Posts
Showing posts with label building in Costa Rica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label building in Costa Rica. Show all posts
Saturday, July 19, 2008
We are on a deadline to build our home, not that this means anything to anyone but us apparently. Our work force is dwindling. Two workers were still remain as of today. The young worker drives a motorcycle that he can not keep running. So far we have fixed it as well as bought shocks for it so that he can bring the other worker a skilled older man with him. It is broke again, does not run and the older gentleman called this evening. He has kidney stones, OH Great! What next?
He has sacks of chickens in his living room bagged up for us. That's what is next. Live chickens. We don't have a chicken house. Well that is how it goes here, you have one small conversation about chickens and the next thing you know there is a living room full of them in sacks. Now we have to go get them and I don't know where they will live, we were not ready for the chickens. We don't have a house and neither do they.
Dominick will not be working any more either, if we understand correctly, because of the kidney stones. The fellow with the motorcycle? I have no idea if he is still working with us. I suppose we can fix his tired old Chinese bike, again. We must finish this house.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Poco a Poco the house is coming along. The ceiling is being installed over the insulation, and I hope that sometime next week that phase will be completed. We are down one man, he left abruptly for another shortsighted opportunity. Oh well.
This presented a problem because our primary worker who came with that employee, now had no transportation. Another construction worker has a motorcycle but the shocks were so bad it sat on the tire with two men on it. So we bought him a new set of shock for his motorcycle, the cost of getting a house built, and now they come to work together. Ya do what ya gotta do.
It is a beautiful blue sky morning with a few clouds floating around the volcano. 62 degrees when I woke up and we are off to Turrialba for an adventure.
It is winter, we are about 10 degrees north of the equator, so it should technically be summer, but it is not. The deciduous trees are bare here in the summer and filled with leaves in the winter. It is just the way it is. I love winter here, a bit more rain in the afternoon and evenings but the temperatures are perfect for us.
This presented a problem because our primary worker who came with that employee, now had no transportation. Another construction worker has a motorcycle but the shocks were so bad it sat on the tire with two men on it. So we bought him a new set of shock for his motorcycle, the cost of getting a house built, and now they come to work together. Ya do what ya gotta do.
It is a beautiful blue sky morning with a few clouds floating around the volcano. 62 degrees when I woke up and we are off to Turrialba for an adventure.
It is winter, we are about 10 degrees north of the equator, so it should technically be summer, but it is not. The deciduous trees are bare here in the summer and filled with leaves in the winter. It is just the way it is. I love winter here, a bit more rain in the afternoon and evenings but the temperatures are perfect for us.
Monday, December 03, 2007
I was sitting in my favorite chair at 2:05pm today when an earthquake rolled through the house. A smaller quake rolled through last week, or perhaps I was in the right place today to feel the maximum swell. Phil was in the kitchen preparing our coffee and heard the roof creak, but did not feel the roll. It is like a wave softly rolling through the house. It came up the hill through the front yard, from North to South, and into the living room. I shouted out to Phil that we just had an earthquake. The parrots did not quit screeching, not even for a moment. What’s a little more sway if you’re a bird?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Thieves stole the phone wires to the town in the middle of the night, right by Casa Turirre, our 4 star resort. At 11pm I had phone service but none at 7am. The police, many of whom do not have a gun, will not take their car up the mountains so the thieves wave bye until the next time. Nobody in our surrounding little towns from that point on has phone service because of the break. How petty. I wonder how much a couple of low life ladrones can get for stolen phone wire that contains a minimal amount of copper? Enough for some crack or guaro perhaps. Drug use is a problem in every country. Costa Rica has the compounded problem of being the drug route out of Columbia on its Caribbean side, unstable employment opportunities, untrained uneducated labor, and little money to control, catch, punish, contain, the bad guys. I see crack sales happening in Turrialba by the old railroad tracks when we go to buy propane for our tanks. I always have the urge to do something to ruin their day, or capture them, but I am still thinking about that. My husband has commented that he doesn’t know how I have managed to live this long. They have ruined their lives, and I am sure that death will pursue them all too soon one way or another. “It is easier to give birth than to breathe life back into the dead.” That is why we must focus on the children and provide useable education for them.
