Squatters

Apr 29, 2008 | Crime, Culture Shock, Legal Arrangements, Living-In, Squatters

A woman wrote to me recently about buying a house in Key West. Once she found out I live in Costa Rica, she wrote this:I have a question since you are living in Costa Rica. This is where my husband originally wanted to get a home. We had even started to look when we...

Our Daily Grind

Apr 26, 2008 | Living-In

Which is soooooo hard. A word about the most critical daily grind: coffee. Day 1 in Florida, we bought the brand of coffee we drank for probably 10 years. After living la pura vida drinking Costa Rican coffee, that coffee was SOOOOOO bad. We dumped it and raced out...

Follow The Bouncing Ball

Apr 20, 2008 | Culture Shock, Living-In, Moving-To

We are home again, back at my desk next to my bed wearing my sheets (the bed, not me). So happy to be in my house with my stuff. Overlooking my valley. Through my razor wire. Which seems to have lost its lustre. Sigh. I have to tell you: I came back a tad confused....

In America

Apr 7, 2008 | Cost of Living, CR: Working, Crime, Culture Shock, Expat, Key West, Living-In, Real Estate, Recovering REALTOR®

"In America, you'll get food to eat. Don't have to run through the jungle and scuff up your feet. You'll just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day. It's great to be an American."          ...

Knee-Jerk Reactions

Dec 13, 2007 | Cost of Living, Crime, Culture Shock, Death & Taxes, Economy, Expat, Living-In, Taxes

Jacqueline’s pistol-whipping break-in, along with everything else I wrote about yesterday, is upsetting our apple cart. Not to mention today’s A.M. Costa Rica article about how the I.R.S. is "helping" Costa Rica redefine it’s income tax...

Back Down

Dec 12, 2007 | Bureaucracy, CAFTA or TLC, Cost of Living, Crime, Drug War, Living-In, Political Blah-Blah

Ok, this is ridiculous. I’m having a flood of anti-Costa Rica experiences. Maybe if I get them out of my system, this rock in my gut will disappear. IN THE NEWS. Don Oscar seems hellbent on getting Costa Rica into the 21st century. Only I don’t approve of...

Lizards & Leaves Newsletter

Dec 12, 2007 | Living-In

I am feeling a little down on my Costa Rica living this am, what with yesterday’s story about property taxes skyrocketing and my cedula letdown… But getting this newsletter cheered me right back up! Very positive, very reassuring. Yeah, that’s the...

Gotcha Day Glitch

Dec 11, 2007 | Adoption, Bureaucracy, Expat, Legal Arrangements, Living-In, MORGAN, Residency & Visas, Serendipity

In the adoption world, Gotcha Day is the day we gotcha, the day we brought our new baby home. I get all teary remembering our two Gotcha Days. Yesterday, December 10th was Mo’s 16th Gotcha Day. To celebrate, Jen made cookies and brought them over. Hey, Jen, we...