House Hunting – Success!

House-hunting this time was much easier than last year in Alajuela! This is partly due to all those lessons we learned from our previous attempts, and partly because the economy is not so strong.

Last year, we were staying in Alajuela, and we started looking for an apartment or house in San Pedro. Since San Pedro is on the other side of the capital city from where we were staying, it was difficult to even know where to start looking. So lesson #1 – stay near where you want to live while you look. We were also looking exclusively for a furnished place. Even after we gave up on San Pedro, we found it very difficult to find a furnished place – so, lesson #2 – go for unfurnished if necessary, and buy the basics. We tried craigslist (online) and La Nación (a newspaper), but without exception, the advertised apartments were rented by the time we called – even on the same day! So, we started walking around the neighbourhoods asking people in the street about unoccupied apartments or houses; we looked for posts in ICE offices, internet cafes, and pulperias (small grocery stores). We put the word out to anyone who would listen, and finally found an apartment. Lesson #3 – walk around and ask *everyone* - don’t rely exclusively on advertisements.

This year, we stayed in Apartotel Los Yoses (www.apartotel.com) - we booked a week (lesson #1). Yesterday, while walking around the neighborhood, we went into two hostels to ask about housing. We decided to reserve a room at one of them (www.casayoses.com) for the following week, just in case. We asked (lesson #3) at the coffee shop in the mall, we asked the bank guard, we asked at the lunch counter down the street… I even posted for help on my favorite forums. The hostel folks pointed us in one direction, and on the way, we talked to the street guard. He kindly called his boss, who drove down, picked us up, and showed us his apartment for rent in Los Yoses. It was nice! 2 bedrooms, 1 ½ baths, Living room, dining room, kitchen, pila (laundry patio), and a maid’s room / bathroom. Unfurnished (lesson #2), for $400/month. The only real problem is that he required a year’s lease – and we aren’t certain enough of our plans to commit to that. So, when we got back to our hotel, we got out La Nación and Al Día and started calling. We got through to a couple of places, and made an appointment for today to see one.

Today, Paulina came by to pick us up and showed us an apartment in San Pedro – it is about a block off the main road, close to UCR, close to the outlet mall, close to… pretty much everything we need :-D. It is partly-furnished (lesson #2), has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen, living room, and pila. Short-term is no problem, and the rent is $400/month – we look around the apartment some more, Paulina drives us around the neighborhood, pointing out grocery stores, dance classes, bus stops, the Monge, restaurants, etc. As she drops us off at our hotel, we say we’ll take it! Woo hoo! We move on Wednesday!

Now – to work! And play some – the James Bond movie is still playing at the mall…

June 23, 2007 - Memorable Restaurants and Hotels

Memorable Restaurants and Hotels

(I have no business affiliation with any of these, just good history)

Alajuela

· Cugini's - Italian, ~2 blocks west of the central park

· Hotel Santamaría, SW corner of Juan SantaMaría park; Aldo and Jorge (and Jorge & Rosaria) are helpful and interesting (art, movies, movie-making, world travel, Antarctica, Argentina...)

· Jalapeño's - TexMex, ~2 blocks north of the central park

· Soda el Banco - best Gallo Pinto so far, across the street from the south-west corner of Juan SantaMaría park

· Vida Tropical, B&B in a nice quiet neighborhood, ~5 blocks north of the central park; Norman and Isabel are great! Lots of interesting breakfast chatter.

Grecia

· B&B Grecia - less than 2 blocks south of the park; Karl and Monika look out for you!

· Café Delicias - half block west of the park

· Colbert's - near Poás; "Fancy French" restaurant, with great view. We had a lunch of paté, main course, wine, and dessert for $22 each (plus the gas to get there....). Good to do once in a while.

Heredia

· Hotel Heredia - 4 blocks north-west of the central park; Don Carlos is the owner of this and 3 others, but lives behind this one. He is very interesting to talk to (Spanish only).

· Le Petite Paris - near the central park - look for their signs with directions; excellent French meals, for not much $

Orosí

· Montaña Linda Hostel (250 m west of Bar Primavera) or Guest House (just south of the Montaña Linda Spanish School)

· Hotel Reventezón (and restaurant) - on the corner south of super anita #2

· Otiac - restaurant attached to the Spanish school (also contains the "post office")

· Pizzeria Valle de Luz - in the Super Anita #2 center

· Tia´s Jardin - 2 blocks north of the church; excellent vegetarian (Thai on Friday nights)

June 23, 2007 - Small World

So many things happen to remind us what a small world we really live in.

Yesterday, Rick and I were relaxing in the Grecia park (ahhh a real park!), when we looked across the street to see JOE waving wildly at us! We thought we would miss out on seeing him again this trip, since he was showing his sister and her grandson around Costa Rica. But they started with downtown Grecia! How nice - we got to meet his relatives, and sit and visit for a while.

We are staying our final ;( week in a lovely Bed & Breakfast (B&B Grecia), less than 2 blocks from the central park in Grecia. Karl and Monika take excellent care of us! There is a priest who is also staying here. He travels a lot, but this is his first trip to Costa Rica. He went to an Italian restaurant, and struck up a conversation with the owner. They got to talking about the states; the owner is a former builder. Turns out, they knew each other - 40 years ago! The owner had built a church for the priest!

My favorite personal "small world" story is this:
In High School, a friend and I rode our horses around the levee roads, and found that the only way out was through the back yard of a house (this was definitely in the country - our block was 7 miles around). Next scene, a few weeks later: I am backpacking with my father for a week, heading for the top of Mount Whitney. We keep passing the same guy several times on the trail, doin' the backpacker's nod. Finally, we get to the mountain peak, sign the visitor's book, and enjoy our lunch while surveying the world below us. Suddenly, someone hollers "Hey! who's from Live Oak?" Hmmm - that's us! We look over, and it is the guy we have been passing on the trail. HE is from our town! So, we start talking, narrowing down where we live, and find out that - you guessed it - his yard was the one I rode through! :D We joked that he had a difficult time tracking me down...