I managed to set the correct time zone on this laptop this morning.  That’s going to be very helpful moving forward. Hurray!

 

Topher and I are going to be heading for San Ramon at about 11 but before that he wants to go into Grecia to try to stop the processing of his eyeglasses. He wants the prescription, but not the eyeglasses because CR mail isn’t sending anything to the US right now because of the tariff wars..  The place opens at 9 so we’ll be there shortly after that.

 

Then we’ll arrange for an Uber to take us from there to San Ramon by noon, which is when my appointment is to view the potential rental.

 

After that, Dani will pick us up and show us the Rainbow Refuge II property. We may take the bus back from San Ramon to save money. I just decided to Uber there despite the extra cost so we are taken directly to the rental address instead of having to hire a local SR Uber driver to get us there from the bus station. Timing is important, so the fewer intermediary steps to make it happen, the better. On the way back from SR, logistics won’t matter as much and we can eat dinner in Grecia before Ubering back to VE in Puente De Piedro.

 

I will do my best to remember to take pictures of the important images along the way: the rental if I decide it’s THE ONE, Rainbow Refuge II in SR, a Dani/Topher/Kris selfie, and whatever else floats my boat to keep as a visual memento of today’s outing. Fair enough?

 

I’m going to take some USD out of my safe stash so I can pay earnest money on the rental if I decide it’s the one for me, too.

 

Update: The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry!

 

Topher and I ended up taking two buses to San Ramon this morning and then Uber’ed back this afternoon. That’s because Uber didn’t let me schedule a ride from Grecia to San Ramon, for some dumb reason. But because we were in town early enough (exactly early enough as it turns out) we decided to walk to the bus station a few blocks away and catch  a bus to San Ramon.

 

When we got to the bus station none of the bus signs read San Ramon, so I asked a Tica who spoke only Spanish where the bus to San Ramon parked. She pointed to a bus with a sign overhead that read Sarchi/Naranjo and one other place (not San Ramon) and indicated to us to get on it. Entirely unsure it was a good idea, we dutifully obeyed.

 

 

 

Pretty soon the bus took off and wended it’s way toward Sarchi and Naranjo, stopping every so often to let more people on and/or some people off.

 

When we got to Naranjo, it was the end of the line for that bus, but a Tico gentleman (image below) took us under his kind wing and escorted us to where the San Ramon bus would park when it arrived about 30 minutes hence.

 

 

We used the local bathroom and then stood in the area where others had gathered to hop on the bus.  When the bus arrived, we got on and took our seats.  This bus was much newer and nicer.

 

 

The trip from Naranjo to San Ramon took about 45 minutes, I guess.  Since I didn’t know if we’d arrive on time for my noontime rental viewing appointment, I messaged the lady who was scheduled to meet us to ask if she would be willing to meet us where the bus landed in San Ramon. She said she would.

 

So when we got to San Ramon I messaged her again with our location and she and her husband arrived about 20 minutes later to drive us to the rental.  In the meantime, I let Dani know that we were on schedule because she had offered to meet us at the rental and drive us to her place at Rainbow Refuge in the cloud forest above San Ramon.

 

When we got to the rental we were let inside.  I communicated with the lady via a translation app. My lasting impression of the place is that it was darker than I’d like and several of the windows didn’t have screens on them, so if I decide on it I will have to insist on some changes. In a single sound byte, it’s not exactly a thumbs down, but it’s something that makes me want to keep looking…  I told her I would give her my decision no later than Wednesday. I didn’t give her any earnest money, because  it was nonrefundable and I think this place will run a distant second or third after I’ve compared it to rentals that are available in El Cajon, which I hope to view in person on Tuesday.

 

Dani picked us up at the rental location within minutes of the ending of our meeting there.  Her vehicle smelled hot. We stopped at a pulperia briefly so she could pick up a few things. But just before she turned the car off something under the hood started buzzing. When she started it up again, the buzzing continued and I mentioned  to her that it smelled like something was very hot, or burning.  She said, “I just want to get home, it’s only 3 kilometers…” and we headed up the hill to a highway. Halfway up the hill there was a very loud POP and steam or smoke burst out from under the hood. I ripped off my seatbelt in a flash, ready to ditch the vehicle if it suddenly burst into flame, but nothing more happened as she drove the rest of the way home.

 

When we got there, she opened the hood to discover that a plastic cap near the radiator had been blown off the hole it had been covering and steam was coming out from behind the engine. She took it all in stride, saying the vehicle has been problematic since she got it and she thought it wasn’t going to take a great deal to fix it.

 

After that, she gave us a tour of the place and most if not all of the cabins. I was IMPRESSED. Yes, they need some TLC and elbow grease, since the property is brand new to them, but it is a paradise in the rough.  It’s exactly the kind of ambience I have been imagining for my forever home. It is enveloped in nature. You can only hear the road below from one of the cabins; the rest don’t receive a sound from civilization. It’s green, moist, verdant and home to toucans, sloths and agoutis as well as a myriad of bird species who live there or migrate through Costa Rica.

 

I am in love. If the cabins were available now, I would take any of them in a heartbeat and help develop the property and spit and polish the cabins with immense, never-ending joy. I’m  soooooo grateful to still be able-bodied and in the best shape I’ve been in in years because I want to give it all to helping this place become the spitting image of everything they imagine for it.

 

Alas, I don’t think it is destined to fall to me that easily. I can afford it, but whether I can live there sooner, later, or never isn’t up to me.  That’s a committee’s decision to make, not mine.

 

So, I am crossing my fingers and continuing to look for my next rental  because that’s what I have to do. As lovely as Rainbow Refuge/VE has been to me, I can’t afford to stay here much past October 3rd when my reservation ends. And I need to get moved so Charli can start truly settling in. I can’t be moving her every few months. She has had enough trauma in her life. SHE deserves to retire from Red Alerts as much as I do.

 

So, for Charli’s sake as much as for my own, I will proactively keep looking for a place that will suit us both.

 

I just hope and pray that my fondest wish for our future comes true!!!

 

We made the return trip via Uber. The gentleman who drove us allowed us to stop along the way soon after we started out to eat lunch, because both of us were hungry. We asked him to choose the place and I said I’d pay for his meal, too. He said he had already eaten, so I bought him a dessert instead and gave him the maximum allowable tip plus about 4K colones more.

 

The trip back was far faster and very comfortable. CR buses have very little leg room! Our driver Jose was a great guy.

 

I’m always running into great people here. Ticos are terrific!  So are the ex-pats I’ve met.

 

NO ONE has disappointed me.

 

My hope is that I have disappointed no one, as well!

 

And now it’s 6:08 and I’m ready for a good night’s sleep. It has been dark outside for an hour. Night’s out, so lights out!

 

More manana!