Valentine animals & a search for UFOs

After yesterday, the Roulier/Jones crew was eager for a more mellow and fun day today.  This morning the boys combined two of their favorite pastimes, Legos and insects.  It was great sport to make cars for a few millipedes they found in the house and transport the unsuspecting bugs by Lego out the door.  Apparently yesterday Sullivan gave a beetle a ride in a matchbox car as well.

Finest ride ever for a millipede

We continued to have great success with our bird feeder and actually heard this large and loudly flying Montezuma Oropendola land before we saw it.  They are majestic colorful birds that make impressive hanging nests that are a few feet long.

Montezuma's Oropendola

Our to-do list of things to accomplish today was significantly smaller than yesterday, fortunately.  After a relatively lazy morning we ventured out to revisit a local park here in Neuvo Arenal.  It provides access to get down to Lago Arenal itself and primarily consists of wide open spaces with accompanying vistas to boot.  There is no sign from the main road and we don't recall seeing it in any guide books.  I'm not sure it even has a name.  But it's a great spot and it's likely to become a favorite for our family.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We marveled again at the extremely long leaf-cutting ant trails and at how hard they were working.  The trails of a particular group of ants can go on for 100 feet or more.  They actually wear a path in the vegetation from the extent of their activity working to take leaves into the nest.  In our limited experience, they are widely distributed over Costa Rica.

Henry carefully investigates the trail of the leaf-cutting ants, the Zompopas

We cooled off with another round of smoothies from the local drink shop in town and headed down another dirt road we hadn't yet explored.  Just because.  Wound up picking up a great local animal identification card and the hammock we've been looking for on the way home.

Nuevo Arenal commute

We continued our day of relative leisure at home and chowed on some leftovers before the exciting adventure planned for the evening.

Our best purchase in years

As the crew has been clamoring to go back up to Lake Cote at night to look for UFOs, we figured that there is no time like the present.  At dusk we headed up the bumpy dirt road for 10 minutes and pulled over with a view of Lake Cote (or Lake Coter in some sources).  This lake is reported to be frequented by UFOs and I figured there'd at least be a nice view of the stars tonight.  We did manage to eat the rest of our Valentine's chocolates, scare away any animals that may have been nearby with our chatter and get a relatively clear look at the stars from this latitude.  Every night it seems like Orion is right above us.  But no UFOs.  Maybe next time.

What we think was a rather large Cane Toad (Sapo Gigante) greeted us at home, even demonstrating his hopping and climbing skills.  This spry critter was about the size of a softball.  After a fun day exploring, everyone should sleep well tonight.

Welcoming party

Birds in the morning and a $#!*$@#$ frustrating afternoon!

This morning started as peacefully as any we've had yet, without a trace of foreshadowing of what was to come later in the day.  Yesterday we wrestled a bird/animal feeding stand out of the garage and installed it in the front yard, within easy view of the table where we eat.  These particular stands are common here and serve to showcase the local creatures who come to visit.  Our crew loaded up the stand first thing with watermelon, mango and banana and waited for the fun to start.  The incredible diversity of birds who came to visit was great to watch but really exposed us as ignorant naturalists in our new home.  "Hey, look at the bright blue one that looks like a parakeet!"  We have some learning to do.  Apologies for lack of National Geographic quality head shots of the birds; this is the first time I missed not having my SLR camera, a victim of our ruthless paring down of what we brought.  All our pictures so far have been by iPhone.

Madeleine and Henry load up the bird feeder 

Sully waits patiently with a banana in hand, hoping in vain for a bird or monkey to take it

I was called into the boys' bedroom to investigate some type of hive or nest being made by small creatures on their window.  There were equal parts interest and alarm in their voices.  Although we're not exactly sure what the insects are, we've decided to observe them for now.  It was also decreed that if the hive is to be knocked down, it will be best done at night when they will be less active.  And by Dad.

It looks pretty, but what are they exactly?

