Furniture , Internet and 1/2 A ROOF

I have been having a hard time taking time to sit down and write the Blog........and I do miss writing it .  The reason isn ' t that I have been strolling the beach for shells and driftwood or lounging the days away in a hammock under the Palms with one two three or four frio crevezas ( cold beers ).........Oh NO.........it has been work and I mean flat out work until Mucho Mucho Cansado..........Very Very Tired .  I have closed my eyes to sleep as early as 6 pm..........why ,  because every thing you do here you do with your own muscles........no wagons , no tractors , just basic tools along with arms hands , legs and feet .  Am I complaning.........No , just stating a fact and the benefit has been the weight is coming off and I am feeling so much stronger .  Strong enough now that every time I go to town 1  1/2 miles I  peddle my Black Escalade ( bicycle ) and I don't even break a sweat and I have become quite good at hauling multiple items . 

So a quick synopsis of where we are with the house ;  Roof off down to  the rafters ,  all rotten wood removed and replaced , all wooden shutters taken off and have been refinished by Luis ( one of many Luises ) ,  kitchen furniture refinished by same Luis , electric is on , water is on , phone and internet is hooked up , rancho has been rebuilt with zinc ( tin ) on except for the cap , rafters over our bedroom , bath and 2/3 of the porch have been sanded and tinted , electrical wiring to the lights , switches and outlets are inplace but not hooked to the new panel box , furniture has been made and delivered by another Luis . Sherry and I have painted 40 sheets of fibrolit ( cement board for ceiling ) .  Materials ( steel & rebar ) have been purchased and delivered to Douglas in La Virgen for manufacturing of our decorative SECURITY grates for our windows since we have no glass........got to keep the monkeys out or keep us in .  As of today we have a ROOF over our bathroom and bedroom that consists of fibrolit , estereofon ( sterofoam ) and zinc ( tin ) .  A little photo gallery for viewing



Rancho rebuilt



Rojo Zinc going on to cover Rancho



Rojo Zinc covering Bedroom and Bath Fibrolit covering porch

Underside of Porch Tinted Rafters and Supports and White Fibrolit

When we are not working we are shopping for supplies and materials for the house or groceries........and believe me shopping is an ALL DAY adventure .

We have been to Paso Canoas , Panama twice with our friend Sue to shop for groceries , dishes , glasses , flatware BEER and Vodka the first week we got here , so much cheaper to shop there .

The following week we took the taxi ( 4 door truck ) with friends back to Paso Canoas for electrical supplies for the house , groceries and fresh fruits and vegetables and 5 cases of BEER and Vodka , should have gotten 10 cases of BEER .

Several days later we took the water taxi to Golfito to get our Tarjeta ( ticket ) for the purchase of Duty Free items at the Deposito , shop for groceries and go to the pharmacist.......Elvis to see about prescriptions .

Sherry headed back to Paso Canoas with a friend for some girl time shopping and it gave her  a chance to shop without me......... I always need several cervezas after shopping just to calm the nerves .

Next thing you know we are off to Golfito on some friends boat as we need 3 gallons ofTinta (Tint ) for the rafters and supports along with getting screws and MAJOR Insecticide.........kills everything insight and as always buy what you think you may need because you never know when you will shop again.

Taffy Rynert Elena Sherry and I heading to Golfito Shopping

Well a week past and sure enough on Monday of this week we got the courage to hop on the Bus from Zancudo to Laurel for shopping in Paso Canoas with a connecting bus .  The bus leaves Zancudo every morning at around 5:45 am and costs about $1.80 per person to Laurel and I should clarify the bus is a school bus that seats about 45 children.......but here in this southwestern corner of Costa Rica we can cram 85 people along with.......OH Yeah , 1 box of baby chicks , several 50 pound bags of wild rice and a surfboard or 2 for the surfers leaving Pavones heading to other surf distinations further north .  The bus takes about 2 hours as it seems to stop every 15 feet to pick up what ever........and still it was a beautiful morning riding the bus .  So , we shopped and yes for the ride back on the bus we had a bathroom sink , faucets for the bathroom and kitchen sinks , telephone , sheets , small trash can to sit beside the toilet for the used toilet paper........Oh yes we don't flush our used toilet paper as the septic systems cannot handle it.........But we can .  Sherry needed a dish strainer along with several knives and then as always groceries and BEER 2 cases and Vodka 1 bottle and the taxi was loaded for the ride to Laurel to catch the bus .  Time for a beer or 3 as we had about 2 hours before the bus left Laurel at 4 for the return trip to Zancudo .  As we sat pondering the logistics of HOW THE HELL are we going to get this on the bus our Amigo Memo pulls up to the Bank across the street from the bar and now we have 1 less bathroom sink and 2 cases of beer to contend with.........A friend is never to far here in Costa Rica .  Boarded the bus at 4 pm and really not that crowded and as Sherry and I discussed our adventure I looked to the front of the bus and there stood  a Tico with a name on his shirt that just made us laugh...........take a look

DELAWARE

Every day we live an adverture here living a very simple existence , working hard to make a simple home in the jungle on Playa Zancudo and if me esposa were here.............however she is off to Golfito on the water taxi for 2 gallons of Penta ( insectide you mix with diesel to treat wood pre construction for termitos ) along with 100 screws , 10 hinges , the bank  to trade out dollars for small colones , grocery shopping and the butcher with 1 very importanta stop.........Chicken Bros........cause we having fried chicken for dinner tonight , she would tell you the adventures never stops . We are actually taking part in our own lives now without outside distractions .

