Wheel Time

There was a time when I couldn't imagine life without a car.  In fact, at one time we owned five of them - one for each of us and three that got our houseful of teenagers to high school/college and after school jobs.  The fleet gradually declined as the kids moved out on their own.  Even in retirement, though, we enjoyed the luxury of a two-car household.  Or maybe more accurately a one and a half-car household, since one of the two was a GEM golf car/neighborhood electric vehicle that we used to tool around... well, the neighborhood.

Then came the big move.  We sold our one and a half cars, landed in Costa Rica, and embraced public transportation. Life was perfect and we thought we would never, ever own a car again.  

We enjoy taking the bus because it gives us a chance to visit with our neighbors.  It's more relaxing than driving.  And you never have to worry about finding a parking space.  

We also enjoy walking - something we found we rarely did when we had a car parked in our garage.

Truth be told, we truly did not want to own another car.

But gradually over the past three years it became clear, that due to time lost to connecting routes, we simply couldn't realistically get to some places without a car.  After all, every time we leave the house we have two dogs waiting anxiously for us to return home and give them relief and reassurance that they had not been abandoned. 

Plus, we're not getting any younger.  What we can haul on our backs today might become impossible one of these days.  

So we decided to take the plunge and start looking for a car and embark on another phase of our education.  

We started the process with a lot of research to determine exactly what kind of a car we wanted and ended up with:

• Toyota (dependable)
• Corolla (most common here)
• Station wagon (carries cargo)
• Older model (cheaper)
• Standard transmission (reliable).

Finding the right older Toyota Corolla station wagon posed some linguistic and logistical challenges.  The process began with Vic combing the online car listings daily for suitable candidates.  When he found one or two or three, it was time for me to put my Spanish to the test.  On the phone, no less, which without the help of body language and gesticulation to help fill in the blanks, is the absolute most difficult for me.  Lucky for us, the owners of almost every car we looked at had a friend or relative who spoke at least a little English to go along with my little bit of Spanish.  So, with a little aspirin, a healthy sense of adventure and good sense of humor, we managed to both understand and be understood.

Once we established a time and place to view a car (typically at the central park in the hometown of the seller), we boarded a bus early in the morning to allow for the necessary connections and still arrive on time.  On two occasions, that meant eleven hours start to finish and taking four buses each direction.

It also meant that we got to visit some really interesting towns for the first time, so the trips did have an up side.

Cartago - old church ruins

Church in Tibas

Church in Santa Ana

Regardless of the language, negotiating doesn't change much from one country to another.  The same cannot be said for the process of paying for the car and securing a title.  And this is where the process gets really interesting.

In the U.S., once the buyer and seller agree on a price, money changes hands - either the full amount or a deposit and a promise to return with the balance due.  When the car is paid for, the seller turns the keys and a signed, notarized title over to the buyer, who drives the car home and later takes the title to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register the vehicle.   Not here.

Rewind the tape, please, to the point where the buyer and seller have agreed on a price.

Now instead of handing over any money at all - even a deposit - the buyer simply returns home with nothing more than the license plate number, which is then given to an attorney.  The attorney checks the title through the National Registry to make sure that there are no liens on the vehicle or outstanding tickets.  He or she then prepares a contract transferring ownership of the vehicle to the buyer.  All of this is generally completed in a day, after which both the buyer and the seller meet at the attorney's office, present identification, and sign the documents.  Once the seller is paid, the buyer is given the keys and everybody goes their separate ways.  Some time in the next few days, the attorney records the transfer of ownership with the National Registry and about a week later the buyers receives the executed contract and title to the car. 

In our case, the attorney's fee was about $50 and the transfer fees were about $240. 

Our "new" Toyota

(Note:  Our car search took us about three months.  We looked at cars as close as downtown Palmares and as far away as Cartago.  We visited a few car lots, but mostly looked at cars for sale by their owners. Ultimately, we found our car in Tibas, which is an easy bus ride from San Jose centro.)

So how did we celebrate our new status as car owners?  With a trip to Price Smart, of course!  Just in time, I might add, as I was almost out of laundry detergent and we were really dreading having to haul a big jug of Tide home from Alajuela on the bus!

