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.

13/11/7

In 3 days, I will have been here for two years exactly. When I first traveled the Punta Morales road, it was quite rough. It was asphalt, but it had many potholes, and certain sections required very slow driving, and much caution. On a rainy night you couldn’t see the potholes to avoid them, and needed to drive very slowly. There is a large dock at the end of the road. Tractor trailers carry sugar to a large, like two football fields worth of warehouse, and ethanol to large tanks for storage. When these are full, boats come and empty them, taking the product for export to other countries. It is actually a deeper dock than Puntarenas or Puerto Caldera. Because of this the road was repaired every year at the start of the dry season. Then, in May, when the rain started, the deterioration began anew. This year, there will be no repairs. We have a new road! The whole thing has been paved over the last two months, and we have a beautiful, well built road. Everything was done to very high standards, shoulder work first, good base, sections completely removed when necessary. Excellent work. I am looking forward to smooth driving for a long time to come.
On the subject of roads, all the papers contain complaints about the roads in Costa Rica. It is a topic of conversation among Ticos and tourists alike. The government claims to be fixing them up as best they can, and more money is allotted each year in the budget to repair them. I have to say that from what I have seen, the government is doing well. They are constantly working on the main highway, and sideroads are also receiving new gravel and grading. The story is that the Inter-American Highway is better between Mexico and Costa Rica, and again better in Panama. Why is Costa Rica’s section in worse condition than these other countries’? Also I have been on terrible stretches of roads, and believe the stories of the people living in other areas that say the roads are almost impassible. However, all in all, I believe the government is working hard on improving these conditions.
I received a comment about my house today. It included a compliment on the appearance, a request for more photos, and a question about the process. The paper part of the process varies from province to province, and as I said before, Puntarenas seems to be the worst. We were delayed repeatedly by people who seemed to think they should be given money to speed things up. Because of this, it took two months to get the permit.
The building process is very different from Canada. In Canada, the building code specifies such things as depth of footings, to prevent frost heaving, and strength of trusses to handle snow load. In Costa Rica, the main concern is earth movement. Of course, there are the earthquakes, but in this area, we also have a problem because half the year is wet, and half of it is dry. My house is built on clay. It expands and contracts from one season to the next. To counter these problems, they use a technique that includes a wide concrete footing with a structure of rebar enclosed. This is not just like a ring of rebar, but long cages composed of four pieces of rebar, wrapped regularly with more rebar. This is all connected to columns, again concrete with long cages of rebar enclosed. The block is laid before these vertical columns are poured. Once the walls are in, and this technique is used on all the interior walls as well, the columns are connected to more cages of rebar that form a crown above all the walls, and again concrete poured to make one complete piece of reinforced concrete that includes the footings, walls, and crown. They even left pins of rebar coming out from the walls to connect the wire mesh that reinforces the poured concrete floors. Basically, the house is one piece of reinforced concrete, with allowance for some movement in the walls between the blocks and columns without losing strength or structural integrity. The roof is built with galvanized steel trusses and an anodized zinc roof. Strong, and durable to resist corrosion due to the salt air.
The interior walls are parged, or coated with very thin layers. One layer fine concrete, one layer finer concrete, one layer bondex, two coats of pasta, a coat of sealer, and two coats of paint. I can’t believe how smooth they turned out. The ceilings are drywalled with gypsum. This technique is very new here, and there work with that at the other job I looked at really impressed me. They did an octagonal recess in the center of the ceiling that makes it look pretty fancy, or, as they say, “elegante”. The walls in the bathrooms have ceramic tiles, and they stuccoed the walls of the laundry room, to withstand the moisture better.
The exterior walls are parged with two thin coats of concrete, the second finer than the first. A fine coat of stucco is then applied to finish it. In Canada, a metal lath is attached to the concrete before the stucco is applied, and then the coat of stucco is fairly thick. Before the advent of acrylic stucco, most walls had a problem with the stucco falling off. The big problem in Canada being that if a little moisture worked it’s way in between the stucco and the blocks, the stucco would peel when the water froze in winter. Of course, we don’t have that problem here, but I believe the very thin coat they used will reduce the susceptibility of the stucco to peel for whatever reason.
I didn’t understand the technique, until I saw it. Now that I see the process finished, I have a lot of confidence that the house will withstand ground movement, wind, rain, or anything else that might normally occur. Of course, I know nature can be tougher than any structure, and a major earthquake would no doubt cause some damage, but I am confident that at least the normal passage of time and elements will be withstood for many years to come. These fellows have done good quality work, and exceeded my expectations in many areas.
The electrical systems in Costa Rica are notoriously poor. Many fires are traced back to the electrical systems. They use a two wire, no ground, spider system. The wires are run around inside the ceiling and where an outlet or light is needed, they drop two wires down and hook them up. Often a whole house is wired to three or four breakers. Carlos used a three wire, North American system with a ground bar sunk at the meter, and another at the house. All connections are enclosed in junction boxes, and all wires run through conduit. The electrical code of Costa Rica has been updated to match the American code, but the electricians are not up to date yet. Carlos is.
Very few people here have hot and cold running water. They have techniques for washing clothes and dishes in cold water, and if you want hot showers, you install an electric shower head that heats the water as it passes over two contacts. That’s what we have in the old house. We have a hot water tank in the new house, and everything there will be “normal”.
I have no aesthetic values, but I must add that Carlos says the colour schemes that Linda picked for the paint and ceramic tiles go very well together. Everyone says the house looks beautiful. I’m sure it does, but my concern was the workmanship. I think everyone is going to be very pleased with the results.
I will try to add a picture that shows the rebar technique.

