Culture Shock
We’ve officially been here two weeks now! There have been moments where we look at each other and ask “what in the world have we done”! But we’re usually laughing about it, and we remind ourselves that this is really the adventure of a lifetime. Not many people are as fortunate, flexible, and crazy as we are to make such a move, and we realize we’ve made a good choice. I think the moments of uncertainty are due to one thing…. culture shock. No matter how much research you do (and trust me, we did A LOT) it doesn’t totally prepare you for the actual experience. We’ve even read about how difficult culture shock can be, and took some steps to minimize it (mainly tons of research). However, it’s one thing to read about it, it’s another thing to live it.
Time after time we’ve heard of how many people LOVE Costa Rica; I seriously have not heard anything negative from people who have visited. Well, it’s one thing to be on vacation here, and it’s completely different to live here (I have a better idea of that now that we’re in a more touristy area). We have not done ANY tourist attractions since we’ve been here; we’ve focused most of our time finding a home and getting to know the towns. We figured once all that is done, we have a whole year to do excursions and such. So that can be pretty weighing on someone (especially for Grant and the kids who don’t speak the language).
All that being said, we are still very happy with our choice to move here, and we are enjoying our time so far. The kids are certainly adjusting faster than I thought they would. I know that once we find a place and settle down, things will be much better for us and we will truly begin to enjoy our time here.
Goodbye Grecia, Hello Jaco
We left the B and B Grecia yesterday, two days earlier than what we paid for (we were very excited to get to our beach condo). Our experience there was very nice, and the kids seemed to feel right at home. We said goodye to Grettel; she was the woman who ran the place. Since she lived there and cooked us breakfast every morning, we ended up spending a good amount of time with her. The kids really liked her. MK was also sad to say goodbye to Chico.Grettel
One of the best things I’ve done since being here is the drive to the beach, and I mean the actual drive, the views leave you speechless! The pictures really don’t do it justice, some of you will have to come see for yourselves!!drive
When we arrived in Jaco, we immediately felt more at home. First off, this is tourist central, so you see gringos (as Caucasians are called-not just Americans) everywhere. There are also American fast food restaurants, which the kids were excited to see (it’s a love/hate for me). Although, the prices on the fast food is at least double; we had lunch at Subway yesterday and paid a little over $30! It’s more like “five dollar six inch”. The weather here is much hotter than in the Central Valley, but being from Florida it’s not anything we’re not use to. We are now in the winter season here and the temperature gets up in the 90s during the days and 70s at night. They say that during the summer the heat here is extreme…. doesn’t sound fun. At least in Florida you can run the AC 24/7, here that will run your bill up sky high (I’m talking $600 and even way higher). One thing I can say is the beach is beautiful. We came right in time for sunset.
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Our condo here is beautiful and it’s in a great area, in the middle of everything and right across the street from the beach (and being in AC is wonderful- in Grecia it wasn’t even needed, but here it sure is). We feel spoiled to have such luxuries 🙂 But we’re certainly not complaining!!
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We are staying here for 9 days, then we’re really not sure what we’re doing. We will be looking at some properties at the beach while we’re here, then we’ll decide if we want to stay in this area or go back to the Central Valley. But for now, house shopping can wait, and we’re just enjoying the beach!!
