Living On Jungle Time

It is 2:30 in the afternoon , where did this day GO ?  Sherry and I started our Sunday as usual , a cup of cafe con leche , get the Escalade and T - Bird unlocked from the Palm Tree..........haven't gotten the bamboo garage up yet for our bicycletas ( Ooops......Escalade and T - Bird ) and off to the north point we headed for our morning ride .  Made a stop at the mercardo ( market ) on the way back through town for heuvos and tortillas for desayunos ( breakfast ) and a quick visit with Elena at Oceano just to see if she had any cinamon rolls........better yet she had pumpkin bread made with whole wheat.......awesome .  So....we get through desayunos and I sit down to start the Blog at 9 am.........and what shows up

2 kilos of fresh OH YES fresh lobster.....cost 10 mil

10 mil = $20.00 US for 4.4 pounds of fresh lobster..........1 hour later and this is what we got

Dinner

and this brings me to............What can we get here in the jungle on the shores of the Golfo Dulce on any given day right here at our doorstep...............on Thursdays and Sundays Emilo comes with all the tropical fruits ( mangos , papaya , pina , manzanas , naranjos , bananas , sandia , and this week sapote my favorite tastes like pumpkin pie ) and then the vegetables.......you name it we can get it .  Then on Saturdays an older couple stops out front and beeps their horn with a trunk full of mandarinas , limons , bananas , tomate , pimentos and OH YES........String Beans...........too  awesome .  Also on Saturday the poultry moto ( motorcycle with a cooler strapped on the back ) comes through with fresh slaughtered old hens.........then along comes the egg man also on a moto with fresh brown eggs .  Now let us not forget the milk man on horseback and he will let you have the butter fat skimmed from the fresh milk . 

We are not done yet.......at least once or twice a week we get fresh tamale bread and / or coconut candy made over an open fire ( you can taste the smokey goodness ) with several other trucks with sandia ( watermelon ) , cantaloupe and often assorted fresh beans .  Now the one person we most anticapated finally showed up last week..........the RUG MAN ,  hand woven rugs that are awesome just wish we had more colones for a few extra rugs..........you would know why if you have tried to shop for rugs here or in Panama.......not what we are used to . Thank you Rug Man......hope to see you again real soon .  Oh....I don't want to forget the artifact man with so called ancient artifacts from indigenous indians ( made in China.....no not really.....just someones backyard probably )

So we sit and wait to see what will show up at our front door..........Oh please the Eskimo Pie Man  , just once .

Our Casa came without closets and we have been living out of our suitcases for the past 2 months......until a neighbor stopped by and wanted to know if I had any use for a couple sets of wooden shutters.......wood being hard to come by on a daily basis......I took a look and thought I could make them into wardrobes.........take a look

From shutters to a wardrobe and we got 2

 as always you really do need to be thinking a little differently when trying to solve a problem like a new handle for the toilet.........

Atleast the handle won't rust

Need to close......still have some watering to do as we are getting really dry .  As I have written in earlier blogs we only have 2 seasons.......Wet and Dry......we are Dry that is for sure but even in the driest times this jungle home provides some amazingly beautiful flowers

Heleconia and Ginger

We have celebrated 2 months here in Zancudo Costa Rica and seems as though we have lived here a life time and that can only mean one thing........we are muy contento.......Pura Vida

Moved In and Out Of Colones

That's right..........we have moved in and we are out of COLONES , ( $$$$$ ) as we over spent our renovation budget..........but life is AWESOME........" Living Outside - Inside "  and it seems especially true when the bats fly in and out of our living room at sunset . 

Yesterday was the last day of wages for our Amigos Roy and Victor who have been so amazing with their skills helping Sherry and I transform this Casa into our home.........even though we did go over budget and still have mucho trabajo ( much work ) ahead of us .  So in just 45 days we are in and this is our home

Casa Sencillo Paraiso February 18, 2012

Front porch has been squared off and a 3 block high wall has been added to each side of the main opening in addition to adding our pavers and rock garden to the front yard.......this was our vision.....take a look in the A - Frame to the hand made railing from mangele with traditional Costa Rican X s in each section.

L - shaped sofa to the right side and dining table to the left side

Lounge area center of our home

The picture above is the main lounge area of our Casa , with bi - fold gates to each side , the 2nd L - shaped sofa to the left behind our really comfortable Costa Rican Leather and Wood Rocking chairs.........me esposa has yet to get the RECLINER .  Our kitchen is straight back from the  lounge area with our bedroom and bano to the right and the guest bedroom and bano to the left .