11/11/7

Bill and Linda, my friends from Casa Sanfrancisco came by for a visit yesterday. They had emailed earlier to say that they would bring hot dogs over to barbecue. They knew I was staying home weekends to keep an eye on things, and wanted to relieve the boredom, and provide some much needed entertainment. They brought a new American friend, Herb, who is planning to move down to Costa Rica. He is staying with them for a while. Bill started complaining right off the bat. Now, I am used to Bill’s complaining, but it is not normally directed at me. He is getting sick of looking at the same blog entry every time he looks it up. I explained that the last month has not had a lot of positive experiences to relate, and that I have not wanted to relate all the negative things that have happened. All small stuff, insignificant really, in the larger scheme of things, but enough to put me in a generally bad mood. He let it go, and we had a great afternoon visiting, eating, drinking, and telling jokes and other lies.
This morning I got an email from Bill. I think he went to the Tough Love school. He gave me proper heck, told me to snap out of it, and write something positive. He said again that I shouldn’t expect things to be perfect, and shouldn’t let things get me down. Things aren’t perfect in the U.S. or Canada either, and it feels a lot better to look on the bright side.
Well, we are in the transition month. October was the wettest month I have seen since I got here. For the first time, I almost ran out of clothes. Almost every day had been sunny enough to at least dry one load of laundry, but in October we had almost two weeks of practically steady rain. Now, we are back to mostly sunny days, with mostly rainy nights, but not every night. Next month will see the end of the rain, humidity and most of the insects. More days are breezy, or even windy, and come December we will again be blessed with pretty much constant air movement that keeps the weather comfortable, even though the temperature will go up by five degrees C.
The house is almost done. I hope it will be completely finished when Linda gets back on the 26th of this month. It will cost more than they said, but that is no surprise, and not a big deal, as they came in at a very low price, and the end price should still be good. My main paranoia was that they would not finish. I now believe that will not be a problem. They would be silly to walk away with so little work left to do, and there are a couple of other people down here now who would like Carlos to build something for them, so it will also be good advertising if he finishes it. They have done a wonderful job. Very strong, with many features we did not think to include. People say it is a beautiful house. The colour scheme, outside and in, looks wonderful, they say. I put this in the third person because I have no idea why one colour goes with another colour, or why it might not. Carlos says that the paint and tile selection in all the rooms is wonderful, and repeatedly compliments Linda on her good taste. From the beginning, we wanted them to fill the holes where the fascia meets the corrugated roof. When it was all together, the holes were still there. I mentioned this to Jose, and he didn’t know what I meant, even when I had a stick and actually touched the fascia. When he finally understood, he talked to Carlos about it. Neither of them had any idea about filling those holes, because no-one here does. Spray Decis up there twice a year and it kills anything that might have decided to live there. Once he understood what we meant, we went and bought spray foam, and he filled up all the holes. He thinks it is a great idea, and will incorporate it in future homes. He figures it will not only keep the bugs and bats out, but will stop the humidity in the eaves troughs from going into the attic, and further reduce any problems that could cause.
My residency is still not complete, and I would like to repeat a few warnings. Get an IMMIGRATION lawyer. I heartily reccommend the Association of Residents of Costa Rica, and be patient. Everything to do with any government takes longer than you would think.
Don’t be in a hurry to form a corporation. You will probably have a few reasons for wanting one, but they come with obligations. No use buying books, holding meetings, hiring bookkeepers, if you are not ready to do anything else. I want to put the houses and car into my corporation, but the title still isn’t established on the property, and I don’t want a cell phone. Make sure you are ready to use the corporation before you apply. It doesn’t take that long to get one. It is a fairly easy and fast process if you have a good lawyer.
Be careful! Protect yourself, and your house. A few precautions go a long way to avoiding problems. The crimes here are usually crimes of opportunity. Don’t give anyone the opportunity to do something easily, and they probably won’t do it. I understand that my old friendly home town of Toronto is not exactly safe any more either.
I still haven’t learned to downsize the pictures the way I have been told. I understand they take a long time to download, but I will try to include a picture of the house, now that it is almost done. Maybe this will be the start of more regular entries, and I hope it is the beginning of a more positive period of my time here.