Following our idyllic morning of feeding and wildlife viewing, I began the day’s task of setting up the wire transfers needed to buy our car.  Until now, we’ve had a rental car and have been working with a woman who provides a car buying service.  More details to follow when the process is finished.  After confirming with her the details of the wire transfers, I began the hoop jumping process with cautious optimism that I could have some money transferred today without too much trouble.  I willingly admit that buying a car here in Costa Rica has been the biggest logistical hurdle in my mind.  The steps included:  speaking with our bank in the states (thanks again to Google Voice) and learning that arranging an international wire transfer to a third party requires a letter stating exactly what we need and with the details of the wiring instructions.  It has to be a notarized hard copy that is physically sent to the home branch in New Jersey.  The only good news in learning this is that a Costa Rican notary would be fine.  I’m not sure how much I would have paid to be able to just set it all up online just like I do all of my other banking.

We managed to write the letters, resurrect the printer in the rental house, download the driver needed (yea, internet!), coax the ink cartridge to work, print the letters and have them notarized in town without too much trouble.  Amazingly, there is a UPS branch about 10 minutes away but they couldn’t get the six sheets of paper we were sending to New Jersey there until Monday.  Could only find a FedEx in San Jose, 3 hours away.  So, I looked up the closest main DHL branch which is located in Liberia, about 1.5 hours from here.  I called the number I found for the Liberia branch on their international website and was reassured that if I got it to them today it’d be in New Jersey on Friday morning before 10:30, which would be perfect.  In our new car, we'd happily be dodging crocodiles and coconut-throwing monkeys while driving around erupting volcanos this weekend.  So Madeleine, Henry and I raced to Liberia and really enjoyed the ride, again with the windows down and the music up.  I was feeling good and thinking that it might all actually come together today.

My enthusiasm abruptly ended at the DHL office in Liberia when the pleasant and apologetic agent informed me that the letters could only arrive Friday if we’d have taken them to San Jose!  Turns out the international website always directs you to the general Costa Rica phone number in San Jose.  So we had three nice hours of driving to get the letters to the States on Monday, which we could have done at the UPS store that we were at 2 hours before.  Fortunately the return drive allowed my frustration to wane.  I did appreciate the fact that even though we are technically living in a developing country, the two entities that caused me the most effort and frustration today were multinational corporations.  Neither lack of infrastructure or cultural differences caused me any grief.  Ironic, no?

Are you kidding me?

On the way home, we very nearly brought home some extra meat without stopping at the store.  Whipped around a curve and nearly took out six or seven cows meandering down the street.  They seemed to think we were in their way.  We were happy to be home for many reasons and all the frustration is now gone, thanks to a warm welcome, a tasty dinner and yes, another mixed drink with guaro. 

Nocturnal dinners-to-be

Paso Fino Demonstration

A quick video peek at a demonstration from a couple of days ago by our new friend Henry and his trusty steed, Catalina.  The Paso Fino is apparently a famous national horse step.

Internet, Lago Cote & Guaro!

Fortunately today was a day with more progress in addition to some fun for the crew.  Sullivan and I began our post-breakfast day together in the sun enjoying even putting up clothes on the clothesline.

Renewable energy, Tico Jones style.

I made the 30 minute drive back to Tilaran alone and enjoyed every minute of driving with the windows down and the music loud.  Couldn’t believe none of the kids wanted to tag along, even with the promise of doing schoolwork at home if nobody joined me.  Managed to successfully buy a USB modem and some usage time for the internet for the computer.  A SIM card fits into the modem, which was new to me.  Bryan, the super friendly and eager clerk at Gallo (a local appliance store) told me that this prepaid internet costs 1 colon for 3 minutes of time which works out to 1500 minutes per US dollar.  Seems too good to be true but time will tell.  The most valuable other items I managed to find were some more clothes pins (prensas de ropa FYI), as the dryer in the house is currently out of commission.  Hard to imagine why anyone would use one anyway, at least in the dry season.  Yes for a laundry basket and no for another kitchen sink stopper in the plastics store (!) which carries all types of plastic things and household items.  A dozen bananas later, I was on my way back home.  Brief interruption on the way back home where a couple of small busloads of tourists were gathered along the road taking pictures of a bunch of howler monkeys in the trees.  I’ll take tourist/monkey delays over snow delays any day.

