Simplicity….

Friday was the last day of camp, and the kids put on a performance that the parents could attend. It was great, and not least because we actually got to meet some of the parents, which was really valuable for us on many levels. Here is Luca at the school, on one of the many play structures…

For those of you wondering, Purr has still not appeared. Last night we met some friends at our local Mexican restaurant, and searched again for Purr as we walked home. We have searched every day since he disappeared, have asked our landlord and neighbors to keep an eye out, to no avail. Who knows, he may wander back this way at some point, there is now a supply of cat food waiting here if he does….

On Tuesday it will be a month since we arrived and we are feeling more and more at home. Luca is thriving, it is wonderful to see. He was our biggest motivation for the move, but still, we had concerns that he may have issues adjusting, we need not have worried. He loves it here and apparently never wants to leave! 🙂 His Spanish will take time, and he gets a bit overwhelmed with it, but we are all feeling the same way, time, practice and patience is what is needed.

I have always been big on chores for Luca, and he has been good at doing them, but we have found since living this lifestyle, he has been even more willing to help out, and happily chips in, chatting away, while doing our communal type activities, it is really nice for all of us. I think the slower pace of everything, not having a ton of commitments and timelines, makes even the most mundane of things more enjoyable and doable as a family….

We had some friends over yesterday, it was wonderful to sit and chat over coffee and pastries, while the kids played, really makes it feel like home. I don’t think I have mentioned yet, that we have a bakery about 5 minutes walk from our place. There are lots of them dotted about, ours is REALLY good and reasonably priced, our “go to” when we feel like something sweet, or some freshly baked bread. The lady who works there is so patient with our attempts at Spanish, she does not speak English, but between us we get there. Here is our family movie night on Friday, (note our LARGE SCREEN TV 🙂 ) , Luca had run down and got some pastries to snack on, it is good thing we walk everywhere isn’t it! 🙂

I have had a few email inquires about the cost of things, from people contemplating doing something similar to us. In the next couple of weeks the utility bills are due, and I will do a cost of living post. I did a quick calculation and we are coming in on budget for this first month, which I am really happy about. Monteverde is a very expensive place, food in the supermarkets the same price as in Canada, to keep within our budget for our living costs ,($2000 a month), takes some work, but it is possible!

Rich went down to the local sports bar early this morning to watch the final of the football. It was so early they did not serve alcohol, they served smoothies instead, how cool is that?! Rich has been a bit of a regular, while the world cup has been on. We were walking down the road by our house the other day and this guy runs over and high fives Rich, then goes on his way, turns out Rich knows him from there, it really is that small a town 🙂

Rich now home taking a nap, Luca and Pica are making a fort in the den area, while I do the washing, (never ending here in the rainy season 🙂 ), intermittently writing this….

Feeling pretty Pura Vida today !!!!!!!! 🙂