Living the Pura Vida

This winter is our first full winter in our new home in Atenas, Costa Rica.  The locals have a phrase for life in this part of paradise -- Pura Vida.  And that's what we have.  It's quiet here -- which is just what we need to get away from the chaos of Washington (especially this year).  But we've had plenty of visitors as well -- our friends Nancy and Rita and Jan and Sandra. Paul's brother Jim, and nephew Dustin.  Ahead are most of the Kunzer clan .... all of whom we get to share this slice of heaven with.

Here are a few pictures -- from Poas volcano, from La Paz waterfall park, from Jaco beach, our new cats, Luke & Leia, and a panorama of our home.  Enjoy:

 

Dinner at The Retreat

 We went to dinner last night with our good friends Jeanne & Bob who are down here in Atenas from Ohio on their annual winter visit (in case you can't guess, that's them in the middle photo).   Together we went last night to a place called "The Retreat" which is a spa, hotel, yoga retreat and restaurant all rolled into one.  It's been under new management for the past 11 months and this is the first time we've gone -- why we waited so long is a mystery!

The view, obviously, was magnificent.  That's the sunset over the Pacific Ocean in the top, with the

 sun reflection in the pool creating a fascinating vista.  At the bottom is the same view about 20 minutes later after they had thrown 3 glowing, floating balls into the pool to create more wah.  We have GOT to get us some of those for the house!

Dinner lived up to the vista.  The food is all organic and all "healthy," though not aggressively so.  No dairy; no real fat; etc.  We started with some bocas (which is Costa Rican for tapas) that included a great lentil ceviche. After that, we went on to the soups -- Paul had

a tomato & rosemary (!) soup, while Katy had a pureed broccoli.   The main course was sea bass with a great coconut sauce accompanied by freshly cooked chard.  Desert was a very small chocolate mousse that just was perfect -- all of it accompanied by a nice Argentine malbec.

To eat well in Costa Rica we usually have to go down to San Jose or Escazu.  Atenas, where we live, is not renowned for "fine dining" but the Retreat is different and special -- a very good restaurant less than 15 minutes from the house.  We'll be back (and Katy plans to try the spa for a facial soon too!).

Music at the Philharmonic

Last Friday we had the grand opportunity to go to New York City and listen to the Philharmonic.  As many of you know, Paul's father was a subscriber to the Philharmonic beginning in the 1950s.  When he got old, he passed the tickets on to Paul, and we get to go to a couple of concerts a year.  [The rest we sell at cost to friends -- if any of you are interested, let us know.]

This year we had the opportunity to go and hear one of the most magnificent concerts we've ever had a chance to listen to -- Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. 

The concert started with Lisa Batiashvili, playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.  This is the concerto that is so hard that when Tchaikovsky created it the first violinist he asked to play it, Auer, said "no way ... that's impossible."  Well ... it isn't impossible but it is damn difficult.  We'd never heard it before -- either live or on a record -- and the loss was ours.  For 35 minutes Batiashvili played her heart out, with power, grace and beauty.  She eared the standing ovation and the 4 curtain calls she got, for sure.

After intermission, the orchestra played Dvorak's New World Symphony.  That we'd heard before, of course, but never like this -- live in New York by the orchestra that premiered the piece more than 100 years ago.  The power of the horns; the vibrancy of the timpani -- this was just about as pure a joy as you could imagine.  It seemed less "complex" than the violin concerto, but in some ways our familiarity made it purer and more fun.

Add to all this a pleasant train ride up and back and lunch with Paul's brother, Jim, on a beautiful sunny Fall day and it is hard to imagine that anything could be more perfect.  Sometimes we wonder if keeping the tickets is worth it.  On day's like last Friday we don't wonder ... but we marvel at our good fortune instead.

Rose's Luxury

In 2015 a new restaurant opened on Capitol Hill -- Rose's Luxury.  Bon Appetit said it was the best new restaurant in the entire country. They don't take reservations, so the only way to get in is to stand in line and wait.  When they open the doors at 5 PM you can either sit right down, or ask to be put in the second seating and texted when the seats open up.

Katy and I went to Rose's once before on a day that Katy just happened to be wandering by.  Yesterday we went for the second time.  We figured that on a hot day in August the line would be shorter and we could get in.  We were right and it was worth the trip.

Like we did the first time, we chose to sit at the bar looking right into the kitchen.  Half of the fun of the day is just watching the team work.  There were more than 8 people squeezed into the kitchen working like clockwork.  Almost nothing in the way of haste or disarray.  That's Wendy, on of the lead chefs, in the center making one of our dishes.

Meanwhile, the food was just fantastic.  We've had one friend who didn't like it when they went, but everyone else we know has raved -- and so do we.  We started with a small plate of Pork Sausage, Habanero, Peanuts and Lychee that was just an awesome bang of flavor.  The Catfish came next with a great green tomato relish and a saffron aoli that was smooth to the taste.  The Bucatini in a sungold tomato sauce tasted fresh and smooth in a way that red sauce does not.  And the Brisket at the end -- well, it was as tender as we've ever eaten.  Paul loved it; Katy (who doesn't like brisket at all) was even moderately appreciative.  The homemade slaw and horseradish that it came with were as fresh as you could imagine.  And we finished off with a fresh coconut milk ice cream.

The most amazing thing though, was the price.  We bought a Vouvray Chenin Blanc bottle for $60.  Total price for the meal with tax was just $159.50.  Put another way, three small courses and a large family style meat plate, along with desert cost less than $100 -- and we got the view as well.

