A huge thing is I found a place for us to stay temporarily on our arrival while we look for something more permanent. It is in La Garita, the dogs are welcome and they have high speed internet, which were both “gotta haves”. I found it on craigslist Costa Rica – don’t forget to look there if you are planning a move for all kinds of things! I finally got us officially signed up with ARCR – I had actually submitted our application online in September, but Banco Nacional neglected to mention it to them – welcome to Costa Rica : ) Ana straightened it all out for us in record time though and we are now officially members. We have our plane tickets and we have a friend who is going to sell our vehicle for us after we leave. My mom is a real estate agent, so she is going to sell the house for us after we are gone (the thought of trying to show it while we are still here was overwhelming – we have all manner of things going on – from half painted rooms to boxes and suitcases everywhere, it was just too much too think about).

The dogs are set, with fancy new wheeled crates they are getting used to and seem to enjoy and this is an interesting note, as long as they have the USDA Small Animal Health Forms completed by their vet and certified by the State vet within the 10 day window, we do NOT need to have the paperwork certified by a CR embassy. At least that is what the Houston CR consulate told me – they gave me this link –

http://www.costarica-embassy.org/consular/travel/pets.htm

one less thing we have to juggle logistically! We have stocked up on the medicines we might need – I am into homeopathic remedies, and while I know they are available there, I guess it is just a comfort thing for me to have a supply. Silly, isn’t it? We did get all of our doctor visits, etc…out of the way, so we should actually be quite healthy. I am VERY allergic to mosquito bites and they just love me, I am hoping I will eventually build up a resistance. However, just in case, I purchased an entire “Buzz Off” wardrobe on ebay – typically paid less the $20.00 per piece for new – rather than paying retail from Orvis or Eddie Bauer. Another cool ebay find were Pelican boxes– the waterproof, practically indestructible cases, which we got in a couple of different sizes to use as our luggage. Also LowePro waterproof backpacks for the camera equipment, SpaceBags, even silica gel – all at well below retail.

We got a Post Office box locally for the time being and are filling out change of address forms daily. We rented a safe deposit box and took a load of items to my sister-in-law’s – she and her husband are kind enough to store the things we just can’t bear to part with.

So we HAVE done a lot – throw in that since my last blog post I had to have an unexpected root canal, was volunteering as the media coordinator for a local political race, saying good bye to friends (there is a reason they have those warnings not to drink in a hot tub, but that is a whole different post) and the fact that hubby has been dealing with some family health issues that have been very stressful, and I guess we are both holding up ok. It is nice to be missed though : ) and I promise to try and do better in the next few weeks!

The problem is… she has suddenly stopped writing! I have called her home in Missouri and chatted with her husband on several occasions. She is NEVER home! Now this is odd! For a woman only weeks away from the BIG MOVE, she seems to never be in her home!

This makes me wonder if she has been the subject of foul play! Perhaps her husband, driven loco by a woman bent on the expat lifestyle, has done away with her! Perhaps she is buried in the cold, cold Missouri soil behind the house!

Thus, I am making one more plea… Nora? Where are you? If alive, please write or call.

(signed)

Yo

In addition to The List, we have also started saying good bye. The first, and by far the hardest, was to my son, Michael. He and his roommate, Kim, came home to pack up the things he wanted to take to California, as well as to decide what he wanted to put in storage and what could be sold or given away. It was a whirlwind week – Kim had never been to Missouri before, so we spent a lot of time doing all the St. Louis touristy things. I can’t believe they got me back up in that darn arch!

Then the time came where they had to leave – and reality hit that it was going to be the last time we saw each other before the move and that it would be his last time in the house before it is sold. It was pretty emotional for me – I thought I “let go” when he started school in California, however, it was even harder for me this time around and I was a basket case the day he left. He did leave me with a classic Michael manuever – while he took what he wanted to have in California with him, he left the rest of his things for me to decide what to do with – stating “You know what I want to keep” : ) I hope I don’t sell or give away something he wants, but I would like to go on record, for the entire Internet to see and for all perpetuity, that he DID have his chance!

The next goodbye was almost as hard – I closed my business. I have been lucky in that I have been able to do what I love – I sell antique jewelry both locally and online. After looking at it from all angles, I could not figure out how I could realistically run the business from Costa Rica. So I closed my showcases, sent an email to my customer list letting them know what I was doing, put a note on my website and sold my remaining inventory this past Sunday. I did not expect that to be as emotional as it was! But at least another item is now crossed off The List. And I am keeping my hand in the field by partnering with a long time dealer on a new website – I will be doing the design and technical end, which I can do from anywhere. I figured it would be smart to keep my name out there – that is probably good advice for anyone making the move – not to totally cut all business ties in the States until you are very, very sure Costa Rica is going to work for you!

