What is it with dogs today?

As I was driving down the road to pick up some clients at Cap Suizo, I kept seeing a weird black and white blur out of the corner of my eye, in the rear view. I finally stopped to look in the back seat and nearly jumped out of my skin when a Chihuahua was back there doing hot laps from door to door. WTH? My first reflex was to assume it was a skunk or raccoon, or even cat. But a chihuahua? I can only guess that it got in there when I was closing the front gate-- I left the car door open to close the gate, then remembered to run inside to grab my coffee cup. All told the door on the car was open in the driveway for maybe a minute. So there I am, with a frantic little dog in the car, on the way to collect clients. I finally wrangled the darn thing to the front seat to read its collar and called the number on the tag. Turns out to be one of neighbors, but she isn't home.

Ok, no worries, I'll just grab the clients, then drop the dog off on the way to show properties. The clients got a good laugh and we decided that the dog would be fine in the car with windows down, while we toured a condo. Then we had to run out to the store for something, so I tried the collar numbers one more time and decided to just take the pooch with us once again. I parked in the Auto Mercado (supermarket) underground parking to keep the car out of the sun (no cooked chihuahua on my watch!) and we ran in to grab a few essentials, including water.

It occurred to us that the pooch was probably also thirsty, so I opened the tailgate to get a bowl that I keep in the back for my own dog. While I was opening the tailgate, the mutt decides to jump out of the front door of the car and make a break for daylight (and the busiest street in Tamarindo). Fortunately for us, the guard was nimble and cut off the dog's egress, herding it back towards the car. I hoped that he would jump back into the car, but apparently he had decided by then that we weren't such fun people and instead he hid *under* the car. So there we are- four adults, two kids, and a chihuahua playing catch-the-escaped-and-freaked-out-dog-that-belongs-several-miles-away while also trying to keep him from darting out into traffic.

If it sounds fun, go back and re-read. It sucked. I'm not particularly anal about my professional image. I work in flip flops most days. But I do try to maintain a minimum level of dignity and decor, and crawling under the car in an oily parking garage saying "Come on, buddy, it's ok!" Doesn't exactly seem.... seemly. Ya know?

We finally murmured enough sweet imploring to get the dog close enough for someone to grab, then jumped back in the truck and drove it home. Of course, by then it was POURING rain. There was still nobody at the house, but I could see where the dog had dug out under the gate. I dug the hole out a little more, and despite his protests I managed to gently smoosh the little guy back into where he was supposed to be (keep in mind, POURING rain). I then spent a few minutes finding large rocks to pile up on the escape hole, to help ensure he didn't dig his way back out (at least not while I was within boarding distance). By the time I got back to the car, I was drenched, but happier.

Phew. Dogsaster averted. I hope that someone else would treat my dog as well as I did this one, despite the fact it made me miss an appointment with my clients. At the very least, they'll have a funny memory of their time shopping with me.

And speaking of my dog: Caly is moping around the house. Surely she feels neglected since Jocelyn is out of town and I've been out of the house more than 12 hours/day with work. All she wants to do is go sleep under Jocelyn's desk (which is most of what she does all day anyway, and not that weird).

To top it all, there is some other dog in the neighborhood who is yelping piteously. Probably got left at home, can't dig out to jump in anyone's car, and doesn't have an owner to ignore spitefully for the abandonment.

Dogs. Sheesh.

Labels: dog, real estate, tamarindo

Recently we realized that storing things for years and years, with no hope of using them any time soon, is a little silly. I'm sure that if we were brave enough, we would dig into our storage boxes and find dozens of things that we should sell off, but for the time being, here are the two biggies: a fridge and a couch that have been at Steve's office for the last few years.

The couch is in great shape, as the pictures show. Its cover is microfiber and can be removed completely to throw in the washing machine. I'm convinced that it is the best material for a couch in the tropics as it breathes well and is low maintenance, but looks great. Similar couches, new, cost $1,200. We hope to get $650- throw pillows included.






A GE "Smart-Flow" Refrigerator/Freezer. It is white, and around 14.5 cu ft (408 l). Very quiet, very efficient, and we are asking a lot less than the $800 that it costs new. $450 OBO. Price includes ice cube trays, and all the drawers and such, all in nearly-new condition, original instructions manual included.




Ok, this stuff doesn't sit in storage: but we do want to sell it!

