A personal post about a dream that turned into reality and then into a different dream. Because in life you’ve got to have a plan B. A few weeks ago Barry and I both realized we were living out our dreams again. He was recently appointed a position with the U.S. National Park Service in
Did the MEL Group purposely choose the same name as the aviation giant out of Suffolk U.K. or was the decision based solely based on their initials? – Kimberly Beck, Matina Limon Costa Rica Promoters of a $700 million international airport in Limón said they had difficulty generating interest under the Laura Chinchilla government, but
Selling our 1990 Isuzu Trooper wasn’t an easy thing to do and not for the reasons you might suspect. I almost cried yesterday, almost. How silly it was to be emotional over the sale of a car, but the Trooper wasn’t just any car. For six years it played its part in our family as
Can trading versus purchasing simplify your lifestyle? Short Answer: Maybe. This is our latest transaction. When I want something my mind first concentrates on the benefits of what having that thing will bring to me. I often let these benefits simmer around a bit in the old noggin and my want increases. That thing is starting to
Renewing a Costa Rica drivers license, changing residency status and getting a vehicle inspection are all things that are easier in Limon. There are simply fewer people. This means fewer people that are in a hurry, fewer people to cut in front of you and less stressed out employees. Renewing my License My Costa Rica
We are saving money by using a few Tico tricks, a bit of American ingenuity and improvising.We are currently working on ‘finishing’ type projects and I’m even considering (dare I say it) what my drapes might look like. This post shows the bathrooms, building the kitchen cabinets, re-finishing the ceiling fans we brought down in
Chestnuts in Central America? The breadnut tree, which is in the Mora family, produces a large oblong shaped fruit that has soft spikes covering it. It is known as the Castana (cast-on-ya) here in Costa Rica. It is a versatile seed that can be boiled, baked added into soups or dried to make the perfect
Possible Investments in Limon Province and Anticipated Growth This article was originally published on November 1st, 2013 in A.M. Costa Rica, an on-line English language news source. The editor made some changes when published, this was the original story. In a public hearing to be held November 9th at the Eddy Bermudez gymnasium in Limon,
Three of our articles about the Carnival (Carnaval as it is known here) in the port city of Limon Costa Rica were published by A.M. Costa Rica, an English language daily news source. They are all here, the most recent first, with some photos of the days festivities. If you plan on attending in future
Arenal Volcano, the youngest volcano in Costa Rica and easily the most active is surrounded by Arenal Lake at its West flank and Cerro Chato, an inactive volcano, at its East. The nearest town, La Fortuna, has everything a tourist needs and is heaven for back country folks like us. We stayed at Arenal Observatory
Our house building project officially began in March of 2012 when we bought enough electrical cable to make it up the hill. The water tubes came next so we could test the water pressure to what would become a two story bath. We inventoried the wood we had available, tallied the trees we would need
Joel La Rue Smith brings his former jazz students to Costa Rica as part of an international cultural envoy. This article was originally written for A.M. Costa Rica which is an English language news source in Costa Rica. A Friday afternoon at 11 am hardly sounds like the perfect time for an Afro-Cuban Jazz show
How to get free trees (including tropical hardwoods), from Costa Rica’s electricity provider, ICE. We applied and were approved for 35 trees of our choosing. This post explains how we did it. We intend to restore our farm with the tree species that would have been here had it not been previously used as pastureland.
