In the hood

Among the frequently asked questions is “what are your living arrangements”. So I’ll tell you something about the house and neighborhood. I guess most of you would probably think that we live something like this.

But we do not.

Costa Rica is divided into 7 provinces of which the capital, San Jose, has its own province, also called San Jose, in the middle. The 7 provinces are subdivided into 82 divisions which are further subdivided in 483 districts.

We live in province Heredia, which is just north of San Jose. We live approximately 2 kilometers from the southern province border. The district we are in is called Santa Rosa. From here we can drive in about 12 minutes to the San Jose center. In our division live about 40.000 people. You could say this is pretty much the Nieuwegein of Costa Rica.

If you are thinking of sending a postcard, which we will appreciate, it would unfortunately be very difficult. The divisions have postal codes and most of the streets have names, but there’s no numbers. Each of the houses will either need to be named or be described in the address. For us that would be something like: after 200 meter the house of the left with the stone wall and the brown gate. And then you’ll have to pray for the mail to arrive.

Most of our neighbors are pretty much keep to themselves. They are extremely boring and dead.

Our home is located inside the family walls. The house is build and owned by Graci’s cousin. He emigrated to Germany and rents the place to Graci. Who has been living here for just over a year. The house is made from 2 large shipping containers which are divided in a bedroom, an office, bathroom, kitchen and the living room.

Corona update

In Costa Rica it is no longer allowed to be outside after 17.00. Also driving has been limited. The licence plates are numbered and based on the last number they tell you which days you can drive. For us that means only Tuesday and Sunday. and on Wednesday only if we go to the supermarket or the pharmacy. The supermarkets no longer accept people going in together, shopping needs to be done alone for now on.