1988 HJ60 Land Cruiser. Great truck! But we have two full-sized Cruisers and only have parking for 1 1/2. So old blue has got to go. 6cyl 2H diesel motor, 4spd manual transmission, OME suspension and shocks (about 2.5" lift), Cibie headlights (much brighter than stock), Safari snorkel, Multi-lock shifter lock, upgraded front bumper. Stout and reliable. Photos here Asking price is $8,495 or Best Offer.

Prime Residential Lot in Tamarindo. 470m2 (about 1/8 acre). Great Guanacaste tree on one border. Beautiful Guaytil on the other border. Easy to build on. Ocean views from the 2nd floor. Quiet residential area. Asking price is $135,000 but we'll happily discuss any reasonable offer. Has water, power is right there too. Nice, nearly-square shape. I've got some sketches from architects that I'll throw in for free if you want, as well as some soil studies. We would consider carrying some paper on this sale, if the rest of the details make sense.

Labels: land cruiser, real estate, sale, tamarindo

We woke up to another wonderful sunrise this morning, the clouds were molten metal colors and the sky a cool dark blue. The birds, as if appreciating the show) were going nuts in the trees outside our window and the curtains across that window were catching the light.

Despite the fact that nearly every single time we wake up before dawn we say "Wow, this is the most beautiful time of day here" and despite the fact that it is quiet and almost chilly (if you are accustomed to 85-95 degrees, 72 degrees is almost chilly!) it is still a challenge for us to get used to getting out of our comfortable bed at 5 in the morning. Certainly it is a lot easier if we have an early dinner and aren't out with friends until wee hours.

This weekend we had a little extra treat. Literally little. Our gardener is a great guy who drives four hours every now and then to go visit his mother in Monteverde to help her keep her house in order. He had mentioned to me a while ago that he was helping her repair her quail cage and I mentioned that it would be fun to have quail eggs. Apparently he remembered, and brought us a small bag full of the cutest little eggs. Not only are they cute, but darn tasty too! Though it does take four or five to get much in the way of breakfast.

As it turns out, quail are a great solution for home farmers as compared to chickens. Not only are they smaller (less space required) but a healthy little quail hen will produce up to 250 eggs per year and quail only need about 2 lbs of feed to make a pound of eggs, vs. chickens who need more like 3 lbs of feed for a pound of eggs. I'm all about efficiency. Best of all- quail don't crow. Nothing ruins a beautiful morning like some neighbor's crowing rooster, as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of birds, on the drive back from Playa Grande today I stopped to watch a flock of cattle egrets soaring over a drying field of grass with verdant hills in the background. It was spectacular. Like with our fabulous sunrise, it is easy to forget about the natural beauty that we enjoy every day here in Tamarindo. With the economic slowdown that seems to be affecting just about everyone and everything in the world these days, I'm trying to remember to slow down a little bit myself and enjoy the sights/smells/sounds that don't cost me anything at all.

Backtracking a little here, I skipped over my trip to Grande for a nice bird segue but now I'm going to Tarantino it just a little and go back.

I drove out to Playa Grande to look at a house for some clients. I don't make it out to Grande much, despite it being a short drive and a beautiful area. The house that I went to see is really lovely; a great combination of old-style Tico building mixed with some modern touches. It used to be a little two bedroom weekend house, but is now a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home with a spacious outdoor living area and nice indoor living room as well. The pool and yard are done very nicely with tropical plants and an inviting deck for lounging around the beautiful pool. It is nice to see a switch from the new construction in Tamarindo. Not that the new stuff isn't beautiful, it is, but often the older homes evoke a more authentic feel (for me) and I enjoy that. Asking price on this place is $595,000. The seller is moving back to his country of origin after enjoying several years here, so I would imagine that he is willing to negotiate. By all means, contact me if you want more information, my email at work is steve (at) bbcostarica com.

My trip to Grande was cut short a little by another client who arrived an hour early at my office. Fortunately my business partner got there quickly to help keep things moving along smoothly. We toured some cute condos with a nice view then called it a day.

I wrapped up enjoying another scenic rest (this property also for sale), chatting about this and that with a good friend, then headed home to enjoy a quiet evening... looking forward to tomorrow's sunrise. All in all, a very pleasant Sunday.

Labels: photo, real estate, sunset, tamarindo

Had to go meet an appraiser out at one of the two farms that BBA owns, so I invited Caly to come along so that she could romp with the cows. Caly isn't so sure about romping with cows. But she loves running around on the short grass and sniffing all the various fun things to sniff. Almost makes me wish that we could keep the farm- it is beautiful, after all. Ahhhhh, someday. Maybe. But for now we are happy to sell it. If you know of anyone looking for a development parcel that is about 14 acres, within a mile of the beach of Tamarindo, please don't hesitate to send them in my direction!!

