Hi all,

I know I promised a post on "Luisa" next. But that can wait a little longer. We're trending toward the end of July. School has been out for awhile and now is the time for vacations. As in people vacationing to Costa Rica. :) Some of those people just happened to be our family coming to Costa Rica for the first time.

My husband's parents, my inlaws, just returned from the States this weekend after spending a week with us. It was wonderful to see them. It also gave us a reason to actually do a little vacationing of our own. So off we went out into the wild, blue and green Costa Rica.

Where did we go? Based on recommendations from some of the folks I work with, we headed to Manual Antonio. Yes, it sounds like a guy's name. But it's really the location of one of the best national parks Costa Rica has to offer. Here is the link to the Wikipedia entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Antonio_National_Park

We spent 3 days in Manual Antonio. 3 days of family, sun and nature. We had lots of all 3. First family. 3 full days of 6 people driving in one car in a foreign country. James drove. His dad Gerry navigated. I helped to keep the kids entertained while the Nintendo batteries were charging. Judy, James's mom, held on for her life for the bulk of the trip. The roads in Costa Rica are nothing short of an adventure. There are a lot more obstacles (cows, people, pot holes, mountains, roads which wound around the mountains with no guardrail) then one usually encounters along the average highway and biway in Missouri. But besides the joys of a road trip, having our family with us here in Costa Rica was the best. It's hard to describe the happiness of having your close family in the same room for a change instead of only by Skype. The kids missed their grand parents very much. Having them here for a week was the best vacation we could have given.

And then there's sun. We had lots, lots and lots of sun; mostly on the 2nd day. We applied sunscreen liberally, in the first 15 minutes we were on the beach. But then, forgot to do it again for the next several hours. Add the fact we're 2 miles from the sun here in Costa Rica and playing in the water, spells more than too much time without adequate sun protection. Lesson learned for sure. Although, my favorite picture was of the kids after this day of sun and sand.

Finally, there is nature. Lots and lots of nature for sure. We saw grasshoppers 5 times the size of anything I've seen before. Walking stick insects which were as big as real sticks. We saw iguanas and geekos at every turn. Monkeys of 3 different species. There were sloths in 2 different varieties. We actually saw a bona fide tree frog snuggled safely in the crook of a large banana leaf. So small and so close to the same color of the leaf without the expert eyes of our guide we would have missed the little frog totally. We saw tree bats snoozing in the mid afternoon. And, we saw snakes. Joy, slithering reptiles. :) Tree boas were mostly what we saw with the one exception. One of these reptile friends we saw Monday evening right outside our hotel bulding on the path leading from the beach up to the hotel. Here is a picture of our little friend, a black reticulated boa as our nature guide said based on this picture,  as he was quickly trying to escape into the underbrush. Our other reptile friends were curled up high in the tree canopy away from those pesky people.

It was a wonderful 3 days and a great week with our family. We thoroughly enjoyed having them visit us, enjoy Costa Rica and experience our day to day life here.

I think this final picture exemplifies the Pura Vida feeling we all had after enjoying our vacation.

Now, this week, MY parents visit. More family, sun and nature coming up!

JULY 4TH 2010 - Happy Birthday USA!

Happy Birthday USA!

Today we spent our first July 4th in Costa Rica. It was a nostalgic day and very different compared to the last July 4th I spent in a foreign country.

The last 4th of July I spent in a foreign country was 20 years ago as a college student in Guadalajara Mexico. The highlight of our evening was singing the Star Spangled Banner at 10pm in the middle of a residential street with probably 15-20 other study abroad students under the influence of several Tecate beers, the "PBR" of Mexico (translation: the cheapest beer). It was quite a "chorus". (!)

This 4th of July was very different. There were still study abroad students. I saw and talked to many from Missouri and Kansas. But I wasn't in that group. I was in the "family with small children" group. Wore my KU t-shirt and Audrey had on her KU cheerleader outfit none the less. James had on a patriotic shirt with the US flag. Corwin proudly wore the t-shirt from his boy scout troup from KC. We still sang the Star Spangled Banner. But not at 10 pm at night, nor in a residential street. There was still beer involved via an all you can drink beer garden; just not Tecate and I had only one.

This 4th of July we spent the bulk of the day at the annual July 4th Picnic sponsored by the American Embassy and probaby 40 or 50 sponsors. This was the 50th year of the event. It was at a large outdoor private picnic park where for $5 US per person (and it was only for American citizens with US passports and immediate family), we had all the hotdogs, beer, soda, popcorn, kids games, picnic games, volleyball and bounce house time we could stand. But more importantly, we also saw the Stars and Stripes raised by a US Marine Corps color guard, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of our lungs with a local outdoor live orchestra. The picture here is the flag as it was being raised on July 4th by the color guard. After the colors were raised high, the US Ambassador to Costa Rica addressed the crowd. Both with her own address and an excerpt from President Obama's July 4th proclamation.