I have been trying hard to keep the Blog going with problems with power and internet service along with the daily work load of repairing the house as we hope to be in by February 8th .  We have only walked the beach at sunset 5 times since we got here and taken just 2 sunset pictures............we have a  life time once we get in our Casa for many sunset photos to share and some amazing photos of our encounters with the monkeys that visit our Casa..........I am talking about the white faced capuchins or Ti -Tis' not our friends .  But I am going to leave you with a picture of one of my friends I found in our yard

Green Vine Snake and Yes Sherry let me play with it.....Amazingly Beautiful

Pura Vida

Hola , Flip-Flops at the Cabina Door

We are here , FINALLY . 

So , leaving wasn't easy , saying good-bye to our daughter and son .  Could not find my passport at the airport on Wednesday morning at 5 am and just flipped out at the ticket counter throwing envelopes of cash we took for the repairs to our Casa and anything else in my backpack all over the floor........Passport found front pocket of my cargo shorts must have been the excitment of finally leaving to start our life here in Zancudo and just could not remember where I put it.......no cafe needed from the adrenaline rush and of course one very mad wife.

Long trip from the airport with our driver Luis , first stop outside of Alajuela one 6 pack of Pilsens just to easy the pain of getting out of the airport with that much luggage.  The drive south took us 6 hours so we stopped in Rio Claro for dinner and another one or two Pilsens to prep ourselves for the road to Zancudo ...........OMG........how could it be possible for the road to be that bad ?

Took several days to unwhind and headed to the border at Paso Canoas on Friday before New Years.........BAD MISTAKE people everywhere music blaring and every few minutes cherry bombs would exploded along with many many policia but we survived and actually purchased 2 queen size beds and one big ass FAN !

So , what a surprise on New Years.........2000 + Ticos rolled onto our small beach town.......never in our lives did we think that many cars , trucks , livestock trucks , and any other mode of transportation could bring that many people into town .  From 3 am New Years Day until early morning people just kept on coming .  Our curiousity got the best of us and we headed to downtown to check it out.......just so unbeliveable


Downtown Zancudo New Years Day 2012

 On Tuesday we headed back to the border at Paso Canoas in a Taxi to pick up a few things that included our new beer of choice " Old Milwaukee's Best Premium " at $8 a case.......living in paradise does cost money and Pilsens was eating up our budget at  about $2 a can.........life is good .

Wednesday January 4th our construction team.........Roy and Victor along with one gringo started remodeling on Casa Sencillo Paraiso

2 Queen size mattresses , electric , water and NO roof

Made a mad dash into the jungle on Saturday for lumber shopping..........that is a whole other story for later , check out our lumber shopping atire



Roy , Cj and Victor

I still cannot believe it and you want to know why , take a good look as we are in 8 inches of water just on the fringe of the jungle

No Crocs or snakes just a large troop of Ti-Ti's (squirrel monkeys)

Life is so amazing here it feels as though we never left.........Our days are full and many nights we are asleep by 7:30 .  We are working very hard to get into our Casa by January 28th .  We have met with another Luis......they are everywhere here and showed him our designs for our furniture , 2 queen size bed frames , 1 table with 6 chairs , 2 L-shaped sofas (wood) with 1 tall cocktail table and 1 short cocktail table and our wooden 2 pieces of kitchen furniture are at another Luis' being sanded and varnished along with all of our wooden shutters .  The long sunrise and sunset walks will have to wait for now but every morning we are awakened by the Monos Congo ( Howler Monkeys ) with visits every day behind the Casa by the White Faced Capuchins and Ti-Ti's.  We have picked Star fruit from our property  and soon the bananas will be ripe along with the 9 pineapples .  What more would one want but a simple existence in paradise ?

Need to close as tomorrow is another day of work on the Casa ,  mornings filled with wonderful Costa Rican coffee , fresh mangos , papaya , bananas and pineapple and afternoon swims in the Golfo Dulce , please do not wake me from this dream..........

1st Sunset Playa Zancudo , December 29 , 2011

NOTE:  Sherry has lost 2 pints of blood to the mosquitos , me just 1 or 2 bites in 2 weeks........Pura Vida