Another New Home
1/27/08
Yes, I am now in a different abode and very happy to be here. I loved my time at Casa Tranquila, but really, I was living in someone else’s home. Ruthie is a sweet lady and was very kind to let me look after her place for a while but when she came to stay there with me, we both saw that we have different ideas about pets. And since she is bringing her cats and dogs from Florida, to live here, we agreed that it would be best for me to find a new home.
I chose to look at this, not as another worrisome problem to deal with but instead, an opportunity. The decision to move was made on a Monday. On Tuesday I combed the area looking and talking to everyone I could find. I set my intentions and made a list of exactly what I wanted:
1. A place within walking distance of the beach.
2. Affordable rent.
3. Secure and safe.
4. Away from the noise and dust of the main road.
5. Modern appliances and shower with hot water.
6. Clean, mold free.
7. A really nice landlord.
8. Convenient location.
9. With washer and dryer (extremely important in the tropics!)
10. And room for my morning yoga.
I expected to find my new home by Friday.
On Wednesday I stayed home and worked, sign painting. On Thursday I looked around some more. That afternoon as I drove through the neighboring town of Cocles (pronounced coke-lees) I saw Francisco, a Tico guy I dance with sometimes at Bar Maritza. He took me to a guy who knew another guy who we then went to see and I found this place, which has everything on my list, by Friday! I will add that this is no small accomplishment, as it is high season and rentals are expensive and hard to find.
I have used this type of method of intention many times before with varied degrees of success. This task, less complex than some, was one I had no doubt about and that confidence added to the power of my intention. Now, if I can just make this work as well with some bigger challenges I have ahead. I’ll talk more about that in my next Inner Journey entry on The Illusion of Security.
So for now, and I hope that now lasts a while, I am happy to be where I am. This little house is brand new and everything is clean and shiny and I am the first tenant.
The landlords are a couple with two small children and one in college. The husband, Eugenio, is of Costa Rican, Jamaican, Colombian and Panamanian descent. They speak both Spanish and English. Eugenio has told me that they are very particular about who they rent to and consider their tenants to be like part of the family. He recently spent the day working on various projects here, to make the place more functional and comfortable for me and during that time I learned much about his family and his life. This “compound” has three rental houses, a laundry and two family homes, one for Eugenio’s family and one for his father, Macario.
Ashley
Macario, now that is an interesting man. He spent a good part of the day with me yesterday, visiting, taking me to find flowers in the jungle and telling me his life story. He was speaking in Spanish for the part up until the age of about 18, then I had to stop him and ask for English, por favor. I was missing too many details. His family moved to Costa Rica from Panama when he was a young child. His father had trouble supporting his five or six kids on his minimal income from working in the jungle on a cacao farm. Macario was the oldest and biggest. He was chosen to be taken out of school to work with his dad. Their respect for education caused his mother and his school teacher to protest vehemently. But Macario dearly loved his father and wanted to please him. “I loved my father - I would die for my father, I loved him so.” Besides that, scholastic endeavors were really not his cup of tea. He was still in second grade at age 13! So each day in school, for the next 15 days he deliberately sat with his back to his teacher. Finally he was allowed to leave school. He never learned to read and write until his second wife, a Swiss woman, taught him. Nevertheless, Macario was a hard worker. At age 20 he met his first wife, who was 22 years older than him! He lived with her and worked to support her six children. And together they had two of their own, my landlord, Eugenio is one of them.
This land and many surrounding acres were originally owned by the family of Macario’s wife, Delfina. They came here several generations ago to farm cacao (coco). It has since been divided up between children and grand children has helped to provide a home and a living for them all. This family, like many of the other original settlers, lost their way of making a living in the 1980’s when a blight hit the cacao trees and killed most all of them. Creative use of their land helped save many of these hard working people. Eugenio’s mother, Delfina, who must be in her 80s now, lives on the adjacent land across the river. I am told she has many lovely flowers. Soon I’ll go meet her and hear more stories, learn more history.
Life here, in the little community of Cocles is just peachy. I am making new friends. I have plenty of work. I am surrounded by all kinds of fruit trees for the picking. I have already had my first house guests - a really enjoyable visit with Jeff and Karin Witbrod from Eureka, Montana. Today I had a lovely time muddling through my Spanish, at the beach with Francisco, who speaks no English. And to top it off, I had a monkey sitting on my head!
Cocles Beach
