moto

"lowering the bar to show improved performance" reads the title of a "demotivators" poster. I scorned it thinking that there was enough negativity in the world who needs posters, even if it is a joke.  I am now living that poster.

March 19; I ask around about buying a motorcycle, something cheap to get around on while I shop for a real vehicle for our family... since most of the autos you see for sale and look like they MAY be priced well and MAY actually be more than a new paint job (in the photos on crautos.com it is common to see everything under the hood have a new coat of "Chrome" spray paint.... the engine, wires, sparkplugs, aircleaner and anything else under the hood, all shiny shiny new silver) as interesting autos are located hundreds of kilometers in equal and opposite directions from where-ever you live.  It's a universal law.  I find a gringo fourwheeler dealer in town who seemed honest, cool and had a few options for sale.  Mind you, a motobike I wouldn't think of paying over $600 for in the states is $2000 here, but hey, it's faster than walking, the bus or hitchhiking(an entire other blog post soon to come). I take one for a drive that is able to be road licensed, has turn signals, etc.. seems to work fine.
March 21, I tell him I will buy it so long as everything remaining to be done to make it street legal is finished (mirrors and speedometer) and we call the attorney.  You need an attorney for everything you need to do here other than using the John. When purchasing a vehicle you can inherit tickets and violations, unpaid dues and other nightmares completely separate of the host of mechanical issues that can be lurking under the chrome.
March 22, the attorney says papers will take a couple days, as the title is missing.
March 24, I pay for the bike and take it home, the shop seems to want it out of their space, the seller is actually a gringo away on a trip.
March 25, I wake up to a pool the size of a XXL pizza under the moto of a grayish red liquid, a stong smell of gas and quickly realize I must have overdone it when I rode the bike 200meters to my house, it was just too much for the little guy.  Something it wrong, broken or all of the above and I suspect it stems from the fact that I bought a vehicle in Costa Rica.  I have that sick feeling like I just bought unseen oceanfront property in Florida that is in reality, swamp.  The attorney needs more time, title is in, other paperwork is missing, bla bla bla. The shop says they thought they fixed that leaking thing, and, the speedometer won't be fixed, but they have a bicycle speedometer I can super-glue to the wheel.  I am not kidding, this is the real deal.
March 26, I email the owner and explain the ever increasing saga and petition for his assistance.
March 28, the attorney tells me the papers are here, in San Isidro, however she is going to send them to me because if I am driving without them the vehicle will be impounded.  No one ever mentioned that part.
March 29, I get the papers, unknown liquids are now no longer dripping from the bike, it is flowing, yes, like you you squeeze ketchup on a burger you can't wait to eat.  The shop is nice and fixes the problem, he hears my petition since I have driven the bike less than 2 miles at this point.  With the papers having arrived (miraculously) and a full tank of gas, my passport, photocopies of it for everyone I may encounter, I head off to get the inspection done.  Oh yea, forgot, so since the papers need stickers as well as the bike I am to take a back road trail system to San Isidro since I guess I am still dodging the police with threat of huge fines or impound of the bike.  I guess everyone not as adventure driven take new motorcycles on the bus with them to get inspections done.  I make the trip following sparse directions, into town and actually find the place.  The attorney shows up 30 min later and hands me some docs, failed to tell me I needed an appointment for the inspection.  It's 1:30, they give me an appointment for 4:30, meaning by the time I am done the INS office that I also need to go to will be closed.  I will need to take the back roads back to Uvita, where we live, an hour away, and come back the next day to get the INS sticker and THEN I will be legal.
I decide to blend in like a only a gringo can in a sea of Costaricans and try to slip into an earlier appointment... it works and I get out of the inspection place by 3:15.  The speedometer jerryrigged thing actually passed despite that it didn't work~ Bueno- time to spare... I will get my INS sticker, grab a good late lunch and cruise home. NOpe.
On the way to the INS office it begins to POUR, I enter looking like I just got out of the pool, fully clothed and try to look put together like only a drown cat can. INS office looks at all my paperwork and tells me I need an original of document XYZ.  I only have a copy. Bless that attorney, who not only picked me up but CREATED a document that would pass and could be used, all in under 30 minutes.  She really was a God-send.  I was only slightly concerned when, on the way to her office, she asks me where I left the motorcycle.  "Parked it outside around the corner" I respond- "No! no! she declares, with a look of fear.... it will be stolen!"  - I don't know what I was supposed to do with it, as I am pretty sure the guards at INS would not have allowed it in the staff lounge, but apparently without the stickers on it is fair game or something. I was too tired to care, laughed it off and tried to put her at ease.  I mean come on, she's only lived there her whole life... what does she know about the crime rate.  Long story short a cab gets me back to INS minutes before closing and I get the stickers.... I can now enjoy a LEGAL ride home, 65 minutes in the dark (sunset is  early at the equator) and pouring rain on a bike that was, thankfully, still there when I returned.  I truly owe a debt of extra measure to the shop and the attorney who bent over backward to make this happen in under 2 weeks.
I am itching now to buy that car... no, wait, that's a series of mosquito bites- my bad.

