Oh, When the Ants Go Marching In...

When friends from the States ask us about life in Costa Rica with lots of bugs and other tropical creepy-crawlies, we say, hey, we have bugs here that eat the other bugs, so no hay problema! Little did we know just how apt that phrase really was. But if we needed any confirmation, we got it recently when our rancho was literally invaded by ants. Not just a few ants, not just a bunch of ants, but thousands and thousands of ants! And they showed up in no time at all. We had done a load of laundry that morning in the rancho where our washer is located and there had been no sign of ants, just the normal iguana skittering away at our approach. But by mid-afternoon when Layne went out to get the barbeque grill for me, the place was swarming with them, great huge lines of mid-sized brown hormigas, busily trooping along the bottom wall, up the sides, under the cabinet. It was downright spooky!

Since we were uncertain whether to be concerned about this, we turned to our friend and neighbor Marcial, our go-to guy for all things Costa Rican. Even though it was Father's Day, he soon arrived at our gate to take a look. After studying the creatures up close, he assured us they were not only harmless but were actually "cleaning house." According to Marcial, this particular type of ant comes en masse and in the space of a few hours carries away the eggs of other ants, cockroach eggs, dead ants, wasp nest eggs and the larvae of all manner of other unwanted critters. Drawing our attention to one or two which were toting little white balls on their backs, he assured us those were eggs of some undesirable insect. He did say they carry a mean bite so avoid getting stung but he also said they are not out to get you. And sure enough, within a couple of hours, they had disappeared completely. Who knew?

We did have to keep little Winston, our new foster puppy, out of the rancho while the ants did their thing as he seems to relish nibbling on ants. With their reputation for a mean sting, we didn't want him getting a mouthful of those guys. Winston, of course, is getting a reputation of his own; you might even say he's world famous. (After all, this blog has readers in lots of other countries, including Russia, China, Germany, France, Japan, Latvia, Australia, as well as the U.S. and Canada!) This morning as we were breakfasting at Natural restaurant, friends Joni and Mike drove up and immediately recognized Winnie from having read my last blog post with his photo. It's not surprising that he makes friends everywhere he goes. For instance, at VGym this morning, as he was waiting patiently (well, sort of patiently) by the door while we did our workouts, everyone stopped to give him a pet and rave about what a pretty boy he is. Naturally, we agree. In fact, as some friends predicted, we have decided to adopt him. Big surprise, eh? He's just too nice a dog to let go, a real find, we think. We look forward to many joyful years with him in our lives.

With all the attention, Winston was pretty tuckered out by the time we got to Natural for breakfast so he fell dead asleep by Layne's chair while we enjoyed another fabulous meal at this new eating place. If you haven't made your way there yet, you'd better go soon before there's a waiting line to get in. The food is so delicious -- fresh, wholesome, much of it organic and beautifully presented. My new favorite is the House Special fruit, natural yogurt and homemade granola dish. Today I asked for extra granola and then learned just how carefully it is prepared, using coconut oil and honey instead of vegetable oil and sugar. The extra care really shows in everything proprietress Maria prepares. The fact that she herself is so charming and sweet is icing on the cake, so to speak.

By the way, she is looking for a new house to rent, nothing fancy but comfortable enough for her, her two children and her mom. Of course, we hope to find her a place here in Santa Eulalia, but if you know of a nice low-cost Tico home near Atenas with a yard for the kids, please let me know and I'll pass it along to Maria. Or drop in for lunch and tell her yourself!

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In Search of the Perfect Rental

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Another day, another adventure. But today’s outing had a built-in safety feature: our dear friend and real estate expert, Jean-Pierre Pfleuger, was driving.

We first met Jean-Pierre four years ago on our initial trip to Costa Rica when we hired him as a guide to look at property in various areas of the country. At the time, we hoped to sell our California ranchette and buy here in CR, having read enough about the advantages of retirement in this tropical nation to have us hoping for a quick sale and relocation to this land of Pura Vida. Instead, the California real estate market took a plunge and our hopes for a prompt sale evaporated. In spring of 2007, we put the house on the market once more and made a second trip to CR, again retaining Jean-Pierre’s services to check out areas that might offer the combination of climate, culture, location and Gringo and Tico population that we were looking for. But with the economy still mired in the doldrums, no offers came in on our house even at a reduced price. At that point we decided to sit back and wait on the market to recover some. When in late 2009, the pieces fell into place for us to make this extended visit to Costa Rica, we got in touch with Jean-Pierre once again.

