December 26,2007

On Monday, I went to see the mechanic. My new motor was in the car, and running fine. However, it didn’t move the car. We could change to any gear with the clutch out, and the car did not move. He was going to investigate further. Jose’s brother, Freddy is here, and he is a mechanic. If Siviani hasn’t figured out what’s wrong by tomorrow morning, Freddy will go up and have a look.
We had a nice Christmas, no snow. We went to a small party at Marvin’s on Christmas Eve, but only stayed an hour. Christmas Day was quiet, and we had a nice chicken for dinner. My dog is still very playful, and always helps me work. She is adapting well to my working style, and when not biting the rake, or the wheels on the lawnmower, she can be of great assistance. This is a picture of her and I working well together after Christmas dinner. What teamwork.

December 23, 2007

A fellow named Juan Carlos built this house. He is from Coronado, near San Jose. He hadn’t been to Punta Morales before, and he really enjoys coming here now, with his family, to enjoy the beach and El Huevo. This was the first house he built as the contractor, and he has since expanded in Coronado to a crew of about 40 men, building fancy houses in the San Jose area. He was here in July for a weekend with his foreman and his family, as well as his own wife, 2 children, and his mother. They came and got me, took me to the beach, the Huevo for supper and drinks and dancing, and breakfast and the beach on Sunday again. We had a great time.
They came back yesterday, this time with his father too, twelve people in all, and he took Linda and I to the beach in the afternoon, and again to the Huevo for supper, drinks and dancing. Everything went well, although we did have a small incident. As usual, a drunk was wandering around asking women to dance. He came to our table and asked Juan Carlos’ mother, and Linda, and they both politely declined. Then he went around the table and asked Miguel’s daughter, who is a young twelve. When she said no, he persisted. I stood up, as Miguel was busy and hadn’t noticed what was going on, and told him to leave, get away from our table, and anything else I could think of in Spanish to indicate to him he wasn’t welcome. When he started to argue and wouldn’t leave, I headed around the table to take care of things. Fortunately, I guess, Juan Carlos stopped me, got the guy to leave the table, and got the manager to throw him out. He was back later, but didn’t approach our table.
They do things a little different here. Nobody wants a confrontation. I guess that’s good, as long as it gets taken care of. I still have some customs to learn. There is more to living in a new country than learning the language.

December 23,2007

The mechanic phoned me on Tuesday morning, wondering if I was still interested in the motor. So, I waited for Jose to come home. When he did, he phoned his brother, Marvin, and asked if he would go to Heredia for the motor. We agreed on a price of $100, and half an hour later we were on our way, with the mechanic, to Heredia. We got back about 5:30 p.m., and four of us unloaded the motor from the pickup. Thursday, I went into Puntarenas with the other Marvin, and got the parts we needed for the clutch. Now, I am waiting for the phone call from the mechanic to say my car is ready. I certainly didn’t ask when I should expect it.
Carlos got here with the ceramic tile Wednesday morning, and spent the rest of the week laying the tile around the outside. He left Saturday morning with over half of the tile down. Somehow, he managed to underestimate the amount of tile needed, and he will be back with the rest around Wednesday. He should have the bars for the windows too, and the doors for the closets. This depends on the supplies store in Esparza being open on Boxing Day.
Inside the house, wherever the tile changes from one colour to another, he has put border tiles, or listeros as they are called here. I like the effect. They are mostly blue, but include the colours of all the other tiles as well. I took a picture of the step from the hall to the kitchen/living room where they are especially effective. Jose is in the picture too. He is my neighbour and friend who introduced me to Carlos the contractor.

December 17, 2007

Estimated times for beginning or ending projects are at best, an estimate. I think that my mechanic and my builder depend on everything going perfectly to calculate times. Friday, Carlos said it would take one more week to finish the house. I told him that things had to go perfect, and maybe better to do that, and that he was late for his bus, and we would see next week. I hope he’s right. The ceramic tiles for outside, and the same thirteen for one bedroom aren’t here. The kitchen counters and island, nor the bars for the windows. He was supposed to get the ceramics and bars today in Heredia. His brother was coming here from the big job around the corner Sunday night to lend me the pickup. I was to get my mechanic and go to Heredia to get a new motor for my car. While I was there, I would get Carlos, the tile, and the bars, and we would all come back here. He couldn’t find his brother on the weekend. The truck didn’t show up. Carlos is on the bus on the way here because his clutch still isn’t fixed.
The only good thing is, I’m getting used to it. As long as the house gets finished, as long as the car gets fixed, I’ll be happy.

