Woops...it has been awhile! We did go back up to Lake Arenal, and spent another two days looking at properties. There were two great pieces of land, overlooking the lake. We left the area, feeling really good about the people and the place. This time, on the way down to San Jose, we stopped to look at Volcan Arenal. Our bar of choice had seats looking directly at the volcano, who chose to erupt and throw some lava down our side while we were sitting there. This is truly an amazing experience! So primevil, so out of control, so stark and fascinating. You expect to see dinosaurs at any moment!
We spent the night again at the Belen RV trailer park, and the next day headed south (unfortunately, through San Jose...ugh!), arriving in the Dominical area late in the afternoon. What a drama, getting into the campground! Our van was too high for the first entrance, so we were directed to the back entrance, where metal lines had to be held up with poles to give the van enough clearance! The owner was extremely accommodating, and made a difficult situation good. What a gorgeous beach area is Dominical! This apparently is a great surfing area, so once again, we were the oldest folks around. We found a super restaurant nearby, and had great fresh tuna for dinner.
The next day we went back up the highway, so that we could visit Pete and Mary Jo's house at Tres Piedras. We were 40 minutes getting down to the valley floor, on a difficult road for our van, but when we arrived at their caretakers' house, we were welcomed with great enthusiasm. Irma, the wife, took Barbara wading across the river and up the grass driveway to the house. What a great location! And what terrific people are these caretakers. They cut us two pineapples to take along, and invited us to return when the river was low enough for the van to ford (in the "summer", which would be January or February...the season reverse is difficult to get used to.) Tres Piedras is a bit of magic!
We continued along the coastal highway, which was absolutely beautiful and the road in great condition. We spent the night at the Bunka Lodge, about 60 km from the border. We had our own little guest house, which was so well equipped and laid out that we took measurements, thinking to copy it if we were to build a guest house.
The next day we crossed the border, and you all know our feelings about borders so enough said. We had intended to spend the night in David but after an hour of being rejected at the hotels (all full!) we continued on to Boquete, which is a mountain town and much, much nicer than David. We found a hotel which gave us our own cabin (which we are really liking!) and started exploring. We found a jazz club! We liked Boquete a lot so spent the next two days looking at houses, and did find one we liked.
After two days in Boquete, we headed east and ended up in Santiago for Saturday night. On Sunday, we continued eastward, checking out beaches as we went. Our favorite was Santa Clara, which has white sand, a couple of casual restaurants and ranchos with hammocks. That night we ended up in El Valle, which is a mountain town where our friends from Silves, Rene and Tom Cosans, live. We spent Sunday night at a hotel and then met up with Rene and Tom on Monday, April 30th.
Rene and Tom took us to lunch at a neat local place (garlic shrimp...yum!). As we were finishing lunch, one of their friends came to the table and, after hearing that we were there to look at property, she announced she had something for sale and would show it to us that afternoon. She did, we liked it, Rene and Tom couldn't believe the value for money, we looked at it again the next day, made an offer, and here we are!
The agent is named Chola and she has 10 brothers and sisters, and they all have children. One of Chola's nephews is a lawyer in Panama City and he and his partners specialize in ex-pat matters. Chola bundled us up, took us to Panama City and for two days we did the visa stuff, the bank account stuff, and met the owners of the house in El Valle. Oh, and Chola found someone to take care of TwoBaby while we were in Panama City. The Chola universe!
So, now the lawyers are working out the contracts, our terrific bank (SRI Federal Credit Union) has already transferred the down payment, and we are on hold, waiting for a summons to Panama City to sign the promissory contract for the house. Wild, isn't it?
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