I started building a house in Costa Rica.  I ended up with block construction, because that is what my builder wanted to do, and by telling me some lies about time and cost of materials, that is how he convinced me to do it.  I wanted less concrete, more natural materials.  He wanted to extort more money, because he was working by the hour.  And VEEERY SLOWLY...

Some good Tico friends saw the work site, and quickly determined I was paying way too much for way too little.  I had a long talk with my contractor, and gave him a chance to correct the situation, like, don't bill me for time you are not working, please!, and hey, follow the plan – thats what its there for!  (He built a wall where a door should be, and there are some other errors that need remediation.)  After a while, it began to look like the keystone cops of construction.  If it weren't such a waste of my money, I would be laughing. At the end of that week, when nothing had changed, and after doing the math, realizing I would not get a building within my time or budget, I fired them.  These guys actually asked me if I would pay severance!  I had to bite my tongue HARD to keep from laughing out loud, I was so incredulous, and said, "no tienes verguenza?" (have you no shame?)

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I have now spoken to six other contractors, and am receiving bids for contract (not hourly) that vary wildly in price, and in the process have gotten lots of good ideas for using more natural materials and cutting material costs.  This week, I went around looking at some of the houses these contractors have built, as quality of workmanship varies wildly as well.

We should be resuming the construction in another week, around the full moon, and the new estimates are coming in at about 4 to 6 weeks to completion. These guys know how much I have left to spend, and are saying they can do it for that. That's a lot better than the three more months that the previous unscrupulous bozos were estimating.  One of Mike's brothers-in-law is one of my top contenders at the moment. (THANKS Mike for suggesting I call him!)

Meanwhile, other work continues on the farm – we are building a vivero (greenhouse) for baby plants, greens, peppers and tree starts.  I seem to have a tradition of garden space coming first, and exceeding house square footage, this would be 3 for 3... I have put in another 35 hardwoods in the cleared coffee rows, and we are preparing an area on the sunny slope for some fruit trees.  Oranges and bananas are falling off the trees right now – I am giving away bananas to all my neighbors, and making boatloads of banana bread – when bananas come in, they do it in a major way – a large racimo (rack) can have 50 to a hundred bananas on it, and they usually all ripen within days.

Have also now determined where the fire pit will go, my workers will dig the hole and make the rain roof for it once the vivero is finished.  I am figuring out how many bricks I will need, and getting prices...so grateful about finally being able to do ceremony again!

I have just ordered some books about how to grow mushrooms, as they are really expensive here, and would be an excellent crop for the finca (don't take a lot of space, high return on investment, etc...) There are already all kinds of fungus and mushrooms growing, only nothing edible.  Not even any hallucinogens, (darn!) but if I were really industrious, I probably could find some next door on the cow pies. With many Italians and gringos living in the area who have mushrooms as part of their culinary culture, there is an untapped market for locally grown mushrooms here.

Soon, I will be going back up to Perez to buy floor tiles, fruit trees and visit with Suzanna and Miguel.  Suzanna is the one I play guitar and sing with, and we are looking forward to doing that again.  Her female dog just had puppies, and she really wants me to adopt one.  I know her dogs, and they are all really great.  Jessie and I are having the conversation about "a little sister" - Jessie is 10 or 11, and while I know she is in great health, she is starting to slow down a little.  Its always a big decision about taking on a new family member.  A dear friend from Manitou, Shannon, the vet who helped saved Jessie's life when I first adopted her, once told me she wants to come back as one of my dogs.  That might well be one of the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

So, I am having a contest – a "name the finca" contest.  Winning entry will be published in the blog, and the winner gets to visit!