We'll be back -- and it is worth the trip if you can find the time.

A Costa Rica Update

Well, you’ve probably  seen many of the photos already, but it seems worthwhile to also do a short blog post on where we are with the grand Costa Rica adventure.

Overall, the answer  is “we are doing well.”  To be sure there are frustrations and delays, but in the long run we are well on the way to living our dream.

Let’s start with the house – construction is almost complete.  I was supposed to be finished by March 10, but there have been some delays, the most notable of which was a wait to clear customs (about which more below).  But it looks like we are now on schedule for early April.  The floor is mostly in; the tile is going up on the showers; the walls are getting painted; the roof is finished.  What lies ahead are the doors, appliances, furniture and such …  All of which takes time, but most of which looks pretty small next to the grand scale of the overall house.  One thing that doesn't need work, of course, is the sunset ....

As for customs – as Katy says if there is, in fact, a 7^th circle of hell, Costa Rican customs is part of it. Our goods arrived in Costa Rica on Jan 15.  When we left on Feb 29 they still had not been released.  Between slowness generally , a mistake by our shipper and overall bureaucracy we were royally screwed.  Our “favorite” (not!) part of the experience was actually having to go to the bonded warehouse and open every single one of the boxes to inventory what was inside.  We had an inventory of course – but we had to confirm exactly which box it was in and also declare that all of our used goods were …. Well, used ….  It was not pleasant at all.  As of the day we left we were going to finally pay the customs bill and have the goods moved out of the bonded warehouse to storage for our contractor to come collect.  All the door knobs; appliances and lights are waiting to go!  

On the other hand, much of what we are designing and building will give us great pleasure.  The picture below is the design for the gate to our house, for example.

Also, on the plus side, most of the rest of what we want to do is proceeding apace.  For example, we spent one full day at the immigration office (would you believe they have only a single office for the entire country??) going through the last steps to get our residency  permits.  We were approved – and if all goes well, the actual green cards (called Cedula, and not green) will arrive by mail later in March for our property manager to pick up.

And, of course, the major plus is simply that we love being in Costa Rica.  Everytime we go there, our blood pressure drops 10% just as we step off the plane.  Yes, it’s quiet and sometimes Paul misses the business of DC – but it is easy to go back and forth and, frankly , the weather is just perfect.  This year we enjoyed a bit more of the local culture, including going to a jazz concert in Escazu and the Atenas chili cook-off festival.  We also found a massage therapist to  use and Katy fell in love with a cat (sadly we can’t keep her!)

Current plan is to go back in April for a couple of weeks when the house is done and then to spend the whole month of July there putting it together, so that next winter we will really have our own home.  Wish us luck …

How Cool Is This? The Vault at the Folger Shakespeare Library

We were overwhelmingly fortunate to be permitted to visit the vault at the Folger Shakespeare Library yesterday.  Here are some of the treasures we saw: Tthe first and oldest known printed reference to Shakespeare.







A First Folio from 1623, with the famous wood cut of Shakespeare.










 Queen Elizabeth's own personal (!) copy of one of the earliest editions of the bible written in English.  A





An expurgated version of Shakespeare, where the deletions had been made by a monk who was from the Jesuits.







 And, one of my favorites, the stage directions for Paul Robeson's production of Othello in 1930.  He did it in London because a black man couldn't do it on stage in the US at that time.

Living the Pura Vida -- Update from Costa Rica

 We came down to Costa Rica on January 5 to escape DC and live the "pura vida" -- the pure life, as the Costa Ricans say.  It's part of our plan to start spending the winters down here away from the cold.

It's still an experiment.  Everything is a bit of a challenge and there is always something new happening.  To take just one example, as I write this the power supply to the pump that drives our water well has failed -- so whenever the cistern empties we will be without water in our community ... at least until someone comes along to fix the problem.

We aren't terribly worried, of course, but its a small example of the challenge of living in Costa Rica.  On the other hand the benefits are immense!

The first photo, above is of the completed road to our land.  If you've been following along you know that we had to build the road before we could build the house.   Well ... the road is done now.  And late last December we got the final national approval for construction.  The municipality checked in with its own approval on January 14, and the plans for the house are now with the Collegio of Architects for final approval.

We met with the folks who are going to bid on the house earlier this month.  Their bids are due in on February 3.  On February 4, after we recover from the heart attack we can begin the process of selecting a builder.  Best case scenario is that they break ground by the end of February!  If that happens and if the 10 month construction schedule goes as planned we will have a completed house by the end of 2015.  Of course it may bleed over to 2016, but that's worth waiting for.  The picture of us is on our land.  The view behind us is what we will see every morning.

Meanwhile, appearances to the contrary, we are actually spending time working and relaxing.  Paul has been able to really dig into work for his clients and start on his next Teaching Company  course.   Katy is happy watching the birds every morning -- we have a couple of local Toucans, somer Oropendula and other species.  We are also doing some of the necessary leg work -- bank accounts and residency permits, for example -- to move things along.

But mostly we are just enjoying the peace of the place -- sunrise each morning; coffee; work at the "office" by the pool; exercise; and sharing this wonder with friends.  Two of them, Gail and Don, were down for 5 days earlier this month and two more, Lin and Gene, arrive today.  Meanwhile, our friends from Ohio, Bob and Jeanne, who we met last year here in Atenas, are back.  We've had a chance to get to share dinner with them, and of course they got to meet NatsGnome as well.

All, in all, the pura vida is the joy of life.  We are happy.