Updated: Sep 8, 2020
The term "Pura Vida" is one that you will hear everywhere you go in Costa Rica. Simply translated it means Pure Life / Simple Life, but you'll notice that the folks in Costa Rica actually use it for pretty much any sort of greeting, such as hello, good bye, and thank you. We've grown accustomed to saying it whenever we are in Costa Rica and let me tell you, it would be nice if we had a similar saying in North America. Sure, we can greet someone here in some many different ways, with a simple hello, what's up, how ya doin', but those just don't have the same impact as how Costa Ricans use Pura Vida. Just knowing what the two words mean makes it feel special, and whenever I use them it sort of makes me forget about all the bad things going on this world for a brief moment. There is something to be said about living a pure / simple life.
Growing up as a kid, my parents worked damn hard to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and clothes on our backs. We didn't have all that much as kids so in a way we lived a pretty pure / simple life. Once I moved out of the house, went back to school, and worked towards a career, the motivation to succeed and be able to afford all the things I ever wanted was incredibly strong, since I had never really had that as a kid...it was the "only the strongest will survive" syndrome, and the constant battle to work hard to get to the top...being that stereotypical penguin in a suit going to a downtown office Monday to Friday with the goal of becoming the best I could be. Don't get me wrong, all of that hard work certainly allowed us to have pretty much everything we've ever wanted, from fancy cars, a luxurious home, multiple getaway vacations every year, you name it we had it. But was it worth it? I can honestly say, that looking at the way we live as North Americans is vastly different then how Costa Ricans live...and guess what, I think they are far happier than we could ever aspire to be...Afterall, their motto is Pura Vida, and they seem to have it down pat.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that a big factor in our decision to make this life changing move, is exactly that, to make a life changing move, one that will hopefully allow us to appreciate a simpler and more relaxed way of life, one that will not involve the daily stresses of corporate America..................................................................Pura Vida!
Here are some progress photos of the house (building the concrete kitchen island). We've slowed the construction down significantly during the pandemic, considering we have no idea when we will be able to go south. The Costa Rican government has opened the borders to several countries (including Canada), but as of yet, we have virtually no way of getting there as the major airlines continue to cancel their flights...we're crossing our fingers for a trip this winter, at which point the house should be complete.
These are photos of the kitchen island in it's raw form. Since these photos were taken, the island has been sanded and polished to give it a beautiful finished look (which we have not seen yet), as the island has also been covered up for protection while the drywall work gets completed. Anxiously awaiting the big reveal to see the finished product.
Updated: Jul 5, 2020
Well, big deal Rome wasn't built in a day...and neither was our house...it's taking a little bit longer, but as they say slow 'n steady wins the race.
It's been a little while since my last blog post, but with that comes some pretty significant and noticeable changes in our house construction. The main roof has been built, connecting both sides of the house together so it's really looking more and more like a house every week that goes by. It's a bit of a race to get the house all covered and closed up before the big part of rainy season hits the Guanacaste province but I have confidence that we'll make it in time.
The past few months have been really tough watching all of the progress from our home in Canada, while the world deals with the pandemic, and the uncertainty of when that will all be over and done with. For the first few months of the pandemic Costa Rica had done very well in curbing the spread and flattening their curve which was really nice to see. Sadly, in / around June that changed and every day the total number of new confirmed cases was rising so it was pretty clear that they were in their second wave of this damn crisis. So, what does this mean for us? quite simply, we have no idea when we will be able to travel down to Costa Rica to visit our paradise. We've push back our trip we were hoping to take in June, we're likely going to have to push back our planned trip in September and more and more it looks like we may be spending another Christmas in Canada (this will be our 3rd "last Christmas" in Canada since we started executing our plan). Honestly, it's been the longest 7 years of a 5 year plan, but who knew we would have so many struggles trying to sell our house, then hit by a global pandemic - we just have to go with the flow, stay positive, and eventually this will all be done and we'll be in our private pool, drinking Imperial beers and thinking about the long and sometimes painful journey we had to endure to get to this point. If we had to do it all over again, we definitely wood..but perhaps would have done things a little bit differently.
I hope you enjoy some of the more recent photos of our construction progress.
Until next time, Pura vida!
Such a grand look.
Perfect roof tops for solar panels some day.
Super high ceilings - exactly like we wanted!
This view from the covered patio overlooking the pool and forest will be amazing during the rainy season.
Well, we're about 2 months into this quarantine thing and have had to postpone plans for an upcoming trip to Costa Rica....what a bummer...There's nothing we want more than to be able to hop on a plane and be in Costa Rica. Far be it for me to speak to soon, but it feels like the worst is over, as we start seeing some countries slowly easing up social distancing and opening up parts of the economy, and hopefully this means that by September we can head down south for a little R&R. If this pandemic has taught me anything, it's taught me that there are some things in life that you simply cannot control and that we take too many things for granted. It's made me appreciate the life that we live and the dreams that we are chasing - and to never lose hope. We've certainly had our fair share of curveballs thrown our way since we began this journey, but we continue chugging along and this dream is becoming a reality.
Check out some of the more recent pictures of our construction - and more to come.
Lots of action, roof beams up, walls getting prepped for stucco and paint. This is a view from the front of the house through to the back onto the pool. The open walls will all be closed in by large glass patio doors.
Earlier stages when the roof beams were just being installed
View from behind the pool pump room, up towards the backside of the house.
Another shot from the backyard up towards the house. This area is where our garden will eventually go.