It was both an incredibly wonderful event and bittersweet at the same time. Over the last month or so, the whole family has been more than a little homesick. Things which remind you of "home" can suddently and strongly trigger very intense emotions. When singing the Star Spangled Banner, it was all I could do to hold it together and not just start sobbing half way through it. We were told this would happen. I expected it in the kids. I didn't expect it in myself. It's a difficult thing to describe. It's like "the honeymoon is over". The boxes are unpacked. The car bought. The immigration process complete. The kids enrolled in school. The paths to grocery store, gas station, church, Walmart substitute and work are almost second nature. However, the language is different. The government is different. You can't buy an American flag because you can't find any. The extended family isn't a car ride away. Nothing you know like the fiber of your being is "just a car ride away" anymore. It's all a day's journey by an airplane going 700 miles per hour.

The question is how to manage this incredibly strong pull to things more familiar and comforting? How do we embrace our new home in a foreign country while still keeping our home country with us in our "back pocket" so to speak? It's something we will be working through for quite some time to come I'm sure. In the next several weeks, my in laws and my parents will be traveling south to see us. We've already sent "lists" of what we want them to bring from the States. The top of the list? The first thing which came to mind? Cheeseburger Mac Hamburger Helper and a very large US flag. :) Can't find either one of those things here at all. Why Hamburger Helper? Kids love Hamburger Helper. It's not gourmet. But it's easy to make. It's "American". It's "comfort food". The flag? When you're not in the USA, you're just American. You're not from Missouri or Kansas or New York City. You're not Republican or Democrat. You're just American. You want a big honkin' flag to put up whenever the mood to display your "Americanness" reaches pitch. As such, perhaps with a little "Hamburger Helper" once in awhile, a big honkin' US flag to put up when we feel the urge coupled with the fact I can play the Star Spangled Banner on my piano keyboard while the kids learn to sing it at the top of their lungs, we'll get just the "fix" we need once in awhile to keep the USA close at hand like that comfy sweater you know you'll always have handy when it gets really cold.

Have you ever been homesick? Ever away from "home" for long periods of time? What did you do to help ease those homesick blues? Drop me a comment. Would love to hear about it.

Next post: LUISA!

God Bless the USA!

Jaci

Bogota!

Hola mis companeros,

From my last post, I promised a tale about my recent trip to Bogota.

Very interesting place Bogota. I’m not sure what’s more disconcerting. The fact there are more bomb/drug sniffing dogs and military police than people in Costa Rica or the fact those security measures are needed in Bogota. I admit to being pretty open about traveling there as it was the “lesser of two evils”. Either go to Bogota or Mexico City. Both places are challenging from an American perspective. Regardless of what we do, regardless of fluent our Spanish might be or how well we appreciate and know the culture, Americans will always stand out in Latin America. Bogota is no different. However, taking the fact Columbia takes security to the level of an art form aside, I really enjoyed Bogota.

Let’s start with the weather. It was cooler than Costa Rica but not too cold. During the day long sleeves were okay. In the evening, a leather jacket or sweater was definitely needed.

Let’s talk the food. OMG…the food. It was great! Traditional Columbia food is VERY close to what Americans would classify as “comfort food”. It’s creamy soups with big chunks of chicken and vegetables. It’s baked chicken with gravy. It’s absolutely mouth watering steak with baked potatoes with all the fixings. It’s incredible deserts with fresh fruits, whipped cream or the most delicious cakes with intricate frostings.

Then, the buildings. Where I stayed it was a more upscale but older part of town. There were high rise buildings but also many older and more traditional buildings, many of the brick with beautiful and intricate wood trims. Our hotel was one of these buildings. It reminded me of a turn of the century castle with round turrets with stained glass windows.

Now, we shift to the mountains which were all around Bogota. Not sure if they were taller than the mountains circling Costa Rica’s central valley or not. But they were certainly beautiful. From one of the Citi offices in downtown Bogota, the view of those mountains and several of the buildings built along the range illustrated some of the most spectacular sunsets Bogota has to offer.

Finally, the LEATHER. Again, OMG…the leather! Managed to get a little shopping in while we were in town. Well…more like A LOT. J In fact, I did all of our family Christmas shopping with the exception of the kids. It was awesome. A jacket for me, a jacket for James. Wallet for me, belt for James. Plus, wallets, belts, gloves, boots, purses and all sorts of other cool nifty things for our friends and family. The only people I didn’t shop for were the kids. At 3 and 7 they just aren’t that into Columbia leather. LOL!

