Bruckner Year in Costa Rica

We are residing in a rental home in a small gated community (somewhat to the chagrin of Devin especially, as we would have preferred, all else equal, to be in a more typical Costa Rican neighborhood) a 15 minute drive from town (called Atenas) down a bumpy mountain road (part paved, part dirt, many large pot holes).

It is very lovely and has a fabulous view of the valley and mountains, and shares a wonderful pool with the rental home next door.

The little neighborhood is only partially developed, with just 10 completed homes, and another 2 houses being built and 10 more lots unsold. We are getting to know the Costa Rican caretaker and his family (they have a daughter Cora’s age, and the girls play a couple times a week). Their family is, again to our minor chagrin, some of the only locals in our neighborhood. On our road nearby, there is a tiny village, many farms with cows and coffee, other individual homes and also some gated communities, called residenciales.

Most mornings before one or both of us drives the kids to school, Devin and I go for our walks around the neighborhood, down the steep hill and back (everything here is generally steep), enjoying the birds (we are in awe of the magnificent birds we have only ever otherwise seen in a canopy tour in Ecuador or other special places), cool air, and sometimes the local horse and cows.

The house tends to get quite hot but we have ceiling fans and an ac unit we try to use sparingly, and we’ve had 3 scorpions so far infiltrate the patio – things we are getting used to!

Our house has a common area (kitchen/living/dining room) and 3 bedrooms inside where we eat, cook, and relax….but we also enjoy time outside on the covered front patio, where we often eat dinner. Many afternoons this time of year come with (heavy) rain and sometimes thunder and lightning, which makes for a great reading ambiance.

It is a new experience for us to live somewhat out in the country, but it fulfills a dream we have both had for quite a while. We are also only about a 45 minute drive to the airport and a huge mall in San José, so remote is relative. In the Seattle area, I might compare where we are to a house down a dirt road a ways, around the Fall City area.

Cora and Luke recorded a podcast conversation recently where we talk more about what we’ve been up to, including some of the Independence Day festivities – you can listen here:

https://spotify.link/EjRMOZQdeDb

It has been special to see and participate in some of the wonderful Costa Rican traditions, and learn more about some of the shared history with other Central American countries.

Cora got to dance in a school presentation with el traje tipico (traditional dress) at the school which was very exciting!

We’ve been continuing to enjoy our church, and start to get more involved (Ethan has been attending the weekly youth group (reunion de jovenes), and Devin just joined a women’s book study (in Spanish). Both kids are finding some weekly sports activities, and we all continue Spanish class twice a week.

Now that we are in a bit of a rhythm, the kids are about to get more than a week off of school and Devin is going to Columbia for the Impact Latin America leadership conference! So that will be a big week for everyone. Please pray for safe and enriching travels next week! This coming weekend we are heading to Parque Nacional Tortugueros vía car and boat! Our next missive will probably be after that adventure together.

We are mourning the loss of our dear friend Baraah, a spark of light and joy in our lives who passed away unexpectedly last week, far too soon. Peace be to her memory. She and her family have been very close to ours over the past seven years. It has been complex for us to navigate processing this major loss while also being in our first week(s) here with so many new things. We are grateful to good friends near and far, and to the power of technology, to allow us to grieve and share in community from Costa Rica.

Ethan and Cora have completed a full week of school and they have been even more immersed than we imagined. This is a festive week here in preparation for Independence Day (1802) and the kids are involved in songs and dances and dramatic performances at school this week! A festive beginning. Part of the Central American tradition is torch runners re-enacting the delivery of the news of Costa Rican independence all the way from Guatemala, where the war was mostly fought. Costa Rica received the news about a month later, and according to Luke’s Spanish teacher, many peasants responded, “Independence from who?”

We have all been taking Spanish lessons at a food forest, Luke every day and the others twice a week. We park in a grove of fruit trees and meet in Ranchos, or open air shelters. We’ve seen Toucans and an agutí so far in this tropical eco orchard with bananas, oranges, mangos and jocotes all around us.

Jocotes are a new fruit for us and are in season, being sold out of pickups and street vendors, plum sized (also called Spanish plums) kind of custardy, but a bit tart, with a big stone. We also tried the zapote, which tastes kind of like pumpkin pie!

The kids’ teachers have commented how well they seem to be adjusting and we and the kids mostly agree. We are very proud of them, it is a lot of change for all of us!

Luke continued his streak of doctor visits with an ear infection – from the pool, we suppose. After church Sunday, we took our first trip to the beach, to Playa Herradura, 1.25 hours away! We haven’t explored much yet outside of our surrounding towns, as we’re getting settled still, but we hope to more, especially during the summer break in December and January.

You can hear more about the past week in Ethan and Luke’s recent podcast episode:

We are tired every night and we keep saying it feels like it’s been a month since we arrived, though it’s now been 12 days. But we are grateful for the adventures and surprises we are having every day. (One example: outside the bank the other day, we talked with a mom from the kids’ school, and we discovered that she went to the same Chicago high school as Luke! (Von Steuben). There aren’t many foreign families at the school, so this was a true small world connection!)

A Costa Rican neighbor girl Cora’s age has been coming over a few times a week to play, which has been a huge blessing.

We have a bit of a school routine going now, and are starting to feel more familiar with, if not quite settled in our new spot. We hope we’re over the hump of school and health logistics and can get into a bit more of a rhythm. There’s so much more to learn here and we continue to be excited to see how this experience shapes us as a family!

We have safely arrived at our Atenas home, with cows, dirt roads, Toucans and orange trees in our immediate vicinity.

We are so grateful we made it to the house with all our stuff, as we were a bit anxious about the 6 totes secured by zip ties and the van pickup arranged by our car dealer. All went smoothly! We even arrived without rain (though we were treated to an awesome lightning show on the drive from the airport) to the house with a pineapple awaiting us on the counter.

Our first few days have been a flurry of getting settled activities and preparing for school, including visiting a custom uniform shop for the kid’s school up some very steep driveways. Seattle streets can be steep but here is steeper.

The kids did an intake assessment and orientation and tour on day 1 (Friday), and then we enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Caribbean style ceviche that Devin and I loved, and of course batidos, the ubiquitous fruit blended drinks.

The next day, I (Luke) foolishly made a cannonball jump into the shared pool we have access to, and landed too hard on my backside at the bottom of the pool.. so we were off to the emergency room with Devin wonderfully navigating insurance with her usual expert deftness. I’m truly grateful to not have serious damage to my spine or any fractures. Kicking myself and also very grateful. Thankfully the pain is much better the second day after steroid shots and the pain and antiinflamatorios! The hospital had lunch-counter-ticket style operations and we were whisked quickly from step to step in a shockingly efficient and clear manner. We we very impressed.

Now we’ve gone to church at a local Baptist congregation that was extremely welcoming and vibrant with about a million kids! Our kids both went to their respective classes straight away.

Ready or not, we are about to start the first day of school tomorrow!

Cora and I recorded a podcast if you want to hear more!

Grateful to be here and for the opportunity of this adventure as a family.

We are on our way to Atenas for the next 10 months!

Our dear friends and housemate took us in two cars to the airport, each bag weighing in at 49 lbs.

Ethan and Cora will have their orientation at their bilingual school tomorrow after traveling all day today. We will get our car and begin to get oriented as well!

Ethan and I talked last night in our audio blog aka podcast here:

We will miss our Seattle community and our Rainier Avenue Church family!