While I was gone, a neighbor’s puppy bounded over and came on into our living room.  Sullivan, who normally LOVES dogs, was not pleased when the ferocious beast accidentally scratched his leg attempting to jump up on him for some attention.  The kids have defensively armed themselves with sticks to use if needed.  Although the dog apparently doesn’t even listen to his owner and is exceedingly enthusiastic, he’s just a puppy at heart and when I go to pick him up to move him just flops down on his side for some love.  It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Gratuitous Costa Rican animal picture.  What we think is a stick spider on the garage wall.

After some work, we have internet access to the computer though it’s a bit slow.  But a necessity.  We took the crew for a little drive up a fun rock-strewn dirt road a hundred meters or so from the turnoff to our house.  Up the hill to try and get down to Lago Cote, a lake where UFOs are purported to frequent.  Madeleine and Henry were arguing that our chances would be better if we instead showed up in the middle of the night.  No lack of sense of adventure here.  Had some great views of the lake but no easy swimming access nor UFO sightings were to be had.  This will be a great mountain bike ride when I get my hands on my bike again.  Looking forward to having everything set up so we can spend more free time exploring and exercising.

Lago Cote

This afternoon a handmade Costa Rican bed was delivered for Madeleine’s room, as she’s been sleeping on the couch.  Despite how it sounds, it’s a more rustic than romantic but will work just fine.  After dinner, Erica and I shared another cocktail made from Guaro, the local fire water.  It’s made pretty close to here and comes from sugarcane.  Tastes similar to vodka and is pretty darn cheap.  This bottle was about $3 and goes nicely with pineapple juice and ice.  A fitting end to the day. 

Salud!

Settling in and adjustments

Today was not a day filled with unadulterated excitement, but instead a day for getting things done to reestablish a somewhat normal daily routine. This morning Erica and I actually made a pretty good-sized breakfast and the effort required was a small sign of the end of vacation and a return to normal family life. The majority of us pitched in to unpack the suitcases, do some more cleaning and organize the house to make it feel more like home.

We are realizing that we just have to embrace the fact that there will be plenty of insects around. The houses simply do not close all the way up even though we have windows and all the windows have screens. Today Henry asked me to look at the large beetle he'd found on a windowsill in the dining room. My excitement waned rapidly when I explained to him that it was in fact a cockroach. But it wasn't that big. Welcome to the tropics.

We ventured into town with a few tasks in mind. Successfully withdrew more cash to finish paying the security deposit for the house. Stopped in at ICE, the Costa Rican national electric company, who also provides cell phone, home phone and internet service. Was told by the door man that we had to come back an hour later, at 2 when the representative was back from lunch. Maybe a small siesta too? When we did go in, we had to take a number, even though it was a small place with two other customers. The young man explained that the only way to obtain internet access for our computer was to buy a USB stick modem, which in theory can be plugged into a wireless router to provide a wi-fi network in the house. Then, we need to show our passport (how did he know I wasn't a local?) and we could obtain service. Of course they were out of the stick modems, as was the only other electronics shop in town. I'd read that some things taken for granted in the states require a bit more diligence here.

In spite of some trepidation on the kids' part ("you can't make us get out of the car!"), we boldly marched into the principal's office of the local school. I understood maybe a third of what he was telling us and surmised that he is a friendly man, that the kids would not only be able to go to school there but would learn Spanish rapidly in his opinion. He asked for their transcripts from their old schools. Not exactly sure what he is looking for but we'll try and round up some recent report cards. We will email them to him and talk about when they will start. This is exactly from where memories and stories will come.

After this adventure, we had some key copies made in the local hardware store and met a couple of friendly folks there. We scored some fruit and vegetables from the produce shop, whom our sources tell us receives fresh supplies every Monday and Friday. Loaded up on more groceries, clothesline to take full advantage of the sun and wind, a fly swatter and other necessities. Exciting, maybe not, but it's still an adventure figuring out where everything is and getting to know the local folks. And speaking Spanish.