Sorry, that last photo is of the master bedroom, not the living room.

December 8, 2007

I changed the way I wrote the date because I realized I had changed it once, unknowingly, already. It used to be automatic because I wrote month, day, year, every day at the casino. I probably can’t deal anymore either. Oh well.
I want to post a couple of pictures of the house. Even though it’s not completely done, the trim makes a very nice touch. One picture is of the living room. I like the recessed octagon in the ceiling. The other is of the outside. Note the bottom trim, cut and ready to install after the ceramic is put on the sidewalk and deck, sitting on the window sill beside the front door.

6/12/7

Linda, my wife, arrived from Canada on the 26th of November. She will be here for four months, and of course I am very pleased with the change. I had a two week schedule for doing the major cleaning in preparation for her arrival. I had visitors from Canada about the one week mark, and so had to get everything done in half the time. I actually got that done, to my surprise, and it left me with a week to fine tune.
The new house is nearing completion! I have stopped believing estimated time lines, but the latest is two weeks. They have installed the trim, inside and out, and that made a big difference. I was pleased when Carlos, the contractor, informed me that the baseboard was made of fibrolite. A popular type of cement board I had only seen in sheets used for walls and floors. The insects don’t eat it, and the humidity doesn’t rot it. It looks just like the pine they put on the upper trim after they are both sealed and stained. They still have to put in the kitchen counters and sinks, lay ceramic on the sidewalk and patio outside, install sinks and toilets in the bathrooms, install the light fixtures, screen in the copula, install screened grates in the fascia, paint the pool, install the pump for the pool, with bodega, put a water tank in (that was a recent addition because we were without water last week due to a breakdown of the pump that feeds the water tank), and level the lot. At least I can remember the list now, but it sounds like more than two weeks to me.I’m hoping, before Christmas.
Let me explain a little more about the water tank. Punta Morales has an independent water system. We have a well with a very good rate of water inflow, a pump that pumps it through the treatment system, into a tank on top of a big hill. This tank is built underground, and made of concrete. The school holidays in Costa Rica start before Christmas, and carry through to mid February, or so. Punta Morales is a holiday area for Costa Ricans, and the influx of people, is similar to the one I experienced living in Muskoka, in Canada. Peak weeks of Christmas and Easter have always strained the capacity of the system. More people are coming here every year, more pools are being built every year, and bigger houses, too. Plans are in the works to build a second tank on the hill, and this should solve the problem. In the meantime, it makes sense to have a small reserve tank for outages, or shortages at the new house. I have six litre bottles of water filled outside at this house, and I can refill them at the river, but I suppose it doesn’t look very neat.
Monday, I was going to the store in Judas when my car broke down. I should have fixed the rear main seal earlier, and was planning on doing it today, actually, but I was too late. The oil all dropped out, and now I have a serious problem. Today, Carlos’ clutch stopped working, and later this evening when he asked Jose for a ride to the mechanic, we found out his gear on the rear wheel of his motorcycle that takes the power from the chain was worn out. I also saw the school teacher’s car broke down at the corner.
Tuesday, I had many plans, one of which was taking Irek to meet Peaches’ owners, as he is interested in the German Shepherd they would like to give away. So we all went in Irek’s van. Starting with an hour in Puntarenas to get his driver’s licence renewed, the vet in Esparza, a visit to Johnie and Lucho’s to see the dog, a shopping trip in Puntarenas, lunch at King Chicken (first time for Irek and wife, Roxanna), parking in the river wading in the water drinking beer and watching Irek pick up rocks, it was a long, fun day.
Wednesday, I went to Esparza again to get money to buy materials, and buy the materials for the house. It was 5:00 p.m. by the time we got everything done. The big surprise was that we finally got something cheaper at the local building supplies store. Carlos has asked them about all the materials we put into the house, and they were never even close. I believe it will be to their benefit if they are willing to negotiate prices on some of the bigger projects.