All in it was a great trip. However, I definitely noticed the difference coming back to Costa Rica, enough of a difference to say, “I missed Costa Rica!” There is no pollution, no bomb/drug sniffing dogs outside of airport security and no military police with sub machine guns every 2 blocks. Yes, Costa Rica has its challenges. However, our challenges don’t involve traveler warnings from the US State Department. Pura Vida!

You are only 7 once...

Hi all,


Two weeks ago we experienced our first Costa Rican birthday party. A little boy in Corwin’s class from school was turning 7 years old. Now, I’ve never really considered turning 7 a significant milestone in one’s life. You can’t drive yet. You can’t operate heavy machinery. You can’t smoke, drink or gamble. At age 7 you can’t even have a credit card or a job. However, for turning just 7 years of age, this was quite the event as birthday parties go.

First, there was the place. “Tesoro de la Pirata” or “The Pirate’s Treasure” is an indoor playground complete with trampoline, zip line and climbing wall among other things. It was fairly large. Had a secure parking lot. Clean and courteous staff. It was a cool place.

Second, the food. There were catered (yes I said catered) appetizers including a chocolate fountain. There was pizza for the kids. There was the custom decorated Lego topped incredible cake. No worries about leaving this soirée the least bit hungry.

Third, the décor. There were custom balloon sculptures hanging from the ceiling. Nifty center pieces on all the tables for the “Indiana Jones” themed party. Treasure chests to put gifts in when you arrived.

Fourth, face painting and the largest piñata I’ve seen yet. All the kids had faces painted with a broad range of designs. Butterflies were our daughter’s theme of choice. For Corwin, snakes. And the piñata in the shape of a Lego soldier was about the largest piñata I’ve seen. It was also full of premium candy. The imported good stuff. Our kids came home with more candy than they did for Halloween in the States.

Fifth, parting gifts. At an American party, there is almost always the ubiquitous “goodie bag” with some candy and small toys. At this party, the parting gifts were Lego kits, Indiana Jones whips (yes, the ones which are quite realistic) and satchel bags like Indiana Jones carried. Here in Costa Rica, those are not inexpensive toys. The Lego kits especially would be in the range of $20-30 US without much effort. Multiply this by the numbers (see the next paragraph) and you're not talking small change.

And finally, the numbers. In the US, parents are always uber sensitive to staying at the party and/or bringing younger siblings. Unless the invitation specifically says you can, most parents won’t bring younger siblings or stay for the duration of the party unless they think it necessary. No such social quandary here. At this party, when we inquired if it was okay if our daughter came to the party, we were met with “Of course! And there are appetizers for all the adults.” There had to be 30 kids and probably 10-12 adults. Easily a group of 40-50 people. I've been to weddings in the US with fewer people.

All in, the kids had the best time. They played for almost 2 hours, ate pizza, played more, ate cake, played more, beat up the world’s largest piñata and played more. We had to practically drag our children out of the place at 5pm (the party started at 2pm!). The food was really good. The cake was really cool. The party place very nifty, clean and secure. It was a great party. A bit over the top perhaps, but after all, you only turn 7 once. :^)



Next post…BOGOTA!

We did our part for the US economy

Hi all!


April has been a very busy month in the Bennett house. We spent a very enjoyable Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Costa Rica. Enjoyed Easter Sunday Mass all in Spanish. Finished up our unpacking and organizing. Spent an awesome weekend at the beach on the Pacific side on a whale watching tour with friends. Pulled out the big suitcases and headed north for 10 days in the US for Corwin’s first communion and our chance to provide a one family economic stimulus package for the US economy.

Whew! I’m tired just from typing all of that.

Oh…and we bought a car! Woo hoo!

