The House I Live In

The entry to my front door.

I have been fantastically lucky to get the place I have, and to get it immediately when I began my search, about three weeks after I arrived. It’s a “Tico” house (which means it’s not built or designed to American standards), the significant difference is that there’s no centralized hot water system. I only have hot water in the shower, and it comes through a little device in the showerhead that activates electrically when the water flows through. Sounds scary, I know. People call them “suicide showers.” But I’ve never heard of anyone being harmed, and there are certainly thousands of them in use all over the country. The general water temperature in the rest of the house is cool but not cold, and totally adequate for things like washing dishes, using the soap they use here.

Morning magic: the view from my deck. The house is located just below the top of a ridge, facing generally south. I do not have a yard, but I do have a balcony on the back of the house, looking out at a spectacular view of ridges climbing down from the mountains behind me, the city of Alajuela down in the distance stretched out in the Central Valley, and another set of mountains in the far-off distance forming the other edge of the Central Valley.

I sit out on my balcony most mornings, drinking coffee, eating breakfast and reading my magazines. I am thankfully amazed every day that not only do I get to enjoy the incredible beauty of this country which I had been aware of on all my previous visits, but that I get to stay here permanently. I am no longer on a brief vacation. This is my home!

My landlords, Mario and Marlin, live just across the street with their two children, Fabiana, 10, and José Pablo, 8. (I misunderstood Fabiana’s name when I first met her – thought she was saying Pollyanna). They are delightful, all of them, and I visit with them a fair amount. Dropped in last Sunday just to ask a question and spent the afternoon watching Marlin bake pastries with her two sisters, speaking Spanish and learning more all the time. My Spanish doesn’t quite flow yet, depending on the topic of conversation, but I can manage if people speak slowly and clearly and I have a chance to ask what does something mean. Some people, interestingly, totally understand how to speak slowly and clearly if asked, and some don’t. The ones who don’t are next to impossible to understand – they simply repeat themselves at the same pace over and over. Marlin and Fabiana are great teachers – Fabiana will repeat her sentences one word at a time, making sure I understand each one. The other day she was telling me about a school excursion that was going to happen the next day that had something to do with trees, and there was one word I didn’t understand, and I asked what it meant. She paused thoughtfully, and then said “A plantar en planta!” To plant a plant! Perfect. The word was “sembrar.”

As I said before, my home is surrounded by the homes of various members of Mario and Marlin’s family – parents, siblings, cousins, etc. They are all friendly and helpful. They bring me treats, and offer me rides. I feel like I have more family than I’ve ever had in my life.

The house has many rooms, all floored in a white-patterned tile. I have two bedrooms, an extra little room that could be a bedroom but which I have all my extra supplies in, a good-sized office with a window behind my computer that looks out on the balcony view, an even bigger workshop which is actually the former laundry room, with a tile sink in the corner. I don’t have a washer/dryer but I don’t need one as Marlin does my laundry. I feel somewhat guilty as I accept my little pile of clean, ironed clothes twice a week. But it was included in the rent, from the beginning. I also have a garage, open to the outside but with an iron grate lockable gate. For me it’s just another workspace – I’m currently using it for my nursery, where I pot up my plants and start little seedlings or cuttings. I have about eight bougainvilleas of different colors trying to develop roots.

Kitchen: before and after paint job. Note that the walls look considerably lighter in the "before" picture than they actually were because of the camera flash.


I’ve slowly been painting the rooms, beginning with the living room and kitchen, which were painted in a strong salmon color which I have named “Bad Sunburn.” The living room became an off white which was the only color that would go with all my colorful furnishings, and the kitchen a lighter salmon color which sits well with the rust-brown grout of the tiles. I’ve included some before and after pictures with this chapter.

Living room: before

Living room: after

I chuckle when I look at my stuff - I have an incredibly international collection of things which makes me look like a world traveler. Actually, just about all of it came from my many vendor-friends at Folklife.


I am very very comfortable here with my house and my neighbors, and plan to stay for a long time.