Despite Caly's unwillingness to "play" with the cows, there was one calf that was fascinated by Caly. I tried to get her to say hello, but Caly's attitude seemed to be something like "Do you see how BIG that thing is? I'm outta here." I sat down to show her how unconcerned I was... but she still wasn't buying and went to lay under the Cruiser (which, I suppose is about as cow-proof as you can get in the middle of a grassy field full of trees and cows). After a surprisingly short investigation, the inquisitive calf came up to check me out and ended up cleaning up my right food pretty much toe to heel. The left foot, apparently, wasn't to his liking.

"Howd ya like that right foot, buddy?"

Mmmm. Delicious.

Good times, my friends, good times.

Labels: real estate

For any of you TV watchers out there, if you happened to be tuned in to ABC's October Road last night, you saw one of Jocelyn's most popular necklaces on the lovely Laura Prepon who plays Hannah Daniels on the show. Very exciting times. We hope to instill in Laura and her stylist a very high level of devotion to my designs.

Speaking of devotion to my jewelry, if you find yourself near a Nordstrom and needing one of my necklaces like a TV star, you're in luck. jocelynbroyles is now being carried by select Nordstrom department stores across the US.

But enough about me. Oh, wait, the sole pupose of this blog is to tell you about us. Alright then. Steve continues to do well with his business and just moved BBA into a larger space, giving both Bs their very own offices. The As still share the space out front, but it's a bigger, nicer, better-painted space. They also now have a lovely conference room and inner lobby for literature, dogs, un-raised signage, that sort of thing.

And low and behold, the 20th (yes, I meant 20th) century has come to BBA as well, with the installation of a phone system. For those of you who have visited or live here, you understand the all-encompassing range of issues that a system implies: coordination with perhaps more than one governmentally-run utility company; more than one phone; more than one phone line; electricity. Getting all these things together in the same building, with people who know how to install (much less use) the system, while the electricity is on and the phone lines working to test the system, is no easy feat. But BBA pulled through with flying colors and now has a phone system that almost works. You can't actually leave voice mail at the moment if no one answers, but that's really just picking nits, isn't it?

We've mostly been working as of late -- you don't get phone systems, and famous people don't wear your jewelry, and Nordstrom doesn't buy it, if you just sit around looking at the ocean view from a friend's patio, playing with your dog, selling your Sandy for parts or relocating scorpions with young on their backs. But that's just what we did, and look what we accomplished in the meantime!

Did I mention famous people, phone systems and Nordstrom yet?

Labels: jewelry, landcruiser, photo, real estate, sunset, tamarindo

Great news at BBA this week, we nailed down the exclusive on a beautiful development property just outside of Tamarindo. I don't want to bore the world with all the details, but if you are interested take a look at Tamarindo Vistas. This is the same place as the beautiful views I posted last week.
Here's a great picture of something that isn't actually within that property, but is typical of the kind of beauty you find driving around here in Guanacaste. Nice stuff. I'd love to say that I took it! But it was done by the very talented Michael Pisarri with whom we spent the last week or so, sailing, surfing, running from bulls, and generally having a great time. I'll get some more info up on all of the above. I promise.

Labels: photo, real estate

Today was one of those days that is almost great, but then it just wasn't so great after all. Started out pretty not-great. An elusive lawyer that I've been tracking all week managed to slip out of my grasp yet again today, which is bad, because we REALLY need for him to finish a contract by the end of the week or there will be some financial pain involved for us. It'll work out, it always does, but it sure doesn't help any when the lawyers just don't get their work done on time. On the other hand, I'm pretty well accustomed to A) the fact that I'm a last-minute guy and B) Latin American culture doesn't thrive on timeliness. It'll work out. It must work out.
As the day wore on, at least I got to enjoy what is my favorite part of this job: driving around the absolutely fantastic countryside, touring property. Any time I get to put it in 4lo AND there is a spectacular vista (or several) is a good property tour. It even sprinkled a little rain, which is refreshing.

