Nadine Hays Pisani

A COSTA RICA BREAK-IN

By Nadine Hays Pisani| 2018-04-15T18:19:40-04:00 June 26th, 2011|Categories: Nature|Tags: frogs|

Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: An hour dermatologist appointment to get freckles burnt off my face- $100 (see that honey, I TOLD you it was only freckles)

Our perimeter has been breached. Motion sensors alerts us to an intruder on the lower level— just the action my husband has been waiting for. It’s going to be a massacre.

We sprint through the house like the Red Coats were coming, grabbing every conceivable weapon we own. I can’t find the machete so I reach for the broomstick. Somebody has to clean up the mess.

My husband sneaks into the room, flicks on the light, and we find this little guy doing his best to get inside. He briefly glances at us before continuing his agenda, completely uninterested in the two idiots ready to clobber him.

Almost four years in Costa Rica and the only burglars breaking into our house were a kinkajou and frog. I wonder how long it will be before I catch a monkey climbing through my bathroom window.

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WHO NEEDS A GYM?

By Nadine Hays Pisani| 2018-04-15T18:19:40-04:00 June 18th, 2011|Categories: Nature|Tags: kayaks, paddle boards|

Costa Rica Cost Of Living : Cookies that look like Oreos, smell like Oreos, taste like styrofoam-$1

I went to the beach yesterday and saw that Pura Vida Rida opened. They rent kayaks, paddle boards, and mountain bikes. Very outdoor-zy things; perfect for a very outdoor-zy country.

Along with their usual rental fees, you can also buy a membership that would allow you to use their equipment year round. That’s what I love about Costa Rica. Why spend time on a stationary bike when I can paddle out to a reef and do some snorkeling? I wouldn’t have to wipe down any exercise machine or talk to that weird guy who always wears his sweatpants a little too tight. (You know who you are)

Costa Rica is a fun place. It always entices you to get out and live. Really live. Like take a kayak ride and watch a whale and her baby jump out of the water kinda living.

One hundred times better than an hour on a treadmill. One hundred times better than a day in the office.

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HOW DO YOU FIX A ROAD IN COSTA RICA?

By Nadine Hays Pisani| 2018-04-15T18:19:41-04:00 June 13th, 2011|Categories: Tourism|Tags: potrero, roads|

Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: Current cost of a pound of chicken breast-$4.50

How does a road get fixed in Costa Rica? Not like it does in the states. In America, a pothole would cause great consternation. Phone calls would be placed to councilmen, complaints made to the city board, until it gets repaired. It would never occur to fix it ourselves—we pay a lot of taxes and want to see that money used in an appropriate way.

It’s different here. In Costa Rica, there is not a huge revenue of tax dollars to fix anything. Therefore, neighbors will get together and dump some dirt in a pothole until the authorities come around and fix it. They will even tie a white plastic bag to the top to alert oncoming traffic of the hazard.

But there is also Plan B. A plan that is the most effective and the Costa Ricans seem to welcome with open arms.

(more…)

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CURIOUS GEORGE

By Nadine Hays Pisani| 2018-04-15T18:19:41-04:00 June 8th, 2011|Categories: Nature|Tags: kinkajou, phone|

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Prepaid cell phone card for two months of service- $5

He’s for real. I’ve found Curious George scampering across my property. He’s not actually a monkey, but my favorite of all animals…a kinkajou.

I love his little padded feet and his thick furry tail. I just want to hug him and pet him and squeeze him and call him George. (It’s amazing I can remember a line from a Bugs Bunny cartoon 30 years ago but can’t seem to recall my anniversary.)

I think you have to try to be unhappy here. Really put all you got into it. Because whenever I start to feel down, something like this happens, and all the world seems right again.

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THE PLANT THIEF

By Nadine Hays Pisani| 2018-04-15T18:19:54-04:00 May 30th, 2011|Categories: Nature|Tags: plants|

Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: Several hundred bougainvillea bushes-free

My husband is a plant thief. He hates when I call him that. “I’m not stealing anything, I’m just taking clippings,” he says as he trims the neighbors bougainvillea bush.

It doesn’t help that our friend Jamie is the same way. They both make me stop the car so they can run into an open field and clip a branch off a plant, that to me, looks like every other branch they just grabbed. They always trek back with the enthusiasm of someone who just identified a new species of woodpecker.

One specimen in particular looks a little weird. It reminds me of “Audrey II” in Little Shop of Horrors. It keeps growing and my husband assures me that it is from a guava tree. Oddly, it showed up a day after me nagging him about his plant collection.

I’m sleeping with one eye open.

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About Nadine Hays Pisani

A COSTA RICA BREAK-IN

WHO NEEDS A GYM?

HOW DO YOU FIX A ROAD IN COSTA RICA?

CURIOUS GEORGE

THE PLANT THIEF

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