For a place that boasts a relatively slow-paced lifestyle, the changes in our lives are taking place at a surprisingly rapid rate.
We have a new home. It’s a rental house situated in Buenos Aires, one of the districts of Palmares de Alajuela. In addition to a comfortable Tico-style home, the property includes a mix of open and forested areas, where we can have a vegetable garden, pick bananas, mangos, papayas, plantains, and lemons in our own backyard – after a morning trek on our very own nature trail as it winds down the hillside through the lush forest and shade-grown coffee plants.
Yesterday we made the trip with our camera and new puppy – another new development!
The new house is further from el centro than our old apartment was and seems to have fewer taxis zipping up and down the road to town. This requires a little more walking while we figure out the new bus schedule and how to make the three modes of transportation work together.
This is a birder's paradise, for sure! Each morning, we sit on the patio, coffee cup in one hand, binoculars in the other, and a reference book on Costa Rican wildlife nearby, scouring the trees for a new discovery. Here is a photo of a Blue Crowned Motmot that visits us regularly. As our nature photography skills improve, so will the number and quality of photos we can share.
We are learning that it is not uncommon for entire neighborhoods to be populated by extended family relations. This one is no exception, as the property on which our house sits was once part of a large family holding that was eventually divided amongst the next generation. Our landlord’s brother lives two doors down from us. To the delight of mi esposo, he is an agro engineer who was educated at the University of Costa Rica and Iowa State, and a ready and willing resource for adapting North American gardening skills to our new environment. More importantly, we have been blessed with not just one new friend, but an entire family of them.
Chaquita, our new puppy, dedicates her life to adding comic relief to our daily routine of sorting and emptying boxes.
You'll notice that she can make a bed out of just about anything. And when she’s not entertaining us, she's either sleeping or trying our patience as she works her way through her terrible twos and the mouth-everything-with-razor-sharp-puppy-teeth stage.
Puppy challenges aside, she is a delight and if feels great to have a little one in the house again.
Until next time…
Pura Vida
