Our new life in Costa Rica

For the year we are here we will be renting a furnished apartment about a mile walk from the language school. Our building is off a major highway, next to a cemetery and only three minutes from a popular mall. That's our building to the right. We’re a short distance from a small supermarket where we can get many things but we’re about 15 minutes by bus from the big supermarket where we usually shop. Prices here are comparable to prices in the U.S., but most of the imported foods (the things we like) are more expensive. Fresh fruit is usually less expensive here (pineapples are less than a dollar). Because we are without a vehicle this first year we are unaware of the gas prices. We’ve heard horror stories from the States about the rise in gasoline but we’ve heard it is very expensive here too.


One very unusual thing about Costa Rica is that there are no street numbers on their roads. It is very interesting. Our address, for instance, is not “13281 San Pedro Blvd” but “the cream-colored, two-story apartment building, 25 meters from the NW corner of the San Pedro Cemetery, near the mall, and across from the ICE Telecommunications building.” Try saying that in clear Spanish to a taxi driver! We’re just about used to the way things are now, we’re even used to all the traffic from the highway that moves in front of our apartment. This picture is the view down the street towards the mall. The sun comes up at 5:00 AM here so the traffic starts very early in the morning. Still, because we know God has called us here for this time, we’re very happy to be where we are. This new experience is helping us get prepared for the ministry in Nicaragua. Even living without a car is allowing us to empathize (and sympathize) with most of the people who live in Latin America. Most do not have cars and get around by bus or taxi.