I guess I can answer that one.

We’ve had a great summer, so far. I know it’s almost over, but we have high hopes that we will be back to Costa Rica by sometime after Christmas and will be enjoying the warm sunny weather again.

We’ve been:

• Attending my sister’s wedding
• Still trying to sell this darn house
• Going on a wonderful camping trip to the old campgrounds that I visited annually as a child. Here’s some pictures…

We borrowed a canoe from some neighboring campers who were using our little beach area to park their canoe. Arp and BIL John decided to take the kids for a ride. I asked them both if they felt confident on how to use a canoe, and whether they knew how to get into a canoe. At first they claimed that they did. But then my sister and I watched them attempt to get in and get the kids in, and it looked like the whole darn thing might tip over. Boy Scouts they are not! So I gave them some pointers and took over the part where I give safety instructions to the kids. The whole thing was pretty funny. Once they shoved off, they were fine.

M loved climbing on big rocks, and we learned how they got to the Adirondacks when we went to The Wild Center museum in Tupper Lake on the way home. It was a truly fantastic museum that I would recommend to anyone who is going to the Adirondack area. We could have spent the whole day there.

Arp chills out on the way up to the top of Bear Mountain. He was nice enough to volunteer to carry J in the Ergo carrier all the way up the mountain and most of the way down. At the top of the mountain, a hiker took a look at his shirt and asked if we were from Detroit. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I said “No,” as I don’t think they would have had a clue about the meaning of the shirt.

M and J walk the last bit together on the way to the summit.

Here we are at the top. This is M’s first summit. I think that’s pretty neat because this is the same mountain where I had my first summit. M walked the whole way on his own two feet, just as I did when I was approximately 7 or 8 years old. M is 5. I feel drawn to this particular place. The lake, I mean. I camped there when I was pregnant with M and I have always felt that he, too, had a connection to it. M’s middle name is Forest, which I chose because I did I lot of communing with the trees when I was pregnant with him.

During this trip, Arp and I had also been planning to bury J’s placenta near the lake. It’s been sitting in my freezer for 3 years now. I’ve been threatening my annoying cousin with secretly serving placenta stew at Thanksgiving, but in truth, I’ve just been waiting to find the right place to bury it. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring it! All the craziness of planning what to bring and how to shove it all in the car caused me to totally forget the placenta in the cooler. I’m very sad about that, because we will be leaving this house, and the country very soon, and I don’t have another place that I feel strongly about burying it. I keep thinking about burying it under my favorite tree here at the house, but I don’t want it to be disturbed. I think the thought of the new owners being near my placenta might bother me. So I’ve got to find a new place before the ground freezes. Maybe J might have a place in mind? I’ll have to ask her!  It’s hard to let go of a placenta.

We’ve got a lot of Costa Rica stuff we haven’t blogged about, and I thought y’all would especially dig the sight of howler monkey poop. All the times we were taking pictures of them in trees I was waiting to see if they would chuck poo-poo at us and show off their famed aim, ready to duck and run.

Thankfully, they didn’t seem to dislike us and were content to be themselves, munch leaves and stare back at us. Except for the one time a female seemed to be primping when she peed and rubbed it on her own face.

Anyway, they spent a LOT of time in the tree right above the Crab House, and the rental cars parked under it were sometimes covered in poo. It smelled kinda like horse poo and walking around it was like an obstacle course.

1. Climate

I prefer hot weather over cold, by far. Costa Rica is in the tropics, where there are two seasons: Dry and Wet. The majority of the population lives in the Central Valley, around the capital of San Jose. San Jose is about 4000ft above sea level and has a mild climate, with temperatures ranging between 59 and 79. What’s really cool is that you can pick the exact climate you want. Go for a higher elevation for cooler temperatures, or go lower for warmer. Our first destination will probably be Atenas – an hour or so from San Jose and warmer. A better climate also has monetary benefits, leading to…

2. Cost of Living

Things can be much cheaper there, but it all depends on how you live. If you want to recreate American suburban life, you can do it – probably at a similar cost to the US. The per capita monthly income is $425, so there are plenty of Ticos (ie Costa Ricans) living cheaply. Rents for a 2-3br house/apartment/condo can range from $180-$2000 so you can pick a budget and find a place that’s right for you. I don’t want to pay more than $500/mo for rent, cutting one major monthly expense in more than half.

A better climate also affects cost of living – there’s no need to heat a house. Unless, of course, you choose to live at an elevation where a fireplace is needed for occasional heat. I’m sure that won’t cost thousands annually like heating a home in winter.

Food – particularly fresh produce and meat – can be a lot cheaper if you opt to buy at farmer’s markets (ferias) instead of Western-style supermarkets. The overhead required to pay salaries for executives and rent for stores add quite a lot to the cost of food. Buying directly from farmers means your food is fresher too – and that almost always tastes better.