Lounge area with hand made ladder to loft over the Cucina

The answer is NO.........Are there SCREENS ?  Both bedrooms and bathrooms are fully screened and we do have a ceiling in the kitchen along with screens on the 2 windows . 

The answer is YES.........Are there mosquitos , no sees , frogs , lizards / geckos , bats , and the 1 zillion ants..........I usually just leave a small piece of fruit in the frying pan about an hour before we start cooking just to attract several thousand ants in the pan just to add protein to our meal.........as I said before in an earlier blog.........you can try to kill them or just eat them.......taste really great in rice dishes with soy.

Lounge area with L - shaped sofa

Just so you know........we do sit here in the evenings with no problem with insects listening to 98.1 from Seacrets in Ocean City..........Thanks to great internet.

Looking up to the front rail from the lounge

You can not imagine how beautiful the room is at sunset filling the center of our Casa with amazing light .  At times it seemed as though we were not going to get through the renovations especially on the days when we had 3 yard workers speaking only Spanish , Roy and Victor speaking Spanish that Sherry and I understood half the time , an electrician or 2 who only spoke Italian, along with 2 men working on the gates system 1 of which we still don't know how to pronounce his name so you know I was drawing alot of pictures and doing some wild gesturing just to get the point across..........now you know why on so many of the shopping trips it was important to stock up on Vodka and Cerveza.......just for days like that .  But now we are settling into our daily routine and it looks as though frog extraction in the mornings has to be added to the list...........these are those 2 pound frogs not the cute little colorful ones that me esposa likes........I promise a picture in a future Blog .  How wonderful life is here.........so I will close with a picture of our neighborhood friends who live just beyond the jungles edge and on occasions the Palm trees in our front yard.......just don't look up with your mouth open......

Just 2 of the approximately 30 + that visit our yard

I should have paid more attention to the signs at the Zoo especially the one the said , " Don't Feed The Monkeys "    Pura Vida

30 Days and Counting To Move In Day

I am starting the Blog with a photo from the past .............

Just A Dream

 and here we are 1 year later and only 30 days into the renovations of Casa Sencillo Paraiso

So...........No trabajo hoy.........No work today , as it is our first day to reflect on how far we have come and to really rest our mucho mucho cansado ( very very tired ) BODIES .   This past week we have put the rafters in the kitchen which now gives us a second floor loft space looking out the back of the property into the jungle.........amazing views and the perfect spot to lounge and watch the monkeys and birds..........Oh , on Friday we had a tamandua ( lesser anteater ) cross the back of the property and as usual no camera............also Luis came with the doors made for the 2 bedrooms and an awesome vertically split door ( 2 doors ) for the cucina ( kitchen ).........so beautiful that we have decided to use conch shells as the door knobs with only a simple hook and eye to latch the doors closed..........You are probably thinking we need a lock for those bedroom doors and to secure the kitchen.........Not to  worry.............tomorrow Alex is installing a gate system across the dining which consists of 2 stationary panels mounted at each side of the opening to the dining room and attached to each panel are 2 bi-fold panels...........we hope this works .

We went to the Deposito on Tuesday in Golfito via Memo ( Amigo with a truck )  to purchase our refrigerator , pots and pans , kitchen utensils along with knives ( haven't started eating with our fingers and toes YET ) , sheets , along with 2 fans and no trip is complete without a stop to the liquor dispensory and when you can get duty free prices you better go for it .  So............

Me a Refrigerator and a Cerveza

What an adventure and a wonderful ride home from Golfito with beer in hand Sherry and Memo with room up front .  The blanco foam I am lounging on........well it will soon be our cushions for our L-shaped sofas . 

Attaching few more photos of the progress we have made to the house.....

Our bedroom with the decorative security BARS and the wooden shutters

Looking out our front bedroom window

The renovations to our Casa are amazing and to be truthful.......MUCHO TRABAJO and MOY TRABAJO.......MUCH WORK and MORE WORK then we had planned........still our life here is muy contento..........it feels as though the beat of our hearts are in rhythm with our life...........Tranquillo  here on Playa Zancudo .

We have just about 2 weeks of MONEY left for wages before we say adios to our amigos Roy and Victor who have been so awesome with their skills of construction.......Costa Rican style........there are so many stories of how this Casa has come together and we cannot wait to share them with you , but ......... I need to close as tomorrow will bring MUCHO TRABAJO and a few Cervezas to kill the aching body.............YES it is worth it .

 
Pura Vida .