Beginning of the Road

I recently spent a week in Poretro to meet with contractors.  I do have some experience working with contractors during my years at Brotherhood Mutual so I feel like I could handle this portion of our project.  I had a general idea of the land and knew what we wanted the end result to work with.  We had a few items on the property that needed addressed and so I prepared myself and off I flew. 

My sweet mother-in-law

I arrived on a Sunday early afternoon and spent the afternoon and evening with some family in the area. I stayed with my sister-in-law Sandra and her family. We had a wonderful evening with my two sisters-in-law, my mother-in-law, a few cousins, and some stray nieces and nephews. I got to meet Eduardo's surprise brother they learned about a couple of years ago - Surprise! I learned some new Spanish words and discovered my sweet, kind, loving mother-in-law knew most of the English curse words. A fact that had me almost spewing my blueberry tea on the table in front of me.  This was only the second time I was able to spend time with the family in Costa Rica and it was a great time. I didn't have the same concerns the first time with meeting everyone. I only got to spend the one day with them before heading out to the coast to start the process.  

Costa Rica doesn't deal with the same issues as many Central American countries with drugs.  Tourism is one of the main industries in the country and to keep that up, the government is very proactive with drug trafficking and cartel activity.  In place of the cartel, Costa Rica has another evil industry that everyone needs to be aware of. While this industry is not criminal, it is a true evil. I shiver to mention it in case they find out who I am. I will take the risk and say it loud. Rental Cars!! If I disappear tomorrow you will know who is responsible.  All joking aside, the rental car industry is the devil. When you check the prices of rental cars, they all seem reasonable. Most of them have prices that are ridiculously low. You can rent an midsize SUV for about $12 a day. Then comes the great news, our insurance industry doesn't work the same way as it does there so your auto insurance will not cover you. The government requires you to get liability coverage that cost around $20 a day. Like all rentals, they try to push your into the more expensive property damage coverage as well that runs about $50 a day in total. What they don't share with you is if you do not get the expensive property damage coverage you will need to put around $3,000 down as a deposit, sometimes in cash. So, I paid the price of my first born son and rented my car to head out to Guanacaste. 

Average Costa Rician Highway

The trip from San Jose to Portrero is breath taking. It takes you past the plateau of San Jose through mountains and rain forest.  You get to see beautiful beaches and road signs for alligator and sloth crossings. The total travel time is around 4 to 4 1/2 hours. The speed limit is around 50mph or 80kph so it's not fast travel. Most of the roads are two lane roads and up and down so getting stuck behind a truck is the worst. While that sucks, passing is an art form in Costa Rica. I will also firmly recommend using Waze when traveling. Cell phone reception is a bit sketchy in the rural areas and Waze operates as a standard GPS when you don't have cell service. Plus it shows the best routes and doesn't try to take you down the Monkey Trail or have you cross any rivers - without bridges.

I arrived at my Airbnb rental around 4:30, went to one of the small super markets in the area and set in to relax for the rest of the evening.  I had a meeting with my first contractor the next day. The rental was cute - but mine will be cuter :)

The first contractor I had set up was a recommendation from one of Eduardo's cousins who had recently used them to build a home. They are a larger contracting company in the area and I had no doubt they know what they are doing. It was a great meeting and I feel like they are knowledgeable and have a good idea of the full project needed. I haven't seen the quotes yet, but believe they are going to be a bit high due to the fact that they are a larger company. I met with the second contractor that afternoon and he was AMAZING, not the good amazing. This man came rolling up looking like the Costa Rician version of a 80's Jersey Italian guy with his dyed black hair, button up shirt half way unbuttoned and fake gold chains. He looked me up and down and saw $ signs. He then dismissed me and wanted to talk to my nephew until he discovered I was the one in charge. By that time I had already made my mind up that he was not our guy. When he quoted me at $95 a meter I was done talking to him. Ended Tuesday with a nice dinner with my nephew and back to the rental.  

Our Property

On Wednesday we didn't have any appointments until the afternoon so I walked down to the property and got a good feel for the land and where I want to put the three buildings, where I wanted the drive and septic tank and thought about what kind of wall we are going to put up in front of the property and how I would like to set things up. The one down side is we have to cut down the giant Guanacaste tree in the middle(ish) of the property.  They are protected trees in Costa Rica so we will need an approved permit to do so. The permit shouldn't be a problem because we simply can't build around it with the root system. The only up side of that is we can keep the wood from the tree and have it milled. The wood is very beautiful and prized in the area. A decent slab like the one below that can be used as a table top sells for about $125. We are planning on using the wood for cabinets and coffee table and such in the rentals. It was a nice walk but I stayed out to late in the day and the moment the time goes from 9:59 to 10:00 the temperature raises from hot to sweltering.  It was right after rainy season so the humidity is still high. So I walked back to the rental after spending some time looking at the Howler Monkeys in a tree close to the property.  

Guanacaste Wood

On a side note, have you ever heard the call of a howler monkey? It is such an eerie sound. The first time I heard it was my first trip to Guanacaste. It was later at night and one of them started to call. It sounded like and animal dying in pain. Feel free to watch this video and experience it for yourself. 

I met with another contractor that afternoon who specializes in building the Quonset buildings. It was apparent that he knew what he was talking about and what would be needed to get the buildings up. After he talked about himself and how wonderful he was and his work was the best thing to ever grace the earth for a half an hour and after I told him that I was not their to measure our appendages and see who had the largest (yes I did) we got down to the job and what was required. He had a bit of the little woman idea of me when he first met me, but not when we were done. I can't say he was my favorite person but I know he can do the work.

Along the way on Wednesday I got to meet with a couple who moved down to CR about a year ago and started a business called Texas Ticos. They rent full beach set-ups on Flamingo Beach with a tent, chairs, towels, cooler, bogie boards and water.  It's a great setup and if you are ever in the area check them out at https://texastico.com/  We talked for a while sitting on the beach and they gave me some great information on moving down and life their. 

After that bit of relaxing I met with the final contractor.  His name is Angel and he was the contractor who built the rentals where I was staying.  Now, I don't want to be partial at this point but I really like him.  He is down to earth, admitted he had never put the Quonset houses up but after watching a video felt confident he could, he seemed honest in his dealings with me and didn't treat me like I was just a little woman. I asked if he believed we could complete the project round my budget of $20K and he let us know that was a reasonable expectations. He gave me a good vibe and as long as things go well, I think that is the guy I want.  

I canceled two appointments with contractors on Thursday because they could only do part of the project and we were really looking for general contractors who could do the whole job from permits and engineering design to land preparation and building the structures.  So I finally relaxed and spent the afternoon at the beach.  My new friends let me stay with them under their canopy and I got to play in the surf at Flamingo Beach. I ended it by cooking fish that I could have done a lot better if I had a full kitchen.  

Friday was going to be my relaxing day at the beach after spending the other 3 days in the area working with contractors, going to and from appointments, and also taking my nephew to a few spots he needed for work things. I didn't make it to the beach. Instead I stayed around the rental, spent some time in the little pool, drank a lot of coffee, and chilled. It was my best idea. Finished the evening talking to some people at a local expat restaurant and packing for the drive back and flight out back home.  

All together it was a decent trip and I left with three contractors I am having quote the construction cost for our buildings. Next steps are the detail items that we need to deal with from the paperwork of taking pets down, getting needed paperwork translated to Spanish, finding shipping companies to send out stuff, selling my jeep, the camper, and other items.

I also got the land plan done for how we want our property to look once it's completed.  You can see that below.