Moving In--Real Soon

We hope to be moving in our new house sometime next week. It has been an interesting two weeks. Giovanny, our builder has started work on another house and he has turned the house over to his assistant. The transition has gone very well.

Tatto and his crew, Fernando and Llillo

Our new team has scrambled to get all the doors and sliding doors in place so the house will be secure. They have worked hard getting the Master Bedroom and Dustin's room completed so we have a place to sleep. We might not get paint on the walls but at least all the sanding and dusty work will be done.

We have the front sliding door on our house

There is water and the gutters up. Gutters are important since rainy season has already started. Half of our kitchen cabinets should be in place in a week or two. There are a ton of small details to take care but that is ok. Just like learning a new language, growing roots in a foreign country and moving into a new house, everything occurs poco a poco (little by little).

One of Dustin's windows. Everything was made here on the property

Lori designed our bathroom with a little help from Judith

Our good friend Michelle,
(the gardner was back again this year)
helped put in a couple of gardens.
Thanks Michelle!!!

As you can imagine, we are truly blessed and excited to move into our house.
(visitors are welcome)

Escape to the Other Side of the Volcano

We all need to get away at times, and Lori and I finally found some time to celebrate our upcoming anniversary. Our anniversary is not until the end of this month but with building a house and everything else going on, getting away is not easy.

We wanted to find a place different than our environment here without driving 4-6 hours to get to the beach. On our travels from San Jose to Paso Marcos we found an alternate route in which we escape the slow trucks and traffic. This route is high above the traffic and we enjoy the cool mountain air. We figured we could find a place to stay in one of those villages.


View of the Volcano from our hotel.

We found a place called Volcan Turrialba Lodge. It is 3 miles from the Volcano and 7 miles from the closest out of the way village called Pastora. Sounds great dosen't! This place was very reasonably priced and we had the place to ourselves (no other guests) except for the 1500 sheep and cattle on the nearby fields. The other cool thing about this place is that it was actually very cool. Volcan Turrialba Lodge sits around 8700 compared to 2000 feet above sea level by the Pacuare River.



Wonderful view of sunset

The reason why I called this article the other side of the volcano is because we can view the Turrialba volcano from our house on clear days. We live about 20 miles from the volcano as the crow flies. I felt like a little kid thrilled with excitment viewing something only seen in the news or magazines. We also got to see and smell first hand the volano's destructive nature, understand the different climates and geo systems in this amazing country.

We enjoyed the diverse terain during our 4 hour hike




The burnt side of the volcano where the
wind blows the dangerous smoke



Morning sun trying to penetrate
through the volcano's smoke

Clouds sweeping in underneath
the plume from the volcano.

Lori and I were very thankful for the time to get away and reflect on all that God has done in our lives.