Ups and Downs, by Kevin

Lots to tell from this past week.

Saturday: We drove to Playa Negra to look at a possible house for us to rent. Monkeys would’ve greeted us each morning as it was surrounded by jungle and it was also only a short walk to the beach. However, it had no a/c and the window screens had small holes in them so I began visualizing a mosquito-infested sweatbox. The beach right next door, Playa Negra, would’ve been fantastic for surfing, although we don’t know how yet, and Playa Avellanas looked picturesque, even in the rain. We also followed the Blanchard’s recommendation of Mango Smoothies at Lola’s (she’s a huge pig, in case you were wondering, and she hangs out right next door to the restaurant – no smells though, at least that I noticed). Both Jodi and Sadie slipped on the wood stairs on our way out but no serious injuries. The smoothies and setting were amazing. Here are a few pics at Lola’s:

Route to the Potential House

(Lola's and Playa Avellanas is Just to the North)

 

Lola's

Lola's

Mango Smoothie

Mango and Passion Fruit Smoothie

Lola in the Background

Sunday: We had our first opportunity to go to church since being here and being fully immersed in Spanish. The building is tiny and was crammed full of members. Understanding the language was really difficult. I felt like I was only able to grasp the big concepts of what was being said and sometimes even missed those, and that took my full attention to do so. I spent the last 45 minutes talking with President Duren and Jodi was called as the Primary Secretary. Her calling will be interesting for the first while as none of the others in the presidency speak any English.  

Route to the Church

The Church 

(yes, we're parked on the grass)

Sunday night we were invited to the Blanchard’s with the Johnson’s, President Duren and his wife, Dianaice, the Pinas, and Victor. We played a word game in Spanish where there is a king, queen, a bunch of “freias?” ordered from 1 to X, and a “papa-something-or-other.” The king says he desires the queen as his wife, the queen says, “With the queen?” in a boisterous tone, the king responds, “With who then?”, and the queen says, “with [someone else].” Then, that someone else says, “With the [name of their title]?”, the queen says, “With who then?”, and that person says, “With the [name of some other title].” If you mess up, you have to be the “papa” person and everyone sitting lower than that person moves up a spot. Jodi, of course, killed it and I think even made it to the King spot. I ended up bumbling all over the place and half the time everyone just let it go b/c they took pity on me. The best part of the game, though, was when Autumn joined and did an awesome job trying to say it all in Spanish. I was so proud of our shy, little ladybug. Here’s a blurry picture of the Branch President singing a song with his guitar (he’d previously written it for his wife):

  

Sunday night was the REALLY fun part, though. About an hour or so before we left Blanchard’s, my stomach starting to get real unsettled. I didn’t want to leave, though, b/c Autumn was doing so great playing the game. After the game ended I let Jodi know my stomach was really starting to bother me so we rounded up the kidlets and headed to our house. That’s when the fun started.

My stomach started cramping like crazy. I spent a good deal of time in the bathroom. It was so miserable. It seemed like my stomach and intestines were in overdrive absorbing as much liquid as possible to flush who knows what out of my system. Oh the agony.

In the middle of the night the cramping was so bad I couldn’t sleep so I headed back to my beloved throne. It smelled something wonderful, let me tell you. After coming back to bed I noticed that the stench did not contain itself in the bathroom and I was really happy Jodi was out cold. But, when we woke up in the morning and I told her that, she told me that the smell had actually woken her up. I know, I’m super impressive. Jodi said the smell was so bad she thought I’d had an accident but didn’t want to wake me up b/c I’d been moaning so much in my sleep so she decided it would be better for me, and less embarrassing, for me to lay there in my own filth. I hadn’t actually had an accident but that’s how potent I was. Now, go eat your dinner with that in mind.

Monday: I stayed in bed all morning and into the early afternoon. I was starting to feel better and I figured it’s just as easy to lie on the beach as it is on a bed. I also thought the kids would like to get out and we’d been wanting to visit nearby Playa Conchal. We’d attempted going there on Saturday afternoon but the tide was high so the crossing the small river to get there didn’t make it possible.