When a lone policeman pulled me over because my 2nd license plate had fallen off the front of my car, rather than just write me a ticket, he preferred to hassle me looking for chorizo (a bribe of $20.00). Which in the end he received and I received a $4.00 ticket in exchange. I remember that he had a little pea shooter of a gun stuffed in his pants waistband, pointed at his manhood (my cowgirl gun when I was 5 was more substantial and I had a holster to go with it), and I pictured it going off the whole time he had me. It was an ugly vision. It is also more lucratively rewarding for him to pull me over rather than deal with real crime such as drugs and theft.
I look forward to my morning phone calls from my husband and that won’t happen today. He has another surgery scheduled for this evening at 8pm. What I hope will be the last of too many, and then he can come home.
Useable education, think about that for a minute. They teach French in the 7th grade in my area. I will only address my area in this instance as there is no consistency regarding much of anything in this country except to say that Public Education for the most part is severely lacking. I am being very kind, it actually sucks big time, and it is just a matter of is your area worse than mine. French, what is that about? How useless in the scope of things. If you are French I am not trying to insult you, we really appreciate the ambulances you donated. But you also speak English as it is the world’s business language and you are educated. Most all Europeans learn English in school, so when you are a poor Costa Rican child, and you do not know how to use your Spanish dictionary, phone book, do simple math, read, comprehend and enjoy a novel in Spanish, why in the world is your educational system wasting your time on French? All job opportunities requiring a 2nd language in Costa Rica such as Call Centers or tech support require English.
Shop class, an elective in the US, would be an extremely useful class (useable education) in rural Costa Rica. You can see where math without a calculator could come in handy in this instance and they could count their money all the way to the bank. French will get them….,what? Sorry, can’t think of a thing, because they will never learn more than a few words to start with, they can’t read Spanish sufficiently yet. They need to focus on useable, useful educational tools, asking every step of the way, “Will this get me a job or provide me the ability to make an honest living?”
When a lone policeman pulled me over because my 2nd license plate had fallen off the front of my car, rather than just write me a ticket, he preferred to hassle me looking for chorizo (a bribe of $20.00). Which in the end he received and I received a $4.00 ticket in exchange. I remember that he had a little pea shooter of a gun stuffed in his pants waistband, pointed at his manhood (my cowgirl gun when I was 5 was more substantial and I had a holster to go with it), and I pictured it going off the whole time he had me. It was an ugly vision. It is also more lucratively rewarding for him to pull me over rather than deal with real crime such as drugs and theft.
I look forward to my morning phone calls from my husband and that won’t happen today. He has another surgery scheduled for this evening at 8pm. What I hope will be the last of too many, and then he can come home.
Useable education, think about that for a minute. They teach French in the 7th grade in my area. I will only address my area in this instance as there is no consistency regarding much of anything in this country except to say that Public Education for the most part is severely lacking. I am being very kind, it actually sucks big time, and it is just a matter of is your area worse than mine. French, what is that about? How useless in the scope of things. If you are French I am not trying to insult you, we really appreciate the ambulances you donated. But you also speak English as it is the world’s business language and you are educated. Most all Europeans learn English in school, so when you are a poor Costa Rican child, and you do not know how to use your Spanish dictionary, phone book, do simple math, read, comprehend and enjoy a novel in Spanish, why in the world is your educational system wasting your time on French? All job opportunities requiring a 2nd language in Costa Rica such as Call Centers or tech support require English.
Shop class, an elective in the US, would be an extremely useful class (useable education) in rural Costa Rica. You can see where math without a calculator could come in handy in this instance and they could count their money all the way to the bank. French will get them….,what? Sorry, can’t think of a thing, because they will never learn more than a few words to start with, they can’t read Spanish sufficiently yet. They need to focus on useable, useful educational tools, asking every step of the way, “Will this get me a job or provide me the ability to make an honest living?”
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Journey to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation
It was a few weeks ago that my neighbor and friend Sara Gomez, a dental student at the University of Costa Rica, said that she had been home on vacation for only 5 days and she was bored already. I challenged her to journey to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation with the Mission Voz Que Clama and photograph the trip. This was an important journey, important to me because I can not make this trip, important to her because it expanded her world, her mind, and I knew she could do it. It is also important that you learn about our rural Indigenous. This was probably her most challenging adventure yet, I knew it would be pushing her envelope but I left that part out when sharing the opportunity with her.