Until next time...
Pura Vida 

Wow! Where has the time gone?  I truly am the world's most accomplished procrastinator, but I've outdone myself this time, as it actually has been a year since reporting in.  With luck, that grand hiatus is history and you'll be hearing from me in a more timely manner "hence, forth and from here on out," as my mother liked to say.  Or in 21st-Century business speak, going forward.

We had a few visitors over this morning... so that would seem like a good place to begin filling in the blanks since my last post.

If you ever wondered what a whole platoon of army ants looks like as it converges on your house, wonder no more.

  It's really tough to take meaningful photos of a bazillion tiny creatures (actually we estimate that there were at least hundreds of thousands of them!), but this should give you a general idea.  Luckily, they opted to dine outside, sparing us the trouble of scurrying for higher ground with the dogs while they cleaned out the house.  I'm happy to report that they've since moved on after no doubt carrying off countless creepy crawlies that might have ultimately sought refuge under our baseboards - or worse yet, under our bed.

Vic's gardening efforts are finally paying off.  Even though we lost his first crop of Roma tomatoes and sweet corn to fungus, we harvested a bumper crop of squash over the course of about 6 months.  Bumper crop in this context equates to something in the order of a half-ton - literally!  

 This monster ended up in the freezer and one about half this size found its way onto our Thanksgiving table, crowned with a delicious sage stuffing.

Right now we're eating kale, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and herbs from the garden and hope to be enjoying Brussels sprouts in a few weeks.  What a treat that will be... assuming that the bugs don't get to them first, of  course.

We were equally blessed with what might have been hundreds of delicious chayotes (aka mirlitons), which I learned can be thinly sliced and pickled for use in salads and on sandwiches. 

 

We enjoyed these three moras (something akin to a blackberry) from Vic's 15-month old mora bush.  The birds got the rest.

In January we spent a wonderful day with friends at the tope (horse parade), the centerpiece of the annual Fiesta de Palmares.  Apparently half of Costa Rica was there that day, as well.

Don't let these innocent faces fool you. Shortly before Christmas the big-eared guy in front (that would be Yoda) had a close encounter of the smelly sort with a skunk.  His sister, Chiquita, got close enough to acquire light dusting of the smell of nature, but didn't take the direct hit in the face that Yoda got.  It took a few days and a lot of baths with a half-dozen different home remedies (none of which worked particularly well) before they regained their house privileges.  And as a result of their proclivity for trying to return to the scene of the assault, they both lost their freedom and are now leash dogs.

Every now and then a banana, plantain, or quadrado tree bows under the weight of the fruit and Vic gets to haul home the goods.  

Believe it or not, there truly is a difference in taste between a fresh banana and a store bought one.

In August, Vic and some friends took a one-day fishing trip to Puntarenas.  The fishing was a bust, but they enjoyed a nice day on the water.  And, of course, you know what any fisherman worth his bait says... "A bad day fishing is better than a good day working."

And of course, we continue to be entertained by all manner of interesting insects, like this guy.  

And then there are the not so interesting or entertaining ones that nibble at our ankles and buzz around our heads while we're trying to sleep.  We recently draped our bed in a mosquito net, which has eliminated the latter problem, but we do have to leave our little cocoon every morning, so find ourselves swatting and scratching with annoying regularity.

For those who might be wondering if we're still on that crazy diet, the answer is an emphatic yes.  I saw a fabulous epithet for our plant-based diet the other day and I think it sums it up nicely:  PB4L - or Plant Based For Life.

Since becoming no-added fat, whole food, vegans last year (yeah, that's a mouthful), we have each dropped 45 pounds and continue to lose weight, though a bit more slowly than in the beginning.  Just as importantly, all of our bio markers - cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar - have returned to normal, or near-normal.  

We feel great, have lots of energy.  I haven't taken a Prilosec since one week after giving up animal products!  As a consequence, we have no interest in going back to the Standard American Diet (SAD). 

And me?  I've rediscovered the joy of cooking.  In fact, I feel that  have finally learned to do real cooking, from real ingredients.  How to create textures and flavors without relying on meats, dairy, eggs, fat and off-the-shelf products.  Cooking from scratch requires more time and some days can feel like a chore, but  the time I spend in the kitchen definitely belong on the plus side of my balance sheet.

And there it is, folks.  One year - or at least most of the highlights of it.  Look for more soon.

Pura Vida

Mangosteen pod before opening.  

Can't you just see two little eyes and a button nose on this guy?