At 10 a.m. today, JP, as he sometimes calls himself, arrived in his Mercedes SUV, ready to cart us around the countryside. He has the Tico driving style down pat: go like hell and “trust the force.” On one of our earlier visits, we had occasion to see JP’s driving proficiency in a crisis. Heading back into San Jose on one of the major freeways, we entered a torrential rainstorm such as you only see in the tropics. Water was pouring down in a deluge even as traffic was hurtling along on all sides. With the windows up, the inside air steamed up and the windshield fogged to the point of utter blindness. In the front seat, Layne struggled to engage the defroster by turning up the heat, as we would in our own wintertime conditions. But that only made it worse! In the back seat, I’m in a full-blown panic attack urging caution in driving and speed in defrosting, neither of which was happening. Jean-Pierre continued on at about 50 mph as though nothing was amiss while Layne fumbled with dials on the heater. We began laughing, out of desperation I suppose, urging Jean-Pierre to “trust the force, Luke!” Eventually, Jean-Pierre calmly told Layne that he needed to take the opposite approach: engage the air conditioning to cool down the inside and thus reduce the fogging. As the window began to clear, Layne and I took a deep breath while Jean-Pierre remained fresh as a tropical breeze, still plunging through the downpour at the same pace!

So we have come to have great confidence in JP’s driving skills, but today’s outing lacked any such excitement. As we headed across the top of the city, JP moved easily in and out of traffic, guided through the maze of streets by his German-made Garmin GPS device mounted on the dashboard. It seemed nothing less than a miracle to us that this electronic gadget could actually make sense of the unnamed and look-alike roads. Not only that, but it talked to him… in German and in a sexy female voice! We simply must invest in one of these little marvels for our own peace of mind when heading into the labyrinth that is Costa Rican roadways. We just hope we don’t have to learn German as well as Spanish!

As we entered Alajuela province, the landscape opened onto the lush green mountain vistas that are so much a part of this magnificent land. We were heading for a house in the town of Grecia which had sounded like exactly what we were hoping for; but the things that it lacked were too important to us to ignore: not enough ventilation for Layne’s comfort (hearing aides are a bitch!), a “suicide shower,” which meant no hot water elsewhere, even the kitchen sink, a minimal half bath, a bed that didn’t seem quite comfortable enough to us and overall, a very small house. The price was good and it was hard to turn it down because the neighborhood seemed ideal with the house situated almost at the end of a dead-end street, so no bus fumes or traffic noise, yet close enough to shops for walking. We met an absolutely charming elderly Tica across the street who apparently owns the place but employs Gringo property managers. Virginia was enchanting with her sparkling brown eyes and vibrant energy and fascinating to talk with as her background included some years as nanny to the children of the Fleishmann family. That would be the Fleishmann’s of margarine and yeast fame! Mega-rich! She had lived in New York, Washington, D.C. and parts of Europe in her colorful career, only returning to Costa Rica at age 65. She explained with justified pride that she had saved her money and built her own house and the one next door, as well as owning the rental across the street. She sent us for lunch to her cousin’s restaurant just a few blocks away where we enjoyed enormous and delicious plate lunches for only a few dollars each. We hope we didn’t make a bad decision in turning this place down but since we have almost three weeks remaining in our current villa, we figure we have time to find something that will be just right.

As we left Grecia, Jean-Pierre headed northwest to the small town of Sarchi, made famous by the hand-crafted natural wood furniture and colorful oxcarts created by the local artisans there. JP drove us to the central park where a huge oxcart is displayed just across from the local church. It seemed

like a photo op so we parked and played tourist for a few minutes, with Jean-Pierre and I posing before the oxcart, then Layne and I standing before the church. Good memories are made this way and good friendships can be the result. We consider ourselves very lucky to know Jean-Pierre and fortunate indeed to count him as our amigo.