The hike to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation is difficult and only the most athletic and physically fit are able to make the journey. There are no bridges, roads, or comfort, and it is mostly an up mountain climb. The roaring rivers must be crossed by sliding on a cable or fording the deep, cold, torrential river on foot. When you take a canopy tour you are secured in a harness with every safety precaution. Our Indigenous and volunteers sit in a sling, grasp on to their children and possessions while holding on for dear life and then advance hand over hand. At this moment Sara wanted to go back the same way she came, but that was not possible.
To this village the trip is 5 hours long on a good day. From my side of the reservation the trip is 8 hours long to the first village and often can not be made in one day due to weather and river conditions. The Indigenous walk those 8 hours to our farm for emergency help as our farm manager has a cell phone and there is no phone on the reservation. Recently he called 911 and a helicopter came and airlifted a very ill man from the reservation.
I read an article in We Love Costa Rica about Americans like me who move to a developing nation. It correctly said: "The influx of illegal immigrants from south of the border will continue until the economies of their homelands begin providing sufficient job opportunities. US emigrants help to create those jobs. They are America's most effective foreign aid program, but without the bureaucracy and waste. They share more than money. They share themselves. Taken together, they are helping to alleviate the root causes of illegal immigration. Americans bring their sorely needed money and wealth of professional expertise to the homelands of America's immigrants. That steady emigration from the US is thoroughly ignored, however, because relevant statistics are nearly impossible to find." My husband, a nurseryman, and I retired to Costa Rica to protect our rainforest that spawns and grows water. We grow bamboo, vetevier, and nitrogen fixing legumes as well as practice permaculture and biodynamics. We supply school materials to the rural poor and Indigenous children in our area. Currently we are looking for a volunteer teacher who will spend a year with us teaching English and how to read to the poor and Indigenous. We provide jobs to both Costa Ricans and Indigenous, sharing with them the skills that we know as they share with us their knowledge.
I know some of you know folks who have vacationed in Costa Rica and may have even stayed at our Marriott or other fine resorts or hotels and totally missed my part of our country. I have had Gringo's say to me, "I went to Costa Rica and I did not see any poor people." What a shame, those folks took a vacation and missed the best part of my country because they stayed at Disney World, but perhaps they did not know there was more to see. South of Turrialba, the Cordillera de Talamanca is one of Costa Rica’s best kept secrets. The only thing south of us, more or less, is the Indigenous Reservation, La Amistad International Parque and then Panama.
What I am sharing with you is one part of the many parts of the real Costa Rica. This is the land the Indigenous protect, it is a water shed, consisting of cloud and rainforest. So beautiful and yet difficult, these areas produce the purist water on Earth. Not a lot of pure water left on planet Earth unfortunately. Our Indigenous leave the lightest footprint possible on this land. They live with no electricity and wash their clothing in a stream. The children see occasional visiting teachers, and most Indigenous speak little or no Spanish, they speak their Indigenous language. They look forward to visiting missionaries such as Hector and Daniel, both Costa Ricans, who led this adventure and who are the directors at the Mission Voz Que Clama, http://www.vqcmission.com/ .
I continue to feel an obligation to help the poor rural children, the Indigenous and the mission, although they ask for nothing. Our Indigenous have been ignored, they are the invisible people. I observe people walking around them when they come to town as if they were lepers. I can’t help looking at their beautiful brown faces and wonder their need and their story. They are mostly uneducated as we understand education and do not attend school because they do not speak Spanish and there is no school in their village. They are wise to the ways of the forest, its animals, medicinal plants, and how to survive. It is only in recent years have they been issued a Cedula, the national identity card (similar to a social security number). They now have free medical care, but little access to it. They often do not have bus fare after having walked down the mountain, as they do not trade in currency, for this is our way, not theirs. As our world continues to move forward encroaching on their lives, our Indigenous are left behind. We have two worlds going on, theirs and ours, they call us the others. Their world is a perfect one in the eyes of nature, not an easy life, but near perfect in many ways, and deficient in others. We are on this planet complicating their life with our greed, our need, and our affluence that sometimes allows us to run over everything in our way. As a global community we must all coexist and care for each other because if we do not, we will all suffer the consequences. So I will share my Wish List with you at the end of my story and ask that when you come to Costa Rica, please bring a suitcase of supplies for these people and their children. You can contact me ginnee@racsa.co.cr and we will arrange for pickup at the airport in San Jose, or direct you to a nearby drop off. You are always welcome to come to us (you can drive to the mission) and see the other, real Costa Rica in the South Central Mountains. Mission Voz Que Clama, distributes the donations, helps to educate the children, delivers supplies, builds shelters, saves lives and makes regular journeys to the reservation with volunteers. It has taken years to build a trusting relationship and to be able to communicate with the village. The mission has a 501c3 tax deductible US charitable designation.