More eating and organizing at home was followed by more playing of the banjo, guitar and ukelele. A typical amount of infighting amongst the young ones was capped off by Sullivan's launching of a lego piece near the eye of poor innocent Henry. Which resulted in the guilty party being readied for bed. Tomorrow we plan to venture as far as necessary to obtain the treasured USB stick modem and to hopefully get our hands on some proof that our children have indeed been attending school.

A few more house pictures. . .

Homeless no more!

(Technical note: apologies for the suboptimal layout today, as this entry was done on the iPhone as wi-fi is not yet set up.)

As has become the routine, we were fed very well again first thing in the morning. Everyone is enjoying a huge amount of fresh fruit to start breakfast every day. Eggs, juice or coffee, bread, fried plantain and gallo pinto is the norm to follow. For anyone who hasn't heard, gallo pinto is pretty much the staple breakfast food around these parts. Consisting of seasoned white rice, bans and peppers with a little cilantro, it is served warm as a side to other breakfast foods. Our Henry is a huge fan.

We stuffed our rental Mitsubishi Zinger with our current life possessions and left our cozy confines of the last four days, Hotel Cielo Azul. Filled the tank with gas, took out more cash and then Erica bought a new set of guitar strings to replace a recent casuality. Finding the shop in town took us asking four different folks on the street for help finding it.

We departed lovely Tilaran and headed back east, partway around Lake Arenal. Successfully killed some time by eating, drinking, watching a Sunday afternoon mens football game (soccer, of course) and by checking out a park new to us, in our recently adopted hometown of Nuevo Arenal. There we met a couple of cowboys, one of whom is named Henry. He demonstrated his horse Catalina's impressive ability to perform a traditional Costa Rican step, Paso Fino. I can't reiterate enough how friendly and outgoing the Ticos are. How will we ever fit in here?

About 3:30 we finally pulled into the new neighborhood and got to move into our house. Which is fantastic, with a view to boot. Any disappointment that Erica and I had because we are not going to be living right in the middle of Tilaran quickly dissipated as we settled in. Lush vegetation, big timber bamboo, birdsongs, a vista to Lake Arenal and a fantastic house seem like a great reward for all of our planning and hard work over the last few months. We did it!!

The house itself is very nice, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms with a large outdoor patio with the view to the lake. No need for a heater or air conditioning. We're told the electric bill will be about $70/month. Rent is $850/month, fully furnished. We are five minutes by car to Nuevo Arenal where there is a church, school, soccer field, supermarket, a bunch of smaller stores and restaurants and no Starbucks. Seems like it was meant to be for us. The next challenge is setting up internet. We're going to pass on the available satellite TV.

First dinner for us was simple pasta and salad with horchata for the kids and Imperial beer for the adults. Pura Vida!

Progress!

Today our house search continued, as we saw two more houses.  The first was a super-luxe expat house with a killer view of Lake Arenal between Tilaran and Nuevo Arenal in the little town of Aguacate (means “avocado”).  It is owned by a retired couple from Michigan who spend a few months here each year.  It was almost too nice for our crew, and it turns out it would not be available for rent until April, and it might be sold by then anyway.  Oh well; it was fun to look.  

Deluxe, but not meant to be for us.

Lake-viewing spot.

We drove around Tilaran some more, looking for any other “se alquilar” (for rent) signs and found one more house that we were able to look at.  This was a more modest Tico (typical Costa Rican) house for only $300 a month, however it was not furnished.  We asked at a furniture store about renting furniture, but this was not a possibility.

During our house search we found the bull ring in Tilaran.  We will need to come back!

Nik spoke to Martin, the owner of the larger Tico house in Tilaran that we saw yesterday, and learned that the cost of furnishing the house would amount to a significant increase in the rent.  He also would require a one-year lease, which is more than we want to commit to.  This less than ideal news helped tip us toward the expat house near Nuevo Arenal, despite its more isolated (yet lovely!) location.

So we are going to move into our new house tomorrow!  We are very excited about the house and being able to unpack and do laundry and cook again.  We are thinking we would like to stay there for 6 months and then possibly try again to find a furnished house in Tilaran.  In the meantime, we will do our best to find opportunities to meet locals and speak Spanish.  Although we want to resist too much gringo socializing, perhaps making friends with our new neighbors with a pool would be ok…  While Nik and I would like to dive right into the culture by living in town, our kids are less enthusiastic, and we do want to make this a comfortable transition for them.