Let’s start with the car. It’s a “chick car”. It’s not a fancy brand. It’s a Hyundai. It’s not a turbo. It’s a 1.6L. It’s not black. It’s a wine color (like the color of a cabernet). It’s not a 5 speed. It’s an automatic. Definitely a RARITY in Costa Rica with all of our mountains. It’s not a 4 wheel drive SUV. It’s a small hatchback with 2 doors and about a dozen airbags. I describe it as “cute”. James has other preferred adjectives. :) It gets us from point A to point B without paying off the chart rental car fees. It’s fuel efficient. This is a very good thing as gas is twice as expensive here versus the US. It’s not for long distance or rough driving. It’s just for getting me the 6 minutes on the interstate to work and back. We’re still looking on our Don Quixote quest for the “decently priced small SUV”. But at least now no more rental cars. The irony of this little car was how easy it was to buy. It was a private owner who was a retired public school ENGLISH teacher (there went the language barrier out the door). A friend of ours has a friend who was a mechanic. (easily checked out the car for a fair price). The owner’s daughter in a law was an attorney. (needed an attorney to complete the sale) We picked it up at the Nissan dealership where the owner’s daughter in law leases out her power of attorney for car transactions (avoided an hour long one way trip to Cartago to pick up the car). The whole sale took like a half hour to sign the papers, pay the transfer tax and drive away. It’s taken us longer to buy cars in the States.

We drove our new “cute little car” to Easter Sunday Mass at San Rafael. It was 430 in the afternoon. It was packed standing room only. The Mass was all in Spanish. But we were able to follow along well enough. We were dressed up. No one else really was. So we stuck out more than usual. Everyone wanted to touch Audrey’s hair since it’s blond and feels like spun silk. But I actually understood a good part of the homily. Holy Week is, outside of Christmas, one of the most sacred religious holidays in Costa Rica. This is a country which is like 80% Catholic. There were parades downtown. Specials on TV (all of the classic movies ran on TV). Many people went to the beach for the week (to the tune of 60% of the country). We went out to Rosti Pollo, our favorite restaurant. Look up Rosti Pollo on the web and you’ll understand. It’s all “roasted chicken” and it’s great. I had Thursday and Friday off work. We spent the time together as a family at home. Worked on the house and just enjoyed being together.

The weekend after Easter Sunday, we took our first foray outside the city on a whale watching tour to the Pacific. Whales come to the Pacific side of Costa Rica to calf in March and April. Along with friends of ours (Joel, Lisa and Elena) from Chicago, we jumped in the bus with everyone and headed for the beach! We had a great time. Learned a few things about the coast. Saw dolphins swimming in the wild. Didn’t see any whales (a rarity evidently) but the dolphins more than made up for it. We saw them swimming wild and free. We saw mothers with babies. Our son went snorkeling in the ocean for the first time. The food was the best. The humidity was OFF the chart. We were definitely in the tropics. Everyone enjoyed the beach, the sand, the sun and even a little shopping along the way. Check out Jim's Facebook page for an awesome dolphin video a friend of ours on the tour took from the boat.

Then, three days after coming back, we pulled out the big suitcases. We packed one of them about half full and headed north to the land of St Patrick’s Church, Target and MicroCenter for almost 2 weeks of time with friends, family and doing our part to help the US economy. We had a wonderful trip. We spent quality time with our family including my 90 year old grandmother. We shared pictures from our ocean weekend. The kids played with friends and charmed their grandparents. We enjoyed evenings with friends at familiar places. We laughed, told stories, shared successes and planned for future “good times” in both Kansas City and Costa Rica. Coming back last weekend, we filled up all 5 of those very large suitcases with all of our US bounty and headed back home.

However, while getting through Costa Rica Immigration was almost a non event, Customs would be a different story with 5 very full large suitcases of recently purchased US export products including some significant electronics. The solution? Act like a tourist. Essentially we bullied our way through Costa Rican Customs. When we arrived at Customs, we just started throwing suitcases on the xray machine belt. We didn’t even hand our declaration form to the customs agent. He was busy trying to keep up with the bags on the belt. The only thing which caught their attention was the DVD box in which James had brought a very used and very not working desktop computer. When the agent asked about it, I replied with my best “rude American tourist” voice, “It’s a used computer not a DVD player. It’s for parts and it DOESN’T work. Do you want me to open the box?” Considering it was 9pm at night, we had small children, a lot of bags and with my tone of voice implied, the customs agent wisely said, “No” and let us go in our merry way. I think he realized all of us would be there a lot longer into the night if they opened any one of those 8 pieces of luggage. LOL!

This week is now the week of “unpacking”, reclaiming the house and getting back to our routine. I think it won’t be so difficult with a glass of the MacCallan scotch which made it’s way through Customs, while wearing the new Nikes from other suitcase, mopping with the Swifter mop and staying in touch with our friends and family on our new Nokia N900 cell phone which traveled the distance in its box in the bottom of my back pack. Wish me luck!

Car Shopping

Hi all,


It’s another week or well, closer to 10 days later in the land of “Pura Vida” and rainforests. This was “car shopping week”. After this week, I now remember exactly why I really dislike shopping for cars regardless of the country of origin.

