View from the front porch.

Living room

Gerardo, Ann - his sister, Jose, Tia.

The front of the house. We need a hammock.

The first thing you see - the soccer field. The house is at the end.

I did it

See,  there was nothing to worry about. I now have a new place to live and wait till you hear about it. You will know it is exactly me. I have lots of pictures of the compound and I met the Tia and the sister who helps her and they served coffee and bread and seemed to like me. I will be moving on Saturday. I don't actually have an address and I will have to go to Paraiso to get a post office box. I just call it The Compound and I keep warning Gerardo that one day he will stop by and there will be a water feature because that is the one thing it is missing. Jose was working with another lady also so we spent several hours going around to look at lots and houses. It was very interesting and some spectacular views but most of them would be too remote for me. I like being in the center of everything.

The outside - the compound covers the whole square block.

The rest of the story

I didn't want anyone to worry so I didn't tell you the whole story. About a week after I got back to Hutch I got an e-mail telling me I would not be able to rent the house. A reason wasn't really given. I made arrangements to pick up my deposit today and booked a hotel for a week to give me time to find something. I have a couple looking for me including a realty company. Tomorrow I will check at the shop that gave us the information on the garden house. They are closed today. I am sure it will all work out and even if there was absolutely nothing available here - which I can't imagine - there is always Paraiso or even Cartago.

The hotel is in a lovely location, right in the area I spent time in when I was here before. I will keep you posted.

This is across the street from the hotel. The lady from the hotel just lined up 3 houses for me to look at in 30 minutes. YEAH.