We returned to our new favorite restaurant in Tilaran, Sabor Tico, for dinner.  We all shared a big salad, 2 casado plates and a big fruit plate for dessert.  All for $24 including pineapple juice drinks.

Generous casados at Sabor Tico.

Sully with his first straight-from-the-coconut experience.

Finally, I have to put in a plug for the dogs in Costa Rica.  They are everywhere, usually small and so darn cute!  We saw this guy the other day when we were eating lunch in the central park in Tilaran.  He watched us patiently until we were done, then once we got up he moved in to clean up the crumbs we had left.  The travel nurse in Portland had warned our kids well about rabies, so nobody is tempted to pet dogs here; we just admire their cuteness and good manners.

Tilaran perro

 - Erica

House Hunters International: The Costa Rica Edition

After another breakfast feast we continued our quest to find a house to rent.  We met Martin, his daughter and grandson at their house for rent right in the middle of the town of Tilaran.  Turns out it is very spacious, open and airy but currently without stove, fridge or furniture and with bars surrounding the medium-sized yard.  3 bedrooms, an office, living/dining room and bonus room, "for workouts".  It is literally two blocks from the two schools and is in a neighborhood sprinkled with houses, small shops, a bank and even a hair salon right across the street.  We could easily walk to everything.  Very shiny tile floors throughout and cabinets in the kitchen made from local guanacaste wood.  We had some discussions about what kind of furniture we would need and will speak with them tomorrow about the price including the furniture.

Tilaran house from the curb

Neighborhood view

Light and airy kitchen with cool local wood cabinets

We went directly to meet Rene, an American realtor who located another house for us to see.  We followed her part of the way around Lake Arenal to a house near Neuvo Arenal, a smaller town with its own school, church and park.  The house and the grounds are beautiful.  2 bedrooms, office, 2.5 baths and open living room with views to Lake Arenal.  We were told that monkeys, toucans and various other critters frequent the trees in the back yard.  This is all the good news.  The bad news, in our opinion, is that most of the surrounding houses are owned by gringos and we would most likely have to drive to school and into town.

Approach to the "country house" in Las Flores, near Nuevo Arenal

Lovely front yard flora and Lake Arenal View

Living room

Comparing these two options is like comparing apples and oranges. The location of the Tilaran house is fantastic for easy access to everything, would facilitate easier assimilation into Tico culture and would offer the best opportunities to make local friends.  But it’s on a corner in town, not currently furnished and covered in bars, which is common in Central America but significantly less so in Tilaran.  The “country house” is easy on the eyes, would be quite comfortable but would require driving and come with gringo neighbors, making diving into the local culture more of an effort.  A tough decision for sure, as each has its benefits.  We have arranged to see one more house tomorrow.

Madeleine starts our list of pros and cons for each house over a glass of jugo de piña at lunch

Beautiful Lake Arenal and our rental Mitsubishi Zinger

We continued to drive around, exploring more new territory and soaking up the sun.  Finished off the day with some cooling off back at our temporary home, Hotel Cielo Azul.  The kids were thrilled that the pool had been cleaned this morning and the water slide was working well.  Will sleep on the housing choices and let time do some work for us.

House hunting in Tilaran

While the last several days have been like vacation, our goal for today was to start the process of finding a house or apartment to rent here in Tilaran.  There was no beautiful horseback ride in the morning nor any hot springs to soak in.  Despite the fact that we are going to be working a bit more and playing less, everyone is still enjoying the warm weather.  It’s been great having more time to spend with the kids even though there are moments when we wish they were already in school and couldn’t squabble with each other.  Even though we couldn’t bring a piano with us, Henry continues to practice his banjo and enjoy doing so.

We're sure his Grandpa Mike is proud.