5/10/7

Everyone told me. I listened, but was not cautious enough. Problems exist in every country. A lot of the things ex-pats complain about here, I have experienced in Canada and the U.S. I was
reluctant to post a negative article, but, these experiences are a part of life, and an extra warning can’t hurt. There are people everywhere who wish to buy things, but have no desire to work for the money. Three of these people visited me on Sunday afternoon when I was out for supper. I had the dog with me. They took things from the new house, and from my garage. Carlos, the contractor, and I, lost a total of about $400. worth of stuff, including an old radio they listened to while working, skin cream for the sun, and a nozzle off my hose, as well as tools, cables, and a big back-pack pump for spraying the lawn with fertilizer or poison. My neighbour saw them leaving through the next lot, and the staff at the Huevo watched them walk past in front with the pump on their back and the bag full of cables and tools. My advisers, Jamie, Marvin, and Carlos, suggested we go to OIJ, the most important of three police forces here. Carlos and I went down to Puntarenas on Tuesday to file a report. Because we knew the names of the thieves, they took our statement. I had a similar problem with a mail theft in Canada. I did not know who took my mail, so the Mounties wouldn’t take my statement.
While we were in the Huevo Monday afternoon figuring it all out, the thieves came in for a beer. It took a lot of control not to take matters into my own hands, but I would have surely faced deportation. The officer from OIJ was here today to interview us and the other witnesses. He says they have had reports about these fellows before, assured us we did the right thing by filing a report, and thanked us for doing so. We shall see what happens next. The law is very short on punishment for small thefts, like Canada, so I understand they may not take them to court. I remember one particular trouble-maker in Bracebridge who was severely beaten during an arrest, and then charged with resisting arrest. Personally, I think this is the best way to handle things sometimes. One fellow here was a problem a few years ago. He was beaten up, and was asked to leave the community. He returned two years later with a much better attitude.
In a related story, I had my muffler repaired by a nice English-speaking Tico in Canas. While I was waiting for the work to be done, an American came in to talk to him. He told me later that the fellow had gone into the store for a pop, leaving his wallet on the seat of the open Jeep. There was only one fellow near the Jeep, and when the American came back out, the wallet was gone. He confronted the man, but the man denied everything. However, he did know where the wallet was, and would get it back for $20. So, the American came to the muffler shop to borrow the money. Now, the owner didn’t mind helping him out, but as he explained to me, the American has lived there for over five years. He has come to this shop for help about five times. Never has he been there for service to his Jeep. To me, it seems only fair that you would take your work to his shop, but to him it seemed downright rude. Most of the Ticos here will bend over backwards to help, as I have experienced myself many times, but they do expect a little consideration in return. I think that is only fair, too.
I think it is important to exercise due caution in any society, but when you are living in another country, listen to the advice of the neighbours, read the local papers, talk to people, get to know the people in your community. All of these steps will help you to know how to protect your belongings, and personal safety. There are, I know, more dangerous countries than Costa Rica. I have felt safe here for a long time now. Obviously, I was lulled into a feeling of security that was not warranted. I will change a few of my habits. I will leave the dog here when I go out, and will go out as little as possible when there is nobody else here. I had been given this advice, but Sunday afternoon?
I have another appointment with immigration tomorrow, and plan to chant to the gods all night to enhance the possibility that something will be done.
The house is progressing well. The ceilings have at least one coat on the drywall taping, the pool is almost done, all the ceramic is in the house, and almost all the outside cement work is done. The weeding has helped the lawn a lot. Most of the weeds aren’t coming back very fast, and the lawn is thickening up. As a matter of fact, I’m going out now to cut it.