Mission Voz Que Clama is located in Tuis de Turrialba. They allow the Indigenous who are traversing to stay at their facility when they come down from the mountain. They also take in the handicap Indigenous who were put out to die because it is believed they have a bad spirit. The Mission provides for all of their living and medical needs in this well run clean, loving, facility with 24/7 staffed care. This is partially funded through the proceeds earned from their Spanish Language School in Tuis http://www.cisacostarica.com/ If you would like to learn Spanish while on your vacation and have a cultural experience in the heart of rural Costa Rica's mountains and rivers, as well as providing the best kind of foreign aid, this is where your life changing journey begins.
Thank you for caring and understanding, thank you for your support.
Ginnee
It was a few weeks ago that my neighbor and friend Sara Gomez, a dental student at the University of Costa Rica, said that she had been home on vacation for only 5 days and she was bored already. I challenged her to journey to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation with the Mission Voz Que Clama and photograph the trip. This was an important journey, important to me because I can not make this trip, important to her because it expanded her world, her mind, and I knew she could do it. It is also important that you learn about our rural Indigenous. This was probably her most challenging adventure yet, I knew it would be pushing her envelope but I left that part out when sharing the opportunity with her.
The hike to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation is difficult and only the most athletic and physically fit are able to make the journey. There are no bridges, roads, or comfort, and it is mostly an up mountain climb. The roaring rivers must be crossed by sliding on a cable or fording the deep, cold, torrential river on foot. When you take a canopy tour you are secured in a harness with every safety precaution. Our Indigenous and volunteers sit in a sling, grasp on to their children and possessions while holding on for dear life and then advance hand over hand. At this moment Sara wanted to go back the same way she came, but that was not possible.
To this village the trip is 5 hours long on a good day. From my side of the reservation the trip is 8 hours long to the first village and often can not be made in one day due to weather and river conditions. The Indigenous walk those 8 hours to our farm for emergency help as our farm manager has a cell phone and there is no phone on the reservation. Recently he called 911 and a helicopter came and airlifted a very ill man from the reservation.
I read an article in We Love Costa Rica about Americans like me who move to a developing nation. It correctly said: "The influx of illegal immigrants from south of the border will continue until the economies of their homelands begin providing sufficient job opportunities. US emigrants help to create those jobs. They are America's most effective foreign aid program, but without the bureaucracy and waste. They share more than money. They share themselves. Taken together, they are helping to alleviate the root causes of illegal immigration. Americans bring their sorely needed money and wealth of professional expertise to the homelands of America's immigrants. That steady emigration from the US is thoroughly ignored, however, because relevant statistics are nearly impossible to find." My husband, a nurseryman, and I retired to Costa Rica to protect our rainforest that spawns and grows water. We grow bamboo, vetevier, and nitrogen fixing legumes as well as practice permaculture and biodynamics. We supply school materials to the rural poor and Indigenous children in our area. Currently we are looking for a volunteer teacher who will spend a year with us teaching English and how to read to the poor and Indigenous. We provide jobs to both Costa Ricans and Indigenous, sharing with them the skills that we know as they share with us their knowledge.
I know some of you know folks who have vacationed in Costa Rica and may have even stayed at our Marriott or other fine resorts or hotels and totally missed my part of our country. I have had Gringo's say to me, "I went to Costa Rica and I did not see any poor people." What a shame, those folks took a vacation and missed the best part of my country because they stayed at Disney World, but perhaps they did not know there was more to see. South of Turrialba, the Cordillera de Talamanca is one of Costa Rica’s best kept secrets. The only thing south of us, more or less, is the Indigenous Reservation, La Amistad International Parque and then Panama.
