Home Away From Home

We have really loved our home in Costa Rica. It is Casa de Sophia in Casa del Sol in Esterillos Este. Of course this means nothing .... but we are on the Pacific Ocean about 30 minutes south of Jaco and about 2 hours from San Jose. It is a community, started about 5 years ago and most of the hones are owned by Canadians and Americans. Here are some photos of our home.

Front view of the house

Our rooftop area where we watch the birds and monkeys behind the house

View of the pool from the rooftop area

I have lots more photos. The home has been just great, and so has the owner. He lives in Chicago and is a cop.  He plans on moving here when he retires. We have 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Of  course, everyone runs on "Tico time" ... the power goes out on a regular basis as well as the water.  But the climate is super and the people are just wonderful. It is a very clean country which prides itself on being eco-friendly. The people live in the outdoors ... restaurants and bars are all outside with no air conditioning. They are very social people and go out of their way to be helpful, even with the language barrier.  Food is a challenge at times because all the packaging is in Spanish. It took 2 attempts to get dishwasher detergent and still Bob put the wrong kind in the dishwasher. Lots of suds!! We had a good laugh.  The schools are very poorly equipped with paper and pencils in short supply. If we were to ever return here, we would bring school supplies with us to give to the local school. The Costa del Sol community helps to support the local school.

Driving is another challenge. The main highway is a very good road, but the Ticos just pass whenever they want ... you move over for them.  There are lots of motorbikes and bicycles, which make for interesting situations on the road. They park wherever they want, in any direction and apparently they do not pay any attentions to police or ambulance lights.

Grocery stores are really fun! Walmart has moved into Costa Rica and they operate Maxi Pali grocery stores. They have no air conditioning, just vented ceilings and no lights, just solar lighting through the roof. They are surrounded by security fences with razor wire and the security guards hand you a numbered card when you enter the parking lot. You have to return it when you leave. Of yes, the security guards are armed and really take the security of the customers seriously. Usually when we arrive at the store we see a US Food and Drug Administration truck in the parking lot. Apparently they keep a pretty close watch on things in all of Central America.