I priced full coverage health insurance for the 4 of us and it comes to $2600 annually (including coverage in the US, as long as we don’t live in the US). That’s on the expensive side and it’s still less per month than many families in the US pay. A retired couple could join the national healthcare system for only $37/mo. Many expat residents do a combo of both, reducing insurance to cover only catastrophic stuff and paying for prescriptions out of pocket. Someone we met had a root canal done for $120 – her dentist in the US had quoted over $1000. She had a nice vacation and still saved money by having it done in Costa Rica. I’ve heard of hospital births for $3500. Prescriptions for practically pennies. If you’re concerned about the quality of healthcare – fear not. Costa Rica is the first country to be covered for urgent care by Medicare. And there’s that little World Health Organization healthcare rankings from 2000 where Costa Rica clocks in at #36 right before America.

3. Quality of Life

This one is very subjective – your idea of a good life might mean living large near a lot of amenities, or it might mean roughing it in the middle of nowhere. For me, it’s somewhere in between. With the lowered cost of living, I can work a lot less than I do now. (probably going from 50-60hrs/wk to 10-20hrs/wk) That gives a lot more time to enjoy life – to be with Trish & the kids, enjoy the great outdoors and pursue all the things I’d do if I didn’t have to work. Like learning how to animate, writing stories for children or building Lego. (somehow the lists of stuff I want to do never involve working)

We’d be able to afford to travel more too – there’s a lot of places in Central and South America I’d like to explore – the Amazon, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Patagonia, Machu Picchu. We should be able to save up for a trip to India too. Living a rich life with the opportunity for such great experiences would be great for unschooling – and it beats eking out a living in suburbia.

4. the Natural World

Like the US, the natural beauty in Costa Rica is stunning. Except it’s about the size of West Virginia. Beautiful crescent beaches, mountains, valleys, volcanoes, rich green leaves almost everywhere. And there are neat plants and animals up the wazoo, with 5% of the world’s biodiversity in 0.1% of the landmass. In the short time we were there I saw sloths, howler monkeys, countless birds, butterflies and plants. I’ll gladly trade carpenter ants for leafcutter ants. Though I do have some fear about some of the creatures we didn’t see yet – venomous snakes, tarantulas & scorpions. I’m sure one or more of those will add some excitement to our days at some point.

5. the People

We met a lot of interesting people there, and we had a lot of wonderful interactions with Ticos as well. Ticos live up to their kid-friendly reputation. They do seem to love kids, and M & J were often smiled at and complimented by strangers. I found myself smiling a lot more too – it’s infectious.

The expats we met were quite interesting too. We ran into quite a few in all the areas we visited. We met several through Vida Tropical, where we started and ended our trip. Everyone we met was inspiring in some way or another. There’s something different about being an expat in Costa Rica, and we had a lot of discussions sharing the how and why people pick Costa Rica. I liked meeting people who dare to make their dreams real, who make the brave choice to follow their hearts. I look forward to meeting many of the people again.

The people may well be the most important part – all the beauty in the world doesn’t mean a thing if the community around you is empty. There were many times when I talked with shopkeepers where, in spite of the differences in language, that I just felt comfortable. Meeting other like-minded expats was gravy after that.

I saw this thing clinging to the outside of one of our window screens after a downpour the other day. I had no clue it was so attractive at first since I could only see the underside of it. I sent Arp outside to collect it in a plastic bowl. All of us crowded around it while I snapped a few closeups. It was huge! At least an inch long, maybe even a little bigger. I love those crazy antennas – sort of like the hat of a Vegas dancer. But this bugger only stayed a minute, and then promptly flew off. I let out a startled scream as it took off – it flew fast!

Inside, we all looked it up in our trusty bug manual – National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders.  We are only sometimes successful in making an exact match with the bugs we find and one of the pictures in the book.  We often have to be satisfied knowing the general family.  But this time was an exact match – a grapevine beetle.

Here’s another bugger, a ground beetle, that we found the first summer we moved into this house.

It always amazes me how many interesting insects we find in this area and how the diversity of insects exponentially increases the farther you move away from New York City.  I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can’t help it when I am confronted by some new mini-monster.  I grew up in a town located approximately 30 minutes outside NYC.  That area had very boring bugs – some spiders, lightening bugs, lady bugs, and not much else.  Now that we are an additional 60 minutes outside NYC, it seems like bug heaven.  Those city folks don’t know what they’re missing.

A few crocuses have appeared on my lawn, but the other signs of Spring seem seriously delayed. Maybe I’m just being impatient. Have other Springs come on so slowly? Or maybe it’s just because one of my bedrooms is filled with stinky 3-week-old ducks that poop day and night.

Modified Homesteading Lessons, 101 (I say modified because I don’t really feel I have the right to call myself a homesteader, but the ducks are our first tiny step): Be sure to order your ducklings at the right time. By the time they are 3 weeks old, their poop will be so stinky and voluminous that it will make your house smell like a zoo. You want the weather to be warm enough by that time so that they can at least spend the days outside, thereby limiting the amount of poop deposited in your indoor brooder.  Or better yet, keep the brooder in your barn! (I don’t have a barn since I live in the suburbs/exurbs).