What I am sharing with you is one part of the many parts of the real Costa Rica. This is the land the Indigenous protect, it is a water shed, consisting of cloud and rainforest. So beautiful and yet difficult, these areas produce the purist water on Earth. Not a lot of pure water left on planet Earth unfortunately. Our Indigenous leave the lightest footprint possible on this land. They live with no electricity and wash their clothing in a stream. The children see occasional visiting teachers, and most Indigenous speak little or no Spanish, they speak their Indigenous language. They look forward to visiting missionaries such as Hector and Daniel, both Costa Ricans, who led this adventure and who are the directors at the Mission Voz Que Clama, http://www.vqcmission.com/ .
I continue to feel an obligation to help the poor rural children, the Indigenous and the mission, although they ask for nothing. Our Indigenous have been ignored, they are the invisible people. I observe people walking around them when they come to town as if they were lepers. I can’t help looking at their beautiful brown faces and wonder their need and their story. They are mostly uneducated as we understand education and do not attend school because they do not speak Spanish and there is no school in their village. They are wise to the ways of the forest, its animals, medicinal plants, and how to survive. It is only in recent years have they been issued a Cedula, the national identity card (similar to a social security number). They now have free medical care, but little access to it. They often do not have bus fare after having walked down the mountain, as they do not trade in currency, for this is our way, not theirs. As our world continues to move forward encroaching on their lives, our Indigenous are left behind. We have two worlds going on, theirs and ours, they call us the others. Their world is a perfect one in the eyes of nature, not an easy life, but near perfect in many ways, and deficient in others. We are on this planet complicating their life with our greed, our need, and our affluence that sometimes allows us to run over everything in our way. As a global community we must all coexist and care for each other because if we do not, we will all suffer the consequences. So I will share my Wish List with you at the end of my story and ask that when you come to Costa Rica, please bring a suitcase of supplies for these people and their children. You can contact me ginnee@racsa.co.cr and we will arrange for pickup at the airport in San Jose, or direct you to a nearby drop off. You are always welcome to come to us (you can drive to the mission) and see the other, real Costa Rica in the South Central Mountains. Mission Voz Que Clama, distributes the donations, helps to educate the children, delivers supplies, builds shelters, saves lives and makes regular journeys to the reservation with volunteers. It has taken years to build a trusting relationship and to be able to communicate with the village. The mission has a 501c3 tax deductible US charitable designation.
Mission Voz Que Clama is located in Tuis de Turrialba. They allow the Indigenous who are traversing to stay at their facility when they come down from the mountain. They also take in the handicap Indigenous who were put out to die because it is believed they have a bad spirit. The Mission provides for all of their living and medical needs in this well run clean, loving, facility with 24/7 staffed care. This is partially funded through the proceeds earned from their Spanish Language School in Tuis http://www.cisacostarica.com/ If you would like to learn Spanish while on your vacation and have a cultural experience in the heart of rural Costa Rica's mountains and rivers, as well as providing the best kind of foreign aid, this is where your life changing journey begins.
Thank you for caring and understanding, thank you for your support.
Ginnee
Wish list:
Used lap top computers in working order
toothbrushes
tooth paste
Backpacks or small and medium duffle tote bags
chalk
twin or full blankets
battery-less flashlights (shakable)
pencils
notebooks
notebook paper
pencil sharpeners
colored pencils
scissors
pens
crayons
art paper
art supplies
craft paper
book bags
finger paints
powder craft paint
face paint
soccer balls
sweat shirts from the thrift store on 1/2 price day, sizes small and medium and children sizes These are small frame people. It is cold in the mountains.
good practical clothing, jeans, t-shirts, (small and medium sizes and children's sizes)
rain gear, umbrellas, rain coats, rain jackets
Baby clothes
Cloth diapers
gathered skirts for girls (they like skirts)
sneakers, children's sneakers, all sizes for children
good quality new socks
drum sticks ($2.00 a pair on the internet)
anything educational
flash cards
simple Spanish / English dictionaries
blow up beach ball globes of the world (they have never seen the world round, only flat)
Ginnee Hancock lives with her husband Felipe in Esperanza and Atirro de Turrialba, Costa Rica on their 1,270 acre rainforest farm.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
We just returned home from the gorgeous Vista del Valle in Naranjo de Rosario, Costa Rica; where we attended their International Community Event this past Saturday. The marlin ceviche was the best I have ever had and apparently others agreed because the Bungee Bar ceviche sold out lickity split. The hot dogs were hot, the pork chicharonnes cooked to perfection and very meaty, the elephant ear pastries wonderful, the arroz con leche was delicious, the corn on the cob buttery, sweet and tender, and because I am a foodie I tried to share one of everything with my husband as we did not want to miss something delicious.
