A Little Place of Our Own

We had a lovely Father's Day yesterday. I hope you did too! We were stuck inside because of the rain, but other than that it was quite nice. (Lately it's been raining every day starting in the afternoon and usually going all evening since it is the beginning of the rainy season.)

We moved in to a little apartment about two weeks ago, and it is very cozy. It is probably 250 square feet, if I had to guess. Here's the exterior (note the rain in the pic):

It has a little postage stamp front yard and a laundry area in back. The first floor is the living, dining and kitchen area. 

The second floor is the bedroom and bathroom. 

It also has a balcony, so I'm practicing my Juliette monologues and expecting a romantic serenade any day day now. 

This is the first Tico (native Costa Rican) neighborhood we've lived in, and this is a Tico style home. Which means two things. First, our apartment is adjacent to our landlord's home, so we get to practice our Spanish with more frequency. And second, this apartment has no hot water. It is the way things are done here: water heaters are expensive so they use the shower heads with instant hot water heaters, and use cold water for everything else. It's taking some getting used to. But the price was what we could afford, and it came fully furnished. 

It's really not that bad. We don't have much stuff so everything fits in the small space okay. Also, the location is perfect. We are just around the corner from the Whole Foods market, and we have friends that live up the road near the Cheese Factory. It is about a 1.5 mile walk into the town of Santa Elena where we do our main grocery shopping, banking, and pharmacy errands, and a $4 taxi ride back when we need it. And we just discovered that we are right in the middle of some wonderful hiking trails, which gives us an excuse to get out of the house.

The close quarters are kind of fun though. And I can always hang out on the balcony if I need some alone time. Now if I can just get Michael to sing me a Spanish love song... Anyone have a guitar we can borrow?