We Got Our Stuff!!

Hooray! We now are sleeping on a real bed, can sit on a couch, cook with enough pots and pans, have tools and many more things that make life easier. The biggest plus is the bed, no more air mattress! And now that we are off the floor we have discovered we are not cold in the wee hours of the morning. Ahhhh!!! That bed has never felt so good!

 

Our contents came (with delays at every turn; Detroit, New York, the Bahamas & Customs) on Wednesday. We were first told to expect our contents Saturday. Boo Hoo...Wednesday seems like a long way from Saturday. Each night extra on that air mattress was another slap in the face, or should I say slap on our backs? (Actually, our backs are doing pretty good. Tropical life agrees with us.)

We have found only one thing broken, a gallon glass jar, no big deal. We haven't found anything stolen (common from what we hear) and most boxes were never even opened. We heard that Brazil is really bad for things stolen from shipments.

Moving Crew—Thankfully Aldemar and two of his workers here at Serenity helped unload the truck. Although we paid for the 3 man crew that drove it here to unload, the extra guys got it done pretty fast and they appreciated that they made some extra cash.

Basement Dug!

The building permit was finally granted and we broke ground today, Friday, February 14^th. Happy Valentines Day!! John gave me a hole in the ground for Valentines Day!! Yahoo!!

The builder says the house should take 5 months to complete, turn-key. I am very grateful for this rental house but it will be so exciting to move into a house we designed that has the things we want. It is a little higher elevation than this house so a little cooler and has a stronger breeze.

Monkeys Came Back

We had monkeys in the trees next to the house again this week. There were bunches of them, too many to count. They eat leaves, flowers and buds high up in the branches and move along the river eating as they go.

Iguanas, the “squirrels” of Costa Rica.

Iguanas run out into the roads and they run fast!! We see them all the time although never have seen them in our yard or on jungle walks here in Serenity. Still haven't seen another sloth. I imagine they are in the trees around here but they are really hard to spot. On our CR tours last year, it took a wild life expert to point them out to us. Aldemar tells me he has seen Toucans around here lately, but I haven't. He knows more what to look and listen for. We did see a 8 foot long snake in the river the other day a on walk. But typically you don't see much of snakes. I used to see more snakes in the gardens at Rocky Gardens than we have here.

 

We have a routine now of going to San Isidro each Thursday for shopping and business. We come home with a week's worth of fruit, veggies, meat and fish from the farmer's market and breads from the La panaderia for under $40.00.

Internet?

Not yet, we are very unhappy to say. We can get a signal if we go up the mountain to our property but must pay for time on our netbook and Ipad. We can make phone calls up there also. No TV and Vonage phone here at the house. I read when I have time on my hands and we still go to bed early. John is thrilled to have “jobs” around the house now that we have our stuff. He fixes things, sets up things and all kinds of things now that he has tools. All in all, life is good and relaxing.

I went to pick up my shoe...!!

Second big spider in the laundry room!

Our day at the beach last Sunday

Oxen in our local town