9/5/7

I haven’t posted for a while because not much is happening. The house is coming along fine, slow but sure. I have been weeding the lawn. We expected the Grammia grass to kill the weeds, but, after a year, the weeds are winning. I tried to hire people to help, but the only one that stayed worked so slow that it hurt to watch him and I am doing it myself again. At least the grass is healthy, and if I can get rid of most of the weeds, it will have a good chance to spread.
I went to Puntarenas today with Julian to get my identity card. I am not in the computer, and have another appointment in a month. They now have my papers, and I hope they don’t lose those. They say they can straighten it out in a month. Julian says it is normal, and the same thing would have happened with the other office in San Jose. Also, when I checked with ARCR about Linda’s papers, it turns out Immigration sent them two copies of my papers instead of one of each of our’s. I might have to go to San Jose again.
I had to have a new windshield put in my car. A semi through a rock on the highway and broke it. $85. Installed. I thought that was pretty good.
The dog is doing well.. We went to visit her old owners and the other two dogs on Monday in Esparza. Louis introduced me to the dog’s vet, and I am trying an injection to repel ticks and fleas. Louis says it has been working well, and they are a big problem in this area.
We had a small rainstorm last Thursday. All the phones in Punta Morales went out. Most of them were back on by Friday afternoon. Mine is still out over a week later. So far, I phoned, Marvin phoned, and Carlos phoned. Carlos is going to phone again tomorrow to make sure they know there is still one that isn’t working.. I am building patience.

9/12/7

I got my phone back last Saturday. That’s the longest I’ve been without one. It was amazing how much I missed the internet. I have been talking to my friends and family with the headsets, and various programs, and it sure seems to shorten the distance.
It’s eleven o’clock Tuesday morning, and the boys aren’t here, yet, to work on the house. It’s hard not to wonder what’s happening, but I just keep hoping for the best.

8/14/7

The house is going along fine, although it is 1pm here and no-one has showed up. There aren’t a lot of obvious changes, so no new pictures. I will try to post one of my new dog, though. I obtained a two year old female boxer from some owners who are moving to Panama. I got her last Thursday, and she is more fun than Raz. She chased the vultures on the beach, she chased the water from the hose to get a drink while I washed the deck, she chases cats, and barks at people going by on the road. Raz would chase a cat, or maybe a monkey, but mostly he laid around. Peaches, as she was already named, is patrolling the yard regularly, getting to know the territory, not going on the road. She seems pretty smart, so far.
The other news is that it was cold in Punta Morales. Yesterday, it only reached 20c. or 70f. And it was windy and raining. That’s happened a couple of times, but it is pretty rare. I guess that’s what they mean by climatization. I wouldn’t have called that cold in Canada.