally arrive in Costa Rica and I look forward to decorating our new house.
Decorating is a favorite of mine (unlike packing)

This is our covered (tiled) patio in Costa Rica
(shown here w/furniture from the house as they were cleaning at the time)

Since a lot of time will be spent outside I having been thinking of ideas to make this space a little more livable

Now, before you get the wrong idea and start sending me comments - we are in no way going to remodel our patio to look anything like the following photos.

I am mostly getting ideas for using curtains. I have a ton of sheers which I will be taking with me and would like to use.
Our patio will have a table and some chairs, possibly a grill and then some other decorations.
Design on the cheap

It's fun to dream though LOL

photo source

photo source 

photo source

OK now, back to packing!

Fifty Days and Counting - Relocation Costa Rica

Our New House in Grecia Costa Rica!

It was a very Good Friday for us!

Here's our new home 

and breathtaking view

nestled in the middle of a coffee plantation

WOW. This one caught us by surprise. We never expected to find a house 2 months before relocating AND sight unseen. Our plan was to go to Costa Rica in June, stay in a little apartment we rented in Grecia while we looked for a house to move into (hopefully) by July. 

And here's where having friends and connections in the location you plan to move to comes in handy!

Not to go into great detail but here's how it all came together.

I met my expat friend, Annette on Facebook prior to our trip to Costa Rica last year. We met in person when we visited. She, along with several other expats have been keeping an eye out for available rental homes for us. 

On Good Friday she messaged me early in the morning to alert me of a possible home for rent which was posted on the Facebook Grecia Forum. I took one look at it and all its amenities and immediately contacted Shirley (representing the owner). Shirley gave me more information and I was even more interested, however, since I am in California,there was no way for me to check it out for myself. Annette doesn't have a car and the bus was running on a holiday schedule, so she contacted another expat friend, Kathleen who does own a car and who happened to live close by. Within a few hours, Kathleen was at the home meeting with Shirley, taking notes and snapping photos (by this time there were also at least 4 other interested parties)

Kathleen returned from her meeting with a glowing review. I had been the 1st person to inquire about the home which gave me a little advantage. Time to act, if we wanted to get this one, was the clear message. I even contacted the former renters to get their opinion. After going back and forth with Shirley and ironing out all the details, we secured the home on Saturday morning.

It's ours and I think we are going to love it!  

BTW - Costa Rica doesn't have regular street addresses in most of the country. Reference points are often used in lieu of addresses. The houses often have names. I think this one has a name as well but we are going to refer to it as "Casa de Coffey" 

Stay tuned for more pics and info

Grecia is noted for its unique church, Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, made entirely of pre-fabricated steel plates painted red.

Happy Easter everyone!

Big shout out and our deepest thanks and appreciation to Annette, Kathleen & Shirley!

We could not have done it without you!!

The Rules Are There Are NO Rules! - Relocation Costa Rica

I've been mulling over in my head over the last few months about what to pack for our year long trip to Costa Rica. I say year long because the plan is to go over for a year and then reassess whether we want to continue living there or possibly move to another country. Either way we'll be coming back home next year to take care of business, tend to any medical needs and restock our supplies. 

My dilemma has been about how much to take and what to take. I've read a lot of information about how to pack for Costa Rica and every single thing I've read has emphasized taking very few things and suggests that the clothes you take include short sleeve tops, flip, flops and casual skorts. Most of the expats have found little use for any type of dressier clothing.

At first the tips really bothered me because although I like to be as casual as the next guy, I also like to dress nice. I'm not in my 20's so the way I dress tends to be a little more dressy. I plan to attend cultural events like the ballet and the symphony. I just can't see myself in yoga pants and flip flops everyday. 

If you pack too light you run the risk of running out of clothes. I would not be happy if I only had 5 or 10 clothing choices. I think you should wake up in the morning and be inspired by what is in your wardrobe. Even in Costa Rica.

Style is personal. It comes from within, from knowing who you are and who you want to be; not from wanting to be somebody else or following someone else's rules. So I decided to be myself and take as many things as I want. To me its better to be safe than sorry. 

photo source

You can never please everyone so dress in what makes you feel amazing. Living abroad you most likely will have a different style than that of the locals. Adopt what you like and mix it with your own sense of style. 

Your wardrobe should contain only amazing choices. If you don’t like the way you look in something before you leave, you probably won’t ever wear it on your trip.

Here are some tips I agree with.

Tips for Travel in Costa Rica 

1. Take the lightest cotton "sun veil" fabrics to wear on or near the beaches. Sarongs over matching bathing suits can double as evening dinner wear. Denim is much too hot near beach areas. A light cashmere shawl is great to wear evenings in San Jose.

2. Consider packing a pair of quick dry pants with zip-off pant legs. They will keep you warmer, protect you from the mud in cloud forests and avoid mosquitoes. 