The Move

The Move

We have, by nature of some of our family goals and our business and investment  choices, moved frequently.  This became a science with labeled alphanumeric totes, categorized and very efficient.   This is no small thing; however it paled in comparison to moving out of the country.  We indeed underestimated the amount of work it takes to downsize life to some suitcases, compounded by the litany of kid-gear that comes with parenthood. I recommend downsizing, there are few feelings more liberating than hauling a truckload of unused life to a charity and watching it all go away; “stuff” becomes parasitic. 

We left SLC with our house rented furnished, some items at friend’s homes, a lot of packing into owner storage areas at rentals, but overall we packed carefully.  It took TIME.  Much more time was needed than ever expected to pack and downsize. We recommend taking your estimate of how long it will take to prepare and times it by your oldest child’s shoe size.   A day before our flights out two children became sick and began vomiting; this was a blessing and a curse.  While the airlines could care less and will only allow changes without penalty if you die or contract measles (no joke) it gave us another week and allowed us to become better organized.  It was actually cheaper to buy new tickets at that point than to pay the change fees and be reissued tickets… crazy, and telling.  Cheaper is relative; you must take your planned budget and times that by the sum of the ages of your children for concise fiscal numbers these endeavors require, if you don’t have kids add up the  your area code.

We made some great travel decisions…  a double stroller that, with a few added bungee cords, can carry 250lbs of luggage made airports negotiable, like our own checkable luggage cart, though no children ever sat in it the large wheeled stroller it was a huge hit, and cheap, $100 from a craigslist type site and new in the box.  I recommend them even if you have no children,  motorized they may double as a golf cart.

We flew and stayed overnight  due to a long layover, giving opportunity for some much needed R and R at a hotel with a pool and play area, continental breakfast and a host of other amenities available to guests  that check in earlier than  11pm and leave later than 3am as we did.  Never have a slept so well on an 8minute shuttle ride as that night.  

As you can imagine, with 3 kids, 4 carry-ons , 4 laptops, a stroller the size of some European cars and a pile of dolls, “purses” and other baggage only parents know,  for we caused travelers in line behind us at security screening to start making alternate plans, canceling pick-up times, etc. They actually opened up another screening line at one airport because we sufficiently stopped traffic while they removed Autumn’s milk from her sippy to thoroughly test for explosives.  Strange they failed to test contents of her diaper which have a known track record of fitting every description of what you cannot mail, ship or bring within 100m of an airplane.

Arriving, after a gratefully uneventful trip was like preparing for judgment day. I feared customs.  I was not importing crack or handguns, but knowing what potentially awaited us and the LINES of people that ran a head of our amoeba-like procession to serpentine of lines before customs… I was bracing for the worst. God must have seen our predicament, our tired kids and tired eyes as He led that wonderous employee whom I will forever remember, whom graciously ushered us past EVERYONE to the front of the line….  I knew behind me were not many angry people, but several which had watched us on the flight, smiled and were now quietly giving thanks for such an aware attendant.  We had checked 8 pieces of luggage, weighing between 46 and 50 lbs each as well as the other pile we flew with.  It seems like a lot but given the circumstances and in retrospect we planned and packed well for a move.  We shipped nothing, and yes, we did fit it all in a microbus cab. Bien Veniedos, we had made it.

The blogging begins!

I swore I would never be a blogger.  I also swore off carrying a cell phone, maintaining a manicured lawn, spending weekends "at home", vacationing with relatives as well as a dozen other personal laws that I have tossed out over the years, and grateful I did so.  Then there is the other side; the things that I swore I would do someday, the big jumps, the "what if"s and thankfully I HAVE done a few of those dreamy ones.  Presently I am sitting deep in the tropics, working remotely looking out into the jungle while the kids play in the pool, we are 5 minutes to the beach, have monkeys behind the house and generally stare at each other a few times a day wondering if this is really happening.
We can't believe we did this at times, at the same time we have that part of the brain that said "you're nuts it you don't".  With three kids we packed, cleaned and rented our house, grabbed a bunch of suitcases and car seats and came to Costa Rica.  We left what I deem to be a pretty amazing place in Utah, situated 15 minutes away from incredible ski resorts, minutes from top climbing, biking, hiking and the best Salt Lake has to offer.  We left a land nearly devoid of insects.  We came to the southern Pacific of Costa Rica, the top of the Osa Peninsula in a small rural town by the beach called Uvita, or Uvita de la Osa as the locals call it; a land with seemingly more insects and wildlife now living in my house than used to inhabit my entire neighborhood.
This all started in 2006 as my wife and I lay on the beach on the Osa peninsula and felt that longing to never leave.  My heart felt attached to something here... was it the climate? We are snowboarders, love snowmobiling, ice skating and other things below zero.... -or was it the greenery? Utah's brown and grey color scheme seems arid and barren in contrast.  -was it the slower pace?  no, I mean SLOWER pace... sometimes maddeningly slow as you wait DAYS or WEEKS for services available "same day" in the states.  Who knows, but we felt like it would be a dream to live in Costa Rica, and to raise kids... and so began the schemes, the planning, the research and a lot of dreaming.
We will have been in the country one week as of later today, it's already been a ride, complete with amazement (on both regards) and a lot of joy.  We begin this blog to simply share what we did, how we did it and why we did it laced into the log of our lives as we give a shot to living abroad with a young family.  We plan to share all of the ins and outs that we employed so that you, in your own way, may be inspired to grab those aspirations that light up your mind.  We welcome comments, ideas, followers and friends. Thanks ya'll! :)