Unfortunately, the day ended with an hour or two meeting with my accountant. Any time your accountant starts out the meeting with "Ok, so there was a small error..." Well. That's a BAD meeting. I promise. It wasn't as bad as my stomach initially suspected, and by the end of the meeting I didn't even have a headache, which is a good sign as most of the time, accounting is an instant headache for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty good with numbers and such, but understanding tax code in English, in the US, is tough. Doing the same in Spanish in Costa Rica, for me, is something more than difficult. I don't enjoy it.
Speaking of enjoying things, I did manage to just about finish up the switch panel on the truck. That was before Thanksgiving, actually, but I haven't had a lot of journal-writing time on my hands, so for the sake of brevity, I'll include a picture here on this journal. Yes, I know that there is one hole left. I'm waiting to get another switch that is not that easy to find. More details to come. Oh, and yes, I know that the red switch cover is a tad crooked. It is fixed now, but I didn't notice till after the photo. Just use your imagination.

Labels: landcruiser, photo, real estate

There is a fun swell in the water this week, I've spent the last two mornings enjoying the heck out of some small, but great waves in Avellanas. Down by the Avellanas rivermouth the waves have been much bigger (and HUGE in Negra) but for whatever reason I opted to take the almost-empty beach break waves and surf 30 or 40 instead of the crushing (and more exciting) larger waves of which I would probably only get five or ten. Getting out of bed with the roosters* and heading south to surf beautiful warm water on a tropical beach with lush green forest in the background..... is good.
Except yesterday. Yesterday it was good, until about 10am. See, I got up at 5:45, enjoyed coffee and some granola with soy milk to power up a little, before loading the board and some water into the cruiser. Headed down and was in the water by 7 (its only a 20 minute drive, where that other hour went... is beyond me). I enjoyed delicious Costa Rican coffee, piping hot, the whole drive down**. When I stopped and was putting on my rash guard, I was sad to see that my nalgene full of water had leaked all over the seat. Bummer. Surfed a solid two hours, catching literally dozens of chest-high, hollow waves in the brilliant morning sun until I was finally too tuckered out and called it a morning. Drove home, enjoying the dregs of my delicious coffee the whole way**.
Got home, had to attend to some questions from the gardener, who also pointed out that the pool pump wasn't working. Grrr. So under the house I went into the steamy and very hot pump room (think: concrete bunker, 5ft ceiling, 1/2 inch of water on the floor.... plenty of bugs to keep you company****) for half an hour while troubleshooting the pool pump***.
It was about then that I started realizing that I really should get something to drink besides coffee. You know... mild headache, parched throat, thirst...
Finished that, cleaned up quickly and headed to the office (where we have water) but remembered that I needed something at the hardware store (who also sells water) so detoured there first. Also needed to get a tire patched, which was convenient, since that is across the street from the hardware store. What is inconvenient, is that their soda fridge is out of order and thus they had nothing to drink. They did have plenty of sunshine in which for me to stand and sweat. I should have started to worry when I didn't notice that I wasn't sweating. Of course, not noticing the not sweating, I didn't worry. So at least I had that going for me, less worry is better, right?
Tire patched and off to the hardware store. By this point, I wasn't even thirsty anymore. In fact, it wasn't until after I had been rooting around in the back of the hardware store (approximately 115 F back there, I'd say, and plenty humid) looking for a specific electrical connector that the pump-timer would require in order to work, that I started to get the vague sensation that something was definitely not right. I was feeling a little cool. Almost chilly.
For those of you who haven't studied much in the ways of dehydration and hyperthermia... I was showing some pretty serious signs of being NOT WELL.
One of the cruel tricks of dehydration and hyperthermia is that one of the symptoms of a big problem is that you enter a state in which you are distinctly unable to notice that you are having big problems. Which really sucks.
So driving away from the hardware store, still feeling mildly chilled, some small, desperate part of my brain managed to penetrate the fog and I stopped off at the grocery for some powerade and a bottle of water.
One of the other cruel tricks of dehydration and hyperthermia is that you loose your sense of thirst and can actually experience nausea. Despite the fact that I really didn't want to drink the powerade, or maybe because I really didn't want to drink the powerade, I managed to choke down the powerade and some water.
An hour or two and three liters of water later, I was finally thirsty. Another hour after that I peed for the first time since getting out of the water at 9am.
Spent the rest of the day feeling like junk.... headache, lethargy, malaise, disgruntledness, and an overall feeling of not being very happy at all that I had been so freakin stupid as to actually do myself harm for lack of water despite being within five minutes of a drink of water throughout the whole morning. It was just plain stupid of me.
Fortunately, my lovely wife helped force down some delicious fresh salad and plenty of water and juice over dinner and by the time I went to bed I almost felt human again.
Human enough to get up at 5:30 this morning and repeat the surfing process. Only this time, decaf and two nalgene bottles of water, carefully closed. I feel much better this afternoon.... maybe I'll get back in the water for an evening session, the waves are certainly good enough to warrant it.