First and foremost, all cars in Costa Rica are imported. Second, Costa Rica has a very robust healthcare and educational system (just ask Rush Limbaugh!). This all adds up to third, very high import taxes making cars almost twice as expensive in Costa Rica as they are in the United States. This brings me to the fourth thing. We wanted to buy a decent small SUV made in this decade under less than $15,000. Most of our Tico and Tica friends laughed almost uncontrollably at this thought.

After many days of going to many dealers, we discovered our quest to buy a car has a lot in common with Don Quixote. (ack!)

Our first “windmill” was “car salesman deal with a lot of expats, surely they speak some English.” Ummmm….that would be a NO. So far, in all of the dealerships we’ve visited, one car salesman spoke English. Great…nothing like talking about cars (anyone know the Spanish word for “shock absorber” or “console”?) and the large numbers which are invariably involved ($15,750 or $29,999) in Spanish. Did you notice none of those price examples were UNDER $15,000?

That brings me to our second “windmill”, finding a decent small SUV under $15,000 made in this decade. That has proved to be a bit of a challenge. Most cars since 2003 will be at least $13,000 and over $15,000 if they fall into the “decent small SUV” category from what we’ve found. As a result, we’re delving heavily into the 2000-2003 model years. Most of these cars will run under $15,000. But finding a “decent” meaning “mechanically sound and including an interior which doesn’t resemble a war zone” is a quest we still have yet to complete.

We shall continue valiantly forward since our rental car is costing us a small fortune each month. We have several dealerships to go and a trove of cars for sale by private individuals. We were fortunately referred to a very trustworthy and competent mechanic who we enlist for about $20 a car to thoroughly check out any final candidate. We’ll find a car. The challenge will be finding a car made in the last decade in this decade. Wish us luck! Once we find this “diamond in the rough”, I’ll post a picture with all the details. Stay tuned!

Christmas in March!!

Hi all,

My apologies for not posting for awhile. But I have a very good reason. Our ocean shipment arrived and it's like Christmas in March!


After over a month with rental furniture, we now have our own things. Nothing makes anywhere feel like home when you're sleeping in your own bed at night.

On the day our things arrived, naturally it rained all day. As such we weren't able to get started until almost 11am. But we got started regardless. For the remainder of the day, we checked off each box or item by #, directed the movers where to put it; in Spanish usually, got some great practice at numbers. After the better part of a day, our house looked like a war zone. Imagine taking the contents of your entire house, boxing it all up, and then putting it in a house 2/3 of the size; all in the space of an afternoon. For the better part of the last 2 weeks, we have spent most of our spare time literally "getting organized". At this point, we're about 2/3 done. The 3rd level where all of our computer stuff and the office will be is in a state of progress. Audrey's room is done. Corwin's room is almost done. The second level TV room is about 3/4 done. Master bedroom is about 2/3. Living room is about half. We have half the room which still has boxes to be unpacked. Kitchen is done. Back utility room is a "catch all" right now. :) We'll do that last. The dining room is done and looks very similar to our dining room at our house in the states.

Last weekend we had a "marido" (Spanish for handyman) come and spend the better part of the day working on various and assorted things. Electrical wiring needed to be updated. Dryer vent snaked out (it was full of water from all the rain). As it runs UNDER the house when there is a lot of rain, it fills up. Also had him hang our bigger pictures. The walls are all concrete. As such, it takes a hammer drill to put a hole in the wall. But after all of that, our house is actually looking quasi organized. Scary!

I think the thing I was the happiest to see was the one item marked "articulos varios" in our shipment. I've included a picture of the rental version of this item in this blog. So with the picture of the small, old and very inefficient Atlas stove on your screen, imagine a very different picture of the "articulos varios" or our brand new, GE profile, stainless steel, ceramic top stove! It was the item I was the happiest to see. And exactly why it was marked "articulos varios" or "various articles" will forever remain a mystery. The best part was NOW we could actually cook without having to guess how hot the oven was or waiting a half an hour for the burners to heat up hot enough to make the simplest of things. The other day I made apple pies for a potluck at the office in this brand new piece of appliance bliss. I was able to cook 3 pies at the same time in the abundant and accurately temperatured oven. One pie I kept at home. 2 I took to the office. All disappeared in record time.

Once it cools down a bit, I think I'll make some applesauce with my new stainless steel friend. To the person, in my office, no one has actually had apple sauce or apple butter. As apples don't grow natively here people don't eat them a lot. My new quest will be to try and find apples which are even half as good as the ones in my parents’ apple orchard on their farm in Kansas. Once I do, me and our wonderful new stove will have a "Martha Stewart Moment" and can applesauce. Woo Hoo! :)