Hills in Grecia

And as for the views, we found a great house in Escazú with its own fantastic views of the city. But this time we’ll only be 5 minutes from the town instead of 15. It’s a charming older house owned by a sweet European couple who’ve remodeled and decorated it with driftwood and their own unique artwork. It even has a pool and a pool table! We love it, and I’m sure we’ll be happy there.

The main reason for the move was to be closer to a good private hospital during the months surrounding our new baby’s birth, just in case we need it. But we’re also excited to be closer to so many fantastic restaurants with international cuisine, larger stores like Pricesmart/Costco, like-minded people, as well as fun and educational activities and classes. We’ll be less than an hour away from the beach, too.

Escazu house night view

Escazú is an upscale suburb of Costa Rica’s capital, San José, and has seen a huge influx of foreigners in recent years. It’s also one of the most expensive areas to live in Costa Rica, so we were lucky to find an excellent deal on the house we’re renting ($1200/month), especially since it’s on a street with some large multi-million dollar homes (including Mel Gibson’s). We plan to stay there for at least 8 months (that’s the minimum on our lease), and then possibly head out to an Asian country such as Japan for the next phase of our adventure.

One of our main reasons for choosing to move to Costa Rica was so we could all learn Spanish. I’m pleased to report that the girls are becoming more and more comfortable with the language. They’re no longer afraid to speak Spanish to people, and are therefore seeing some great improvement in their abilities. We’re hoping by the end of the year, they’ll have the language down really well. I’m also pleased at the level my Spanish has grown to. It’s certainly not perfect, but I can usually get my point across without halting too much, and can understand the other person well.

Well, goodbye Grecia. Maybe we’ll come back for a visit now and again. Here are some pictures of the new place, mixed in with some pictures of our current place in Grecia for comparison – the captions will spell the difference.

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Dining room

After two weeks of visiting dozens of houses all over Grecia, Costa Rica, we finally picked the house we will live in for the next year. Who’d have guessed it would be the first house we looked at!

When we first saw the house, we were impressed by the views and the gardens, but the lack of furniture and decorations made the house seem very bare. It was also pricey for not having a swimming pool, the layout of the house and basement seemed strange, and it didn’t have enough beds to sleep our family, not to mention guests. So we decided to pass on it.

After looking at lots of other options, some more grand, and others much less impressive, we almost decided to go with a smaller and quite a bit cheaper house (actually the second one we looked at) for 3 months – mostly because of the time flexibility, but also because of the price, and it had most of what we need. But I wasn’t overly thrilled with its rustic feel and small living spaces. I had a hard time picturing myself being comfortable there.

After thinking about it, I realized that the first house would actually work well for us with a few modifications. So I e-mailed the landlord with some requests for additional furniture, and a decrease in price. And I got both! It’s still on the high end for around here, $900/month, but we think it will be worth it.

The Details

From the side

The house has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and is off a private lane in San Isidro de Grecia, on Calle Rodrigues. It also sits on over an acre of gardens with over 100 varieties of flowers and plants, and plenty of room for the girls to run around and explore. You can hear birds singing, and spot all kinds of birds as well as other animals such as wild bunnies and squirrels, and it is completely private. There is also a little pond on the property where a family of ducks has chosen to make their home because of the free food.

Our favorite part about the house is the views which can be seen from every window. On a clear day, you can see all the way to San José! I also hear the views at night are breathtaking. The living room and attached dining area are very spacious, and both open onto a large deck, making it all a very comfortable space to enjoy as a family or to entertain guests.

The house also has a large kitchen, which has everything but an oven. But they said they will work on getting one for us. The mixture of tile and wood floors, along with the intricate woodwork on the doors and frames makes the house pleasant and elegant in appearance.

One other big plus to this house is the hiking trails directly off the property, which lead to a waterfall. We haven’t seen it yet, but the pictures look great, and we’re excited to check it out. And while the gardens are already beautiful, we’re told there are even more flowers and it’s even greener in the rainy season. The garden also contains a few fruit trees such as grape fruit, guava, avocado, passion fruit, and banana, which we’ll enjoy.

Almost Ready…

It will take another week or so for Rolan (the landlord) to get everything ready, setup the Internet connection and utilities, and bring in the additional furniture and decorations. So during this time we plan to rent a car and drive down to the southern part of Costa Rica near Manuel Antonio and Dominical, to visit the beach and explore some other parts of Costa Rica that are a little farther away.

We are excited to move into our new home and think that we will be very happy there. To get a better idea of what it’s like, check out the photos and video below.

Also, if you haven’t noticed, at the end of each day, I’ve been posting about the day’s events on Twitter (and Facebook). So if you want to keep more up to date with what we’re doing than these irregular blog posts, be sure to follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/brandags.

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