Thursday 6/3- our no driving day. That’s quite alright, though. We have plenty of unpacking, organizing, and lots of figuring out what to do. We don’t have internet at our house yet, and really unsure when we will be getting it, so we won’t be spending a lot of time on the internet. (We have limited data on our phones and didn’t want to use it all up, so no sitting around and playing all day). We spent a few hours unpacking, organizing, and finding places for everything that we brought with us. It seemed to work out well, everything that we had found a home and it all fit in this little house! We did end up with a shopping list of things that we are probably going to have to buy soon. Some of the things are things that we have packed in storage back up in MN that we knew we would eventually want to bring here, unfortunately some of these things we’ll need before we have a chance to go back and get the rest of our stuff. Breeze seems happy enough here. She doesn’t stray far from us and always keeps us in sight. It still seems like she has separation anxiety, hopefully that goes away! (Also, we couldn’t find a dog bed for her anywhere down here, so she gets to sleep on the couch- spoiled dog!! That’s why you’ll see a sheet draped over it).
Friday 6/4 we could drive again so we went into town. We checked out the hardware stores again for some of the items on our list and found some but passed on most for now since things are more expensive here than in a little bit bigger city. We could live without most of them for a week or so until we made the trip back in to San Isidro, so we decided to wait. We stopped at the grocery store for a few more items now that we had an idea of what we had and what we still needed. In Costa Rica, farmers markets or ferias are a huge deal. Every town has at least one a week, and the bigger the town, the bigger the feria. This is where you can get the best and freshest fruits and vegetables at the best prices. There are usually other hand made things there too, like locally made dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc), hot sauces, fish from the local fishermen, and crafty items. I tried not to buy more vegetables than I had to because the big feria in San Isidro is on Thursday, and that is when we decided that we were going to go in for our big shopping trip. You also sometimes find fruit stands set up on the side of the highway where you can get fresh and inexpensive fruits too. We happened to get lucky and found one today on our drive. We bought 2 pineapples, 2 kilos of mangoes (about 4 lbs), and 4 of the largest avocados I’ve ever seen for about $12. I think that’s a good deal…?
I hadn’t been on my computer in over a week and had some things to do that are just too tough to do on the phone. We had the whole place to ourselves, so Ramie and I got down to business while Breeze wandered around and checked things out. Unfortunately, we didn’t have access to plug anything in, so once our computer batteries were dead, we were done with that. We did use that opportunity to call home, though, and let the families know we were getting settled into our little house.
Saturday 6/5- Another no driving day= relax more or less. I know this isn’t supposed to be a vacation, but we are having some time like that, for now at least. Without internet, I am kind of stuck. I can’t look for any online work, I can’t start the certification to teach English, I can’t really do much of anything on that end of things. In the few times we’ve talked to Loren, he hasn’t mentioned anything about any jobs for Ramie yet, but we have only been here a few days.
At this point, the next few days all start to blur together. We didn’t do a whole lot of anything, we went into town a couple of times just to get some new scenery, and check out the stores that we wouldn’t normally go to while we vacationed here. We stopped and used the internet a few times. We saw one of our neighbors here in the gated area out walking/running the hills. We decided that was a good idea and we were going to start doing that too. These hills are STEEP, and it would take us a while to get acclimated and into shape enough to do what this neighbor was doing, but we were going to start! All 3 of us (Ramie, Breeze & I) went for a walk one day and met this neighbor while he was out for his exercise. His name is Mike, he has been living here for about 8 years, and he has sold his house and will be moving in a month or so. We talked for over an hour out there on the trail, he gave us some good information, and we went on our ways. After this, we went for walks up these hills every day. We are determined to get into shape!
Friday 6/4 we could drive again so we went into town. We checked out the hardware stores again for some of the items on our list and found some but passed on most for now since things are more expensive here than in a little bit bigger city. We could live without most of them for a week or so until we made the trip back in to San Isidro, so we decided to wait. We stopped at the grocery store for a few more items now that we had an idea of what we had and what we still needed. In Costa Rica, farmers markets or ferias are a huge deal. Every town has at least one a week, and the bigger the town, the bigger the feria. This is where you can get the best and freshest fruits and vegetables at the best prices. There are usually other hand made things there too, like locally made dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc), hot sauces, fish from the local fishermen, and crafty items. I tried not to buy more vegetables than I had to because the big feria in San Isidro is on Thursday, and that is when we decided that we were going to go in for our big shopping trip. You also sometimes find fruit stands set up on the side of the highway where you can get fresh and inexpensive fruits too. We happened to get lucky and found one today on our drive. We bought 2 pineapples, 2 kilos of mangoes (about 4 lbs), and 4 of the largest avocados I’ve ever seen for about $12. I think that’s a good deal…?
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| 2 different types of HUGE avocado |
We brought all of our finds home, put them away, grabbed Breeze and our computers and headed down to the mini-golf course to use the internet.
I hadn’t been on my computer in over a week and had some things to do that are just too tough to do on the phone. We had the whole place to ourselves, so Ramie and I got down to business while Breeze wandered around and checked things out. Unfortunately, we didn’t have access to plug anything in, so once our computer batteries were dead, we were done with that. We did use that opportunity to call home, though, and let the families know we were getting settled into our little house.
Saturday 6/5- Another no driving day= relax more or less. I know this isn’t supposed to be a vacation, but we are having some time like that, for now at least. Without internet, I am kind of stuck. I can’t look for any online work, I can’t start the certification to teach English, I can’t really do much of anything on that end of things. In the few times we’ve talked to Loren, he hasn’t mentioned anything about any jobs for Ramie yet, but we have only been here a few days.
At this point, the next few days all start to blur together. We didn’t do a whole lot of anything, we went into town a couple of times just to get some new scenery, and check out the stores that we wouldn’t normally go to while we vacationed here. We stopped and used the internet a few times. We saw one of our neighbors here in the gated area out walking/running the hills. We decided that was a good idea and we were going to start doing that too. These hills are STEEP, and it would take us a while to get acclimated and into shape enough to do what this neighbor was doing, but we were going to start! All 3 of us (Ramie, Breeze & I) went for a walk one day and met this neighbor while he was out for his exercise. His name is Mike, he has been living here for about 8 years, and he has sold his house and will be moving in a month or so. We talked for over an hour out there on the trail, he gave us some good information, and we went on our ways. After this, we went for walks up these hills every day. We are determined to get into shape!
Now- keep in mind- these are no regular hills like you see in the US. We literally put our car in 4WD and 1st or 2nd gear to go up and down these hills. They are minimum maintenance dirt roads with grass and weeds growing up through them. They are slippery clay mud when they are wet, and have lots of loose rocks to trip and slip on. Trust me when I say you have to be CAREFUL walking up and down these hills- one bad step on a loose rock will have you rolling or sliding all the way to the bottom of the next hill! It wouldn’t be a stretch to think you might slide all the way down either on your butt or on your face, depending on how you fell. hahaha They definitely wouldn’t pass US standards! That’s ok, this is all about the adventure, right?
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| Its hard to capture the incline but the yellow line gives you some reference to the road up to our house. |
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