One of the biggest stressors in our move is getting the dogs, Hannah and Toby relocated. Our plan is to drive to Houston and fly Continental – they have the best program for transporting animals and we can go non-stop from there to San Jose, minimizing the time they will have to fly. I found out a couple of things I did not know before – even if we have our tickets for a specific flight, we cannot for certain book the dogs on the flight until 3 days before departure. They are too big to fit in the cabin so they will have to fly as cargo and it will depend on how much cargo is on the plane that day.

Because I want to be on the same flight with them, it is going to make our arrival date unknown until three days before. Toss in juggling the health certificates to keep in the time frame needed for entry in San Jose, not to mention trying to do it all in a strange city – well, I am more than a little freaked out. Then there is the thought of them actually flying. They are quite verbal and I worry they will howl their distinctive, mournful, LOUD Basset Hound howls the whole flight. Does anyone know if you can hear howling dogs in cargo in the cabin? If so, I fear the passengers and crew will revolt, though I guess it is still better than a crying baby. They do get frequent flyer miles, though, which I thought was a pretty cute touch by Continental! How they will fare once we are actually in Costa Rica is a whole ‘nother stress I will save for another blog…

I am writing this from Highway 70, somewhere in Colorado. We have driven through desert and mountains and have seen the best and worst the US has to offer, I think. I will start with LA – which pretty much is the best and worst all rolled into one! My son lives in Ventura, about an hour north of LA on the coast. I like it there, it is beautiful and I love the ocean. The town itself is cool, a little funky and fun right now, but they are trying to make it more upscale like Santa Barbara. I think it will probably be ruined in the process, but I hope not. The downside is that it is not very affordable to live there, at least compared to the Midwest and the weather is cooler than I like.

Back to LA – it really is an insane town. I can see the attraction to a point, especially if I were younger, but it holds no appeal for me now. Not even fun to visit, the traffic and number of people just totally stress us out. We were happy to get on the road and out of there. We did compare it to San Jose – at least there are street signs in LA! but we hope we will be able to navigate San Jose once we have lived in Costa Rica awhile.

The desert was hot and dry and yet oddly beautiful – all the things the desert is. I know there are people who are drawn to it, but it is not for us. The mountains of Colorado are a different story. They are majestic and awe-inspiring and I can only imagine what it would be like to live surrounded by all that beauty. It has to be good for your soul. We have always talked abut moving there, I absolutely adore the San Juan mountains as well as the Estes Park area – the only thing that has stopped us are the winters – we are both very tired of cold weather, and I suspect I would be holed up in front of a fire like a hermit all winter long.

So nothing we have seen on this trip has given us even a smidgen of doubt that we are making the right choice in our move. I guess my ideal, if I were wealthy, would be to winter in Costa Rica and summer in Colorado. But unless we win the lottery, we will be happy staying in Costa Rica year ‘round.

We agonized over what to do, at least I did – try and move things down there, put everything in storage or sell it all. My son and I are more attached to “things” than my husband – he has always been into selling it all. It was harder for me to reach that conclusion, but what made me decide was a concert, of all things. We saw Jesse Colin Young last Fall – a singer/songwriter from the 60’s and 70’s – used to be in the Youngbloods and one of his most famous songs is “Ridgetop”, an amazingly beautiful song about his home up on a ridge in northern California. It still ranks as one of my most favorite songs, ever.

Well, a number of years ago the Ridgetop house burned in a wildfire and Jesse lost everything, including his studio and his master recordings. As he was talking about it at the concert, he said “The worst thing that ever happened to me was the Ridgetop house burned and I lost everything”. Then after a dramatic pause, he said, “but the best thing that ever happened to me was the Ridgetop house burned and I lost everything”. He then talked about what is really important in life and of course, started singing “Ridgetop”. It was quite moving for me – first because I never thought I would hear that song live and second, because I realized that selling all our stuff would be ok. Of course, Jesse now lives in Hawaii and sells his own brand of Kona coffee for $20/pound, so it worked out well for him, too : )