Yes, we had to fjord a river to get there. How cool is that? The beach had white sand and the waves were really calm, it was so serene. The Westin resort is nearby (they must have a separate entrance) so there were more people there than on any other beach we’d visited but it was still awesome. I posted a couple pictures of this trip in a post a few hours ago but here's one showing how many seashells some parts of the beach have:

On Monday night we were invited to Family Home Evening at a local branch member’s home (Eric and Neudia Sancho). Our kids watched The Incredibles in Spanish and played with their kids while the adults talked and made dinner. Well, Neudia Sancho made dinner and Jodi and I tried to talk to her. Eric was a bit late arriving home from work. We had chicken burritos that were really good and we now have a new recipe (in our heads, at least). Here we are with the Sancho fam:

  

Tuesday: Woke up at 5am and drove 4 hours to Grecia (by San Jose). Two members of the church dropped everything and came with me, Victor and Jose. Victor was the second driver to bring back one of the cars and Jose had the relationship with the car dealer there. I saw the sunset here for the first time on our drive there (the sun rises around 5:30am right now).

Sunrise

 

Road to Grecia

As we approach the dealership, which is just a little 30 ft. wide shop in the midst of a ton of other shops, and start talking with the owner my stomach is starting to bother me a bit. I started to realize I’m about to make a pretty big purchase in a language I barely understand (Victor and Jose don’t speak English and neither does the dealer) from a person I’ve never met, of a car I’ve never even heard of, in a country I just arrived in and still know so little about. Realizing I’d forgotten to bring all forms of identification (passport and drivers license) didn’t help either.

It’s crazy, this is the most populated city we’ve seen, and it seems really built up. But it feels like a somewhat modernized town from the Wild West. There aren’t really any big buildings in the city, just a bunch of small, specialized shops lining the streets. I felt a bit like I’d stepped back in time.

Back to the story: After paying some random, hole-in-the-wall lawyer $350 to mock-up and have me a sign a legal document I don’t understand and calling Jodi to scan and email a copy of my passport and then set up the wire-transfer, I ended up driving away in our new Galloper II.

We had to wait for a few hours while the a/c was fixed (it was blowing warm air) and the alignment was adjusted (it was pulling to the left) but for car repairs it seemed really quick. The rear a/c didn’t work but the dealer told me to have it fixed closer to our house so we wouldn’t have to wait any longer and he’d reimburse us.

A few miles down the road, the knob for the controlling the a/c fell off. Then, a bit further, I notice the temperature gauge doesn’t work. Then, even further, I jump out of my seat when something that looks like a side-view mirror starts flapping around wildly on the front-left of the car. Upon pulling over, we see that it’s the front-left blinker that has broken loose. At this point, I’m feeling like the car is falling apart at the seams. But, all along the way Jose keeps calling the dealer and he says to just get each item fixed and send him the bill. When I got home, around 6:30pm or so, I was bordering between feeling really sick to my stomach again or thinking it was all just really funny.

On the way home, I did stop by a store we’d heard about in Santa Cruz that sells produce really cheap. I stocked us up with 5 full bags of produce and it only cost around $30 – finally, a good deal.

Wednesday: We drove the whole family down to Nicoya to the garage of some random person Jose knew that was good at fixing a/c systems and would do it for a good price. While we waited for him to look over the car, we headed to Samara to check out the beach down there.

Samara was really nice. We made sandwiches on the beach (not a good idea unless you like eating sand) and played in the ocean for a while. At the very end I had Autumn on my back and went to jump a wave. Problem was, Autumn felt me crouch and thought I was going to dive through it so she crouched too. When I jumped the back of my head smashed into her nose. It bled a lot. She was fine but I felt so, so bad. 

Our savior, Jose (and our sandy lunch)

Samara (Tessa and Sadie liked throwing wet sand at me, I am washing it off here)

 Samara, on our way to the bloody nose

Samara, playing in the water

Samara, the horses

Samara, Nice bum shot here. Jacko and Autumn thought it was funny watching me dive into the waves (they really liked my karate chopping of the waves)

The a/c guy said he needed to keep the car longer b/c the a/c system was shorting out one of the fuses. He said he needed to take apart the entire dash as well as something in the back to trace out where the problem was. At least that what I think he said.

On Wednesday night we received the following text from Eric Sancho (he helped us find our house in Villa Real that we were so excited about!):

Eric:

How are you.  ? 

Did you guys buy a car?

Kevin:

We did. It's with a mechanic getting a few things fixed but we pick it up tomorrow.

Do we have a contract?

Eric:

Unfortunately no.  Owner call me this morning he is having problem

Getting the furniture. He said he left the furniture in the where house and his partner took them with out his approval.  I told him I need an answer before 12 pm. Tomorrow but I'm worry.

