Are We Still Dreaming - Has Reality Set in?

"You've Got To Have a Dream, If You Want To Have a Dream Come True"

                                                                                     Dennis Waitley

 

 

Roxi (l) and Judy (r) attending
Stef's Birthday Party at Guanacaste

Hola from Atenas, Costa Rica!  The quote above states, if you don't have a dream or a desire to evoke change, it is unlikely that your dream will come true.  We have boasted on several occasions (we know, we know...shut up already) that we are living our DREAM.  You may ask, "but has reality set in yet?"  Well, yes and no.  Although we have had some surprises, especially around the cost of things, we are still pinching ourselves everyday on the wonder of what we have done.  Honeymoon stage or not, we will continue to keep you posted as our life unfolds. Dreams can come true if you dare to explore them!   

So....we'll share a couple of points about the reality of our move to Costa Rica.  Nothing too earth shattering, but people always want to know specifics, costs, feelings, etc.

 

Spanish 101 with Teacher Liz

Reality Check #1:  Learning Spanish Is Fun....But Not Easy!

Well, for me (Judy), my worst fear has come true - I am butchering the Spanish language - someone stop me!  Sis Roxi is doing much better and together we are gradually learning words and sentence structure during our weekly two hour class with Liz.  We also go to a Spanish conversation class once a week.  Can you survive without learning Spanish?  Probably, but think of all the experiences that one would miss out on because of the language barrier.  So struggle as we may, the reality is that we will be learning this language probably for the rest of our lives.  That's okay!  Learning is always good at any age!
  

We Have Wheels!

Reality Check #2: Freedom Comes at a Cost

After 8 weeks of taxi's and rides with friends, we are now the proud new owner of a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder - automatic, black, 4WD, and runs on gas at $5.00 a gallon (part of reality check).  Because of import duties and taxes, cars are very expensive here.  In the US, this vehicle would probably cost $6,000 - we paid $13,000 - ouch!  But we knew this beforehand, so we planned and budgeted for it.  Car insurance runs about $460 every six months for full coverage.  It drives smoothly and will be a safe vehicle for the roads of Costa Rica.  And I (Judy) just got my Costa Rican driver's license this past week.  Can you say road trip????  We've never named our cars, but hey, we're in Costa Rica, so there is a first for everything.  We opened it up to our Facebook friends to help name our Pathfinder.  So far over 40 names have been submitted.  Next blog, we'll share the winning name! 

 

Reality #3:  Personal Services - Yay or Nay

Judy's first haircut in Costa Rica

So, we won't kid you...we went thru lots of concerns and due diligence in making this move.  Finding a hairdresser that could cut our hair the way we were accustomed to was right up there on our list (can you ladies out there relate?).   Our friend Stef recommended her hairdresser, Roxanna (the name was a good indicator we were in good hands).  She cut it differently and much quicker and $16 later (for two haircuts) we exited as pleased customers - and it wasn't too painful!  We've also found other personal services to meet our needs (pharmacy, local doctor, banking services, mechanic, manicurist/pedicurist, attorney, and even someone to help us with interpretations).  We are in good hands here.

 

Many have asked that we share what we do in any given day.  Well, that can vary, however, here's some activities of ours over the last several weeks.

 

Solo Bus Trip to San Jose

We have experienced two bus trips into San Jose for eye appointments for Roxi (a friend showed us "how to do it and get there" in July and then we did it on our own last week) - easy and for $1.90 each way there was no stress in driving and you could relax and sightsee while enroute.  We are thinking we'll continue to go by bus (even though we have wheels now) because overall it is cheaper due to gas and maintenance and lessens the stress of driving in San Jose (which isn't that easy with no road signs).

Judy is a Legal
Costa Rican Driver - look out!

I mentioned I got my Driver's License, but did I mention I drove into San Jose to get it - and only 3 days after getting our new car.  With the help of two friends who were also securing their license we made it just fine.  Quite a time-consuming process (3-1/2 hours) with lots of waiting, lots of paper stamping plus going to the bank to pay our $8 fee for the license, then back to the license building to show proof of payment.  Magic then happened...my picture was taken and I waited 3 minutes...then walked out with a Costa Rican Driver's License. 

We continue to explore our community (especially now with a car) and we are becoming more and more familiar with what it has to offer.  We love our small town here.  I think we've visited just about every major restaurant and three of the four grocery stores.  We look forward to planning some day trips for friends visiting - so exploring other communities outside of Atenas is on our radar screen.

Our Women's Bible Study Group

We continue to meet new people and make new friends.  We are involved in a Beth Moore Bible Study and we meet weekly on Tuesday's.  About 8-10 women are involved and we are enjoying the women and the message from the Study.

We've been to PriceSmart (similar to Costco) and are excited to see some similar products that we are familiar with - you can count on paying 50% or more than you did in the US.  I'll give a little comparison in my next blog on costs.  It was pretty funny to see our excitement at recognizing the hot dog stand at PriceSmart.  Yep, for about $4 you can get a hot dog and drink, compared to $1.50 in the US...but, hey, if you have a craving for a good hot dog, price doesn't matter, right?

Dog Sitting Lady & Tramp

As many of you know, our little Zoe (maltese) had to be put down last December.  We miss her!  It is so wonderful to see so many people with dogs here in Costa Rica and we have found a doggie fix without owning a dog.  Recently, we enjoyed dog sitting for our Indiana friend's dogs for three days.  They have a beautiful home, with a view and pool and we had a wonderful time.  We will be doing this again in October when they visit the States.  Their home is in the same area we are moving to - Vista Atenas.



Meeting with Lana, our new landlord -
learning all the details of our new home in Vista Atenas

Speaking of moving to Vista Atenas (our dream home), we do that on August 29th and our pallet of 12 boxes will be delivered on August 31st.  We are excited!  Our next blog will share more about living in our new home.

 

Rainy Season:  It's Coming
Down in Buckets!

The rainy season - good or bad?  We love it actually.  Although rain was something we were happy to walk away from in Oregon (how many months a year does it rain - would that be 12?) - we know the rainy season here is typically May thru December, but the difference is you see plenty of sun and some days it doesn't even rain!  We usually have sun for 6-8 hours each day before it might rain.  So we have plenty of time to enjoy the pool, the outside, run errands, etc.  To be safe, we always carry umbrellas with us when we go out.  In our two months here, we have awoken to, maybe, five days with an overcast sky.  And this blog post was completed due to it being an overcast day.  And when it rains here, it does it with volume and purpose!  The lightening and thunderstorms are spectacular....that is, until the power goes off.  Usually, the power is back on within an hour or so. They say September and October can be the worst in the rainy season - we will let you know how it goes over the next few months.

We've been "recruited" to serve on the 2013 Chili Cook-Off Committee - a fundraising effort scheduled February 10th that supports the local children's home here in Atenas.  We are honored to help out; we've already had our first committee meeting, with the next one August 30th.   We are going to be outreaching for donations to help support this great cause - we'll share more as time nears.  

Now, some of you must have some burning questions...feel free to post your comments, suggestions or questions on our blog - we love hearing from you! 

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Until our next post, pura vida!

Your Cost Rica Sisters in Transition,
Judy and Roxi

PS - we are posting pictures and updates regularly on our Facebook Page (Judy Timson) so if you'd like to see more, just friend me.  And, if you want to communicate via email, just email us at jteci@yahoo.com