We bought a beautiful bracelet, a watercolor painting (wow they have some real talent in their neighborhood), painted gourds that are very beautiful, handmade paper cards with dried flowers, a pen that is a hand sculpted lizard, handmade baskets and a handmade pipe that was so cute we bought it even though we don't smoke. I am going to look over my loot and see what else I came home with. I love fairs, arts and crafts shows.
We did come home with wonderful memories and new friends that we met at Vista del Valle. The staff is always warm and friendly. The food in the restaurant is perfect. I had Mahi Mahi last night that was to die for and the day before a cream of pumpkin soup that I can still taste and would love to have another bowl of right now. If you missed this event, you will not want to miss the next one. We live about 3 1/2 hours away, traveling is difficult for us because there is so much going on at our finca and, we must spend a night or two when making trips. This was a duel purpose trip as we bought a bull for our herd the following day.
The accommodations are lovely and we stayed in one of the very uniquely designed condominiums surrounded by lush gardens throughout. I met two women, one from Holland and another from Germany who had just returned from a garden tour that they paid to see. They said the gardens at Vista del Valle were far more beautiful, with better presentation, and in retrospect they wasted their money on that tour. They are right, the gardens and winding pathways are very beautiful with diverse tropical plants and flowers, even a waterfall and all with wonderful happy singing birds, wildlife and this morning a raccoon family with babies entertained us by picking banana's from a tree while we sipped our cappuccino.
Some folks have built beautiful homes at the resort and live on premise. We met several owners from California and Seattle while dining at breakfast and dinner in the new restaurant. Jonana and Mike Bresnan, the proprietors, have more staff than rooms, which results in personal service that goes the extra distance to make everyone feel really special.
The 7th of July event was very special, the village residents and staff were so proud that they were featured. They sang, danced, played keyboard, painted the faces of very happy children, sold their art, ate, drank and equally enjoyed the tourist from all over the world as well as the extrajero residents of Costa Rica. The Mayor attended, even the police who just showed up to join the festivities had a great time. You could tell by the smiling faces and body language that everyone involved was enjoying their day. It was what I hope will be the first of many multicultural events to be held at Vista del Valle. Coming together as a community of all people is part of why we moved to Costa Rica. Thanks Jonana and Mike for hosting this wonderful and beautiful event.
We bought a beautiful bracelet, a watercolor painting (wow they have some real talent in their neighborhood), painted gourds that are very beautiful, handmade paper cards with dried flowers, a pen that is a hand sculpted lizard, handmade baskets and a handmade pipe that was so cute we bought it even though we don't smoke. I am going to look over my loot and see what else I came home with. I love fairs, arts and crafts shows.
We did come home with wonderful memories and new friends that we met at Vista del Valle. The staff is always warm and friendly. The food in the restaurant is perfect. I had Mahi Mahi last night that was to die for and the day before a cream of pumpkin soup that I can still taste and would love to have another bowl of right now. If you missed this event, you will not want to miss the next one. We live about 3 1/2 hours away, traveling is difficult for us because there is so much going on at our finca and, we must spend a night or two when making trips. This was a duel purpose trip as we bought a bull for our herd the following day.
The accommodations are lovely and we stayed in one of the very uniquely designed condominiums surrounded by lush gardens throughout. I met two women, one from Holland and another from Germany who had just returned from a garden tour that they paid to see. They said the gardens at Vista del Valle were far more beautiful, with better presentation, and in retrospect they wasted their money on that tour. They are right, the gardens and winding pathways are very beautiful with diverse tropical plants and flowers, even a waterfall and all with wonderful happy singing birds, wildlife and this morning a raccoon family with babies entertained us by picking banana's from a tree while we sipped our cappuccino.
Some folks have built beautiful homes at the resort and live on premise. We met several owners from California and Seattle while dining at breakfast and dinner in the new restaurant. Jonana and Mike Bresnan, the proprietors, have more staff than rooms, which results in personal service that goes the extra distance to make everyone feel really special.