If not we need to look other option.  I feel bad. 

Kevin:

Oh wow. Ok. Let us know.

Eric:

For sure tomorrow I will call you.  ?

Don you have others options you like. ?

Kevin:

Yes, let's definitely it's talk tomorrow.

No other options. We stopped looking. We'll start looking again tomorrow.

---------------

Bare in mind, it’s late Wednesday night and we’re supposed to move out of our vacation rental on Friday. *Sigh*

Thursday: At this point, I’ve only been able to spend a few hours this week on work so I spent the morning catching up. We then drove the 1.5 hours back to Nicoya to pick up the car and also made a stop to pick up Jose along the way (who has been coming with us all along the way to help).

Our car is fixed and working great so we ask what the bill is going to be. He tells us $20. I’m feeling a little giddy and want to shove a 20 in his hand and run. But, I ask Jose if I understood correctly and, sure enough, $20. So I grab 10 Colones and hand it to him but ask again if that’s the right amount. He says it is and there you have it, the first thing we’ve found here that is truly a significant cost savings of being here. It felt like the main reason for the low price, however, is Jose’s relationship with him.

We then stop by another backyard shop (these shops are literally in their garages or their backyards) to get the temperature gauge fixed. That only takes a few minutes to fix and then he also spends a good 30 minutes or so fixing the floodlights on the front of the car. Yes, another issue. That ends up being $16 (Jose didn’t know this guy, he was recommended by the a/c shop owner). I like getting my car fixed in Costa Rica.

Upon arriving at our house Thursday night we had several messages (VM and email) from Troy Blanchard. He’d found us another home. An American family living in his neighborhood is planning to spend the rest of the year back in the states so they’re looking for someone to cover their rent while they’re away. The house is in a nice neighborhood, really close to the beach (and friends), it has a pool, it has three bedrooms plus an office, the Internet is already set up, and it sounds perfect. The rent is $650/month. Woo hoo! We’re ecstatic.

They want us to come by tomorrow to see the house and confirm but we sneak a peek by driving by the front of the house a couple times that night and it looks awesome.

We then, went to Dinner at a little, off-the-beaten path restaurant called… hmmm, something starting with an “A” I think, uh-oh, I can’t remember the name, oh well. It’s right down a dirt road from a restaurant called Pleades del Mar (or something like that) and it’s right on the beach.

Autumn, Jack, and Sadie go play in the sand/ocean while Jodi orders food and I take Tessa behind a tree for just a minute. On my way back to the table with Tessa, we’re walking across the sand and I notice a big hermit crab, about the size of a small crabapple. I point it out to Tessa and crouch down for a closer look when I feel something sliding under my left foot. My instant reaction is to kick my foot toward my behind, only to quickly discover it was a bunch of sand sliding under my foot, which is not all over the back of my head, neck, and down the back of my shirt.

Here are some pictures from the restaurant:

Friday: After taking care of work, I went to meet with Jose one more time and got our blinker fixed. This one was uneventful, quick, and cost $4 (the dealer bought the part and mailed it to Jose).

After dropping Jose off at his home, I stayed and talked with Jose and his wife, Neida, for a good while and then left for home with around 75 lemons (small green ones that look like limes from the outside and like oranges on the inside) overflowing a grocery bag as well as a recipe for lemonade.

Friday night Jodi and I found out it would cost us $1,000 to stay in our current vacation rental until the $650/month house is ready for us (a week from Sunday). Last night was our last night under contract so we immediately began to search for somewhere else to stay for the next 8 days.

Right in the midst of Jodi and I looking for somewhere less expensive to stay, Troy called us. He said he had just told Daphne (his wife) that they needed to figure out a member of the branch to housesit for them while they took their Visa run to Nicaragua. They both looked at each other with a little gasp as they realized at the same time how perfect it would be to have us stay in their home while they are gone. (Their contract requires that the house be occupied at all times to prevent burglaries.) They’re leaving for Nicaragua on Wednesday morning and returning the day we will be able to move into the $650/month house. They also suggested we move in early and we just share the house for the next couple nights until they leave. Jodi and I were real hesitant but both our kids and the Blanchard’s kids were so excited about it that we are going to do it. Looks like it’s going to be a party at the Blanchard’s house this weekend!

What a week. What amazing blessings.