Homes for sale and homes for rent in Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica | Newsletters

Weather: Winds and weather have been normal. Beautiful.

Thefts: Jan:  visited a friend in Rivas, Nicaragua. While out for dinner, his computer and camera were stolen. Fortunately, we had a purchaser at El Dorado arriving in a few days. Jan asked him to buy him another computer in Canada (at a fraction cost of what it would cost in Costa Rica). He hadn't backed up his computer for 4 months so now has a lot of work to re-create. On the good side, all documentation for Los Jardines and El Dorado has been recovered from his back-up hard drive...

Los Jardines:  We had a garden hose and a resident's set of golf clubs stolen from the trunk of his car.  This is disconcerting. 

Trip Woes.....cont.  (Note:  it's possible that some people didn't receive last week's newsletter with the story titled: "The Trip From H....."  A long time follower of my newsletter found it in his Gmail spam folder. Since this was the first time it had happened, he speculated that the the 4 letter H word put it there.....He's probably right...)

Background:  At last writing, we were stranded in Uvita, 5 hr. drive  from San Jose.  The mechanic was waiting for the part to arrive from San Jose and expecting to return on Tuesday.  We were staying in an expensive hotel........it being the only one in the area which had Internet, pool, restaurant, and AC...... 

At 10am on Monday, we get a call from the mechanic--the car is ready.  He picks us up.  I check--no gas leaking.  I ask him about the part, etc......  Sorry, no part in CR---it has to come from the States, 1 month and $350.  He fashioned a part--guaranteed to be good as new.  A $100 later, we're off with apprehension....  Sure enough, 30 mi. down the road, and about 10 kl. on the Cartago side of San Isidro the car falters, I have a nano second to decide and I pulled onto flat ground and off the road.  No phone signal in that area.  I walk up the hill and get a faltering phone signal.  At this point, returning us and the car to Santa Ana was the goal.  I contact Lourdes and the support staff at Los Jardines and explain the problem--none of them knew where San Isidro was but did recognize "Cartago".  They arranged for a tilt truck from Cartago (a 3 hr. drive from where we were stranded);  it arrives at 4pm; loads us on, and we returned to Santa Ana at 8:30 and $350 later after a harrowing ride through a fogged in mountain pass.  

The next day, we order a part from E-bay--$75.  It's shipped the same day to our forwarding service in Florida and should be here next week.

Observations:  I took this route because I hadn't been in this area for 2-5 years and wanted to see what changes had occurred:

Jaco:  The town has changed considerably in the past two years.  From a chaotic beach town to a mature town with substantial buildings and civic works projects.  Lots of new mid rise buildings with the exteriors finished and several stalled projects in their gray work stage.  At night, however, even many of the buildings which look finished from the outside, have no lights on. 

WE stayed at: VISTA PACIFICO....(2-643-32-61 or www.VistaPacifico.com) a small hotel situated on a knoll just outside the downtown core Jaco.  Beautiful view and Greg and Jan are wonderful hosts.  They do a great job--nice people, clean and well thought out rooms, pool, breakfast.......  around $65 for Lita and I.

The road from Quepos to Dominical  has always been a weak link in the coastal highway system.  It still is but it is improving.  The first half of this 25 kl. long road is under active construction. A new road base, raised, and compacted is shaping up.  Some new bridges are finished, some under construction, some drainage culverts substantially finished, some bridges and culverts yet to be started.  The last half is original, really rough with large river stones as a base, narrow, etc.  At the rate construction is moving, it'll be another 18 mo. to 2 years before this section is completed. When completed, this will be the route to take from Panama to San Jose via the new Caldera highway.

Hotels in Dominical / Uvita:  A number in the $80 - $100 a night range but most of them lack one or  more of the following--pool, Internet, TV, restaurant, AC.  Some were attractively done, some adequately maintained, a number up long and very, very rough access roads, some right next to the road.  We ended up at HOTEL CUNA DEL ANGEL at $200 a night (included a great breakfast).  The hotel was nice, small view of the ocean, good food at the restaurant and some of it was reasonably priced.  The hotel was located right next to the highway so the trucks with the jake brakes were a constant background presence.  The bed was good but the pillow was terrible. To get into the bed, you had to climb from the foot to the head because there was only a 6" space on either side.  They had two DVD players and some VERY old DVDs but it didn't make any difference, neither DVD player worked.  The grounds were o.k. but not being maintained very well during the dry season. Sunday night (our arrival night) there was a special dinner ($60 per person);  we could have that or go hungry--we went hungry.....  They had wireless Internet in the rooms and in some of the common areas--it worked most of the time. Phone signal was spotty.  

Caldera Highway: From San Jose to the turn off near Ciudad Colon it is wall to wall men and equipment working 24 / 7.  From Orotina on about 10 kl. towards Jaco it is also wall to wall people and equipment.  What is going on in between, the turnoff and Orotina, I don't know but if it is the same, this is a remarkable, in fact, amazing effort.

Brian, Lita, Hugo, irreverent Vicka, the pigeon toed parrot, and the newbies — Chico and Chica.

Brian C. Timmons, Newsletter Author
Residencias Los Jardines/Hacienda El Dorado - Developer
E-mail: brian@eldoradocostarica.com

For inquiries about availability of residences at Hacienda El Dorado or Residencias Los Jardines, contact:

Jan Kozak, Marketing Manager
Hacienda El Dorado
Rio Oro, Santa Ana
Costa Rica

Web: www.eldoradocostarica.com
E-mail: info@eldoradocostarica.com
MSN: jan.kozak.jr@hotmail.com
Skype: jan.kozak.jr

Tel (US) (+1) 647-477-5825
Cell: (+506) 8345 8018