The 7th of July event was very special, the village residents and staff were so proud that they were featured. They sang, danced, played keyboard, painted the faces of very happy children, sold their art, ate, drank and equally enjoyed the tourist from all over the world as well as the extrajero residents of Costa Rica. The Mayor attended, even the police who just showed up to join the festivities had a great time. You could tell by the smiling faces and body language that everyone involved was enjoying their day. It was what I hope will be the first of many multicultural events to be held at Vista del Valle. Coming together as a community of all people is part of why we moved to Costa Rica. Thanks Jonana and Mike for hosting this wonderful and beautiful event.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Here are two classrooms at CISA language school http://www.cisacostarica.com/. In this photo one class is directly above the other and they are open air. Very cute and efficient. Classes are small with no more than 3 students to a teacher. Often just one student to a teacher. This gives you the most intensive course possible.
I have recommended CISA and I totally believe that this is the best place to learn Spanish in the most beautiful setting, with wonderful instructors in Costa Rica. If you want a real cultural experience, that is not in gringo Costa Rica, this is it, the real deal, in rural Costa Rica. You will learn sooooo much more than just Spanish. Like April, you will not want to go home.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Our caretaker’s new home is coming along. Building a prefab concrete and steel home is a unique learning experience. Last week we picked out the color for the interior and exterior walls. Our choices came from a palate of 5 colors, not a lot of choice. It is my understanding the color will be impregnated in the stucco. I’ll let you know how that turns out, or if I understood correctly.
Then we had almost as many tile choices but only two actual tiles to look at. These are my choices? No, no, we have more, look at the computer monitor, you can choose from these tiles. You’re kidding right? I know the color on the monitor is never the actual color, come on, I know how color works. “Simular”, the architect tells me in Spanish as she displays little 2 inch icons of tile on her screen. Right!
This is all very amusing. She understands English; I know this to be true, because she replies to my questions or statements, in Spanish.
At this point, I just don’t care. The interior and exterior are now a color I would not have chosen, put a solid earth tone color tile in there and make the grout the same color. We are done.
Well not quite, today the architect returns with two more tiles. One that looks like it must be a reject from a bad batch and another with some texture. I wonder if either of them were on the computer monitor, how would I know? Who could tell?
Phil has kept his eye on the project, recognized potential problems and pointed them out, the architect and or contractor said “good thought”, and then they went ahead and did it their way. Now for example, they had to move all of their supplies (concrete panels) so the gravel truck could get in with the foundation fill. Had they taken Phil’s advice, they could have saved a half a day of hard labor.
Well at least the front door is facing the street. It is not uncommon to show up and find your house facing the wrong direction. When pointing this out to the builder you may hear,” I thought it looked better this way.” I personally loved this one, “I thought the pond looked better over here.” Both of these owners went ballistic. The pond was filled in and redug. The other owner is now looking at a different view, nice, but not the one he had in mind.
Building in Costa Rica is a different game. Don’t take your eye off of the ball, don’t even blink. Yes of course they heard you, but no one was listening.
Then we had almost as many tile choices but only two actual tiles to look at. These are my choices? No, no, we have more, look at the computer monitor, you can choose from these tiles. You’re kidding right? I know the color on the monitor is never the actual color, come on, I know how color works. “Simular”, the architect tells me in Spanish as she displays little 2 inch icons of tile on her screen. Right!
This is all very amusing. She understands English; I know this to be true, because she replies to my questions or statements, in Spanish.
At this point, I just don’t care. The interior and exterior are now a color I would not have chosen, put a solid earth tone color tile in there and make the grout the same color. We are done.
Well not quite, today the architect returns with two more tiles. One that looks like it must be a reject from a bad batch and another with some texture. I wonder if either of them were on the computer monitor, how would I know? Who could tell?
Phil has kept his eye on the project, recognized potential problems and pointed them out, the architect and or contractor said “good thought”, and then they went ahead and did it their way. Now for example, they had to move all of their supplies (concrete panels) so the gravel truck could get in with the foundation fill. Had they taken Phil’s advice, they could have saved a half a day of hard labor.
Well at least the front door is facing the street. It is not uncommon to show up and find your house facing the wrong direction. When pointing this out to the builder you may hear,” I thought it looked better this way.” I personally loved this one, “I thought the pond looked better over here.” Both of these owners went ballistic. The pond was filled in and redug. The other owner is now looking at a different view, nice, but not the one he had in mind.
Building in Costa Rica is a different game. Don’t take your eye off of the ball, don’t even blink. Yes of course they heard you, but no one was listening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)