We are putting a minimum amount of things in storage – stuff I just cannot bear to part with. Pictures, of course, and artwork, and assorted little items that have an emotional attachment – gifts, primarily. We don’t have a lot of family objects anyway, so the sentimentality is pretty much of my own making. The vast majority of what we have is old – I love antiques, but they are not high end antiques, just comfortable things that brought me pleasure. Heck, even our refrigerator is almost an antique, I bought it before my son was born – it is almost 25 years old! So I will finally get a new fridge in Costa Rica – THAT is exciting : ) We have already taken a load of some things to a St. Louis auction house, and are in the process of packing up the rest of the stuff – waiting for Michael to decide what he wants before we send everything else saleable to the local auction house. Clothes – and do we have clothes! are being culled to the bare minimum and the rest will be donated to a local charity. Books, what Michael does not take, also will be distributed amongst charities and friends. That will be a hard one for me – I am a reader and have emotional attachments to books as much as I do anything. But it is freeing, too! I wonder how much I will miss or if I will even miss any of it? And I guess that will be a blog post down the road…me whining about what I miss : )

We are both in our 40’s and visited Costa Rica for the first time a scant 3 1/2 years ago. It was a fluke that we wound up there, it was winter and we wanted a beach vacation. It was the first out of the US vacation we had ever taken, and we wanted a country that was interesting and not necessarily “touristy”. We did not want an all-inclusive resort, but something we could explore without feeling like we were taking advantage of a poverty stricken populace – we wanted to relax, not get bummed out and not feel guilty.

Our choice? Panama! We were very excited picking out places to go until we checked airfare and were jerked back to reality. At the time it was over $800 per person to fly into Panama City from St. Louis, which was completely out of our budget. So we pulled out a map and looked to see what was next to Panama and voila! We discovered Costa Rica, which had much more affordable airfare.

For both of us, the attraction was almost instant the day we landed in San Jose. Everything amazed and awed us – we were NOT in Kansas (or in our case, Missouri) anymore. We would up staying at a lodge in Tortugeuro that we had picked out online. Not the typical fantasy beach vacation by any means, but amazing nonetheless. It was the rainy, excuse me “green”, season and the lodge, which is bordered on one side by black water canals, one side by the wild Caribbean and the other two sides by rainforest was almost empty.

We were pretty much given the run of the place and treated like royalty. We instantly bonded with the family that managed the lodge and almost immediately started the classic “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could move here?” fantasy. We promised the family we would return soon. They had heard THAT before, so were really surprised and happy when we actually showed up again 6 months later. We hung out with them for a couple of days, then did the obligatory Tamarindo and Arenal trips. A total of eight trips later (including finally making it to Panama), we are even more enchanted with CR and figured what the heck – there is not going to be a better time in our lives to do this. We are aware of the 40% stat but even if we wind up in that number, we will have tried. I don’t want to look back on my life and say “I wish…”.

Last night I woke up at 1:30 AM overwhelmed by everything we have to do – my hope is that blogging about it will be useful for those following in our footsteps. I have been off and on the Costa Rica boards and blogs for three years now and am so grateful for the information shared there, I will try to make this a useful tool for others to use for their journeys.

So that’s our story. I intend to blog about everything leading up to and including our move – the good, the bad and all of it in between. How we are dealing with it, how our family and friends are dealing with it, even how the Basset Hounds are dealing with it. Our expectations (we have very few) and our fears (we have more of those) and with a little luck, the happy ending, too!

So that’s it – please, do not hesitate to ask me any questions you may have as you read about our transition and journey, I will be happy to answer anything I can! Pura Vida!

Of course I made the move here some years ago and I remember I experienced the excitement, fear, doubts and panic that attend such a decision. I said my goodbyes to friends and family (my daughter did not believe I was really leaving until about ten days before I actually left). It was/is a scary thing experience for just about everyone I know who has done this.

So when I received an email from someone who was in the process of packing HER family and actually experiencing the emotions above… and when she further told me she wanted to BLOG her experiences, I jumped on it immediately! Welcome to Nora Schild who will be chronicling her family’s move to Costa Rica.

I am sure Nora is planning an introduction to herself and her family, but basically she and her husband are 40 somethings from Missouri (that alone ought to make for some interesting adjustment!). She is packing him and the two Basset hounds for a new life in Costa Rica. I am attaching a picture of one of them (the dogs I think). Not sure if this is the satanic one or the three legged one.

They are leaving behind… at least for now, their college aged son who has not entirely bought in to this “move to Costa Rica” thing. The good news is that he is into photography and there are few locations in the world for better picture taking!

So welcome to Nora! She rates her very own category, so for those of you who only want to read her stuff, it will be easy!