charliedoggett.net
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| A Rural Road Near Atenas, Cost Rica (copied) |
I’m guessing she is a 30-something girl who wrote this descriptive testimony of living in Atenas where I will live in less than 8 weeks.
Check it out to get a different description than I have shared yet. One of her photos is a road outside of town which I expect to find near my apartment. We’ll see!
This morning’s activity was another “Moving Sale” day in the McKendree Village Treasure Shop. I did fairly well, a little better than last Saturday.
This afternoon I will be doing laundry and culling down my files to what I really need to take with me to Costa Rica. And I saved one of my books from sale or disposal which I thought I might read first, Richard Foster’s Freedom of Simplicity (click for excerpts) then I discovered it is available on my new Kindle Fire which I got to avoid carrying so many heavy books to costa Rica. It was just instantly loaded on my Kindle – how cool this is! I’m going to live in the rainforest while building my new library electronically! 🙂 As usual, I’m as excited as a little kid about all of this!
And as has happened before, my post on His Spirit Blog today relates directly to this, the removal of stress by depending on God and simplifying my life as getting rid of all this stuff is doing already!
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| Central Plaza of Atenas My photo of us walking through in August I’ll live 8 blocks from this plaza. |
Today’s edition of InsideCostaRica Newspaper in an article by Jason Holland, International Living Costa Rica Editor, lists the five best towns in which to retire in Costa Rica and my choice, Atenas, was ranked #1. It is also interesting to note as the headline says, none of the top 5 are on the beach!
Also see my September 21 Post on AARP listing Atenas as one of the best places in the world to retire. I also included several links to sites about Atenas in that post where you can learn more about my coming new hometown. I’m excited to be moving to such a highly rated place! Just 11 weeks from this Wednesday!
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| Phons sent me his photo of one of my future neighbors, an iguana. Hope I get photos this good! I think he and I will get along fine! |
I’ve made the deposit and it is confirmed that I will be moving into an apartment at Hacienda La Jacaranda in Atenas, Costa Rica the end of December. It is run by a lovely Dutch couple and he, Phons von der Bom, has been corresponding with me and sent the above photo plus one of a butterfly earlier. If you zoom in on a Google Map of Atenas enough you can find the name of the apartments on the map, just north of downtown within about 8 blocks of the Central Plaza and a Super Mercado and of course the weekly Farmers’ Market every Friday. And the Map Link above includes a map pin for Helados POPS, the best ice cream in Costa Rica and some of the best I’ve ever eaten. I had my first Fig Ice Cream there!
Birth Certificate has been returned with an Apostille on it, thus one more document ready for the residency application. I earlier printed out my filing with the U.S. Embassy (State Department) of my intentions called a “Smart Traveler Enrollment Program” which Jose wanted on file. But I am still waiting on a letter from Social Security proving a minimum income for residency. Even though the last guy I talked with said he would do it right then, I really expected it to take a while. I just called our Metro Police Department and for the “police report” Costa Rica is asking for on me, they say they call it a “Background Check.” I simply go downtown to the Criminal Justice Building to the Records Window and for $13 they will provide one while I wait. So maybe tomorrow. When that is done, I will only lack the Social Security letter.
And the next step soon is to order my one-way airline ticket to San Jose, Costa Rica and I’m hoping I have enough air miles for it and they have space on their planes for an air miles ticket! If not, one way should cost less than round trip. Then the main job is to clean out this house, decide what to take, what to store, and what to sell or give away – the biggest job of all!
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| Image from AARP Website |
Also this real estate website has capitalized on the AARP’s proclamation with an interesting site of their own & good photos, one of which I copied below:
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| Oxcart Parade in Atenas OTHER WEBSITES ABOUT ATENAS:
YouTube 1 Minute Video
International Living Description Atenas City Guide on “Visit Costa Rica” site Google Images (Not all made in Atenas, like the beach photos.) MapQuest Map of Atenas (Just zoom in)
Vista Atenas B&B (Instead of my guest room? – for more privacy maybe?) And their site has photos, video, & info on Atenas & check out these hotels:
Eden Atenas Boutique Hotel, Atenas
Barons Resort Boutique Hotel, Atenas El Cafetal Inn hotel in Atenas Hacienda La Jacaranda (apartments where I will live) Poco Cielo Resort in Atenas RE/MAX Real Estate in Atenas
Properties in Costa Rica – Atenas Real Estate Atenas on “Anywhere Costa Rica” site (3 photos, no info) Vacation Rentals in Atenas |
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| Beautiful apartments with valley & mountain views |
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| Pool from patio and BBQ area where I’ll entertain you on your visit |
Dear Charlie,
Thank you for your reply. One unit is reserve for you. We are working on our paypal reservation payment in our website. Might be done tomorrow then I will let you know. You can stay here upon arrival.
You will love Costa Rica since you are a nature lover. Atenas also has the best climate. We will have several of mangos trees in the property and during mango season the monkeys visit here to eat the fruits. Iguana’s are just also in our premises. Right now, we have flowers in the garden so different kinds of butterflies is visible here. Good subject for photography. Here is one photo for you.
Regards,
Phons van der Bom
Hacienda La Jacaranda
Contiguo al Rio Cajon Atenas, Alajuela,Costa Rica
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Jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central America, South America, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Wikipedia
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| View from Atenas |
One of the couples on the tour with me had come to “try it out” for 4 to 6 months before they totally move to Costa Rica. They did a better job of apartment hunting than me and are now living for at least four to six months at Hacienda La Jacaranda in Atenas. (click to see how nice it is – they don’t allow copying their photos)
My driver did not “have time” to take me to Atenas which was one of the places I wanted to see apartments. I’m sorry, because I really like the look and feel of this place and they have a waterfall on property! And it is a 5 minute walk to the central plaza, groceries, bust stop, etc. An office for printing from my laptop, gym, pool, and more! So it will be one of the first places I will look when I return or might trust my friends recommendations and try to make a reservation in advance for the last week of December or first of January when I tentatively see myself going to live without moving furniture yet (if ever). It doesn’t have to be permanent, but a great start on my newest adventure! Pray that I make the best decisions and that God is in on whatever I do. That’s important to me!
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| Colonial Church facing Central Plaza, Atenas |
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| Central Plaza, Atenas |
And oh yeah! National Geographic says Atenas has the best year-around climate in the world! It gets to a high of 80 in the day and a low of 60 at night, all the time. Great sleeping without a/c and great daytime activity weather.