Our cottage in the woods – Building a two-story house on our farm in Limon Costa Rica. We have pictures that show how we hid electrical wires in a single panel wall, how we added decorative, natural supports and our hand-built rock bar. This is a picture taken a few days ago of our soon
Why we chose painted metal roofing, how we used bamboo to help with building, and combating water stains from the incessant rain on our interior wood ceiling. Roofing Options in Costa Rica In Costa Rica your roof is, in my opinion, the single most important investment that you can make for your new home. If you
How to make Caribbean Rice n Beans using fresh coconuts, garden vegetables, and herbs. We visit restaurants that are owned by Afro-Caribbean ladies more than we visit traditional “sodas” here. Our meals always cost a buck or two more but you get what you pay for in the taste department. The use of thyme, cinnamon,
Our Building Project – Images of the progress since the last post (permission to project start), how very important a machete and rope have become and which brands of tools are taking a beating. We are officially deep in the throes of building. Not the sometimes you talk about “Oh yeah, 6 am to 6
Building Costa Rica – Obtaining Permission to Project Start Part 3 The waiting is over. We are finally starting our house building project. This article covers the steps we took to get permission, how we prepared the posts to go directly into the ground using re-bar and images of the site after the first day
Our Rain Forest Aerial Tram Day. What we thought of the place. Every once in a while we are lucky enough to get away from the work of the farm and enjoy ourselves at one of Costa Rica’s many tourist attractions. Our friends had family visiting and invited us to go along to a place
Our move to Costa Rica This summary of our move to Costa Rica can be found at Living Abroad in Costa Rica a website/book/guide about moving to and living in Costa Rica. The fourth edition is coming out and our expat profile (a version of this article) will be included. by Erin Van Rheenen Kimberly Beck
House Building Costa Rica Part 1. After buying the farm we needed to build our house. See Part 2 or Part 3 The process of house building Costa Rica can be fun and time consuming! We have been waiting to build our own house for two years. When we first bought the farm we decided to build
Things to think about before you buy a farm in Costa Rica Not everyone comes to Costa Rica with a pension, finds an awesome condo right over the sunset studded Pacific Ocean and lives happily ever after. Some people seek out a different lifestyle all together. Some people choose Costa Rica for the cheap farm
Port of Moin now and how it might change in the future. We live about 30 min West of the Port of Moin. It’s our closest access to the Caribbean Sea. We go to Playa Bonita for birthday’s or anniversary’s because we can get a decent meal right next to the water. The waves roll over
2012 | Photography Exposition at the Antigua Aduana building in San Jose Costa Rica As a photography company in Costa Rica we were compelled to go to the Photography Exposition or Expo Foto near downtown San Jose. The Antigua Aduana (Old Customs) building was just right for such an event. There was attended parking for only $2, beautiful
Naranjilla Fruit (Solanum quitoense) How it grows and how we use the fruit for juice Naranjilla (na-rang-E-ya) is a medium-sized, furry plant that grows best in the cooler temperatures of higher elevations or in the shade at a lower elevation in the humid tropics. It is believed to come from the Andes in South America.
Growing Coffee – Choosing the best plants for our altitude and soil type. The terrain here in Costa Rica varies sometimes from foot step to foot step. You can drastically change your elevation in just a few minutes. The composition of the soil is just as varied. The piece of land down by our river
Independence Day San Miguel Limon – Building a farol for the celebration Faroles or Lanterns are made by Costa Rican’s to celebrate their Independence from Spanish rule (1821). There was no electricity at that time so people walked to the towns center with homemade lanterns. While community leaders were discussing plans for the next day the rest of the
Pan de Elote is Costa Rica Corn Bread using Fresh Corn from the Cob Growing corn in the rain forest is difficult. Growing corn in the rain forest without chemicals is near impossible. Bugs, worms, heavy rains are just a few of the many reasons we have only a small amount of corn this year. We planted about
Biodiversity Park INBio in Heredia. We went for a mushroom festival and came out with so much more. A mushroom festival was mentioned in a local paper one day. It was going to be held at a place we had never heard of before, INBio Park. It peaked our interest because we had already started some shiitake plugs in a piece of a local tree (guachipelin) and
Matapalo Guanacaste, getting there during a violent strike in Limon. Arriving to find a seemingly friendly resort which is draining the local town of its water. “So let me get this straight. You want family photo’s taken of your vacation in Costa Rica at a big resort and you want to pay for us to