There is no finite, well-defined way that we are aware of to find a house to rent here.  Craigslist and Google just are not as extensive here.  We began the day driving around town looking for places for rent.  Found several houses for sale and a few for rent.  A couple were so small it was really difficult to imagine living in them.  One possibility was found and after calling, I’m pretty sure it’s 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and 300,000 colones (~$600) per month.  We will likely go to look at it tomorrow.  Erica’s also contacted a realtor who will be looking for us as well.  The burning question at this time is whether we would prefer to live right in town where we could, in theory, most successfully meet other families and assimilate into the local culture or instead outside of town in a more rural setting possibly with some land, more trees, animals and possibly a view.  Or something in between?  We don’t want to lose sight of the goal of simple living and would really enjoy being able to walk everywhere we need.

Tilaran's central church.

Because we were nearby, we visited a couple of the schools in town and were warmly received.  The kids were initially reluctant to go in but after some mild prodding, we did venture inside.  School had let out early today so no students were in class at the time.  The classrooms were strikingly simple and there was not an iPad for every student.  I did press one friendly 9 year old for information and learned that school starts at 7 am, that kids have to bring their own lunch and they have a small amount of homework but only sometimes.  The kids are nice and they can play in the park.  What else is there to know?

A colorful private secondary school where Henry and Madeleine could potentially go.

Lunch fixings were scavenged from one of the supermercados and we picnicked in the central park.  Sullivan greatly enjoyed playing on the playground and seems completely oblivious to any major life change.  After some chill time back at the hotel we ventured out to see another small town, Tierras Morenas, about 20 minutes north of Tilaran.  It seems to be a beautiful quaint town that we decided would likely be a little bit too sleepy for us right now.  The best part of pizza dinner at the Hotel Mystica was the beautiful view and the small playground outside with singing birds all around.  The evening was capped off with some Scooby Doo in Spanish and showers for the majority.  More searching tomorrow.  .  .

Sullivan burns some energy before dinner.

Road to Tilaran

We started our last morning at Termales del Bosque with a horseback ride.  This was the first time both boys had been on a horse, and it was a small and happy step out of especially Henry’s comfort zone.  He was pretty nervous, and he ended up with a pokey horse named Mariposa who kept lagging behind or stopping to eat grass.  I expected Henry to freak out a bit, but he kept his cool, even on the sketchy downhill parts.  He ended up enjoying it very much.  Sullivan got to ride with Nik and hold the reins, so he had no issues and also enjoyed it very much.  The surroundings were the best part; we had wide open views of Volcan Platanar (which fed our hot spring soaks for the last 2 days) and the hills around.  We could see Volcan Arenal off in the distance.  Our guide also took us through some wooded areas, where Madeleine spotted a toucan-like bird.

We had a rather long drive to Tilaran, via a town called Muelle, where small crowds of iguanas at a riverside restaurant attract small crowds of tourists.  There were iguanas on the patio, on the walls, in the trees, getting into the trash, and we watched one successfully cross the road (...to get to the other side, I guess).  

Hungry iguanas in Muelle

From Muelle we took a scenic route to Arenal, meaning about 30+km of unpaved, very rocky roads.  Nik enjoyed the driving, which was easier in our current rental Mitsubishi SUV than similar driving was back in October in our smaller and lower rented sedan.  Still, it was slow going and tiring.  Thankfully our kids are now conditioned to this kind of driving and did not complain.  Sully even slept though some of it.

We enjoyed some familiar views of Arenal volcano, near where we stayed in October, and the windy road around Lake Arenal.  We stopped for gas and a quick tour of the town of Nuevo Arenal, then continued on to Tilaran, which we have been thinking will be our new home.  Tilaran looks relaxed and tidy, with a very attractive church and town square at the center.  We saw several groceries, a produce store and plenty of restaurants and other businesses.  We chose a hotel just outside of town because it had a pool with a water slide, the Hotel Cielo Azul.  The owner kindly moved beds around to accommodate us, and he told us that his sister has a house for rent.  Our first lead!  

Lake Arenal

Evening view from Hotel Cielo Azul

The night sky here is full of stars; we look forward to expanding our constellation repertoire.  The winds are impressive here too.  It is no wonder that the hills around Tilaran are decorated with wind turbines.  

Tomorrow we get down to business looking for a house to rent!

-Erica