3. When you are traveling in Costa Rica avoid revealing clothes. Try to dress tastefully and elegantly. Pack light clothing made of cotton which is perfect. You can wear jeans or shots too, but not too short. But the best way is to dress simply and elegantly. If traveling in the mountains, bring a warm jacket, the higher the altitude the colder it is.

4. Take very casual summer separates--shorts, tops. If you intend on being in Cloud Forests or volcano areas, take rubber shoes--cheap ones that you can throw away at the end of the trip. It is very wet and these work great. Take a slicker or rain gear even during dry months. They have very soft gentle rains. Go with neat, simple items--a few skirts and long sleeve tops for night. People do clean up in the evening but not fancy.

5. In San Jose during the rainy season (May-November), people usually carry umbrellas--brightly colored "sombrillas" for women and black "paraguas" for men. In the mountains, a lightweight rain poncho is usually more convenient.

6. Oh and do bring all of your bras as they are very expensive if you have to buy them locally. 

Now, the only thing left is for me to choose which items to take. I have an assortment of clothing already picked out. I am going to following the 10 rule meaning I will take 10 of each type of clothing (dresses, pants, etc). Hopefully I can fit everything in 3 suitcases.

I'll report back. 

Getting down to business! - Countdown to Relocation in Costa Rica

With the clock ticking

102 days and counting

Ask me how we spent our Saturday.

Time to start putting things in boxes
(We also have a lead on a short term rental in Grecia. Tell you more when I know more)

I still have a lot of "things" stored from 3 previous local moves

I am currently storing them in a garage some miles from my apartment

I am long overdue to go though all of these items and
discard the things I have not used in the 

last 7 sevens years
because

I plan to replace some of those items with current ones that I plan to keep
just in case of a possible return to the Bay Area.
You just never know, so I stick by the old Girl Scout motto "be prepared!"

I am not one of those people selling off everything they own and moving with a back pack

So off we went to Home Depot 

(BTW-buying new boxes, even from Home depot, is not cheap) 

We did make a bit of a dent in what was stored, but still have quite a bit to go. 

It was almost like Christmas going through things I had not seen in many years
(I had a lot of good stuff in those boxes)

I did my best to resist the urge to add too many of them back into my everyday life.

After I went through the clothing, we made a trip to Goodwill
(I also took 2 big bags from my apartment last week).
While there, it was interesting that the donation worker told us that
they have been very busy with donations.
Seems that quite a few people are leaving the country.
Some moving to France while others were moving to Europe.

Record number of Americans dump U.S passports

Our plan is to complete the project next weekend.

Oh, and if I haven't told you lately -- I enjoy moving but I HATE packing!!! 

My trunk isn't exactly made to haul boxes

most of them ended up in the back seat

Five months and counting - Costa Rica here we come!

2016 is right around the corner

Do you know how quickly FIVE months can go by? (OK six months for you vacationers) but you will look up and it will be time. Trust me on that!
 

So in an effort to make sure we are all prepared to make the trip to Costa Rica, I am planning for us to meet on Sunday January 31 at 1:00pm at our usual meet up location. 

At this time we are planning for a 10-12 day trip with stops in the Central Valley, Caribbean Coast (Puerto Viejo) and the Pacific side. We can discuss details at the meeting.

First stop - La Terraza Bed & Breakfast - Grecia, Costa Rica 

Nestled in the Central valley's rolling hills and surrounded by sugar cane plantations. Grecia is a picturesque town with a mild climate aka "the cleanest city in Latin America"

I spoke with Jeanetta and she is holding all of the rooms @ LaTerraza for us. If everyone goes that has expressed interest we will need all 5 rooms.

At our meeting we will need a final committment as to who is in and who is out. We will also need to be prepared to make payment for our rooms  very soon after (this can be done online once I receive the rates. We paid $99 plus Tax & fees in March - and BTW - worth every dime!!!)  

New rooms rates will be determined based on # of rooms needed and length of stay. I will confirm rates prior to us making the payments. Curently the rooms are being held from 7/2 - 7/5 (checkout) We can also decide at our meeting if we want to add an additional day. 

The Central Valley and San José

These areas are 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level and thus are much more moderate in temperature.  Days are generally sunny and bright. Low to mid 80s. There are also many more high-end restaurants, more cultural spots (theatre, dance, or symphony), and more locations where you may want to look your best (or your better?).  There are also a ton of night spots where people (especially the young people) dress to the nines.  

Daytime temps seldom go far above 82 degrees F and the nights tend to be moderate in the mid 60's.  Yes, there IS a wind chill factor even is it is 72F.  If you are coming during the 'green season' (late May to November), expect clouds by Noon and rain around 1 PM each day that can last from one or two hours to maybe five or six hours. That still leaves maybe 7 hours of sun each morning, so the rain is not unpleasant at all. 

