When I first came here

I am looking back to how things have changed, or haven’t, since I first came here in 2015. Have you guessed, it is raining out and I can’t do much. I can see well enough to write this.

Anyway, I like to cook and bake. How else would I be known as the Orosi Cookie Lady? I am a firm believer that the better the ingredients, the better the finished product. I don’t use margarine I use butter. Vanilla is not imitation. Chocolate chips are real and plentiful. Coconut is moist and flaked, not dried.

So, I have moved to Costa Rica with only two suitcases and I want to bake. Cookie sheets, but I can’t find any. Thank heavens for Katherine who gave me two. Butter, but I can’t find any. Chocolate chips but I can only find 2 oz. packages. Flaked coconut but all I can find is dehydrated. Bacon, bacon, bacon but no luck. Ham, only processed sliced. Thank heavens for the first 2 years I had to leave every 3 months to get a new visa. Family and friends came to visit. Everyone had the list of what I needed and they were so kind and generous. When Heather and Kent came they would have 4 suitcases full for me and their things in carryons.

So the things we still bring. Cases of canning jars for my jellies. The last trip Heather brought 4 and I only have 1 case left. At first people would return the jars but that doesn’t happen much anymore. Here they are either very hard to find or very expensive. Chocolate chips in 12 oz bags because they are much cheaper on sale in the US and more varieties available. And because I have the best bargain finder in the world in Heather. Coconut because I don’t like the dried stuff. When I found a store in  Paraiso with really good butter we quit bringing that. PriceSmart has packages of bacon that I use sparingly so we could quit bringing that. Again, PriceSmart or WalMart for turkey and ham. Turkey
is not a bargain here so it is a splurge for Thanksgiving. Most people here have never had it. Spices and vanilla are not the greatest so we bring those including big containers of cinnamon from Costco. And one thing I still struggle with is brown sugar. There is dark sugar here but it is granules and does not pack or clump. I have tried white sugar and molasses but it isn’t to my taste. We even brought the molasses from the US. When I have room for the weight I bring some brown sugar. We won’t even talk of all the yarn and crochet thread and sewing things including 3 sewing machines.

Now you may say that sounds like an awful lot of suitcases and a lot of money over almost 4 years. Well, now we go back to my worlds best bargain finder. Heather has been a wonderful  source for this adventure of mine. Several times a week she visits a local thrift store. The suitcases are $2.00 and most of the time they make a one way trip here. The first batch of 8 were sold to Gerardo and the money was given to Jose for the poor people. Many have been sold for a low price or given away. Brandon will come pick two for his trip to the US in December. The sewing machines are $5.00 and as with everything she checks them over very carefully before she buys them. Then she waits till I get there and try them out before we bring them here. Sometimes a small part is missing and we get it but so far it has been great. They are simple, basic machines, but great for someone learning and starting out. I will bring one back in January for Jeannette and her family. Three generations will learn.

Courtney has brought chocolate,  Adriana brought chocolate and kids things for the children of the coffee pickers. Kaye brought ham and jars, and bacon. Heather and Kent brought tons. My family in Oregon gave me two suitcases full to bring back. I definitely have not taken this trip alone. I think this year that is my thanksgiving. For all the people who have been part of my adventure the last 4 years.

PS, no I am not sick. No I am not dying. Not anymore than usual anyway. Just grateful and blessed.

I also want to thank those who have continued to read this. If it wasn’t for you I probably would have quit a long time ago and I wouldn’t have the story for myself. When I am old - well older - someone can sit and read this to me and maybe I will remember what a life I was able to have.