*Thankfully, there are no roosters within earshot of our house. Roosters crowing in the morning is a myth. Those little SOBs crow all day and night. If you lack proof that there is an evil force in the universe, spend time trying to sleep near a couple of roosters. Demon-seed, I tell ya.
**You can't actually drink coffee on the entirety of that drive, too bumpy, but you get the picture.
***Pump is fine. Timer is pooched. We have on, or off, but no timer. Which ensures I'll be spending more time in the pump room until fixed. :(
****Mozzies are further strong evidence of aforementioned evil force in the universe.

Labels: landcruiser, real estate, surf

Even though we are slackers on the photograph front these days.... absolutely failing to share the beauty of both Tamarindo, Costa Rica and also The Bay Area, California... well, at least our friends take a minute to post images. That's something. And a good thing at that, because unless you are looking at jewelry or Tamarindo Real Estate, we have a terrible track record of not putting up any photos at all these days. Pitiful, really. But we intend to get better, honestly, we do. Of course, good intentions and a quarter will buy you 25 cents worth of candy, right?
Raining hard here today, by the way, absolutely pouring. Of course our Landcruiser is waiting for new bolts so that I can finish installing the radiator. One of the joys of doing your own auto repair in Tamarindo is that occasionally you have the pleasure of discovering that somewhere along the way somebody else has replaced the factory bolts with shorter ones... which didn't matter when they re-used the worn-down-to-wafer-thin bushings, but once you replace the bushings with radiator-saving new rubber... well, you end up with bolts that are too short. So you can either mount the radiator sans-bushings (and look forward to resplitting the top tank in the not-too-distant future) or you can wait a day or two until you get new bolts *sent* from an hour away (because the hardware store only sells SAE bolts, no metric).
In brief: get very wet on bicycle or drive Landcruiser hoping not to break very expensive radiator when you hit a water-filled crater in the road.
But Costa Rican land costs less than coastal California and we don't have rush hour traffic and the surf is 80+ degrees and I get to see parrots and monkeys just about every day. Gotta keep things in perspective.

Labels: Costa Rica, jewelry, photo, real estate, sunset, tamarindo

I'm working too much, not surfing enough. So I'm going to take advantage of the relatively high seach engine rankings of Sandcruiser to see if it drives some real estate traffic towards the two condo projects that we are representing in Tamarindo right now.
Las Gaviotas de Tamarindo is a 15-unit project just a hundred feet from the house we are renting. Great views of the valley, sunset views from the 4th-floor common area patio. These units are optimized for long-term renters or people looking to live in Tamarindo. They are close enough to enjoy town, but far enough away that you can get a good night's sleep and generally avoid the more touristy areas of town if you choose to. We are looking to sell three more units before construction starts in April, so the $179,000 asking price should be considered "flexible".
Balcones del Pacifico Condomimiums is about 300 yards from the beach, and a great deal. There are units available at $120,000 and the developer is pushing hard to sell the first couple of units. The foundation is nearly done, the rest of the project should wrap up in less than nine months. A deposit of as little as $15,000 could hold a unit until construction is complete. The crappy web page that I threw together in no way reflects the quality of the project- this will be top-quality construction by a company who has done dozens of projects in Argentina and Spain.
Of course, we've also got home-lots, larger parcels, near-beach home lots in Avellanas for less than $40,000, and other condo and/or commercial property opportunities, just ask if you would like some more information.

Labels: real estate

Finally got our sign at BBA! We are all happy with the craftsmanship, the wait was long, but apparently worth it.

Labels: real estate

Ian and Steve went out on horseback to check out a property today. Great way to spend a long morning. As it turned out- there was a scheduled (though poorly announced) suspension of power service all morning anyway so the almost-a-half-day-off morning was about as productive as we could be.

the horses waited for us while we hiked up to an almost-dry waterfall	found this cool bug hiding within a dead leaf	even though the falls were fairly dry, the trees are still in full leaf, in another two months they'll be pretty bare
native aloe plant	more forest	Ian the horseman
pretty horses just hangin out

Labels: Costa Rica, day trip, photo, real estate

	the journal is updated
View from one of the lots in Joya de Lagarto		Did you take your cruiser out to play today?

Labels: 4x4, day trip, landcruiser, mud, real estate