Bring comfortable shoes for walking and shopping.  Malls here are huge and are not very different than those in the USA. It is easy to spend a day supporting the local economy.  Walking San José is a blast, but the streets are not always in good repair.

For the evenings, you can be as formal or informal as you like, but a lot of folks do dress for the 'better' restaurants or for cultural events.  Many places are air conditioned.

In many places, there is dancing!  So bring whatever footwear you need.  Bands are live and loud!  Dress is all over the place.

Source The Real Costa Rica

Are you game?

As we inch closer and closer to our date, we need to start thinking about the places we will want to go and the things we will want to do in July.

Going to the Caribbean side and hanging out in Puerto Viejo is a definite but what to do and where to go from there?

One possibility would be to hang out and explore the other coast (The Pacific side)

I just happened to receive this youtube from Travel Costa Rica Now dot com on Friday.

What do you think? Looks a lot more tame than most of the zip lining videos I've seen.

Are you in?

If you cannot see the video please click here to view on youtube

Moving to Costa Rica or anywhere outside the country? Blab Expat Chat

The time is drawing closer for us to make our move to Costa Rica.
I've been taking notes and saving info for a few years now and shortly I will start putting some of that info to good use.

I'm full of excitement, anticipation and a bit of fear....
In January I will start the final countdown.

Today, check out this very informative expat chat. I think you will find it enjoyable and full of helpful advice and tips for those thinking of relocating to Costa Rica or any place really.


I was unable to embed the video in the blog because it has not yet been uploaded to youtube but.....you can still see it here on The Young & Black Expat's website.

Or click the link below

Expat Chat with Cha Jones

Have you considered house sitting in Costa Rica?

House sitting ain't for chickens! - Relocation Costa Rica

Here I go again -- investigating something I never considered before.

House sitting

Of course, I knew that house sitting was a possibility because so many of the younger travelling expats were successfully house sitting and sharing their successes online. As a matter of fact it seemed like house sitting was utilized by a healthy majority of the younger set. One month they were in Costa Rica and the next time you heard from them, they were half way cross the globe in Switzerland.  "All well and good" I thought, but since that was not what I had in mind for my retirement, I never really gave house sitting any serious thought. 

Until....I read the blog post about the couple who got married and sold all of their belongings to travel the world. They've been at it for several years now and they are making good use of house sitting. I contacted the couple and after our communication I gained a new found awareness about the possibilities of house sitting. 

All this time, I had the misconception that house sitting was only for the young. That's not true. As a matter of fact, it can be a plus to be older and more "mature". I mean, if you are going to entrust your home to a total stranger you just might want to have a stable, retired, grounded, and experienced older person/couple looking after your possessions. This is actually a situation where older just might be better! (no drunken beer parties!) It's also a BIG money saver, because in the majority of house sits you pay no rent at all in exchange for looking after the house and possibly the pets and some chores (utilities and other monthly bills will be worked out in the agreement). You can travel the world or choose where you want to concentrate. You can find a short term or long term house sit.

Since our container community is several years off, we have some time to explore other housing options. House sitting sounds pretty good to me so I have already begun looking into the process.

Oh, but before you go....

Remember I said "house sitting ain't for chickens??"
bwok, bwok, bwok

Watch

(if you subscribe to this blog by email please click the link to view the video)

I'll report back on my findings.

The endless possibilities of living in a shipping container - Relocation to Costa Rica

At our last several weekly meetings, we have been discussing housing options using alternative construction based on repurposed shipping containers thus reducing environmental impact. Since we will all be downsizing to make the move to Costa Rica, the container home will challenge us to be effcient. We wanted to come up with a relatively inexpensive plan for sustainable housing in a community setting so that we could all live in close proximity to one another. Materials will be renewable, reusable or recyclable. We also plan to utilize solar and incorporate a pool.

Abron, the architect set out to draw up the plans, which he presented to us on Sunday.

We were all pretty impressed and we will begin the search for land (and that perfect spot) when we are in Costa Rica in July

Besides providing food, the roof top terrace also helps to keep the dwelling cool by blocking sunlight from hitting the metal container directly.

Abron is our architect and drew the plans

Container Facts:

Shipping containers are flood and fire proof, making them a great home-building material. Ranging in length from 20 to 30 feet, shipping containers are typically only used for 10 to 15 years, but they can last much longer. A 20 ft shipping container is about 160ft of living space. (I think I heard Abron say that our containers are 40ft but don't quote me!) It is estimated that there are 24 million empty shipping containers in the world that will not be used for cargo again.

Container Plans for Costa Rica pt4 from Devon on Vimeo.

Where will we build?

Container Plans for Costa Rica pt 2 from Devon on Vimeo.

There are 4 short videos all total. If you are interested in hearing a bit more of our container discussion meeting check them out on Vimeo.